So basically, here's how to play Tidehunter

This guide covers the basics of how to play the big underwater watermellon. It goes over the abilities, the item builds and general playstyle.

What is Tidehunter about?

Tidehunter is a big beefy strenght Hero who excels at skirmishes and teamfights. He is best in a support-ish role, since he relies on his team to deal the damage in a fight, while he offers utility and crowd control.

The Abilities

Tidehunter's first ability is Q-Gush

Tidehunter spits on a target enemy, dealing magic damage, slowing and reducing Armor for 4 seconds. This ability is rather good when chasing down or fighting enemies in general, but it isn't worth to put more than one point into it early on. Mostly because slow doesn't increase with levels, Armor reduction doesn't need to be higher since almost no heroes have more than their base armor in the early game and the damage will be increased by a talent anyway. I usually get it at level 3, or level 2 if me and my laning buddy can get an early kill. Aside from that, max it last.

Tidehunter's next ability is W-Kraken Shell

Kraken Shell passively decreases physical damage taken by Tidehunter and also if he takes a large amount of damage, all negative effcts such as stuns or damage over time effects, will be removed from him. This ability is great for tanking damage and making him annoyingly hard to kill. There isn't a lot to this ability but it has a lot of raw power. Therefore I put a point in it by level 2 or 3, and max it second.

Tidehunter's last basic ability is E-Anchor Smash

Tidehunter swings his Anchor, dealing physical damage to all enemies around him and decreasing their attack damage. This ability deals a stupid high amount of damage, and since it deals physical damage it has huge synergy with Gush, giving Tidehunter big early kill potential. I put a point into it level 1 and max it first.



Tidehunter's ultimate ability is R-Ravage

Tidehunter signature ability, Ravage is feared as it makes Tidehunter summon tentacles in a huge area around him, which knocks up and stuns all enemies hit and deals damage. It has a very long cooldown but when used in the right situation it can win an entire game. The correct situation is when your team is nearby, there is a lot of enemy heroes nearby, and you know your team can kill them. You should put a level into this ability whenever you can.

The Counters

Even thou Tidehunter is a pretty epic guy, and one of the best initiators in game, that doesn't mean he can be picked every single game. There are several heroes that can easily stomp Tidehunter, but also those that Tidehunter stomps himself. So let's start with the former:|

THE GUYS YOU DONT PICK TIDEHUNTER AGAINST

The biggest counters to Tidehunter are primarly people who bypass Kraken Shell's damage block, by dealing Magical or Pure damage. So people like Zeus, Necrophos, Outworld Devourer and Razor. Especially Outworld Devourer since if he's fast enough, he can use Astral Imprisonment on you right before you use Ravage, and also since you can't take damage during it, Kraken Shell cannot get rid of it.


Another big counter are heroes who deal a ton of bonus Physical damage, since it bypasses both of your damage reductions. In this section we have Bristleback, Shadow Fiend, Sniper, Underlord, Ursa and Huskkar. Also, in both sections there are people who just are out of range of Ravage, which also screws you up a lot.





THE GUYS YOU PICK TIDEHUNTER AGAINST

The kind of people who lose against Tidehunter, are melee heroes who rely on continuosly auto-attacking in order to kill enemies, who fail due to Kraken Shell and Anchor Smash damage reductions. Heroes like Wraith King, Chaos Knight, Slardar or Lycan.




Other heroes crushed by Tide are heroes with many units, similary to the previous category since it's also because their minions deal little damage, that gets decreased by Kraken Shell, but they also gets demolished by Ravage and Anchor Smash. Those heroes being Broodmother, Phantom Lancer, Beastmaster and Meepo.

The Talents

The talents, while rarely hero-defining, can be still very important for your odds in winning the match.

On level 10, you can choose between:
+100 Gush damage or +20 Movement Speed
Like I mentioned before, the Gush Damage talent is the one you want to get almost every time. With Gush slowing enemies, and Ravage stunning them, and not to even mention that you're guaranteed to get a Force Staff or a Blink Dagger every single match, there is no point in taking the bonus movement speed.

On level 15 you have to make the choice between:
+25% Anchor Smash Damage Reduction or +4 Mana Regen
Both are pretty good choices, overall really depends wheter you're playing offlane, or safelane support. As a support you will need more Mana for your item actives, making Mana Regen a better choice, while as an Offlaner you will be focusing more on fighting, at which point the additional damage reduction will be more helpful.

Once you reach level 20 you will choose between:
-5 Gush Armor or +30 Kraken Shell Damage Block
I pretty much every single time I go for the Kraken Shell talent, since additional Armor Reduction from Gush is just Overkill and isn't usually needed, especially that by level 20 you should had alredy Maxed Gush. Only take it if you're building around Aghs.

At level 25 your choice will be between:
+250 Damage or 25% Cooldown Reduction
At the point when you will get to level 25, you will either be winning the game, or losing the game. Depending on, in which scenario you're in should decide your talent choice. If you're winning, go for the Damage, since it helps take down towers and fight enemies in case they manage to get an advantage. Cooldown Reduction is better for when you're losing since it helps you cast Ravage more often and use your items more often which can swing a teamfight in your favor.

