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Hi. I'd like to share my thoughts on Bounty Hunter. I'll try to aim at mid-range player and mid-level game.
You might agree with something and might not agree with something (especially with items decision, then go to the bottom section right away), this is normal.
I'll try to add and edit as much as I can and this is my first guide on dotafire, so I wont be using lots of eye-candy stuff (and I need a few days to add most of the stuff and correct mistakes). Just business. If you have some usefull comments - don't be shy. So, lets begin!
Pros:
1) Has high 1-click (Burst) damage
2) Has natural and almost permanent invisibility
3) Has powerfull midgame damaging spell
4) Has a strong early-mid game slow (from crit+orb of venom)
5) Can earn quite a bit of extra money in a fight, even if he can't get in melee and deal damage
6) Can buy several team-usefull items
Cons:
1) He is squishy.
(R-click kill him in several attacks in midgame. He will always be squishy, except he is ridiculously overfed.)
2) He is stupid. Low intelligence gain
(Not having enough mana is one of his main death causes early game)
3) Reles very hard on positioning
(if you are in a wrong place, you are either dead or your teammates are or you didn't get your team any extra gold or enemy gets away ~= you are useless in bad position)
4) Is very weak to nukes, passives, esp. early.
(Nukes from Lina, Skywraith, Shadow fiend, Luna, pure damage deales, like Bane and many others - make quick work of him. )
5) Is VERY item dependand.
(Hovewer, other part of this - he is somewhat versatile)
6) Doesn't really care about his teammates getting killed.
(He might be standing next to hard carry getting focused and won't move an inch. He is just that kind of *******. Why? because if he moves, he is dead. 72% dead. With several items he can help teammates escape though)
When to pick:
1) Enemy team has at least 2 squishy heroes, which don't build durability (high hp\high armor) items early game and\or as a default ( Crystal Maiden, Drow Ranger, Omniknight, Ember Spirit, Meepo, Faceless Void, Chen, Shadow Shaman, Skywrath Mage, Lion, Witch Doctor and many many others)
2) Enemy team has a very weak early-midgame farming hard carry carry ( Phantom Assassin, Medusa, Spectre and this type)
3) Enemy team doesn't have 3+ strong early-midgame heroes
(Because such picks mean hard early-midgame push and you won't be able to do much solo, consider repick)
4) Your team scales well into lategame
(If you have a team of vengefull spirit, Broodmother, Chen and somebody else - your team does NOT scale very well into lategame, so consider taking other heroes with stronger early-midgame, so the game won't go for too long)
5) Your team needs to end game fast
When to NOT pick:
(Mostly check above.)
1) Most enemy heroes will try to get durability (hp\armor) items fast or mostly are strength heroes
2) They have strong early-midgame and your team is average
3) They have good anti-invisers and\or heroes who usually build necronomicon ( Zeus, Slardar, Bane, others)
4) You prefer creep farming
So, you want to play Bounty Hunter, but see some specific heroes on the other team?
When to reconsider picking bounty hunter and who to pick for that occasion?
1) Enemies are/will mostly be tanky - pick Slardar
2) You feel like you will need ganking + disables (like vs defensive abilities) - get Clinkz/ Windranger
3) Your team will need early Mekansm and/or Scythe of Vyse/ Orchid Malevolence - Nature's Prophet is your friend
4) Your team lackes good aura heroes/jungler - Chen and Nature's Prophet again
5) You need EVEN MORE crit damage and stronger teamfight presence? Check Tusk
I got a lot of people complaining about me trying to deprivate Bounty Hunter of INT/disabling items. However, if you see enemy picks and understand, that you totally WILL need these kind of items - pick according hero. Preferably, who is stronger user of these items.
Sometimes, people seriously misunderstand, what
does.
HE IS BEST at fast killing squishy heroes. The whole guide is based on that concept of ganking heroes. If you don't agree with this statement you may have hard time reading this. You've been warned.
His job is stealthy come-out-of-nothing-1-shot-ko-and-gtfo.
BH most of the time is a mid game hero which scales just ok into late game and sucks ridiculously (<12-15 min) in early game.
He should roam the entire map, therefore has a need for good regen items. His core (always to get item) is just 1 item - the Perseverance. It builds easy and early, provides sufficient hp\mana regen AND can be upgraded into either stats and skill-defence Linken's Sphere, phys resistance Lotus Orb or early 150+ damage Battle Fury whenever you feel like upgrading.
