The Almighty Gondar

Introduction

Here he is: Gondar, the Bounty Hunter. I believe that this guy is one of the deadliest and most usefull ganker in Dota 2. After a long time playing with him (about 230 matches) I want to share my strategies and builds for this badass hunter.
This guy can instantly destroy squishy enemies and can be a serious problem even for tanky heroes like Pudge, when he manages to get a Desolator. Gondar is extremely useful early to midgame thanks to his nuking attacks, and in the last stages of the game can increase the gold income of the team.
Also (and this is the thing I like the most) he's an invisible hero AND an invisible heroes-counter. And since there are a lot of newbies who always pick Riki because "OMG PERMA-INVISUBRITY!" ,it will be a true pleasure to Track and kill them.

Before starting, I have to make you know that I'm not english, so I apologize for any grammatical or lexical error.

EDIT: I made this guide ages ago, a lot of things have changed (RIP Track decreasing enemy armor); meta has changed, my personal way of using BH has changed (some things I've wrote in this guide actually makes me feel ashamed like using Gondar in the safelane as some kind of hard carry) so I guess it's time for a little update

Pros & Cons

PROS

Extremely efficient since the first minutes of the game
Useful in every stage of the game
Jinada scales well and can destroy squishy heroes
He's invisible and counters other invisible heroes
Scary 1v1 foe in the early game
Possibly the coolest voice actor in the game

CONS

Very squishy
High mana cost for Shuriken Toss
Shadow Walk's cooldown time will always be too long
An aggressive approach during the late game can lead to a complete disaster
Track can be easily purged

Skills - Description

Shuriken Toss

This is why enemies will hate you in the first part of the match: the Shuriken allows you to deal a great damage from a quite high range.
Despite a relatively low cooldown, it's not a spell you can spam or use brainlessly.
I hate when people start launching shurikens like they are grenades.
As I said, Bounty hasn't a big mana pool, so you'll use the Shuriken Toss to finish your foes.
There are only 2 exceptions to this rule: during chases your Shuriken can help your team reaching the peasky enemy and as an harassment tool once you're level 6, in combination with Track (read further)

Tips: Shuriken Toss ministuns the target: this mean that you can stop any channeled spell.

That poor Zeus is using a Town Portal Scroll to get out of there? Shuriken Toss!
Sand King is trying to Epicenter the **** out of you? Shuriken Toss!

Jinada

If the Shuriken is your way to be a real nuissance in the early game, Jinada is the reason while the enemies will hate you later.

It's one of the few 100% sure crit hit in the game, which means that you can always deal one massive blow at your enemies.
The real reason we're gonna pick an early level of this skill though, it's its slow, a necessary tool during chases

Shadow Walk

Invisiblity + bonus damage.
Nothing more to say about this, just remember to always give a look at the cooldown.

Track

This is why your team mates will love you even if you're not able to do a single kill.
Track grants to you and your allies a gold bonus, and will make defenseless poor guys like Riki and Nyx Assassin, or will make ganks impossible to people like Pudge, who loves hiding in the shadows before attacking.
This is the only spell you'll have to cast all the time, always giving the priority to invisible heroes or to the heroes who have items like Shadow Blade as core items.

The other thing that makes Track a valuable spell is that your Shurikens will bounce on every tracked target.
This is the only other case where spamming your Shuriken Toss can actually be a good thing: assuming you're dealing with a dual or tri lane, you may want to track your foes and then throw your nice shuriken at them all in one hit, harrassing them.
Finally, don't forget the speed buff you get near a tracked enemy.

Skills - Order

The skill order is pretty much the same in every game: get an early level of Jinada and max Shuriken Toss. The only difference is that the Roamer build requires Jinada at level 3 (4 at best) while the Offlaner can wait until level 5.

