Nature's Prophet Banging on your Door

Introduction

When Verodicia, Goddess of the Woods, had finished filling in the green places, having planted the coiled-up spirit in the seed, having lured the twining waters from deep within the rock, having sworn the sun its full attention to the growing things, she realized that her own time had reached its end, and like one of the leaves whose fate she had imprinted in the seed, she would fall without seeing the fruiting of her dream. It pained her to leave the world bereft, for the sprouts had not yet broken through the soil--and they would be tender and vulnerable to every sort of harm. She found in her seed pouch one last seed that she had missed in the sowing. She spoke a single word into the seed and swallowed it as she fell. Her vast body decomposed throughout the long winter, becoming the humus that would feed the seedlings in the spring. And on the morning of the vernal equinox, before the rest of the forest had begun to wake, that last seed ripened and burst in an instant. From it stepped Nature's Prophet, in full leaf, strong and wise, possessing Verodicia's power to foresee where he would be needed most in defense of the green places--and any who might be fortunate enough to call him an ally

This is my guide(first guide ever) to Nature's Prophet a truly amazing split pusher/flexer and if he gets enough farm can punish enemy heroes caught out by themselves. Nature's Prophet can change the entire course of the game and team fights but this all depends on the player, map awareness and timing of your abilities.

Pros / Cons

Pros

One of the best split pushers in the game
Can flex to anywhere on the map every 20s
Can farm in the jungle at level 1

Can be ganked by stealth units early on
Doesn't have big damage ability

Skills

Sprout
Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Unit/Point
Allowed Targets: Any Unit or Ground

Sprouts a ring of trees around a unit, trapping it in place.

Range: 600
Radius: 150
Duration: 3 / 3.75 / 4.5 / 5.25
Mana Cost: 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 Cooldown Time: 11 / 10 / 9 / 8

Not as useful to start with as I will typically jungle until I get my shadowblade up but if very useful in team figts to lock down a melee character or catch someone trying to flee. Keep in mind if they have a quelling blade they can get out of this as well as any other relocation abilities. This is great when used right before/after Orchid silence. You can also self sprout and Teleport out when you are in danger yourself though range stuns can get through it.


Teleportation
Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Point
Allowed Targets: Ground
Teleports to any point on the map.
Range: Global
Mana Cost: 50 Cooldown Time: 50 / 40 / 30 / 20

One of the most powerful abilities in the game this makes Nature's Prophet so annoying for enemy teams. Allows you to port to anywhere on the map every 20s not only allowing for amazing flex but let's you keep the enemy running from side to side or join any team fight regardless of where you are on a map. This is also great for cutting people off that are running away from a fight and securing those kills that allow your team to push a few towers you might not be able to if they remained alive. This can also be used while you are masked by shadowblade allowing you to get out if 3-4 heroes come after you while your pushing a lane.



Nature's Call
Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Area
Allowed Targets: Trees


Converts an area of trees into Treants. Treants have 550 HP and deal 21-23 damage.

Range: 750
Radius: 150 / 225 / 300 / 375
Number of Treants: 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Treant Duration: 60
Mana Cost: 160
Cooldown Time: 37

The bread and butter spell for split pushing. These are what you use to tank the jungle in the beginning of the game push down lanes in mid/late game and can also be used for scouting out rosh pit, runes. Many times I will send a wave of trees down a lane with a creep wave and port to the other outer lane and do the same just to get the waves going in the right direction. If the enemy team starts reacting to your pushes just the sight of trees heading down a lane will pull 1-2 heroes off a flank allowing your team to push another lane. Be creative with your treants they will serve you well and be a thorn in your enemy's side.


Wrath of Nature
Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Unit
Allowed Targets: Enemy Unit


Damaging energy bounces around the map, striking enemies close to the cast point that are in vision. Each enemy hit beyond the first adds 7% damage.
SCEPTER UPGRADABLE: Increases damage and bounces.

Range: Global
Max Targets: 16 (18*)
Damage: 140 / 180 / 225 (155/210/275*)


Very useful in large team fights and clearing enemy creep waves coming in or that your push is about to encounter. I love to use this while I'm jungling to help out heroes in the lane or remind the enemy heroes that I'm always watching them if they push too far. It can also be used to pick off a low health enemy hero or two after a team fight and is a great farming tool. I would suggest using this on CD at lower levels and later on for teamfights and pushing down lanes. You will occasionally get a KS with this ability but you have to remember that the most important thing for the team is pushing down towers and taking the enemy throne. Also throw this down if you even see the enemy team grouping up to push. At max level all of them getting hit multiple times for 225 with make them back off and heal up before they try to push in on you buying you more time to push in their towers.

Items

Here are a few items I enjoy having on Nature's Prophet and how they can impact your game.


