Techies

Squee, Spleen, and Spoon, the Techies, are a trio of ranged Intelligence heroes, known for laying deadly traps around the field with a wide array of mines.

Having little direct combat ability, the Techies have an unorthodox, if effective, method of dealing damage to the enemy team in the form of powerful laid explosive mines and stasis traps that enable other heroes to set up a gank or retreat. Their mines, set across key points of the map -and even less conventional locations- are an effective method of denying area and guaranteeing damage if enemies dare to initiate.

They have an even more bizarre ability in the form of their Suicide Squad, Attack! which causes them to violently explode and die but deal massive damage (at early - mid game) in a moderate area of effect.

The unique mechanics of the mines mean that the Techies utilise mechanics not used by any other hero, including preemptive mine concaves and such strong area denial that they actively play a large role in securing the area controlled by friendly heroes.

The Techies have statistics aligned to those of semi-carries, but play a largely passive, defensive role throughout the game. Since their Remote Mines have a large sight range and last longer, they can act as substitute Observer Wards, allowing the rest of the team to save money.

Tips

 * Techies is the most unorthodox hero in the game, as their team contribution comes mainly from placing traps outside of combat rather than engaging enemies in fights. Playing Techies well requires good map awareness and game sense in order to know when and where to place traps.
 * Due to their skill set, Techies is best played as a roamer or off-laner in the laning stage. The high nuke damage provided by their traps allows them to get early kills with well-placed Land Mines. These traps can make life hard on the enemy's supports if they try to zone you out as an off-laner or rotate for ganks, and can be used to get kills on the enemy mid if they attempt to get runes.
 * Planting mines on top of each other can increase the amount of focused damage they deal, and confuse the enemy by preventing them from easily seeing how many mines have been placed in a spot. To do this, select both Techies and the mine to be stacked on, and then target place your next mine on the portrait. This will cause Techies to set the next mine in the exact spot that the existing mine is.
 * In general, it is best to place your mines in areas where the fog of war prevents them from being spotted until it is too late. Examples of this include at the top of stairs that transition from low to high ground, inside of trees and juke paths in the jungle, and inside of Roshan's pit.
 * Keep track of your enemy inventory to see if they have a . If you see one, alert your allies and try to retrieve it as soon as possible.
 * is a strong basic trap that triggers when an enemy walks near it, dealing Physical damage. Up to twenty mines can exist at once.
 * The general rule of thumb is that three Land Mines at level 1 is enough to get a kill in the early game. When laying traps in the laning stage, dropping three in one spot that you expect an enemy to traverse will usually end up netting a kill.
 * Land Mines can block neutral camps from spawning, and last indefinitely. If you can place one or two Land Mines in the enemy pull camp, you can prevent them from pulling and force them to buy detection.
 * Beyond the laning stage, be sure to gauge how many mines to place depending on how much HP and armor the enemy have, as well as how many levels you have in the ability. In general, Land Mines should be maxed out first, as they are your bread-and-butter trap ability until you get beyond level 11 and purchase an Aghanim's Scepter.
 * One useful aspect of Land Mines is that they can damage siege creeps, as well as structures. When pushing, you can drop Land Mines at the base of enemy towers to deal tremendous amounts of damage; this can force the enemy to use their Glyph of Fortification, and you can further cause them to waste it by feinting and planting a Stasis Trap instead of a Land Mine, saving it until after the Glyph is finished.
 * Beware when facing enemy heroes who can create illusions or cheap summoned minions on demand, as they can use these units to scout ahead and trigger any Land Mine clusters you have placed.
 * Land Mines will still trigger if an invisible enemy walks over them. This means that it is possible to kill invisible enemy heroes who walk over them, and even get multi-kills if a group of enemies under the cover of stumble over one of your clusters. It can be worthwhile to place your traps accordingly if you expect such situations to arise.
 * is an unorthodox trap that can stun multiple enemies for up to 4 seconds.
 * Stasis Traps are not very useful in the laning stage, but one early level can allow you to place traps more creatively. Placing them in juke spots or incoming gank paths can allow you to turn the tables on enemies when they least expect it.
 * Remember that a Stasis Trap going off will also disable any other Stasis Traps within its radius. Be sure to separate your Stasis Traps accordingly so that you don't end up wasting them. As well, be sure to avoid placing them along creep paths in order to ensure that only heroes will set them off.
 * Stasis Traps affect Roshan. When killing Roshan for the Aegis, placing a Stasis Trap within the pit can stun him for a very long duration.
