Bounty Hunter/Guide

General

 * One small advantage that Bounty Hunter possesses over other heroes is that he has night vision instead of the standard 800. This makes Bounty Hunter a powerful night hunter, as he can spot targets at night who cannot see him, and cast Track on them from the Fog of War.
 * Check the enemy's inventory any time they appear on the map, and be aware of all enemy players' positions on the map. Knowing if the enemy may place Sentry Wards to give warning of your approach, as well as if they have Dust of Appearance or Gem of True Sight, can save your life as you can prevent yourself from walking into a trap. Additionally, knowing that certain enemies are on another part of the map will allow you to kill your target in the knowledge that their allies cannot reach them in time.
 * When playing Bounty Hunter, it is important to stay off the map as much as possible once the laning stage ends. Keep the enemy guessing on where you are, so that they second-guess their decision to farm their own jungle, or push a lane too far forward, or go to any part of the map by themselves, for fear of being found and killed by you and your teammates. By doing so, you can destroy the enemy's economy as they will be too preoccupied worrying about you and not be spending time farming, giving your team space to out-farm them and get a strong gold and level advantage.
 * As a roamer, Bounty Hunter should focus on helping out in ganks by using Shadow Walk to approach an enemy who gets out of position during laning, adding his damage output to gank attempts. While he lacks contribution besides his attacks and body-blocking at level 1, once he has a level or two he can add his abilities to the mix.
 * Early play with Bounty Hunter can allow him to snipe the enemy's courier from invisibility, under optimal circumstances. As he can wait for the enemy's courier invisibly with Shadow Walk, he can choose to kill it as it approaches the enemy's mid to deliver their Bottle, or snipe it as it tries to ferry detection items to their safe lane supports. However, it requires good game sense and map awareness to know where the courier might appear, so this tactic is only viable at higher levels of gameplay.


 * Shuriken Toss is a ranged damage nuke that mini-stuns its target upon impact. It will also bounce between enemies that have been affected by Track.
 * As it is Bounty Hunter's only ranged nuke, maxing Shuriken Toss as his first spell increases his nuking power and allows him to more easily finish off enemies during ganks. The nuking power is strongest in the early game when HP pools are small and all heroes are more vulnerable to magic nukes.
 * When using Shuriken Toss alongside Track to inflict damage to multiple enemy heroes in a teamfight, remember that the initial target does not have to be affected by Track in order for it to bounce. This allows Bounty Hunter to throw the shuriken at an un-Tracked target and it will bounce to any Tracked heroes within range. Using this tactic can be useful for increasing your damage output if you do not have time to cast Track on all enemy heroes before using the shuriken, or for increasing the shuriken's maximum range to by tossing it at a creep and closing the remainder of the distance from the bounce.
 * Be careful about approaching targets to cast Shuriken Toss on them, as its short cast range may put you in unnecessary danger. If possible, try to Track the target first, and use a nearby creep as a target to bounce the shuriken from a safer range. Remember that you can also use the bounce to catch a fleeing enemy hero who would otherwise be outside of its cast range.


 * Jinada deals bonus attack damage and steals gold, allowing Bounty Hunter to harass the enemies in the laning stage.
 * Jinada allows Bounty Hunter to deal bonus attack damage to enemy buildings.
 * In the laning stage, Jinada's bonus damage helps Bounty Hunter obtain last hits.
 * The Gold Steal can be useful in getting early game items faster.


 * Shadow Walk renders Bounty Hunter invisible until he attacks, casts a spell (except Track), uses an item, or the duration expires.
 * Shadow Walk is Bounty Hunter's go-to spell for mobility, escape, and initiations, and as such it should generally be leveled first. At level 1, it provides seconds of invisibility on a  second cooldown, allowing Bounty Hunter to remain invisible so long as he has the mana to back it up.
 * As Shadow Walk applies the slow right at the start of the spell, it is possible to attack a target during the fade time and still inflict the slow while retaining the invisibility buff. This can help with ganking as you will be able to use the slow twice (once during the fade time and once when breaking invisibility), however it becomes less feasible as the spell is leveled due to the fade time shortening.
 * Shadow Walk has an instant cast time, and does not interrupt channeling. As such, it can be cast without breaking your stride while escaping, and can be activated after beginning to channel a Town Portal Scroll, whether the aim is to become invisible while escaping or to become invisible prior to reaching your destination.
 * Be wary that using items will break Shadow Walk. Therefore, actions such as changing attributes on Power Treads or activating the movement speed boost of Phase Boots will break invisibility, so be extremely careful about item usage while under the effects of Shadow Walk. Conversely though, if you have been affected by Dust of Appearance you can instantly break invisibility using the above two methods in order to negate the slow that it inflicts on invisible heroes.


