So I have now clocked a respectable 350-ish hours playing DOTA 2. At this point I consider myself... proficient with many of the heroes in the game but what I have mostly learned is how little I know. One of the things that is constantly eluding me is item builds, which can make a huge difference to the way a hero operates. There's a fair amount of trial and error involved when picking items, obviously, but I'm mostly going with builds that I'm stealing from pro matches online and then adjusting them to suit my needs. However, I figured that seeing as I could talk about DOTA all day and, well, it's not like you guys are doing anything, it couldn't hurt to pool our collective knowledge.

So at the moment I'm playing Puck a lot.

Really enjoying his ability to bounce around the map, and his initiate is probably one of the best in the game. At the moment I tend to vary between Bracer and Null Talisman, usually going for the null so I can transition into the Dagon for some extra DPS endgame. If I'm playing mid I will go for a bottle, in lane a wand. After that I go boots, obviously, but I'm never really sure what boots I should be getting. Phase boots are recommended but seem kinda redundant when you are going straight for blink afterwards (Which is essential in any Puck build) so I tend to go Power Treads for the extra health. However I'm tempted to start picking up Mana Boots as that mana drain is fucking brutal when you chain all Puck's skills together. After that it's either a Dagon (If I have the talisman) or a Linken Sphere (if Bracer), sometimes even a Drum if the farm is slow. Does that sound about right to you guys, or is there any alternative items you recommend I should look into?

If anyone else is having similar issues with other heroes then post em' here and we will see what we can do.

Awesome sauce.

@Sweep: Puck is also one of my favorite and most played heros. So much fun and so much versatility. I tend to usually pick the bracer over the null talisman, mostly because I really want that health and have no real need to be trying to do damage. Boots, I tend to always favor power treads over anything else. Blink dagger is an absolute must. After the blink I will turn the bracer into Drums of Endurance to help the team if no one has purchased one yet. After then I really love getting Shiva's Guard, being able to jump into the middle...silence everyone...then pop that for the 200 damage and 40% slow, such a good combination of spells. I am torn on likens, on one hand I love the increased survivablity but on the other hand it seems a bit overkill because with your phase shift you should be able to dodge everything that you can see coming towards you (and the phase shift has a 6 sec cd and no mana cost).

My most recent experiments have been getting arcane boots on Windrunner and phase boots on Mirana. I love being able to spam the power shots / shackles early game without having to worry about mana. Then with Mirana, the phase boots allow you to really easily chase people down to follow up with an arrow or starfall.

Like the idea of this thread, I too have at least 500+ hours in Dota 2 and would love to toss imput in for certain item builds for heros. Throw out any heros you have been playing and want to discuss!

I play a lot of League of Legends. A LOT! I tried playing some DotA 2 but I'm freakin lost at what item builds to build on characters. And getting used to duller, more realistic characters and environment from bright cartoony style of LoL is also a challenge. However, I do want to get better at it.

I would like to know a good item build for Blademaster or Lifestealer. Would really appreciate it.

@IndieFinch: I'm still at that stage where I prefer passive items over things that I actually have to activate, once I have my blink/bottle/drum that's usually all I can keep on top of without getting overwhelmed. That's probably something I should work on...

I agree with you on the boots, Power Treads should be the default item for anyone who doesn't have a high-damage AOE attack. I might pick Phase in certain situations, but heal boots are a waste of time and boots of travel are only good if you are playing something crazy like Tinker.

@TinoXtreme: I never played LOL, I assume you mean Juggernaut? You want to start with 3 Iron Branches + Tango + Gloves (For making a bracer). Then once you get your wand complete and your Boots upgraded (I'd recommend power treads) I'd start working straight for Sange and Yasa. You can pick up the +6 Agility and Strength for 450 each, then the +10 for 1000. That should transition you into late game quite nicely. After that you probably want to go straight DPS in which case you should aim for something like a Buttefly. Maybe early game you could pick up a Vanguard if you need that extra survivability.

I haven't really played lifestealer but I'd say probably something like a hood or BKB? Someone else will have to confirm that!

@TinoXtreme: For Naix (Lifestealer) usually a core of Power Treads, Vanguard, and Armlet. Armlet is the best item on him, pretty much a must buy. Vanguard is something I prefer, just think it is a great idea for carrys early game so they can get their farm in. He is pretty open for other items, sometimes if you can get an early Hand of Midas you can really farm well to lategame. Then you can pick up a Skull Basher for more 1v1 ability, Sange and Yashsa, Blink Dagger is decent if you want more mobility. BKB is not needed on Naix becuse he already has built in spell immunity in one of his spells.