The one important thing is - you are free to leave your line as soon as you have Perseverance and boots and lvl 6. Don't stay there and farm, hero-hunting is just much more fun and basically - what you are meant for.
If game is going REALLY good or you can't leave your line partner - stay a bit longer. But you are that type of a hero who farms faster with hero kills and not line-sitting, esp after 6.84 update.
Technically, your ultimate does what - it gives gold per kill. If you think about it, there are much more hero deaths in midgame, than in lategame. And, there are a lot of teamfights in midgame, by lategame people start having better escapes and thing like that. So, what that means for Bounty Hunter? It means, that you get a big "money boost" in early game, compared to other players - both your teammates and your enemies. THAT means, that the way you invest these early gold coins - will determine both your playstyle and role afterwards.
Okay, you have boots and Perseverance and maybe something else, preferably Orb of Venom. First thing to do - check mid. If enemy pushes too fast and is solo - go for a gank with your mid. Midders usually have strong stun, slow or burst damage. If your midder(s) are pushing on mid, then skip
Check your other line. Same thing. If they push - approach. YOu will have to run there, because if enemy hears your tp, then you already have failed most of the time.
HOW TO GET KILLS:
1) You approach in invis.
2) Autoattack with critical
3) Give track.
Else - situational. Everybody will have speed aura bonus from track and your target will very, very slow. Either give kill to a teammate or finish things with Shuriken Toss.
Then repeat, checking again with mid and other lines.
IF a teamfight will probably occur - get BEHIND enemy lines. If there is a tower behind - stay somewhere else, in 2 seconds moverange to any target. Dont forget to check your invis cooldown and left time!
Your main job in mid game teamfights - give as much Track as possible, hide somewhere, go invis (try to fool enemies as much as possible, eg. start getting away like you are running from the fight, go invis and turn 180 back into the fight, so they won't be expecting you) and flashy comeback with with ~300*5 magical damage or with 1 shot kill and 300*4 damage with Shuriken Toss.
Don't forget (!) - Shuriken Toss bounces off tracked enemies. This is an effective Mekansm-counter, as meka heals 250 to everybody, then Shuriken Toss deals ~280-300 damage
And remember - if you didn't build Linken's Sphere, be FRIGGIN careful on other half of the map.
Overall, I recommend to build your Perseverance-based item and then start hunting. If you find yourself in question what to get - get Boots of Travel. They are wonderfull with track aura. Early boots of travel help a lot actually. You would be able to chase most enemies with ease and track would give you somewhat more mobility, than with other boots.
If enemy has several squishy heroes, don't have Slardar and these early-mid game super-damage-dealers, don't look like warding, don't group up too often, have 2+ serious carries, you did build Linken's Sphere AND you find yourself with a bunch of a bonus gold (like 2500-3000) - get a Divine Rapier fast and win the game. Or if at least 3 points out of these are true, go for it. If you want to read more about Divine Rapier thing, check items section below
If you did go for a rapier, you probably either won the game already or lost already or a ridiculously overfarmed.
What do do in lategame?
Once enemy starts getting Heart of Tarrasque, you start getting big problems. You role swithces from hero-killing to somewhat supporting and Track giving. If you are sure that your carry needs some more farm, you may assist your carry by staying close to him to providing some escape against smaller ganking groups and\or counterganking.
You might as well go pushing. If your carry is doing well, ask him please to win the game. If he isn't doing so well..well..just stay close to him. Bounty Hunter with Divine Rapier (and without too) is great counter-gank and a measure for your carry safe-living.
The main problem - even if he has all the items, he starts getting sad in later-game . His 225% crits damage + Divine Rapier + Shuriken Toss won't be able to kill most heroes, as even supports will have 1500+ hp with small exception and enemy carries will have either Satanic or Heart of Tarrasque or decent damage blocking\absorbing capabilities.
What to do in later game? Well, if you are doing just ok - pretty much nothing specific and it totally depends on enemy\allies picks If you want some spicy experience - go buy second Divine Rapier.
Whuuut...
A situational tactic vs high hp!
