FF_Dr@gon's guide to Alleria the Windrunner

Alleria
The Windrunner

Created by : FF_Dr@gon

SuitableFor DotA 6.55b



Windrunner ~ The Sentinel ~ Dawn Tavern

In the valleys of winterspring, deep within the verdant glades of the forest of trees, an elf with the power of the wind make her home.
She joined the Sentinel as a free agentshortly after the war of the Magi.
Favored by the Godsess of the Wind, Alleria received many blessings.
Her arrow fly straight and true, piercing all enemies in a line.
She can lace her arrow with wind and bind enemies together by creating ethereal shackles.
Her footsteps are hastened by the currents of air.
It is known that she can dispatch enemies at blinding speed by releasing a flurry of arrows.
She is indeed a worthy enemy of the Scourge.


Table of contents :

Part I - Introduction
1. Foreword
2. Hero Overview
3. Hero Positives and Negatives
4. Hero Abilities

Part II - Killer Windrunner
5. Recommended Skill Order
6. Recommended Items
7. Other Possible Item
8. Gameplay

Part III - Addition
9. Recommended Allies
10. Worst Enemies
11. Epilog


I
INTRODUCTION


1. Foreword

I made this because I found Alleria is a very interesting new hero to play.
And she is really good in farming, killing, and has a very good potential to be a late gamer.
She is quite IMBA hero IMO, imagine, a nuke, a disable, a huge aspd, a huge ms and enemy slow on an aspd dependant hero.
Simply she has all the things she needs.
However, there are some notes to know to make her really what she is supposed to be, then, here we go.



2. Hero Overview

Base movespeed is 295.

Base STR is 15 + 2.5 per level.
Base AGI is 17 + 1.4 per level.
Base INT is 22 + 2.6 per level. (primary)


Base Damage is 44-56.
Base HP is 435.
Base Mana is 286.
Base Armor is 1.
Attack Range is 600.



3. Hero Positives and Negatives

Positives :

High range hero ( range hero mostly always much better at farming and harassing opponent hero in the early and mid game ).

Has a quite reliable nuke spell to make a kill with super long range.
And for farming purpose.
(DO NOT KS with this !)

Very super mega fast aspd with her ulti.

Has such a long time disabler.

Has escape mechanism (by running at tremendous speed)

Has ‘self-guardian angel’ lol Kind of that……


Negatives :

She is an intelligence type of hero which is actually not suitable as an aspd dependant hero. (Increasing agi won’t increase her damage)

Low normal damage (esp. under her ulti)

Very vulnerable against nuker.

Low hp (for a battle type hero) and low mp (all her skills are active).



4. Hero Abilities



Shackle Shot
Alleria fires an enchanted arrow using wind magic that binds the target to an enemy unit or tree behind it.

Level 1 – 1.4 seconds shackle
Level 2 – 2.1 seconds shackle
Level 3 – 2.8 seconds shackle
Level 4 – 3.5 seconds shackle
Cd : 14
Manacost: 90/100/110/120

Note:
- If there is no unit nor tree nearby behind the unit you shackle, it will only release a 0.5 sec stun.
- If the shackle triggers due to the unit behind, both the targeted and the triggered one are stunned for the same amount of time based on level.
- The spell detects +- 180* units/ trees behind the targeted one withing +- 500 range.

Comment : Very good disable skill with such long time which make it possible for you and your allies to make a kill. Also very well synergy with her ulti.
You need a little easy practices to use this properly.



Powershot
Windrunner winds up her bow for up to 1 second to perform a single powerful shot. The arrow travels 1700 distance, dealing damage and destroying trees in its path. The damage dealt is greatest to the first target it hits and is reduced by 10% with each other it passes through.

Level 1 – 120 initial damage.
Level 2 – 200 initial damage.
Level 3 – 280 initial damage.
Level 4 – 360 initial damage.
Cd : 12
Manacost: 90/100/110/120

Note:
- It is simply like PotM’s ellunes arrow without stun and with higher speed.
- If you move as soon as you cast it, the arrow will be released without 1 sec delay that it should be (but it doesn't deal full damage)
- Deals magic damage (reduced by magic resistance)

Comment : Good for farming and killing. Just learn to use it well to catch the running enemy up. (IMO it is pretty easy with such a fast speed and high range).
Again, DO NOT KS with this.



