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[ARCHIVED] LordVesper's Personal Guide to Bloodseeker [7.06f]

November 1, 2017 by LordVesper
Comments: 30    |    Views: 46826    |   


Build 1
Build 2

Nuker (Best Choice)

DotA2 Hero: Bloodseeker




Hero Skills

Bloodrage

1 3 14 16

Blood Rite

4 5 7 8

Thirst

2 9 11 13

Rupture

6 12 18

Talents

10 15

Hero Talents

+18% Max Thirst MS
25
+2 Rupture charges
+15% Spell Lifesteal
20
+425 Rupture Cast Range
+120 Bloodrite Damage
15
+8% HP Rupture Initial Damage
+10% Bloodrage Spell Amplification
10
+25 Bloodrage Attack Speed

Introductions

Greetings, everyone! I'm Vesper and today I'll be guiding you on how to play Bloodseeker (just as I promised in my last guide!). You better buckle up since I'm going to be explaining every single thing that I know about him such as why Bloodseeker is not the hardest counter to Anti-Mage and why Dagon 1 is a good item on him! Now without further ado, let's get on with the guide!

NOTE:
This guide is going to be an extremely big wall-of-text. Because of this, I advise starting with whatever you need help with first before trying to read the whole thing. Anyways, I will be first discussing the Nuker build before going to the Right-Click Carry build. If you want to skip the Nuker build, please select the "The Pros & Cons (Right-Click Carry)" chapter above.

General Tips about Bloodseeker

BLOODRAGE


Bloodrage is what makes Bloodseeker a valid right-click carry and insane nuker. Early on, you primarily use this ability for healing yourself or your allies up through getting last hits and denies on creeps or possibly even heroes. Later on, you will use this ability to amplify the damage a unit deals AND receives by a maximum of 40%! 40% is a lot and should be abused as much as possible to get the best out of Bloodseeker. It is worth noting that this amplifies ALL types of damage which are Pure, Magical, and Physical. However, you should be careful when using this ability since it's a double-edged blade and can end up helping your enemies instead if used incorrectly! Prediction skills and practice will help a lot to make sure that Bloodrage will always be beneficial to your team.

BLOOD RITE


Blood Rite is Bloodseeker's area-of-effect nuking ability that deals moderate pure damage and silences affected enemies for a maximum of 6 SECONDS! Early on, the pure damage it deals is scary especially when paired up with Bloodrage and the level 15 talent, "+75 Blood Rite Damage". Later on however, you start using this skill mostly for the 6 seconds silence (which is ******* long and means death for some heroes) and can be spammed if you get the level 25 talent, "-7s Blood Rite cooldown". Note that the area-of-effect this ability has is huge and can serve as area denial for important places such as highground or the Roshan pit.

THIRST


Thirst is what Bloodseeker is most well-known for since it potentially makes him run extremely fast (it's not rare for him to exceed the 550 max movement speed). It serves as his chasing ability and provides some damage that is significant early on. However, you can only notice the benefits from this ability if an enemy hero has low HP. Once an enemy hero has lower than 25% of their maximum HP, you can now exceed the 550 maximum movement speed cap and gain true vision over the wounded enemy! This works especially well in combination with global abilities from other heroes such as Ice Blast, Wrath of Nature, and Thundergod's Wrath. Last but definitely not the least, it's worth noting that the speed and damage bonuses stack with other enemy heroes so Bloodseeker will become lightning-fast even without boots if it just so happens that all of his enemies are below 25% hp.

RUPTURE


Rupture is Bloodseeker's ultimate and is what makes him a viable pick in certain games. It deals pure damage based on how much distance the Ruptured enemy is travelling. It works well when used in combination with Blood Rite since it forces enemies to either take heavy pure damage or end up getting silenced OR even sometimes both! This makes him a natural counter to most mobility heroes such as Anti-Mage, Weaver, Slark and many more heroes that are most commonly found in pubs. However, it is easily countered by Town Portal Scroll so a disabling item must be bought for Bloodseeker if you wish to be successful in solo ganks.

TO SUMMARIZE:


Because of his skillset, Bloodseeker is most preferably played as a Nuker or sometimes as a Right-Click Carry depending on the game. He counters high-mobility and low HP heroes so pick him if you see those kind of heroes in the enemy team. Once in-game, your typical goal is to get level 6 as soon as possible either through laning or jungling. After level 6, you must abuse the insane pure damage potential from casting Bloodrage and then Blood Rite + Rupture to get kills! Thirst and Rupture will ensure that your enemies can't just run away and with help from a few disables and right-clicks, your team can easily get the kill. From doing this successfully, you SHOULD start snowballing and eventually end up winning the game through gold and experience advantage if your enemies don't make enough efforts to stop you. However, you should keep in mind that Bloodseeker doesn't scale well into the lategame and is easily outcarried by more dedicated lategame heroes such as Spectre or Faceless Void... so try to end the game whenever it's possible. Getting towers and Roshan kills with your team will greatly help in that regard so effective team communication will be quite valuable here!

Laning and Jungling

Mid


The most desired lane for Bloodseeker! This is due to changes in Patch 7.06 wherein an extra melee creep is added in the midlane for the first 15 minutes of the game. He does well against most mid heroes especially against those that rely on draining the opposing mid hero's regeneration to win their lane such as Zeus or Queen of Pain. Just remember to abuse Bloodrage's insane healing capabilities and get to level 6 as soon as possible so that you can start ganking all over the map and hopefully snowball from there.