DON'T MAX JINADA FIRST

Jinada's only use during the early game is to slow the enemy, not to blow a critical strike which will be pretty weak if you don't have the proper equipment (AKA Divine Rapier, ez win ez game)
Your real weapon is the Shuriken: despite its high mana cost, it's a reliable stun and a long range nuke useful to take down your enemies.
Whether you're roaming or offlaning, Shuriken Toss is your way to get your bounty.
That's why we're gonna max it first, just pausing the progression for one extra lvl of Shadow Walk just to make it last a bit longer

At level 6 you'll finally have your Track and probably the early game items. Guess what? Time to gank!

In other words, Gondar is ready for action.

Builds

The basic idea of every Bounty Hunter's build is to max your damage in order to strike one powerful blow with Jinada.
This means that you should avoid items that improve your overall stats (except in the early game) or attack speed, focusing on those that can push your critical hits to the roof.
That said, there are exceptions

I can handle my bounties (Offlaner)

When you should use it
You're doing the basic BH's job: you're the sololaner

Explanation

This is a rather standard BH's build and shares many items you're getting following the roamer build.
Being solo in the hard lane, you'll focus your attention on your survival, waiting to reach level 6.
Vladmir's Offering is the perfect tool for you: improves your general stats, grants a good aura for your team mates and your critical hits will greatly heal you thanks to the lifesteal.
The Medallion of Courage is a nice pickup, since the armor reduction is your way to progress to the midgame.
Bounty after bounty (again, remember to always track the enemies) you'll definetely want the best BH's weapon: the Desolator.
At this point you're pretty much ok: your critical hits should be extremely efficient.
Moving on to the late game you'll want to upgrade your medallion into a Solar Crest or getting some new weaponry like a Monkey King Bar.
Drum of Endurance are a viable pickup in case you're getting harassed way too much and you want to improve your stats until you get a Desolator and the same goes for the Tranquil Boots which are also a good way to chase your foes, at the cost of no extra damage inflicted.
Don't overestimate the importance of Black King Bar: you're not a hard carry and when you get to the late game you're not supposed to fight upfront the enemy team so you may want to get it only when there are massive AoE spells that can blow you up like Ravage.

Silent, effective, in motion (Roamer/Mid)

When you should use it

You're gonna play mid (VERY situational) or your team already has an offlaner while the hard carry can safely farm without a trilane ( Dazzle + Weaver for instance) which leaves you the possibility of moving freely from one lane to another, constantly ganking.

Explanation

Since you're gonna use your spells a lot, you'll need a Bottle ASAP, while the Orb of Venom and the Blight Stone are necessary to slow and deal more damage to your foes.
Getting a Yasha first is perfect to become even faster during ganks to the point you may even prefer to get it before the Desolator
In the late game, upgrading your blade into Sange and Yasha will make sure that chases go in your favor thanks to the slow.
Should you get a lot of gold you may want to improve your damage with a Daedalus (because everybody loves a double crit) or again a Monkey King Bar

Silenced Bounties (Anti-Caster)

When you should use it

If you're gonna face a team full of nukers or even a particularly peasky one (as Puck) the anti-caster build is your way in.

Explanation

This time you'll want a Black King Bar to avoid being killed by a combination of 4 different spells in an instant so that you can strike the enemy with your Orchid Malevolence.
This item not only solves your mana problem, but also synergizes well with your skills since it will make sure your Shuriken Toss strikes even harder.
Of course you may have to dispel a Linken's Sphere using Track first.
That said, a Dagon will further improve the extra damage you're dealing thanks to the Orchid, and upgrading said Orchid into a Bloodthorn makes sure that every not-tank hero dies within 5 seconds with the combination of Jinada-Shuriken-Dagon.
Diffusal Blade is a rather nice pickup, more for his debuff than for the mana burn, which you won't be able to use at its full power
Desolator, once again, is a good item in every situation AFTER the Orchid.

Rabid Rabbit (a team with no carries)

When you should use it

DON'T USE THIS BUILD

Ok now you'll ask me what's the point of explaning this build at all, and here it is: in a scenario where you carry is sucking hard or your team (God forbids) didn't pick a single hard carry, this is your only way to try to overcome the odds.
That said, you're probably gonna lose anyway but it's always worth giving a chance now, isn't it?