 * Shadow Walk's duration is always longer than its cooldown. At higher levels, it is possible to strike a target out of invisibility, become invisible again immediately afterward, and then hit them again, all while slowing them. However, this also leaves Bounty Hunter vulnerable since he will be visible and with Shadow Walk on cooldown, making escaping difficult if the enemy finds him before he can turn invisible again.


 * Track is a powerful intelligence spell in any situation, and is a great boon to any team. As it provides True Sight on the target and increases Bounty Hunter's movement speed, it is powerful in preventing the enemy from easily initiating and giving them a mobility advantage during teamfights.
 * Track counters heroes who rely on invisibility to escape, as the True Sight reveals their location through invisibility. It is also powerful against heroes with teleport abilities, as they often rely not only on quickly putting distance between themselves and their pursuers, but also on jumping in an unknown direction to make their opponents guess.
 * While Bounty Hunter excels at killing lone targets by himself, his team is better served in assisting him whenever he ganks targets. This not only increases the chances of a successful kill, but awards bonus reliable gold to nearby allies. The allied bonus gold exists for a reason, and rewards a team that coordinates kills with Bounty Hunter rather than letting him try to kill enemies by himself.
 * Each hits against the tracked hero will always score a critical hit. This means, getting armor-reducing items such as or damage-increasing items like  will benefit from track.
 * In a teamfight, try to use Track on as many enemies as possible first, marking them all as potential targets for a bounced Shuriken Toss. Any successful kills will greatly increase the gold bounty received, which can lead to buying more core items faster. However, when ganking a solo target, it is generally advisable to reserve Track until right before you initiate on the target with a Shadow Walk and Jinada combo, in order to avoid alerting them until the last possible second.
 * In general, it is wise to Track as many enemy heroes as possible in order to gather intelligence on their locations and movement. This gives your team a powerful strategic advantage since they will not only know the location of the Tracked targets, but may also give warning of other enemies casting certain spells (such as ).
 * Track allows you to discern how much gold the target has, which lets you know how close they may be to getting one of their core items. After tracking an enemy (especially one of their core heroes), be sure to alert teammates to the debuff (Alt + left click on the debuff in the enemy player's status bar). This also serves to log the event in the chat log for later reference. This allows your team to make the decision based on the amount of farm the enemy has: if they are close to getting another major item, quickly rotating and ganking the target can set them back tremendously, however if they are farming poorly you can choose to engage a different enemy or take the time to continue farming on your side.
 * Since Track has such a low cooldown, it is a very good ability to use in order to break an enemy's, whether in a teamfight or during a gank. In teamfights, it can render their Linken's Sphere useless ahead of time, and in ganks it can be used as a leader prior to a stronger targeted disable.
 * If Bounty Hunter is in the enemy's Fog of War or under effect of Shadow Walk and casts Track on an enemy, his position is not revealed to them, thereby allowing him to stealthily mark targets for his team. However, the debuff status indicator still appears in enemy players' HUDs.
 * Given his role, Bounty Hunter has a myriad of items he can build to assist in getting kills against targets.
 * Buy an to give you vision in the enemy's jungle and possibly block their pull camp (although do not be afraid to buy one for yourself if you must move immediately to lane upon connecting to battle). Doing so will alert you to any incoming rotations and ganks so that you can keep alive. Once past the laning stage you should regularly buy Observer Wards yourself, as you can traverse the map with Shadow Walk and place them for your team, giving you map vision to spot potential ganks.
 * Since Track does not break invisibility upon casting it on an enemy hero, this is a useful tactic when you are roaming.