Offlane (preferably Solo)


The second most desired lane for Bloodseeker especially if going solo! As of Patch 7.06, this means that he will most likely be matched up against a defensive dual lane (usually the support and hard carry). He does just fine in these situations with help from Bloodrage and Poor Man's Shield. Just get level 6 as soon as possible then try to get a pickoff on the support with help from another ally (most likely your mid). After that, proceed to pressuring your enemies with constant ganks and hopefully start snowballing from there.

Safelane


Personally the worst lane a Bloodseeker can have! While not necessarily bad, all the other lanes are just better and I've noticed that Bloodseeker doesn't do well against most offlane enemies. This is because most offlane heroes are naturally tanky such as Axe or Timbersaw. Anyways, just try your best to play safe and get level 6 as soon as possible so you can leave your lane and start ganking other parts of the map. I heavily advice against trying to kill the offlaner/s since it would be hard if not impossible to pull off (unless you get help from allies, which only works in some pub games).

JUNGLING


Used to be a great option for Bloodseeker, but then Patch 7.06 arrived and changed how the jungle works! While Bloodseeker can still pull off jungling like before with Iron Talon, it will now yield less experience and gold especially early on where you can't clear camps that fast. This is bad for him since he usually relies on snowballing to impact the game! I recommend begging to your allies for another lane (as long as it isn't the safelane), but if you can't do that... then just suck it up and do your best to get to level 6 as soon as possible! By the time you get there however, your enemies will be more resistant to ganks so play carefully or even ask help from your allies.

When To Pick

DO PICK Bloodseeker IF:
[*] Your enemies have fast-movement abilities such as Windranger's Windrun and Weaver's Shukuchi!

[*] You have allies who can abuse Rupture such as Earth Spirit's Boulder Smash and Magnus' Skewer!

[*] You have allies who can benefit from Bloodrage by dealing damage in short bursts such as Zeus and Shadow Fiend.

[*] Your team has global-range abilities such as Invoker's Sunstrike and Nature's Prophet's Teleportation.

[*] Armor doesn't matter for Nuker build while Magic Resistance doesn't matter for Right-Click Carry build. Just make sure that your enemies have low HP pools!

[*] Your enemies have invisibility such as Riki, Bounty Hunter, and Clinkz.

[*] You don't have hemophobia (fear of blood). And you want to see blood coming out from heroes that you thought didn't have blood such as Tiny and Morphling!


DON'T PICK Bloodseeker IF:
[*] Your enemies can quickly put down a Bloodraged target (whether it be you or your allies). As a rule of thumb, heroes that do well with Bloodrage also do well against it!

[*] Your enemies have high enough HP pools that the Blood Rite + Rupture combo doesn't matter to them. Special mention to Centaur Warrunner ! I'll explain later why.

[*] Both lanes and the jungle are taken by your cores. Choose a damn support instead if that's the case!

[*] Your enemies are skilled enough to help each other whenever they get ganked by YOU. This usually happens in the higher MMR brackets (5k and above) or when you're playing with a party.

[*] Your enemies have enough disables to make sure that you don't run away using your insane movement speed.

[*] Your enemies have sustain heroes (specialized in keeping the team alive and healthy) such as Necrophos with his Death Pulse or heroes that buy Guardian Greaves.

Notable Hero Matchups

Anti-Mage- while I agree that Bloodseeker counters Anti-Mage a lot, I think it's not one of his hardest counters. An experienced Anti-Mage will just blink into the trees and teleport out if you ever Rupture him... which leads to a failed gank! Good news though is that Bloodseeker is very effective against inexperienced Anti-Mage players who would try to buy Linken's Sphere or even Aghanim's Scepter in an attempt to counter your Rupture. In these noob cases, just cast Bloodrage on him first to either pop the Linken's Sphere or reflect it from his Aghanim's Scepter. Afterwards, then you can cast Rupture freely like as if it was just a normal gank! In the Nuker build, it's also worth noting that you can strike him with Silver Edge and then blast him with Dagon 1 without worrying about his magic resistance (since you just disabled all of his passives).

Zeus- is both your best friend and worst nightmare. As your ally, you can always cast Bloodrage on him in teamfights to make his magic damage EVEN HIGHER THAN IT ALREADY IS! This combo allows you to win the earlygame and midgame easily for as long as both of you don't mess up! As an enemy though, Zeus can easily focus you down especially with Bloodrage activated. He's easy to kill if you manage to silence him though so make it a priority to cast Blood Rite wherever he's at!

Invoker- is one of your best partners! He can pickoff wounded enemies easily with Sunstrike due to the vision that Thirst provides. This allows your team to have deadly global presence which can even destroy your enemies mentally. He also turns into a horrifying glass-cannon nuker if you Bloodrage him in teamfights. If left alone while Bloodraged, he can even get a rampage singlehandedly! If against an enemy Invoker, you'll be fine for as long as you avoid his nukes and disables!

Centaur Warrunner - is THE WORST ENEMY YOU CAN POSSIBLY FACE IN THE ENTIRETY OF DOTA 2 (I think)!!! Killing him is almost impossible due to his high HP pool and he would gladly cast Stampede and kill you with Blade Mail if you dare cast Rupture on him! Anyways, although it's not end of the world if you're against him, you should probably just ignore him at all times and just focus on killing off his allies. Bonus points if you can make Centaur Warrunner cast Stampede while one of his poor allies are Ruptured. Talk about teamkilling!


OTHER HERO MATCHUPS MAY BE FOUND HERE: http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Bloodseeker/Counters

Ideal Gameplan

EARLYGAME


GOALS:
[*] Get level 6 as soon as possible. Rupture is insanely powerful early on and should be abused.

[*] Have boots (preferably Phase Boots) by the time you reach level 6 so that you can start ganking as soon as possible. Bloodseeker's chasing abilities are unmatched by most especially at this stage of the game.

