Tidehunter/Guide

Generic/Offlane Tidehunter
The skill build on an offlane Tidehunter mostly depends on how much harass you're taking and can deal back, and how soon can you/must you leave the lane for the jungle. So if you're against two or three ranged heroes, you might value over, since it's unlikely you'll get close enough to your enemies to hit them. Once you have two points in Kraken Shell, you can safely farm the jungle, but it'll be way quicker if you already have two or three points in Anchor Smash. If you are jungling, don't forget that is your best friend.

If you're against melee opponents, harass and trade hits with them after you've reduced they're damage with Anchor Smash. Be careful that not all opponents rely on right clicks to make a move on you (a good or  will bring you down), and be wary of debuffs you can't purge off with Kraken Shell ( comes to mind).

If you're winning your lane, you probably don't require an extra level in Kraken Shell and you can take an earlier point in to try for a kill (don't forget Gush increases Anchor Smash's damage). If it's going especially well, you might even want extra levels in Gush before maxing out Kraken Shell, but that's not the usual scenario.

Overall, your thought process for your skill build should go like this:
 * Do I have enough points in Kraken Shell to survive what I'm up against (either heroes or jungle creeps)?
 * If no, take another point in Kraken Shell.
 * If yes, take Anchor Smash.
 * Now that I have enough points in Kraken Shell to survive with ease, can I get a kill with Gush?
 * If an allied support is coming to help you, and/or you have Ravage ready, the answer could be yes.
 * If you have little chances to kill anybody, and you've already maxed Anchor Smash, you might as well ignore Gush and keep leveling Kraken Shell.

General

 * Because of his innate toughness and strong array of debuffs, Tidehunter generally benefits from building mobility items that aid him in initiating with his ultimate (particularly a Blink Dagger), as well as items that improve his ability to cast his spells. Tidehunter's poor intelligence means that he must increase the size of his mana pool if he is to sustain his ability to cast his disables and debuffs.
 * Tidehunter can be played as an initiator or a tank, or some combination in between.
 * Due to the immense disable potential of Ravage, getting a Blink Dagger allows Tidehunter to initiate fights by stunning the entire team for a long duration. After getting off a successful Ravage, he can follow up with Anchor Smash while the enemy is still disabled, reducing their ability to attack effectively, and then Gush to slow any stragglers, preventing them from easily escaping.
 * While he possesses strong initiating power with Ravage, Tidehunter can also discourage enemies from engaging by standing at the front lines and debilitating their ability to fight. Should the enemy choose to engage him, he can greatly reduce their base damage with Anchor Smash while also shrugging off their attacks and debuffs with Kraken Shell, and threaten them with a Ravage should they all jump on him.
 * Tidehunter's flexibility allows him to be played either as a safe-lane support or solo off-laner. His skill and item build differs drastically depending on which path is taken.
 * Played as a support, Tidehunter should focus on purchasing support items and harassing the enemy's off-laner. Generally he gets his Blink Dagger much later, if at all, due to not being given farm or experience priority. Anchor Smash can discourage the enemy from approaching lest they take damage and have their last-hitting power greatly reduced, and Gush can slow them for chain-disables and kills.
 * Played as an off-laner, Tidehunter should focus on surviving while also harassing the enemy's carry and supports. Kraken Shell allows Tidehunter to ignore the enemy's harass damage, while he can use Anchor Smash to harass the enemy down and prevent their carry from getting easy last-hits. Off-lane Tidehunter benefits greatly if the enemy's carry (and optionally supports as well) is also melee, as they must approach the creep wave to last-hit, making casting Anchor Smash much easier.


