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Tango
Iron BranchIron BranchIron Branch
Bottle
Magic Wand
Boots of Speed
Blink Dagger
Force Staff
Bracer
Drum of Endurance
Urn of Shadows
Bloodstone
Boots of Travel
Heart of Tarrasque
Necronomicon
Orchid Malevolence
Scythe of Vyse
Shiva's Guard
Black King Bar
Blade Mail
Veil of Discord
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Ghost Scepter
Pipe of Insight
Tranquil Boots
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1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
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4 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
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2 | 8 | 9 | 10 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 |
| 1. | Introduction |
| 2. | Pros and Cons |
| 3. | Sticky Napalm |
| 4. | Flamebreak |
| 5. | Firefly |
| 6. | Flaming Lasso |
| 7. | Using your Combo |
| 8. | Build Justification |
| 9. | Semi-support or semi-carry? |
| 10. | Items |
| 11. | Friends |
| 12. | Enemies |
Batrider is a ganking intelligence hero with a very strong laning presence. Usually played as a mid, he excels at dominating his lane before hitting the sidelanes and helping his team to take control of the game.
Bat has an unusual selection of skills and aggressive playstyle, you'll often be living right on the edge of getting a glorious multi-kill or going down in flames...
+ Strong laning presence
+ Good escape mechanism
+ Excellent Ganker
+ Many opponents hate playing against him
+ Good strength and intelligence gain
- Low range
- Poor right click without Sticky Naplam
- Requires early game farm
- Sluggish movement speed
- Loses potency as the game continues
Sticky Napalm is frequently misunderstood by inexperienced players, but is the primary skill that makes the rest of bat's abilities work.
Every time you cast Sticky Napalm it adds a "stack" on them. If you cast it again within 8 seconds of the last time, you add another "stack" on them, up to 10 stacks.
Every Stick Napalm stack adds damage to ALL your abilities, and your right click. So for example, adding a level 1 stack to an enemy creep will mean you inflict an additional 10 damage when you right click to attack it. 2 stacks would mean 20 extra damage, etc. This makes it very easy for you to last hit with minimal equipment.
It also stacks with your other skills to potentially huge effect, for example:
4 Stacks of level 4 Sticky Napalm combined with level 2 Firefly would mean you would inflict (25 x 4) + 40 = 140 DPS.
10 Stacks of level 4 Sticky Napalm plus a level 2 Flamebreak would inflict (10 x 25) + 150 = 400 damage.
As you can see, Sticky Napalm massively increases the potential effectiveness of your other skills, even when they haven't been levelled very much. It scales much more effectively than either Flamebreak or Firefly so you'll nearly always want to max it first.
Before we forget, Sticky Napalm also inflicts a small slow penalty per stack, and a flat 70% turn rate reduction for even a single stack. This makes it incredibly irritating for enemy heroes, especially ones with difficult positional requirements.
Flamebreak is Bat's main nuking skill, and is also useful as a way of disrupting the positioning of enemy heroes, making it easier to chase or escape from them, or mess them up in a teamfight.
So...this is a nuke...but it's actually the skill we usually max last...what gives? Well, this is unusual, but his other skills are actually more useful for getting kills, and Flamebreak is usually thrown as a finisher or to stop enemies escaping, so they're usually covered in Sticky Napalm by that point - boosting even the level 1 damage of this skill substantially.
Positioning your Flamebreak point of impact carefully is crucial - it has a large radius so will usually hit, even with the slowish projectile speed - however, enemy units are thrown away from the point of impact (the closer, the further they move). This allows you to potentially knock fleeing heroes back into range, or chasers over impassable terrain.
However, this can also backfire - if your placement is wrong, you might accidently move them the wrong way! Practice getting your throws right, and take into account the enemy's likely path, and the travel time of the flask.
Note, this skill provides a mini-stun so can break channelling abilities and teleports.
Firefly is not just the name of one of the best TV programs ever cancelled after 1 series, but also a great ganking, escaping, farming and pushing skill. It has a long duration, but equally a long cooldown, so you have to be sure to use it wisely.
It leaves a path of flame anywhere you move, and any neutral or enemy units that are in the flames take damage equal to your current level of Firefly, plus any Sticky Napalm stacks they have on them. This you gives a ridiculous 330 DPS of potential damage.
Firefly makes you able to fly for it's duration, giving you vision and movement over any nearby terrain - makes you impossible to juke, and also allowing you to escape where enemy heroes cannot follow you. It also makes it easy to escape trapping abilities like 
Power Cogs and 
Sprout. It destroys any trees you fly over, so can be useful for clearing the sight lines in side lanes.