[*] Take advantage of your Rupture power spike by ganking other lanes. You should be able to guarantee kills with help from your allies. Only attempt to solo-kill when enemies are weakened enough that they can't fight back anymore.

[*] Start buying your core items using the gold that you got from both farming and ganking. You should be farming or pushing whenever ganking isn't an option so that you don't end up wasting time.


REMINDERS:
[*] Bloodseeker is a naturally good laner and jungler because of his insane sustainability with Bloodrage.

[*] In lane, if you're confident that you can last hit/deny, don't be afraid to trade hits with the enemy and just fall back whenever your health's low (around 40% HP).

[*] In lane, remember that you can still rotate to the jungle whenever the creep wave is too far and then just come back once it has reached your tower.

[*] Focus on enemies that do not have Town Portal Scrolls or have recently just used them. They're perfect Rupture targets and should lead to a kill if the combo is executed properly and with help from a few right-clicks.

[*] While jungling hard camps early on, you can lessen damage received by casting Bloodrage on the huge creep instead of yourself. This makes it so that damage from small creep/s aren't amplified.

[*] While waiting for your next gank, you can farm creeps AND use Clarity potions so that you have enough mana to execute your combos. This is much better than going back to base (which wastes time, and time is important).

MIDGAME


GOALS:
[*] Make sure that you have ALL of your core items!
FOR NUKER: Phase Boots will help you chase down enemies, Shadow Blade will be used to initiate ganks, Eul's Scepter of Divinity will prevent enemies from teleporting away and serves as your main source of mana regen, while Dagon 1 will be used to nuke down enemies in combination with Blood Rite + Rupture. This is the ideal item set for a Nuker Bloodseeker.

FOR RIGHT-CLICK CARRY: Phase Boots and Shadow Blade will have the same purpose as in the Nuker build. Echo Sabre will solve your mana issues and provide some right-click potential, while Skull Basher will almost guarantee that your enemies don't just teleport out and helps you manfight better. This is the ideal item set for a Bloodseeker that wants to be a competent right-clicker.

[*] Continue hunting down weak targets such as lone roaming supports and farming carries. Do your best to shutdown the enemy team while your allies take objectives. If nobody in your team is pushing, be the one to do it instead since you want to end the game as soon as possible. Just make sure that it's safe to do so!

[*] When the enemy team is down, convince your allies to take down Roshan since it'll be easy with the help of Bloodrage and at least two right-click carries. Let whoever is strongest take the Aegis of the Immortal! Afterwards, go 5-man push with your advantage and hopefully take highground.

[*] Achieve map control by striking fear in the hearts of your enemies! Make sure that they don't have any safe places to farm and force them to tower hug. If you have a hard carry, this will win you the game later on due to the gold advantage. But, if you don't have a hard carry, convince your team to 5-man-push or else you'll lose the game later on in most cases.

[*] With the gold that you've earned, buy the situational/extension items that best fit your situation such as Force Staff against a scary Riki or Blade Mail against a snowballing Phantom Assassin. Always assess the game situation and buy your items accordingly!


REMINDERS:
[*] Bloodseeker is NOT a hard carry. If you're the main core of the team, you should aim to end the game at this stage before your enemies get strong enough to outcarry you. Any well-farmed hard carry can easily stomp you in the lategame. These include Spectre, Phantom Assassin, and Terrorblade.

[*] The usual combo for a gank with Bloodseeker is: Shadow Blade, strike victim while invisible, cast Bloodrage on either one of you then cast Rupture and Blood Rite. After that, you use Dagon 1 if you went for the Nuker build or just right-click the enemy down if you went for the Right-Click Carry build.

[*] Always focus on killing the weak! You're not a great manfighter compared to most heroes so you should focus on picking off the easy targets. These are usually the supports that spent most of their money on wards to bother getting some durability.

[*] For the nuker build, you have to learn the hit-and-run tactic. You do this by abusing your insane movement speed and blasting your enemies with Dagon 1 whenever it's off cooldown. After that, you just run away! You keep doing this until the fight turns to your favor which allows you to go in for the kill.

[*] For the right-click carry build, treat yourself as a "glass cannon". This means that you shouldn't be in the frontlines or else you'll just die almost instantly. Let your team distract the enemy while you ambush their squishy heroes from behind!

LATEGAME


GOALS:
[*] As a Nuker, you will now switch into a Disabler role by spamming Blood Rites and casting Rupture on crucial enemies. You will also be using your disable items such as Scythe of Vyse and Shiva's Guard to help win teamfights. You should be doing all of this while still blasting weaker enemies with your Dagon occasionally or to finish off a dying enemy.

[*] As a Right-Click Carry, you should be dealing as much physical damage as you possibly can then run off to safety using your insane movement speed once your health is too low. You should also do your best to use Bloodrage strategically such as to regenerate your carry's health or to pinpoint the target that should be focused down first. Beware though as Bloodrage can do more harm than good if used incorrectly!

[*] Take objectives whenever possible since you are NOT a hard carry. Aim to end the game as soon as possible before the enemy can make a comeback!

[*] You should aim to get six-slotted at this stage with items that scale well into the lategame such as: Scythe of Vyse, Shiva's Guard and Heart of Tarrasque.


REMINDERS:
[*] Keep in mind that at this stage, Bloodseeker is weaker than the carries but stronger than the supports. Keep your distance from the enemy carries.. But don't be afraid to charge relentlessly against their supports if they don't have backup!

[*] As a Nuker Bloodseeker, you should have some disabling items at this stage so that you can contribute more in teamfights than just occassional hit-and-runs. If you don't, then your team will be fighting 4vs5 and WILL end up losing more teamfights.