Windrunner
Imbues her body with the essence of wind, increasing her movement speed by 50% and giving her the ability to evade all physical attacks for a short period of time. Additionally, the gusts of wind around her impairs the movement of nearby enemies, slowing their movement speed in a 300 AoE around her.

Level 1 – 8 % Slow, lasts 2.75 seconds.
Level 2 – 16 % Slow, lasts 3.5 seconds.
Level 3 – 24 % Slow, lasts 4.25 seconds.
Level 4 – 30 % Slow, lasts 5 seconds.
Cd : 65/50/35/20
Manacost: 100

Note:
- This is like a 100% evasion, even better than Guardian Angel which only reduce 99% physical damage.
- This only prevent you from physical damage and NOT from magical or spell damage.

Comment : Very good for escaping and/or chasing the enemy.



Focus Fire
Alleria channels wind throughout her body to surge an excess of adrenaline giveng her maximum attack speed on one target for 10 attacks. Damage reduced in this state.

Level 1 - 50 % reduced damage.
Level 2 - 40 % reduced damage.
Level 3 - 30 % reduced damage.

Note:
- Critical Strike damage from burize or crystalist isn’t affected by this skill.
- If you are moving during the period, you lose its effect.
- This skill work to all vulnerable units including those who are magic immune (tower, Roshan, Fountain, Galive Thrower / Meat Wagon, etc.)

Comment : This is what make her super killer late game with certain correct items.



II
KILLER WINDRUNNER


5. Recommended Skill Order

Level 1 - Shackle Shot
Level 2 - Powershot
Level 3 - Shackle Shot
Level 4 - Powershot
Level 5 - Shackle Shot
Level 6 - Focus Fire
Level 7 - Shackle Shot
Level 8 - Powershot
Level 9 - Powershot
Level 10 - Windrunner
Level 11 - Focus Fire
Level 12 - Windrunner
Level 13 - Windrunner
Level 14 - Windrunner
Level 15 - stats
Level 16 - Focus Fire
Level 27 - 25 – stats

EXPLANATION :

- Shackle Shot is maxed in early game ‘cause it has a great potential to make a kill along with your allies by stunning the enemy(ies). Also you need the level of this skill as high as possible by lv 6 to make a very good synergy.
- Powershot is maxed second asap as your way to make a kill during early as well as harassing and farming.
- Windrunner taken later (mid game) since you won’t really need it during early. You won’t running away here and there like a crazy during early, will you?
- Focus fire is taken everytime it is possible since this is your truly killing skill.
- The rest is simply just taking stats bonus.

6. Recommended Items Build

 Ideal items ( this item build is only an ideal build, in fact you can decide wisely )

Early game:

- Sobi Mask (325)
- Ring of Protection (175) [Ring of Basillius]
- 1 tango of essifation (80)
Total : 580 gold
- Helm of Ironwill (950)
- Mask of madness (900) [Helm of Dominator]
- Stout Shield (300)
- Boots of speed (500)
Total : 2,650 gold
Sub Total : 3,150 gold

Mid Game:

- Robe of the Magi (450)
- Gloves of Haste (500)
- Power Treads recipe scroll (350) [Power Treads int]
Total : 1,300 gold
- Broad Sword (1200)
- Blades of Attack (550)
- Crystalist recipe scroll (500) [Crystalist]
Total : 2,250 gold
- Sobi Mask (325)
- Robe of the Magi (450)
- Quarter Stuff (950) [Oblivion Staff]
- 3 x Oblivion Staffs (3*1725=5,175 gold) [Orchid of Melavolence]
Total : 5,175 gold
Sub Total : 8,725 gold

Late Game :

