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22 Votes

Guide to Traxex the Drow ranger by D3n1eD

June 24, 2012 by D3n1eD
Comments: 5    |    Views: 90283    |   


Build 1
Build 2

The carry Drow ranger

DotA2 Hero: Drow Ranger




Hero Skills

Frost Arrows

1 3 5 7

Gust

2 8 9 10

Multishot

12 13 14 15

Marksmanship

6 11 16

Talents

4 17 18

Description and Lore

Descripition:
Traxex the Drow Ranger is a ranged Hard Carry who excels at laning. She is fragile, but is capable of hitting opponents with high DPS. Her first ability, Frost Arrows, adds a slow to her attack for the cost of a small amount of mana. If she manually cast Frost Arrows on an enemy hero, it will not attract enemy creeps or towers - so with skill she can continually kite a Hero until they die. Her second ability is an area of effect Silence which can be crucial during teamfights. Her passive ability gives all ranged nearby heroes a damage bonus, and her Ultimate improves her Agility passively.
Traxex, like most Carries, have a simple vibe to them but require extensive knowledge of the game to be effective.


Lore:
Drow Ranger's given name is Traxexa name well suited to the short, trollish, rather repulsive Drow people. But Traxex herself is not a Drow. Her parents were travelers in a caravan set upon by bandits, whose noisy slaughter of innocents roused the ire of the quiet Drow people. After the battle settled, the Drow discovered a small girl-child hiding in the ruined wagons, and agreed she could not be abandoned. Even as child, Traxex showed herself naturally adept at the arts they prized: Stealth, silence, subtlety. In spirit, if not in physique, she might have been a Drow changeling, returned to her proper home. But as she grew, she towered above her family and came to think of herself as ugly. After all, her features were smooth and symmetrical, entirely devoid of warts and coarse whiskers. Estranged from her adopted tribe, she withdrew to live alone in the woods. Lost travelers who find their way from the forest sometimes speak of an impossibly beautiful Ranger who peered at them from deep among the trees, then vanished like a dream before they could approach. Lithe and stealthy, icy hot, she moves like mist in silence. That whispering you hear is her frozen arrows finding an enemy's heart.

Introduction

Hello everyone. This is my first guide ever,so I hope you will be able to learn something from it. I would also like to point out that my native language is not English,so I apologize in advance for any possible mistake. I'm 16 years old, I live in Croatia,and I have been playing DotA for 3 years. The reason I decided to write this guide is because there are many guides for Drow ranger on this website, but I didn't find any of them informative enough, and I really like Drow in general. Infact, she is my favourite hero.

Pros / Cons

Pros
+ Ranged
+ Becomes strong early on
+ Reliable slow (50% is nothing to joke about!)
+ Game-changing silence
+ Not really hard to play with,but greater skill you have,more you will be rewarded.
+ Good ganking potential due to long silence and powerful slow


Cons
- Weak earlygame
- Easily gankable
- No escape mechanism
- Semi-item dependent (She is still strong without much items,but you can't carry if you are not farmed)


When to pick Drow ranger:
- You need a reliable carry that becomes strong early on
- You want to have gamebreaking affect on the game (silence for 6(!) seconds)

When not to pick Drow ranger:
- Your team already has a hard carry
- Enemy team has a lot of gankers/tower divers that can screw up your early game.
- You play LoL or HoN. :D

Skills

Frost Arrows Awesome slow,powerful at all points in the game. Early on orb-walk,later just turn on autocast when you get some attack speed. Note that the slow will not be increased by successive casts, only refreshed. More about orb-walking is shown in video bellow.

Silence 6 seconds silence is game-breaking,and it has pretty big aoe,so it's not really hard to land if you are targeting one hero,but can be tricky in the middle of the teamfight when you try to catch all enemy heroes. Remember that it does not stop opponents from using items and disables Permanent Invisibility. Aoe of silence is show in the video bellow.

trueshot aura gives you nice damage and scales perfectly into the late game. Aura bonuses consider only unit base damage + primary attribute increases (not raw damage items). Scary if coupled with Vengeful's command aura. You can get it from alpha wolf too.

Marksmanship is the skill that makes you DPS machine. Level it up whenever you can.

Items

I want to talk about some items I see suitable for Drow

Magic Wand : Always get one. 15 charges goes a long way.

Helm of the Dominator : While it is true that it doesn't stack with your powerful orb,it is invaluable to Drow. Your Frost arrows still work if you put them on auto-cast. So,when you are in teamfight, lifesteal is the choice,and when you win the fight and they start running,turn on you arrows on autocast and chase them down. Don't forget you can dominate creeps,take Alpha wolf if you can,he gives huge bonus percentage for damage. Later on, upgrade to Satanic for even more lifesteal.

Shadow Blade : I don't like this item on Drow. Sure,it gives you an escape mechanism,but I still think it is not worth it. Why? Well,it is easily countered by wards/gem/dust, and besides that Windwalk,it gives minor damage,a some attack speed. For 3300 gold, you can have a Yasha and be halfway to your Ultimate Orb. Still,it is a viable choice, I just don't prefer it.

Town Portal Scroll : I simply can't stress this enough. Always, I repeat, always carry a TP scroll. It gives you map presence,allows you to escape from ganks,retreat after you split pushed a tower to help your team defend and many more.

