"Roasted, toasted and burnt to a crisp!" - A Guide on Batrider

Author's Note

Hello and welcome to my very first guide about one of my favorite heroes, Jin'zakk the Batrider!

I made this chapter for the sole purpose of apologizing if my guide is too long and if some (_{if not all}) of the parts in the guide may seem to differ from other professional guides for the reason that I haven't been in a bunch of really competitive games. But even with these "imperfections", I can assure you readers that this guide will contain everything I know and learned about Batrider. Also, this is my first time doing a DotA/DotA2 guide so please be a bit constructive on your feedback guys.

Lastly.
A thought we should always keep in mind:
Although this is truly a "Guide with Hero Builds", it doesn't really mean that you really need to follow everything in it. You can change some things to suit different playstyles and situations (_{but please, refrain from getting items like Divine Rapier on Batrider}). A Guide never says "follow this guide in the same order and you'll win 100% of the time" but it will only "guide" you to a build where common (_{but sometimes uncommon or rare}) scenarios are likely shown. I know someone else can come up with an idea of a "better guide", but there is no such thing as "Da Best Guide Evah!". Make changes, don't let your mind think that there's only ONE SOLID GUIDE to anything, being one-sided won't help you be a better player.

Hero Introduction

Batrider is a short-ranged Intelligence Hero capable of wreaking havoc and confusion for the whole game. Even at low levels, this Hero can be annoying to lane against and will successfully kill you at all costs (_{don't even try hugging the tower}) if you give him a glimmer of chance. He is commonly mistaken as an outright Ganker (_{he can gank, but due to the fact of not having a reliably long stun, he's no Ganker}) he is mostly played as a Semi-carry early game then an Initiator (_{or follow-up}) at late game.

His first skill, Sticky Napalm, is an AoE spell that will put any hero into a whole lot of trouble if stacked. Flamebreak is a very versatile spell, it can be used to lasthit running enemies, break channeling spells, disrupt positioning, scout an area, and if used perfectly, get anyone stuck and helpless on impassable terrain. Firefly allows Batrider to fly above any terrain and leave a trail of flames below during its duration, making it deadly to the opposition when coupled with a bunch of Napalm stacks. The Batrider's ultimate, Flaming Lasso is one of the best single-target disable you can have, as it will allow the Batrider to drag his helpless victim away from allies and into his imminent doom.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Good Strength and Strength gain even for an Intelligence Hero
• Can towerdive and still net a great kill with Flaming Lasso
• Can't be juked when Fireflying
• One of the deadliest Heroes at early game
• Can and will try to end games early
• Can gank like nobody's business (_{Sorry Night Stalker, but you can't truly gank at daylight})
• Invisible Heroes that are low on health may have a hard time escaping an expert Batrider due to Flamebreak being able to hit Invisible Units.
• His balls are burning! (_{You'll only get this joke if you have clicked on Jin'zakk multiple times in DotA 1 :P})

Cons

• Requires a lot of (_in-game) suicidal tendencies
• Needs so much speed to be effective in teamfights
• Stuns. And. Slows. Hate. Him. So. Much.
• Flaming Lasso is easily countered by Linken's Sphere
• Smart players (_{or mainly people that understand the Batrider's skills}) will always bring Magic Stick/ Magic Wand at early game if they see you
• May require some practice and map knowledge to really grab a fast game (_{or even a key target})
• Nearly every ranged Hero outranges him
• He's no ganker...

Skills

Let's take a closer look at this homicidal bat-riding troll's arsenal of skills.

Ahh... I could almost remember the time when I first saw this skill, considered it useless, and then failed to realize its full potential at early games. Crazy times though... Okay, back to the real topic.

Well, Sticky Napalm works like this, when you use it on a group of enemies that are NOT magic immune, the next damage they take from you would increase by 10/15/20/25, but as of 6.81b, the bonus damage from Sticky Napalm is halved against non-hero units (_{that means you'll have a slower kill rate while jungling}) . Sure, it's small, but if you use it several times (_{stacking the Napalm up to 10 times}) on the enemy, you can get a whopping 100/150/200/250 extra magical damage. Couple it with your skills and some items, you can even own at level 2. Also, with its 3%/5%/7%/9% slow per stack and a good turn rate* reduction, it's so irresistible to not activate Firefly and barbeque the hell out of them.

Do take note that there are items that won't activate the extra damage given by Sticky Napalm. These items are: Radiance, Urn of Shadows and Orb of Venom.

