Go fish - cookiebrawl's guide to tide

Overview of tide.

Tidehunter is a melee support hero who's great with long range initiations and being the damage sponge for the team.

Ever since they nerfed Tidehunter's anchor smash into an active skill instead of the previous % based 'cleave'-like attack, tide lost much of his semi-carrying potential.

Nevertheless, he still plays a huge role in the initiation department in professional and amateur games alike. Ravage is one of the strongest big AOE ulti's in the game, next to Reverse Polarity, Black Hole, and Chronosphere. He's not the strongest laner, but has a decent initiation range with Gush and ravage, and is inherently tanky thanks to his damage block.

He's a fairly easy hero to play once you understand his role in laning and teamfights and get the hang of when to use his big ultimate.

Skill build

The skill builds differ mostly in the early levels. You would usually either max gush or anchor smash first, and shell last, while leveling ultimate at earliest opportunities. Stats to finish off.

Dual Lane:

Early levels of Gush and Anchor Smash give you the most aggressive/highest damage output potential during laning. Extra levels in Anchor Smash allows it to be more spammable and deal more damage in a short period. Great for last hitting, applying debuff on enemies, and improving damage output in engagements (since gush has a long cd).

Long Lane:

Tidehunter is not very good in long lane, thus your priority is usually just to last hit and stay alive. Thats why I skip Gush until level 5.
Early levels of Anchor Smash and Kraken Shell makes you more tanky against harrass and improves last hitting. 2 levels in anchor smash gives you a 400 range 125 AOE damage, which allows you to out last hit enemies so you dont fall behind on farm. Extra levels are optional, but ganks are coming soon (level 6) and gush is NEEDED.

TriLane support:

Maxing Gush first gives your trilane the best burst/ganking potential as it improves the damage and slow duration. 1 level of anchor smash and kraken shell each just to gain the benefits of the damage block and damage debuff is good enough. You'll be running around/pulling/stacking/harrassing enemy out of lane, so extra levels of kraken shell (tankiness) and anchor smash (last hitting power) is not needed yet.


Tip: The debuff removal from Kraken Shell isnt that useful until you get ~1000hp+ (since the damage threshold of 600 is really high). The damage block is still very good against early harrass and tanking creep damage.


Tip: If you're very close to leveling up your ulti (level 5,10,15), let your teammates know so you can 'steal' some exp from their lane or give you time to level up. Often having that extra level in your ultimate can make a huge difference in the oncoming teamfight.

Item build

Starting Items:

Dual lane:

Tango and Healing Salve for regen.
Clarity x2 to help with tide's mana issues before Arcane boots.
Iron Branches x3 to improve HP and MP ->turns into Wand

Long lane:

Regen items as with dual lane.
Stout Shield helps alot with harrass (together with Kraken shell :D)
Observer Ward to block enemy neutral camps to prevent 'pulling', as well as vision to prevent ganks.

TriLane support:

Courier if needed.
Observer Ward for rune/lane vision.
Sentry Ward to counter-ward neutral camps, allowing you to 'pull' camps.
Healing Salve for recovering after ganks.
Clarity for mana issues with spamming Gush


Core Items:
Core items on tide are very similar in most situations.

Arcane Boots solve tide's early mana issues. Bigger mana pool.

Blink Dagger is most commonly used as it is excellent for initiation, especially when you have such an big badass ulti like him.

Force Staff is an alternative that can help initiation/escape as well.
Pros: can help allies, not 'countered' by taking damage, easier to build with small components.
Cons: shorter range (600 compared to 1200 on dagger)

Magic Wand and Town Portal Scroll is very useful in alot of situations.


Mid Game Items:
Depending on how the game is going, if you're getting good farm, and ally/enemy team compositions, you can get a number of different things to suit your needs.

Urn of Shadows is cheap, gives you cheap HP, mana regen, and walking fountain. Good if you're ganking alot.

Hood of Defiance makes you survivable against nukers/AOEers. Can be transposed into a Pipe of Insight to help your team from big AOEs.

Mekansm is a excellent early-mid game heal for your team. Not your priority, but get it if no one else is getting it.

Drum of Endurance provides nice speed aura and stat boost. Not a priority, but nice to have.

Veil of Discord is excellent if your team has alot of spell damage. It can slightly improve damage of your Gush and Ravage also. Not usually a priority.

Gem of True Sight is an awesome counter to Nyx/Riki/PL/Clinkz/Weaver etc. 700 gold is well worth it. Don't wuss out or be stingy about it if you need it.


Late Game Items:
Your team has already got those support items? Dont need any more auras? You can probably jump straight to these then.

Scythe of Vyse AKA sheepstick is the best disabling item there is. Gives you great stats and mana regen as well.

Shiva's Guard gives you a huge mana pool, makes you more tanky against physical damage, and adds a nice AOE slow on top of your big ulti. Great to have.

Refresher Orb is awesome on tide. Just make sure you have enough mana to ulti-refresher orb-ulti again. ^items like shivas and sheepstick will help.


Semi-carrying Items:
Tide is not a very good carry. He has a very slow attack speed and only has a defensive passive that removes buffs. Nevertheless, if you're owning, or just wanna have fun, go ahead.

Power Treads instead of arcane should be an obvious choice.

Orchid Malevolence helps with your mana issues, has a good silence and amplify damage, and improves attack speed. Why not.

Mjollnir gives you great attack speed and a sexy chain lighting attack. Nice static armor as well. Great item to buff up attack speed and AOE damage.

Battle Fury for clearing groups faster. More effective after getting attack speed items :)

Desolator goes nicely with the armor reduction from Gush. More effective with attack speed items :)

Sange and Yasha gives you good overall speed, nice str boost and maim. Not bad.

Heaven's Halberd provides a bit of HP, maiming attack, and most importantly evasion against enemy carries.

Assault Cuirass makes you tanky and improves attack speed. Nice armor reduction aura as well. Great item for the team.

Heart of Tarrasque makes you super tanky late game.

Black King Bar is good for a CC heavy enemy team. Not usually needed due to innate tankiness, but still one of the most OP items in the game (cmon magic immunity lol). Nice to have after you get some damage.

Tips

Tip: Remember to use Anchor Smash close to the enemy carry. The debuff reduces their base damage by 40%!

Tip: Don't be afriad to use Anchor Smash to push or farm if needed. Just keep an eye on your mana pool.

Tip: Try and land your ultimate on as many enemy heroes in a team fight as you can. Sometimes, you have to be patient and wait just outside of blink range (1200) so that you don't accidently take damage, and end up not being able to blink-initiate, and then end up getting stunned/silenced/killed before you can pull a good ultimate off.

Tip: Ravage does not go through BKB, but it has a huge range. Use this to catch enemies before they run away, or hit them just before they activate BKB.

Tip: Gush has a great range and casting animation, but watch out for spell blocks like Spiked Carapace or Linken's Sphere.