Elder Titan

The Elder Titan is a durable melee strength hero who plays the role of initiator. His Astral Spirit and Echo Stomp abilities allow him to disable large groups of enemies from afar, making him one of the few initiators that does not require a Blink Dagger. This combination creates a perfect setup for his powerful ultimate Earth Splitter, which damages enemies based on their maximum HP. This, along with his ability to lower his enemies' physical and magical resistance, makes Elder Titan scale well through his abilities and be effective at all stages of the game. As the progenitor of this world, Elder Titan reshapes the battlefield on a whim and can turn any teamfight in his favor.

Recommended items
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 * explanation = * A Tango and a Salve are taken to counteract any harassment faced in lane. Two Gauntlets of Strength to increase health pool and damage, as well as building into Urn of Shadows and Iron Branch give more comprehensive stat bonuses and built into Magic Wand
 * Magic Stick gives reliable means of counteracting ability-based harassment and builds into Magic Wand. Urn of Shadows provides mana regeneration to make sure Elder Titan can use his abilities more regularly and reliably as well as providing a heal for after fights and ganks.
 * Power Treads are taken to improve durability and attack speed, as Elder Titan already has moderate attack damage. Magic Wand is a useful upgrade of Magic Stick and Hood of Defiance is taken in accordance with his role as a tank, providing spell resistance needed to outlast enemy nukers.
 * Pipe of Insight is very useful teamfight item which Elder Titan can easily get following Hood of Defiance. Assault Cuirass provides an aura that synergizes well with his Natural Order ability and is useful to team mates. Shiva's Guard helps to keep enemies in the Earth Splitters or Echo Stomps AoE as well as improving durability further. Blade Mail is useful if Elder Titan is the main initiator/tank and will subsequently take the first wave of damage from the enemy, allowing him to cripple more fragile heroes. Drum of Endurance is another useful aura for the Elder Titan to provide his allies with, as well as providing useful stat bonuses. Scythe of Vyse provides a more reliable disable for him as well as mana and mana regeneration which is useful for maintaining a presence in team fights.

Unmentioned Items
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 * Refresher Orb is an item which theoretically can allow you to deal 2*35% of the entire enemy team's HP in a team fight by casting Earth Splitter twice in succession, severely crippling them within moments, of course this set up will need careful coordination to be successfully executed Echo Stomp.
 * Another item is Arcane Boots. Elder Titan's early game damage is moderate at best, with this item you will be able to not only harass enemies using Astral Spirit you can also augment your own damage and movement speed repeatedly for both last hitting and chasing down enemy heroes if the chance comes. This item will also allow you to have enough mana left after an early game team fight to cast your skills a few more times whilst without it early game Elder Titan is usually left completely drained of mana after executing his combo.

Tips

 * Depending on your team composition and level of play, Elder Titan's skills have differing priorities to max. Level Echo Stomp to increase the sleep's duration, making it easier for Elder Titan and his team to set up their own area-of-effect spells without disturbance. Astral Spirit provides the highest overall damage increase. Maxing Natural Order early massively increases its effectiveness, as enemy heroes will have little to no bonus defenses and will thus be taking almost full damage.
 * Astral Spirit spawns at a target location up to a distance of 1200 away from Elder Titan and can then be moved further away from there. Elder Titan can use this to initiate by casting Astral Spirit in the middle of an enemy team followed immediately by Echo Stomp; if the enemy team was unaware of Elder Titan's location beforehand they usually won't have time to react before Echo Stomp's cast time is finished. If Echo Stomp's level is high enough the enemies should be stunned for the entire 3 seconds it takes for Earth Splitter to form and activate, assuming they don't take any damage that breaks the stun.
 * Astral Spirit is an effective harassing and pushing tool throughout the early game that can be used without putting Elder Titan in danger.
 * Be careful, though: it costs 110 mana per use. This mana cost can be remedied if your lane partner or you build an Arcane Boots.
 * Although unmentioned, a Refresher Orb is a fairly good choice for the Elder Titan; two casts of Earth Splitter will both severely damage the enemy and slow them for an extended duration, if both hit. Be aware that you need items to augment your mana pool, though.
 * Elder Titan can excel even with just one or two core items. Eul's Scepter of Divinity, for example, solves his mana problems while giving a reliable disable to set up an Echo Stomp or Earth Splitter.
 * Due to his tankiness, Elder Titan can carry auras effectively. Items like Ring of Basilius, Drum of Endurance, Mekansm, Pipe of Insight, Vladmir's Offering and Assault Cuirass can help the whole team, as long as Elder Titan stays alive and close to his allies.
 * Power Treads will make you able to land more hits after the Spirit returns, and switching to Intelligence can help with the low mana pool; Phase Boots pair well with the movement speed bonus granted by the Astral Spirit; Arcane Boots give much more mana to spam spells; later in the game, Boots of Travel can be used to counter-push or counter-gank.
 * While The Elder Titan makes a great initiator he is also great at breaking enemy team initiations. If you can react fast enough and use a long range Echo Stomp through your spirit the moment your allies get initiated on you will open the way for your allies to reorganize and re-position to follow up on your Earth Splitter.
 * In later stages of the game when your team sieges and pushes towers Astral Spirit makes a magnificent tool in scouting ahead to check enemy positions without putting anyone on your team in danger. To better control your spirit you can actually assign it to a group so you can immediately select it whenever it is available.
 * Remember that the sleep from Echo Stomp is not a stun and enemy units will immediately wake up if they take any sort of hero damage. If an allied Elder Titan is preparing to initiate make sure you do not attack the enemy until his Earth Splitter activates and maims the enemy team.
 * Early game in certain cases you can use the mechanics of Echo Stomp to your advantage. Consider the fact that only player based damage awakens sleeping units if you perhaps can knockout an enemy in the range of your tower for example you can do considerable damage.

Trivia

 * Elder Titan was known as Tauren Chieftain in DotA. The name change was likely done to avoid copyright issues with Blizzard, since the Tauren is an existing race in the Warcraft universe.
 * Elder Titan is voiced by Jim French, a prominent voice actor and radio personality; he is best known for voice-acting Bill in the Left 4 Dead series and Father Grigori in Half Life 2, two titles also made by Valve.