Tips when using Sticky Napalm:

• At level 1, spam this skill on enemy heroes you're laning against, if they currently have eight to ten stacks, you're out of enemy tower range and you leveled up to 2, immediately take and activate Firefly and swoop in for the kill. Auto-attacks plus Firefly PLUS the extra damage from 10 stacks of Napalm would sum up to an easy kill.
• If possible, try to hit everything (_{creeps and Heroes}) with Napalm, it'll make lasthitting a cinch and it'll prepare the enemy heroes for your Firefly (_{But let's say that your team's carry is with you, then prioritize the enemy Heroes}).
• If your enemies are the passive type and tries to escape your Napalms by backing out and waiting for the debuff to disappear, put that to your advantage and scare them, you will be gaining complete control over the creep wave by keeping them away.
• Another tip when using this skill is that you can use it to provide some small vision by targeting it near the fog of war or in trees to (₁)check if someone is hiding and/or (₂)prevent jukes when Firefly's off cooldown (_{highly unlikely, but can be a possibility}).

*In any case you were wondering, turn rate is the amount of time a hero will waste take when turning 90/180 degrees, it's a small amount but even small things can make larger impacts (looks at Tiny).

Now, about Flamebreak, it's a skill that will most likely have the best effect at later stages but can still be useful early in the game. It's a molotov cocktail (_{drink that Brewmaster!}) that has a unique ministun (_{it pushes enemy units in a 375 radius around the target area away from the blast point}) and deals 75/150/225/300 magical damage when it explodes.

This skill requires some high-standard positioning and good timing to be effective and will take some time to master.

Like I said in the introduction page, this skill is very versatile and has many uses such as:

• basically nuking enemies
• pushing enemy creeps and heroes away from your tower
• stalling creeps and heroes so you can destroy their tower
• scout an area (_{it has a range of 1500!})
• disrupt enemy positioning
• disrupt channeling spells
• lasthit fleeing enemies (_{also works on Heroes that are invisible, provided you know where they're going})
• isolate heroes from their team (_{it's hard to do, but can put you out of danger when you plan on using Flaming Lasso)}
  
• save you or your ally from a gank by pushing enemies away from you/him.
  But do make sure if your ally, especially if it's your carry, is really in any danger, we don't want to take away a potential kill he could make out of it (_{I've done that mistake before on Terrorblade, I didn't know he could switch hp with an enemy at that time}).
• lastly, one of the hardest Flamebreak tricks to pull off, get an enemy (_{or multiple enemies}) stuck on impassable terrains.
  

Firefly! This skill allows you to have movement of an aerial unit and deems you impossible to be chased or escaped! For Heroes willing to chase the Bat, they will have their balls burn out 20/40/60/80 health per second (_{provided the hero has no magical resistance, which will never happen}) and will definitely see the Batrider turning around to chase them! For the Heroes being chased by the Bat, just hope you won't end up as lunch and miraculously escape Death's calling (_{unless you have some kind of reliable escape mech and Batrider doesn't have Flaming Lasso yet, then you're safe from him.}).

Firefly is usually used after you stacked multiple Sticky Napalms on the enemy hero but before you use your Flaming Lasso on them. It will make you one the most feared chasers since no one can juke you with Firefly on.
Although the sound of you flying up high unjukeable may sound intimidating, this skill has two major flaws, one is that it needs movement speed above all else to be very deadly and second is that you can be slowed and stunned while flying. Keep in mind that although you can gank, you have no reliable stun/silence to keep an enemy from slowing you down. Main reason why Batrider ain't a ganker.

Now for the ultimate skill, Flaming Lasso, a game-changing skill where you can disable a single enemy AND drag him to your desired location, be it with your allies, the fountain or just a dark place where you or your allies will beat him up to death (_{but keep in mind that it only has a duration of 3/3.5/4 seconds, so you can't drag anyone from their base to yours even with full speed}). The targets you should Lasso would most likely be the enemy carry, a healer, or someone else that will be a problem to your team (_{disablers are also good targets}). The good thing about this skill that it can go through Black King Bar (_{but not Linken's Sphere!!}), so you can go and get that pesky carry out of the fight and kill him with your team's carry. Also, using Blink Dagger, Town Portal Scroll and Boots of Travel will break the Lasso but Force Staffing yourself won't (_{in some cases though, multiple Force Staffs may break the Lasso, don't know if it's just a bug, but it happened on me during the past. It was when 3 of my teammates -in case you're wondering, those 3 happened to be Ogre Magi, Ancient Apparition and Invoker- used it and the Lasso "ended prematurely"}).