[*] As a Right-Click Carry Bloodseeker, you shouldn't be afraid to fight alongside your carries to help win teamfights. Although, you should use Bloodrage carefully since one wrong cast can easily lose you the game! For example, you just Bloodraged the enemy Phantom Assassin that was already one-shotting most of your teammates. In that scenario, the Phantom Assassin will just regenerate health and shrug off the amplified damage received!

[*] Keep in mind that Blood Rite scales well into the lategame due to its pure damage and insane 6-seconds silence! When combined with the level 25 talent, you can almost permanently silence enemies that don't bother avoiding the area! Cast this whenever it's off cooldown in teamfights.

[*] It is worth noting that Bloodrage also scales well into the lategame since the amplified damage is based on percentage. 40% additional damage taken and received is a big deal in the lategame and can mean the difference between winning or losing the game. Use this ability wisely or suffer the consequences!

The Pros & Cons (Nuker)

PROS:
[*] Compared to the right-click carry build, the Nuker build is much more effective at getting clean and successful pickoffs. You can usually kill enemies within two seconds if you do the combo correctly!

[*] Dagon 1 is very effective on him due to Bloodrage amplifying its damage and its ability to enable Thirst's benefits instantly if the hero's HP pool is low enough.

[*] Thirst's movement speed increase combined with Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Shadow Blade, and Phase Boots allows him to catch up with most enemies!

[*] Items such as Radiance, Shiva's Guard, and Ethereal Blade are all amplified by Bloodrage.

[*] If blasting them with Dagon 1 isn't enough, then Blood Rite and Rupture combined will finish the job!

[*] Despite going for this build, his right-click potential is still somewhat decent and is enough for him to get farm easily. Don't rely on it to fight heroes though!

[*] While magic resistance counters your Dagon 1, your other abilities deal pure damage so it doesn't matter as much.


CONS:
[*] He already didn't scale well into the lategame as a right-click carry. Going for a nuker build will make him scale even less.

[*] Blade Mail is going to be a pain in the *** no matter what even if you're prepared for it! Bloodseeker can't handle much of his own damage.

[*] Heroes with high HP pools like Centaur Warrunner hard-counter you since they'll shrug off your damage and just reflect it with Blade Mail.

[*] This build is only effective in certain scenarios.

Item Explanations (Nuker)

Author's Note:
I understand that some of you may be in disbelief with my item choices so I'll do you a favor and explain EACH and EVERY single one of them. Buckle up because this is the largest section of the guide. Oh, and just a friendly reminder... If you wanna skip to the Right-Click Carry build just go back up and select the "The Pros & Cons (Right-Click Carry)" chapter to get there.


Starting Items (Lane)


Poor Man's Shield- helps you survive a great deal of harassment early on and provides agility to help secure last-hits. This is preferred over Stout Shield + Quelling Blade in the Nuker build since you won't be building Vanguard.

Tango- get these to make sure you don't get harassed out of lane just because you couldn't heal off of creeps with Bloodrage. But, you could skip these if you're confident with your last-hitting abilities.

Starting Items (Jungle)


Iron Talon- a necessity for jungling efficiently. Always use it on the big creep preferably when it's still at full HP for the best results. Best used against Hard Camps.

Healing Salve- bought at the start of the game just so that you can clear the Hard Camp when it spawns at 0:30 without the risk of dying.

Earlygame Choices


Infused Raindrops- buy these when you're facing heavy harassment from spells early on. It also provides some much needed mana regeneration until it runs out of charges. You shouldn't have to sell it because the charges will run out soon enough before you have any item slot issues.

Wind Lace- buy this if Thirst's movement speed increase is not yet enough for chasing down enemies. Keep this as you will use it for your Eul's Scepter of Divinity later on!

Boots of Speed- almost every hero needs boots and Bloodseeker is no exception to that. You'll be upgrading them to Phase Boots as soon as you can or into Boots of Travel if you can afford to be greedy.

Null Talisman- provides nice stats to help with the laning stage. Keep this as you will need it for your Dagon 1 later on. Although, I'd avoid buying it while jungling since it doesn't help much with farming creeps.

Core Items


Phase Boots- provides good damage early on and greatly increases Bloodseeker's chasing potential. It outclasses Power Treads because of its ability to phase through units which can be a problem while you're ganking!

Shadow Blade- your most-preferred gank initiation item that provides some damage and attack speed to help you with right-clicking. Despite going for the Nuker build, your right-click damage is still great early on and shouldn't be underestimated!

Eul's Scepter of Divinity- provides enough mana regeneration for you to gank multiple enemies without needing to go back to base. Its active ability is also useful for preventing enemies from just using Town Portal Scroll to escape from you!

Dagon 1- this is what makes Bloodseeker a true nuker! Combining Bloodrage with all of his other abilities followed by a blast from Dagon 1 is more than enough to kill most heroes before they get any chance to react. As with most nukers, it falls off later on so getting it as soon as possible is top priority!

Situational Items/Extensions


Radiance- after buying some of your core items, you should aim for this if you need more teamfighting power and you're ahead enough to get it at a decent timing. Remember that Bloodrage works well with the burn damage and don't forget to turn it off before using Shadow Blade to retain the element of surprise!

Shiva's Guard- after buying all of your core items and 1-2 extensions, this item comes to mind since it provides a lot of durability while still offering some damage! The extra armor and aura it provides help A LOT against physical damage while its active ability combined with Bloodrage deals a decent amount of magic damage while slowing down all enemies within its HUGE range.

