Elder Titan

The Elder Titan is a melee strength Hero who is renowned as a powerful area nuker and disabler.

Elder Titan is perhaps best known for his ability Astral Spirit, which sends forth an image of himself that damages enemies that it passes through, and upon returning to Elder Titan boosts his attack damage and movement speed, making him a fearsome melee fighter. Possessing a channeled sleep in Echo Stomp, Elder Titan is also capable of knocking out his foes for an extended period of time if they are caught within its radius; Astral Spirit also allows him to cast this ability and 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 and slows their movement speed. This, along with his ability to lower his enemies' physical and magical resistance with his Natural Order aura, 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.

Gameplay
Elder Titan's role as an initiator, and his Natural Order aura, make him well suited to buy further teamfight and aura items - like Mekansm or Shiva's Guard - especially ones that make him more durable to prolong his auras. His natural health is not unusually high, but the teamfight items he often buys can make him into a tank. He is normally played as a slot 4 support, but if circumstances require, he can transition to a core hero who lands devastating initiations with multiple teamfight items and acts as a tank during the rest of the teamfight.

Recommended items
Starting items
 * One each of and  are minimum health regen requirements. They should be purchased in order to offset any harass damage you take.
 * is useful because Elder Titan's spells are quite costly, and casting one or two spells will drain a significant portion of it. As such, having mana regen can allow you to cast more than just three spells before running dry.
 * is very useful on Elder Titan, as he has decent strength and armor, and is a melee hero who can get easily harassed when walking up for last-hits.

Early items
 * are essential early on for Elder Titan, especially in the off-lane. It serves the primary purpose of allowing him to evade ganks by the enemy supports, but also allows him to get in position for his spells more quickly. As well, it improves the mobility of, which is based on Elder Titan's own movement speed.
 * allows Elder Titan to benefit from burst HP and mana regen. In emergency situations, a full-charge Magic Stick can allow Elder Titan to cast any of his non-ultimate spells one more time, and can allow him to cast his ultimate provided that he is not completely out of mana.
 * gives Elder Titan useful stats, particularly strength for more health and base damage. It can build into a Drum of Endurance later on.

Core items
 * gives Elder Titan many strong benefits. Treads switching allows him to give himself more intelligence to reduce the strain that casting places on his mana pool, or strength for more HP and base damage. As well, the additional attack speed allows Elder Titan to better take advantage of any damage he gains from Astral Spirit.
 * , upgraded from a previously purchased Bracer, gives Elder Titan useful stats across the board as well as an aura that provides movement and attack speed. The aura, as well as its active component, give Elder Titan an edge in teamfights, especially when combined with the bonuses provided by Astral Spirit.
 * is very strong on Elder Titan, as it provides him with stats and a way to instantly replenish HP and mana. As Elder Titan is extremely reliant on casting, restoring 255 mana instantly can allow him to do much more in fights.
 * is mandatory on all heroes. For Elder Titan, being able to use his abilities to help in ganks, counter-ganks and teamfights can be instrumental to victory.

Situational items
 * is very strong on Elder Titan, as the damage block, armor and additional HP all combine to make him very tanky and hard to bring down. The utility that its active brings to a fight allows him to increase the survivability of his team against physical damage.
 * provides Elder Titan with protection against magic nukes, allowing him to stand in teamfights and make the most of against the enemy. It can be upgraded into a  to provide utility for his team, protecting them against magic nukes as well.
 * serves as a utility and survivability item that increases Elder Titan's offensive potential. The strength and evasion give Elder Titan increased survivability against physical right-clicks, while the strength and damage bonus increase the power of his own right-clicks, adding a Lesser Maim on top that can slow his foes down. The active ability, Disarm, can also be used against the enemy's main carry, preventing them from attacking for some time.
 * shares strong synergy with Elder Titan's spells, on top of the physical survivability it grants. The attack speed allows Elder Titan to leverage any bonus damage he gains from Astral Spirit, while the armor reduction aura stacks with that of Natural Order, causing Elder Titan's attacks to hit even harder.
 * is a strong physical survivability item that gives Elder Titan more intelligence for casting spells and an active slow that greatly benefits his abilities. Slowing the enemy down can make it harder for them to escape, allowing Elder Titan to catch up and apply his Natural Order aura, or can be stacked on top of a successful to keep the enemy bunched up.
 * is a good mid-game item that gives Elder Titan many good benefits. The bonus intelligence gives him a bigger mana pool for casting spells, the extra armor gives him survivability, and the extra damage helps with his damage output for teamfights and farming. The active allows him to use his HP pool offensively, discouraging enemies from focusing him as he initiates and threatening large amounts of reflected damage against fragile burst casters.
 * is a highly expensive luxury item but carries many strong benefits. It gives Elder Titan a targeted hard disable to use against enemies, and can be use to pin an enemy down for . It greatly increases the size of his mana pool, gives him scaling mana regen, and gives him stats across the board.
 * allows Elder Titan to cast his ultimate twice in quick succession, which can severely cripple any enemy it catches, potentially even killing them from full health. It is best purchased if players are confident that they will have enough setup to land Earth Splitter with precision, but requires increasing the size of Elder Titan's mana pool as the entire combination can consume up to 825 mana.
 * can be a good item to build on Elder Titan for various reasons. While it can prevent Elder Titan from being interrupted as he casts Echo Stomp, its primary utility is to prevent him from being disabled as he closes the distance with enemies to fight them using his bonus damage from Astral Spirit and the resistance reduction from Natural Order.
 * is a very strong item to pick up on Elder Titan, as it gives him all-around stats that aid in his survivability and ability to cast spells. It augments the power of Earth Splitter, allowing him to slow enemies for a longer duration and disarm them at the same time, preventing them from easily retaliating.
 * can be very useful to build on Elder Titan, both as an off-laner and a mid. As Elder Titan's spells all cost a significant portion of his mana pool, being able to replenish his mana allows him to remain mobile and not have to return to base as often.
 * can greatly improve Elder Titan's ability to cast spells, allowing him to draw from his HP pool for mana.
 * is a strong support item on Elder Titan. It provides him with additional armor and mana regen, giving him survivability and helping to maintain his mana pool. The active can be targeted on allies to give them more resistance to physical damage, or can be targeted on enemies to further reduce their armor alongside Natural Order, making them weaker against allied attacks, as well as Elder Titan's attacks (especially when combined with Astral Spirit) and Earth Splitter. Upgraded to, it can add evasion and miss chance to the mix.
 * can be very situational but powerful in Elder Titan's hands. It greatly increases his mobility and allows him to position himself for casting his spells much more effectively, as well as instantly getting within range to fight.
 * is a strong durability item on Elder Titan, and can be purchased relatively easily due to the cheap price of its components. It provides an armor aura that gives Elder Titan and his teammates more survivability against physical damage, and the damage bonus and lifesteal aura also provide strong bonuses in teamfights. The mana regen also helps to maintain Elder Titan's mana pool.
 * gives Elder Titan strong utility and survivability no matter how he is built. It provides armor and HP regen, increasing his tankiness, and mana regen to fuel his spell casting. Echo Shell can be cast on an ally to discourage the enemy from casting targeted spells on them, or on Elder Titan himself to increase his survivability when directly engaging the enemy in combat.