But like Firefly, Flaming Lasso requires some speed to be very effective, you can still be slowed or stunned by anyone and most of all, Linken's Sphere blocks it. Better choose targets wisely or better yet, harass them before they can ever think of getting a Linken's Sphere with 0 gold.

Simple tip to counter Linken's Sphere Holder: Since Flaming Lasso's the only single-target spell you have and we all know that it would be a waste to let someone else waste his single-target spell for the sake of letting you Lasso the target, use the actives from either Force Staff, Eul's Scepter of Divinity or Urn of Shadows. (_{I actually feel more like Cap'n Obvious here, but yes, what I said was obvious yet easily forgotten when at the heat of the battle my thanks goes to a random kid I had a game with at the internet cafe who pick-steal Batrider from me, I used Phoenix at that time and I became a proud teacher at the end of the game})

The Skill Build

Okay, all of my Skill Builds on Batrider are much like the generic build made on him.

• Level Sticky Napalm at levels 1, 3, 5, and 7 since it will be the skill that will boost your right-click, skill and item damage, it should have top priority.
• We then max Firefly second because the damage per second with Napalm stacks is too good to resist. But I usually level it at levels 2, 8, 9, and 10 so I could acquire Flamebreak's ministun at level 4.
• Flamebreak would be maxed last, being leveled at levels 4, 12, 13, and 14. Some people might disagree here and say Flamebreak's a better choice than Firefly because it's a great nuke
  Sure, the damage is big if you look at it but if math talks then a level 4 Firefly deals more damage than a Flamebreak of the same level ( _{Firefly does 80 DoT for 18 sec so if you multiply those given numbers, you'd have dealt 1,440 if an enemy without magic resistance stays in the flames for the whole period, it's 4.8 times more powerful compared to Flamebreak's 300 magical damage!)}
  
• Flaming Lasso will always be picked up whenever available (_{that means 6, 11 and 16}), for the reason that the 4-second disable is never to be underestimated.
• Stats are taken at 15 and 17+, common sense.

Note: If you are scared of getting killed at level 1 by a "stunning" trilane, get Firefly at level 1. This is why not investing skill points while in the fountain is very important.

Items

Okay now onto the Items! But first, here's a message from the Secret Shop Guy!

---

Often I am asked... What does the Batrider truly need?
(_{creepy chuckle})Much depends upon the lane you're starting
Would you go safelane? Then for you I have these for some skill spam! Would you go offlane? Then I shall grant you these, for an early Tranquil Boots Would you go mid? Then come closer and try to save for a Bottle! What does the Batrider truly need?
That is for you (_{and your team}) to decide...

---

Okay, so maybe I overdid it but I wanted to do that for a while now. But seriously, those are the starting items I would suggest if you're taking one of the lanes.

In safelane, you'd need a lesser amount of health regen and more mana since you'll be spamming skills there (_{why? the enemies are closer to your tower, that means that you can safely Firefly without worrying of taking tower fire for a while}). Just remember to pull creep camps to your lane at the right moments to deny the enemy some exp and gold all the while making enemy creeps move closer to the tower so you can repeat the process of killing them again. If you feel Tranquil Boots will be better than Power Treads, replace Gauntlets of Strength with a Ring of Protection and follow the Offlane's item building procedure.

Offlane is somehow the opposite, where you need to survive first than spam skills and you're gonna play a bit passively, you can try to get the enemy closer to the tower but it's much more risky in the offlane since you might encounter an enemy trilane or get ganked. A Ring of Protection can help you mitigate some damage and that it can grant you the Tranquil Boots in the side shop. The Clarity will help you if you're not feeling an aggressive lane, and might even make you own the offlane (_{you still need to be careful about ganks}).

Mid is where the Batrider's love for the Rune of Haste goes totally out of hand. Same as Offlane, you should play a bit more passively without the Bottle. It is recommended that you should totally rush a Bottle and go rune hunting. When you see a Rune of Haste (_{or the Rune of Invisibility}), Bottle it up, activate it, go back to your lane and go for a kill! If it's something else, Bottle it, go back to the lane, see if it has any use for you. Also, if you're feeling a bit badass and you're sure you can survive harass in mid. You can take out the Healing Salve and Tango, then just buy 2 Ironwood Branches and get 1 or 2 Tango (Shared) from your Supports, that way, you'll have a faster time getting Bottle. (_{credits to Xyrus for this badass suicidal starting items})
In safelane (_{my style suckers! lol}), you should at least have Magic Wand, Urn of Shadows and a Boots of Speed before level 6. Magic Wand's there for stats and instant regen, Urn of Shadows won't stop regenerating your Mana, creeps won't disrupt Urn's Heal and you can use it as another DoT on enemies for some kills and Boots of Speed for the extra movement speed and you'll be upgrading it soon. Also, like I said in the Starting Items part, if you don't like it, just follow the Offlane's building procedure since both sidelanes can have the same scenarios (_{excuse me while I cry in the corner for being stupidly stupid}).

