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Animal Courier
Iron BranchIron BranchIron BranchIron Branch
Tango
Healing Salve
Boots of Speed
Bottle
Magic Wand
Power Treads
Mekansm
Hood of Defiance
Boots of Travel
Heart of Tarrasque
Assault Cuirass
Radiance
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1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
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10 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
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2 | 4 | 8 | 9 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
Before we start this guide, please allow me to introduce myself. I've been playing DotA/DotA 2 on and off for almost 3 years. I've completed about 10,000 games and most of them are pub games. Speaking of my skill level, I would consider myself a mid level player as I do have a win rate bouncing around 50%. With that said, this guide is definitely not for pros, but is for beginners or mid level players that don't use DP much. This guide is also my very first guide and as my first language is not English, feel free to comment if this guide doesn't satisfy you.
OK, after all those ****s, lets clear a few things up. First and foremost, DP is not a support! I mean DP has to support if there are like 3 traditional carries on your team, but you better just repick DP and get something like CM or Lich in such scenario cause DP is very level and item dependent.
So what is DP? Well, DP is most known as a pusher. However, if you want DP to be any useful in mid or late game, you'll also need to play DP like a semi-carry. In order to farm and level as fast as possible, mid is the only lane for DP. No offlane solo. no trilane bot, mid only. Unlike most int heroes, things like force staff or sheep stick shouldn't be your priority. Those things certainly won't be bad for DP, but you have to be tanky first cause most dmg of DP comes from her ult and you have to stay alive to make that ult goes on.
Lets talk about skill build now. In general, you want to max your wave first cause its a 300 AoE dmg skill at lvl 4. If you solo against a melee hero, you can cast this spell when he/she tries to deny a creep, and follow 1 or 2 normal attacks as that hero runs away. Doing this a few times he/she won't be able to last hit or deny without consuming tango or potion. Try to push the lane to their tower with this skill about 10 secs before every even minute so you can go check the rune while your enemy can't leave his/her tower otherwise he/she won't get the experience. Other than that, you shouldn't use this skill to last hit cause its gonna push the lane to their uphill and that gives your enemy the advantage.
In most pub games, I would recommend max your passive before learning silence. A 3 second silence at min 6 isn't that much useful. On the contrary, faster movement speed, less mana cost, shorter skill cd, and more ghost spirits lead to more successful ganks and a higher pushing efficiency.
However, if your enemies have heroes like AM or QoP, you could learn 1 level of silence at lvl 4 provided your allies have stuns or powerful disables. Nonetheless, you shouldn't learn more than 1 lvl of silence before maxing your wave and passive.
Last but not least, learn your ult at lvl 6/11/16. That skill is where DP's most damage comes from and why DP is still useful in late game. Beware though, DP's ult deals physical damage so BKB won't stop it. Also items like deso or ac will benefit DP's ult cause they decrease your enemy's armor.
Having some understanding about DP's skills helps you make smart choice on item build. Assuming you start with 603 gold, buy courier before you go mid cause courier is always mid's responsibility in pub games. With 453 gold left, you should buy 4 branches,1 set of tango and 1 potion. Personally, I'm not a big fan of rushing bottle, cause if you are facing a mid hero going out with high stats items, you are gonna be ****ed. Therefore, 4 branches, tango and potion are the most safe build in pub games.
By level 6, you should have boots and bottle. A magic wand will make it even better. Try gank and push one lane with those items. From now on, rush a mek would be your best choice cause it gives you more survivability and greater pushing ability. If your enemies deal a large amount of magic damage, you can purchase a HoD after mek. Whether you should upgrade that to a pipe is situational.
Lets talk about boots choice next. Since you have bottle and mek, Tranquil Boots are definitly not an option. That leaves us Power Treads, Phase Boots and Arcane Boots in early game. The speed burst of Phase Boots combined with DP's passive certainly help escaping and chasing in early game. However, they don't add any stats and the added 24 dmg isn't useful for DP due to her low attack speed. Since DP needs to cast spells frequently, mana boots look like a smart choice, yet if you recall that I said DP needs to be tanky in the intro, you'll notice mana boots don't give DP any survivability. Now we got PT left. It may be confusing why DP should get PT since she doesn't deal much damage with normal attack, but if you think about it, PT are the only item that gives DP both bonus mana and survivability. With DP's passive, she's still faster than most heroes even without Phase boots.
Before min 20, you should at least get mek and HoD if you didn't **** up. Now if you got something like Zeus on the other side, please upgrade your HoD to a pipe for your team. In most situation, if you did well, rush a Reaver, than go for a heart. If you did really well, you may rush a Radiance immediately after mek. It'll just be a carnage when your enemies are facing your ult and your Radiance in teamfights. If the game is close, and you got involved into teamfights frequently, purchase a Vitality Booster before Reaver.
Since DP has low armor in mid or late game, she will get either AC or Shiva. In most cases you should get AC instead of Shiva cause physical damage is more important in late game stage, especially if you have traditional carries on your team. It also benefits your ult as I mentioned before. Although Shiva makes more sense for an int hero, DP doesn't really need a huge amount of mana in late game. Once you have silenced your enemies and turned your ult on you are set. Your mana should still be able to afford a few waves after that. Build Shiva only if your allies are all casters and your enemies have physical carries.
Some people may prefer Bloodstone to a heart. Compared to a heart, Bloodstone is easier to build and it has a shorter gap between items. However, Heart of Tarrasque is the ultimate tanky item. If you can get a Bloodstone fast, go get it. Otherwise, get a heart in late game.
Also, I've seen some guys get BKB for DP. That is not recommended. See the thing is BKB doesn't add a lot HP, If you got sheeped, then you are dead. Also, DP is not Sven or PA, you don't need to be able to attack to deal damage, you just need to stay alive. So again, get a heart!
Items that provide additional movement speed will also help DP. If you went Phase Boots anyway, here's an interesting alternative build for you - get Phase Boots, drum and Eul's or even Shadow Blade. This build won't help you much in late game teamfights, but they'll give you great survivabilty and mana regen in early game.
Watch your position when you are about to start a teamfight. You shouldn't go too deep so that those five enemies cast all the **** on your face and kill you. Neither should you stay too behind so that your enemies kill all your allies and rape you after that. DP is not something like veno or tide that just ult and die. She's more like Spectre or Viper that you absorb most of the damage for your teammates but still be able to stay alive.
To conclude, DP is a pusher and semi-carry that deals both magic and physical damage. Instead of getting int hero items, you should build items that give you more survivability. The most important thing for DP is to stay alive. You don't risk your life to silence your enemies, nor should you trade tower with your life. Just remember DP is very item dependent, so all you need to do is to get tanky and win teamfights for your team.
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