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Tango
Healing Salve
Iron BranchIron Branch
Clarity
Boots of Speed
Bottle
Town Portal Scroll
Arcane Boots
Aghanim's Scepter
Blink Dagger
Battle Fury
Assault Cuirass
Abyssal Blade
Black King Bar
Heart of Tarrasque
Monkey King Bar
Shiva's Guard
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2 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
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4 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
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1 | 8 | 9 | 10 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
*hic* 
Brewmaster
Status: Drunk. Very.
Height: Stout
MTG colors: Gruul (Red/Green)
Likes: Liquor, beer, mead, 
Centaur Warrunner , large crowds, sharing, "40 Oz. to Freedom" by Sublime, "Beer" by Reel Big Fish, Psalms 23:5
Dislikes: 
Bane , 
Silencer , serious people, the sober, a dry tap
*hic* Brew is one of my favorite heroes to play right now. I recently started playing Dawngate right now, and in that game, every hero I play has had skill based abilities (for those new people, skill based is like 
Meat Hook , where you have to guess where they will be) , and playing back into Dota, it gave me the need to push more buttons.
*hic* Brew was raised by alcoholics, but jolly ones, so he learned the trait, joined the Order of the Drunk Pandas, and then duked it out with his sensei and gained the title of "Drunkest Panda," and then, due to his inebriation, learned how to split into 3 pandas, who were even drunker and had super magical abilities.
*hic* I cannot recommend Brewmaster to new players whatsoever, but I can recommend that you practice with him in lobbies. Brew requires the right micro abilities and has a high skill ceiling, which makes him high-reward when it comes to learning how to utilize his ult the right way. For new players, I suggest you look over your keybinds to understand the miracle that is the TAB button.
*hic* I think I'll have just a couple more...
Panda has a lot of roles which he can fulfill, but none of which comes close to his teamfight potential. I believe his teamfight has just as much potential as 
Black Hole which is saying something since I love 
Enigma to death. However, until certain items are acquired, it has the danger of slipping off fairly quickly into the late game, even though his other abilities don't as much. His other roles include pushing and tank with a 1 star disable
When to pick Brewmaster
Your team requires a mid hero
Your team requires good teamfight and someone to distract the other team from your carries
The mid the other team picked is able to be quickly shut down or will suffer if denied farm early game
Your team has some lock down, burst damage, or right click
When not to pick Drunk Panda:
Your team already has a core mid hero
The other team is heavily based on teamfight
The other team is heavily based on an early push strat
You yourself do not understand micro
The other team have silences or heroes that build into silences
A drunk panda who cannot split into magical beings is a sad panda. It is possible to play him as a solo offlaner, but his kill potential, much like 
Invoker , will drop pretty heavily against two or more heroes. Even though he has one of the best teamfight ults in the game, if the enemy's entire draft is built around having a teamfight, it's best for you and your team to push their *** off or farm away, because one teamfight ult versus three or more won't win you the game. Even though you can even build Panda into a Power Panda Pusher, it's best if you found some hero better suited for the job. Other than that, Panda is a great pick-up especially if your team is either built around teamfight, or built around Panda.
*hic*
Thunder Clap
This skill is just too good. Move slow? Check. Attack slow? Check. A booty load of damage? check. AOE? Damn straight. The only problem with this skill is since you max it first, unless you're at full mana, you can't cast this AND get your ult off in the early levels. It's high mana cos definitely takes its toll. This is probably the best Q in the game, and if you have Aghanim's Scepter your Earth Panda ult can clap AGAIN, which works out to approximately a bigger booty load of damage and slow.
Drunken Haze
Panda wants everyone to taste his brew. ;) everyone hit by this AOE is slowed and they get a miss chance. A miss chance is way better than a dodge chance always and forever in Dota, and since this only costs 50 mana across the board, it's uber spammable.
Drunken Brawler
Brewmaster likes Jackie Chan flicks, and picked up a few moves. This gives panda a crit chance for 2x the damage, which you'll be using to knock back creeps, and also gives him a dodge chance. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE. On a cooldown which no one can see, if neither of these procs in the alotted time, it will guarantee a crit and a miss. What a great passive.