It also combines to hilarious and destructive effect with Haste runes - you can kill almost anyone even at level 2 with one of these bad boys.
Flaming Lasso is your ultimate and disabling skill. It has a very short cast range, so is difficult to land without an appropriate rune, a setup stun/slow, or the element of surprise. However, it does also allow you to drag the target in the same direction as your hero for it's duration, allowing you to sometimes isolate heroes from their team, back into tower range, etc.
This skill is really all about giving your the opportunity to force an enemy hero into your Firefly while you attack them and stack them with more Stick Napalm. It's also your only skill that's still really useful later on in the game, providing a long disable time.
This drag speed is limited by your movement speed, so you want to look at getting more equipment to make this effective.
The laning phase is actually your best part of the game in many cases - enemies have stay reasonably close to the creeps to farm, and you can get those stacks of Sticky Napalm on them. This can allow you to harass hard, or potentially go in for the kill if they over-extend or misjudge your damage potential.
Usually in these situations you simply activate Firefly and try to get in front of them - most heroes will melt quickly with a few stacks of Napalm on them.
You can potentially gank other lanes before level 6 - you have plenty of damage potential from level 3-4, but will require your allies in those lanes to be able to provide some slow or stun to get the kill. Generally you'll want to combine this with an appropriate rune. To gank the lane, approach unseen, throw a first stack of Sticky Napalm on them and activate Firefly immediately. Get between the enemy heroes and their tower, and they'll be forced to run through the fire to try and get away.
Use Flamebreak if you need to finish enemy heroes, or to knock them back into range if they're in danger of getting away.
Once you hit level 6 you can add Flaming Lasso to your combo, simply grab the hero you most want to kill and drag them through the flames and towards your allies. Remember to keep stacking Sticky Napalm on them as you do so to keep increasing the damage they take.
Adding Equipment:
Most Batriders aim to get both a Blink Dagger and Force Staff...why would you need both these mobility items? Quite simply, Blink Dagger gives you perfect positioning for Flaming Lasso, and you can then use Force Staff to drag them a long way from their team.
You CAN'T use this in reverse - blinking will break the Lasso.
Team Fights:
This isn't especially your area of expertise, but you can still help your team here. You can initiate by grabbing an enemy hero and dragging them back to your team for a kicking. Aim for their carry and/or big teamfight heroes if you think your team can kill them quickly.
Sticky Napalm's turn speed reduction can be annoyingly lethal for enemy heroes who rely on exact positioning of their abilities rather than using a radius (e.g. 
Jakiro rather than 
Tidehunter), even if you're not going to have time to get massive stacks on them.
Flamebreak can be very useful for interrupting channelling spells, forcing heroes out of position or just buying your team a little time. Otherwise just spread Firefly over as many heroes as possible and throw in the odd auto-attack.
Some bat players like to leave Flamebreak until much later in the game, preferring to max Firefly first to maximise their damage with it. Flamebreak is kinda expensive now that it's mana cost has been increased at lower levels (80 -> 140), but it's such a useful positional ability I like to have the option of using it from early on, where it might just make the difference on a kill or escape.
My build is designed for a mid player - hence why I skill Sticky Napalm first to allow me to last hit and harass more easily, I don't think Firefly is effective without it anyway. You may want Firefly first if you feel at risk of getting ganked, or you've ended up as a side-lane solo.
Maxing Sticky Napalm first is a no-brainer, but unfortunately I've seen a lot of Bat players recently who haven't been doing it (one didn't skill it at all until level 10!) - it's the key to getting a decent amount of damage, and is a real annoyance for enemy heroes. Also, you'll only really get to load up heroes with big stacks early on, so make the most of it!
I don't know if Bat fits particularly well into these definitions. He definitely needs enough early farm through a combination of kills, assists and last hits to get a reasonable amount of equipment together.
However, he doesn't really need big items later on as his skillset doesn't particularly favour physical damage. He can be built as a tank, load up on utility equipment and/or help out with warding later on if necessary.
I'd say start him out as a semi-carry, and then become more of a semi-support later on if necessary.
Batrider can be built in a number of ways depending on the situation and your team, but there are certain key areas you will always need to have covered:
- Bat will nearly always require some kind of mobility aid to help him land Flaming Lasso, usually a Blink Dagger, or at least a Force Staff (preferably both!).