Juggernaut, usually I prefer to stick with a power treads / battle fury core, possibly pick up a vanguard for survivability. Then just farm forever in the jungle / lanes and work towards a Butterfly, Manta...etc those big agi carry items.

The biggest thing coming from LoL, is if you are playing these two characters your farm needs to be crazy good. In LoL you can have sub par farming with someone like Caitlyn or Vanye and still be able to be that AD carry late game. In Dota, if you don't get your items...your useless. So shoot for around 100cs by the 20 min mark, generally a good goal to try and acomplish. If you can get a few core items on either of these guys by 25/30 min you should be able to completely take over the game.

I hate it that I can't just sort items by stats. Makes it impossible to find anything, unless you already memorized what everything does :/

The only champion that I played and liked kind of was Windruner, because her W is pretty easy to hit, has great range and takes a good chunk of health early so I can harass the enemy down.

No idea what to build on her though. I'd like some mana regen and something that would make my W better, but idk what items give me that. Any other similar characters you could recommend?

@Poki3: I'm assuming that when the game finally gets out of beta the items that you edit into recommended in the shop will be permanent. Fortunately I have spent enough time to know what I need :D

I don't play wind much but a force staff seems pretty common, gives you nice little mana boost, damage and attack speed, as well as not costing too much. In terms of similar heroes... uh... I don't know, maybe someone like Lina or Mirana? Sniper is pretty great harass, too.

Tiamat.

@Poki3

Windrunner:

Early:

• I'd recommend getting a Guardian Ring at the start to build into a Ring of Basilius at the side shop; other than that pick whatever mix of stats/regen you feel most comfortable with
• Get a Magic Stick in lane and build a Magic Wand ASP. The stats and regen are pretty key.

Boots

• Phase: My personal favorite. Good for chasing, setting up Shackle Shots, and the added damage is nice.
• Power Treads: Also a decent choice. Setting to them to Strength gives you extra survivability, setting them to Int gives you bonus damage and mana for harass.

Mid

• Force Staff: Fantastic item on any hero, but it really shines on WR. Cheap, gives you int/damage, and helps you position yourself better for Shackle Shot.
• Mekanism: Helps you fulfill a support role by providing heals to your team and bonus armor for yourself.
• Linken's: Situational if the enemy team has key single-target spells. Gives nice regen and stats, but a bit pricey for what a Windrunner usually pulls in.

Late

• Scythe of Vyse: I can't stress this item enough. It gives you a second disable that you can use to set up better Shackle Shots, huge mana regen, and stats.
• Monkey King Bar/other damage items: If you're really dominating and your team needs a carry, you can pick up some damage item. I wouldn't recommend it in the average game, however.

For boots on Puck, I always go Tranquil Boots when I sidelane. It's essentially 525g for more regen than a Ring of Health (875g), +3 armor and comparable average movement speed to Phase Boots. They're pretty underrated on most heroes IMO.
 
Power Treads work really well though, especially if you go for Bottle and switch your stats around to get the most out of each charge (agility Treads -> use Bottle to heal, intelligence Treads -> cast spells, strength Treads -> taking damage).
 
@TinoXtreme
 
For Lifestealer, you usually want an early Hand of Midas if you're jungling at level 1 (starting items Quelling Blade, Stout Shield and 1x Tango). If you're laning and have an ally that can create kills (allies like Ancient Apparition / Lina / Crystal Maiden), Orb of Venom can be very useful. Something like Stout Shield, 1-2 Iron Branches, 1-2 Tangos with starting gold -> Orb of Venom if you want to go that route.
 
Good items on him are (in no order):
 

• Power Treads / Phase Boots
  
• Desolator / Eye of Skadi / Satanic
  
• Assault Curiass
  
• Mjollnir (Mjollnir stacks with most, if not all attack modifiers in Dota 2, so you could go Desolator / Eye of Skadi / Satanic + Mjollnir with no problems)
  
• Skull Basher -> Abyssal Blade
• Sange and Yasha / Heaven's Balberd (Sange is just a great item on strength heroes for cheap health and damage)
  
• Daedalus
• Monkey King Bar
• Blink Dagger
• Shadow Blade (more of a fun item than anything)
• Armlet
• Black King Bar
• Scythe of Vyse / Orchid Malevolence (situational)
• Drum of Endurance
• Heart of Tarrasque

 
An example build would be Hand of Midas -> Power Treads -> Armlet -> Black King Bar -> Desolator -> Assault Curiass.  
Power Treads -> Armlet is a good place to start your build for most games. Gives you a lot of useful stats and comes in cheap parts. Don't be afraid to experiment though, there are a lot of very good builds on him to try out and practice.