Yes. Even with 1 Divine Rapier,
falls off in lategame. Having Black King Bar, Linken's Sphere, Boots of Travel and Gem of True Sight - is enough saving for a single Bounty Hunter. Should I remind you, that you are not meant to soak damage!. Getting second Divine Rapier is VERY rare though, but sometimes is nessesary to effectively damage Heart of Tarrasque holders. What is better than 1 Divine Rapier? YES! 2 Divine Rapier! 2 rapiers will give you 330x2+330x2x2.25 damage from rapiers only. That is close to 2000 damage and your real damage will be over 1500 (with your base damage added). 1500 burst damage is mostly sufficient in late game. But you got to be extra carefull with "THAT KIND OF POWER". And be mega-carefull with enemies with Heart of Tarrasque. Second rapier will allow you to kill Heart of Tarrasque holders, but you know.. Overall, try to avoid\ignore these heroes with second heart and kill somebody squishier.
Okay, if you didn't go for Divine Rapier thing, you probably have Boots of Travel, Linken\BF\Lotus, Desolator, Gem of True Sight and something else.
Your role in lategame is the same - stay close to your team and give Track. You won't have a lot of damaging power (maybe 600-800 real damage with crit and a lot of slow) and you actually might start thinking about suicide roles.
Another situational tactic!
Suicide role is a very effective tactic I found very interesting to use.
Mid-low level game players tend to have "OMG EASY FRAG THING THIS CLOSE IMAGONAKILLIT" things. The tactic is - get Track to everybody - go invis - try to wreak somebody - cast Shuriken Toss - get killed.
Most people I play against as soon as they see first enemy totally lose focus. Very few exceptions. And start thrashing easy frag with all their might. These 2-4 seconds are a good opening for your team to jump in and totally wreak them as some nukes and disables (like Scythe of Vyse) will be on cooldown. Several times I forced serious spells on me, like Storm Hammer, Laguna Blade, Ravage and ungodly strength..need I say what happened next? Okay, next thing that happened was them all in a tavern with me and we won the game. Be aware, that if your team won't use that window - thats a free Roshan or game win for them.
First - Get Enchanted Mango, set of tangoes, several branches, maybe gauntlet. If you stay against Bristl, Phanton, Skywrath, Shadow Demon - get magic stick, fast. If you are harassed - deal with it or grab a shield. Ofc
Next - rush Perseverance. Getting Ring of Health is usually more important than boots. (There are few exceptions, like tri-line, strong stuns, etc).
Usually, its possible to go for RoH-Boots-Void stone.
Where to put your Perseverance?
Enemies are playing defensively, try to prolong the game? They have lots of summoned units, have Broodmother, Chen, Enigma, Lycan? Don't forget to upgrade Perseverance into a Battle Fury. Your 1 shot out of blue cripples entire enemy waves. Enemies are squishy and can't answer with high-speed stun? Get it too. If you feel like your team is behind in gold\min, Battle Fury is a nice damage item (and we love damage) to get. Early Phase Boots and Battle Fury give a lot to early damage (24+55+(24+55)x2.25+300= roughly 550 damage with Shuriken Toss included + up to 120 damage from invis = alot of damage early game, enough to kill squishy heroes)
They have some high-damage target nuke caster, like Lina, Lion? Get Perseverance into Linken's Sphere. I recommend this item, as Bounty Hunter is quite fragile and is usually an easy frag to those Sven-like guys without Linken's Sphere
They have some stun-and-gun r-click guys, like Sven, Wraith King, Luna? They have several armor reduction guys? Lotus Orb+ Solar Crest is a viable item choice.
After Perseverance - its your call. You can go into damaging items or you can get your survivability
Start going to other lines. It is absolutely nessesary. If you are ganking well, you might go for a linken\bf\lotus. If not - get drums of endurance.
After that, roughly at 15-20 mins, you will have to start thinking what is next.
You may either go for a fast Divine Rapier OR Desolator route.
Desolator is high damage\price item, which is very nice by the time you get it + armor reduction is nice if the enemy is hard to kill (like Dragon Knight).
This will be a good time to upgrade your Boots of Speed to Boots of Travel too. If you have drums of endurance - you are doing just fine.
Monkey King Bar - After Desolator - you need to think carefully if there is somebody on enemies team, who will make Butterfly or any other misses. IF there is such a hero, build Monkey King Bar. It is VERY high damage item, however keep in mind that you only need it for your crit to land + some nice damage.