In offlane, focus first on getting the Tranquil Boots for mobility and more armor + health regen, after that go farm yourself a Blink Dagger so your team can get the upper hand (_{you can either farm in the jungle or just kill the Heroes in the lane, both of the choices work perfectly for you}).

In midlane, rush Bottle and get Boots of Speed after that. Rune hunt when your creeps are pushing near the enemies' tower (_{always check top rune spot first, it's closer and you can look at it just by standing in a ledge, but it would be better if Supports warded the rune spots}). Also, like the part in the offlane, farm for Blink Dagger afterwards. ( _{credits to Peppo_oPaccio for the build changes})
We all know how Batrider is with his trusty Blink Dagger right? A good ol' surprise attack is why Batrider's skills need you to get up close to the enemy team. The way I use this in teamfights is a bit different though. I use Flamebreak first and blink in while the projectile's still travelling, activate Firefly and capture the enemy carry with Flaming Lasso and drag him to my team so I can go back, spread Sticky Napalm and get a kill or two with a Shiva's Guard Blast (_{I know it's a bit early to put that Shiva's here but I do that combo so many times that Shiva's is already hard-wired into my brain}). :P

Force Staff's here for the famous combo with Blink Dagger Batrider is well-known for. It gives Intelligence and the +3 Health regen will be a bit useful with not-broken Tranquil Boots +12 Health per second regen. Its active is used when you've Lassoed someone to give you that "push" to get to your allies faster. Another trick for Force Staff is when you caught a Hero, Force it to go into an impassable terrain, if it's melee and doesn't have some way to escape the trench ( _{or trees or hills or whatever that "impassable terrain" is}), and then have fun killing him by yourself (_{to get that reminiscent troll aura Jin'zakk had back then, just be careful not to get ganked though}).

The boots of choice is pretty flexible now, but seeing as I added Tranquil Boots in Offlane Early Game. You can get to pick if you want Power Treads' versatility or Tranquil Boot's... tranquility?

Also, a bunch of Town Portal Scrolls since at this time you'll be jumping from lane to lane to kill lots of heroes or help out the carry "lasso" himself a kill.
Now lategame would be done if your team owned early game so much. But some people would prefer to "turtle" in the hopes that maybe they can change the tides of battle.
Now my list of items for lategame would only have two:

• Boots of Travel gives the most speed out of all the Boots and its Active will remove you from the burden of buying Town Portal Scrolls that won't even let you tp to your creeps.
• Shiva's Guard is the best item for Batrider. An attack speed slow aura, armor, more Intelligence, an active slow, and it can be boosted by Sticky Napalm! Who said fire and ice doesn't match well?

Now it's a known fact that every game is different and with a lot of Heroes to choose from, you'll be seeing some of them that'll heavily counter you, in normal conditions, you wouldn't pick Batrider if you saw a team with a whole lot of stuns but there are some cases in tournaments wherein when Batrider gets miraculously picked (_{he gets banned a lot, even in DotA 2}), the enemy team unleashes the fury of Earthshaker, Vengeful Spirit, Pudge, Earth Spirit and Puck and will try to make Batrider's life a living hell (_{been there, never survived that}). The usual items listed would be no match for that lineup. What you would need are other situational items and I'm going to list the ones I have tested and deemed useful on Batrider along with the reasons why they're useful.