@Kodo_Beast: Honestly, though, health isn't the issue I have when playing puck, it's mana regen mid-game. Even with a bottle/wand I seem to be constantly short of mana - usually because I prioritise my blink before anything else, which just soaks up a load of gold...

@Sweep said:

@Kodo_Beast: Honestly, though, health isn't the issue I have when playing puck, it's mana regen mid-game. Even with a bottle/wand I seem to be constantly short of mana - usually because I prioritise my blink before anything else, which just soaks up a load of gold...

Orchid Malevolence is a great item pickup for Puck. It gives you more damage, attack speed, mana reg and of course the silence. I usually go for Orchid right after Blink Dagger and then into Sheepstick for an even bigger mana pool.

Puck rhymes with fuck.

Good luck on your DOTAing.

@Mageknight said:

@Poki3

Windrunner:

Early:

• I'd recommend getting a Guardian Ring at the start to build into a Ring of Basilius at the side shop; other than that pick whatever mix of stats/regen you feel most comfortable with
• Get a Magic Stick in lane and build a Magic Wand ASP. The stats and regen are pretty key.

Boots

• Phase: My personal favorite. Good for chasing, setting up Shackle Shots, and the added damage is nice.
• Power Treads: Also a decent choice. Setting to them to Strength gives you extra survivability, setting them to Int gives you bonus damage and mana for harass.

Mid

• Force Staff: Fantastic item on any hero, but it really shines on WR. Cheap, gives you int/damage, and helps you position yourself better for Shackle Shot.
• Mekanism: Helps you fulfill a support role by providing heals to your team and bonus armor for yourself.
• Linken's: Situational if the enemy team has key single-target spells. Gives nice regen and stats, but a bit pricey for what a Windrunner usually pulls in.

Late

• Scythe of Vyse: I can't stress this item enough. It gives you a second disable that you can use to set up better Shackle Shots, huge mana regen, and stats.
• Monkey King Bar/other damage items: If you're really dominating and your team needs a carry, you can pick up some damage item. I wouldn't recommend it in the average game, however.

Arcane Boots into Mek can be good if you want to gear WR into a more support role and your team is mana dependent

@Kodo_Beast: Honestly, though, health isn't the issue I have when playing puck, it's mana regen mid-game. Even with a bottle/wand I seem to be constantly short of mana - usually because I prioritise my blink before anything else, which just soaks up a load of gold...

Play Clinkz and rush Divine Rapier.

Just on the a side note, any veterans of dota 1 here think the recommended builds for some of the heroes aren't the best? Radiance wasn't even recommended for bloodseeker,,,

@Starfishhunter9 said:

Just on the a side note, any veterans of dota 1 here think the recommended builds for some of the heroes aren't the best? Radiance wasn't even recommended for bloodseeker,,,

I think the goal of the recommended items are super basic. Arguably, any item in the game is viable on any hero. It would be to hard for them to add all those situational items on the side tab. Most heros seem to only have 1 or 2 core items (on top of Wand / Boots). Then heros like Jakiro have suggested items of couriers where as someone like Crystal Maiden or Vengeful Spirit does not. I think the recomended items do a fine job for the first few times you play a hero, you can pretty easily figure out what other items would work on them.

Plus if you know that you should purchase that item for a hero, you can easily create your own recommended items tab and add anything you want on there. And most Bloodseeker players I see never get a chance for radiance, they usually do some silly force staff build then die over and over.

A note for pretty much any hero and any team:

Pipe of Insight is amazing against any heroes that do magic damage (which is a LOT of them). It adds some great HP regen and 30% magic resistance. It's a great item to build on almost any hero if your team doesn't already have one.

It totally shuts down ultimates from lots of heroes and will at least make the damage a good deal less on others. Pop it as you are pushing in on another team and laugh as you dominate them and they wonder why its so hard to kill your team.

@Rayeth: It's really useful when fighting Zeus.

The only true answer

@Jimi: That video is awesome! As funny as it is...its sad because a ton of people think that way. Dagon has to be the most useless item in all of Dota yet I still manage to see more of them then Pipes / Meks in pub games.