How to Use the Drow Ranger in DotA

Items and Skills

• 1

  Purchase Tangeos, Circlets and Slippers of Agility at the start of the game. Tangoes are a strong health potion at the start of the game. Your circlet boosts your maximum hit points and strengths, allowing you to fight longer, and the Slippers of Agility boost your ability at the start of the game to effectively kill enemy minions and players.

• 2

  Place your first skill point in Frost Arrows. This is your primary skill. Every point you add into the ability increases how slowly enemies hit by your Frost Arrow will move. This ability is instrumental for "harassing." Shoot any enemy when they step into your shooting range and begin Orbwalking. Notice the pause your hero takes between auto attacks. Orbwalking, known in similar games as kiting, is when you single cast your orb skill (frost arrows) to an enemy and have your hero move while she is reloading her weapon. This requires you to click on an enemy, wait for Tarex to shoot an arrow and then immediately move toward a fleeing enemy or away from a pursuing one. This strategy leads to many early kills because there are very few heroes in the game that can break away from an orbwalk without fleeing to a tower.

• 3

  Level your skills as follows: 1 - Frost Arrows, 2 - Silence, 3 - Frost Arrows, 4 - Stats, 5 - Frost Arrows, 6 - Marksmanship, 7 - Frost Arrows, 8 - Trueshot Aura, 9 - Stats, 10 - Stats, 11 - Marksmanship 12 - Silence, 13 - Trueshot Aura, 14 - Trueshot Aura, 15 Trueshot Aura, 16 - Marksmanship, 17 - Silence, 18 - Silence, 19+ Stats. Stats are leveled before Trueshot Aura because early in the game the base addition gives you more damage than the percentage increase from the aura.

• 4

  Prioritize Silence as a defensive skill; only use Silence offensively if it will result in a kill. Silence prohibits enemies from using their skills and abilities that would allow them to escape. Silence excels at saving your life as a defensive ability. An enemy who is Silenced will not be able to use any slows, stuns, or other move inhibitors on you, allowing you to race ahead and start orbwalking him.

• 5

  Prioritize purchasing three wraith bands and one Manta Style. Wraith bands boost your character's two most important attributes: damage and attack speed. The bands also increase your maximum health and mana pool, unlike cheaper items that boost your damage. Your first major purchase will be the Manta Style. This weapon is core to killing multiple enemies. You will notice the damage boost immediately. The item itself has an activated ability you can use by clicking the corresponding number on your number pad. Manta Style costs 106 mana to use with a 70 second cooldown. It creates two hallucinations/copies of you that deal 40 percent damage and take 300 percent damage. Wait to activate your Manta Style until enemies target you in a team-fight. The mirror images created by the weapon will make it harder for you to be targeted. Using Manta Style defensively will always result in more damage then offensively because the longer you live, the more damage you deal.

• 6

  Fill out your build with Lothara's Edge and Butterfly. Lothara's Edge is a relatively cheap weapon (your hero can have more then one weapon equipped at a time) that enables you to kill many neutral minions quickly. Butterfly, another weapon, provides even more attack speed, damage, and evasion. Very few enemies will pose a threat to you once your Drow is equipped with a Butterfly and a Manta Style.

Strategy

• 7

  Focus less on attacking enemy players and more on racking up gold by targeting minions that have low health. Do not let your hero automatically attack the minions in your lane, instead constantly right-click to disrupt your hero's attack animation. The easiest way early in the game to gain gold is "last hitting" the minions in your lane. You only get gold if you deal the killing blow. Wait until a minion's health bars are already low before you attack it.

• 8

  Travel the map once your have finished your power treads and at least one of your circlets have been upgraded to a Wraith Bangle. Unlike before, feel free to auto-attack minions to clear the waves of enemies as soon as possible instead of focusing only on last hitting. Your focus is still gold, but if your team is moving toward a major team battle, make sure you're available. Use your silence early and often in a team fight. Focus on silencing enemy heroes who have stuns. Work with your teammates to attack the same enemy hero at the same time. Prioritize killing enemies with lower health and armor.

• 9

  Stay with your team after you've finished leveling your marksmanship ability. You have now entered the end game. Your team should be together at all times. Three enemy heroes can easily take you down if they catch you alone even if you can deal massive amounts of damage. Make sure to stand behind the rest of your team in a team fight. You may deal more damage then anybody else on your team, but you still die quickly. Force your enemies to fight their way through your allies to get to you.