• Black King Bar - Stunners lurking around? Take this BKB with you! It's as easy as activating it, blinking in then watching them drop their skills like a clumsy maid. The components are also nice to give you some hp boost to "tank" them for a bit.
• Blade Mail - Too much DPS guys hitting you? This ought to make them think twice. And hey, it makes you Sturdier and Smarter too! xD
• Bloodstone - It's more of a luxury item though, gaining charges would be a piece of pie for you and those stats and mana regen per charge is no laughing matter (_{It might be better on Storm Spirit though}).
• Drum of Endurance - Speed boost and stats. Good for ganking early-mid.
• Eul's Scepter of Divinity - Movement speed bonus that'll stack with Boots' MS Bonus, 150% mana regen, an active that can be used defensively by taking out silence or waiting for cooldowns or offensively by disabling enemies.
• Linken's Sphere - There are some stuns that'll go through BKB, like Beastmaster's Primal Roar and some skills that'll waste yours like Vengeful Spirit's Nether Swap. This would be a good counter against them.
• Mask of Madness - Random person: Wait, what the hell is this piece of tihs doing here? Me: I don't know either, but I've seen it used on Batrider though and someone liked it due to the active. But seriously, Force Staff is better, it's just here for some weird reason even I can't think of. It's viable, but not really recommended.
• Orchid Malevolence - Use Sticky Napalm, silence them, do damage via skills and attacks and see the hp go down some more. Also the stats are very welcoming (_{useful against Storm Spirit and other heroes like him}).
• Pipe of Insight - This item here will turn you into a team player. Saving everyone from the likes of Zeus, Lina and a whole lot more. The HP regen is great on you too!
• Rod of Atos - It may not seem much, but this item's importance lies in the HP it gives and the active slow that is annoyingly spammable.
• Scythe of Vyse - More disables, more mana, more stats, more fun!
• Smoke of Deceit - Your supports should be the one to buy this, but there are some cases when you'll just have to buy it yourself.
• Urn of Shadows - You're no ganker, true, but you're no pushover when you got stacks on these baby. But you should really let the real gankers use this jar.
• Veil of Discord - What's better than a Sticky Napalmed Hero stacked to 10? A Sticky Napalmed Hero stacked to 10 that's also under the effects of Dicord! Stats ain't half bad either. It's very effective at early-midgame.
  
  So these are all the optional items you can go for when using Batrider, if I missed any then you can put them in the comments together with the reason why they're effective on Batrider. Also if you find any of the items I listed "unreliable", you can also let your voice be heard in the comments (_{just be sure to have a valid reason why they shouldn't be there}).

Gameplay

Ahh... The early game, a time when most heroes have yet to realize their full power. Time for you, the Batrider, to stop the enemies from realizing that power, especially the enemy carry. As you and your team plan for the battle (_{pubs rarely do that, but still}), try to think where the enemy's carry would likely lane and go with some of your teammates. It's a fact that not all carries need a babysitter and some may go "solo" (_{but has someone secretly helping them out in the jungle}) so you better think of a good approach.

As the game starts and you're already in your designated lane, try to bathe the enemies with Sticky Napalm while lasthitting and denying creeps, in the event that your carry's with you (_{which is bad if you're not in for lanecontrol}), focus more on denying and drenching the enemy heroes rather than all the creeps. As level 2 approaches, do make sure your enemies have been marinated with the Napalm cause it's about time for a barbecue!
In case that your enemy (_{or enemies}) try to get away and wait for the stacks to disappear, then consider yourself a lucky guy cause they've given you some free farm
Let's assume that you're with Sven, you can tell him to use Storm Hammer at a given time (_{most probably when the enemy's Napalm stack is 10 and your Firefly's ready}), you can go soften the enemy and let Sven land the killing blow or if he was to slow, accidentally kill the enemy that's under your Firefly. (_{Whichever works, at least First Blood goes to your team}). Rinse and repeat until you get your early game items, level up to level 6 and farmed that Blink Dagger. Once at 6, say goodbye to your lane cause you'll be going for a killing spree from now on.
Hurray! Level 6! You now have yourself your ultimate. Get a Blink Dagger fast if you still don't have it yet and start to teleport to the lane with an enemy Hero near your tower.

Here's a good tip, before you click on the tower you're teleporting to, activate Firefly and tp to the tower, but while you're channeling, hold shift while clicking the Blink Dagger and target a few units behind your target then release the shift key (_{if you know shift-clicking spells and are fast enough, you can also shift-click your Flaming Lasso on your target}). Once you teleported to the tower, you'll instantly Blink behind the target and Lasso him, drag him away from his team as fast as you can and kill him with your team. That'll teach them to think twice when going near your towers! (_{This combo I made may be reminiscent to Sand King's Epicenter because of the tp's channeling time, guess what? I really did just copy that combo from Sand King and used it on Batrider. Although I'm not quite sure if I'm the only person who thought of this or not.}) After getting a kill, try jungling while you wait for your cooldowns.