- Messerschmidt's Reaver (3200)
- Satanic Recipe Scroll (1100) [Satanic]
Total : 4,400 gold
- Demon Edge (2600)
- Burize do Kyonen recipe scroll (750) [Burize do Kyonen]
Total : 3,350 gold
- Demon Edge (2600)
- 2x Javelin Throw (2*1,400=2,800) [Monkey King Bar]
Total : 5,400 gold
- Point Booster (1200)
- 2 x Ultimate Orbs (2*2,100=4,200)
- Eye of Skadi recipe scroll (1250) [Eye of Skadi]
Total : 6,650 gold
Sub Total : 19,800

TOTAL :31,675 gold





EXPALANATION :

- Ring of Basilius not only gives you more damage which really help in last hitting early game, but also gives armor for your survivalability and also can be used for pushing (aura), and gives you mana regen as well that will help you in semi-spamming your spells either to harass or for better farming.
- 3 pieces of tangos are supposed to be enough for you to keep last hitting until you get helm of iron will which gives you 3 hp/s regen and 5 armor.
- Since Alleria is a dps dependant hero, she needs damage and life steal also go well with most dps dependant hero like her. And +20 dmg and 15% life steal, +5 armor are very good early. So we get Helm of Dominator. Also, this could also be used to control neutral creep to help you killing / farming / scouting, etc.
- Stout shield. Why Stout Shield? Alleria is pretty weak. Getting this will really help you especially in farming later along with the Helm of Dominator since it make you as if you are invulnerable to creeps. Jungling will really be easy with this and HoDominator. And you just need this, there is no need to upgrade it to Vanguard. Upgrading it will just delay your main items. Later when you need your item slot, simply sell this.

- Power Treads (int), a cheap item to get extra 65 ms, 30% IAS, and 10 int. You need the ms, the IAS of course, and the intelligence to boost your mana pool as well as damage.
- Crystalist (2250) is also a cheap item to get 35 damage. ( compared to demon edge +36 damage 2600 gold ), also extra crits ! And since crits bonus damage ISN’T reduced by Fire Focus, it really helps her A LOT!
- Orchid Malevolance. Again, this gives everything what you need! Amplified damage to counter your ulti damage reduced. Silence is just the bonus. IAS, mana regen, damage, int bonus are all everything an intelligence aspd dependant hero needs.

- Satanic helps Alleria’s survivalability. It increases Alleria’s lack of HP. Gives even more life steal. Thanks that +5 armor still with you. And again, its active skill for more damage and lifesteal is just a bonus. Buying this will also help making the maximum potential of Helm of Dominator that you have bought before.
- Burize do Kyonen, an upgraded item from the crystalyst. Gives quite a lot extra damage to counter the ulti’s damage reduction, and again, crits damage bonus UNAFFECTED by her ulti reduction. (Note: MKB’s mini stun WILL cancel Shackle Shot’s stun when trigger! To buy or not is your call.)
- MKB for even more and more damage. Mini stun + 100 damage is also unaffected by Fire Focus’ damage reduction.
- EoS, completely stack with life steal, frost attack, +25 to all stats. Who don’t want……..


OVERALL, your items are arranged to deal as much damage as possible within 3.5 secs (Shackle Shot), with at least 10 shots (Fire Focus). And try to make a kill with just that combination.


Note :
- Blue items means final item.
- Buying Lesser Clarity Potion, Flask of Sapphire Water, Ancient Tango of Essifation, Observer Wards, Sentry Wards, Gem of true sight, Dust of appearance, empty bottle, Scroll of Town Portal, etc. is depend on the user’ needs.
- Starting items (basilius, etc. cud be sold later when you need the slot).


7. Other possible items

Sange & Yasha
+ Chance to maim the enemy unit is very high with such an ulti.
+ Extra ms and IAS are very useful for aspd dependent hero.
+ Gives extra survivalability by getting more HP from str bonus and armor from agi bonus.
- Neither str nor agi is your type.
- It gives just little extra damge for you with +- 5000 gold. Whereas you don’t really need the rests that it gives.

