Guide to Squee and Spleen - The Goblin Techies

Table of contents:

A1. Introduction: Why not the conventional Techies?
A2. Techies' basic information
B. Skill Build
C. Item Build
D. Strategy Summary
D1. Early game
D1a. Levels 1-3
D1b. Levels 4-5
D2. Mid game
D2a. Level 6- When you get 2 Eul’s, Boots of Speed
D2b. When you get 2 Eul’s, Boots of Speed - Level 15
D3. Late game
D3a. Levels 16-18
D3b. Levels 19-25
D4. Additional strategy tips
E. FAQ
F. Replays
G. Links to other Techies guides
H. Conclusion

Note: I expect that you need a minimum of 20 minutes to read this post once, and more time if you actually want to understand why the strategy works. If you've previously used Techies, I expect you'll need even more time to read this guide, as you'll realize that most of your strategies are not effective. For those who just want to know HOW to play Techies instead of understanding WHY I play Techies this way, I would suggest you just read the LIGHTSALMON words. Enjoy!

A1. Introduction: Why not the conventional Techies?

The focus of this guide is not to teach you where to place your Remote Mines to kill heroes. No! This guide is to teach you how to be as strong as your allies, push with your allies / (or alone), and wreck the enemy base.

Before I go on, you'll probably be curious why I think this way of playing Techies is better than planting Remote and Proximity Mines traps to kill heroes.

1. Proximity Mine is the best anti-building non-ultimate spell. A level 4 Proximity Mine deals over 200 damage to a tower. If you stay back and lay Remote Mines, you'll not have the chance to damage the towers;

2. If you adopt the conventional strategy, you'll seriously lag behind all other heroes in terms of experience. At late game, it is not surprising to see that a conventional Techies is 5+ levels lower than the highest level hero in the game;

3. Ever experienced the following situations when you plant Remote Mine traps?

i) You work very hard on putting tons of Remote Mines, but then your n00b teammates fed a Clinkz/ Troll so much that the Clinkz/ Troll could afford to have a gem and shoot down all your Remote Mines;

ii) In a game with two towers e.g. a Centaur and a Skeleton King, they both buy gems and push with all their allies in one single lane;

iii) In a game which a spider places webs all the way to your base, such that all your mines are exposed when creeps come;

iv) In a game which a treant uses the maphack skills everywhere in the map;

v) In a game which 2 enemy heroes have Level 3 Necronomicons and cast the true sight pets every 30 seconds;

If you say “yes” to any of the above situations, and wonder what a Techies can do in these situations, you’d better read this guide. MY STRATEGY IS IMMUNE TO SENTRY WARDS, OR ANY OTHER TRUESIGHT ITEMS. To further illustrate the weaknesses of a conventional Techies, I’ll explain a strategy called “minesweeping” in the Strategy section on how you should counter a Techies that lays Remote Mines everywhere in the map.

4. You should use your skills synergistically. For a conventional Techies, before he puts 5+ Remote Mines on a spot, he needs to push / ask his allies to push a lane till he has enough time to mine a spot. During the period which he lays Remote Mines, he can’t push, and he can’t kill towers. And then he has to wait for another minute or two for the enemy heroes to push till they reach that spot. What a huge investment on time, and you don't even know if you will get your return. Also, if you have a conventional Techies partner, you may have encountered situations which you have pushed all the way to the enemy base, but then your Techies partner is asking you to retreat so that he can do something with his Remote Mines. Isn’t this counterproductive?

5. Remote Mine is an AOE spell. Do you have a habit of using Quill Spray/ Pulse Nova/ Shockwave on just one single target?

6. How many times have you misclicked D and blown up all Remote Mines in the map by accident?

I hope I've made it clear why a conventional Techies strategy has its disadvantages, so here goes my way of playing Techies.

A2. Techies' basic information


Squee and Spleen - The Goblin Techies



Range: 650 | | Move Speed: 270 | Primary: INT
Str: 17 + 2 | Agi: 14 + 1.3 | Int: 22 + 2.9
Damage: 24 - 26 | HP: 473 | Mana: 286
HP Regen: 0.76 | Mana Regen: 0.9
Attack Speed: 1.46 (+ 14% IAS) | Armor: 1

From the above table, plus my personal experience, I've summarized Techies' pros and cons:

Pros:

1. Perfect tool for getting first blood (suicide);
2. Best building demolisher (Proximity Mine);
3. Probably the best pusher (Proximity and Remote Mines);
4. Looks innocuous such that enemies won't focus fire on you in team battles;
5. Best hero in defending base;
6. Richest hero;

Note: I won't say "good at hero killing" is Techies' pros. Assume that you place 6 Remote Mines at the same spots, and in the ideal situation, you kill 5 heroes. You spend around 50 seconds to plant the mine trap. 50 is computed by the cooldown of Remote Mines (10 seconds) times the number of cooldown you have to wait (5). In other words, in the best possible scenario, it takes you on average 10 seconds to kill a hero using mine traps. Now in my mind I can at least think of 20 heroes who can kill a full hp Centaur in less than 10 seconds. Usually you can get at most 3 kills using one single trap. If you take sentry wards into account, you can see why mine traps don't justify Techies as a good hero killer.

