Toughen up! Treant Protector initiator & support

"Life becomes death becomes new life, as it should be."

Treant Protector. Probably the most underrated support/initiator/tank out there. I mean, what's not to love in a giant well-mannered tree with deep voice that keeps your team AND BUILDINGS alive?

Aside being my favourite hero plot-wise, a good player can make fire and spark out of a single match with Treant. His role is primarily to support the whole team, and as I said above, the buildings too. Treant has the distinctive skill of being capable to heal turrets (aside players) over time, meaning A LOT in the early phase of the game.

On top of that, not only he can turn invisible, but he can share this buff with the whole team!

ON TOP OF THAT, his ulti can transform the whole enemy team in sitting ducks for seconds.

ON TOP OF THAT, HE CAN CAST EVERY SKILL BY BEING AND STAYING INVISIBLE.

"I protect that which cannot protect itself. But what protects me?"

One important thing while playing Treant is to know your role. Treant can be played in many different ways, ranging from pure support to tank and initiator, even nuker although he doesn't possess hard nukes (however his base damage is the highest in the game and he has the second highest strength gain in the game - the first one being Centaur's -).

Once you noticed what your team really needs, make up your mind and act for the good of the team. You won't build an initiator if you have Magnus and Tidehunter in your team, nor you will go tank if you have a good Centaur Warrunner.

So far, a build that always worked fine for me is a pure "average strength hero" build: Power Treads, Vanguard, Drum of Endurance and Assault Cuirass. And of course, Heart of Tarrasque if you can afford it.

These are the obvious basics, some tweaks are always required depending on your team's picks.

"Who threatens here?"

One good thing about Treant is his Living Armor buff. It is technically a slow regeneration giving damage reduction increasing with levels, capped at 80 up to 7 sources of damage. This means you can deny up to 560 HP of physical damage while under this buff.

On top of that (here we go again) it can be casted globally, so if you are supporting in the hardlane and the poor Lycan in the jungle needs some health because he got nerfed too much within patches, you can cast Living Armor without taking a step. This gives Treant an overwatch role in the early game. To make things easier, warn your teammates that you are buffing up Living Armor first (you will) and they just need to shout it if they need healing (they will).

And don't forget it works on towers too. This will grant your team a HUGE advantage in the earlygame, and maybe you can avoid denying that poor little mid tower with 100 HP left in the mid game.

"How about a stroll?"

You really don't need many items at the start so you can afford buying the courier for your team. You could also buy a Ring of Protection that will turn into a Basilus Ring in the sideshop and a clarity for some extra mana so you can heal with no remorse. If for some reason you are laning solo, buy a Quelling Blade. Why? Because you have the highest base attack in the game. You can deny EVERY enemy creep and NO ONE CAN COUNTER YOU. The only spammable skill that does more damage of a Treant with a Quelling Blade is Phantom Assassin's Dagger level 4. But you need so much time to level up to 7 with all those denies.

Skill-wise, you should pump up Living Armor ASAP. One point to every skill and then proceed with Nature's Guise. Avoid spamming Leech Seed because its mana cost is terribly high for a not-so-useful skill compared to the other two.

Proceed to buy your Power Treads and if you can leave the lane, go for a Venom Orb. Its slowdown will assist your teammates along with Leech Seed's slowdown/health regen. Focus on Vanguard next, then you are ready to pack up with your team for the first teamfights.

"Life and death!"

Before engaging, remember your Nature's Guise can make you and your allies invisible. Many, many players ignore this, just warn them via chat and tell them to stick next to the trees. If you cloak 3 of your teammates (plus yourself) and leave only the initiator visible, the enemy team will rush on him and you can successfully gank them from behind. Surprise motherfùckers!

Remember not to act like this everytime or it will start to look just too obvious, unless you are playing in a russian lobby.

You should have some gold to buy the starting armors for Assault Cuirass now. Go for it and when you have enough cash, rush Heart of Tarrasque. If you still have some gold left, upgrade your Venom Orb to an Eye of Skadi.

"Is that all?"

• Nature's Guise cooldown, duration and manacost scale with levels: the higher the level, the better the effect. Once you pump it to level 4, you can spam it all along, but beware of the 2 seconds activation.
  
• Be careful when facing Broodmother or Timbersaw, as both have skills that can destroy a large path of trees (and Timbersaw is actually the counter to Treant).
  
• Nature's Prophet Sprout count as trees, it will act as a "bridge" if you need to cross a road with no trees and you can't let your invisibility wear off. Keep it in mind if you are playing with a friend, because you will NEVER see such teamwork in a public game.
  
• As of the latest patch, Living Armor's damage reduction overrides any damage reduction items you own, virtually being the best "shield" in the game with a 80 damage reduction with a 100% chance to proc.
  
• If paired up with a Troll Warlord, Treant's autoattack can literally shred enemies. Venom Orb / Eye of Skadi enhance even further its autoattack.