Primal Split
Earth Panda has a stun, Magic Immunity, and is melee
Sky Panda has an Invis which allows him to deal a little extra damage, a purge, a better 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity , and is ranged
Fire Panda has a built-in 
Radiance , moves at max speed, and is melee
This is where things get tricky, but I'll explain to you how to be effective in using Sky Panda and Earth Panda
1. Throw the rock (stun) at the target which everyone wants to kill
2. Use invis on Sky panda to deal extra damage to the target, which is located on E
3. Use cyclone from Sky Panda to take out the tank, teamfight, or carry on their team if they aren't the target (for instance a 
Bristleback or Enigma or Invoker , people that can disrupt what you and your team are trying to accomplish)
4. Fire Panda just hits the target.
You have just enough split time to get two rocks off, two cyclones, and two invis. With agh's, you'll have enough time to Thunder Clap twice and Drunken Haze twice. The Clap goes on Earth and the Haze goes on Sky, both which would be your R button.
Panda is a tanky son of a gun, so he gets right in the middle, splits, goes through steps 1-4, and allows his team to unload all over people. He has great 1v1 potential with the crit, the dodge, and the miss chances as well as just being enormous.
*hic* This guide goes out to the guy that I played against in All Random when I got 
Slark and owned his team's face, by the way, but for anyone else who really wants the nitty gritty with this guy. The dude was, uh, Iarsta. Commend him, he was very friendly for someone trying to kill my towers.
*hic* Drunk Panda is played as a core hero, which as the name hints at, means he is the heart of the team and the other picks are built around him. He secures himself at the 2nd position as mid usually under the hard carry, but sometimes will be played 3rd spot if your team has opted for 2 carries as a fail-safe. As a 2nd position core, it falls on you to be a good player, help carry the team, and have kills and as few deaths as possible, all while securing your farm. Quite possibly the only perk to this burden is not having to buy wards or the courier.
*hic* Brewmaster is top tier because of his utility and ability to stack well in all sections of the game. Even when his Thunder Clap falls off in damage, attack slow and speed slow will not, and it'll still chunk squishy supports for a lot of health. His ult has a stun, disable, radiance, and a purge (which, for new players, gets rid of any effects, negative on your side, positive on their side). Miss chance will always stack late game, because there are just not that many heroes that build Monkey King Bar , especially since it costs so much, though it is an amazing carry item, but if only one person has it, that's four people who can't right click your carry, which is pretty swell in my opinion.
*hic hic* Panda will always go mid in a ranked match, because his levels are so important for the impact of the game. Also due to his miss chance skill, he can push really easily, and I often find myself with a Blink Dagger pushing a lane while my team defends a tower against a push, which most heroes can do well.
(Recant) QOP of lops is a mid-laner who absolutely destroys Panda, as well as 
Viper, mostly because ranged heroes will always beat melees mid, with few exceptions. Overall though if such a thing happens, you might opt for the offlane and perhaps pick another mid. Even so, there are those people that just outplay everyone, so if you're Dendi incarnate, be my guest and mid him anyway
*HIC* His goal in his lane is to either force out his opponent, which for a melee hero he stacks well against nearly every mid, even ranged ones, or kill them, which he has a high potential of doing. Because of his base attack speed, damage, and hit animation, it's not that hard to last hit AND deny, which most mids have trouble doing in my opinion. Once his enemy's tower is down to about 1/4 of its original health, Panda can leave mid and start being useful other places, but since ranked is about objective gaming rather than a bloodbath (unless of course, you're Russian and you dive like Olympic swimmers), it is much easier to take the tower as soon as possible and begin roaming, forcing teamfights, or solo pushing. If you find yourself losing, Panda should always stick with his team in order to try and pull off a good teamfight that can swing the game into your favor. If your team is winning, drunk panda can either man with his team or go tag team with a disabler or a carry to try and get pick-offs to gain the push advantage
2 Iron Branch Tango Healing Salve and if you feel like you're going to be using your Q a lot, a Clarity . I'm at that point in my personal mid where I don't really require as much sustenance as when I'm playing in a dual lane, but in case you find an opportunity to dive, it's always nice to be able to pop a Salve and heal up lest someone from another lane or the jungle tries to clean up what you started.
