Mid-Lane Bloodseeker (outdated since 6.78)

This guide is made for all of you who only play one or two Bloodseeker games in a while. You've been exposed to a lot of different builds and you need to understand how to partition the crap from what is legitimate on a case-by-case basis. This guide is a time tested build oriented towards maximizing your mid-game presence.

What Lane?

Bloodseeker's strength is the mid-game. Carries can be either item-dependent, experience-dependent, or both. BS is both; he needs to accelerate to level 6 (akin to skeleton king) and he needs items to supplement the initial damage burst from his ult. This is the reasoning behind why this hero is played in a solo lane.

If you aren't playing mid you've already hurt your team composition. The probability of you getting enough farm solo in an offlane situation is minimal. If you do get enough farm to gank because you're against bad players, there is only one logical lane to gank, limiting your options and making your movements predictable. To keep your options open, and to not stack the odds against yourself, you play this hero mid and you should be looking to see what the opposite team will play against you.

Do I need a friend?

Bloodseeker's strength is that his kit gives him everything he needs to lane well. Supports essentially do the same thing, that is, ensure the ability of the carry to farm. This means in a one v. one situation they aren't necessary.

"What if you're against a duel lane?" The best answer is to switch lanes to the solo one. You don't offer anything to a duel or tri-lane until level 6 so odds are that you will be outlaned. Always be thinking early game about how to maximize your experience and gold gains to get to level 6.

tl;dr No.

The Matchup

You've either randomed or picked this hero and you are eagerly awaiting what your lane matchup will be. Whoever it is, keep in mind the following ideas about the strengths of your hero:

• You have high sustain, if it comes down to a war of harass you will win every time because of your health gain upon last hit. This suits you well for low damage burst (DPS or otherwise) heroes.
  
• You're a lane bully. You have the immovable rock thing going on; you gain health on last hitting, it is nigh impossible to out last-hit you, and the amount of denies in the lane phase ensures you will hit 6 first.
  
• You deal physical damage, the solo-mid role is well suited to you because strength gain and armor on int heroes is (usually) low.
  
• Until ultimate, upon which you will start moving between lanes, you have only one cast-able spell.

Everything just presented relies on the fact that you can last hit like a professional. If you cannot last hit then you cannot play this hero to maximum potential. There are zero builds that will recommend you not get Blood Bath first, it is because of this assumption.

The Method

So look at the other mid, first and foremost, can you out last hit them? If it's exort Invoker then that will be how the lane is decided. Are you laning against Silencer? You do not have an early spammable skill and your ability to last hit under duress will decide the lane.

The order I go through sizing up my lane looks like this:

• What is the difference in last hitting power?
  
• Is mana important?
  
• Am I facing a hero meant to absorb harass?
  
• What is the defining feature of the hero? (Tinker:high burst, OD:int steal, DK:tanky)

The Skills

I will not detail the skills in this section, for a complete understanding check out the Dota 2 wiki page. Rather, I will summarize them and put into perspective how they fit into your ability to dominate lane and gank.

URL here: http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Bloodseeker

What the skills are good for:

• Blood Bath (W): If you can last hit, you get health proportional to the max health of whatever died.
  
  Explanation: This is how you sustain yourself in lane, and makes decision making different from other heroes.
  
  Pro tip: If you're at low enough health where you're backing off from lane, your best chance at getting a last hit is on a deny on an enemy melee creep. Melee gives more health back than ranged and the focus of your opponent is shifted to last hitting rather than harassing/denying.
  
  
• Thirst (E): At a humongous range, if an enemy hero is low on health you gain movement speed, armor, and sight.
  
  Explanation: This ability lets you clean up after a fight, kill low-health enemy jungles, and makes you more durable when assaulting a ruptured opponent.
  
  Pro tip: If you play with friends, have them initiate a fight that gets the enemy health low enough to proc Thirst. If they're out of regen and running back to base you can snipe them on the way, and if they're smart enough that they tp out and have to walk all the way back, you've secured lane dominance for your friends by simply existing.
  
  
• Bloodrage (Q): Silences a target, dispels a target, does damage per second to the target, gives the target bonus damage based on base damage.
  
  Explanation: What a list, this ability is good early game because it will silence your lane opponent and do some minimal damage. When kept at level 1 the bonus base damage is negligible and becomes a great tool for ganking.
  
  
• Rupture (R): Deals initial nuke and places buff, if target moves they take damage proportional to how far.
  
  Explanation: There is no better measure of the fight or flight reaction. If you can catch someone out of position they will either take damage running, or take your right-clicks standing still. If the target moves a great distance very fast (like TPing back to base) they don't take damage.
  
