Monday, April 11, 2011

DotA Rooftrellen - The Treant Protector Guide Strategy

DotA Rooftrellen is by nature a support hero. All of his skills reflect this, they are not damage orientated but rather are influential in team support. In order to play this hero in the most effective way your item build and combat strategy must optimise the role of supporter rather than focussing on creating an uber hero killer. If you want the glory for yourself, Rooftrellen, I am afraid, is not the hero for you. If you enjoy helping your team to victory through more subtle means and being your team-mates favourite ally then read on…




IPB Image Stats

Strength 27 + 3.4 per level
Agility 10 + 1.0 per level
Intelligence 17 + 1.8 per level

Pros
Highest strength gain of any hero
Highly synergised to a particular role
One of the most effective ultimate abilities in the game

Cons
Low base armour
Not the most effective hero in 1 v 1 situations

Skills

IPB Image Nature’s Guise

Changes a target friendly unit’s appearance so that it blends in with the forest. It is invisible to an enemy’s eyes, but it must remain near a tree, or the guise is lost.

Level 1 – Lasts 15 seconds.
Level 2 – Lasts 30 seconds.
Level 3 – Lasts 45 seconds.
Level 4 – Lasts 60 seconds.

This skill is used both for escaping from tricky situations and for ambushing enemy heroes (specifically ganking purposes). The downside to this ability is that you must be near trees for the guise to work.

IPB Image Eyes in the Forest
Creates a spiritual link between Rooftrellen and a target tree, allowing Rooftrellen to see the tree’s surrounding area at all times. Mana cost decreases per level.

Level 1 – 300 second cooldown.
Level 2 – 225 second cooldown.
Level 3 – 150 second cooldown.
Level 4 – 75 second cooldown.

This ability allows Rooftrellen to place wards on trees around the map which last indefinitely and can see invisible units. The downside is that the wards have a low area of vision and are easily countered (Ancient Tango of Essifation’s and a number of area of effect spells).

IPB Image Living Armor
Magically creates an armor of vines around a friendly unit, protecting it from harm and healing wounds.

Level 1 – Adds 2 armor and regenerates .75 hit points per second.
Level 2 – Adds 4 armor and regenerates 1.5 hit points per second.
Level 3 – Adds 7 armor and regenerates 2.25 hit points per second.
Level 4 – Adds 10 armor and regenerates 3 hit points per second.

This is a great spammable armour/regeneration spell. It is particularly useful in negating Rooftrellen’s low base armour issues and for casting on all allies.

IPB Image Overgrowth (Ultimate)

Summons an overgrowth of damaging vines and branches. Prevents all nearby enemies from moving or attacking and deals 95 damage per second to each.
Level 1 – Lasts 3 seconds.
Level 2 – Lasts 4 seconds.
Level 3 – Lasts 5 seconds.

This is the spell that turns Rooftrellen from a good hero to a great hero. Simply awesome in late game team battles due to its mass disable. (NB enemy heroes will still be able to cast most spells whilst overgrowth is active)

Skill Build


1. Eyes in the Forest
2. Living Armor
3. Living Armor
4. Nature’s Guise
5. Living Armor
6. Overgrowth
7. Living Armor
8-10. Eyes in the Forest
11. Overgrowth
12. Stats / Nature’s Guise
13-15. Stats
16. Overgrowth
17-22. Stats
23. Nature’s Guise / Stats
24-25. Nature’s Guise

The first skill obtained is Eyes in the Forest allowing a ward to be placed immediately. The first skill to be maxed is Living Armor as it is a fantastic defensive buff which will aid Rooftrellen and his team in combat. Nature’s Guise is taken at level four as both an escape tool (if either Rooftrellen or his lane partner is near death) and a ganking tool. Eyes are maxed next, so that by level 10 a ward can be placed every 75 seconds giving Rooftrellen’s team a degree of map control. Rooftrellen will have acquired Perseverence by this stage so will have enough mana to sustain multiple eye placements. Stats are maxed next in favour of Nature’s Guise for two reasons. The first is that choosing stats enables double growth rate for heroes (+6 attribute bonus per level). The second reason is that it enables sufficient mana for a double overgrowth to be acheived at a low level. Overgrowth is maxed immediately. At level 12 Nature’s Guise can be taken in place of one Stats gain if you feel that 30 seconds of invisibility is required.

This skill build is centred on obtaining an early double ultimate whilst utilising the fantastic support potential of Rooftrellen’s abilities. Going Stats/Eyes early and learning Living Armor later would grant sufficient mana for a double Overgrowth even faster, however after playtesting both builds I feel the build detailed above is superior in the majority of situations.