*hic* Panda loves his Bottle and so should you. Health and mana allow you to start spamming his Q and he can contest runes extremely easily. Make sure you get this as soon as possible. As far as skill build goes I usually build 3-1-1 (which, for new players, is simply the first five levels and the order of skills you build before reaching level six, in this case, 3 in Q, 1 in W and 1 in E, and you'll hear this a lot) starting with Drunken Brawler so creep last hitting will be a little easier, then maxing Thunder Clap after. as for his slow\miss chance, some pro players don't get it and opt for a 3-0-2 build because they have no interest in slowing, however, if you think you have a chance of killing your mid, this is a great pickup when you've bottled a haste rune and want to make sure you get the kill.
*hic hic* By level 6, you should have worn your mid down enough to split on them and murder their faces. Panda's damage and tankability stacks incredibly awesome. The only two mid heroes I would consider leaving alone instead of trying to slaughter them would be 
Templar Assassin as she has a slow, meld, and a shield, and 
Queen of Pain because a good player can force the Drunk Panda out of lane fairly easily. Even 
Death Prophet can be destroyed, because even if she ults, when you ult, you have a radiance, a stun, and three right clicks, and the tower can only focus one panda at a time. When she dies, her ult dies with her.
*HIC* A good Panda with at least one kill and a decent creep score should have Arcane Boots by the 11 minute mark. It could be sooner but I'm not actually looking at the numbers, and this guide is more for people who are not used to Brewmaster , so I'm not expecting them to be Dendi or something (funny thing, I watch tons of pro games but forget who plays the Drunk Panda. I think AdmiralBullDog does). Either way, most people would opt for 
Phase Boots for extra damage output and the ability to chase the ones that might have got away, but his mana pool is so poor in the beginning, especially since you max your Q first, you should opt for the extra mana. Plus your teammates will love you for it.
*HICCUP* eh heh heh heh, Wild Turkey...
*Hic* Panda is considered one of the strongest if not the strongest mid game heroes. His crits will do a very nice amount of damage, especially when layered with a Thunder Clap into a Primal Split and, like I said, I find myself constantly pushing with him, regardless if there is a fight or not.
*hic* my biggest peeve with players is when they pick a fight with the other team while I'm not there as Brewmaster . If they do, unless it's under your tower and you have a Town Portal Scroll , don't bother trying to run over there and fight, because by the time you get there, everyone will be half dead. Continue pushing a lane. Of course, this really only holds true if they're fighting half a map away, but Drunk Panda is the initiator, so they really shouldn't without you.
*hic hic* your most precious item would be Blink Dagger , and timing for this is crucial. In fact, it's so big that you might have to consider skipping grabbing the blue mana orb and rushing blink first in order to properly initiate. Of course you should only do this if your CS is terrible, but if you know what you're doing, you should have it by 15 or 16 minutes.
*HIC* The minute you get Blink Dagger you are free to pick a fight with anyone you want and no one can stop you. Solo kills, especially on supports who are poor as dirt from buying wards, will be the start of your Aghanim's Scepter . For Panda, Agh's allows him to divide his three regular skills up onto each panda, Thunder Clap for Earth, Drunken Haze for Sky, and Drunken Brawler for Fire. Double thunder is just a wrecker of souls and plans, because it stacks the attack and move slow, and when you get better at micro, it's always nice to share the beer with others while in split form if you couldn't get it off while just one panda. Most people don't opt for it in this meta for some ungodly reason I cannot begin to fathom, but I suggest you get this, because more mana/more health=more time to party and a happy panda
*HICCUP* Remember that as a teamfighter, your job is to initiate, clean up the primary target first, whether it be their initiator/teamfighter or the person that deals the most DPS on their team, and your second job using Sky Panda is to use his tornado ability to keep the tank out of the fight
*hic* My head doesn't feel so good...