Hand of Midas

+30 Attack Speed

Active: Transmute - Kills a target non-hero enemy unit, causing it to grant 2.5x normal experience and 190 reliable gold. Cannot be used on Ancients.

This item is absolutely great for Nature's Prophet and really speeds up your farming. Once you have this try to use it on the big creeps in the jungle and on cool down as much as possible. If you get late game and have all the gold in the world don't worry about getting rid of it, it has already done it's job and you should be fine without it.

Power Treads

+55 Movement Speed
+8 Selected Attribute
+30 Attack Speed

Active: Switch Attribute - Switches the selected attribute from Strength to Intelligence, Intelligence to Agility, and Agility to Strength.

Flat movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.


These are the standard boots I start out with and typically I'll put them on strength to start with for the bonus HP. When you have the ability to Shadowblade and port out that extra HP could make the difference in staying alive and heading to the graveyard. If you need the mana regen you can always toggle to int but strength seems to work well for me currently.

Note: I do try to change these out for boots of travel if the game goes late enough.



Shadow Blade

+22 Damage
+30 Attack Speed

Active: Shadow Walk - Makes you invisible for 9 seconds, or until you attack or use an ability. While invisible, you move 20% faster and can move through units. The invisibility has a 0.3 second fade time. If you break the invisibility with an attack, you will deal 150 bonus Physical damage.


What can I say about this one paired with teleport this makes Nature's Prophet a real nightmare to deal with. Keep in mind teams may buy dust and wards to catch you and if Bounty Hunter is on the enemy team you'll have to be extremely careful. The attack speed and damage are nice as well but the synergy this has with teleport makes it a must have for Nature's Prophet.




Orchid Malevolence

+25 Intelligence
+30 Attack Speed
+30 Damage
+150% Mana Regeneration

Active: Soul Burn - Silences a target unit for 5 seconds and amplifies the damage that it takes by 25%. Amplified damage is dealt at the end of the duration as magical damage.

Range: 900


This one to me is great for Nature's anyway you look at it. Bonus int, attack speed, damage and mana regen. Oh and throw in a 5s silence and damage amplification and you can sprout and auto attack people to death. It's also great in team fights for you to disable one of the enemy teams annoying characters.


The rest of the items are completely situational. If there aren't any nukers on the enemy team I lean toward going Daedalus as you hit extremely hard and anyone that gets sprouted, silenced and damage amplified just melts. The BKB can be useful if you are constantly getting silenced or stunned. It really depends on your play style but any of these items can make you a nightmare to deal with and if you keep using the Midas on cool down you should have plenty of gold to burn.

Creeping / Jungling

I start out the game by going into the Jungle and making sure I let my team know I'll be there. Honestly you just need your team to not get too gank happy and feed other characters early on. I try to look for a few easy camps early on till I can get to level 3 and skill up my trees so I have at least 3 then I can safely move on to all the other camps. Your biggest drawback during this phase will be mana, if you summon some trees and go low mana go ahead and pop a clarity as this will bring you back up and then some by the time the spell gets off cooldown. You want to get the midas as soon as possible as this is where your farm really takes off. Use your ultimate once you get it to help clear waves if your team has taken down any towers or there are enemy heroes diving on your team. I suggest to keep jungling primarily until you get your power treads and shadowblade then it's time to roam.

Mid/Late Game

This is where Nature's Prophet really starts to shine. I've had so many of my teamates yell at me in the early game because I don't bail them out from tower diving on the enemy and doing generally stupid things. The reason for this is I know that the best way I can help the team is getting my pushing up and running as soon as possible. Once I get shadowblade I start pushing both the bottom and top lanes sending 1 or 2 groups of trees down each and constantly rotating. Don't underestimate your importance in team fights though while you are pushing the lanes in send a group of trees to the next tower on the lane or to the one after that with A+Right click and join in on the fight. Not only can you help turn the tide of the battle with your sprout orchid silence and ulti your trees will be doing work on the enemy team while they are distracted in the fight and allow you to push an extra tower once the fight is over. Be smart about your play though if you see the fight going badly get out or get safe and manage the damage that can be done to your towers or base. If you've been doing your job it will take the enemy team a while to push the lane back to your towers even if your team loses the fight. You can also tie up an enemy team by switching lanes back and forth forcing them to constantly defend and opening up the mid lane for your team to push. The biggest thing to remember with Nature's Prophet is you can be anywhere on the map and out in 20s so don't panic if you see a big push coming on another flank you aren't an initiator but you can certainly come in behind the enemy flank and kill off a few of their supports when the engagement does happen. The last thing to remember especially with Nature's Prophet is no matter what the K/D score says the only way you win the game is by destroying the enemy throne and that is what you excel at pushing down towers and banging on the door keeping constant pressure on the enemy team.