Dota 2 Terrorblade Top 100 Guide

Dota 2 Terrorblade Top 100 Guide by tkalamov

DTH.RampageJohnson here. Today I was pleasantly surprised by Dotabuff when I saw myself etched in the top 100 best Terrorblades, 49th in fact and I decided to make a detailed guide about the hero, covering his strengths and weaknesses, best builds and playstyles and I hope it helps those who struggle with a very underrated (and often times bad) carry in the current landscape of the game! For those who are interested, I am hovering around 4.5k MMR. So here we go…

1) Introduction: Terrorblade is one of the hardest carries in the game. He is much like Anti-Mage in the fact that he can farm extremely fast and with the accumulated before everyone else gold he can take over the game and should end it mercifully when he has the chance. The holy trinity of hard carries is Medusa, Faceless Void and Spectre but with proper positioning and item build Terrorblade can kill any one of those heroes one on one. His main attribute is agility and he should be built accordingly. The items I like to build on Terrorblade are Boots of Travel, Sange and Yasha (later disassembled and built into a Manta), Eye of Skadi, double Butterflies and whatever the hell you want as a 6th item, the game should be over by this point anyway. But the destination has many roads and I am going to look at Terrorblade on how to play him in lane and in the jungle.

Take note that Terrorblade is a terrible teamfighter. He cannot contribute beyond rightclicks and an eventual slow and he is usually risking his life when entering skirmishes. You are really dependant on your team early game so you have enough space to grow fat beyond recognition. You should play Terrorblade as a PUSHER and not a carry that can contribute to teamfights all too often. You can occasionally help but only after the skirmishes have begun and to clear off some damaged enemies or squishy supports. When your team is fighting, push. Rarely do you want to fight with them unless you have reached a critical mass.

2) Jungling: You start with: 1x Quelling blade 2x circlet

If you are Radiant, take one point in Metamorphosis first. If you are Dire, take one point in Illusions. If Radiant, go clear up the hard camp first with Metamorphosis or the medium camp IF Dire Wolves have spawned there since they grant you 1 level. It is generally awesome if the hard camp spawns Hellbears since they give you 1 level as well, but if you get anything else, just kill one creep in the easy camp but be careful with your health because you WILL be low after the hard camp. Use “hit and run” tactics when clearing the hard camp. If Dire, spawn one illusion at 00:07 and go straight to the medium camp. Spawn another illusion when you are there and clear the camp. You should be done before the 1 minute mark so you can repeat. Create a choke point with the quelling blade so you have easy access to the hard camp as well. You should have Metamorphosis at this point so use it to clear the hard camp.

When you reach level 3, buy everything you can for the gold you have amassed and die to a neutral creep in the jungle since it saves you more time respawning in the base and going back to the jungle than running to the base etc. Do the same at level 4 if you have spent the money and are very low on hp. If somebody tells you that you are a noob, just ignore him and laugh at him later when the enemy is busy fighting mega creeps.

The skill build you should be going here is to max illusions and Metamorphosis and situationally take your ultimate at level 9. I prefer going for stats after level 8 most of the times and skill my Q and R when there is nothing else left to skill.

This is the general jungling strategy. After level 4 you should have two wraith bands in your inventory which would be enough to clear most of the camps in the jungle again. At level 5, return to the base, build one of the wraith bands into a Ring of Aquila and continue farming. Sustaining yourself in the jungle shouldn’t be a problem from this point on.

3) Laning: Laning with Terrorblade CAN be risky depending on the opponent you are facing so you should be cautious if you don’t have two supports to back you up. That’s why you buy: 1x set of tangos 1x healing salve 2x circlet

The attack animation of Terrorblade is really easy to get used to since it’s one of the best in the game and you can last hit 3-4 creeps easily to acquire a quelling blade from the side shop. Farming should be a breeze unless you are pressured. If you know that you are going to be pressured, skill points in Metamorphosis and illusions so you can fall back in the jungle until the creeps are under your tower and you can last hit there.

The skill build for the early laning stage is dependant on your lane. If your supports have slows and stuns, feel free to put one point in your Q and 2 in E for starters so you can kill or at least heavily zone out the opposition. After that max your illusions and Metamorphosis for maximum pushing power.