Scythe of Vyse- preferably bought as a sixth-slot item to replace Eul's Scepter of Divinity. It provides insane mana regeneration, great stats, and the ability to hex an enemy for 3.5 seconds! As the game progresses, every second costs more so the active ability becomes more useful. It should be used to put an important enemy out of the fight which can easily turn teamfights to your favor (most of the time this will be their carry). Although, there are situations where you might buy this earlier such as when one specific enemy is snowballing such as Invoker or Axe. Buying Scythe of Vyse in these situations is great to end the killing streak and turn the game back to your favor.

Blade Mail- preferably skipped as there are better items out there. But, if you die before getting to execute your combos or contribute in fights, then Blade Mail will solve those problems! You'd probably still die, but at least you died reflecting a ton of damage back to your enemies. It's often enough damage for your team to win the fight! Blade Mail can also be bought against "glass-cannon" heroes. These heroes deal huge amounts of damage but cannot handle much of it themselves so reflected damage from Blade Mail will kill them easily... Sometimes before they can even react!

Veil of Discord- after buying all of your core items, you should be getting this if you want to contribute more in teamfights AND your allies deal a lot of magic damage. These heroes include Zeus, Skywrath Mage, Puck and many more! Its active ability removes 25% of your enemies' magic resistance which is good news for both your team and your Dagon 1. It also provides some nice stats and armor for Bloodseeker himself. But, please notify your team before buying this as multiple Veil of Discords don't stack with each other! Also, note that you'll be replacing this item once it gets to the lategame.

Aghanim's Scepter- after buying some/all of your core items, this item will be worth getting in cases where two or more of your enemies have escape abilities that can be punished by Rupture. It's also worth getting if you want to become more of a Disabler than a Nuker. Aghanim's Scepter gives you the ability to cast Rupture twice (if you have both Rupture charges) and provides some decent stats. The +14% rupture damage talent SHOULD be taken if you went for this item!

Bloodthorn- bought almost exclusively as a sixth-slot item to replace Eul's Scepter of Divinity. While Scythe of Vyse is generally better since it's cheaper and cannot be countered by dispels/purges, Bloodthorn makes sure that your team can kill a specific enemy FAST (if no dispels are available for them). So, if the only issue your team has is damage then this is the perfect item to go for! Its active ability amplifies all the damage that a single enemy takes by around 51% which is scary even for the tankiest of heroes! Please note that while it's crazy expensive in total, it compensates for that with a nice item buildup. I would suggest going for the Orchid Malevolence first rather than the Crystalys since your right-click damage is almost irrelevant at this stage of the game if you went for the Nuker build. Still worth buying despite nerfs from Patch 7.06.

Force Staff- a great utility/escape item that should be bought against certain hero abilities. These include Sprout, Power Cogs, Smoke Screen, Fissure and many more! Keep in mind that it can pop a Linken's Sphere or even deal some pure damage if used against a Ruptured unit! However, the item should be bought because of its utility and not its damaging capabilities. There are far better items when it comes to damage!

Heart of Tarrasque- while Shiva's Guard or Assault Cuirass is arguably better in terms of durability due to the armor that those provide, Heart of Tarrasque's passive ability to regenerate health rapidly is necessary when doing hit-and-runs against the enemy team. It is pretty common for Bloodseeker to get in and out of fights by abusing his movement speed so if you find yourself doing just that, then buy one! It's worth noting that it also grants an extra 1300HP making you incredibly resistant to most nukers.

Ethereal Blade- commonly bought after Dagon 5 to further increase your nuking power. It provides a lot of stats (mostly agility) and its active ability reduces the target's magic resistance while dealing magic damage based on your main stat (for Bloodseeker it's agility, and he has lots of it). As good as this item is in the Nuker build, you should only buy it if you can afford to be greedy enough to go full "glass-cannon" mode.

Assault Cuirass- while Shiva's Guard is admittedly better for the Nuker build, it is sometimes necessary to prioritize your team over yourself. You get Assault Cuirass in situations where you've lost most of your game impact but still want to contribute for your team. The armor and attack speed aura it provides help a lot in teamfights especially in the later stages of the game where physical damage is much stronger than magical damage.

Linken's Sphere- just like with most heroes, you get this item to avoid deadly targetted spells. These include Doom, Duel, Fiend's Grip and much more! It also provides some nice stats and decent mana regeneration. Although, Black King Bar is generally better if there are no deadly targetted spells to block!

Black King Bar- just like with most heroes, you get this item to prevent getting disabled in fights. The spell immunity usually guarantees that you don't get interrupted while dealing damage in teamfights. If it makes you feel better, think of Black King Bar as a damage item since it would allow you to deal damage in cases where you otherwise would've been disabled and dealt zero damage. Please note that this item is much more situational on the Nuker build since the combo doesn't take too much time and right-clicking isn't needed that much.

Silver Edge- serves as a great upgrade for your Shadow Blade. It allows you to disable an enemy's passive abilities and reduce their damage by 50% if you attack from invisibility. This is especially useful against certain heroes such as Phantom Assassin, Bristleback, and Tiny. It also provides some nice stats and reduces Shadow Walk's cooldown (the active ability) by four seconds. Get this upgrade once you're in no rush to buy other items.

Dagon 5- while added cast range, burst damage, and reduced cooldown sounds good, it costs too much to be worth it in games where you aren't ahead by much. You should only upgrade Dagon 1 if you can afford to use your money inefficiently (which only happens in games that you are winning). On the bright side, it does make you a true Nuker and increases your single-target damage significantly which will help you in cases where only one specific enemy is a threat!

Boots of Travel- just like with most core heroes, you will eventually have to replace your boots since Boots of Travel frees up an item slot which would normally be used for a Town Portal Scroll. You can then use this free item slot for whatever item you need next. Don't forget that you can teleport to any unit now (or heroes if upgraded to level two) and move much faster than if you just had Phase Boots!

