iN7.Gankers guide to Windrunner

iN7.Ganker's guide to Windrunner

Do you have ever flamed a ginger?

No?!
Then you are welcome to my 2nd guide about Lyralei (Alleria) the Windrunner.
One of the most flexible and most useful hero in DotA/Dota 2. A hero if mastered is truly able to turn games around and do crazy things over and over again.

Windrunner is like almost picked or banned in competetive gaming. I am going to explain why this is the case. It's nevertheless one of the funniest heroes to play.

You will probably really enjoy her! ;)

Note that you should read the whole guide instead of jumping to the for you most intresting parts if you want to judge on this guide later. Thanks in advance!

Introduction

Lyralei, the Windrunner.

You are on a good way but notice you will need to practice a lot to play Windrunner effectively. Due to her spells which 2 of them are really hard to always land. However Windrunner is always a hero everyone loves to have on their team. She is suited with great mobility and survivability. She is a good allrounder in general. If you ever tried to categorize a hero into different roles you should mention that Windrunner can fulfill many of them.

However there are 2 mainly used possibilities to play Windrunner. Either as support or as semicarry. Which of these two you have got to play depends on many different things I will explain later on.

Pros / Cons

Pros

- very flexible viable hero
- good escape mechanism (Windrun)
- high range and damage nuke (Powershot)
- one of the best non ultimate abilities in the game (Shackleshot)
- great attackanimation
- great antipush as well as pushing ability (Powershot, Focus Fire)
- decent stats/stats-gain

Cons

- countered by several heroes
- Windrun countered by Monkey King Bar
- spells are hard to land
- low Armor

Skills-Explanation-Justification

Shackleshot

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Units

Shackles the target to an enemy unit or tree in a line directly behind it. If no unit or tree is present, the stun duration is reduced to 0.75.

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Notes:

• This spell can shackle two enemies together, stunning them both.
• Trees created by Nature's Prophet's Sprout spell are valid targets for shackling.

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Usage:

Shackleshot, known as ne of the best non-ultimate spells in the game. The reason for that is pretty obvious. If landed perfect which means on 2 heroes, they are stunned like 3.75 seconds. A well used Shackleshot can almost win a game on his own. Its obviously as overpowerd as hard to hit. If you practice it for some time you will get better and better and know when to use it to maximize its effect.

"When Shackleshot is fired, the game counts all available units available in the AoE referenced by the incoming direction of the shot and the area "behind" your target. Then, it prioritizes targets according to the following rules to see if you get the full stun or not. If there are zero targets, you get the 0.75 mini-stun. Next, if a unit is present in any of the green shaded areas, the target and the closest unit become stunned for the stun duration. If there are no units, there is then a tree check. If there is a tree in the light green or yellow areas, then the target receives the full stun and a line is drawn to the reference tree."

Dont hesitate to much and just try a shackle if you see an opportunity. The one who doesn't try won't suceed! It is also possible to shackle an enemy hero as 2nd target by throwing the shackle on a creep that stands in a line to this hero.

I have prepared the following video for you to help you understand these mechanics.

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Powershot

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Units

Windrunner charges her bow for up to 1 second for a single powerful shot. The arrow deals damage to enemy units and destroys trees in its path. Damage is greatest on first target, and reduces by 10% for each target it pierces thereafter. If the channeling is cancelled early, the shot will still occur but deal less damage.

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Notes:

• Damage type: magical
• The arrow initially moves at a rate of 3000 units per second.
• The arrow is slowed a little each time it hits an enemy or a tree.
• This spell destroys trees.
• This ability has a short channeling time. If canceled before Lyralei finishes channeling,
• the arrow will deal less damage.

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Usage:

Basically your huge range and huge damage nuke. Needs a whole second to be fully charged. You are however able to cancel the charge to release your Powershot earlier which would decrease the damage dependig on how long you actually charged your Powershot. It is able to destroy trees so keep in mind that you are able to shoot a path to escape or gank.

The following video will show you a little trick you might didn't know yet.

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Windrun

Type: Targets:

Active Self

Increases movement speed and adds evasion from all physical attacks, while slowing movement of nearby enemies.

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Usage: Windrun will always boost your movementspeed to nearly maximum if not slowed. You will also be able to avoid all physical damage incoming after the activation but hits already flying to you won't be dodged even when activating Windrun.

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Focus Fire

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Target

Windrunner channels the wind, gaining maximum attack speed on the enemy unit or structure, although with reduced damage, including damage from unique attack modifiers and item effects. Once Windrunner switches targets, the speed is lost. Lasts 20 seconds. SCEPTER UPGRADABLE: Reduces cooldown, and removes penalty from unique attack modifiers and item effects.

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Usage:

You should never underestimate the physical damage output of Focus Fire. Its truly amazing though. Even stronger if you got some decent hitdamage. Note that you are able to cast abilities and won't loose the Focus Fire effect. That will only happen if you change the target you are hitting.

In the following video I am gonna show how you can use Focus Fire.