Cons:

1. Very fragile;
2. Horrible attack speed. Anti-mage's base attack speed is around 1.75 times of Techies';
3. Slow movespeed;
4. Rather hard to level up when mana regen is low;

If you analyze the pros and cons carefully, you'll easily reach this conclusion: let Techies survive longer and give him mana regeneration items, then he'll push and tear down base and earn tons of gold. All my strategies, item and skill builds are based on this belief.

B. Skill build:

A. Proximity Mines



Plants a mine that explodes when an enemy nears or when it is destroyed by an enemy. The explosion deals less damage if the target is farther away.. Deals damage to buidings. You may only have 15 mines placed at a time.

Level 1 - Deals 250 damage within 200 AoE, 150 damage within 500 AoE .
Level 2 - Deals 350 damage within 200 AoE, 200 damage within 500 AoE.
Level 3 - Deals 450 damage within 200 AoE, 250 damage within 500 AoE.
Level 4 - Deals 550 damage within 200 AoE, 300 damage within 500 AoE.

Mana Cost: 125 / 150 / 175 / 205

Cooldown: 25 / 20 / 15 / 12

B. Statis Trap



Plants an invisible Stasis Trap that stuns enemies within 300 AOE when detonated. Two actions are required to trigger the trap. First, at least one enemy has to physically walk past the trap. After someone has walked past the trap, at least one enemy (does not necessarily have to be the same one) has to be physically within the range of the trap for 2 seconds.

Level 1 - Ward lasts 4.5 minutes and stuns for 3 seconds.
Level 2 - Ward lasts 5 minuntes and stuns for 4 seconds.
Level 3 - Ward lasts 5.5 minutes and stuns for 5 seconds.
Level 4 - Ward lasts 6 minutes and stuns for 6 seconds.

Mana Cost: 80 / 110 / 140 / 160
Cooldown: 20 / 16 / 13 / 10

C. Suicide Squad, Attack!



Sacrifice yourself for the greater good. Deals massive area of effect damage. If you die and kill some units, you will earn gold, but not the experience. If the enemies are within 200 AoE when you suicide, they'll receive full damage, if they're within 200- 500 AoE, they'll receive reduced damage. Do not damage buildings.

Level 1 - Deals 650 / 350 damage.
Level 2 - Deals 850 / 400 damage.
Level 3 - Deals 1150/ 450 damage.
Level 4 - Deals 1550/ 500 damage.

Mana Cost: 100 / 125 / 150 / 175

Cooldown: 75

D. Remote Mines



Plant an invisible mine that will only activate when triggered. Do not damage buildings. Last 8 minutes.

Level 1 - Deals 300 damage when activated, 425 AoE.
Level 2 - Deals 450 damage when activated, 435 AoE.
Level 3 - Deals 600 damage when activated, 450 AoE.

Mana Cost: 200 / 240 / 300

Cooldown: 10

Here is my suggested skill build:

1. Suicide
2. Proximity Mines
3. Suicide
4 - 5. Proximity Mines
6. Remote Mines
7. Proximity Mines
8 - 10. Attribute Bonuses
11. Remote Mines
12-13. Attribute Bonuses
14 - 15. Statis Trap
16. Remote Mines
17 - 18. Statis Trap
19 - 23. Attribute Bonus
24 - 25. Suicide

I believe nobody will object the idea of maxxing Proximity Mines and Remote Mines whenever possible, so the possible questions will be:

• Why get suicide at the beginning of the game, and
• Why get Stasis trap at levels 14, 15, 17, 18.

Here's the reply to the first question:
I can think of at least 4 reasons of getting 1 or 2 levels of suicide at the beginning of the game.

a. If you can kill a hero and get first blood, you'll get 200 gold (first blood) + 100 gold (hero kill) + ~100 gold (creep kills). This should be the strongest reason why you get suicide.

b. Enemy heroes, especially melee heroes, will be harsher on you if they know you don't have suicide. By suiciding at least once, you're giving a signal that they should not mess around with you (at least at early levels).

c. At the first few levels, Techies’ mana regeneration is poor, but it takes only around 10 seconds to respawn. Just consider suiciding an unconventional way to visit the fountain. You lose around 50 - 100 gold but this is negligible for a hero that can get 23k gold in a game. In fact, even a sapphire water + clarity potion cost 150 gold.

d. Even if you can't kill the enemy heroes, most likely their HP will be lower than 200. Either they have to go to fountain, or your ally hero can finish them off. In either case, you're doing something good for your ally. Very often when I suicide at level 2 and come back from fountain, my lane partner is at level 3, while the enemy heroes are only level 2, because they also have to return to fountain.