Explanation

All I said before now is meaningless: if you want to become a hard carry Bounty Hunter, you have to become hard to kill and a hard hitter which means improving your overall stats and attack speed.
Still: DO NOT BUY BATTLE FURY.
Track makes sure you get tons of gold even without actually getting a kill so there's no point into buying a farming item.
Core items now include a no longer situational Black King Bar, a Helm of the Dominator and Manta Style.
While the first 2 are self-explanatory (the Helm is a carrish "deviation" from the Vlads) Manta Style can become your personal Holy Grail: improved stats, attack speed, damage and speed. It's basically all Bounty Hunter wants, except he can't use this item at its best.
In order to do that you'll need some extra items in the late game, in particular a Diffusal Blade - whose mana burn can now be something to be feared - and a Butterfly, to make your illusions more powerful and to add the sweet sweet evasion you'll need. Finally, upgrade the Helm into a Satanic to mantain the lead in a 1v1 fight. Daedalus/ Monkey King Bar are once again useful to get a poweful Jinada crit

How To Play - Early Game

We won't cover the option where you're in the safelane: that's limited to case you're following the hard carry build and the simple idea is that you should farm as much as you can to get ready for the midgame.

For the early game I'll make the proper distinctions between the Offlaning Bounty and the Roaming Bounty

Offlaner

Your primary goal is not dying and not last hitting if not completely safe.
That means you're probably gonna spend some gold on Sentry Ward to avoid being harassed.
BH is very squishy so you can't hope to engage a trilane without being killed.
That said, you can still be a nuissance for your enemies by using what I call the "Bee Sting" (read further for details)
Once you get to level 6, start tracking every single foe and hit them hard with your bouncing shuriken.
With the help of your midlaner, ganks should be pretty simple: Jinada your target, hit him during the slow, end him with the shuriken if he should get too far.
Ez gold ez life.

Roamer/Midlaner

A midlaning Gondar can easily win the lane against many enemy heroes (more in general, any hero who can't counter invisible heroes or more specifically can't cast AoE spells to harass you)
As a roamer, on the other hand, you may have some issues.

Your Boots of Speed, in conjunction with Orb of Venom, will make you travel fast and chase down opponents.
Join the lane where there's a team mate with a good spell to set up your gank ( Pounce, Berserker's Call, Dragon Tail are notable example) and start hitting as hard as you can.
A roaming Bounty Hunter won't be able to level up fast, but will assure your team's lead in the early stages of the game.
Your real targets though, are the enemy junglers: wait for them to get low hp and strike the final blow.
Beware that you may want to wait to get at least 2 levels of Shuriken Toss before doing this: heroes like Legion Commander can turn on you quickly while a Lifestealer may use Rage to stop your Shuriken and counterattack.
That said, if you can't kill them, deny their jungle: some Sentry Ward will do the trick and delaying an Enigma's farm is always a good thing

How To Play - Mid Game

A good ganker needs a pretty decent map awareness.
Now that the game is moving on you have to focus your attention on enemies:

1) Enough distant from their tower
2) Enough close to your team mates

A Town Portal Scroll is, of course, required to achieve this global presence.
Pushers are also another main target during your roaming, just be sure you have the right items to do the job: bring an Infused Raindrops with you if you have to kill a Leshrac and a Quelling Blade if your foe is Nature's Prophet (to cut down the trees he'll spawn with Sprout)
Just remember: always Track before dealing the final strike.
By constantly ganking, the enemy team should start being afraid of you, which leads to tower hugging.
This of course is a good chance for your team to push.
At this point you should work in the shadows with Track or spending a couple of minutes jungling if you feel the need to (especially if you're following the Vlads' build)

How To Play - Late Game

From here, things are getting pretty hard for you.
Bounty Hunter is usually considered useless in late game , but you can still be a real pain in the Bristleback.
Since most of the time you won't find anyone alone in the map besides pushers, your main objective will be hiding in the shadows, tracking every single enemy. Once your initiator tanks in, start nuking the enemies with your bouncing Shuriken Toss and then finish the squishiest heroes with Jinada: this will let your team focus his attention on the big guys.
Detection is a big part of the deal: help your supports by getting some wards and, more important, sentries.
Even if it could be pretty risky, you can buy by yourself a Gem of True Sight, if no one does it: you'll find every ward and you'll be able to track enemies who have become invisible before you could see them.