You are not typical r-clicker, so you won't have reliable mini-stuns. Again - think twice. If you can live without Monkey King Bar, don't build it. Its very expensive and you don't get max from it. Monkey King Bar is a viable item for heroes with high attack speed and good attack animation, which you both lack.
This is a good time to get your Gem of True Sight (to destroy enemy Observer Ward and Sentry Ward mostly).
At this time, most games would end or be ending already.
You will have Linken\bf\lotus, BoT\drums, Desolator, MKB and Gem, you will have to think what to get into the last slot. At this time, Divine Rapier won't be helping really much, but is still usefull.
Last slot is very rare and you can get a bunch of stuff there. First - have buyback.
As for the last slot - personally, I strangely enjoy Eye of Skadi there. 5 second slow from skady + slow from crit + aura from Track + maybe drums. ALOT of slow to single target. If you won't kill - your team will. + tons of tankness and killing you with linken\lotus + BoT + Skadi is seriously a challange. However, most of the time you might want to use Skadi - means, that you probably will have to sell your Desolator. You can use both of them via swapping them in your inventory though. You don't have sell Desolator the moment you get Eye of Skadi- You can't use both effects at the same time, but you still get that damage! If you sell Desolator, you will be able to get Eye of Skadi and something very-very lategame though.
Don't get it wrong - Eye of Skadi is wonderfull, but highly utility item, not a damage item. Getting it is very hard though, but extra long slow which goes through BKB - pays off in lategame and sometimes is truly critical, even more critical than your crits.
You can get extra fun with Linken's Sphere, Orb of Venom\ Eye of Skadi, Daedalus, Moon Shard and force staff],[[abyssal blade + Monkey King Bar. This is something you have to try at least once in your life. This is just so much fun. Damn stunning-critting machine. FOR FUN ONLY!!
Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a bit of a mixed bag here. If you got drums of endurance, don't get Eul's and vice versa. You will enjoy additional 40 movespeed, which makes you just very fast and very good roamer. Active - will purge dust. Once game gets into lategame, this artifact will fall off as well, as mostly people will use Gem of True Sight and\or wards. This item hardly gives any damage too. I think it's ok, but mostly it is for movespeed and disabling\saving rather then dust purging. Still, a nice midgame item, which might even allow for your Linken's Sphere or invis to recharge. Problem is, that you have no time to get it actually. After mins 40 it will fall off and you will need more damage and not survivablility.
If your team has enough strong picks and you are somewhere between 2-3 carries and 1 support, you can get Force Staff. Sits very well and smells like Vengeful Spirit. Imagine enemy team approaches, enemy carry gets a bit ahead aaaaand gets force stuffed right into your team or into your tower out of blue. NICE? YEAH THATS NICE. But you probably will get owned, because you are in front of enemy team. Is worth it.
Solar Crest - a very good item, which is even better with linkens sphere\ Lotus Orb. This an alternative to Orchid Malevolence, (descibed below), which will give you a vell needed mana regen, armor and misses. Its active is totally ungodly with Desolator and if you are versus team with squishy + high armor dudes - this is a very nice combo. If somebody gets an Assault Cuirass... If your team forces a teamfights too often, this is nice to get
Important!
The RULE is - don't get more than 2 utility items. Linken's Sphere, Lotus Orb, Solar Crest, Force Staff, Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Drum of Endurance, Eye of Skadi and some else - utility. If you are "full" - sell something.
Divine Rapier. THE RAPIER THING!
WTF RAPIER MAN RAPIERS ARE BAD IF U LUSE THEM_))0 lol
I know. Divine Rapier are risky things.
Personally, I think that there are 3 good rapier-holders.
3rd - Wrath King wih a bit of team support ( Dazzle\ Omniknight\ Force Staff) and Moonshard does wonders.
2nd - Medusa, can go from throne to throne in late game and not even stop once for more than 10 seconds
1st - Bounty Hunter
Bounty hunter is one of the greatest Divine Rapier holders(imo) (and gem holder too) in the game because:
He is the only hero which can get it REALLY fast, he can even farm it without getting into a fight, simply from Track. Having Linken's Sphere, Boots of Travel, Divine Rapier by minute 25-35? It is possible and very real. (even more possible with recent hero reward system changed). And by the way - if you check dotabuff you can see there, that Bounty Hunter has a very high winrate with Divine Rapier. It doesn't proof anything, but may ease your unsurance a bit. Ofc its not a reason to pick it and play uncarefully.