Refresher Orb- because of Patch 7.06, both rupture charges will now be replenished upon usage if you have Aghanim's Scepter. If disabling enemies is your duty instead of nuking them down, then this will be worth picking up IF you can afford it. Being able to rupture up to FOUR enemies in one teamfight is insane and will turn the teamfight greatly into your team's favor!

The Pros & Cons (Right-Click Carry)

PROS:
[*] Compared to the Nuker build, the Right-Click Carry build scales better into the lategame so go for this if you're sure that you can't end the game early enough. A good mindset to have is to treat him as a fragile glass-cannon like Phantom Assassin or Shadow Fiend.

[*] Bloodrage and Thirst allows him to pick off squishy enemies quick enough before their team can react. This is especially true in the lower MMR brackets where teammates don't give a damn about each other!

[*] Blood Rite and Rupture allows him to snowball out of control easily and potentially even carry the entire game on his own. These two abilities deal huge amounts of pure damage and must not be underestimated!

[*] He doesn't need much farm to come online. This mean he can deal with aggressive heroes such as Axe, Beastmaster, and all the other heroes who take advantage of their very early power spikes to win the game.

[*] He can do well in the jungle, safelane, offlane, or even mid! For a right-click carry, this is very impressive and is key to making sure that Bloodseeker can get a good start and hopefully start snowballing by level 6.

[*] As a right-click carry, he excels at chasing down heroes and keeping them in place. This makes him especially effective against slippery heroes like Anti-Mage, Weaver, and Slark.

CONS:
[*] You can try all you want but... Bloodseeker as a right-click carry will never scale well into the lategame. He has too many glaring issues to be considered a hard carry.

[*] Compared to the Nuker build, getting pickoffs as a right-click carry is more time consuming. This makes it riskier and lessens the amount of opportunities where you can pickoff an enemy hero and get away with it. This is mostly the reason why I prefer the Nuker build to be honest!

[*] Going for this build means that you will be manfighting more often. Unfortunately,
Bloodseeker only preys on those weaker than him. He can't fight against most equally farmed heroes especially if they have high HP pools like Wraith King or Dragon Knight. This means that you should either: a) Snowball hard enough that the gold and experience advantage will allow you to kill these heroes or b) Ignore them completely and focus on more ideal targets instead.

[*] Aside from Bloodrage and Blood Rite's silence, his abilities fall off hard as the game progresses since heroes start to get more HP. This makes ending the game as soon as possible a top priority once you have an advantage over your enemies. For a lot of game situations, this is just not possible and especially with patch 7.05 where going highground is much harder due to the increase in tower armor and the presence of shrines.

Item Explanations (Right-Click Carry)

Author's Note:
While I love the Nuker build on Bloodseeker, I understand that there are just some games where he would excel more as a right-click carry than just running around with Dagon. Anyways, like in the other section, I'll just explain why these items are the best for him. Please remember that this item build isn't set on stone and SHOULD be changed depending on what you actually need.


Starting Items (Lane)


Stout Shield- just your standard protection against lane harassment. You get this over Poor Man's Shield because you may be getting Vanguard in the right-click carry build.

Quelling Blade- since you won't be getting Poor Man's Shield, I would advise getting this to help you secure last-hits and denies. This combined with Bloodrage makes you a pretty solid laner and potentially even jungle if laning isn't an option.

Tango- just some standard regen in case you don't get enough Bloodrage heals early on. Skip this if you're not going to have a hard time in lane and you can last hit/deny decently.

Starting Items (Jungle)


Iron Talon- a must-have for a jungling Bloodseeker. It allows you to take on the hard camp as early as 0:30. This is important since you want to get level 6 as soon as possible to maximize your chances of snowballing.

Healing Salve- bought so that you can take on the hard camp at 0:30 and get yourself a good jungling start.

Earlygame Choices


Infused Raindrops- buy these when you're facing heavy harassment from spells early on. It also provides some much needed mana regeneration until it runs out of charges. You shouldn't have to sell it because the charges will run out soon enough before you have any item slot issues.

Boots of Speed- almost every hero needs boots and Bloodseeker is no exception to that. You'll be upgrading them to Phase Boots as soon as you can or into Boots of Travel if you can afford to be greedy.

Blight Stone- bought when your team intends on going aggressive very early on. This helps you take down towers faster and helps quite a lot with early teamfights. Skip this item if not much action is happening around the map.

Wraith Band- provides nice stats to help with laning and allows you to be aggressive before level 6. It should be upgraded into a Ring of Aquila shortly after for the mana regeneration and armor. Skip this when jungling since your main focus there is to get the core items as soon as possible.

Magic Wand- also provides some nice stats to help with laning and should be preferred over Wraith Band if the enemy in your lane has many spammable spells such as Stifling Dagger or Quill Spray. It can provide some decent sustain if lots of fights are happening early on and spells are just being used left and right! Skipped when jungling since neutral creeps don't cast spells very often.

Ring of Aquila- a very nice upgrade to Wraith Band that provides lots of cheap stats. It allows you to be agressive and take tier-1 towers much faster if the enemies don't bother defending the lane. Obviously skipped when jungling since the aura bonus there would be kinda useless.

Core Items


Phase Boots- provides good damage early on and greatly increases Bloodseeker's chasing potential. It outclasses Power Treads because of its ability to phase through units which can be a problem while you're ganking!

Echo Sabre- his main source of mana regeneration in this build. It provides some solid stats and the active ability to double-strike every five seconds compensates for his lack of attack speed early on.