Here's the answer to the second question:

Stasis traps are not that useful before level 14 for the following reason:

a. In early/mid game, your priority should be to take down the first 2 towers, and more importantly, to avoid unnecessary deaths, rather than to kill heroes. In this aspect, cyclones, which disable enemy heroes for 4 seconds, are already sufficient.

b. In early/ game, it's rather hard to place a Stasis trap that actually stuns heroes. Take the second mid Scourge tower for example. Enemies can appear in 3 directions: from their base, behind the bush, and from the normal creep path. It's very hard to predict where they come from, so it's very hard to place a trap accordingly. If you put it in front of the tower, then you're still vulnerable to enemies coming from behind.

c. If you use my item build, you'll have 12 cyclones + 10 purges, a total of 22 non-renewable disables. Normally you won't use up all the charges, so it doesn't harm to use more of them before you get Manta Style or Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse

d. Stun traps only stun 3,4,5,6 seconds at levels 1,2,3,4. Moreover, I suspect that heroes farther away from the trap suffer from shorter stuns. So in reality, the effective stun time maybe only 2, 2.7, 3.3, 4 seconds.

C. Item Build

Techies' item build can be very flexible as long as your creativity allows. Getting 20k gold for Techies is possible before you reach level 25, and if the game really lasts more than 80 minutes, you may get as much as 30k gold.

I believe the “right” items for Techies before level 16 are the ones that maximize his survivability and mana regeneration. Why survivability is especially important with Techies? Remember that after level 11 you should be able to kill all enemy creeps with your mines. In other words, once you’re dead, you will lose precious time to kill creeps. To Techies, surviving in battlefield = blowing lotsa creeps = earning lotsa gold. This is the basic golden formula for Techies. Therefore the basic items I’ll get for Techies are 2 Eul’s scepters and Boots of Speed. Usually I’ll get at least 2 Eul’s for 2 reasons: first, you may convert one Eul’s into a Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse later so that you can disable 2 heroes in group battles, and second, you really need a lot of cyclones to save yourself because you push much faster than any other heroes, and you should expect yourself to be ganked.

From midgame onwards, there will be a lot of team battles. In order to ensure that you can participate in team battles and stop pushes, I recommend you buy the following items in any order:

1. Boots of Travel
2. Oblivion Staff and Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse Recipe
3. Diffusal Blade
4. Necronomicon and recipes

Boots of Travel allow you to teleport to different places. It's good for both offense and defense. With the other items, you're the best disabler in the game. You can cyclone, hex, purge, mana burn, and summon Necronomicon warriors that have true sight. You have the obligation to stay with your allies in group battles. After you've got the above items, you can get the following items in any order:

5. Vitality Booster and Manta Style Recipe complete Manta Style
6. Aegis/ Divine Rapier

Manta Style further increases your survivability. It also helps confuse enemies when you want to run away from them. If the game is not ended, you should consider buying Aegis and Divine Rapier. This may seem like a joke, but is possible for any game that lasts more than 90 minutes. Throw away the Eul's Scepter if you need an extra slot.

As suggested by J3M, if you believe that you're still too fragile, you may want to buy a Dagger of Escape. A Dagger of Escape is essential for running away from any hero that runs faster than you and has Black King Bar e.g. Naix with rage.

Here is the recommended final item build:

Core Items:



Optional items (2 out of 4):



D. Strategy Summary

OK, so you think you're already a gosu, and don't want to go over the guide word by word? For your convenience I've created a summary of techniques which I expect to be common knowledge of all Techies players. If you have no idea what I'm talking about here, you'd better read the guide thoroughly.

Do you know:

1. How to suicide properly (in section D1a);

2. How to lay Proximity Mines to kill creeps (in section D1b);

3. How to execute 405 combo (in section D2a);

4. How to push against a ranged hero (in section D2a);

5. How to wreck towers effectively (in section D2b);

6. How to get all creep kills after you've reached level 11 (in section D2b);

7. How to set cyclone traps (in section D2b);

8. How to place Stasis traps to stun enemy heroes (in section D3a);

9. How to react when 3+ heroes with crazy items are chasing you (in section D3a, and D4 Question 6);

10. How to kill racks when enemy towers are down (in section D3b);

11. What to do when you're killed and have enough gold to revive (in section D3a);

12. How to push against fed heroes with gem (in section D4 question 2), and

13. How to minesweep Remote Mines (in section D4 question 4).

If you are familiar with all the skills here, go play now and own some n00bs!

D1. Early Game

D1a. Level 1-3:

Go straight to the mid lane. Kindly ask if your teammate can lend you Boots of Speed if he has one.

Don't pick any skills until you know who you're fighting against. If you’re fighting against 2 stunners, get Proximity Mines. Or else get Suicide first Try to hit each enemy hero a few times, then suicide and get first blood. You should note that at this level, your damage is around 30, so you shouldn't spend your time getting the last hit on creeps because it's simply not worth. You should instead harass the enemy heroes because your attack range is 650.

If you're fighting heroes that have more HP e.g. Centaur, don't commit suicide. Wait till level 2 (or 3). At level 2, get Proximity Mines. If you're not confident enough to get first blood, wait till level 3 and get level 2 suicide.