  Pro tip:All blink-skills will act like nukes. This includes (*sigh) Force Staff. As of patch 6.78 Rupture goes through magic immunity. You are now countering any movement during BKB's and Lifestealer directly. As an example, previously Anti-Mage would pop BKB when ruptured and blink to safety. Now he would take a huge damage nuke and most likely die.

The Skill-build

This is the build that is available in-game and here's why.

• First and foremost, always start with your sustain. I always get a salve and tango unless I'm rushing bottle or playing this hero. Assuming you started with only a tango, you need to get this skill because it will give you more than enough to survive in lane.
  
  
• You will not need to level your silence until late game when you cast this spell on yourself. However it is a good skill to have against a nuker (like Zeus) so that you can harass them free from spells. This is why it is here leveled early.
  
  
• Thirst should be maxed as fast as you can manage in balance with Bloodbath. There will be two movement speeds for you in game, phased and thirsty. Both will let you maneuver for ganks across the map faster than the other mid.
  
  
• Keep in mind that if you are comfortable with your lane, you can level up Thirst in place of Bloodrage and level it faster than your Bloodbath. If you aren't receiving damage then you don't need more regen, and the thirst allows for better movement and armor during ganks.
  
  
• Always get your ultimate, enough said.

The Initial Items

This is where literally every person you will talk to will tell you something different. It comes down to the perceived purpose of BS on a team comp.

BS is an enabler; you're going to maximize the effect of your own lane dominance from levels 1-6 by dominating other lanes from 6-14. This is what ganking is intrinsically and we need it to happen as fast as possible. Here's my items:


I don't have a problem with the Valve starting items. You do need a tango and you do need a quelling blade.

• Quelling Blade: Understand that this item only gives you a damage bonus against creeps and neutrals and not heroes. This enhances your last hitting potential early game.
  
  Math: Your base damage in game is 53-59. Assuming the lowest value you start out last hitting for 53*.32+53 = 70 damage. This is insane damage for the very beginning of the game, and is only matched by a Tiny (base dmg. 61-67) with items focusing on damage and not getting a bottle (not recommended for that hero). You need this item.
  
  
• Stout Shield: This one you don't need. It is good, it reduces damage from physical attacks for you, but can be replaced by other things that you feel comfortable with.
  
  Explanation: When you attack the enemy hero in lane, it aggro's the creeps around you, making them hit you. Often times you'll be at full health and the opponent in lane will come to last hit, and you'll harass them with a right-click or two. They might even throw one back. The damage reduction on this item is worth more than what you might get with three ironwood branches, and more long-lasting than buying a salve.
  
  Math: Melee creep's 19-23 dmg is going to be reduced by 20, so at best now you're taking only 3 damage, which is negligable. Ranged which is 21-26 is 6 at best, slightly more than negligable. Hero damage which is anywhere from 40-60 (exclude Tiny), is now 20-40.

Never be fooled, the first 603 gold in the game is the most important to talk about, everything else can be generalized by "get damage items" etc. Your goal is to never have to go back to base and have the tools to dominate the lane. It's hard to do both of those things because they get divided into regen and stats respectively.

The Rest of the Items

Ok, this is where I disagree with anyone who likes Force Staff, and the main reason I wrote this guide.

Force Staff moves someone and BS ult does damage from that. Here's the numbers.
-600 unit length
-20% -> 60% damage per unit pending on ult level
-Damage = 120 -> 360 pending on the level for 2250 gold
Keep in mind you have to build a +10 int item, a +2 health regen item, and 900 gold that goes down the drain. None of this helps or accentuates you as a physical damage agility carry.

My answer:
Phase Boots (1350 gold): The time spent moving between lanes can be thought of as time spent doing nothing, we want to eliminate that, and we know that we will be ganking A LOT. Phase give you +55 movement speed, (+5 for no extra cost), and the components also give you +9 damage each, useful for when last hitting and attacking stationary enemies. That damage bonus goes up by +6 for free when the items combine.

2250-1350 = 900 gold

We already have a more useful item built than force because of the passive bonuses, but what about that nuke? Urn of Shadows provides some passive bonuses, but more importantly can be activated to throw a 150 damage nuke or a 400 HP heal. This item costs 875 gold, with only 250 gold going into the recipe. The item passives are +6 strength and +50% mana regen. This gives you the ability to throw the same damage nuke early game, better stats, all the mana regen you need for the rest of the game, and we spent less money doing so.