Skull Basher- solves Bloodseeker's no-stun issue that allows enemies to just Town Portal Scroll away from his ganks. It also allows him to manfight better which is important for the right-click carry build. This cannot be skipped since it fixes two of Bloodseeker's biggest problems!

Shadow Blade- your most-preferred gank initiation item that provides some damage and attack speed to help you with right-clicking. This also allows him to manfight better especially when upgraded into a Silver Edge later on.

Situational Items/Extensions


Blade Mail- bought as a defensive tool against glass-cannons like Sniper and Outworld Devourer. It forces enemies to think twice before focusing you down which gives more time for some right-click damage. The bonus armor, damage, and intelligence is also pretty nice!

Radiance- after buying some of your core items, you should aim for this if you need more teamfighting power and you can get it at a decent timing. It helps you snowball EVEN HARDER than before and may be enough to win you the game on its own since it gives him much more right-click potential and Bloodrage works well with the burn damage. But, don't forget to turn it off before using Shadow Blade to retain the element of surprise in ganks!

Vanguard- a defensive tool that can be upgraded into an Abyssal Blade later on. While usually bought to finish up Abyssal Blade, it can be bought earlier when losing against other right-click carries such as Shadow Fiend or Troll Warlord. The damage block helps a lot when fighting them in the midgame and may just be enough for you to catch up and fight back. Doesn't help much in the lategame, though!

Abyssal Blade- the upgrade to Skull Basher and Vanguard combined. Its active ability is a guaranteed spell-immunity piercing stun that works well against really slippery heroes such as Weaver or Slark or against incredibly dangerous heroes such as Ursa or Lifestealer. I don't recommend rushing this item unless the stun is desperately needed since the recipe costs 1550 gold that could have been spent on finishing up your other items instead.

Aghanim's Scepter- after buying some/all of your core items, this item will be worth getting in cases where two or more of your enemies have escape abilities that can be punished by Rupture. The stats it provides are pretty nice and the two rupture charges synergize well with the +14% Rupture Damage talent. Although, it doesn't help much with right-clicking so avoid it unless needed!

Mask of Madness- gives decent lifesteal and provides enough attack speed to make Bloodseeker a scary right-click carry. Preferably bought as early as possible for maximum impact and only against enemy teams that lack physical damage. It synergizes well with Skull Basher and can later be disassembled into a Satanic and Butterfly for decent lategame power.

Butterfly- usually bought after disassembling Mask of Madness in the later stages of the game so that you can keep up with the carries. It's a powerful luxury item that allows Bloodseeker to win manfights easily if your enemies don't have Monkey King Bars. It provides insane agility and attack speed plus the 35% evasion. Also, the active ability synergizes well with Bloodseeker's insane movement speed and can be used to escape many situations easily.

Mjollnir- first starts off as a Maelstrom bought for farming and decent fighting power. Later on, it is upgraded into a Mjollnir for attack speed and lategame potential. Buy this if ganking isn't viable and you end up farming instead. Bloodseeker is a naturally good farmer due to his sustainability but lacks area-of-effect damage to clear camps fast. This item solves these problems and will help him get a gold advantage over his enemies. Try to avoid upgrading Maelstrom into Mjollnir until you're 6-slotted or against illusion heroes like Phantom Lancer or Chaos Knight.

Satanic- usually bought after disassembling Mask of Madness to find use for the Morbid Mask. It provides some strength and damage plus the active ability is essentially a free Aegis of the Immortal if used correctly. This item turns Bloodseeker into a fairly durable right-click carry and should be bought if you went for Mask of Madness earlier or if your enemies lack disables to stop you from abusing the active ability.

Manta Style- even after Patch 7.06, I still find Manta Style to be much better than Sange and Yasha. The stats it provides suit Bloodseeker better despite the lack of strength and reduced movement speed. Not to mention, the active ability can be used to generate illusions, dodge spells, bait enemies, distract enemies, escape from enemies, or even get kills since the illusions have 66% of Bloodseeker's base damage.

Heaven's Halberd- after Patch 7.06, I've realized that the disarm this item provides is really good and can even win teamfights. Buy this item if facing against scary right-click carries such as Troll Warlord or Shadow Fiend. The added strength and 25% evasion it provides also help with Bloodseeker's durability which is an issue whenever Bloodrage is on. Another good reason to get this item is if you plan on getting Manta Style and you already have the Yasha. This means you can build Sange and Yasha and just disassemble it later on once you can finish up either Heaven's Halberd or Manta Style. Last but definitely not the least, please avoid buying this item if you plan on getting Butterfly later on since evasion does NOT stack well (making it a waste of gold).

Assault Cuirass- the ultimate durability item for our right-clicking Bloodseeker. It should only be bought in the lategame where there's more physical than magical damage (since most damage from spells have fallen off at this point). It provides a LOT of armor to help you survive in fights for much longer even with Bloodrage on. The attack speed and armor aura also helps your teammates and may just be enough to win you the teamfight. Of course, as with most aura items, coordinate with your allies first before buying Assault Cuirass so that you avoid having multiple of these in one team (since auras don't stack AT ALL).

Silver Edge- same definition as in the Nuker Build! The only difference is that it also helps a bit with your right-clicking power. Anyways, Silver Edge serves as a great upgrade for your Shadow Blade. It allows you to disable an enemy's passive abilities and reduce their damage by 50% if you attack from invisibility. This is especially useful against certain heroes such as Phantom Assassin, Bristleback, and Tiny. It also provides some nice stats and reduces Shadow Walk's cooldown (the active ability) by four seconds. Get this upgrade once you're in no rush to buy other items.

