My Guide to Centaur Warrunner

About Me

Hi guys my name is Felix. I have been playing Dota2 for 2.7 years (If I'm not wrong) and you can find me on Instagram or Twitter (@felix_denz).

This is my eight guide here, so i expect my elders to give me comments and help me fix my mistakes. If there is a sameness with other's guide, it is a pure coincidental and don't sue me for it.

About Centaur Warrunner

Lore
It's said that a centaur's road is paved with the corpses of the fallen. For the one called Warrunner, it has been a long road indeed. To outsiders, the four-legged clans of Druud are often mistaken for simple, brutish creatures. Their language has no written form; their culture lacks pictographic traditions, structured music, formalized religion. For centaurs, combat is the perfect articulation of thought, the highest expression of self. If killing is an art among centaurs, then Bradwarden the Warrunner is their greatest artist. He rose to dominance on the proving grounds of Omexe, an ancient arena where centaur clans have for millennia gathered to perform their gladiatorial rights. As his fame spread, spectators came from far and wide to see the great centaur in action. Always the first to step into the arena, and the last to leave, he composes a masterpiece in each guttering spray, each thrust of blood-slickened blade-length. It is the poetry of blood on steel, flung in complex patterns across the pale sands of the killing floor.
Warrunner defeated warrior after warrior, until the arena boomed with the cheering of his name, and he found himself alone, the uncontested champion of his kind. The great belt of Omexe was bestowed, wrapped around his broad torso, but in his victory, the death-artist found only emptiness. For what is a warrior without a challenge? The great centaur galloped out of Omexe that day with a new goal. To his people, Warrunner is the greatest warrior to ever step into the arena. Now he has set out to prove he is the greatest fighter who has ever lived.

Bradwarden, the Centaur Warrunner , formally Centaur Warchief, is the leader of the mighty Centaur Clans. They ruled the world 2530 years ago, and all spellcasters, invokers, creatures, even humans fell in their terror. Naww jokes.

Centaur Warrunner is a hero built to fit the role as a tank. Often played in the offlane, for the fast leveling, and able to tank most hits thanks to the Return.

This hero is often played as initiator and tanker, and I will explain a little bit about him in this guide.

In this guide I will explain about:
(*)Pros and Cons
(*)When and When Not To
(*)Skills
(*)Items
(*)Skill Build
(*)Friends and Foes

Pros and Cons

Pros:
(*)One of the tankiest hero in the game.
(*)High health gain.
(*) Return hurts the enemy back.
(*)Not so mana dependant.
(*)Stomps like rock with that AOE stun.
(*)Right-clickers' enemy.

Cons:
(*)Low mana pool.
(*)Low right-click potential.
(*) Double Edge hurts you back.
(*)Being too tanky sometimes makes you forget to go back when being ganked ==a

When and When Not To

Pick Centaur Warrunner if:
(*)You need an offlaner.
(*)You have no tank heroes.
(*)You need a setup for your skills.
(*)Your enemy safe lane heroes is a good matchup with you.
(*)Your enemy heroes are squishy.
(*)You want to feel like a boss when you pass through them ( Stampede ) XD

Don't pick Centaur Warrunner if:
(*)You already have an offlaner like Clockwerk or Tidehunter.
(*)You have no supports or carries.
(*)Your team doesn't need setups for teamfights.
(*)The enemy team is as tanky as you.
(*)You are bad with both Blink Dagger and Force Staff
(*)Your enemy has Lifestealer. Please don't, it's just disaster.

Skills

I WILL NOT EXPLAIN ABOUT THE SKILLS AS YOU CAN SEE THEM IN THE DOTAFIRE DATABASE.

Your main AOE skill. Stuns everyone in the radius of 315 for max 2.75 sec! If you stun 2 of their squishy heroes, it's insta-kill XD. Very good synergy with Blink Dagger. Be careful though, it has like 0.5-something cast animation, so skills like Dragon Tail can stun you before you stun them. Use it wisely, as your mana pool is not that great.

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You main nuke skill. Deals max 400 damage to your enemy and yourself. Damage to you is blockable by Hood of Defiance and Pipe of Insight (correct me if I'm wrong), and it's MAGICAL. I repeat, MAGICAL. Most people mistook this skill as pure damage and ignore the fact that items that grants magic resistance can reduce this skill's effectiveness. Try casting this on 2 or 3 heroes, as it's cleave damage (meaning it can hit multiple enemies in 1 hit, much like Battle Fury.)