900-875= 25 gold left over (Buy a Black King Bar)












The rest of the items are based on addressing weaknesses, the Basher gives you the chance to stun a TPing enemy, with more health and damage. The Yasha comes replete with stats, damage, and movement speed, and you're now at the strongest your hero will ever be.

• In late game as a melee damage carry, the evasion from Butterfly does you wonders when you're up close and personal with hard DPS.
  
• If the enemy carry has evasion, get an MKB.
  
• If they have stealth, hold the Gem.
  
• The rest of the items are so situational that it's not worth mentioning them.

Thinking About Boots

This topic bears mentioning and appears to be a point of contention. I looked around at some other guides and what you will see is, "Of course, get <weird boot choice here>."

This will be what you rush in lane, so become familiar with what makes sense for you to build.
Warning: Math involved.


Let's first cross out the things that don't make sense:

• Tranquil Boots: There will never be a reason for you to get health regen in any item form.
  
• Boots of Travel: Tinker is the only one allowed to rush these. Sometimes these are worth upgrading to late game.
  
  Math: I was distraught to see this in a guide. High estimate for the time to farm 2000 gold with 197 gold per wave is five minutes last hitting every creep. This would be a five minute time-step after farming boots in lane. The 2000 gold payoff would occur after you used these boots 15 times. Just don't build these.
  *All boot upgrades will have the boot component taken out.
  
  
• Arcane Boots: If you decided to build BS entirely wrong with int. items, force staff, and anything that requires mana, you would realize you don't have the mana to support that build. Agility carries that cast like Gyrocopter build Ring of Aquila to get around this. Don't overcompensate by giving yourself 135 mana every minute and wasting 1000 gold on an enlarged mana pool.
  
  
• Math: If you must get mana regen and you refuse to get the recommended item (Urn), build a ring of aquila. For 985 gold you get +3 Strength and Int., +6 Agility, +9 Damage, +3 Armor, +.65 Mana regen, and the ability to toggle +2 armor to your creeps for pushing purposes. This is 15 gold cheaper than 1000 gold for +250 mana.

This leaves two alternatives for boots, one that I've already recommended and one that is useful in a specific case.

• Phase Boots: I am a proponent of the faster traverse times between lanes that these give to you. The last hitting potential and raw damage are things that you need to be effective early game.
  
  
• Power Treads: I will 100% of the time build these if I am up against a pure burst caster team. The ability to sit on power treads for the extra +8 strength helps ensure you won't be bursted down as easy, and attack speed is another way other than raw damage to increase your dps.
  
  Math: Let's assume we're a level 16 BS with no items. Your damage is 100 and your base attack speed is 1.7. What you need to know is that attack speed works to the equation (1+IAS)/BAT. IAS is any attack speed that you gain from items, agility, or skills. Here's Strength Treads and then Phase Boots DPS and then Agility Treads:
  
  (1+1.02)/1.7 = 1.18 attacks per second*100 damage = 118 DPS
  (1+.72)/1.7 = 1.0 attack per second*124 damage = 124 DPS
  (1+1.1)/1.7 = 1.23 attacks per second*108 damage = 133 DPS
  
  For only 950 gold (50 more gold) we could be dealing out more damage (+9)! We could also increase health and reduce casting costs, so you might be wondering why I don't recommend these now, and here's why. Warning: Math involved.
  
  If we apply our DPS calculations to level 1, we see less difference between Agility Treads DPS and Phase DPS. All information is being pulled from here:
  
  http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Bloodseeker
  http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Attack_speed
  
  (1+.54)/1.7 = .91 attacks per second * 53 damage = 48 DPS
  (1+.24)/1.7 = .72 attacks per second * 77 damage = 55 DPS
  (1+.62)/1.7 = .95 attacks per second * 61 damage = 58 DPS
  
  This is why I recommend Phase. For what character you are playing, the secondary effects are oriented more towards your playstyle.
  
  Phase: Extra +5 movement speed with +49 movement phase.
  Treads: Extra health pool with slightly increased DPS.
  
  The movement speed is going to bring you into another lane where you can Rupture, faster. I wouldn't care much about an extra 3-9 damage if I'm ganking a lane, as much as I would care about being there before the enemy mid calls mia. Furthermore, Treads help you the longer the game lasts and you don't want to escalate to that point.

Ending Notes

This guide extends to early-mid game techniques, specifically for how to behave as this hero. Late game techniques are hard to describe without going over each one specifically, but this is one thing you should know:

Late game a team will band together as five almost always. As a ganking hero this concludes your period of maximum potential outside of right-clicking, so try to end the game early with your team before this happens. Super hard carries like you Medusa and Phantom Lancer will outshine you in terms of right-click potential, so remember that you are on a timer where your ability to win the game is steadily decreasing after the 25 minute mark.

