I've been working on hero guides trying to get one for every hero.

Here is what I have compiled so far.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheFinalAce/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=570

I'm not sure if that link will work so someone please tell me if it does!

Any suggestions are appreciated.

OK, so I don't have time to read through all of these, but I looked up some of my favorite heroes and saw some problems with your suggested builds.

Let's take Tiny. If you're going carry Tiny, you do not want Arcane Boots, you want Treads for the early attack speed, especially if you're going to Aghs rush. Arcanes are for if you're playing a roaming ganker or supporty type role with Tiny. There are other items that are amazing on Tiny, but you just kind of skip over them. Also, why isn't MoM suggested as at least a situational purchase?

Also looked at your Nyx mid build, nowhere do you mention buying a blink dagger, even situationally. Blink Dagger is incredibly good on Nyx and should be at least a situational item if not core, especially as a mid hero. It helps keep Nyx relevant in the late game. Dagon rush isn't really an optimal Nyx build unless you're doing extremely well. Ethereal Blade is not a late game purchase, it's a luxury purchase.

Alright, now Ancient Apparition. You have Aghanims as a mid-game item. This is a bad idea 99% of the time. Euls or RoA is a better choice in almost every situation. These are cheaper, more cost efficient items. Aghs is way too expensive for a support AA to farm in the mid game.

You're Veno build is all over the place. A support Veno would almost never build any of the items you suggest, unless he's having an incredible game. A support Veno (read Ward spamming) needs Arcane Boots, not Treads. You also have a Shadow Blade as core...this is again a luxury item, Veno makes more use out of a Force Staff. Veno is a supporter who can initiate pretty well, why do you need the SB if you have the BD? Also, OoV is a waste early game and you can't afford it with all of the starting items you suggested.

And now I move onto Lion. Lion is by far my best hero, and you're build for him is all over the place. You have him marked as a support, but you have Aghs, Rod of Atos (why is this needed on him at all?) and Force Staff. When I play a support Lion, I almost always try to get a Blink Dagger, which again you omitted as even a situational item. Blink is way more useful then Rod, Aghs and even Force Staff. A lone Aghs Scepter on Lion is relatively useless, since he'll only be able to ulti once, since his mana pool will be so low. I see what you were going for by recommending a Rod, but honestly, Drums-->Blink is by far the way to go. There's no need to really stack HP on Lion, since you're more reliant on positioning over survivability. He has terrible armor and 285 (read below average) move speed. Drums gives him the stats he needs as well as movement speed for a fraction of the price of the items you're suggesting. A Rod essentially does nothing except give him HP and Mana, but the slow is wasted since he has 2 decently long range initiations, especially Hex since it's an instant cast, and a BD is 1000 gold less than a RoA.

All in all, I've thumbed through a few more of your guides and have seen some builds that just aren't smart or effective, especially with the labels you put on them. They're not bad builds, just need a lot of fine tuning and seem to not be the most effective use of a hero's strengths (see armlet Alchemist, this isn't bad, but Armlet is far from core on the hero due to it being a mid-game item on a hero whose entire purpose is to reach the late game before anyone else).

My biggest criticism would be you suggest lofty item purchases rather than cheap, effective purchases especially when it comes to support heroes.

I thumbed through a few guides and I'll add a few things to what fallen said. Below are suggestions based on my experience. I find them to be optimal builds through math and stupid shit like that. Above all I agree with what fallen said. Saving up for big items often isnt very effective in dota (as the game is already won or lost by the time you have them) so cheap, cost effective items often are better to win games with.

Enigma - Probably the strongest early game pushing jungler. If you dont have anybody on your team building a mek, often times it's much smarter to delay your blink dagger and get a mekanism.

Additionally, if the enemy team has heros like sven, invoker, and puck is rushing a blink really the most effective item in the situation? If you have a DS going mek, it's probably smarter to build a bkb first so that your hole can't be interrupted (unless you're a champion and can get 5 man holes all game with the blink)



Gyro - PMS is quite ineffective on gyro. He's a ranged hero. Dont build PMS (or stout) on a ranged hero unless youre playing against a broodmother. Rushing hotd is very ineffective in most situations. While lifesteal is great later on in the game when you have a fair bit of damage - lifesteal does almost nothing for you in early-mid game teamfights. Stacking ancients is often not an option as long lane T1 towers are often pushed down (as it's easy for most lineups to push against an offlaner), so you end up stacking ancients for the enemy carry to clear.
I'd include drums as a core item on 90% of carries. Drums are actually imbalanced. They let you fight incredibly early in teamfights and provide a ton of dirt cheap stats that help you be the "deciding factor" in early-midgame skirmishes.
A lot of people will disagree with me here, and that's okay (because I know the math!) But AC is quite bad on agility carries. AC is designed for strength carries (as they don't get attack speed or armor from items they build for damage - like agi heros do from butterfly, manta, ect).

If youre playing a carry gyro, dont build missile. One point is plenty. Go flak/barrage, maybe one point in missile then go stats afterward. On paper missile looks like a good skill - but it's quite awkward on gyro. It has absolutely no synergy with his skillset.



Lion - Dont build aghs on lion, no matter what role youre playing. you dont have the mana to support two ults in the same teamfight.


Slardar - Desolater is not a carry item. It's for utility. Don't build desolater unless youre a weaver. It's a pretty mediocre item on most heros as it scales linearly AND uses an orb effect in the process. On a late game carry (as you have slardar marked under) you want an item like satanic. You cant get satanic and deso. MKB is a better alternative to deso 9/10 times, including on natures prophet. Again i'd include drums to be situational on basically every carry.

Alch - Don't build greed and go shadow blade. If youre going shadowblade it's because you want to kill heros - not creeps. So put 1-2 points in greed then level your stun and acid spray. Dont so soul ring on carries. It delays your core items for too long. Wand will often solve your mana problems. With alch, you get a ton of mana regen from your ult anyway.

Tiny - for carry. Treads -> Drums (optional) -> Aghs -> manta -> crit. As fallen said, dont get mana boots. Just tread switch.

Manta's too good on tiny to waste your gold on an AC. You get plenty of armor and attack speed from manta, and the illusions are imbalanced for killing towers.

Abba - Dont build bloodstone. Dont build soul ring. Get mana boots (he's a support after all, mana boots help your team).

CK - Dont build AC. Get manta instead. If you ult + manta + reality rift you can kill one person instantly. Same reasoning as on tiny besides this.

Wisp - Soul ring + bottle are situational on wisp. You can soul ring bottle your carry to keep him in lane farming, and to heal him during teamfights. Take 1 point in overcharge at level 4 or 8. Do not max tether. Max your spirits to make those level 6 relocate ganks more effective by having more damage.

Well, I'm glad I stumbled onto this!

*opens notepad and beginz the stealz*

Really useful info as always guys, thanks!

Holy crap I didn't expect this much of a reply. There have been some I have been meaning to edit. (like shadow blade on veno, I have no idea why I ever put that there).

I'll take the suggestions into consideration and do some rebuilding. Thanks!

Now Quite a few of them have been updated. Still going through them all to find weird and bad things I put. I'll update when I make new ones.