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Your only passive skill. Try to picture this as a built-in Blade Mail. It may only block 22 damage, but the main notice is the damage return, which is 50% of Centaur Warrunner 's health. So the more health you got, the harder the Return will be. Short note, the damage applies when the attack starts, not when the attack hits. Remember that spells won't be returned back.

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Your ultimate. It's so much better than the previous one, which increase your STR. This is what makes Centaur Warrunner so scary even if he's not with his teammates. This skill is global, so it effects every allied heroes in the whole map. You can use this skill to help your teammate to escape, start teamfight, and escape from gank yourself. But the most important thing to notice is the slow and the damage. The enemy is being slowed for 100% (note that 100% slow doesn't means stopped movements) and the deamage dealt is 3 x your STR. This is why Centaur Warrunner has to be a tanker, cause every single one of his skills needs him to be tanky and has high STR.

Items

Your basic regeneration item. You will be needing these since you are likely to get harrassed or ganked on the offlane.

Same as above.
Increase your blocking damage, make you more resistant to harrassment. Upgradable to Vanguard and to Crimson Guard.

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Your boots of choice. You won't be needing Arcane Boots' mana and Power Treads' AS. What you need is health, and this boots provides the regeneration. Some quick tips to jungling with Tranquil Boots. Try putting down your boots, then clear the camp, then take the boots again. Doing this will safe the 13 sec Broken Boots' time. Be careful though, your invisible enemy can kill the boots in 1 hit XD.
One of the best items on him. Blocks a few damage from that Double Edge. Also increasing Centaur Warrunner 's magic resistance. This is very helpful if you are dealing against that pesky nukers like Zeus or Lina. Upgradable to Pipe of Insight.
Upgraded from Stout Shield. This is a popular item on tanky heroes. Upgradable to Crimson Guard. Having both Vanguard and Hood of Defiance already makes Centaur Warrunner pretty tanky in the early to mid games.
A must item on him. I repeat, a must. Without it, you are basically ****. There's no way your enemy will let you walk to them and cast Hoof Stomp. You are initiator, so act like one, and buy items like one. Very good for starting a fight. Comparison with Force Staff will be included on Force Staff's part.

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GODLY. Increasing your STR means more potential on Return, and you have a shorter-broken-time item to replace your Tranquil Boots, which can later be build to Boots of Travel.
Yeah, nice MS. Buy this item if you already got all your main items.
Upgraded from Hood of Defiance. Basically, more regeneration and magic resistance, but added active, granting 400 spell resistance shield to every allied units and heroes nearby.
You did benefit from the damage and AS, but what's noticable is the active shield. Just pop your Blade Mail with Crimson Guard and Pipe of Insight with this, and runs to your enemy. You will be just exactly like a rampaging boar XD. Try to have your carry to buy this, presumably Sniper. They can cast it on you, so you can have 1 more slot for another item.

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Armor item, just like the picture shows you guys. The auras especially are very helpful for your teammates.
Upgraded from Vanguard. Pretty much like Pipe of Insight, but it grants damage block shield and extra armor. What's nice from this item, is that it doesn't require mana to activate. Meaning you can spam it without worry of your mana! Brilliant!
Yeah, you won't benefit from the extra AGI, but more damage block in the early game is never too expensive for you. Later you can sell this item to make your Vanguard.
Extra armor and a freezing arua that slows your enemy, and also Arctic Blast, deals 200 magical damage and 40% slow for 4 sec. It also blows away your mana problems.
Alternative from Blink Dagger. Most people buy Blink Dagger while the others prefer Force Staff. So I will put a table about each item's usage.

Blink Dagger Because of 6.82 both items' price is the same. Grant access to uphills and downhills. Shorter cooldown than Force Staff Disabled for 3 sec if the bearer is hit. Item doesn't have any parts, meaning that you have to save 2250 gold to directly buys it.

Force Staff +10 INT that increase your mana pool. Cannot be broken by spells and attacks. Positioning is harder than Blink Dagger. Longer cooldown than Blink Dagger Item has parts, meaning that you can buy the parts first. Item without parts sometimes is hard to build, as you can get 2200 gold and suddenly got ganked, resulting ing 2000 gold left TT.

So you see now, both items has their Pros and Cons. But if you want me to decide, i'd go Blink Dagger. Why? Simple! Positioning is easier with that! You are an initiator, which means you need to be on the right spot, which is the middle of the enemy heroes, to initiate. Blink Dagger gives that, while Force Staff's push is only 600 units away, which is half from Blink Dagger. And some enemies can spot you if you are only 600 units away from them. But Force Staff is still viable, the choice is entirely up to you.