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Skillbuild-Justification

If you are laned on the hard/suicide lane you will always skill Windrun first to have the possibility to escape from an early gank. Note that its most likely if you get caught that you will die. Especially against Crystal Maiden, Venomancer and in general heroes with a hard slow or a slow as well as a sort of stun are really dangerous for you. If you want to try an early firstblood you should obvs take the option and skill Shackleshot first. You will however skill the other skill you have got. So that you are able to escape ganks or stun the enemy for agressive or defesive purposes. After that you will max Powershot first because its your lanecontrolling spell and greatly increases your dmg output. Shackleshot will maxed as the 2nd one because you dont really need Windrun maxed even if you are forced to stay really defensive. Powershots long range will help you get kills and farm on the lane while being thousands of miles away. Your ultimate is useless on low levels and cost so much mana what it isn't simply worth. You will skill it on 10,11 to make sure it gets more useful and won't take early skillpoints away from you. The rest should be clear.

Know your role

I have mentioned before that Windrunner is flexible and that she is able to fullfil different roles. The two main roles she is able to play are either support or semi-carry.

The differences are mainly to find in the itembuild and probably in the way you lane Windrunner. If you want to get items on her you will probably lane her in mid or dual lane or safe lane. Supportive Windrunner's are mostly laned on the hard/suicide lane. Because her abilities are strong anyway and she only needs to get a Mekansm at 20 min. Your farm would be better ofc if dual laned or laned in mid. You are also able to lane a supportive Windrunner in mid or dual laned depends on what you need and what you don't.

However as a semi-carry Windrunner you will be able to deal great damage while being immune to physical damage. You wont be able to outcarry normal agi carrys in general but you are able to kill someone while fighting and possibly still escape a lost fight or chase down your remaining enemys. Take your choice depending on what is needed and notice that your decision is really important. Dont throw it, this way.

Items-Explanation-Justification

Start-items

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Start-items are pretty standard I think, note that you took 2 clarities.(not as good shown as it should work) The good thing is that you are able to use the branches to build Magic Wand and you are able to use the RoP to buy Ring of Basilius. Which basically helps you to get your core items much faster. Clarities to keep up your mana in hard times which you will need I promise.

Earlygame-items

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Earlygame-items, Magic Wand shouldn't actually be in need to justify, shortly it will save your *** so often it isn't even funny and considered overpowered anyway. Ring of Basilius is harder to justify imo. It grants you the ability to stay in lane because it saves you from getting pushed to hard and boosts your mana regen to make you able to farm from distance with Powershot.

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Supportive Windrunner Itembuild

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Core-items

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You are the supportive Windrunner so you have to go for Arcane Boots to support your mates mana pool. You are also able to spam your abilities this way which means you are really great at keeping lanes pushed and defend towers early on.

Extensions

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Mekansm is one of the most important items in the game and as a support which is able to farm in hard situations as well you have to get it asap. You should get this item always if you are playing the supportive Windrunner, so force your other supports to get other items to support your team. Pipe of Insight is always needed in every team if you got good farm you should get it as well which leaves more space to your other supports. In special situations you should prefer the pipe over the mek and let a other support get it. Force Staff shouldn't be considered a situational item anymore imo. It is always useful in nearly any possible situation, so you should get it after your mekansm/pipe. It will help you to get you or your mates into position to create an opening.

Luxury

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Linken's Sphere is a beautiful to prevent you from getting picked of before you can pop your support items while it supports you with stats and a good mana regen to spam your abilities. Orchid Malevolence is a great item choice if you desperately need a silence to lock your enemies down or to prevent them from getting spells of. A great item against for example Storm Spirit or Shadow Shaman. Scythe of Vyse possibly the best item in lategame. It disables your enemy for 3.5 seconds, grants great stats and mana regen. If you can get it and its most needed, you should get it everytime. Shiva's Guard against massive physical dps you might choose this item to protect you and your mates due to the aura from phyisical damage as well as you can provide a slow in a teamfight which means control.

Situational

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Black King Bar is always a good item if you think you are limited in your moving/acting in the teamfights. You will most likely be able to get all your important items/skills of and fulfil your role which your team needs you to fulfil. Drum of Endurance if you need it and nobody has actually bought it then you should get it but you may skip it if there are other things which are more needed. Ghost Scepter great item against high physical dps heroes such as Lycanthrope. Note that you already got a spell to avoid physical damage but you may need it if they bought Money King Bar which counters your Windrun. Dont forget that you make yourself vulnerable to magic damage while in ghostform. Eul's Scepter of Divinity is also a great choice if you are in need to protect yourself against different spells or if you need to interrupt your enemies or just simply take them out of the fight for some seconds. You should only get it if you need this sort of disable fast and you cant afford a Scythe of Vyse. If you already got a Scythe of Vyse you shouldn't get Eul's anymore. Note that you can dodge several stuns like Skeleton King's Hellfire Blast. Medallion of Courage is also very situational. It is great if you want to kill Roshan over and over again because the armor reduction amplifies physical damage greatly and openes the possibility to kill him really early as well. Usally an item for other support heroes but if nobody can afford it early on you can get it as well but you should only do it if you want to kill rosh really early otherwise you are wasting to much money. Rod of Atos is a new interesting item which grants really enjoyable stats for Windrunner and provides a useful active which slows the enemy. If you really need a slow and not really a stun, you can consider that item worth its gold. You will most likely everytime prefer a stun over a slow but it can be useful in special situations.