Tips

1. Now let's go over the proper way of suiciding in front of the tower: when you're fighting in the middle of the river, lay a mine in front of the melee creeps. With a 300 AOE damage, your ally and your creeps should be able to push past the river and walk towards the enemy tower. Now wait for your next wave of creeps. Once they've arrived at the enemy tower, march with your creeps, put a Proximity Mine on the enemy tower, and then kaboom the enemy hero. You should have just enough mana to place 2 mines and a suicide at level 2/3. Even your level 1 suicide can't kill anyone, the Proximity Mine should be sufficient to do the rest. If you're not confident on your skills, get level 2 suicide and do the same thing.

2. How to take advantage of enemies' spells (including stuns) to suicide:
It's possible to suicide on almost every hero, including stunners. The idea is to ask your lane partner to act like a n00b and lure the enemies to hit him with whatever spells. Once your ally is hit, just march up and use suicide. For example, when Lion comes and stuns your ally, common sense dictates that he'll usually follow up by landing 1 - 2 hits on your ally. Now go kill Lion immediately.

Super fun part: How to suicide against Pudge? First land a few hits on him and make sure that he's less than 400 hp (or 600 hp if you have level 2 suicide). Now, ACT LIKE A N00B AND LET HIM HOOK YOU. Click suicide and hit him when you're next to him. MWAHAHAHAHAHA

3. DON’T DON’T DON’T ATTEMPT TO SUICIDE IN FRONT OF A TOWER IF YOU HAVE LESS THAN 200 HP! Remember that the tower always hits the enemy with lowest HP. If you have less than 200 HP, the tower will kill before you can even walk near it.

D1b. Level 4-5:

This is the boring part. Simply lay mines and farm. One more note: you should always stay in the front line provided the enemy cannot stun. Nobody wants to stay close to Techies if you've committed suicide before. Use this to your advantage to deny creep kills from enemy heroes. If you see good chances of using suicide, you can do it. If you push far enough, remember to land Proximity Mines in front of the enemy tower.

Tips

4. Let's go over the proper way of using Proximity Mines on creeps: You should place your mine IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ENEMY CREEPS WHEN YOUR CREEPS ENGAGE IN BATTLE WITH ENEMY CREEPS. A Proximity Mine is triggered once the first enemy creep walks within the blast range. In this case, the slowest melee creep will receive much less damage. That's why you should lay mines in the middle of a bunch of melee creeps, rather than laying mines before the creeps come. Placing mine in the middle of the creeps also helps scare away melee heroes. After placing the mine, you should hit the ranged creep. The Proximity Mine blast + several attack on your own should guarantee a ranged creep kill, plus 1 additional melee creep kill if you're lucky. Of course if your enemy heroes can stun, you should not do this. Just put mines and stay back.

5. The blast range of a Proximity Mine is around 300. The closer the enemy, the more damage it receives. Sometimes properly placed Proximity Mines can hurt enemy heroes who think they are far away from the mines.

Your worst enemy

At this stage, you have only one worst opponent -- Tinker. Tinker is even worse than Lich/ Lina/ Jaina etc., because you simply can't dodge Tinker's missile. 3, or sometimes even 2 missiles can force you to visit the fountain. At this stage, only Sapphire water/ clarity potion/ suicide for a fountain trip is the solution.

D2. Mid game:

D2a. Level 6- whenever you get 2 Eul’s

With Remote Mines, your play style can be less monotonous, but since you still do not have unlimited mana, you should not spam your mines. Use Proximity Mines to creep as usual. Before you have a Eul’s, you should not be too aggressive. If you sense that your enemies are good players, you should stop using Proximity Mines so as to let them push a bit towards your side. That way you won't have to venture too far, minimizing your chance of being killed. Techies is very vulnerable before he gets at least 1 Eul's Staff. If you have a Eul’s and are confident on yourself, go take down the second tower. If the enemies gank you, cyclone him and run. Your left hand should be always on the Num Pad when you're in front of enemy towers. Once you lay mines on the creeps, fall back behind river. If you have additional mana, place Remote Mines in strategic spots like most conventional Techies do.

Tips

6. You may wonder how I can push to the second tower with a vulnerable Techies. Placing Proximity Mines in the middle of the creeps should be sufficient to scare away melee enemy heroes (or else they'll be blasted). If the melee heroes stun you and you know you can't run, just place a mine and suicide. Most likely melee heroes won't bother to risk their lives to kill you.

The problem is how to push properly when playing against ranged heroes. Of course if your opponents are Lion/ Lina etc. you should not risk your life and push that far. Just fall back and place Remote Mines. However, in other cases like Troll/ Razor/ other ranged heroes with no stuns, SIMPLY SET A REMOTE MINE IN FRONT OF THE RANGED CREEP, AND BLAST IT IMMEDIATELY. This may sound like a n00b idea but think about it: a Remote Mine deals 300 AOE damage, including the hero, and the damage is not affected by the distance between the heroes and the Remote as long as they’re within the blast range (around 200 radius). How many ranged heroes can eat 2-3 Remote Mines without having to return to fountain?

EVEN IF YOU SKIP THE WHOLE GUIDE, PLEASE DON'T SKIP THIS PART.