 * If attempting to take advantage of Astral Spirit and Natural Order to make Elder Titan a brawler, the following items can greatly increase his effectiveness.
 * is a good early-game item that lets Elder Titan slow enemies with his attacks. The slow can synergize with Astral Spirit's bonus damage and movement speed, letting Elder Titan easily chase enemies to land highly-damaging attacks on them.
 * can be a useful alternative to Power Treads, as the active can be used to chase enemies down after gaining bonus damage and movement speed via Astral Spirit.
 * has good initiating utility that allows Elder Titan to more easily utilize his Astral Spirit damage. If activated after casting Astral Spirit, Elder Titan can approach enemies invisibly and attack them with the backstab damage, then recall his Astral Spirit to allow him to immediately take advantage of any bonus damage and movement speed he obtains. It can also be upgraded into a for all of the same benefits, as well as applying a break and possibly Greater Maim to any gank targets to further debilitate them.
 * greatly boosts Elder Titan's attack speed, allowing him to take advantage of any bonus damage he accrues through Astral Spirit. The increased night vision range also allows him to spot enemies from longer range, setting up ganks or disables more easily.
 * greatly increases Elder Titan's early fighting potential. Increasing his attack damage, HP, attack speed and movement speed makes Elder Titan much deadlier in fights, as he can chase down enemies more effectively and deal more physical damage when combined with Astral Spirit's movement speed and bonus damage.
 * vastly increases Elder Titan's attributes across the board, making him tankier and giving him more mana. The attack modifier allows him to slow enemies with his attacks, preventing them from easily running away from him and allowing him to utilize Astral Spirit's bonuses to the utmost.


 * Built as a utility disabler that focuses on landing Echo Stomp, Elder Titan can increase his effectiveness
 * is a good roaming item that gives Elder Titan increased flexibility. The bonus strength gives him base damage and more HP, while the mana regen allows him to cast his spells more regularly. Charges can be obtained easily through ganking and setting up kills with Echo Stomp, and those charges can either heal teammates or Elder Titan himself, or add more damage to a gank.
 * are very useful if Elder Titan is being built to cast instead of brawl. It increases the size of his mana pool and allows him to replenish his and his teammates' mana, greatly increasing his utility and allowing him to always have the mana to cast his spells in fights.
 * serves many useful benefits on Elder Titan if he is being built in a support-utility role. The item's components are easy to build, and it increases the size of his mana pool while also giving him some HP regen and an active that helps with his positioning, which can be crucial for getting his spells off.
 * is built mainly as a utility item that offers stats and survivability. Elder Titan's tanky nature allows him to benefit greatly from it, however he must build up his mana pool first, as Mekansm's active costs more than any of his spells.
 * gives Elder Titan stats across the board and armor, increasing his inherent tankiness and greatly boosting his intelligence to facilitate easier spell casting. However, its main utility is in its active ability, which can reduce an enemy's magic resistance further on top of Natural Order, increasing the potency of magical damage even more. Using it on top of Earth Splitter and Natural Order allows Elder Titan to cut enemies' HP by up to a maximum of 56%.
 * is a strong item for aiding Elder Titan in casting. The base movement speed increase grants him more mobility, especially when combined with Astral Spirit's bonus movement speed, and the extra intelligence and scaling mana regen ensure that Elder Titan will always have the mana to cast what he needs. The active can pin an enemy down with a cyclone, giving Elder Titan enough time to set up a perfect Echo Stomp.

Trivia

 * Elder Titan was known as the Tauren Chieftain in DotA. The name change was likely done to avoid copyright issues with Blizzard Entertainment, 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.
 * In the splash art, a faint image of what looks to be can be seen.
 * The delay time on Earth Splitter is 3.14 seconds, which is most likely a reference to pi. Pi is the ratio between a circle's circumference and its diameter, making it a fundamental constant in geometry and other more complex areas of mathematics.
 * In DotA, is named Ancestral Spirit. It was changed to Astral Spirit in Dota 2 for thematic reasons.

Audio
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History
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