Windranger/Guide

Tips & Tactics

 * In general, Windranger should focus on either maximizing her potential in disabling enemies, or increasing her raw damage and upgrading her ultimate for physical DPS; it is not feasible to aim for both. The former may be done as a support or core, however the latter is only feasible if Windranger is given farm priority.
 * Played as an off-laner, it is recommended to get Windrun as your first skill in order to give yourself survivability against the enemy's supports. You have decent last-hitting capability due to being a ranged hero with a low base attack time, and your escape skill can save you from ganks if used properly. Once you have enough levels, you can use Powershot to get last-hits from a safe range and to harass down the enemy heroes enough to give yourself a chance at a kill.
 * As a mid, Windranger should purchase an early for more last-hitting power, and save up for a Bottle to give her mana for her spells. Survivability is less of an issue as the enemy's supports will have to rotate in order to gank you, so priority should be given to beating the enemy's mid and leveling up your nukes and disables so that you have a chance to get a kill.
 * As a safe-lane support, Windranger can focus on harassing down the enemy's off-laner using her ranged attacks, and landing full-duration Shackleshots during ganks. Priority here is given to protecting the safe-lane carry and shutting down the enemy off-laner, so nukes and disables take priority.


 * Shackleshot is potentially a very powerful stun depending on how well it is used. Aimed properly, it is possible to stun two enemy heroes for almost four seconds, giving your team a major opportunity to capitalize on.
 * Positioning is very important when casting Shackleshot, both on yourself and the enemy. Even if shackling two enemy heroes together is not possible in a fight, tying one enemy hero to a tree or nearby creep still gives you a very long-duration disable. Always keep an eye out for possible latch targets, as Windranger has entire treelines to use when fights occur in either jungle.
 * Shackleshot is very powerful when used in conjunction with any other leading disable. As smart enemies will deliberately attempt to avoid lining themselves up with creeps or trees to allow themselves to be shackled for the full duration, stopping them in their tracks first will give you much more time to re-position yourself around them and cast Shackleshot from an angle of your choosing.
 * One important facet to keep in mind about Shackleshot is that you do not have to directly cast it on your target in order to disable them. If there are nearby enemy creeps, you can line up Shackleshot on them, and attempt to latch the enemy player as the spell's secondary target. This can be a very useful tactic if the enemy is deliberately attempting to avoid putting themselves between yourself and the treeline or nearby creeps.
 * In concert to the above, Shackleshot is capable of latching enemies through Linken's Sphere in this way. By targeting the enemy player as the secondary target of Shackleshot, it is possible to stun them for the full duration regardless of their Linken's Sphere. You can then break the Linken's at your leisure during the stun duration using an expendable targeted ability such as Force Staff.
 * While Shackleshot's mini-stun is very weak, don't forget that it is a mini-stun regardless. This makes it useful if you need a fast interrupting disable against enemies with powerful channeling spells such as, , and so on.
 * If there is no tree, secondary Hero or creeps near a Shackleshot target, you can still stun them long enough by using Shackleshot, then quickly use Blink Dagger and place Ironwood Branch behind them.


 * Powershot is a potent damage nuke with an extremely long range. It is generally recommended to max it out first, as its long reach allows you to harass, last-hit, scout and kill from surprising ranges.
 * Powershot's long range and nuking power makes it ideal for sniping fleeing enemy heroes, as well as hitting invisible enemies that you know the approximate location of. As well, keep in mind that you can hit multiple enemies with it at once, so it pays to line up your shots.
 * Remember that Powershot grants vision over the arrow's travel path. Use this to your advantage to scout out areas ahead of moving in, such as checking if enemies are waiting behind a certain treeline to gank or if the enemy team is killing Roshan.
 * Keep in mind, Powershot's long range allows Windranger to hit multiple jungle camps with a single cast if she lines it up properly. This allows her to farm surprisingly quickly in the jungle, or even use Powershot to draw aggro and stack more than one neutral camp at once.