7: Let’s go over the proper way to help your allies to defend pushes. Before the enemy creeps approach, place a Remote Mine first, then at about 200 range BEHIND YOUR REMOTE, place a Proximity Mine. When enemy creeps come, they usually come in a line. When the first melee creep walks over the Proximity Mines, the third melee creep should be right on top of your Remote Mine. Blast your Remote Mine now. The combined effect of a Proximity Mine and a Remote Mine guarantee that even the ranged melee creep will die instantly. So the consequence is that you used 405 mana, got around 200 gold, and saved your base temporarily. An additional advantage of this technique is that you can do this without the help of your allied creeps.

In later paragraphs I'll call this a 405 combo (since you use 405 mana). However, NEVER EVER DO THIS IN FRONT OF 2 OR MORE ENEMY HEROES. You’ll be killed instantly. In this case, just place a Proximity Mine right next to your tower to wipe away most enemy creeps first, then use the 405 combo when your spells are ready. If you have Necronomicon already, you can summon 2 pets to distract the enemies so that you can safely lay mines.



The above picture shows how you should set up a 405 combo. However, if the enemies have gems and wards, you should place your Remote and Proximity Mines at almost the same point. When melee creeps see your mines, they'll attack the mines, so you should place your mines together to achieve maximum damage power.



There are also variations to the 405 combo. For example, if you want to switch lane very soon, and the enemies are pushing, you can set up multiple 405 combos in the same lane before you leave. This assures that you can stop pushes in one lane for a minute.



405 combo can be combined with Remote Mine killing (good news for conventional Techies player). Set up a 405 combo as usual.

However, add more Remote Mines at the point which you've placed the first Remote. When creeps walk past this point, simply blow ONE OF THE REMOTE MINES. Most likely your enemies will be convinced that there is not any other mine, and will walk past the rest of your Remote Mines.



Now it should be clear why sentry wards are a joke to this strategy. There is simply no mine to be detected. Once you lay a mine, you instantly convert it into cash. Enemy heroes can't kill the Remote Mine if you blast it in front of them immediately after you've laid it.

Your worst enemies

At this stage, Tinker is still annoying, as your HP pool is still rather low. In addition, another annoying opponent is SNIPER. Things go even worse if he has a lot of mana regeneration item. He can simply snipe you over and over again, and you cannot run away. As before, the counter is to either buy sapphire water or to visit the fountain. If you're really being impatient, you may get Necronomicon before your first Eul's scepter, and mana burn sniper.

D2b. From whenever you get 2 Eul’s - Level 15


Now mana should not be a problem. I assume you'll get 2 Eul’s and a pair of Boots of Speed ($5200) after level 11. If you have not taken down the second mid tower yet, now it's time to break it. Use cyclone generously as usual and push all the way to the tower.



When you’re in front of the enemy tower, lay a Remote Mine right next to the tower first. When enemy creeps reach their tower, you should lay a Proximity Mine in the middle of the enemy creeps, and blow your Remote Mine immediately afterwards. Boom! The consequence should be you getting 250 gold, dealing 240 damage to tower, and most of your creeps still being alive. Of course, once again, use cyclone when necessary.

Tips

8: Now let's go over the proper way of killing creeps after you've hit level 11. First wait till your creeps engage in battle with enemy creeps. Go to the middle of the crowd to lay a Proximity Mine. Right after you've laid a Proximity Mine, lay a Remote Mine (make sure the Remote Mine can blow the ranged creep), and keep on pressing D (detonate) afterwards. In >90 % of the situations, you should get ALL creep kills.



Caption: You should be able to do this all the time...

One note though: if you meet enemy creeps one screen away from their tower, don’t use Proximity Mines. Just use a Remote Mine to clear enemy creeps, so that you can lay a Proximity Mine in front of the tower. Placing Proximity Mines in front of the towers is always the first thing you want to do.

9: Cyclone trap: If there's just one hero going for you hoping to get an easy kill, you can use a cyclone trap on him. Cyclone the hero first. If there are creeps around, lay a Remote Mine right beneath the cyclone, and a Proximity Mine immediately afterwards. Don't reverse the order, because if you lay a Proximity Mine first, the creeps will detonate the Proximity Mine before the hero goes down. If you use hex instead of cyclone, then the order doesn't matter.



When the hero comes down, detonate your Remote Mine, and run away.



This combo should take away around 500 - 750 HP from the enemy hero, depending on how close you place your Proximity Mine relative to the hero. However, the success of this trap highly depends on when the enemy creeps detonate the Proximity Mine. Paradoxically, even though you lay a Proximity Mine under the cyclone, there's little chance that the enemy hero will detonate it. I would advise against using cyclone traps when enemy creeps are absent (unless the enemy hero's HP is lower than 500.

10. Use Boots of Travel to help push multiple lanes. The idea is to first push a lane (preferably a side lane), lure all the enemy heroes to attack you, use hex/ cyclone/ purge on them, and then teleport to another side lane and continue to push. Even if your HP drops to lightsalmon or even red, you can still kill 1 to 2 waves of creeps before those heroes can catch you. You gain gold very quickly, and meanwhile, enemy heroes can't earn gold because they have to run after you all the time.

Your worst enemies

At this stage, Tinker and Sniper won't be as annoying as before, as your HP pool is larger thanks to the stats bonus.

