Abilities, roles and builds with an explanation for every purchase.
HERO GAME PLANI survive the first engagement, buy protection for the team, and keep Ravage as a threat.
Stalking ahead of his team, Tidehunter is always on the lookout for the right time to strike. When the moment comes, he unleashes his massive and devastating ultimate, paving the way for his allies to slay their stunned enemies.
My recommendation is a starting point. We choose another position together with the team and for its needs.
My resource is the team's space: I hold the lane and build for initiation or team protection.
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 mana for laning and regular ability use.
Changes the entry angle and lets me reach a target quickly. Damage taken can prevent its use.
Provides team protection against substantial magical damage.
Adds armor and pressure in an area, helping limit the enemy’s health restoration.
Lets you repeat your main power window. Before buying, I consider whether I will have enough mana for both casts.
Crimson Guard ↗Protects the team against suitable sources of frequent physical damage, especially many small attacks.
Guardian Greaves ↗Combine mana and health sustain for the team; useful in prolonged fights together.
Aghanim's Scepter ↗Unlocks or upgrades Gush. 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.
Summons a gush of water to damage an enemy unit, reducing their movement speed and armor.
Summons a gush of water to damage an enemy unit, reducing their movement speed and armor.
Gush becomes a ground targeted wave ability that affects enemy units in a line. Decreases cooldown.
Thickens the hero’s hide, blocking a portion of incoming physical attack damage. Blocks less damage from creeps. Also removes negative effects from the owner when damage received reaches a threshold.
Thickens the hero’s hide, blocking a portion of incoming physical attack damage. Blocks less damage from creeps. Also removes negative effects from the owner when damage received reaches a threshold. Activating the ability doubles damage blocked but slows the owner’s movement by 40%. Duration: 4 sec. DISPEL TYPE: Strong
Tidehunter swings his mighty anchor to attack and deal bonus damage to nearby enemies and reduce their attack damage. The radius of Anchor Smash is Tidehunter's attack range plus 225 units.
Slams the ground, causing tentacles to erupt in all directions, damaging and stunning all nearby enemy units.
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 shackles a heavy anchor to an enemy hero, leashing it. If the victim tries to move more than 350 away from the anchor, its movement speed falls to 100 and it drags the anchor along.
Tidehunter attaches a heavy anchor to an enemy hero. The hero is leashed while attached to the anchor. Attempting to move more than 350 units away from the anchor forces the hero to 100 move speed, dragging the anchor behind them. The anchor can be destroyed with 4 hero attacks.
Enemy heroes killed by this ability’s owner or who die while affected by his debuffs leave a fish behind.
Enemy heroes killed by this ability’s owner or who die while affected by his debuffs leave a fish behind. Eating it grants the ability’s owner +3 health, +2 attack range, and +1 bonus damage block. One fish is also consumed at each even-numbered level.
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.