Mjolnir
+ Chance to release chain lightning is very high with such an ulti.
+ Help farming and killing (chain lightning damage isn’t reduced by Focus Fire)
+ Gives extra survivalability by adding armor from the bonus agi and its active skill
+ Gives damage and IAS that is needed.
- the +35 agi is wasted since you are not an agi hero. Well, not fully wasted, but it is not fully used either, is it?
- You are not supposed to be a tank, even with Mjolnir’s active skill.
- You don’t get everything that it gives (agi~int) whereas you need to pay 6,00 gold !

Hand of Midas
+ Help getting a lot of money.
+ Gives quite a few extra IAS.
- Forget this if you can’t acquire this within 10 – 15 minuste WITHOUT sacrificing your starting gold.
- Later it just wastes your item slot

Cranium Basher
+ Chance to stun with ulti very high.
- extra str wasted.
- you only get 10% chance while melee gets 15%
- you already have reliable stun which even will be canceled when Cranium’s stun trigger.

Stygian Desolator
+ Gives a lot of damage even with corruption for pretty a cheap item (compared with other damage item such as burize / mkb, etc.)
+ Corruption can be assumed as a counter to Alleria’s ulti damage reduction.
- Doesn’t stack with life steal, and I would prefer life steal to stay longer in the battle field / jungle.


Other items are might be possible, just remember to decide it wisely. Remember Alleria’s pros and cons. Consider, what she already has, what she should get, and what she shouldn’t get.



8. Gameplay

Early game
:Just farming as usual : last hitting the enemy red HP creeps / denying allies red HP creeps
Harassing the enemy hero either by normal attack or sometimes by Powershot, and if possible, shot it to harass the enemy hero as well as make some creep kills.
Get Helm of Dominator and Stout Shield ASAP to get ready for mid game jungling session!
Try to have a kill when reach lv 6!

Mid game
: Be careful ! You are rather weak here !!
Try to make a kill with shackle shot and fire foces combo with or without your allies by backstabbing hero that is alone.
Use pewershot properly, either to kill or in creeping. Just DON’T KS with this skill!
Get at least Treads and Crystalist or Orchid ASAP and farming as much as possible with HoDominator and Stout shield.
Be careful being gang-ed / backstabbed!

Late game
: Always ready if you are needed by your team to push the enemy creep or to destroy the enemy’s base.
You are still quite weak here except you have got at least Satanic or so.
Try not to go alone ! Despite your windrunner, you don’t have any reliable escaping mechanism. Windrunner doesn’t effective against disable skills.
Fire focus is not only for killing but also to destroy tower / creep spawning building, etc.

Special Tips :

- When you have allies, always ready to Shackle Shot the enemy properly.
- Be smart and wise using Powershot.
- Don’t move / manual attack after using the Fire Focus until it is finish since doing them will cancel it.




III
ADDITION

9. Recommended Allies

Generally Alleria is suitable with whoever hero, however her Shackle Shot may be can help some fast aspd or great damage hero who has no disabler ( Eg. Razor, Shadow Fiend, Jahrakal, etc.)

10. Worst Enemies

Anub’arak, The Nerubian Assassin - MANA BURN !!! + Vendetta + Impale = Death
Lion the Demon Witch, impale + hex + finger of death = DEATH
Lina the Slayer, T + D + G (guess what lol) = gg
Magina, The Anti Mage - Mana Break + Mana Void = tears
Lucifer, The Doom Bringer – DOOM -> SILENCE for 16 seconds ??!!!
And any other strong nuker / disabler.


11. Epilog

Sorry there are no picture and screenshot yet cause I am currently very busy. And currently no reliable internet connection yet to use the strategy section.
Sorry for bad English.
Every improving critics and suggestion is welcome.

Special thanks:
InDeeD, of whom the type of strategy inspire me.
Icefrogs, who made DotA
www.Dotastrategy.com A world wide DotA website.
www.dotationary.wow3.info An Online DotA dictionary.