How to Play - The Bee Sting

The Bee Sting is a basic strategy for Bounty Hunter:

1) Activate Shadow Walk
2) Approach the enemy
3) Wait the end of the cooldown of Shadow Walk
4) ATTACK!
5) Cast Track on the enemy
6) Immediately activate Shadow Walk

You have just inflicted a good amount of damage and you're already disappeared so fast that no one will be able to burn your rabbit ears.
This is the most usefull trick to do with Gondar, since you'll be able to kill an hero even if he is near his team mates.
You just have to repeat the Bee Sting several times.
Of course, a smart enemy will fall back to his Fountain, but this will also mean that he's going to run away ALONE. On that moment, kill him.
Other option, he'll tp out: stop him with Shuriken Toss.

When you can use Bee Sting

- When you're pretty sure that you can instakill an enemy hero, or that you can take him down with 2-3 hits (so you'll have to wait before getting invisible)
- When you're sure that no one in the group of enemies can use skills that may counter you (they're silenced or waiting for the cooldown), such as Doom

When you must not use Bee Sting

- The enemies have multiple spells that can counter you
- One of the enemies has Dust of Appearance, Sentry Ward or Gem of True Sight in his backpack (always check this before performing a Bee Sting)
- There are many enemy heroes who can cast powerful AoE spells like Nether Blast and you have few hp

Friends (Good Team-mates)

This guys are the best companions for Bounty Hunter.

Disablers-Stunners

These are people who can slow, disable or prevent other heroes to move, allowing you to reach them faster and finish them.
The followings are just exemples.

Bloodseeker

His Rupture will force the enemy to decide between standing still (and so dying under Gondar and Bloodseeker's attacks) and running away, losing enough hp to give you a chance to throw succesfully your Shuriken Toss
Also, Track and Thirst in conjunction can provide immense vision over the enemy heroes

Crystal Maiden

One word: Frostbite.

Enigma

Malefice and Black Hole will stop enemy heroes, giving you time to track or even kill them

Scouts

Gondar should be the scout of the team, going through the jungle to find enemy heroes. Anyway, people who can scout from the distance can be extremely usefull, since they'll give you the location of your foes, and so a chance to run for them and use Track.

Windrunner

Her Powershot is a good way to check the map, offering vision on every place through which it passes.

Zeus

You've lost that Riki? Thundergod's Wrath's true sight will do the job.

Other heroes

Pudge

Your Track will greatly help Pudge when he'll have to hook enemy heroes who are trying to hide in the jungle.

Dark Seer & Abaddon

As I already say in "Skill - Description", if these 2 tough guys cast on you respectively Ion Shell or Aphotic Shield, you'll can inflict damage to your enemies simply running near them while invisible
Abaddon will also get increased speed with the combination of Track and his passive Curse of the avernus

Ancient Apparition

Should an enemy escape from a gank, your Track will help Ancient Apparition finishing him off with Ice Blast

Foes (Counters)

This are the heroes who will be able to smash your head with no difficulties.

True-sighters and (good) supporters

People who grants true vision on heroes to their team mates will always try to make your Shadow Walk useless.
In the same way, supporters (if they're not dumb) will always buy Sentry Ward etc to counter you.