 * Windrun is a very flexible spell as it provides Windranger with both movement speed and evasion, allowing it to be used both defensively and offensively. If you expect to encounter ganks from the enemy team, one early level is usually wise.
 * While the primary use for Windrun is as an escape spell against enemy ganks, it also has uses as an offensive spell. Used aggressively, Windrun allows you to chase down enemies and slow and body-block them for teammates to catch up, and ignore their physical attacks if they try to trade right-clicks with you. The bonus movement speed also allows easier positioning for Shackleshot and Powershot, but mind the mana cost and cooldowns so that you don't get caught short.
 * If you are getting ganked and cannot outrun the enemy with Windrun, consider activating it once the enemy's disables have been used and then channeling a Town Portal Scroll for escape. The enemy will be unable to hit you with physical attacks, preventing them from killing you as you teleport.
 * In a similar vein, Windrun combined with Healing Salve will prevent autoattacks from cancelling the salve for its duration, potentially allowing you to survive a tough situation early in lane.
 * Depending on how much of a threat you are posing to the enemy team, they may buy a Monkey King Bar to counter you. The True Strike allows foes to ignore the evasion from Windrun, so be aware of that possibility if you are relying on Windrun to evade enemy attacks in teamfights.


 * Focus Fire is a very potent spell that allows Windranger's physical damage to scale. It is useful to get at least one early level no matter what role she is played in.
 * An early level of Focus Fire allows Windranger to deal tremendous damage to towers if left alone, as even with a 50% reduction in damage output it can triple her overall damage output due to the attack speed alone. If possible, try to bait out the enemy's Glyph of Fortification prior to casting Focus Fire on their tower, so that they cannot reduce the amount of damage your ultimate does to it.
 * Unless you are building a DPS-focused Windranger, it is not recommended to target the enemy's main carry with Focus Fire at the start of a teamfight, as it is not guaranteed that you will be able to do so for the full duration of the spell. While you can use the spell to whittle down lone targets during ganks, it is most profitably used against enemy towers if you cannot guarantee that it will do enough damage to the enemy's carry in teamfights.
 * Due to the amount of raw attack speed that Windranger gets from her ultimate, it may be wise to build attack modifiers with stable proc chances, so that you can proc them multiple times over the course of the ultimate. For instance, a Maelstrom has a 25% chance to proc on each attack and thus can deal a significant amount of magical damage in a short period of time, however a Skull Basher will go into cooldown for two seconds once it procs, preventing you from stun-locking a foe.
 * If building Windranger for a DPS role, an is more or less mandatory, as it will remove the damage penalty on her attacks and reduce the cooldown such that she can have Focus Fire active constantly.

Items
Starting items: Early game: Core items:
 * Consumables are essential early game due to Windranger's low health and the low cooldown of her spells. As such, one each of and  are basic requirements, while a  or two are very helpful in giving her mana to cast her spells.
 * Grabbing a provides Windranger with a larger mana pool and some more base damage, and can be upgraded to a Null Talisman. Filling the remainder of your inventory with es serves to give you a small amount of stats for cheap, and they can be used to build a  later as needed.
 * are essential on any hero during the laning stage. In Windranger's case, having early boots as an off-laner greatly increases survivability as it enables her to evade ganks more easily, and increases the bonus movement speed gained from as well.
 * gives Windranger useful stats for a cheap price. The intelligence gives her more base damage and a larger mana pool, while the strength gives her some survivability. The Null Talisman should be sold later on for more inventory slots, as it does not build into any useful items for Windranger.
 * gives Windranger more armor, some damage and a measure of mana regen, all of which help her survive as an off-laner. However, it should either be disassembled or sold once the laning phase ends, as Windranger can get more mana regen from the Sage's Mask alone later on due to being an intelligence hero, and Ring of Basilius does not build into any useful items.
 * are very powerful on Windranger, as she can take advantage of the extra damage more than additional attack speed due to her low base attack time and her ultimate . As well, the active greatly helps Windranger with positioning, essential for landing and.
 * is very effective and versatile for positioning a Shackleshot, allowing you to force a unit in front of a tree, force a creep/unit in front of another unit, or force yourself into position. The additional intelligence gives her more mana and base damage as well, and in emergencies it can be used to displace yourself during escapes.
 * should be carried on all heroes. Windranger's ability to disable and nuke down enemies should never be underestimated in teamfights or ganks.
 * is extremely powerful on Windranger, as it allows her to instantly re-position for her spells, especially Shackleshot. It is a powerful item to buy for initiating for your disables, or for being more evasive. May not give the extra stats provided by Force Staff but allows for faster, further, and Windrun can be activated to avoid physical damage, thus providing more opportunities to blink away from unfavorable situations.
 * gives Windranger stats across the board, and greatly improves Windranger's damage output using Focus Fire. As well, the cooldown reduction allows her to cast Focus Fire at will, vastly increasing her damage output and target flexibility.