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Semi - Carry Windrunner Itembuild

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Core-items

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Phase Boots are the most viable choice if you play the semi carry Windrunner. Just simply because you dont need attackspeed (Power Treads) nor are you in need to provide mana. Tranquil boots are a terrible choice obviously because they are mainly a reasonable choice on supports due to its effects. Phase Boots also grants you to move more freely in fights due to the active. Decent damage will be useful too. Other items were explainend before.

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Luxury

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Daedalus is a great item choice if you want to improve your damage output. Sure it is luck based but it wil increase your damage better than any other item besides Divine Rapier. Note that if you face an enemy agi carry with Butterfly you should buy Monkey King Bar instead. Eye of Skadi grants great stats, a nice hp boost and the ability to slow on every of your hits. If you feel you need to improve your hp and mana, get it. It can be useful if your team is lacking chasing abilities. It will also enable you to kite your enemies physical hard carry if hes melee. Only useful in special situations. Monkey King Bar is as mentioned before more useful if you want to counter Butterfly. If you want to increase your damage instead you should prefer Daedalus because you will deal much more damage with daedalus than with Monkey King Bar. Mjollnir is indeed a really strong item too. Using it together with your ultimate will cause a storm of lightning upon your enemy. You should consider it if you experience that you are everytime killed by physical damage. The active ability will cause a lightning storm as well, resulting in a huge amount of magical damage to your enemies. Satanic is only a viable choice if you really need the lifesteal in order to stay alive and deal great amounts of damage. If you combine it with your ultimate and for example a BKB to prevent your enemy from interrupting you as long as he got no bash, you are almost impossible to kill. Dont forget to use its active ability as well. Shiva's Guard, a great item to reduce your enemies possibility to move freely in fights. It will also slow your enemies attackspeed which effectively reduces their damage output in fights. Granting armor against physical dps and increasing your damage as well.

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Situational

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Assault Cuirass, grants a huge amount of armor for yourself as well as your whole team. It is useful for pushing due to the attackspeed aura and will increase your physical dps in fights obviously. Useful if you need to increase your hard carrys dps. Heart of Tarrasque provides mass amount of hp. If you struggle to get your spells of in teamfights and you dont want to purchase a bkb for some reasons, Haert can be really useful at keeping you alive. Keep in mind that you are able to nicely regen up after a fight or even in a fight if you use your Windrun wisely. Even useful if you are on the run to escape as well. Consider it if you need this flexibility. Necronomicon, one of the most underrated items probably. This little book summons 2 devastating creatures which are adapt in pushing as well as dealing great damage in teamfights. While one of the warriors burns your enemies mana the second one will provide a speed aura. If the melee warrior is killed, the killer of it will receive a huge amount of pure damage. Very useful if you need the power to push or if your enemy uses huge AoE damage, which will nearly ensure the death of the necro-melee warrior. Diffusal Blade, if you need to purge different effects from your enemy as for example Omniknight's Repel. Its also very effective against enemy heroes which are in need to consistanly use their mana. Use your ultimate and burn their mana down. You should however aim for other items instead of Diffusial but if nobody else will get it, you should consider it a viable choice.

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Summary

Thats it so far!

So far with this quite "in-depth" guide to Windrunner. I hope you really enjoyed this guide and you are hopefully considering it helpful. But my work is not done yet. There might be things I simply forgot to mention as well as many orthography mistakes besides from all the grammar one's. I apologize for my quite poor english skills and hope you will help me to find out the remaining mistakes.

Feel free to make suggestions and mention things I should consider for future guides. You may leave some general comments, criticism or praise. If you like this guide, make sure to upvote, you may help to spread the word and share this guide to your friends as well.

Thanks to all these people out there who read the whole guide and not only parts of it!

Afterword

Hey guys and girls!

Thanks for reading this guide and leaving a comment, praise or criticism. If you have any suggestions pls let me know in the comments.

I want to use the following lines to express my thankfulness to you readers. I am really proud to say this guide nearly achieved 450.000 views with a very nice >90 % rating.

Thanks to you people out there I am gonna follow those guides up with new ones whenever I have time to write somethings down. It's really nice to have dozens hours of work result in so many views, nice comments and positive feedback via the rating.

Thank you!

If you want to support me or just be up to date when a new guide gets released and/or visualized make sure to subscribe to my youtube channel where I keep you updated on what I am doing.

I am planning lots of things recently and am sure that I can bring you awesome content in the future.

Thanks again and have a nice day, I sure had a couple because of you guys.

PS: I am for sure adding some content in the near future to this guide, so stay tuned!

Changelog

1.0.0 - Guide published - 28.04.2012

1.0.1 - Added the "Afterword" section - 10.05.2013

1.1.0 - Added a few videos to the "Skill - Explanation - Justification" section - 19.05.2013