Anyway, keep killing Heroes if the chance arises, but do make sure you're not stealing kills from your carry or better yet, help them out getting one. Also, if you're having troubles in killing a target (_{e.g. enemies always escape from you, stun you, or slow you down}) grab a buddy or two, pop up some Smoke of Deceit and GO BURN SOME BALLS!
Now in some games, small team fights may already arise here. It's still gonna be your (_{if the assassin's creed is with you, then it's the both of your}) job to kill lone enemies (_{especially the enemy carry, make them fear you! Be aggressive! Never let them have the chance to farm in peace! NEVER... mind, Soul Keeper's their carry}). If you did your job right, your carry should be near his last items while the enemy's carry is having a hard time because of you and the other gankers/disablers your team has. Finish this game now.
Okay... It's either the enemy's carry was still able to farm under pressure or you didn't harass them enough (_{although it's sometimes because of a lack in skill using Batrider or the enemy had countered your every move, it's mostly because you wanted to see how lategame goes}). Worst case scenario, the enemy team is farmed and has Black King Bars and Linken's Spheres where in this awful case, you'll get screwed up and become utterly useless in teamfights (_{tip, go support your team by using all your money on wards, that Mekansm, Arcane Boots, Drum of Endurance, and Pipe of Insight and hope your not the first person to get killed in those clashes}).

But if it's going good on your team, then try to follow-up your initiator's stun (_{or if you're the initiator then just initiate}) by grabbing the team's main target and dragging him down your trail of fire and into your team's array of weapons. You actually do the same stuff since level 6 if you've noticed.

Also, should the enemy be in your base, Lasso their carry and let your team (_{if Force Staff is provided for your whole team}) Chain Force* both you and the victim into your fountain!

*Chain Forcing is what I would call the act of repeatedly using Force on a stunned enemy hero forward into a Goblin Techies' Land Mines or their enemies' fountain. Very annoying yet very devastating if used right on enemies.

Jungling with Batrider

Okay, for me, the Jungle is the place where I naturally avoid unless I know some loner needs my lasso's warm hug. But in other people's perspective, the jungle is the Batrider's favorite place to go for some out-of-the-lane exp and gold whenever his Flaming Lasso is on cooldown. Yet even with the latest nerf on Sticky Napalm, it seems that the jungle is still bearable to a level 8 Batrider.

Basically, Batrider is one of the Heroes that can potentially burn the whole jungle (_{assuming that there are no Mud Golems in the jungle and that you got speed}) with ease, you can try to stack creep camps or just plain kill a camp one by one, both can work fine for you. Your tactic here is to use Sticky Napalm on the jungle creeps and either auto-attack them to death or just barbecue them with Flamebreak or Firefly (_{just don't use it on one camp though, it's best to use Flamebreak on stacked camps while Firefly on multiple camps}). The jungle is somehow better than the lane since you would have no competitions for exp and gold but that should not be the excuse for being inside the jungle for too long (_{you are not Enigma or Chen, you hear me!?}). But in most of your jungle visits, you should take note that when Fireflying, you should hit 2-3 camps (_{this heavily depends upon your location}) assuming no Mud Golems have spawned (_{which in my sad case, happens a lot when I'm playing Batrider in jungle on most Medium Camps}). Here's a little visual representation of what camps you can take out during one forest fire session. (_{credits to Peppo_oPaccio for the map and most suggestions}). It would be common sense to jungle the camp that's nearest to the lane you're in, don't be greedy and venture deeper onto enemy jungle if you're offlane.

The lines you see on those camps would be the Firefly route you would take when jungling (_{of course, your Firefly should be off cooldown when you're gonna do multiple camp kills. Flamebreak's for the stacked camps or if you can't handle the neutral creeps}). In top lane, you have fast access to one Small Camp and one Large Camp. In bottom lane, you get access to one of each sized camp. Midlane (Dire) gets two Medium Camps (_{let the Golems be damned}) and a Large Camp, while Midlane (Radiance) has Small and Large Camps camped.


Yes, I play Batrider a lot, but I'm not currently specializing on a jungle-oriented Batrider (_{nor shall I try to be one with my awful luck on those freaking Golems}). I'll just try to list in some common(_{or maybe even uncommon}) Dos and Don'ts when you're jungling as Batrider.

Do:

• Consider going in the jungle if you already have both a level 2 Sticky Napalm and a level 1 Firefly (_{a level 1 Flamebreak can also be an optional choice, but you should really just consider jungling when Batrider's at level 4 or 5 and if you got Tranquil Boots}).
• Go jungle when Flaming Lasso is on cooldown and go out when it's off cooldown.
• Kill the stacked camps intended for your enemies' carry (_{you can kill anything except for Mud Golems and the Ancient creeps}).
• Stay alert for everything: an enemy jungler, a nearby gank that calls for you, missing camps, and maybe even runes.

