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Sage's Mask
Mantle of Intelligence
Tango
Phase Boots
Oblivion Staff
Crystalys
Force Staff
Phase Boots
Daedalus
Orchid Malevolence
Force Staff
Helm of the Dominator
Phase Boots
Daedalus
Mjollnir
Force Staff
Orchid Malevolence
Satanic
Aghanim's Scepter
Diffusal Blade
Monkey King Bar
Radiance
Blade Mail
Shadow Blade
Desolator
Divine Rapier
Phase Boots
Null Talisman
Bracer
Force Staff
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4 | 7 | 9 | 12 |  |
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1 | 3 | 5 | 6 |  |
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2 | 8 | 13 |  |
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10 | 11 | 16 |  |
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14 | 15 | 17 | 18 |
Hi everyone, this is my first guide ever. I decided to make a Windrunner guide because most of the other ones on here were either just bad or very supporty. I call this guide Windrunner the Shy Carry because of the mentality you need to play Windrunner and do well. Windrunner isn't the type of character who should engage fights or for that matter ever really be in the middle of fights. Your job is to be constantly snaring the opponents together with Shackleshot, poking with your Powershot, and using your auto attacks and Focus Fire on any one close by. Since your ult gives you max attacks speed, your build will want to focus more on damage and crit. If any of the big strength characters like Axe or Sven starts focusing you simply use Windrun and your phase boots to get out easily with out taking any damage. As soon as they lose interest you can turn around and start attacking, snaring and ulting again. Just be careful because your Windrun does have about at 10 second cooldown.
Think of windrunner alot on the lines of 
Drow Ranger only instead of kiting them with your ice arrows and silencing them, you kite them with Windrun, Phase Boots, and Shadow Blade and snare them with Shackleshot. Not to mention the added dmg and range of Powershot is very nice for starting and finishing fights.
[+]Good Escapes/Fast
[+]High Dmg
[+]High Attack Speed
[+]Good Snare (If used correctly)
[+]Good Long Range "Nuke"
[+]Great Pusher
[-]Squishy (Low Armor and HP)
[-]Low Mana Til Mid Game
[-]Start Getting Focused
[-]No Burst Dmg
[-]Minimal CC
First of all I need to stress how important it is that you start with Phase Boots. They will not only help you survive but also give you the extra dmg you need early game. The active also stacks well with your windrun so use if often. I chose the other items mainly because of windrunner's ultimate, Focus Fire. The max attack speed but redused damage works out if you stack alot of dmg and crit. So the main items to focus on are the Crystalys, Orchid Malevolence, and Shadow Blade in whichever order you like best. The early orchid not only gives you a good amount of dmg, int (which is also dmg), attack speed, but also mana which lets you spam power shot. The crystalys is dmg and crit which stacks very well with your ult. By the time you get both items even strenght characters will wonder what is happening when you ult them and their health just drains to nothing. The shadow blade makes you even harder to kill while also giving you a good amound of dmg. Finally I get Mjollnir because of its orb effect which helps in team fights but also gives you so much attack speed that you dont even need to ult anymore. I put the divine rapier on there as the final item, but I would only suggest getting this item if you are making a final push because if you die your team will lose if the oppenents pick up the rapier. Other than that with all the attack speed and crit the +250 dmg will destroy all.
[*] Starting Items
I choose to start with a Sage's Mask, mantle of inteligence and a Tango. The Sage's Mask and mantle of inteligence give you just enough mana regen to let you spam Powershot once in a while to let you last hit and harass the other team. The Tango is for when you are getting harassed back.
[*] Mid Game
Here I try to rush my Phase Boots. It allows windrunner to kite her opponets much easier, to harass and last hit easier, and to catch and kill opponents who try to escape.
After that I focus on getting Crystalys because its easy to build and gets you that fast dmg and crit you really need. The Force Staff is the next obvious choise becasue it gives you dmg, attack speed, a cheap escape and intelligence which adds to your mana. (A secondary choice to this would be a Shadow Blade it gives all of the above minus the intelligence, but instead, it gives you extra dmg upon coming out of the cloak. I would not recomend getting both force stafff and shadow blade as the force staff and phase boots should be all the escape you need.)
If you are having a hard time farming or getting zoned try building a Bracer and Null Talisman to help boost you stats.
[*] Late Game
By this point you should have both the Crystalys and the Force Staff. This is the point you can deviate depending on the situation and personal preferences. I sometimes go for Orchid Malevolence here because it gives plenty of mana plus a lot more dmg and attack speed. However, with the force staff, instead of the shadow blade, you should have sufficient mana and can either go straight into the Daedalus or can get a Helm of the Dominator to help with survivability. I usually focus on finishing the Daedalus because the higher crit and dmg help amazingly with Focus Fire.
The skill order i use allows me to farm, while harassing with the Powershot. I get one point in Windrun early to prevent first bloods and Shackleshot at 4 for when my lane partner and I want to get that kill. The Powershot is most important for laning while the Shackleshot is important for team fights. You wait on your ult because at level 1 it is really counter productive to have max attack speed with half-dmg. By level 11 you should be using your ult on everything including towers and barraks.
Laning:
In laning, being the ranged character you need to focus on last hitting and denying. Using an occassional powershot from far away to pick up some creep score and harass the opponents in lane. (Don't use a powershot unless you are going to hit one or both opponents in lane, because mana is somewhat scarce early game.)
I always try to keep 100 mana in case I need to get off a Shackleshot when someone is ganking or to run with Windrun when an enemy is ganking me.
As soon as I get 500 gold I like to buy boots from the side shop. This will help you get away or get kills early on as well as last hitting and denying. After that I typically go for phase boots bying a few tangos and mana potions as I go along.
Team Fights:
In team fights you act as if you are drow archer. Stay toward the back and shoot of a Powershot or two. When enemies get clumped together or try to run you can use your Shackleshot to snare them and help your team get a few kills. If it is mid or late game and you have atleast 2 points in Focus Fire you should use that on mid health foes to finish them off. Focus mainly on squishies, but if a tank is all up in your face you can usually focus fire on him and when he gets close just Windrun or use Force Staff to get away. Generally I can take out almost all his health by the time he realizes and starts charging toward me and my team finishes him off.
Final thing I must say for windrunner players. Always and I say always keep about 100 mana for two reasons. You and your lane partner are fighting the queen of pain is at 80 hp and blinks out. Thankfully you saved 100 mana and now you can Powershot her for the kill. Also you are jungling and you get ganked by sven. As soon as the stun ends you have 100 mana so you can just Windrun out of there.
Hope you have fun playing Windrunner! Please vote for me or give me comments. I am in the process of improving this so suggestions are helpful!
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