Items
Starting items:
 * regenerates health for Bounty Hunter to resist enemy harassment.


 * also restores health.


 * allows Bounty Hunter to maintain casting his spells, as his base mana pool is quite small and Shadow Walk costs little mana to cast.


 * provides attributes that improve survivability.

Early game:
 * are important for survival as an offlaner, and important for getting in position for ganks as a roamer. Buy them as early as possible.


 * is a powerful early-game complement to Shadow Walk.


 * is a good item to get on Bounty Hunter once he begins roaming, as it firms up his HP pool and gives him some mana regen. Getting successful ganks off will get charges that can be used either to add damage in further ganks or to heal in between ganks.


 * is highly recommended on Bounty Hunter, as his small HP pool makes it disparately effective on him and his spells have low cooldowns (and a high mana cost, in the case of Shuriken Toss). A full charge Magic Stick can replenish a large fraction of Bounty Hunter's health, and give him enough mana to cast multiple spells. is powerful for all the same reasons, giving Bounty Hunter additional attributes as well as larger charge storage.

Mid game:
 * increases the mana pool for Bounty Hunter and restore mana to team so everyone can use more abilities on the map.


 * gives comprehensive attribute bonuses as well as increasing Bounty Hunter and his allies' movement speed, getting ganks going.


 * improves Bounty Hunter's survivability with armor and attributes, as well as giving him increased mana regen. Using the active on a gank target reduces their armor by a large amount, and slows their movement and attack speed.

Late game:
 * dispels and reflects targeted abilities to protect Bounty Hunter and allies in team fights.


 * replenishes health and mana to you and your teammates, removes debuffs from you, and the Mend and Guardian Aura abilities are strong during teamfights. It can also be farmed relatively quickly with Track kills.

Situational items:
 * is very effective on Bounty Hunter both as a roamer. The low mana cost of his spells and his small HP pool mean that he gets a lot of benefits from the regen, and his mobility with Shadow Walk allows him to bottle runes as needed.


 * allows Bounty Hunter to lifesteal, giving him a measure of sustainability by attacking creeps. The mana regen it provides makes him a more independent roamer, and the bonus damage and armor improve his offensive and defensive capabilities. Beware purchasing this item when initiating on foes in-lane though, as the lifesteal aura may give away your position.


 * protects Bounty Hunter from targeted spells, on top of the stat and regen improvement. Blocking an enemy from targeting you with a disable or debuff can drastically improve Bounty Hunter's survivability when evading enemy ganks, and can increase the chances of successful ganks by preventing the enemy from counter-disabling you.


 * greatly increases the size of Bounty Hunter's mana pool, as well as giving him powerful mana regen to let him sustain without having to return to the fountain as often. The silence is a powerful ganking tool, as it prevents foes from retaliating during a gank and can help ensure a kill due to the damage amplification at the end of the silence.


 * , an upgrade from Orchid Malevolence increases Bounty Hunter's attack speed. The silence will not only prevent the enemy from retaliating with their spells, but also provide him with critical hits and accuracy, further securing more kills.


 * is a powerful initiating item as it drastically increases the damage taken from attacking a target with Jinada and Track. The armor reduction helps allies to add their damage in a gank, ensuring a swift kill.


 * greatly extends Bounty Hunter's already strong mobility, as he can chase and escape over impassable terrain, especially when combined with Track. It can be used in conjunction with Shadow Walk to allow for powerful initiations and chasing, preventing targets from running away under even the best of circumstances.


 * can be a powerful utility item that aids Bounty Hunter's spell casting. It boosts the size of his mana pool, as well as providing mana regen. The increased cast range allow Bounty Hunter to cast his spells from safer range.


 * is a very strong utility item that greatly improves Bounty Hunter's disabling potential. Besides giving him all-around attributes and greatly boosting his intelligence and mana regen, the Hex is an extremely powerful hard disable that can instantly disable a target from range.


 * provides Bounty Hunter with intelligence while also greatly increasing his burst damage with its active skill.

Luxury items:
 * deals double damage under the effect of, and can easily outperform any enemy carry hero in terms of DPS.

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