Don't:

• Start off in the jungle. (_{like in ganking, Batrider can jungle but shouldn't be called a jungler}).
• Stick inside the jungle for too long. (_{two to three creep camps would be good enough for a visit}).
• Stack creep camps in the enemies' jungle (_{unless you're gonna kill it immediately. If not, then you must be drunk.}).
• Kill the stacked camps made for your carry (_{or your team's jungler}).
• Jungle when your towers are getting pushed, some people tend to stick around in the jungle and forget that the game is about Defending your Ancients.

Some nice Tips:

• You can stack the Large Camps if you're in the Midlane. Just be sure to let everyone in you team know that those stacked camps are intended for you. You may ask yourself "how the heck can I survive five Large Camps at levels 5-9?!" Don't fret, Dark Seer has taught me a trick (_{although I did change it to suit Batrider's spells}):
  (₁) Stack 5 Large Camps or let someone stack it for you (_basic);
  (₂) Buy a Smoke of Deceit (_{yes, I dare to say that});
  (₃) Go to the stacked camp and stack 10 Sticky Napalm on that camp (_{No worries, you won't get them aggressive as long as you don't attack one of them});
  (₄) Activate Smoke of Deceit and start Fireflying above them immediately (_{they'd usually scatter so your mission is to chase them, with Sticky Napalm stacked to ten they won't be living for long}).
  (₅) Kill off the other "survivors" with Flamebreak or auto-attacks.
• When your Safelane's pushing too hard and your Supports don't freakin' know what Creep Pulling is, pull yourself a camp when your creep wave is getting near (_{maybe about 1750-2000 units away or something else you can use to measure like 4 seconds after the creep wave spawn or something...})

Heroes - Friends and Counters

Batrider loves to make chaos, to have some early kills and most of all, have speed. The following Heroes listed will be able to fit two of those criteria on Batrider's BFF list but won't be limited to:

Believe me, you'd want this guy to be with you all the time. He can push you towards the enemy, you Lasso an enemy, he drags you back to him with the enemy. A few seconds later, your gold just went up! Also, give this guy money to buy Aghs and have Wards up to literally start popping into battle.
Rune of Haste in a spell? Check! A shield of DoT that'll make melee Heroes think twice? Check! A faster (_{and larger}) version of Black Hole? Check! A Huge Wall you can run through with a Lassoed pig? Check! They may be weird couple (_gaaay...) but it's still a better love story than twilight.
Okay, this ganker loves to snowball so much, he can take you into a winter wonderland that you'll never forget. Snowball in, Firefly over the enemy as the Frozen Sigil slows him down, Ice Shards and Flamebreak will stop any intervention as this Walrus Punches the poor guy to heaven. You haven't even used your Flaming Lasso yet!
This guy is literally your Guardian Angel, saving you some time getting a Black King Bar, dive into teamfights with him and this is definitely a sure win. He can grant you that major advantage with Repel and Guardian Angel, Degen Aura would make the enemy slower so they can't retaliate fast enough to get to you and since you're so close to the enemy team, he can opt to use Purification.
He's nice to have since he has Glimpse and Kinetic Field to make sure that the guy you dragged in really dies. Batrider would most likely hate (_{hate is such an understatement, maybe despise would fit better?}) Heroes that can avoid his ganks, Heroes that can counter his attempts of dragging an enemy away and enemy Heroes that carry STUNS. These Heroes would include but is not even at the least limited to:

Primal Roar may not damage you when you've activated Black King Bar's Avatar Mode but the stun will pass through! His pig also slows you down if you ever have a Linken's Sphere, he's pretty much made to stop you from Lassoing anyone, even him!
Go near this ***** and Rot activates, try to take his teammate away Meat Hooks you to him, Blink behind him, congratulations! You just gave him a free shot at Dismembering you! Oh look, he can now hold a Blink Dagger like you... _run.
Hmmm... it says in most Weaver guides to get Linken's Sphere as core. The Swarm is annoying, he can escape with Shukuchi and can negate all the harass you gave him using Time Lapse (_{your disable lasts for 4 seconds, he can go back to where he was 5 seconds ago. Great, just great...}). Oh, did I mention he can kill you fast with a Desolator and Butterfly?
You won't be able to kill him if you're alone, try to do that and maybe you're gonna be the one in trouble. He's got magic immunity from Rage, he'll slow you down with Open Wounds, He can heal the minor damages you give with Feast, and escape or surprise you with his Infest.
He can save allies with X Marks the Spot, or even get you to his team if you came in close. He can also do a combo with Torrent and Ghost Ship and that my friend, would always get you killed (_{unless you got Black King Bar}). He's also annoying to lane against if he skilled Tidebringer first.

