DotA2: My Tide build

[fever 9,884]

I decided to show some love to my Tide build as I tend to need to farm mid to late game and I would rather be done with that a lot earlier, so I've come up with a more farm friendly build which might mean some items are delayed by a few minutes but I should be done farming sooner and my items should come quite quickly together. Thought I'd share for feedback and so I can make tweaks and track changes.

Note: support gimmes and mandatory items are not included as I buy them anyway throughout whenever they are available. My build is focused purely on essentials. I'll always carry a tp, tango, wards

Early

_____

X2 gauntlets

Quarter staff

Boots

Mid

___

Energy booster

Sages mask

Urn recipe

Robe magi

Sages mask

Blink dagger

Perseverance

Refresher recipe

[The Hungry Caterpillar 585]

If I were you, I'd genuinely let your friendly neighbourhood Witch Doctor get the wards and courier, to start with, I've got an OP ult which gets me plenty of money no problem.

Also, might be worth bumping up your blink, it's too useful to be that far down. 

[fever 9,884]

If I were you, I'd genuinely let your friendly neighbourhood Witch Doctor get the wards and courier, to start with, I've got an OP ult which gets me plenty of money no problem.

I was thinking the same thing earlier. OK, no more race for the courier xD

Also, might be worth bumping up your blink, it's too useful to be that far down.

My thinking is that if the blink is higher, it will take me longer to farm. When I initiate with a blink I tend to die in a few seconds, whereas if I let the fight start and then get in position by walking in (which I can do in a few seconds) I tend to survive more often. So get the blink later, still get in position but after a couple of seconds of the kick off but the big win in doing the later blink is I'm done farming earlier by about 5 minutes I am hoping.

I don't believe the Tide is tanky enough to initiate with a blink until late game.

[Ghost_Jor 583]

If you're dying as tide right after ravaging, try giving a rallying speech to your comrades before you jump in to inspire them to follow you!

But Blink is such a good item for tide since he can blink in and stun the whole team, allowing your team to get their spells off first. If you just walk in, you're giving everyone a "Hi guys I'm gonna ravage now!" And the enemy team might pop BKBs, might use their own team fight spells or might just kill you. You don't have to rush blink straight away, but the earlier you get it the earlier you can initiate and win a teamfight or grab some kills that your enemies are gonna have a hard time reacting to (but only if you have your team behind you in position!)

[+Dr. Obvious 14,606]

I don't believe the Tide is tanky enough to initiate with a blink until late game.

That's totally not true. You underestimate Tide massively here.

I know, you always see me do it and survive with Axe (well, often enough, at least), but i think it's more because of your lack of timing on what to do in which order (no offense, you just need to train that).

For Axe, it's easy. Blink, Berserkers Call, Blademail, and get done with it. Sure, the 40 extra armour from berserkers call helps, but it's not all.

 

Let me throw some numbers at you. 7 13 42. Not enough? Then let's try stats.

 

Tide has 2 less strength at the beginning than Axe (22 vs 25), but also 1.3 more armour (3.1 vs 1.8) . At lvl 6, Tide is parr with Axe, after that he gets more strength than Axe, which means more HP. Also, you got your craken shell, which negates damage, too. At lvl 4, your craken shell negates as much damage as Axe gets from Berserker's Call, but it does so permanently.

 

At lvl 6, you should try the following:

 

Blink, Ravage, Hit, Hit, Anchor Smash. 

 

So, basically: Blink in, Ravage (stun at least 2 sec), hit twice - which will take about 2 sec - then Anchor Smash, which will reduce enemy damage by 40-60% (depending on your skill level there) for another 6 second.

 

If you want to go extra tanky, get yourself a blade mail. It will give you another 5 armour, and when active, will be a real pain in the face for the folks hitting you. It's also a relatively cheap item. In that case, go

 

Blink, Ravage, Hit, Blade Mail, Anchor Smash.

 

If you want to, we can train this in a bot game.

[fever 9,884]

What you're both saying is true, but the fact is if I can get effective ravages off and survive then until I'm better at the game and hitting my combos every time, I'm going to choose survival over death especially if I get my ravages off regardless.