Item Build

1. IPB Image Ring Of Health (875)
2. IPB Image Void Stone (900) — Perseverance
3. IPB Image Boots of Speed (500)
4. IPB Image Oblivion Staff (1925)
5. IPB Image Refresher Orb (1875)
6. IPB Image Staff Of Wizardry (1000)
7. IPB Image Belt Of Giant Strength (450)
8. IPB Image Level 3 Necronomicon (3900)

Total Cost – 11425 gold

Optional extra

9. IPB Image Heart Of Tarresque (5500)

Boots of Speed gives Rooftrellen manoevrability in combat which helps him use his ultimate in a good position as well as being harder to kill when chased. The Refresher Orb gives nice bonuses to regeneration and damage but its most important purpose is activating the double overgrowth (10 second AOE disable). In order to activate the double ultimate 975 mana is needed, which is why the staff of wizardry is the next item on the list for +10 intelligence. This leads on perfectly to Necronomicon. I cannot speak highly enough of this item for Rooftrellen, having two high DPS, mana-burning mages hacking away for 10 seconds along with Rooftie greatly enhances his damage in a team battle. Necro also gives nice stat gains to strength/intelligence and increases your support role within the team thanks to the movement speed aura.

11425 gold will take around about an hour to farm for Rooftrellen. Utilising this build allows the Refresher Orb to be completed at around level 14-16. Necromonicon level 3 at level 19-21 and Tarresque at level 24-25. Please note that Tarresque is just a nice addition rather than a core item, it increases Rooftrellen’s survivability against powerful combat heroes.

IPB Image

This image shows the value of taking stats early. As you can see Rooftrellen has enough mana for a double ultimate at level 18. When using this skill build 975 mana is usually acquired between levels 18-20. If the skill build favoured Nature’s Guise over stats, obtaining sufficient mana for the double Overgrowth would occur at a later level.

IPB Image

This image shows Rooftrellen at level 25, few games last this long but its nice to know that Rooftrellen is ready for the long haul. Rooftrellen doesn’t lose effectiveness late game like many other heroes.

Other Items to Consider

IPB Image Mekansm (2434)
Mekansm is a fantastic item for any support hero. It gives Rooftrellen a valuable +5 armour to negate his low base armour issues. As well as this Mekansm grants +5 to all stats, a +3HP regen aura and most importantly a 250HP/2 armour AOE heal. The downside to this item is the relatively high cost, due to Rooftrellen’s farming limitations it is a large deviation to obtain this item before the Refresher Orb. A strong late game possiblity however.

IPB Image Guinsoo’s Scythe Of Vyse (5175)
Guinsoo’s is a fantastic alternative to Necronomicon as Rooftrellen’s secondary item. It grants Rooftrellen sufficient mana for the double overgrowth as well as more disabling potential (6 charges of cyclone from Euls and a 3 second hex from the Guinsoo’s). If you are fighting against a large number of combat heroes who are not mana dependant then this item is your secondary item of choice. For a mixed opposition with some mana dependant heroes I would still suggest Necronomicon due to its synergy with Overgrowth.

Strategy

Early Game (Levels 1-7)


Rooftrellen should always have a partner in his lane if possible. This is because he doesn’t need the bonus experience granted from soloing as much as more combat orientated heroes and he can be a big help early game to his lane partner due to his skills. The best lane for Rooftrellen is up if he is playing Sentinel or down if he is playing Scourge, this is because these lanes are closest to the secret shop (Perseverance) and have many trees nearby. Going middle is a bad idea as Rooftrellen will find it difficult to farm against the ranged heroes who usually go mid and will not be able to use his guise to escape due to a lack of trees.

As soon as Rooftrellen spawns he should make his way to his optimal lane. An eye should immediately be placed in the river between the centre lane and Rooftrellen’s lane. After a small period of time Rooftrellen will have acquired 875 gold and should buy the ROH from the secret shop. Living Armor should be used mainly on Rooftrellen’s lane partner as he is likely to need the benefits more than Rooftrellen. At level six Rooftrellen should cast his ultimate if the opportunity for the kill arises. Three seconds should be enough for you and your partner if the opposing hero does not have a huge amount of hp left. By level seven Rooftrellen will usually have acquired another 900 gold allowing Perseverance to be completed.

Mid Game (Levels 8-15)

During this stage of the game Rooftrellen should continue to farm in his lane but he should be ready to quickly move to another lane or help his team in a tower push/gank if the need arises, on top of this he needs to place eyes in useful areas of the map whenever the opportunity arises. From level 10 onwards swapping lanes with allied heroes is a good idea in order to spread the Eyes in the Forest to all areas of the map. Rooftrellen should never roam the map on his own looking for chances to kill heroes as he is not a solo hero killer and needs to keep up a steady gain in exp and income to be effective late game. However, if the opportunity for his team to kill one or more enemy heroes is presented to Rooftrellen he should not hesitate to cast Overgrowth.

Nature’s guise should be utilised offensively for ganking dangerous enemy heroes, make sure it is cast on each hero outside the enemies vision. Guise is also needed as an escape if the enemy team attempts a gank against Rooftrellen and his lane partner. Rooftie unless heavily nuked early game should make his first fountain trip after he has acquired Perseverance and 1650 gold. He should proceed to purchase Boots of Speed and the Quarterstaff. The Oblivion staff should be completed and the Refresher Orb recipe bought when the necessary gold is acquired.

During both the early and mid games Rooftrellen should play Conservatively, dont chase after hero kills (you are a supporter) but do your best not to die. If at level 15 you have zero kills and zero deaths dont worry, you are doing ok.

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