Manta Style : A must on any ranged carry,and our dear Traxex is not an exception. Why is it so valuable? Creates 2 illusions that deal 33% damage and take 350% damage. Has a 0.1 second animation delay for which you are invulnerable. Lasts 20 seconds, costs 165 mana, and has a 35 second cooldown. 0.1 second might seem not so significant,but if you know how to use it,it is kinda overpowered. Let me give you an example. You are going to solo kill a Leoric, because you are more farmed than him. So you come behind him,put your Frost arrows on auto-cast and start attacking him. He can't fight you,because you are stronger than him,so he has to run away. What can he do? He will throw his stun at you. If you time it well,you can dodge it with you Manta. You kill him once,he respawns,you silence him and kill him for real. Also,can be used defensibly: ex. Sniper is charging up his ultimate on you,you wait for the bullet and dodge it=profit. Of course it takes some practice to do it,but once you master it,Manta will be your new best friend!

Butterfly : Not much to say about this one,gives you everything you need,evasion,damage and attack speed.

Divine Rapier : Sometimes,when you are in extremely late game,one teamfight wins or loses the entire game. Get Roshan if you can,buy your Divine,and lead your team to victory!
Use it as last resort,as losing it often equals losing the game!

Daedalus : With this,you can even one hit weaker supports. It is bane of heroes with high armor,especially if someone on your team makes a Desolator

Monkey King Bar : Counter to heroes with evasion,or Butterfly caries.

Black King Bar : If enemy team has a lot of nukes or disables, BKB is a must,as it allows you to dish out damage without being disabled or nuked to death.

Your role in the team,and how to play it.

You are a hard carry. You farm,get items and levels,and then pwn. But,you need the help of your team. In order to become a DPS monster,you need to have a decent early game and good farm. This is where you allies kick in. You can go solo mid if you want to,but there are better mid heroes than Drow. You usually go on the long,easy lane-bottom for Radiant,top for Dire. Babysitter type of hero is perfect company on lane. Lich, Warlock are some examples. What you should focus on early game is last hitting and staying alive. If your allies come to gank at your lane,great,help them,pick up the kill if you can,and go back to farming. Try to get your Yasha 15 minutes in the game,along with Power Treads and Magic Wand atleast. It would be nice if you had 2 Wraith Band also in that time. When you hit lvl 11,you can start looking for kill. Push a tower or two,get some kills,try not to die,and keep your farm up. In the late mid game,you should already have your Manta and HotD. Force a teamfight when you finish your first big item,silence,and focus fire any hero you thinks is currently most dangerous or easiest to kill. In late game,stick with your team,finish your late game extension(s),win teamfights,push or try to get a Roshan and lead your team to victory!

In short:
Earlygame: FARM FARM FARM FARM
Midgame: Gank,teamfight,push towers,farm
Lategame: Teamfight,rosh,push,win?

What do I do in teamfight?

Your role is massive DPS. Traxex has low hp pool,so don't go in first. Let your initiator do it. After the initial stuns,go in,silence as much heroes as you can,pop your manta,and kill someone. If you win the teamfight,turn on Frost arrow and chase them down,if you lost,just run away,silence them,and maybe throw in a Frost arrow or two.

Friends and foes.

Friends:

Shadow Shaman He can disable heroes for 9 seconds,and thats all you need to unleash your DPS.

Lich Great babysitter,providing consant harass to the enemy team will allow you to farm freely. Also could snatch you a kill if enemies are not careful.

Warlock Pretty much same as Lich.

Any disabler or babysitter is a good lane partner for Drow. Also,anyone with stun/item independent or both is good friend.

Enemies:

doom bringer can,well,Doom you,and you can't cast that silence of yours,or slow. While it isn't such a huge matter in 1v1,in teamfight 6 seconds of silence does matter alot. But,since most you do is pure DPS,he will probably Doom someone else. Early on he can eat you with his LVL Death and Doom combo. Try to silence him before he does and you are fine.

Dark Seer can haste anybody, canceling your frost arrows. You can silence him but you probably will not be able to kill him and he can make nearly anybody kill you. He can make a wall that will make illusions of yourself killing you own team.

Lycanthrope ignores your frost arrows and your silence. On top of that he easily outdps you with his horrible wolves.

Huskar owns you due to Trax's lack of burst and his Berseker's blood


Night Stalker Since towerdiving is usual thing for Night stalker,if he find you early on,you are pretty much dead.

Riki Nasty little guy,can outcarry you easily. Look out for this guy and ask your team to buy dust or Gem of True Sight

Pudge Once he hooks you,you are dead. Atleast until late game,but he will probably hook you to his teammates so you are screwed anyway. Watch out for hooks.

Bane His combo eats you if he manages to cast it. Still if you manage to silence him before he does it,he is food.

Combo killers and gankers are ones you should worry about,but if you are careful and carry tp scrolls,you will not be easily ganked.

Replay section

A public game in which i solo queued and after getting stomped early,and bad play by me on middle lane,we manage to win.
Match ID: 15921201


If you have any replay that you consider educational feel free to PM me.

To do in guide:

-Post some more replays.
-Update the guide if any changes are made to Drow ranger.

Conclusion

There you have it. If you have any questions,feel free to ask me. Any constructive criticism is appreciated,but please remember that this is my first guide. I hope you learned something from my guide,and good luck!
Please rate it,and comment.


Credits:
To you,reader,for having patience to read my guide.
To Icefrog,for creating this awesome game
To Valve, for making DOTA 2 be real.
To my clanmates [p4m],for tolerating my raging,and playing awesome games and some crazy combos with me :)
To Givre, for suggesting some allies/enemies of Drow ranger and giving some ideas.
To DOTAfire,for creating this epic site.
and
To me,for writing this guide ;)

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