Naix with avatar is lethal for Techies. You can't cyclone him, you can't outrun him, and you can't fight him back. Just click on open space to suicide. Remember you can suicide without targeting anyone.

D3. Late Game:

D3a. Level 16-18:

FOR TECHIES, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STAGE OF THE GAME. EVEN IF YOUR TEAMMATES ARE HORRIBLE, YOUR PERFORMANCE DURING THIS PERIOD CAN TURN THE TIDE OF THE BATTLE.


If the melee creep life is no more than 600, this will be your best moment in the game. YOU CAN JUST USE 1 REMOTE MINE TO KILL ALL CREEPS. WOW! Note: At the beginning of the game, melee creep life is 550. Creep life increases by 10 every 7.5 minutes, so once the clock hits the 45 minute mark, melee creep life will be 610.

Now given the great competitive edge, YOU SHOULD TRY TO PUSH UNDER ALMOST ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. You can either push with your allies, or ask your allies to push one lane (to attract enemy heroes), and pick another lane to push. If the enemy heroes push your base, simply ask your teammates to defend the base, and you can pick another lane and solo. If the enemies push with all heroes, you should still attempt to wreck the base. The only difference is that you should lend your Eul’s/ Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse/ Diffusal Blade to your teammates.

You should advance quickly to the enemy base. Now remember I ask you to level up your Stasis traps between levels 14 - 18? They should be very useful now.

When besieging enemy base, simply put Remote Mines and Proximity Mines as usual. Now, do one additional thing. PLACE A STASIS TRAP BEHIND YOU. Why place it behind you? First, if you place Stasis traps in front of creeps, most likely your traps will be activated by the creeps not the heroes. Second, usually when you're in front of enemy towers, your opponents are most likely to come from behind. Placing a Stasis trap behind gives you vision (like an observer ward). With a Stasis trap + Eul’s + Necronomicon + Boots of Travel + Diffusal Blade + Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse, you should be able to run away from otherwise impossible situations. You can then cyclone 1, hex another, use Necronomicon pets to pacify/ mana burn 2 heroes, purge another hero, run away and hope your Stasis trap can help you hold enemies.

Here are two illustrations of how to place Stasis traps when you're on the enemy base. The idea is to predict where the enemies will gank you, and place Stasis traps accordingly. Placing the Stasis traps in zigzag pattern also helps because enemy heroes will step on either one of them as long as they don't run in zigzag pattern.





Tips

11. In case you're ganked and killed, YOU SHOULD BUY BACK AND TP TO THEIR BASE IMMEDIATELY. In most cases the enemies won't be aware that you can come back to their base in 10 seconds, giving you time to wreck their base. Also you have to be aware that A TECHIES WITH BOOTS OF TRAVEL DOESN'T LOSE GOLD FROM BUYING BACK.

Let's do some math to show this.

Assume you're a level 18 Techies, and need 72 seconds to respawn. If you do not buy back, you'll get 0 income from creep kills in the next 72 seconds. During these 72 seconds, at least 3 waves of creeps are spawn in every lane. If you blow them all up, you should get at least 900 gold from the creeps. Now if you choose to buy back, you've to spend around 1050 gold. So in fact buying back only costs you around 150. If you can get a tower kill during this period, you've already gained.

Besides, you gain experience (3 waves of creeps), and you can help your teammates in those 72 seconds if possible. These factors should further convince you that buying back a well-equipped Techies is a good idea.

Your worst enemies

There are many heroes that you should worry about. Read Section D4, Question 1 on what to do against these heroes.

D3b. Level 19- End game

Even though your prime time has passed, your ability of wrecking enemy base is still significant. Just teleport to wherever nearest to their base, and use all your Proximity Mines/ Remote Mines/ Stasis traps.

Repeat this procedure a few times until the game is over. If your base is pushed heavily, teleport back to base and use 405 combo to stop pushes. A 405 combo at level 16 onwards can almost kill a full wave of greater creeps (if you're unlucky you may not be able to kill all ranged creeps), so you can still defend a lane even if your racks are down. Use your cyclone/ Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse/ Diffusal Blade/ Necronomicon to disable enemy heroes for your allies if necessary. However, don't lay Remote/ Proximity Mines/ Stasis traps when enemy heroes are present. They won't give you time to lay the mines, and will kill you immediately. Also, if you have noticed, your attack power at this stage is not too low (200+). If you use Manta and Necronomicon, you have 2 images and 2 pets, giving you an additional 250 damage. Even your regular attack hurts!

If your teammates all suck and you're the only hope, you should get Aegis of the Immortal asap and suicide their base i.e. lay 2 Remote Mines and 2 Proximity Mines, then use level 4 suicide between their racks.

Tips

12: Focus on the enemy racks first. Lay your Proximity Mines between the racks, and your Remote Mines at the creep spawning point (somewhere in front of the racks). If your creeps are fighting enemy creeps, don't detonate your Remotes. Keep on putting Proximity Mines / Remote Mines/ Stasis traps until enemy heroes gank you. When being chased, go beyond their racks, and leave the base through another lane. Never escape from the lane which you enter, because many enemy heroes should be waiting for you there. Explode the Remote Mines first, and then lead the enemies to walk past their racks. If you have 2 Remote and 2 Proximity Mines on their base, you should have done around 1800 AOE damage to the area. Also, if you escape from another lane, you'll be hit by the towers a few times, but there should be fewer enemy heroes. Even if there is one, just use cyclone and run.