Situational items:
 * gives Windranger additional damage output, as well as an armor reduction debuff that can be applied to buildings as well as heroes. As Windranger is a ranged hero, she can simply "tag" multiple enemies with the debuff prior to focusing on a single target, though it is recommended to purchase Aghanim's Scepter as well in order to maximize your physical DPS.
 * can be very powerful on a support Windranger, as it gives her stats and armor, increasing her survivability and allowing her to heal her team during teamfights.
 * is very powerful on Windranger, no matter how she is played. The extra intelligence and mana regen greatly increase her base damage and ability to cast spells, and the additional strength and agility shore up her HP and armor, granting her much more survivability. The hex can be used to instantly hard-disable the enemy's carry in a fight, and serves as a potent complement to Shackleshot.
 * can greatly increase Windranger's physical damage output, as she will get both more mana and base damage from the extra intelligence, and the attack speed greatly complements her low base attack time. The silence adds yet another disable to Windranger's repertoire, allowing her to lock down enemies who rely on escape spells to survive. Later can be upgraded to a.
 * greatly increases Windranger's survivability as well as her damage output and mana pool. While the slow is not a hard disable, it has a very long cast range and can hold a target down so that Shackleshot may be cast from an angle of Windranger's choosing.
 * greatly augments Windranger's survivability against physical damage, and gives her more damage output and mana as well. The active blast can be used when chasing down an enemy with Windrun, slowing them down long enough for teammates to catch up and for Windranger to stun them with Shackleshot.
 * gives Windranger stats across the board and powerful mana regen. Its spellblock helps to make Windranger much more slippery when evading enemy ganks, or gives her a larger window of opportunity to cast her disables in a teamfight without being disabled herself.
 * is a good cheap utility item if the aim is not to build raw damage items to fuel Focus Fire. The increased base movement speed greatly augments Windranger's mobility in combination with Phase Boots or Windrun, and the extra intelligence and mana regen give her much more utility with her spells. The active can be used to stop an enemy in their tracks and position yourself for landing a full-duration Shackleshot, or for generally disabling enemies or giving yourself temporary invulnerability (while removing debuffs from yourself) during fights.
 * greatly increases Windranger's damage output, and synergizes well with Focus Fire. The Mini-Bash can proc multiple times during the course of her ultimate, and the True Strike allows her to ignore any evasion or blind that the enemy may have.
 * If playing as a support, be sure to buy the standard support items. This means upgrading to the, as well as regularly purchasing s and s.
 * As a mid or off-laner, a is generally recommended. A mid Windranger can take advantage of the regen and runes when rotating to the side lanes for kills, while an off-laning Windranger can use the runes as a source of regen to lend her more survivability.
 * can be a good alternative to purchase over Null Talisman, depending on the requirements. While Null Talisman provides more intelligence and thus damage, a Bracer can shore up Windranger's low base strength, giving her survivability in the early game. It also builds into a, which gives her stats across the board as well as additional mobility and attack speed, both of which are important on Windranger.
 * can be a useful utility item to augment Focus Fire's effectiveness even if you are not building a physical DPS Windranger. The armor gives you more survivability while the mana helps with casting your spells, and the active allows you to deal large amounts of damage to enemies even without a lot of damage items. As well, the active can be used on allies to give them armor, and can be used to make Roshan easier to kill.
 * is a good attack modifier item to build on Windranger, as it increases her damage and attack speed alongside the Chain Lightning modifier. It allows Windranger to clear creep waves and jungle camps quickly when combined with Powershot, and can be combined with Focus Fire to inflict large amounts of magic damage to the enemy team. Upgrading it to can give you a more powerful Chain Lightning, additional attack speed that gives you DPS without the need for your ultimate, and an active shield that can discourage enemies from attacking you or a chosen ally for fear of taking even more magic damage.
 * is a good defensive item to build on a DPS Windranger, as you can be sure that the enemy will attempt to disable and focus you down to prevent you from dishing out too much damage in a teamfight. Preventing yourself from being disabled will allow you to take full advantage of Focus Fire during a teamfight, especially as it can be combined with Windrun to give yourself immunity to disables as well as physical attacks.
 * can be a useful utility item to build both as a disable-heavy and physical DPS Windranger, particularly as it is not a Unique Attack Modifier. The mana burn can add a measure of damage to Windranger's attacks, especially combined with Focus Fire, and can be useful for depleting the mana from heroes with small mana pools such as, , and so on, so that they do not have the mana to cast their spells. Additionally, the active purge is powerful in any situation in removing debuffs from yourself and allies or buffs from enemies, and slows enemy targets down long enough to position yourself for a full-duration Shackleshot.
 * is very powerful in the hands of a farmed DPS Windranger, as combined with Focus Fire and enough damage it can eviscerate most enemy heroes in seconds.