Zeus

Yes, I said his ulti can help you when he's one of your ally, but in the same way, as an enemy, it can reveal your presence even if you're invisible and the same goes for Lightning Strike. Having Zeus as an enemy, will make you impossible to use Bee Sting if you're not absolutely sure that he's waiting for the end of the cooldown.
An Anti-Caster build will do the trick
COUNTERING LEVEL: 4/5

Slardar

Slardar is your nemesis: his Amplify Damage has a low cooldown, so you can be sure he will always be ready to cast it on you, also tremendously reducing your armor. At this point, even running could be useless: with Sprint he'll reach you in no time, and his Bash won't let you go.
Did you pick Gondar against a Slardar? Congratulations, you can now uninstall Dota 2.
COUNTERING LEVEL: 5/5

Illusioners

This heroes are not actually your counters. Anyway, if they attack you after they have summoned their illusions you won't be able to know who you have to Track, and meanwhile you may be killed by them.
On the contrary, if you can use Track before they can use their illusions, they won't escape.

COUNTERING LEVEL: 1/5

Silencers

Anyone who can prevent you from using Shadow Walk will significantely lower your survival chances.

Silencer

Surprised to see him in a section called "Silencers"?
His Last Word and mostly Global Silence will be your nightmare.
COUNTERING LEVEL: 4/5

Night Stalker

Crippling Fear is a good way to say "goodnight" to Gondar.
COUNTERING LEVEL: 3/5

Doom Bringer

His ultimate Doom is not just a perfect way to avoid you to cast Shadow Walk, but is also a damn good way to kill you
COUNTERING LEVEL: 5/5

Big Bad Motherf*ckers

I said that Desolator is the weapon which'll give you the power to attack tanky heroes. Anyway, some of them have skills which can easily overcome you.

Huskar

Simple: don't provoke a 1vs1 fight with him. If you can, try a Bee Sting (in the first minutes of the game), but do never spend more than a second visible (and that could still be risky). His ultimate Life Break will literaly destroy you in no time.
COUNTERING LEVEL: 4/5

Spirit Breaker

He's far less a big deal as Huskar is, but Greater Bash will make you defenseless for long time, while Charge of Darkness will place a gigantic target on your head. In other words: if Bara is in the enemy team, be sure to eliminate your foes in few time.
COUNTERING LEVEL: 4/5

Preys (Countered Heroes)

You should pick Bounty Hunter when someone in the enemy team picks one of the following heroes.
Actually, you should pick Gondar in every match just because he is damn cool.

Invisibles

Well, of course every invisible enemy will have a bad time with Gondar, but they are not the only ones: you should pick BH even when there are enemies who have Shadow Blade as a core item.
Some exemples:

Riki
Nyx Assassin
Sniper
Invoker (if he decides to use a lot Ghost Walk)
Templar Assassin
Shadow Fiend

This doesn't apply to Slark whose Dark Pact can debuff your track

Squishy heroes

As I said many times, Jinada wil destroy people with few hp.
Examples are

Pugna
Crystal Maiden
Zeus (but remember that he can counter you as well)
Lina

Evasive heroes

Any hero with an evasive spell like Blink has lower chances to escape whenever tracked.
This works particularly well against Spectre's Spectral Dagger which is commonly used to escape in the middle of the woods.
Once she's tracked, there'll be no place to hide

Wrong Picks (Bad Allies)

Ending chapter, and probably one of the most important.
Here are the heroes who have a BAD synergy with Gondar, which means they'll mostly be a problem for you.

EVERY-DAMN-INVISIBLE HERO

This makes me seriously mad. DON'T PICK MORE THAN ONE INVISIBLE IN THE TEAM. It's just stupid.
Why?
Well, if the enemy team tries to counter one invisible hero with sentries, gems etc, your team mates will technically play in 4 vs 5, until they get rid of these counter-invisible items.
BUT, if your team consists of more than 1 invisible heroes, you're going to play 3vs5 or even 2vs5!
So no, Gondar and Riki are not a nice couple.

Gankers

A good team needs different heroes. Don't pick Bounty at any cost. It's dumb.
You can't hope to win with a team made up by Bounty Hunter, Viper, Bloodseeker, Sniper and Clockwerk!!
Be smart, pick a damn support for god's sake!