However, if you're about to kill a rack, DON'T RUN. Split images and summon Necronomicon warriors to confuse the enemy and blow up the racks first. Even if you die, it's still worth it. If you have bought a Dagger of Escape, just go next to the cliff and then blink away.

Your worst enemies:

Everyone hates you at this stage, and they'll come to gank you, so there is basically no point to describe individual counter to Techies.

D4. Additional strategy tips:

The questions are ranked in descending order of importance i.e. the first question is much more important than the last question.

1. How exactly do I run away from heroes? For example, I’ve troubles with running away from heroes with Avatar on!

First of all, I’ll assume that you’re at least level 14 and have Boots of Travel and Eul’s, since most heroes below level 14 do not have Black King Bars, and can be easily countered by Eul’s. With Boots of Travel, your movespeed is 370, so basically all heroes with less than 370 movespeed are not a problem. Just cyclone or purge them and run. This also works on blink heroes such as Phantom Assassin and Anti-mage, but in these cases you may have to use more than one cyclone.

Now there are only a few heroes who can outrun you. These heroes include Clinkz, Gondar (in windwalk), Void, Bloodseeker, Visage, Troll, Naix, Druid Bear, Invoker, Nightstalker, Prince Arthas, Bristleback, and Spiritbreaker. Running away from them is not a problem if they don’t have Black King Bars. Just use cyclones repeatedly and run (you may need to use it more than once since they run faster than you do). IF THESE HEROES HAVE BLACK KING BARS AND WANT TO KILL YOU, GET DAGGER OF ESCAPE IMMEDIATELY. Once you see them with Avatar on, run! Your task is to survive for 10 seconds. If there are allied creeps around, blink behind the creeps and run. If you’re lucky, the enemy hero will get stuck by your creeps. Continue to run until the avatar effect is off. If there are no allied creeps around, you still have to blink and run. However, in this case, use blink smartly. If there is a cliff nearby, jump across the cliff. If there are bushes nearby, blink to the other side of the bushes. The idea is to maximize the walking distance between you and the chaser. Usually you can still run away.

If you have Necronomicon, you can summon the pets to harass the enemy by burning his mana (the blue one) and disabling his attack (the brown one). If you have Manta Style, split image and run with all your images. Alternatively you may whack the enemy if you're confident that you can win.

Note: Purge can dispel Prince Arthas' repel, and Druid Bear's rabid. However, purge cannot cancel Black King Bar.

Now there are 3 cases which are worth special attention:

1. Bloodseeker: The conventional wisdom is wrong here. IN ORDER TO ESCAPE FROM BLOODSEEKER, YOU CAN’T PHYSICALLY RUN AWAY FROM HIM. To counter Bloodseeker, you need an Eul’s and a Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse. Once he uses rupture on you, double click the “H” key to hold position. As he starts to hit you, use cyclone on him. Place a Stasis trap right on yourself. Once he comes back from cyclone, use hex on him. If he is stunned by the Stasis trap, then just wait till the rupture effect is over and leave. Or else, use cyclone again. The duration of 2 cyclones and a hex should be longer than that of a level 3 rupture.

2. Stealth Assassin: He’s troublesome because it’s very difficult to use cyclone or hex on him. In this case, right after he’s used blink strike on you, blink away using Dagger of Escape, and run. Since Stealth Assassin’s just used blink strike, he can’t possibly blink again to hit you. Normally once his blink strike is out of range, he can’t hit you. But stay
alert. You’re not safe until you’ve reached your allied tower.

Alternative (but stupid) method: If you have an allied hero around, ask that hero to come. Place a Stasis trap on yourself, and wait for the allied hero to escort you back to base.

A third method: Use Manta Style and run.

A fourth method: Summon your level 3 Necronomicon pets, hex the enemy, and whack him afterwards.

3. Faceless Void: There is no counter to him if he has Black King Bar on, uses Time Walk on you and cast Chronosphere immediately after that. However, the good news is in order to dodge this combo, you just need to use Dagger of Escape once, while he has to press a lot of keys. If your fingers are slow, you should pray that the Faceless Void does not buy a Black King Bar.

Some additional general tips for escaping:
1. Always use Necronomicon summons to distract the enemy when running away;

2. Use Manta to confuse enemy. However, in certain situations, you can actually fight back with and your images. Use your experience to tell yourself when to run and when to fight.

3. If you're sure that you can't run away, use suicide! Don't give enemy heroes free kills.

2.What exactly should I do in team battles?

You're the best disabler in the team, so your role in group battle should be disabling enemies.