My combo in a team fight is ravage, anchor smash, gush and then right click or back off so as not to die If I'm around 30% or less. Until we coordinate in team fights (like calling out who the main focus is) I have to try and survive them once I have my main support tasks done.

I'm pretty sure the farm and subsequent items you get makes you way more survivable in a team fight as axe.

 

Let me throw some numbers at you. 7 13 42. Not enough? Then let's try stats.

 

I don't know what these numbers represent. Is it a KDA as axe?

If you're dying as tide right after ravaging, try giving a rallying speech to your comrades before you jump in to inspire them to follow you!

We usually are all there and about to go in

[The Hungry Caterpillar 585]

This is starting to sound like when people tell me I need to spec Maledict early...

In the end it's your build, you don't need to justify it, you just need to keep me safe so I can steal all of Obvi's kills.

[fever 9,884]

 

If you want to go extra tanky, get yourself a blade mail.

The speed in which I get my core items is the reason for the build

This is starting to sound like when people tell me I need to spec Maledict early...

In the end it's your build, you don't need to justify it, you just need to keep me safe so I can steal all of Obvi's kills.

I only get one kraken shell now around lvl7 as I choose gush (for slow), smash (for reduced attack damage and farm) and then ult/stats.

and lol

I'd love to get the blade mail but it's just way down a long slow list of items, which I why I'm changing my build to this

[+Dr. Obvious 14,606]

In the end it's your build, you don't need to justify it, you just need to keep me safe so I can steal all of Obvi's kills.

FUUUUUUUUUU!

The speed in which I get my core items is the reason for the build

I only get one kraken shell now around lvl7 as I choose gush (for slow), smash (for reduced attack damage and farm) and then ult/stats.

and lol

I'd love to get the blade mail but it's just way down a long slow list of items, which I why I'm changing my build to this

Hmm. We could try something else. I get me a hero that will be able to keep the lane alone, and you train your microfarming skills? You need to have a setup where you can quickly farm a creep camp, "on the go". So, when you go from A to B, and there is a creep camp, you should be able to get it within 5 sec or so max. And never ignore that possibility. I found that you're really spending a lot of time in the creep camps... at least it appeared to me you did. That's one reason why i asked you about your Anchor Smash yesterday - spam that thing. Even if the effect lasts 6 seconds, the damage is worth spamming it, especially at these costs...

If you want me to, i can go through Tide and see if i can find an effective way of farming with this guy.

[fever 9,884]

I do spam my anchor smash and gush. I got asked 4 times why I hadn't used it last night when I'd already done it and it was on cool down. Except for one occasion where I didn't get it off which is what you're referring to I think. I think you underestimate how long it takes to initially farm on your own as tide, which is why I pull lanes when I can. There is no way you can farm a camp as tide in 5 or 6 seconds until mid to late game. The damage is just not there. I don't right click like crazy when I pull, as I want our creeps to die too.

Edit:typo

[The Hungry Caterpillar 585]

I do spam my anchor smash and gush. I got asked 4 times why I hadn't used it last night when I'd already done it and it was on cool down. 

CATERPILLAR WHY DIDN'T YOU STUN!?!?!?! (Stun is, at present, bouncing between the bad guys)

 

He bullies us because he loves us. I'm sure.

[fever 9,884]

My last hitting could definitely be better. I'd say it's probably about 70% effective.

[+Dr. Obvious 14,606]

I do spam my anchor smash and gush. I got asked 4 times why I hadn't used it last night when I'd already done it and it was on cool down. Except for one occasion where I didn't get it off which is what you're referring to I think. I think you underestimate how long it takes to initially farm on your own as tide, which is why I pull lanes when I can. There is no way you can farm a camp as tide in 5 or 6 seconds until mid to late game. The damage is just not there. I don't right click like crazy when I pull, as I want our creeps to die too.

Edit:typo

I was talking about lvl 6+. I know you can't quickfarm a camp before that. 

 

CATERPILLAR WHY DIDN'T YOU STUN!?!?!?! (Stun is, at present, bouncing between the bad guys)

 

He bullies us because he loves us. I'm sure.

Dude. If you want me to bully you, i can do that for one game... (*coughs* Goosey *coughs*)

Also, your stun was 1.5sec too late. Work on that. :-P