 * Always be sure to place Stasis Traps behind your team when pushing. This ensures that if the enemy attempts to chase or initiate, they will be met with a 4 second stun. This allows you to turn chases around, as well as ensure that your team disengages safely.
 * Like Land Mines, Stasis Traps will block neutral camps from spawning. Use this to your advantage when raiding the enemy jungle.
 * is one of the most bizarre abilities in the game, allowing Techies to instantly commit suicide (denying themselves in the process) while dealing tremendous Physical damage in an area around them.
 * In general, this spell should be leveled as much as possible, as it is most useful in the early game before enemies get enough armor to resist its damage. Getting within melee range of an enemy allows Techies to get a kill while halving their respawn time.
 * Using Suicide Squad offensively is what allows Techies to be a strong off-laner. If any of the enemy supports or their carry gets too low, then Techies can kill them and then respawn faster than them, returning to lane with a gold and experience advantage. However, make sure that your suicide will net a kill, as its cooldown is very long.
 * Suicide Squad can be utilized past the laning stage to get kills or deal strong nuke damage to the enemy, or to deny yourself in order to prevent the enemy from profiting from your death. Techies has little direct teamfight contribution otherwise, as time outside of teamfights should be spent placing traps.
 * are Techies' most powerful nuking spell, allowing them to kill virtually any hero in the game given enough time to plant the required number of mines.
 * Unlike Land Mines, Remote Mines cannot be automatically triggered by enemy units walking within range. This allows Techies to place them in the middle of lanes and in high-traffic areas, activating them only when a kill is assured. Be creative with when and where you place your traps, as Remote Mines give you more control over when and where you can deal your damage.
 * Land Mines provide a small vision around them, so they can be used as pseudo-wards to give your team map vision.
 * While Land Mines eventually lose some of their potency due to their placement limit and dealing physical damage, Remote Mines have no placement limit and deal magical damage, which can only be reduced by magic resistance items and a select few hero abilities. This, allows Remote Mines to remain useful throughout any match.
 * , combined with Aghanim's Scepter, allows Techies to place mines that are not revealed by True Sight.
 * Remember that you must move exactly to the spot where you wish to place the sign, and that its effect radius is only 125. This means that you must effectively place your mines right on top of the sign in order to shield them from detection.
 * The long cooldown on the sign means that you must make the most of each placement, as placing the sign will mean that it will be unavailable for placement again for another 6 minutes.
 * Minefield Sign can be used to play tricks on your opponents. When using it to defend your base, you can place it in a covering area but spend your time placing traps in other lanes. Enemies who know that you have Aghanim's Scepter will be discouraged from attacking down a lane, when in fact there are no traps there.
 * Techies has a wide array of items they can build, depending on their farm priority.
 * s are a useful regular purchase on Techies, not only for de-warding enemy Observer Wards but also for destroying their Sentry Wards. Eliminating their Sentries from play can allow you to place traps in areas that they once considered safe, and forces the supports to buy more Sentry Wards, slowing their item progression considerably.
 * One or two s can be a useful purchase in the early game, as it increases Techies' attack damage and mana pool, allowing more placement of mines in the laning stage and utilization of physical attacks to harass the enemy carry. Combined with Soul Ring, they can be dropped to get more mana out of its active.
 * can be useful to purchase on a roaming Techies, as they will often pass by runes on their way to set up traps. This allows them to replenish their mana and set traps over extended periods of time.
 * are a very strong purchase on Techies, as it gives them additional mana replenishment on top of Soul Ring. Like Null Talisman, it can be dropped prior to using Soul Ring's active in order to restore more mana.
 * is a strong utility item, as it allows Techies to cloak themselves when traversing areas with possible ward coverage. As well, it can be used to help teammates initiate or can drastically increase an ally's magic resistance for a short period of time.
 * is a situational item, but can drastically improve Techies' mobility. It can be used to jump on top of enemies with Suicide Squad, place mines inside of treelines to block neutral camps in the enemy jungle, quickly get within range to use Force Staff on an enemy who is destroying your mines, and so on.
 * is largely situational, but has strong utility if used properly. The item itself grants tremendous scaling mana regen, allowing Techies to passively regain mana while placing mines in enemy territory. The active can be used not only to reset the cooldown on Suicide Squad, but also on Minefield Sign, reducing its downtime from 180 seconds to 15.