Let me roughly classify all DotA heroes into 6 categories:

1. Killers e.g. Clinkz, Razor

2. Heroes with crazy channeling ultimates e.g. Jaina, Enigma

3. Heroes with non-channeling ultimates e.g. Luna, Hydralisk, Leshrac, Treant, Rhasta

4. Tanks e.g. Centaur, Tidehunter, Pudge

5. Disablers e.g. Lion, Vengeful Spirit

6. Others e.g. Keeper of the Light, Silencer, Chen

What should you do when you just have an Eul's Scepter...

Use cyclone on type 2 heroes, then type 3 heroes. Preferably use cyclone when Jaina has JUST started to use her ultimate, so that you completely waste her ultimate.

What should you do when you have an Eul's Scepter, and Necronomicon...

Eul's Scepter for type 2 heroes, and use your Necronomicon summons to harass type 3 heroes before they cast their ultimates.

If they've already cast their ultimates, then go hit type 5 heroes.

What should you do when you have Eul's Scepter, Necronomicon, and Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse...

Hex type 3 heroes and whack them to death before they can use any ultimate. If there is no type 3 hero, hex type 1 heroes.
Necronomicon summons should hit type 5 heroes first. If there is no type 5 hero, then mana burn type 4 heroes.

Cyclone should be reserved for type 2 heroes. Break their spells once they've cast their ultimates. If there isn't any type 2 heroes, use cyclone on type 4 heroes.

What should you do when you have Eul's Scepter, Necronomicon, Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse, and Diffusal Blade...
Same as above, and purge type 4 heroes once he starts to flee.

Of course these guidelines assume that you're the only one doing everything in the team, which is clearly unrealistic in team games. When you have another disabler in your team, you should coordinate with your teammate to achieve the best result, but even if you cooperate, the order of hex/ cyclone should be the same as when you're alone.

3. Where should I place mines on the river/ secret shops/ other special locations?

As if the conventional Techies approach is not flawed enough, I'll explain a skill called "Minesweeping" which counters any conventional Techies' mines. The idea is to have an intelligence based hero to buy a Necronomicon. Pick a lane to minesweep. Use whatever methods to push past the first tower. Note that if you're pushing the mid lane, let your creeps walk up the ramp first so that the conventional Techies' mines right above the ramp won't harm you. Once you've pushed past the first tower, summon the Necronomicon pets, check all the way to the second tower, use your pets to check all nearby locations, especially the ramps and the secret shop. If you can't check the other side's secret shop, then just check your own secret shop and ask your allies not to go to the other secret shop. Use the pets to clear all Remote Mines/ Proximity Mines on their way. Since they're magic immune, they are not afraid of Remote, Proximity Mines and even Stasis traps. You have at least 3 minutes before a conventional Techies can reset the Remote Mines.Do you still think the conventional Techies approach is useful at all?

4. How to fight against a well-fed hero (at least 3 levels above you) who has a gem?

As a golden rule for every hero (not just Techies), if there's a well fed Clinkz roaming in the map, NOBODY SHOULD WALK PAST THE RIVER. Clinkz outlevels you most probably because he has many hero kills, so don't walk past the river to minimize the chance to be killed. IN A SITUATION WHICH NO HERO DIES, TECHIES SHOULD LEVEL THE FASTEST BECAUSE HE CAN ALWAYS KILL ALL CREEPS. Having this in mind, I'll use 405 combo right in front of my tower, just like how you place your mines on the enemy tower. When enemy creeps come, just blow the mines in front of your tower. Laying mines in front of the tower also prevents Clinkz from doing any sort of minesweeping. If your allies just stay next to the tower for a few minutes, you should be able to narrow down the level gap between you and the Clinkz.

In case you really want to be aggressive against well fed heroes, use the cyclone trap on the hero when enemy creeps are present. This guarantees maximum safety, and can still do some damage (around 500 - 700) against enemy hero. If you use Necronomicon, you can actually mana burn the hero afterwards, dealing an additional 300 damage. Use the blue pet to chase the hero afterwards. If it dies in front of the hero, it'll deal another 600 damage. Ouch!

If you have a late game fed enemy hero, you should not even bother to fight against him. You should just defend when you don't know where he is, and teleport to the enemy base when that enemy appears to push your base.

5. How to execute the cyclone/ Stasis trap combo?

Such combo doesn’t exist, and shouldn’t exist. A Stasis trap is activated only if an enemy is around the Stasis traps for 3 seconds. Any sensible player will run away if you cyclone and place a Stasis trap below him. In fact, if a cyclone can lead to a 6 second stun, it will be deemed imba.

6.Why do you not recommend using Stasis traps for creeping or defending?

Proximity Mines and Remote Mines are more than enough to kill all creeps. If you can already kill all creeps in an instant, why bother to use Stasis traps? This is just like using a pistol while you have a machine gun with you. The only case which stasis trap is useful against creeps is that your Proximity and Remote Mines are not ready, and you want to stun the creeps until their cooldowns are gone.

7. How to solo Roshan with Techies?

24 level 3 Remote Mines can kill a Roshan instantly. However, 24 level 3 Remote Mines Mines can earn you at least 5k gold if you use them on creeps. So I don’t suggest you spend time on soloing Roshan.

This post has been edited by lh2128: Dec 3 2006, 04:53 PM