Do you want to learn How to Play Tidehunter in Dota 2?
Tidehunter is an offlane hero with great utility and even better team-fighting potential. However, he is less popular than he once was, but he is still a viable Offlaner in this meta. His insane tankiness and solid sources of damage have no competition. These are just some reasons why all Offlaners should learn how to play Tidehunter in Dota 2.
Apart from just being a general menace in the game with his AoE abilities, he has many other attributes. One of these is the sheer flexibility in the items he can build while playing as an Offlaner. Another aspect of why people choose to play him is how durable and tanky he is. His immense Strength Gain is just another testament to his survivability.
Potent from an early stage in the Game, Tidehunter can command the Mid Game if he has a good Laning Stage. This is also made easy because he has solid abilities that help him win the Lane and harass enemies. Moreover, he has quite a low Skill-Cap and is easy to master. This is another reason why players should learn how to play Tidehunter in Dota 2.
With such variability in his gameplay, he can effortlessly counter a few enemy heroes. Some heroes in this category are Bane, Batrider, Shadow Fiend, and Windranger due to their weak defenses. In contrast, there are also a lot of heroes who Tidehunter can pair well with. These heroes include Underlord, Earthshaker, and Invoker due to their spells.
Tidehunter’s Abilities
Tidehunter’s first ability is Gush which acts as a harassing spell with minor debuffs. These debuffs are that it slows enemies by 40%, while also reducing their armor by a massive extent. Not only this, but Gush also damages enemies for 260 magical damage per cast. Besides this, it has a minimal cooldown of just 12 seconds, making it spammable.
The ability responsible for making Tidehunter just so tanky is Kraken Shell. Kraken Shell allows him to block 70 damage for each hit he receives. Additionally, he has a damage threshold of 450, which, once he crosses, removes all debuffs from Tidehunter. This threshold has a reset timer of 7 seconds, making it usable at all fight stages.
Anchor Smash is Tidehunter’s third ability, and his primary way of farming creeps. Anchor Smash allows him to swing his anchor around himself, dealing damage to nearby enemies. Doing so gives him an attack damage bonus of 175 while he uses Anchor Smash. Lastly, it reduces the attack damage of every enemy unit he attacks.
One of the most potent team fighting abilities in the entire game, Ravage is what makes Tidehunter so lethal. Using Ravage grants him the power to slam the ground and release tentacles that stun enemies. These tentacles spread out over a max radius of 1250 units, and also damage enemies. Lastly, these tentacles travel at a speed of 275 units.
Ravage is the key aspect of why people actually pick Tidehunter. Consequently, it is also the main reason to learn how to play Tidehunter in Dota 2. He can demolish entire teams and does so with just one stunning ability.
How to Utilize his Abilities
As it is a single-target nuke that deals magic damage, it is best as a harassing tool in the Lane. It works best when one uses it to zone enemies when they step up to Lasthit early on. In addition to this, during fights, later on, it is of use as a way to stop enemies from escaping. Lastly, due to its scaling damage, one should unlock it relatively early on.
What many might ignore about Kraken Shell is that the damage block it provides does not stack with other sources. Because of this, one should not buy items like Vanguard, as they provide virtually no value. Moreover, the debuff it provides is ideal for escaping from fights. This is because just 450 damage can allow Tidehunter to dispel any buffs.
Anchor Smash is an extremely great way to farm and allows Tidehunter to match enemy Farming speeds. Moreover, it has quite a measly Mana Cost and cooldown, meaning spamming it is necessary. Even early on in the Lane, it allows him to push Lanes easily. Apart from this, he can also prevent enemies from Last Hitting effectively.
Because of its extremely long cooldown, wasting Ravage is one of the most foolish things one can do. Resultantly, one has to conserve the ability for the correct target or the maximum number of targets. Another aspect one should take care of is to be as close to the target as possible. This allows Tidehunter to stun enemies seamlessly.
Item Build
Though many might think so, Tidehunter is not as tanky in the Lane and needs help to survive. Much of this help comes from buying appropriate healing as his starting items. Firstly, he needs to buy Tangoes, Healing Salves, and Enchanted Mangoes to be on top. He also needs to buy a Quelling Blade, as it allows him to Last Hit in the earlier stages.
Moving on to the end of the Laning Stage, he already needs a solid base of items. These include starting his choice of Boots with the Boots of Speed and also having a Magic Stick. He should also build this Magic Stick into a Magic Wand later on. Furthermore, he can look to build a Soul Ring or a Bracer if he needs to use them.
By the start of the Mid Game, he should ideally have Arcane Boots or Phase Boots in his inventory. At this point, he must choose whether to build a defensive or aggressive item. For a defensive item, he can look to build the Hood of Defiance, which helps him against Magic Damage. As for an aggressive item, building a Blink Dagger is compulsory.
The Blink Dagger is important to make sure that Tidehunter can be available to use his moves. After this, he can complete his Pipe of Insight, as it helps his team in fights a lot. By this stage, Aghanim’s Shard should already be available, another staple in his arsenal. Lastly, he can go for either an Aghanim’s Sceptre or a defensive Wraith Pact.
Laning Stage and Gameplay
In the Lane, Tidehunter is a bit more passive than other Offlaners, however, he can still get plenty of kills. His main goal is to Last Hit without letting the enemy Carry get any Farm. He can easily achieve this by using his abilities to zone the enemy support, without whom the Carry is helpless. Additionally, he should also actively push the Lane.
After the Laning Stage ends, there is a lot to accomplish in the Mid Game for Tidehunter. Firstly, after his Blink Dagger completes, he must make aggressive rotations to other Lanes. This allows him to apply appropriate pressure and make space for his own Core. Another viable move is to Smoke and invade the enemy jungle for fights.
Tidehunter is a highly tanky and utility-based Offlaner who can both bully heroes and be a Frontliner. His excellence in splitting the battlefield and causing mayhem during fights is like no other. Besides this, his teamfight surpasses that of many, and is great at pushing. These are all major factors in learning how to play Tidehunter in Dota 2.