Boots of Travel- also the same definition as in the Nuker Build! Just like with most core heroes, you will eventually have to replace your boots since Boots of Travel frees up an item slot which would normally be used for a Town Portal Scroll. You can then use this free item slot for whatever item you need next. Don't forget that you can teleport to any unit now (or heroes if upgraded to level two) and move much faster than if you just had Phase Boots!

Bloodthorn- worth getting in a lot of situations despite nerfs from Patch 7.06. It provides great mana regen and decent right-clicking power, plus the active is insanely good if not countered through spell immunity or dispels. The active ability amplifies the total damage an enemy receives by 51% AND silences them for 5 seconds which is game-changing and can easily kill even the tankiest of heroes. Buy this if your team lacks damage to focus down a specific hero or if your team lacks silences against spell-dependent heroes like Storm Spirit or Outworld Devourer. The item may be crazily expensive in total but it makes up for it with the nice buildup. For the right-click carry build, it's still better to get Orchid Malevolence first before moving on to the Crystalys. The silence and added damage at the end of the silence duration is just too good to skip!

Black King Bar- almost the same definition as in the Nuker build. Just like with most heroes, you get this item to prevent getting disabled in fights. The spell immunity usually guarantees that you don't get interrupted while dealing damage in teamfights. If it makes you feel better, think of Black King Bar as a damage item since it would allow you to deal damage in cases where you otherwise would've been disabled and dealt zero damage.

Linken's Sphere- the same definition as in the Nuker build. Just like with most heroes, you get this item to avoid deadly targetted spells. These include Doom, Duel, Fiend's Grip and much more! It also provides some nice stats and decent mana regeneration. Although, Black King Bar is generally better if there are no deadly targetted spells to block!

Heart of Tarrasque- while Assault Cuirass is certainly better in most situations due to the armor and auras that those provide, Heart of Tarrasque will be better in cases where you can abuse its passive regeneration. You can abuse this by moving in and out of fights with your insane movement speed from Thirst. Please note that you can only do this if your enemies lack proper disables to lock you down whenever they desire.

Monkey King Bar- as with most right-click carries, this item is a necessity for countering evasion such as that from Butterfly, Blur from Phantom Assassin, or even the blind from Radiance! It deals pretty decent damage plus the minibash will help you win manfights especially in combination with Skull Basher. Please note that you should only buy Monkey King Bar for the sole purpose of countering evasion. If the issue you're having is damage (or anything else really), get other items instead such as Bloodthorn or Butterfly.

Check these links for specific info on Bloodseeker (that I didn't add to the guide)

BLOODSEEKER'S ABILITIES-

in order to be good with Bloodseeker, you need to know EVERYTHING about his abilities. Knowledge is power, after all!
http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Bloodseeker

BLOODSEEKER'S META VIABILITY-

mostly for MMR gaining purposes, you may want to make sure that Bloodseeker is viable in the current patch if you wish to play him seriously. As of 7.06, he's still very good at shutting down high-mobility heroes especially Anti-Mage who is pretty strong in the current meta.
https://www.dotabuff.com/heroes/meta

BLOODSEEKER'S PLAYER STATS-

keeping track of his most used items, winrates against specific heroes, and many more will help in deciding what you should do when playing with or against him.
https://www.dotabuff.com/heroes/bloodseeker

BLOODSEEKER'S FAVORITE TOY-

because he loves blood and all he wants is more blood
http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Bloodstone

Changelog

5/11/17: Guide's only about 40% done... Will do my best to finish as soon as possible. Probably done in about a day or two :)
5/12/17 at 12:22AM: Finally finished the Item Explanations (Nuker) chapter! I think I'll call it a day and just continue working on the guide tomorrow! Goodnight folks :D
5/12/17 at 10:52AM: Good morning, folks! Well, I'm off to finish the guide now!
5/12/17 at 5:15PM: Guide's about 60% done! My goal right now is to finish the guide within the day so I can focus on making Dota 2 videos tomorrow.
5/17/17 8:32AM: When you want to finish the guide but 7.06 came out and changed everything. Thankfully, these changes didn't affect Bloodseeker too much except that he is much better at laning than jungling now.
5/18/17 at 3:38PM: Removed Sange and Yasha for various reasons explained in the guide itself. Removed Desolator. Also removed explanations for "Six-Slotted" item builds since it was redundant (the items there were already explained in other sections of the guide).
5/18/17 at 4:30PM: Changed skill sequences for both builds (now they're exactly the same lol). I realized how dumb it was to delay maxing out Blood Rite, a nuke that helps you snowball much more than Bloodrage or Thirst.
8/13/17: Added more to "Vesper's Other Guides!" and renamed guide
5/18/17 at 7:21PM: Finally finished the Bloodseeker guide! It's been quite a journey and I hope you'll appreciate the efforts I made to make sure this guide is at least decent. Anyways, I'll probably be working on a Sven guide next so stay tuned for that! For those who are interested in my YouTube channel, I'm afraid I'll have to put it off for now at least until I can get a decent amount of guides active and updated here on Dotafire.com! Welp, see ya next time!
7/22/17: I return from the dead using Reincarnation! For now, I'll be focusing on both my YouTube channel AND my Dotafire account so stay tuned for that :D
9/2/17: Heard about the guide contest! I suppose this is just more incentive for me to make guides.

Vesper's Other Guides (and YouTube videos)!

Vesper's Guide to GAINING Solo MMR:
http://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/guide/vespers-guide-to-gaining-solo-mmr-26402


Vesper's Meepo Guide:
https://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/guide/vespers-personal-guide-to-meepo-7-06e-26660
Vesper's Phantom Assassin Divine Rapier Gameplay:

Vesper's Support-in-a-Nutshell Joke:

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