 * Gush is a single-target magic nuke that slows its target and reduces their armor on top of the damage.
 * Gush is a powerful early-game disable, as it slows the target's movement speed by 40% for 4 seconds. During ganks, this can often be enough to slow an enemy enough to catch them with additional disables. As such, no matter what lane Tidehunter is placed in, at least one early point in Gush is highly recommended.
 * Gush also reduces the target's armor, increasing their vulnerability to not only right-clicks but Anchor Smash as well, since it deals physical damage. Keep this in mind when casting Gush, as it can be used not only as a disable but as an armor debuff to help your carries deal more right-click damage.
 * When upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, Gush becomes an area-targeted spell that allows it to affect multiple enemies in an area rather than just a single enemy, as well as drastically reducing its cooldown to give it a 57% uptime.
 * The area-of-effect upgrade makes Gush extremely powerful for killing creep waves and neutral camps, particularly as the armor reduction softens them up for a follow-up Anchor Smash. This can allow Tidehunter to farm more easily on his down-time, and push lanes by himself.
 * With its wide area and long travel length, Gush can be used to slow enemies at a distance, allowing Tidehunter and his team to chase them down more easily. It also prevents enemies from evading the spell by juking through trees, as simply casting Gush in their general direction should most often hit them and inflict them with the slow and armor debuff. Used judiciously, it can even be used to put enemy Blink Daggers on cooldown from range prior to initiations.
 * An upgraded Gush can be a powerful spell to cast following a successful Ravage. Inflicting multiple enemies with the slow and armor debuff can greatly soften them up for teammates, and the greatly reduced cooldown allows Tidehunter to continuously use it to slow them down as they try to escape after a Ravage.
 * Be mindful that purchasing Aghanim's Scepter prevents enemies from blocking it with Linken's Sphere. While this also prevents the ability from being used to deliberately break Linken's Sphere ahead of a stronger single-target disable, Tidehunter can instead use it to land the slow on the enemy, increasing the window with which teammates have to land further disables.


 * Kraken Shell provides Tidehunter with damage block, as well as removing most debuffs from him once he takes a certain amount of damage.
 * Kraken Shell is a powerful form of damage block as it has a 100% proc chance. In the off-lane, it is recommended to get at least two early levels in the ability, as this equates to having a that also works 100% of the time against tower and creep attacks.
 * After taking enough player damage, Kraken Shell applies a strong dispel on Tidehunter. This includes not only many powerful debuffs, but stuns as well, drastically increasing Tidehunter's survivability. As such, even in the late game Kraken Shell is a very powerful ability as it prevents Tidehunter from being chain-disabled or permanently silenced, ensuring that he is always ready to cast his spells when needed.
 * Be mindful that not every debuff can be purged off. We think most commonly of or.
 * You're especially vulnerable to spells that affect a zone for some time, like or.
 * Kraken Shell's damage threshold decreases as it is leveled up. For this reason, building HP items on Tidehunter greatly increases its usefulness, as Tidehunter can reach the threshold multiple times the more HP he has.


 * Anchor Smash is an area physical damage nuke that inflicts enemies with an attack damage debuff.
 * Anchor Smash is a great way to clear creeps and farm for Tidehunter. Due to its low Mana cost, it can be used to harass enemies, especially melee heroes.
 * Anchor Smash's cooldown decreases as it is leveled, and matches the debuff duration at level 2 or higher. Used properly, Tidehunter can keep at least one enemy's attack damage permanently crippled so long as he remains within range of them.
 * Do not underestimate the 60% damage reduction from Anchor Smash at level 4. If you use it on a hero with powerful basic attacks, such as, their damage output gets severely reduced.
 * With enough levels in Anchor Smash and Kraken Shell, Tidehunter can farm ancient creeps fairly reliably, especially if they have been stacked by you or your teammates a few times. Anchor Smash deals physical area-of-effect damage that hits all the creeps simultaneously while also reducing their attack damage, and the damage block from Kraken Shell further reduces any damage that they are able to do, often to zero. This can be useful for giving Tidehunter levels and farm for items at any point in the game, whether it is to help him recover from a bad laning phase or to supplement his gold and experience gain.