*hic* Itemwise, I have built the drunk panda as a pusher, initiator, and tank. Battle Fury is considered to be an early game item (something you should have no later than the 18 minute mark), but I build it after Agh's because, like I said, most people will be afraid to initiate on a Brewmaster without a silence alone, and a Blink Dagger makes him incredibly mobile and difficult to catch, so I find myself solo pushing while the team distracts them. Bfury is always good on someone with a chance to crit, so this makes panda's lane pushing power that much more incrdible, and since it gives him damage, his damage output extends by at least 10 more minutes into the late game.
(Recant) If you're far enough ahead where it won't matter, get Bfury, otherwise first start working on that 
Skull Basher, because getting a bash rakes in the cash. *hic* eh heh heh, I'm clever.
*hic* Assault Cuirass should always be built, because as a strength hero, the armor ratio needs to align with his HP (the ratio I actually don't know, but there is one, believe me you *hic*). Panda is a great aura carrier, and the extra attack speed is always nice in order to get more hits, and it's even better because it negates some of the enemy's armor as well. You may even want to build this before Bfury, but it's up to you
*hic* Skull Basher builds into Abyssal Blade , which not only gives you 100 extra damage and a chance to knock people's heads in and stun them, but gives you a Spell-Immune piercing lockdown, for 2 seconds on any target. Any extra damage on Panda is good, but this allows more kill potential on targets without having to use the split until you are extremely low, and the damage output along with the crit allows you to melt people pretty easily. With this amount of damage, Drunk Panda secures himself throughout the entire late game.
*hic* Monkey King Bar is situational for going against people such as 
Troll Warlord or 
Phantom Assassin or others who normally build 
Butterfly . For those that are too lazy or drunk to mouse the hover over the picture, it allows you 100% hit chance on heroes with and without evasion, gives you a chance to mini-stun, and even gives you a delicious 88 extra damage. Of course the cost his pretty ridiculous in itself. Build this above even Skull Basher or the AC if you think their evasion is going to be a problem.
*hic* Black King Bar is something I would build on Panda going against someone like Silencer or 
Tinker , or any team that has a lot of lock down. Some prefer 
Linken's Sphere since it also gives you stats, but overall I think BKB works best for him. There's nothing worse than initiating into a 
Ravage then getting hit by a 
Ghostship and then getting hit by 
Ignite then dying to right clicks, so get that BKB which gives him even more tank. Trick with Silencer, you have to wait until he ults, THEN you use BKB to remove the silence debuff from your hero.
*hic* Heart of Tarrasque is just more tank and gives you the option of being able to walk out of a bad situation, blink into the trees, and recover your HP before returning back to the fray. More strength = more damage as well. This should probably be your sixth item
*HIC HIC* Shiva's Guard is a pretty nasty item for the enemy team, since their right clicks are slowed when near it, it's active doesn't let them run away, and it deals damage AOE style. It's usually for when you want to capture those particularly fast heroes or your DPS carry isn't in close enough range to beat the absolute sobriety out of the enemy. I rarely get it, since it doesn't allow him to dish out more damage.
*hic...URP* ugh, last item. 
Boots of Travel is for when the enemy base is low and you just want to end the game. Pretty YOLO, and normally bought after a buyback when you are rolling in so much greenback Scrooge McDuck is even jealous, and the teleporting to a creep wave to their base and just whaling on their buildings. Of course in a stalemate game, whoever's creeps are the closest wins the cake at the end of the day.
*hiccurp!* Ok, I think I'm gonna lie down, or throw up, cuz I believe I have ingested a little too much for tonight, but thanks once again for looking at my guide and may you all have fun with our favorite barkeep the drunk panda, Brewmaster
Sincer-*hic*-ly,
UnrulySupportGuy
If anyone wants a coach on Brewmaster, all they have to do is add me on Steam, which my username is TomeOfArms and the profile pic is of Majora's Mask. I believe everyone should enjoy a little drink to their Dota.
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