4) Midgame: By the 15th minute mark you should have bought a Yasha and Boots of Travel. Whenever you get the Yasha, assess the situation: which lanes are under the most pressure? Can I push somewhere? If you indeed CAN push somewhere, go there and push like mad with your Metamorphosis and illusions. It generally is a good idea to chip at the tower at the 7th minute mark when there is a catapult in the creep wave. Zone out the opponent in that same lane and proceed to take the tower.

Once you have pushed the tower, farm farm and farm. ALWAYS look for opportunities if there is a skirmish nearby to enter from the back with your Metamorphosis and illusion to grab some kills. The enemies wouldn’t suspect you anyway and you don’t lose but bear in mind how many against how many are fighting and CAN you contribute to the fight without losing farm? Sometimes it is a better idea to teleport with your Boots of Travel to another lane and push a tower (or two) if there is a fight going on. At least you may force out a TP from the opposing team and make the fight even for your teammates.

Keeping the enemy team at constant pressure is the name of the game for Terrorblade. If they can take a fight they may not do it from fear of being raxed at the 20 minute mark. That will make them play very passively and opens up your team for engagements they can handle.

Always farm the jungle with Terrorblade and micro an illusion or two in a lane to last hit creeps. Your gold per minute skyrockets and before long you can afford your big items.

5) Late game: Honestly, if everything has been going according to plan, the game should have been won by now. But if the opposition is no slouch, then feel safe knowing that you are a late game powerhouse. Whenever an engagement starts, wait until the big ultimates are on cooldown and enter from the back – proceed to kill everything in sight.

This is the general gameplay to which Terrorblade players should stick to. A big question is itemization.

6) Rampage Johnson’s item build (Also called “FLY, BUTTERFLY, FLY!”): After you have bought the essential cheap items early game, build Boots of Travel and Sange and Yasha. Sange and Yasha is better than Manta at this stage of the game because it gives you more for less! Manta illusions are generally weak before you have your big items and can only contribute to your pushing power so much. Sange and Yasha not only gives you tankability, but fighting power and a way to quickly escape as well! Not to mention the maim effect.

After Sange and Yasha buy Eye of Skadi – one of THE best EHP items in the game and it gives Terrorblade and his illusions so much. The slow effect is great during fights and once you have this item it won’t be hard to solo kill any hero on the map, Metamorphosis or not. After this item, Terrorblade’s illusions became a real pain in the ass. Double Butterfly is after Skadi – evasion stacks and your illusions become tower molesters. It essentially takes longer for two supports to kill a single illusion than it would take for a single illussion to kill two supports. At this point the enemy team will be scared to exit the base and the general strategy is your team to breach highground and start a fight while you demolish the entire base.

The sixth item is whatever, I almost never get to the point where I have to be 6 slotted. A special mention goes to Diffusal Bladelevel 2 as it is incredibly cheap, easy to build and gives a shitton of agility to boot! Consider buying it instead of a Butterfly if the enemy team already has an MKB carrier.

7) My thoughts on different item builds for Terrorblade:

The Power Treads into Drum of Endurance build: Cheap and effective, why not, but generally doesn’t give you as much mobility as the Boots of Travel and Yasha build does, AND you lack the global presence which would unnerve the eney team.

The rush Radiance build: Terrorblade’s illusions only take the burn effect and your goal is to molest towers, not melt creep waves! An illusion hero like Naga Siren can afford the Radiance since she has a teamfight ultimate that allows high ground to be reached, hence late game she becomes more of a 5 man carry, and the damage mainly comes from the rest of her team. Her illusions don’t last as long as Terrorblade’s illusions do and they can do only so much damage. Radiance does okay damage but it gives no tankability at all. Terrorblade is all about the stats!

Heart of Tarrasque: Great tankability but it isn’t generally THAT good of an idea unless your enemy team has a lot of magical damage and it can be expected since you are Terrorblade. It doesn’t offer as much EHP as Butterfly does and the strength does not translate to your base damage which is derived from your agility. All in all, a so-so item to build on Terrorblade.

Satanic (and lifesteal in general): I find lifesteal on Terrorblade pointless since you splitpush all the time and you have built-in life swap and if careful enough you can pull it off during a fight. You are ranged as well so by the time the enemy comes to you and deals damage so you can steal your health back, they’d be already dead.

Armlet: It’s just… gimmicky. Falls off quickly the more the game progresses.

Blinkin N’ Slammin build: Buy Dagon, E-Blade and Blink Dagger. Blink next to an enemy, E-Blade+Dagon him and use Sunder. PROFIT! (just don’t. Please.)