 * Ravage is an area nuke that damages and stuns all enemies in an extremely wide radius.
 * Ravage is your most powerful teamfight ability, as its wide effect radius and long stun duration can completely stop the entire enemy team in their tracks. Use it to initiate or counter-initiate teamfights, but beware its extremely long cooldown, and do not be afraid to hold onto it if you do not think it can drastically benefit your team, even if it means your death.
 * Remember that while Ravage travels quickly, it does take a brief time to extend to its maximum range. Very alert opponents might be able to blink away or activate spell immunity before they are stunned, so be sure to blink in closer to those heroes to reduce their window of escape.
 * Should the enemy team have a, it is critically important to cast another one of your spells (generally Anchor Smash) after Ravage, as an ability so devastating could easily be the deciding factor in a teamfight should Rubick steal it.

Items
Starting items:
 * and are basic regen requirements no matter what lane Tidehunter is placed in. They give him HP sustain and ensure he cannot be forced out of the lane by enemy harass.
 * is useful for replenishing Tidehunter's small base mana pool, as does not cost a lot of mana and  is a powerful disable that is handy to have available at all times.
 * and are quite expensive, but can greatly improve Tidehunter's health pool and last-hitting power, both of which are very useful when playing in the off-lane. If playing as a safe-lane support though, such stats are not strictly needed and you should instead purchase support items such as the Animal Courier and Observer Wards, and cheaper stat items like Iron Branches.

Early game:
 * is useful for giving Tidehunter a measure of burst regen in emergency situations. A full-charge Magic Stick can give enough mana to cast one more spell in the early game.
 * are critical for purchasing on Tidehunter whether in the safe- or off-lane. In the off-lane, more movement speed may be required to evade gank attempts, and in the safe-lane it may be needed to quickly position yourself to cast Gush during a gank.
 * gives Tidehunter more stats, particularly Strength, increasing his tankiness.

Core items:
 * gives Tidehunter more stats, as well as increased charge capacity. Given his small mana pool, a Magic Wand serves all the same purposes as a Magic Stick and can be useful to keep at all times.
 * increases the size of Tidehunter's small mana pool, allowing him to cast his spells much more easily, and gives him the ability to replenish teammates' mana as well, an important duty for a support hero.
 * is possibly Tidehunter's most important core item, as it allows him to easily position himself to cast in a teamfight. It also allows him to chase enemies and cast Gush more easily, and can be used as an escape tool as well.
 * should always be carried, as Tidehunter's powerful disables can turn teamfights in his team's favor. As such, being able to show up to teamfights, ganks and counter-ganks at all times is very important.

Situational items:
 * is an expensive luxury item to farm, but can allow Tidehunter to stand in the middle of teamfights and absorb large amounts of damage, particularly due to.
 * is a highly situational aura item that can be useful for tanking and chasing. Its burn damage and induced miss chance can force the enemy to engage you in teamfights, using their spells on you instead of teammates, and it can be a useful chasing tool as it allows Tidehunter to damage enemies without stopping to cast spells, as well as prevent any Blink Daggers from coming off cooldown.
 * gives Tidehunter a much larger mana pool, allowing him to cast spells much more frequently, and the armor and aura give him even more survivability against physical damage. Its active ability can be used after a successful Ravage, slowing the enemy's movement speed after the long stun duration.
 * is a highly unorthodox aura item to build on Tidehunter. The bonus armor makes him much tankier, while the aura allows him to grant allies with increased armor and attack speed. The enemy armor reduction stacks alongside that of Gush, particularly when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, allowing Tidehunter to greatly reduce enemy armor.
 * is a powerful tank and aura item, as it greatly reduces the amount of damage Tidehunter takes from magic nukes, thus greatly increasing the power of Kraken Shell. Its active ability also shields teammates from magic damage.
 * can extend Ravage's duration by casting it twice, making it easier for allies to turn the tides of a teamfight. Make sure you have enough mana to pull it off, though.
 * is useful both as a stat and aura item, as it gives Tidehunter stats across the board, particularly Intelligence for his mana pool and movement speed for mobility. The aura, especially the active portion, can benefit your team when cast during a teamfight.
 * is an expensive purchase, but greatly increases Tidehunter's survivability and gives him much more teamfight contribution. The active allows Tidehunter to purge debuffs off of himself if the enemy simply place low-damage disables on him to avoid proccing Kraken Shell, and the HP and mana restore are tremendous boons for pushes and teamfights. As well, the aura can provide tremendous amounts of armor and HP regen to teammates who are low.
 * is a flexible initiation and utility item, as the invisibility and magical resistance can be used either to allow Tidehunter to initiate with Ravage without the need for Blink Dagger, or can save a teammate who is caught out of position and is being focused down by enemies. However, mind its mana cost, as the active costs more than most of Tidehunter's spells.
 * greatly improves the potency of Gush, allowing Tidehunter to inflict multiple enemies with the nuke and debuff at high frequency. It also increases his HP and mana, making him tankier and improving his ability to utilize Gush more frequently.


