Tidehunter Dota 2 Hero Guide
Tidehunter, or as it is called – “watermelon”, is a fairly frequent guest in competitive games. He is taken from patch to patch, as the hero is quite good and useful. Even a child can play on it, since everyone can press two buttons. Despite the fact that the hero’s abilities are very simple to understand, it still takes a lot of skill to move and act correctly in a given situation. Since most often he is taken to the offlane, we will analyze him in this role. Let’s start with the pros and cons of Tide.
Overview of Tidehunter character in Dota 2
Advantages:
1) Compatible with almost all Dota characters. No matter what pick you or your opponent has, Tide fits into any lineup of heroes with a bang.
2) Has a huge potential in any fight. Thanks to his powerful ult, which can be safely called one of the strongest, he and his team have great chances to kill enemies on a sudden attack, or vice versa, during a counter-attack.
3) If everything is bad on the lane, then Tide farms the jungle very well. Using his passive ability and 3rd skill, he can easily farm any creep camps from the very first levels.
Flaws:
1) Despite the fact that the ult is very strong, it has a very long cooldown. Because of this, it is impossible to play actively all the time, as the team is forced to wait out the time without the Ravage ability.
2) Extremely low mobility. Tide has a rather low base movement speed, and there is no talk of any fast movement at all. The only way out of the situation is to buy the necessary artifacts.
3) Very low mana. Tide players know that this character is always low on mana, making up for this by purchasing some items.
Tactics of the game for Tidehunter
The initial stage of the game
Since we are going to offlane, it means that we will stand against a character with the role of a carry in the opposite team. Most often, carries deal damage from the hand, which Tide is incredibly happy about, because all his abilities neutralize this damage. It is worthwhile to stand arrogantly, for it is quite difficult to break through Us. We finish off all creeps, both allied and enemy, if necessary, we farm the next stacks of forest units. Max costs the 3rd ability, taking the rest as one. This skill allows us to cut off the lion’s share of the damage from the enemy’s hand, so farming under the effect of it will be quite difficult. With the first money, we buy ourselves a Soul Ring, which will add density and compensate for problems with mana. In addition to the soul ring, we take Bracer, Magic Wand and Phase Boots. After purchasing the initial artifacts, we set a goal to get ourselves a Blink Dagger as soon as possible, with which the game will acquire new colors.
Mid game
Now Tide is still difficult to kill, using this we do not hesitate to attack. As soon as the ult rolls back, we run with the allies to impose a fight. We always go ahead in order to absorb as much damage as possible while the team is behind. In our free time, we farm creeps to get to the right items faster. Initially, we max out the 2nd and 3rd abilities, only after them we start pumping the 1st, since it will be needed soon. Often, after buying a Blink Dagger, the choice of players falls on Hood of Deriance, which provides an additional percentage of magic damage resistance. After that, the best solution would be to buy Aghanim’s Scepter, as additional damage and armor reduction of the enemy will not be superfluous.
Late game
There may already be some problems with survivability, but still the role of the tank, even in this situation, will belong to Tide. We move with the team, trying to go ahead in order to take the hit. If there is an opportunity to press your ultimate well, then you should not miss it, but you need to do it deliberately, since the recharge time of this ability is very long. It’s not worth walking alone, and beating creeps is already too. At this stage, it remains to purchase only one item, which is considered the main one on this hero. This item will be the Refresher Orb. It has almost the same cooldown as Tide’s ultimate, so often two Ravages will be used in a fight in a row. In addition to this artifact, you can also buy Overwhelming Blink, Pipe of Insight and Shiva’s Guard. But the focus should be on the refresher, as mentioned earlier, this is a key artifact on this hero. From neutral items, we choose those that increase armor or increase the amount of maximum health.
Talents
Since you are buying an aganim, you should take those talents that buff Gush. Accordingly, at level 10 – + 10% slowdown from this ability, at level 15 – +120 damage from it, and at level 20 we take +4 to reduce the armor of opponents. If you take all these talents, then the first skill will be extremely useful both in attacks and in the defense of your own base. Don’t forget about the talents at level 25, here we take +1 second to the stun time from Ravage. Since every second counts in the late game, this talent can turn the outcome of the fight in a winning direction.
What heroes are best to pick Tide with?
In general, Tide does not have any famous combos, so let’s make a conclusion ourselves. For tide, very good allies will be those that can deal a lot of damage in the shortest possible time, for example, Phantom Assasin will be a great option. But it doesn’t have to be physical damage, magical damage is fine too. For example, Zeus or Leshrac will be able to deal enough damage for the duration of Tide’s ult.
Conclusion
Tidehunter is a fairly strong and simple character in the current meta. He often appears in games, as he has almost the strongest ultimate in the game. With the right movement and timing, Tide can be a real thorn in the side of the enemy team. In addition to all this, it has huge potential throughout the game, so it will not lose its relevance over time.