I hope this guide was helpful and let me know anything you would like to see in future guides or elaborated upon in this one.

[El raton mas grande]

haha

[Kestrel]

Please watch EG vs. Liquid in the summit playoffs to see professional BS play: http://www.twitch.tv/beyondthesummit

[Deontology]

Also, it doesn't matter if you can get urn as early as 8 minutes because you need charges for it to work. It's not like boom 8 minutes and you already have a 150 damage nuke, it's going to take time to get a charge or two. Not to mention that 150 is as good as it gets and its not pure damage.

[Deontology]

The fact that Bloodseeker needs to be an early ganking machine is even more of a reason to buy force staff. Gankers often buy utility items rather than carry items. Like blademail on clockwerk. Force staff gives him a nuke which will help him gank. And Bloodseeker doesn't need regen but it doesn't hurt to have regen on any hero. Urn gives very poor mana regen and it definitely doesn't come close to solving his mana problems. And it gives him a weaker nuke that takes way more time, AND he doesn't need the heal because of Bloodbath like you said, AND it doesn't provide him with an escape, AND if you want to talk about useless stats, he could do without that strength.

[Deontology]

Conditional movespeed is not reliable like Nightstalker's ult. If Bloodseeker gets ganked, he's going to die and he will get ganked if he's mid.

You don't understand what an initiator is. Bloodseeker is a ganker but that doesn't make him an initiator. It doesn't even say Bloodseeker is an initiator in the Dota Library. An initiator starts teamfights and makes it easier for everyone to fight the enemy. Vengeful spirit isn't an excellent initiator, she can kind of but often times it is a suicide. And she has a stun, which is a bit of crowd control.

[Kestrel]

Bloodseeker also has conditional movement speed to enhance his gank potential, just like NS. Your definition of initiator is fundamentally flawed; vengeful spirit is an excellent initiator that has no cc. The point you are making though is exactly why BS needs to be an early-mid game ganking machine; his contributions to teamfights post-mid game is only right click.

Unfortunately you are completely wrong about Bloodseeker needing passive regen, it is definitively bad on him in lieu of Bloodbath. You are correct however that he does have slight mana problems, which are fixed by an Urn as stated in the guide.

360 pure is a good deal of damage, but is characteristic of how FS doesn't maximize your gold, timings, or early game potential. An urn can give you an 150 damage nuke as early as 8 minutes into the game and help you from ever having to go back to the fountain.

[Deontology]

There is plenty reason to get force staff. Bloodseeker has mana problems so the int helps to solve that. Regen is good on any hero. Buying this cheap item to use as an escape is already good enough reason, but not only does it provide you with an escape it also gives you a solid nuke. At level 3 rupture, a rupture push would do 360 PURE damage, which is among the highest nukes in the game. You don't only need escapes in lane. A lot of the time you run from a fight and I can't tell you how many times force staff has saved me from places i should have died. Also, you can pick off squishy supports that are in a group, without even going in, by rupturing and forcing them from out of reach.

Purge doesn't know everything, he is still learning. He's been wrong before and he is wrong about this.

[Deontology]

Nightstalker has an escape. He has guaranteed movespeed at night and if the gank is during the day all he has to do is use his ult and run away.

An initiator has crowd control. Take puck for example, he can tether a ton of people to one position, silence them all and then get out. Spirit breaker can charge through the whole team and stun them all. Tidehunter can blink in and stun the entire team. What can Bloodseeker do, rupture one person in a teamfight and have them stand still? That's not an initiation.

[Kestrel]

I guess by your same logic then we should get a force staff on nightstalker just in case you get ganked midlane and because he's a horrible initiator (he's not).

I agree with your logic for some heroes like Silencer but there is no reason to spend 2250 on an item that gives 10 int, health regen, and that by the time you get it you won't be sitting in lane anyway.

This is a video that shows the only lineup where it's appropriate to buy a FS. Take it from Purge himself: don't buy this item for 99% of your games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNIRzFfMp-U&list=UUZsM8MOy0VC9blj_wBkbo-g

[Deontology]

I have over 300 games with Bloodseeker. In any serious game, you are probably going to need a force staff if you go mid. The damage you can do when combining the active with rupture is a bonus, what you mainly need it for is as an escape. Bloodseeker is not an initiator, he is horrible at initiating (unlike heroes such as SB) and as a melee hero with no escape, you ARE going to get ganked hardcore in any serious game and you won't be able to predict it because it will be from roamers who are always missing and who smoked over to you.