Abilities, roles and builds with an explanation for every purchase.
HERO GAME PLANI help an ally with Escape Act, manage Whip’s direction, and catch enemies with the wheel.
All the battlefield's a stage, and Ringmaster is a gleeful director. Controlling fights with a showman's flair, Ringmaster tames enemies with his fearsome whip and endless knives, ushers allies away from danger with his cunning escape act, and always draws a crowd to unwillingly witness the wonders of his mesmerizing wheel.
My recommendation is a starting point. We choose another position together with the team and for its needs.
I contribute through laning, control and movement. I adapt the expensive core route to my budget.
Help the lane, provide vision and keep the ally alive first; expensive upgrades follow the necessary team purchases.
This is an editorial starting plan based on hero mechanics. It is not presented as a match I have already tested or a popularity ranking.
Here is my initial plan: I do my role's job first, then choose the items the team needs. I adapt the order and expensive purchases to the opponent.
Provide speed and regeneration between engagements, fitting a support’s budget.
Lets you use targeted abilities and items from a safer distance.
Adds a protective tool and hides the chosen ally; invisibility does not replace escaping detection.
Moves me or an ally out of danger; direction depends on the target's facing.
Changes the entry angle and lets me reach a target quickly. Damage taken can prevent its use.
Lotus Orb ↗Lets me remove an eligible negative effect and complicates the opponent's targeted focus.
Aeon Disk ↗Protects against sudden focus fire. I account for the cooldown and the fact that my damage is limited while it triggers.
Aghanim's Shard ↗Unlocks or upgrades Spotlight. The exact effects are shown below in the abilities section.
I do not assign one ‘correct’ minute to every purchase. I look at my gold, the next fight and the problem: am I missing mana, target access, control or protection? If an expensive slot will arrive too late, I get a useful answer earlier.
Original Valve icons and descriptions. Cooldowns and mana are shown by level from the data snapshot; talents and upgrades can change the values.
CHANNELED — the hero winds up his whip, then strikes the selected area. Enemies within it take damage and flee from the ability’s owner in fear.
CHANNELED - Ringmaster twirls his whip for up to 1 second then cracks it. Whipped enemies are damaged and flee in fear from Ringmaster. Channel time exponentially increases damage and extends the fear duration, but reduces the radius.
Briefly places the owner or an allied hero in a mobile extradimensional box that allows the target to pass through units and increases its movement speed, magic resistance, and slow resistance.
Ringmaster packs himself or an allied hero into a mobile, extradimensional box. Boxed units gain phased movement, slow resistance, bonus magic resistance, and bonus movement speed. They are also untargetable, muted, silenced, and disarmed. The box will pop open after the effect expires or it moves out of the initial area.
The ability has 2 charges. When the box opens, it releases Impalement Arts daggers around itself and damages nearby enemies.
The hero throws one of his daggers in the selected direction. On hitting an enemy, the dagger briefly slows it, deals initial damage, and causes it to bleed.
Ringmaster throws one of his daggers to a precise point of his choosing. If he strikes an enemy, the dagger deals impact damage, briefly slows the unit hit, and causes them to bleed. The bleeding deals a percentage of the victim's maximum health in damage every second to heroes and flat damage per second to creeps.
The hero rolls the Wheel of Wonder to the chosen point, pushing enemies aside along the way. Upon arrival, it starts damaging nearby enemies and slowing them by 50%.
The hero rolls the Wheel of Wonder to the chosen point, pushing enemies aside along the way. Upon arrival, it starts damaging nearby enemies and slowing them by 50%. Enemy heroes who face the wheel for more than 0.5 sec. are mesmerized and drawn towards it. Once it mesmerizes a target, an explosion timer starts; the explosion damages enemies in its area. If the wheel mesmerizes no one within 4 sec., it explodes automatically.
These abilities are not necessarily available at the same time. I check the condition beside the name: innate ability, another form or an Aghanim purchase.
The hero summons 3 spotlight beams that roam the selected area, revealing invisible enemies and causing them to miss a portion of their attacks. Illusions in a beam gradually melt away, losing a percentage of maximum health each second.
Ringmaster shines 3 spotlights that sweep over an area. Enemies in the light have a chance to miss their attacks and are revealed if invisible. Illusions hit by the beam fade away, losing a percentage of their maximum health each second. These effects linger for 0.3 seconds after leaving the light.
The hero gains a random single-use carnival souvenir each time an enemy hero dies within a radius of 925. Spare souvenirs are stored as charges.
Ringmaster receives a random single-use Dark Carnival Souvenir whenever an enemy hero dies within 925 units of him. Additional Souvenirs are held as charges. If Ringmaster does not have a Souvenir when he dies he will be granted one.
Use: Proportion Distortion. Creates 1 illusion of the owner that lasts 18 sec. It takes 300% damage and deals 100% of the owner’s damage.
Use: Proportion Distortion. Creates 1 illusion of the owner that lasts 18 sec. It takes 300% damage and deals 100% of the owner’s damage.
Use: Forcefully Imbibe. Temporarily increases the selected allied hero’s strength by 5 + 1 per owner level. The full effect lasts 4 sec., then gradually fades until it disappears completely after 8 sec.
Use: Forcefully Imbibe. Temporarily increases the selected allied hero’s strength by 5 + 1 per owner level. The full effect lasts 4 sec., then gradually fades until it disappears completely 8 sec. after use.
Use: Whoopsie
Use: Whoopsie Propels the holder forward by 400 and leaves behind a foul-smelling cloud with a radius of 250 for 3 sec. The cloud slows enemies by 30%.
Use: Saddle Up. The hero summons a speedy unicycle and rides it for 10 sec. Colliding with a tree slows the unicycle and destroys the tree.
Use: Saddle Up. The hero summons a speedy unicycle and rides it for 10 sec. Colliding with a tree slows the unicycle and destroys the tree. The owner dismounts if he attacks, uses a channeled ability, or collides with a unit or another obstacle, or if he takes more than 20 damage from an enemy hero after the first 1.5 sec. of the ride.
These are fields from the official source. The hero's final values in the client account for attributes and other active mechanics.
Items, slang and real episodes help connect abilities with what happens in a match.