111008
= = =

Wow. I've read this guide all the way through, and I would have to say I agree COMPLETELY on your build for her, she also is my favorite hero atm. Ring of Basilus, Power Treads, Orchid, EoS- I liked your skill build and item build. But this guide didn't have too much information for the gameplay. Most of the guide was just the item build, and then all the rest of the information. And maybe some pictures in the upcoming guides (plox). All in all it was a hero strategy that welcomed newbies, and, this is a good role model for people who are going to make guides.

Nice, inspiring, neat, brief, but pretty detail.
It represents almost every single detail to play it. And i assume this guide is not for those who have just known what DotA is for a few days lol.

nice guide

Uhmmmm...

my comment will be, please make it in center form like using [center] [/canter]

Er.. IMO not all texts are good in center form. Current form is fine, some in center, while some others in left...

uhmmmmmm...

Can you just justify it?

No need for centering, this is fine like was Ex said..

Hmmm... First time to comment on this anyway.


As for the skill build:

Only 1 level of shackleshot is needed early on. Why? It's very unreliable, you need at least 2 units or a tree/unit side by side for this to work. A smart player would never stick to trees if playing against a windrunner with shackleshot maxxed. Another thing is that it deals NO damage at all, which is a full waste of mana. One level is decent just in case you need to hold something and for some reason he/she is beside a tree-unit.

Windrunner MUST be maxed early as this is the most reliable skill in your arsenal, grants you invulnerability to physical attacks and near max attackspeed. It's also a more reliable disable than Shackleshot

IMO, you can skip this skill at level 6. Why? You have shitty damage at lvl 6, reducing it will just help you turn it into plain crap. IAS is always, always coupled up with damage, and since at this point of the game, you only have a few items at your disposal, it's best to not get this, you'll probably deal more damage with your normal hits and ani-walking than this. Another thing, all of windrunners skills are active, FF at this point costs a lot of mana which only leaves you as a fast attacking low damage hero. Worst comes to worst, if they actually see you FFing, they might consider you a threat and go for you first.

No problems maxing Powershot.

Item Build:


PT vs BoT vs Phase Boots - PT is decent, but you dont need the attack speed as you gain max as via FF, it also gives the less MS, though the stats are decent. BoT, if you only badly need the lane control, as this would delay your core item build, it can be changed later on in the game though. Phase Boots, gives armor [redundant since windrunner grants physical invulnerability] raw damage [nice], faster MS than PT and phase. IMO, the boot made for windrunner, phase allows you to move through obstacles [creeps] so that you won't get delayed when using Focus Fire, phase also grants you higher movespeed thus allowing you to not lose your target when in focus fire.

No problems with both Orchid and Crystalys for her as these are both cheap ways to boost her overall DPS.

As for the Orb effects, Lifesteal = Overrated, since you dont get BKB, nukes and disables own you, Lifesteal is only effective when you are attacking, and if in windrunner, expect the only things that will come to your ARE disables and spells. Satanic is also a tall order and she doesn't really need the armor too much nor the lifesteal as you won't gain much even with a crapload of damage items.

Deso is the best orb for her if you need the pure damage, in logic, killing a target faster is better than killing a target slower [since lifesteal doesn't give any source of damage other than unholy rage] since it would buy time for the targets teammates to close in and help him/her. It's also next to MKB which gives the most damage/gold for an item.


As for extension items, i'm surprised to not see guinsoo in the list. She's not really a carry hero but more of a secondary carry, as she's not really that reliable now. Guinsoo allows you to support, and kill at the same time, and gives a good source of survivability via Ultimate Orb. BKB is a good extension as i stated above. EoS is only good IF you can farm for it. As for damage items, MKB is the best [seeing as you'll be upgrading Crystalis to buriza anyway] damage/gold item out there. The mini-stuns are also great against TPers.

Bashers suck, plain and simple, better to just farm 2k more gold and get guinsoo, Mjoll is only half decent since you only get the perks of chain lightning, the AS is wasted since you already have max AS and armor is meh since you have windrunner. Other items to not go for are items that grant more attackspeed [they are shit since you already have max AS], armor [since you have windrunner], and just plain crappy items overall [ie: bashers/blademail.]