Why even bother with that risky thing ? Because:
1) If you build Battle Fury, Divine Rapier and you can't put them to good use for some reason - you can 1 shot creep waves, clean closest forest camps, get to other lines, 1 shot, forest, 1 shot, repeat = tons of gold and pushing, all under 2 mintes = lots of gold and pushing + mobility. Not the best use for a rapier, but pushing with Divine Rapier and Battle Fury - lightning fast and viable
Just be carefull at nights to not teleport on top of enemy group and probably pick Gem of True Sight and Force Staff.
2) You can 1-2 shot most non-strength heroes up to late game. Linken's Sphere makes sure YOU survive if THEY survive.
The only problem is - if enemies will group up after they see Divine Rapier or not. If not - that's 90% easy game. If yes - you will have to ask teammates to force teamfights, which is not always a viable option. Hovewer, most people are not clever enough to group up permanently, so...
3) Bounty Hunter can get Divine Rapier incredibly fast and use max from it. Imagine minute 25-35, most carries farm their first-second artifact, and boom - roughly 1000 damage, track, 300 more damage, maybe another 400 damage on top and just bye. Wtf, really?..
If paired with Boots of Travel, that usually means that enemy hard carry wont get the farm, ever. OR he will be pressed to walk with entire team without any farm, and his team won't be able to leave him, because any ~1200-1500 hp solo hero will be your easy target. That means lots of things, for example, your carry can easily outfarm their and basically their carry wont be much of a threat.
4) As said above - that will eventually force teamfights or enemy will be forced to give away towers. Either thing is nice. If they are forcing a teamfight - think carefully, what is better - teamfight or tower pushing. Pushing t3 and barracks is usually more important than winning teamfight. IMPORTANT STRATEGY! With Divine Rapier, you can do that VERY fast and enemy team 90% wont be able to sent somebody to stop you. (Because you can more or less easiliy kill any solo hero - so they will have to decide, either to try to win 4\5 and have a chance of victory and losing 1-2 towers or falling back and allowing your team do whatever they want)
5) Good thing is, that with Divine Rapier you don't nessesary take Aegis of the Immortal. You can give it to somebody else. Yeah, you can take it, but most times IF you are killed ONCE with Divine Rapier, you will be killed for the second and third time easily. Yeah, it will help you with "random death" thing (like you are fleeing, almost got away and got shot by a Sniper, respawned and fled with Divine Rapier), but otherwise, you don't need Aegis of the Immortal. Aegis has respawn delay, which will allow enemies to assemble if you were caught by entire enemy team. Aegis of the Immortal is (mostly) meant for team-fight heroes, but really - it won't help YOU ( Bounty Hunter) much and invis with Boots of Travel with Linken Sphere\ Lotus Orb) is good enough escape even if you were dusted.
And the cons of mid-game Divine Rapier:
1) First - if some crazy tank hero, like Dragon Knight buys Gem of True Sight - you.are. Pucked. You will have to sit somewhere for somebody to initiate and you will be limited to clean-up only. This will severely limit your presence! Global ultimates are your saving things. Ravage, Black Hole, Global Silence, Reverse Polarity and many others - are what you need.
And the rule number 2 is - WAIT till your team gets the kill or 2. If enemy team gets at least 2 kills and its 3 on 4-5, think 10 times before even showing yer face. Maybe you should wait for some heroes to run back to base or wait for some enemies to separate from group, which happens pretty often. Linken's Sphere allows you to win 1-on-2 magicall nukers, Lotus Orb + Solar Crest- is a good soultion against phys damage, hovewer be very aware of pure and burst damage dealers. And again - getting 1-2 kills isn't a priority over getting killed. (Most of the time) This is not a game "kill-as-many heroes-as-you-can" (though you ARE hero killer) and risking with rapier is risking with your winning. So yes. This makes you a better ganker but severely reduces your teamfight presence\ability
2) Teamfights with stronger enemy team are very, very nervous. Even if you run from here to there, get kills, etc, but your allies..well, didn't make it as good as you did - again, you will have hard time with fighting, compared to fightning without Divine Rapier. You got Track, you come, wreck somebody and get out. If enemy knows that you have Divine Rapier - you might get problems with the "get out part". But this is mostly for lategame, not for midgame. If enemy has a team mostly of strong magical casters\nukers and got some early hexes\disables - get Black King Bar as soon as you can after the Divine Rapier. Teamfights with stronger enemy with a Divine Rapier are very nervous things.