 * When played as a safe-lane support, it is important to purchase the and/or s for your team. Your free inventory space should be filled with es for cheap stats, and you should upgrade to the  when possible.
 * is a useful utility disable item that increases Tidehunter's ability to hunt down enemies. Combined with Gush, Tidehunter can lower a single enemy's movement speed by 54%, allowing teammates to easily get within range to land further disables.
 * is a highly flexible item that greatly enhances Tidehunter's survivability while also giving him a measure of mana regen. The increased armor can drastically increase Tidehunter's beefiness as he can shrug off physical damage even more effectively, and the active can either stack with Gush's armor reduction or grant bonus armor to an allied hero. These bonuses can be amplified further by upgrading the item into a
 * is a useful mobility item to purchase that also serves as utility for your team. The extra Intelligence helps with giving Tidehunter a bigger mana pool, and the active ability can be used to better position yourself or allies for casting spells. While not as powerful as Blink Dagger, it is easier to build should you be having trouble farming.
 * is a good mid-game item that gives Tidehunter many great benefits. The increased Intelligence and armor give Tidehunter more mana and survivability, especially if he is playing as a tank rather than initiator, and the active allows Tidehunter to take advantage of his massive health pool to discourage enemies from attacking him further.
 * is a low-cost utility item to help you initiate and contribute more to teamfights. Along with the large intelligence bonus and armor increasing your mana pool and tankiness, the item's active ability allows you to reduce the enemy's magic resistance prior to a Blink-Ravage combo, giving your team's casters an additional edge in teamfights.
 * is a useful utility item that can be purchased as a tank Tidehunter, and builds into Guardian Greaves. On top of giving him armor and more stats, the heal can greatly benefit your team as you are not likely to die before using it. On top of your general durability and ability to interrupt the enemy team's initiation with Ravage, you can further discourage the enemy from engaging you as you can simply heal yourself and your team at any point of the fight. However, mind its expensive mana cost, and be sure to increase the size of your mana pool first if you intend on building this.
 * is a useful chasing item that gives Tidehunter many benefits. The additional HP makes Tidehunter much beefier, while the intelligence gives him a much bigger mana pool. The active ability can be cast over long distances, allowing you to chase down fleeing enemies far more easily and apply Gush to them, slowing them even further.
 * gives Tidehunter a myriad of useful bonuses and a strong active ability. The armor and HP regen makes Tidehunter even tankier, while the mana regen keeps his mana pool topped up so that he can more readily cast his spells when needed. The active can purge debuffs, either from Tidehunter or an ally, and the Echo Shell punishes enemies to use targeted spells, especially frail casters with small HP pools.
 * is a strong support item that vastly improves Tidehunter's disabling potential. As he does not otherwise have a hard-disable outside of his ultimate, building Scythe of Vyse allows him to jump on enemies with Blink Dagger and instantly disable them on a regular basis. The item also improves his overall stats and greatly increases his ability to cast all of his spells due to the vast intelligence bonus and scaling mana regen.