6.81 Definitive No Non-sense Bounty Hunter / Semi-carry / Ganker Guide

Drums are typically a strength carry or support item. Getting it early on Bounty Hunter isn't worth the gold that should be spent on getting a Desolator as soon as possible to stay relevant into mid game. It's almost guaranteed that someone else on your team will be getting them at some point anyways. Bounty Hunter doesn't need the stats from Drums either because Urn offers all the regen you'll need for roaming.

And BKBs are optional on any hero. Entirely dependent on the enemy team, how they're playing, and who you're focusing your ganks on. Bounty Hunter is in no way "just food" without BKB unless you're playing him carelessly.

If you build Drums and BKB before you pick up Desolator and Vlad's you're just going to be a big creep with a true sight debuff since you have little-to-no damage bonus. You don't build his stats and health until late into the game, since for most of the game you'll do much better taking advantage of his right-click damage, crit, and armor.

You should add Drums to early items! They are really good on Gondar.
But if you get Drums you shouldn't get Vlads, only one of those should be bought, since you will be very slot starved anyway.
Drums give HP, Mana, Damage, MS and a good aura for fights and pushes. I even think that Drums are better than a Vlads most of the time for early midgame.
I would almost always get BKB before damage items like Desolator, since without it Gondar is mostly just food.

Orb of Venom is mentioned, but I kept it out of the actual item builds. My goal is to give a fairly concise and limited amount of items, instead of putting half the available arsenal all over the guide. A lot of them fall into situational at best, and taking up a slot at worst.

Medallion of Courage can be purchased early on if you feel like you need it, but I prefer to rush Desolator since you can get it relatively fast if you're actually ganking and moving around the map. If anything, the additional damage from Mithril Hammers to build up to it will help you stay relevant. Keep in mind that Bounty Hunter racks up gold very quickly, you should have both Phase Boots and Urn of Shadows by the time you hit level 6, or within 8 or 9 minutes, especially if you're in safe lane, at which point you should begin going for kills.

EDIT: I added a new section in the items chapter outlining Orb of Venom and Medallion of Courage.

i would add some items like orb of venom and medallion of courage. i like medallion more then deso in a lot of situations becouse it synergises great with your early game presence. the time when you are farming the expensive desolator your arent imporving in items at all. while it should be your time to shine.

MKB is not a necessary item on Bounty Hunter, however it is nice. I pick it up sometimes when I don't want to risk saving up for Abyssal Blade, considering it's the most expensive item in the game. It's a good preventative item against enemy carries getting Butterfly or Heaven's Halberd, but I don't really see it as a standard item to get since you could get more utility and damage from Abyssal Blade (hard counters enemy Black King Bars). The extra 100 mini-bash from MKB doesn't factor into Jinada so you're losing out on more damage there, on top of it being magic, so it won't even proc if they're magic immune or have very high magic resistance.

But, as a lot of things, it's a matter of preference and opinion.



Stealth duration without having to fade in/out to renew it can be infinitely valuable in a lot of ganks, so I tend to max it fairly quickly. It's a bit user preference on the skill build, different people play him different ways, so there will never be any agreement on one universal skill build. You might have to get certain skills at different times depending on your situation in the match, etc.

The reason you don't get Manta Style is because it's basically a useless slot on Bounty Hunter. It doesn't offer him any bonuses he can make much use of. With Diffusal Blade, he has the ability to slow and purge when ganking, or escape from dust, or even make use of the mana burn if Desolator hasn't been bought yet. Manta Style would only allow him to get out of dust and have illusions that will be instantly destroyed by the first AOE that hits them due to his relatively low health. It scales very poorly later into the match as well, because Bounty Hunter can't make use of the illusions besides for distraction.

Eye of Skadi could be okay, but again, it's another stats item. It's pretty expensive and you wouldn't even begin to work on it until after you've built Desolator, Vladmir's Offering, and probably Black King Bar or Abyssal Blade. More or less, it would be an extension item to get when you really don't know what else to pick up and need a durability boost. You wouldn't benefit from the slows if you're using Desolator because their effects don't stack and you'd want Desolator's armor debuff over the slow.

Good guide but I think getting 2 points in your Shadow Walk is enough and that maxing Jinada after Shuriken Toss is best because by the time you max your toss, you have enough damage to make use of the crit. I also think that Manta can be a good replacement for the Diffusal Blade as it also purges dust. Skadi is also situationally nice for the slow and HP

I would suggested you to buy Monkey King Bar.

The skill build is a bit of a mash-up for "one-size-fits-all" scenarios. If you're in suicide lane, putting two points into Shadow Walk is almost necessary if you're under heavy harass. The reduced fade time on rank 2 is still enough to get a hit in while fading as well, just not the two hits that are possible at rank 1. And the Jinada ranking bit is true, I even said it later on in the guide that ranking Jinada so soon is bad because it gives little benefit without damage, however, the second point at level 7 is to help facilitate ganks and put extra burst on without burning half your mana on Shuriken Toss. This has just been my experience, and it may differ for others, but I've always been more successful with Jinada than Shuriken Toss because of Bounty Hunter's temperamental mana pool.

Point on trilanes is valid, but it's rare that you get someone diving you at such an early point in the match, even if there are three of them. It would be stupid for them to attempt to push you through your tower so early in the game, on top of their experience disadvantage. It's mostly up to how careful you're being and how aggressive the trilane is. If you're getting even half the amount of last hits you should be, you'll have your Phase Boots done in probably 6 or 7 minutes at most.

The counters section is more or less there just to be there for now. I did the entire thing in one sitting, so I was running out of steam at that point. I'll return with something more in-depth once I get the gameplay section going. It is true that Meepo is easy to nuke down early on, which is why I emphasized that as a way to counter him. A mid-late game Meepo, on the other hand, can be nearly impossible to kill on your own. And as far as Clinkz goes, you have to keep him down, and if he gets ahead, he'll still eventually fall off hard simply by his nature.

I've taken all your points and I'll incorporate some of it in when I can. I feel like I should probably make an alternative build with emphasis on Shuriken Toss instead of my current universal skill setup, since like you said, Shuriken Toss is a perfectly good skill to use a lot early. I appreciate the feedback.

Well, you clearly put a good amount of effort in creating this guide. Congrats for that. Overall it looks good, but I just want to give some suggestions:

1 - your skill build is questionable to me. You put 2 early points in Shadow Walk, when you really don't need it. Its nice to be able to cast it before the invis fades, but you can simply hide in the trees and cast it again if needed. Also, you max Jinada before Shuriken Toss, but this reduces your early game damage by a lot. Max Shuriken Toss does more damage than Jinada early in the match, when you right click damage isn't very impressive.

2 - As my starting items I would consider Boots of Speed. If the enemy trilane catches you and they have enough damage and Dust of Appearance, you are dead. So its important that you have more speed to get away. No point in having regen if everytime they catch you, you die. But I guess that depends on the trilane and you may not even be against a trilane.

3 - I feel like the "friends and foes" section is a bit arbitrary. I agree that Slardar is good against you and you can be a nuisance to squishy heroes like Drow Ranger. But then you put Meepo as a dangerous enemy, when Bounty Hunter actually has a lost a burst damage, which is perfect against Meepo. I guess meepo with a lot of farm is dificult to kill, but thats not specific to Bounty Hunter. Actually Clinkz with a lot of farm doesn't care about Track, he'll just turn on you and kill you.

Anyway, its a good guide (even though there are some things I may not agree, but that can be just personal preference :P) and it shows the effort on your part. +1