- Due to his short range and ganking style, you'll usually have to tank a certain amount of damage and live pretty dangerously. You need at least some fast health restore to keep you in the fight.
Early Game Items:
A pretty standard starting item set, you want to rush a Bottle ASAP to get you some fast regen and the ability to stash runes. Next up, you need to get Magic Wand and Boots of Speed ASAP - you need boots before you go ganking unless you're lucky enough to get a Haste rune.
The wand tidies up your inventory and also gives you some crucial flash regen that might just make the difference in a close gank. At this point I'll possibly add a Bracer or Urn of Shadows if I'm getting plenty of farm, or feel I need a little extra HP.
Mobility Items:
I find it tricky to recommend a particular set of boots for Batrider - he can potentially make good use out of any of them - the speed/damage of 
Phase Boots, the extra mana and regen of 
Arcane Boots, the versatility of 
Power Treads, or the movement/heal of Tranquil Boots. Boots of Travel later on can be a worthwhile upgrade if you have plenty of cash.
Generally most Batrider players seem to prefer Power Treads for the extra hitpoints and emergency mana.
You really want to get a Blink Dagger before too long, as it will allow you to be much more effective with your ganks - how quickly you need to get this depends somewhat on your team, whether they're ganking with you, etc.
Straight after blink I'll usually go straight for a Force Staff - again this helps with your ganking, but combined with Blink Dagger allows you to initiate team fights properly.
Utility Items:
As the game progresses, you may well be able to help out your team with utility items that your supports can't afford. Pipe of Insight is quite nice on you, as it helps you absorb nukes and recover your HP quickly - how much you need this depends on the opposition.
Drum of Endurance is always good, and worthwhile if you picked up a Bracer and your team doesn't have one. Urn of Shadows can be quickly charged up with all your ganks, and helps with both ganks and healing.
Veil of Discord is an interesting one - it can actually do quite a lot for your damage, plus boosting your mana pool and armour substantially. Generally I'd only get it if others on the team will benefit though.
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Blade Mail and Ghost Scepter are generally for if the game goes late, and enemy carries are getting big.
I haven't mentioned 
Mekansm as the game will normally have passed the point where it will be useful before you're seriously looking at buying one, although it does help with survivability.
Luxury Items:
Bat doesn't particularly need luxury items to perform his role - and ideally the game will be over before it reaches this point, but if not there a few items that can help. Orchid Malevolence and Scythe of Vyse are great ganking tools and really increase your usefulness in the late game.
The other options mostly boost your tankiness, although I'd particularly recommend Shiva's Guard.
Any hero with a slow or stun will prove useful in setting up your ganks, but these guys all deserve a special mention:
Dark Seer - Max movement speed on request? Check. Extra damage from 
Ion Shell? Check. Really boosts your effectiveness.
Clockwerk - if he can get someone trapped inside Power Cogs it gives you plenty of time to Firefly over and dump huge stacks of Sticky Napalm on them. Ouch.
Earthshaker - a good 
Fissure can trap enemies in an enclosed space, perfect for Firefly, which allows you to fly over it.
Pudge - great for getting enemies heroes out of position, and an equally aggressive ganking partner.
Skywrath Mage - another strong ganking partner, especially as his Silence can amplify your damage further.
Treant Protector - great for setting up ganks, with 
Leech Seed providing a dual slow/heal that will really help you. 
Living Armor can keep you healed up or alive in a difficult situation from anywhere on the map.
Shadow Demon - Soul Catcher giving you up to 50% more damage on your combo? That's got to hurt.
Spirit Breaker - great aggressive ganking partner, provides lots of stuns and bonus movement speed.
Bane - finds it far too easy to shut down your ganks with 
Nightmare.
Gyrocopter - fine for ganking, but he can be a real problem to lane against, with 
Flak Cannon massively outranging and harassing you.
Huskar - the reworked 
Berserker's Blood now gives stacking magic damage resistance as his health gets lower. Since you rely heavily on magic damage, your attempts to gank him will probably end with a faceful of angry Nothl warrior. You can barely hurt him on low health.
Juggernaut - 
Omnislash can quickly turn around a gank, and 
Blade Fury allows him to ignore most of your damage for a time.
Lifestealer - again, free BKB from 
Rage makes him difficult to deal with, and his slow makes you very vulnerable until you get Force Staff.
Omniknight - spoils all your fun with 
Repel and 
Purification.
Viper - his slows, magic resistance and longer range make this a tricky lane matchup, although you can catch him out due to his slow movement speed.
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