If you are confident in your skill, if they start tanking up, if they didn't map the ward like crazy, if you have alot of gold,if they don't have guys to counter-gank, if they won't be able to kill you in 3 seconds and many more ifs - THEN TOTALLY PICK IT. Having one is good, having 2 is a blast and *** heater. If you lose it - you get reported. If you win it - you get all the fame. Somewhat risky, as it always is, but increases your ganking potential by far. And btw don't pick it if enemy forces teamfights too often, you won't be able to Divine Rapier properly.
Divine Rapier forces any normal enemy team to change its tactics and strategy, so don't pick it blindily. DONT. PICK. IT. BLINDILY.
And a very important thing is - don't pick it in desperation. Compared to "just get it because I can", trying to use a Divine Rapier vs stronger enemy team ON THIS PARTICULAR HERO ( Bounty Hunter) is a bad thing 80% of the time.
First in the list is strangely to me, a very popular item which is a Vlad Vladmir's Offering. Vlad is one of the worst items for Bounty hunter. + how many stats? + how much mana regen? + how much health? Lifesteal? If you rush it, by the time you get vlad, your r-click damage with crit would be like 200-300. 15% lifesteal is...Rubbish. "This is for your twheam.." Bounty hunter isnt the dude who sticks with his team + this item is like a radiance. If enemies will check your creeps and they will see vlads' aura - they will know you are there. This item doesn't give damage, survivability, speed, health and mana regen, but gives truly useless to you auras (except maybe for armor) and useless lifesteal and is, like, over 2000 in gold!. Totally don't recommend this item. Maybe grab it if everything is very, very bad and nobody else is builing it. If you are doing better, than very,very bad - go for other items, preferably Linken's Sphere ultimate orb. If you need good aura-holder - Check Chen, Nature's Prophet and some oter heroes
Daedalus - Semi-viable item, mostly for troll build. Why even bother? Because it gives a lot of r-click damage to add to your crit. The main purpose of this item on Bounty Hunter, however, is just to get SECOND crit after your first one. This effectively doubles your burst damage output. If you like to push your luck, this is a viable alternative to Monkey King Bar. Daedalus, Monkey King Bar and Abyssal Blade stack very well with Moon Shard and such combo is not intended for serious game. For fun mostly.
Diffusal Blade Why would you need it? You slow a lot already + diffusal gives pretty low damage for us. Purging? Check Lotus Orb, Eul's Scepter of Divinity or even Black King Bar
Blink Dagger Good positioning is good, but technically, you should kill people below 3 seconds interval. Good only if enemy team has at least 2-3 blinks, otherwise, Boots of Travel are a far better buy and take only ONE slot.
Bottle A viable chice only if you are solo versus a tri-line and you desperately need fast, cheap early hp replenishing. Otherwise don't get it, as 70 mana x3 isn't even satisfactory above minute 20 and health regen is just about average. However, if nobody will get bottle, its ok, because double damage rune is TOTALLY your rune
Radiance Nice damage, force-stops blink dagger, but totally negates your invis. This item is for teamfights\farming and durable heroes mostly. Not for you. If you need damage desperately, get Divine Rapier or Abyssal Blade
Satanic and everything lifesteal - Satanic makes you very hard to kill, but you don't have the attack speed to truly enjoy this items. + You might stop running and might even try to tank, which is just a bad idea. The only time to use its active - is when your crit is off cooldown, which will probably completely heal you. But seriously, if you have that much gold - get Eye of Skadi and you'll have leftowers for buyback. You will ONLY lifesteal normally on your crits and this is just once in loooots of seconds. Lifesteal is not for you. Deal with it.
Phase Boots. I don't recommend them. Phase Boots are nice for early damage, but they are not as nice as mobility from Boots of Travel. These 24 bonus damage falls off pretty quick, but ~840 gold are very noticable early game. You won't be able to use Phase Boots while invisible too and you have to be invisible, so... I say - don't upgrade your boots, as you will waste quite a lot of early money and would be better with travels anyway. Build your 2 items and get Boots of Travel. You need mobility so much more then these 24 damage and you will be traveling a lot to constantly press these boots. Take only if you REALLY need early-midgame damage AND if you will probably go for a Battle Fury to maximize your early killing power.