WHAT? EULS? YOU ******* NOOB??? WHY EULS IDIOT YOU BETTER QUIT DOTA 2 AND START PLAYING WITH YOUR OLD DINOSAUR IDIOT!! Hey why not? Extra mana regen and MS is what you needed, and Cyclone secures your Hoof Stomp -> Double Edge combo! But it is indeed situational.
WHAT? YOU AGAIN?? HALBERD?? YOU ARE SO ******* IDIOT WHO WOULD BUY HALBERD ON HIM? YOU NEED TO LET YOUR ENEMIES HIT YOU SO YOU CAN RETURN THE DAMAGE TO THEM AND TANK US!! Hey who says tanking is all about returning and absorbing damages?? Dodging them is also tanking! A few chance to evade enemy's attack is highly recommended on him! Note that Heaven's Halberd's active is very useful if you want to gank. You can use it instead of stunning them, therefore conserving your mana.

Skill Build

If you are going offlane, take that Return at level one. You need to survive from the enemy's harrassments. Especially heroes like Lina or Viper with pretty long range. But, if you have partners, you can go take that Hoof Stomp at level 1, to secure early kills. You need to have at least 1 point on every skills, and then first focus on Hoof Stomp. The main reason I didn't focus on Double Edge, is you are still not as tanky as you will be in the early games. Getting extra stun duration is better than more damage dealt to yourself. On level 6 your build will be 3-1-1-1.

The next step is still on the lane, cause you are the most effective when you hit both 4 points on Hoof Stomp and Double Edge. So keep farming till you get level 9. Once everyone hits level 6, early ganks and aggresive gameplays will start. You will already have your Tranquil Boots and Hood of Defiance or Vanguard, at least. You can start tanking for your teammates now. Don't go in too deep to the enemy's tower. You are still not tanky enough. On level 11 your build will be 4-4-1-2.

Now, you will have Tranquil Boots, Hood of Defiance or Vanguard, and Blink Dagger. This is when you start play aggresive. Blink -> stun them all! Kill those squishy carries. Build Blade Mail to counter those pesky right clickers. Initiate with Stampede and Blink Dagger. Spread chaos!! MWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHH!!!!!!!!!!!! Am I too carried away? Well, once you have one of your luxury items, you are all good. Go Pipe of Insight if you are fighting magic nukers, and go shiva guard and Blade Mail to deal with those right clickers. On level 16 your build will be 4-4-4-3.

ALWAYS TAKE YOUR ULTIMATE SKILL WHENEVER YOU CAN, AND ALWAYS USE IT TO SAVE YOUR ALLIES. DO A GOOD DEED AND THY SHALL BE REPAID. (was it like that?)

Friends and Foes

Centaur Warrunner is very mana-poor and these heroes can help him!

• Crystal Maiden -> Arcane Aura
• Keeper of the Light -> Chakra Magic
• All support heroes -> Arcane Boots!

What's the best from Hoof Stomp? That it hits all heroes!!

• Dark Seer -> Vacuum
• Magnus -> Reverse Polarity
• Axe -> Berserker's Call
• Disruptor -> Kinetic Field
• Enigma -> Black Hole
• Tusk -> Ice Shards

Also, people that can help him set good position for his stun!

• Disruptor -> Glimpse
• Kunkka -> X Marks the Spot

Centaur Warrunner hates those who can dish out high magical damage!!

• Lion -> Finger of Death -> Upgraded to Hand of Death MWAHAHHAHAHH!!
• Lina -> Laguna Blade
• Queen of Pain -> Sonic Wave

Return? That **** is useless against them!

• Medusa -> Mana Shield
• Anti-Mage -> spell shield
• Abaddon -> Aphotic Shield -> Borrowed Time
• Ember Spirit -> Flame Guard

This guy has a built in BKB, which is Rage. Also, he has a pretty good lifesteal, which is Feast and it deals back damage equals to the lifesteal he got. So basically, the tankier you are, the harder he hits. So, you are basically useless against him. Unless if you have Stampede, you can just run away with that.


This guy has a crazy attack speed skill, and his passive, Fury Swipes makes him hits harder and harder each attack. Once he has that BKB, you can't do **** to him.

Ending

So that's all to my guide! Thanks for taking your time to read it, I'm sorry for any grammatical mistakes, please remind me if I had some. Kindly upvote my guide by clicking that green icon on the top right side of the guide. Comments are welcome, especially from my elders. Thanks!!

Updates

Fri, 9 Jan 2015
- Remove Bloodstone from item build
- Move Mjollnir to Situational Items
- Change Skill Build

Thu, 8 Jan 2015
- Guide Published