Hi all. I'm looking for some advice on playing Tidehunter, particularly because I'm having a major problem keeping him alive when I initiate. I've seen skill builds and item builds for him, but can't find any guides on how to play him, utilize his skills effectively, etc.

My problem with him comes with or without blink dagger, getting him into range of enemy heroes, and using his ult to stun them. I try to immediately flee the scene after initiating, but it seems that whether I fight, or run, or take any action at all, I get focus fired and die pretty immediately, and never really get to benefit from exp or gold from team fights.

Important note: I've only played him against medium/hard bots so far. I like to play a few games with bots first to figure a hero out, then test them in a few pub matches to see how I do against players. Because I've had such a rough time with him, however, I haven't tried him against people yet.

Primarily, what I'm looking for are tips on initiating, and surviving to participate in team fights. I'm also interested in ANY other opinions or observations of Tidehunter, since I've really only fooled with Purge's "solo offlane" build. Tips on how to play this build, and support builds, welcome.

Thank you.

I wanted to update and say that people can continue to add advice here, for anybody else who's having trouble with Tidehunter.

I have found some videos I'll share that might help others, and the advice lines up with what people have said here (over the course of three comments )

Tidehunter is the first initiator I've played, and I think I was taking the role too rigidly and trying to rush in too soon. Outside of that, here's the summary of what I'm hearing about Tidehunter:

Max gush first. It's a good ganking skill, and levels in it will get you a better armor debuff and higher initiation/finishing damage. I've done this with Tidehunter since my initial post, and I end up starting a gank with gush, chasing the enemy hero down lane, and catching them with a second gush to finish them, or slow them for the final hits.

Whether it's Purge's build, or a support build, people seem to take a single level early of Kraken Shell, because the skill removes debuffs from you when you receive a set amount of damage, and otherwise provides 7 damage reduction. This skill gets leveled last, in the builds I've seen.

A level of Anchor Smash is taken early as well, and is the second skill to be leveled (First in Purge's solo build, Gush second). It's been commented here, and in videos, that after initiation, this skill should be focused on enemy heroes. It reduces their damage by 40%, and is very spammable with its short recharge time and low mana cost. This skill also improves the effectiveness of your Kraken Shell (indirectly), and makes you more tanky.

Ravage is taken whenever possible (6/11/16). It's Tidehunter's signature skill, and is a great initiator, with a stun duration of 2.02 - 2.77 seconds and a range of 1025.

Must get items on Tidehunter are Arcane Boots, and Blink Dagger. These will increase his mana pool, give him a source of mana regeneration, and allow him to blink (i.e. teleport) into position to use his Ravage skill, which gives enemies much less time to prepare for it, or to use Black King Bar to block the stun.

Anybody interested in seeing the videos for themselves can view Tidehunter at these links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt4dmiS5udc&list=SP86E04995E07F6BA8&index=61
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Wfi9618t0&list=ELk91MINxU3iE&index=32

For other heroes, visit these links:

Hero Summaries - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL86E04995E07F6BA8
Hero Guides - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=ELk91MINxU3iE

These videos introduce heroes, and the guides explain common skill builds, item builds, and how to play your chosen hero.

Thanks for the few comments here, and anybody who has anything additional to contribute to others, please do so. Thank you everyone.

- Mn Kisu