Urn of Shadows. This item is ok, but you tend to quickly fill up slots + again, you are mostly away from your team, so you will rarely heal somebody + early game you have more important things to buy. Leave it to your supports, because thats what they do and that is what they really need early game.
Important! Hex and Orchid thing!
If you buy Scythe of Vyse and\or Orchid Malevolence, you buy it 90% for its active (as leftover 10% is for damage and mana regen). Ask your teammates! You have them for a reason! Turn invis on, get Smoke of Deceit, and go ganking with your ally, who has Hex or simular ability! This will allow both of you to build much better items and overall make you both stronger.
If you need fast Scythe of Vyse, consider other heroes with good ganking potential, most notably - Nature's Prophet. IF you see enemy picks and at that moment think "Hell, I WILL need disables" - consider picking Windranger or Clinkz, as stated in the beginning. Their combat effeciency with Scythe of Vyse and Orchid Malevolence is several times higher, than on Bounty Hunter. Good Hex is always good, but totally don't advise to rush it or prefer to damaging items! If you need it and NOBODY else is going to build it, then you made a big mistake when chosing Bounty Hunter! Next time think more carefully about your hero decision!
Unless game went long enough for you to get 5 slots and you have no idea what to stick there, Scythe of Vyse and Orchid Malevolence totally not recommended. Below is number of reasons why not get it earlier and if reasons above satisfy you just enough, just skip that large text wall.
Orchid Malevolence. Orchid is a very common pick on Bounty Hunter, however, a lot of people gravely misunderstant who really need this item and why. This item is ultimately meant for a ganking Bone Fletcher, Clinkz. He benefits from EVERY aspect of this item. Bounty Hunter, however, does not. That Clinkz dude has his survivability covered with his Ultimate and can go straight for Orchid, as for Clinkz - his damage output is almost proportional to his available mana, however Bounty Hunter is a completely different hero and trying to use this item in the same way is ineffecient waste of Bounty Hunter burst damage-dealing potential, which this hero is proficient at.
Orchid Malevolence gives active (which we may need) mana (which we need), gives damage (which we need) and gives AS (which we totally DONT need).
And by the way, this item doesn't give any tankness, escaping or else too. Yes, it gives silence and damage amplification. This makes Orchid Malevolence a good weapon against those who rely on spells, but you rely on huge damage in short time and this item seriously slows you from getting damage items (which are a priority) and survivability items(which we seriously need).
Orchid Malevolence is better for ganking solo heroes and shutting strong casters w\o Black King Bar. This makes item a very, very situational pick, as it is pretty expensive, doesn't provide you with early tankness or damage, which you really need. And by the way, using Orchid Malevolence negates your 120 bonus damage from invisibility. Even if you go again, without orchid you can get 240 bonus damage if you go into invis for the second time or get bonus 30% damage. Orchid is VERY, VERY nice with rapier though. You can even swap your Desolator for Orchid Malevolence if your team isn't in armor reduction If you know such item, as a Solar Crest - think again, what is better. You can give your target -16 armor and almost guaranteedly kill it mid-late game with just a bit of damaging items (and totally devastate strong heroes lategame) or you can give silence and damage amplification, which isn't momentariliy and may actually prevent your kill, if they somehow manage to use some adequate healing and\or were saved. Orchid Malevolence item isn't as good as other items and is very expensive\usability AND is not the thing you need to rush. Need mana - get Linken's Sphere or at least perserverance. Linken's might save your ally and well-given linkin's active can turn the tide of a teamfight sometimes and if you would have Linken's , Orchid Malevolence would fall even more, as Linken's Sphere will give decent mana as well and buying early silence for ~4000 and not having enough damage to kill even most fragile supports is a total waste (compared even to Desolator
Same for Scythe of Vyse, which is even more expensive and much, MUCH harder to assemble. Leave it to somebody else, really. There are 4 more people on your team and you would need this item ONLY to disable some specific damage-reduction abilities (like from Medusa and Templar Assassin.
If you read that wall of text, grab yourself a cookie. You are just that wonderfull.