The Items

This section is gonna be hard, because as much as I'm suppose to be teaching you how to play Tidehunter, ultimately a lot of this is up to you. But we have to start with something, so I usually start with two Iron Branches, a Ring of Regen and a Healing Salve and two Enchanted Mangos. It cover's pretty much all in terms of health, mana and stats. Then you can build your Iron Branches into a Magic Wand, and your Ring of Regen into a Force Staff.
One item every Tidehunter needs is something that helps woth positioning, so that you can reliably get inside enemy team and hit everyone with a ravage. There are two items that fit that role: Blink Dagger and Force Staff. Blink Dagger has better range and is more surprising to the enemy, while Force Staff has a shorter range, actually gives stats and costs slightly less. It also can be used on allies, so as a support Tidehunter I prefer it, but if you're playing offlane, the range and surprise factor of Blink Dagger are most likely to outweight the pros of the former (If you're going to buy a Blink Dagger, I suggest to swap out Ring of Regen for a Clarity and Tangos).
After that you will need to buy a pair of boots, I personally go Arcane Boots since TIdehunter has some issues with Mana, and since you're almost always gonna have a teammate around it can be helpful to them. Other mid-game items I'd suggest are Mekansm for supporting, Echo Sabre as a greeaaat! damage item. Hood of Defiance is good against mages of all sorts, and can be upgraded into a Pipe of Insights for more stats.
And also Medallion of Courage can be very useful. It's active reduces enemy armor, so when stacking with Gush's armor reduction it becomes brutal. In the late game is where Tidehunter really becomes reliant on items. Kraken Shell is no longer enough to keep you alive, and Ravage starts being less effective. In that case I suggest Heart of Tarrasque for the ridicilous amount of Health and Health Regen it gives, Shiva's Guard since it almost completely shuts down all enemies reliant on auto-attacks and also Refresher Orb for allowing you to use it's active to refresh your abilities, allowing you to cast ravage twice in the same fight. As a finishing touch, you can upgrade your Mekansm and Arcane Boots into Guardian Greaves, which helps to sustain your team and gives you an additional slot for other items, and also if you bought Medalion of Courage you can upgrade it into Solar Crest for even more armor reduction and stats. (note: you can also use Medallion of Courage and Solar Crest to give your allies Armor).

The Gameplan

So the enemy picks are in your favor, your team doesn't have an initiator and you decided to whip out the Tidehunter. Everything seems perfect, until you realise you don't actually know what to do. But don't worry, that's why you're reading this guide after all. So let's get down to it.

STEP ONE: CONTESTING RUNE
You don't have any crazy abilities that help get the rune, like Meathook or Power Cogs, but with your level 1 Anchor Smash you are pretty good if the enemy starts a prolonged fight. Still, you have 50% chance of usually getting the rune, depending if your midlaner comes to help you, or if your lane buddy has one of those crazy rune-getting abilities.

STEP TWO: LANING
In lane, either in offlane or safelane you're propably are gonna suplement the other hero. You're generaly gonna be alongside someone with some crowd control and damage, so you come in with your crowd control, damage and also armor reduction. You are usually capable to kill the enemy heroes many times, but don't just assume that. Tidehunter isn't a lane winner, he just has a huge chance of doing that. There will be games where you won't stomp your lane, and in that case, you should propably just focus on farming your Blink Dagger/Force Staff. Still if you can get kills, then even as a Support it's okay for you to take kills. You need levels and items, sometimes even more than your lane buddy, but also don't take everything. You want for you and your lane buddy to come out of lane very equal, since (despite what I said) It's NOT THE RAVAGE THAT WINS GAMES, but your teammates that kill people, that got hit by the Ravage. Even as an offlane Tide, you aren't likely to replace them in that role.

STEP THREE: MID GAME
Assuming you did decentely during the laning phase, this is your strongest point in the game. You are tanky enough with Kraken Shell alone to easily shrug off most damage you'll take, and your teammates have enough damage to kill the entire enemy team after a good Ravage. Even if you have losr your name, then you are great at causing comebacks. With your mobility item and Ravage, and some cooperation and sprinkling of luck, you can easily cause teamfights in your favor, and swing the game around. But if you are alredy doing well, I'd suggest to try to end the game quickly, or get even more ahead, since...

STEP FOUR: LATE GAME
This is the worst moment for a Tidehunter. You're no longer un unkillable beast, unless you hard itemise around it, and a single, or even a double Ravage with Refresher Orb is no longer enough to win a teamfight. I am exaggerating a bit, If you have fed carries on your team then you're propably bound to win, but people with Black King Bars and just tanky heroes in general can survive your double Ravage, which decreases your chances of survival, which in turn makes it more difficult to destroy towers and eventually - The Ancient, after a won teamfight. While the level 25 talents help you seal the win, but still, be mindful of that.

The End

Soo, now you know everything about playing Tidehunter (not really, but this is about basics anyway) so now GO INTO THE GAME, AND GET SOME WINS!!!

Also if you lose while following my guide, remember NOT to report your teammates, since me and you, are simply human, and we both are bound to make mistakes. It's ok to fail, as long as you learn something from it, you are becoming a better version of yourself, and eventually... you might even become the best Dota player in the world :)