The End Chapter

If you're reading this now, I'm thankful that you have read the guide to this part (_{if you haven't, then it doesn't matter since you won't be reading this part :P}). I do hope that you have learned something after reading the guide.

So without further ado, my list of thanks:
Me - for creating the guide and wasting taking time and effort into mastering (not really) Batrider.
My Girlfriend - for understanding and loving a gamer. (_{I owe her a lot of thanks here})
Parents - for also understanding and loving their smart yet stupid son (_{they pay the bills, so I study hard-but play harder :P-and be a good boy})
IceFrog - for the awesome game and hero.
DOTAFire - for being the site where I publish my first guide (_{it's called hosting right?}).
DotA AI Team - without AI's I couldn't have practised my skills that much.
Dr. D - without his guide on guide formatting, I wouldn't have made this guide since I'm oh-so-new to the world of html formats.
My High School Friends - Crazy pub games with crazy friends, miss those times.
My College Friends - Welcomed me to the competitive scene.
The Secret Shop Guy! - for the inspirational "What does a hero truly need?" video.
Peppo_oPaccio - for making me like Tranquil Boots and the new build (_{just enough to make me recommend it}). Also for helping me with the Jungle Chapter and the "forest fire route map" xD
BKvoiceover - for the MoM, so good in fun pubs.
The Editor who likes smileys with mustaches - for saying that nobody likes Vanguard on Batrider and for the starting mid build (_{I kind of copied it in a way?})
Timminatorr - for reminding me about the mana cost increase on Flaming Lasso. (_{Man, I feel so stupid})
You, the Readers - for taking the time in reading my guide.

Changelog and (Future) Updates

This is currently version 1.5 of "Roasted, toasted and burnt to a crisp!" - A Guide on Batrider.

Version Updates:

• Started crafting the guide on May 28, 2014.
  -Named it Batriding Troll(Well he WAS a troll back then)
• Published v.1.0 of the guide on June 2, 2014.
  -Renamed it to "Roasted, toasted and burnt to a crisp!" - A Guide on Batrider. because a friend told me the last title sucked.
  -Contents added included a Complete Hero Build, Author's Note, Introduction, Pros and Cons, Skills, The Skill Build, Items, Gameplay, Heroes - Friends and Counters, and The End Chapter.
• v.1.1 made on June 3, 2014.
  -Added a reason why I hate Vanguard prefer a Mekansm over Vanguard in the Items Chapter.
  -Made a separate chapter for the changelog
  -Small spell checks and edits some people may not even notice
• v.1.2 made on June 5, 2014
  -Massive edit on the build. The three lanes now have separate builds.
  -Edited the Items Chapter a lot.
  -Put Urn of Shadows to the optional list because it might mislead others into thinking Batrider's an outright ganker.
  -Kicked Mekansm out just for Timminator (_{for pointing out Flaming Lasso's mana increase, yes, I'm stupid and forgot about that})
  -Added Mask of Madness for fun purposes only. Please refrain from yelling at me. If you don't like it, then pretend it's not there. Some people optionally use this for the movement speed only though, so it's somehow a waste (lol).
  -My signature build (_{that's also a bit tweaked now}) is in the "Safelane Bat" Build.
• v.1.3 made on June 11, 2014
  -Did some small edits
  -Added more Heroes to the "Heroes - Friends and Counters" chapter
  -Added the Jungle chapter but quickly deleted it due to "shady reasons". Gonna try and add that chapter some other time.
• v.1.4 made on June 14, 2014
  -Finally added the official Jungle Chapter!!! Yehey!!! Hope you guys like it!
• v.1.5 made on August 11,2014
  -Small edits to stay fresh for 6.81b
  -Tried to add a chapter about countering Batrider but found out that it would be redundant and immediately deleted it.
  -Small edits for 6.82

Things I might add in the near (_{or maybe far...}) future:

• Might add more Heroes to the "Heroes - Friends and Counters".
  Any awesome suggestions from readers are always welcome.
• Might add a Combo Chapter with all the item/skill combos with (_{DotA 1}) Images.
• Still thinking of another chapter that might serve some good for the guide.