Battle Fury. Mostly told above. This item is a very mixed bag, but 70% I dont recommend it. Sometimes can be very usefull (when paired with Black Hole-like things. First - it doesn't provide you with stats, which you very, very need midgame. You don't get any defence with it. You don't get any good active with it (you know...not THAT kind of active). Both Lotus Orb and Linken's Sphere are better in most situations and the only occasion to pick Battle Fury - your team isn't doing so well, you desperately need mid-game damage, and\or you will have to farm creeps, which you usually don't do. However, it is VERY nice with Black Hole, Reverse Polarity, Vacuum, etc.
Butterfly. Totally not for you. If you want misses and armor, get Solar Crest. Want AS? (On Bounty Hunter? lol?) Get Moon Shard. Want movespeed? Get Boots of Travel. Want damage? Get r.. Monkey King Bar.
Black King Bar is a mixed bag too. If you have Linken's Sphere - then Black King Bar is just a waste of gold most of the time. Sometimes, Black King Bar is more viable choice then Linken's Sphere - it allows you to jump in or out of fights earlier\better. Still.. dont recommend it. You come, hit hard, go away. You can purge (if you really need) with more-or-less usefull Eul's Scepter of Divinity or get Boots of Travel and Linken's Sphere and just run away very, very fast. You typically don't need this item as purging of most things can be done with Lotus Orb, which is definetely a better defensive item.
Abyssal Blade- strangely popular item for no reason on this hero. Yeah, it gives alot of damage, but is:
1) VERY hard to build,
2) You won't be ably to use its bashes effectively (or use them at all)
Nice, but you don't need this, really. However, not the case with troll build with Moon Shard. This thing is like Scythe of Vyse for fast-hitting heroes. Totally don't recommended, as you are building it for stun only. Your team definetely has somebody who can take advantage of this item. Get other items or preferably - leave them for buyback. You may need it's ~300 effective damage and stun, but this is a very rare occasion.
Dagon Item which I totally forgot about and got kindly reminded. I saw it quite often on Bounty Hunter and for good reason. 600 burst damage (after normal reductions) is no laugh. However, there is a one BIG reason I am personally against this particular item - YOU HAVE TO RUSH IT!. Getting it in late-game and versus active teamfighting enemy rarely makes sense as it is totally countered by Pipe of Insight. This item is for pubs, period. Because by the time you upgrade it to max - you will be just a bit harder than a creep, with invis and dagon and everybody else would totally kill you if you get dusted and\or found. You will be just super easy to kill. Overall, fits rather nice, especially with Orchid Malevolence(which I mostly don't recommend too) and Ethereal Blade. You can try it, but it is just for fun and relaxation. Added to troll build
Aegis of the Immortal. This item is meant for a hero who will wreck the entire enemy team. Totally not for a creepy bud such as yourself. Why would you even need it, mr. stealthy assassin?
What is a troll build thing for Bounty Hunter?
First, there are 2 of them.
Troll build 1 is based on rushing dagon. Usually, you have to get Bottle for regen in early game and start to assemble your dagon. Then you start roaming the map, seeking for supports with typically low hp, attack them, give Track and secure kill with a dagon. As the game progresses, you will upgrade your dagon to max level and get damage amplification, which is either an Orchid Malevolence if you go just about ok and Ethereal Blade if you get lucky in teamfights and Orchid Malevolence afterward, with veil of discort as either first or last item after maxing dagon. Technically, this allows to do MASSIVE damage. For example - ~300 damage from E-blade + 375 damage from shuriken toss] + 800 from [[dagon + your crit. Toss there 30% added damage from Orchid Malevolence, 40% from Ethereal Blade and 25% from veil of discourt. Just about "that's it"
Troll build 2 is based on chance-based items, combined with a long guaranteed slow and high attack speed. This troll build is very viable, because Bounty Hunter is one of few heroes, who can get expensive components, like Sacred Relic and Demon Edge much easier than most heroes + he is a natural inviser with high mobility.
Strategy is simple - you find your enemy and with Moon Shard high attack speed, start bashing, ministunning, critting and slowing him to death. First attack guarantees slow for ~40% (with Orb of Venom) and whooping 3 second slow for 60% with Eye of Skadi, which changes into 35% slow for 3 seconds ( Jinada 25% slow is 3 seconds]] and 60% back again after, and don't forget +20% movespeed aura for you from Track on top.. But again, this is a troll build only, as all these items are expensive and you will have a pretty hard early game trying to build them.
Enjoy!
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