Trivia

 * Before their release, Techies were showcased at the All-Star match of The International 2014, used by Artour "Arteezy" Babaev. He originally picked, but right before the picking phase ended, his pick got replaced by , fireworks were launched in the arena, Techies' portrait was shown on all screens and this Techies super explosion.mp3 sound effect played.
 * Techies' lines tech rival 11.mp3 "They're going to have to glue you back together! Yeah, in Hell!" and tech lose 06.mp3 "We're a sorry buncha losers. You said it" are references to similar lines lines spoken by the Demoman from Team Fortress 2 (as heard here and here).
 * The flavor text of "Kablooey!" is a direct reference to the line "Kabloeey!" spoken by the Demoman from Team Fortress 2.
 * Many of their lines also reference Counter-Strike, such as tech lose 03.mp3 "Counter-Techies Win", Tech remotemines 01.mp3 "Bomb has been planted" or tech failure 02.mp3 "Bomb has been defused. Darn!".
 * Techies' attack line tech attack 09.mp3 "See! Fore!" is a pun on the plastic explosive C4.
 * The line tech rare 05.mp3 "Who said we couldn't count to three, huh?" is a reference to a joke about the fact that Valve has not released a single game with the number three in the title (Half-Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3, Portal 3 etc.).
 * The line tech lasthit 02.mp3 "Continue testing." is a reference to GLaDOS, a character of Valve's Portal series.
 * The line tech items 15.mp3 "Claymore! But not that kind of claymore" is a reference to a Claymore mine used by the U.S. military.
 * The gag about Spoon being hidden in a barrel without the other two knowing is a reference to DotA, where only some time after Techies were released did people realize that there were actually three of them instead of two; the third one's feet could barely be seen under the barrel behind the other two (Techies used to be named "Squee and Spleen" and eventually became "Squee, Spleen and Spoon").
 * The name "Spoon" may be a reference to a scene from the movie Matrix where a boy bends a spoon with his mind and then says to Neo "Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realise the thruth", followed by Neo asking: "What truth?" and the boy answering it with "There is no spoon. Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."
 * Squee and Spleen think that Spoon died to the explosion in their workshop, so they thought "there is no Spoon" anymore and the voice is only in their heads Tech rare 02.mp3.
 * The names of the original two Techies most likely came from Magic the Gathering. Squee is a legendary goblin from Magic the Gathering lore, while Spleen was probably named after the flavor text on the Goblin Soothsayer card ("I see a great victory and rivers of blood. And . . . hmm, looks like a spleen.")
 * There is a hidden trollface in the Remote Mines icon.
 * According to Techies' in-game lip synching, Squee is the one sitting on the cart with the rocket launcher and the cigar. He has the deep voice and Spleen is the big one pushing the cart, with the high voice.
 * Squee's design may be a reference to the soldier from Team Fortress 2, as his eyes are covered by a helmet, and he wields what appears to be a rocket launcher.
 * may be a reference to this scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian.