Traxex, The Drow Ranger - DoTA 2 Hero Guides by BloodGuard & Xenomorph

Hero Introduction:

The Drow Ranger is able to be quite a versatile fighter. She can provide constant support with her Frost Arrows to keep her enemies pinned, Silence them so they can't retaliate with spells once they're forced to fight, and deal nice damage with her passive Trueshot Aura and Marksmanship abilities, which capitalize on and offer agility respectively. A good Archer will keep their distance, kiting an enemy in constant barrage, never letting them get dangerously close, and Traxex can achieve just that.

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

+ Extremely powerful hero mid & late-game, with only a few carries to out-DPS her
+ High Damage, Attack Speed and Armor -> Ultimate.
+ Syncs well with other ranged carries thanks to her TrueShot Aura
+ Efficient chaser -> Frost Arrows
+ Longer range than most ranged heroes
+ A 275 AOE Silence
+ Huge attack range + orb walk

Cons:

- Low strength gain, very fragile
- No escape mechanism
- Requires a lot of farm
- Built in Orb Effect so item choices are limited
- Lacks the mega farming skill to clear out creep waves like other carries may have (e.g. Moon Glaives, Cleave, etc.)

Skills & Spells:

Frost Arrows

Spell Description:

Induces a freezing effect to the hero's attacks. Each attack slows the enemy's movement and attack rates.

Level 1 - Slows attack rate by 5% and movement rate by 10%.
Level 2 - Slows attack rate by 10% and movement rate by 20%.
Level 3 - Slows attack rate by 15% and movement rate by 30%.
Level 4 - Slows attack rate by 20% and movement rate by 40%.

Notes:

• This skill does not stack, but is prolonged on successive casts.

• The first duration is on Heroes, and the second is on creeps.

• This skill is an Orb Effect as well as a Buff Placer.

• This skill does not work on magic immune units.

This spell enables you to orb walk and harass your enemies without triggering the creeps aggro. The slow also makes Drow one of the best chasers in the game. Keep in mind that the spell has zero cooldown, making you chase and harass even better than Viper.

Silence

Spell Description:

Stops all enemies in a target area from casting spells.

Level 1 - Lasts 3 seconds.
Level 2 - Lasts 4 seconds.
Level 3 - Lasts 5 seconds.
Level 4 - Lasts 6 seconds.

Cooldown: 15 seconds.

Level 1: 90 mana, 15 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 90 mana, 15 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 90 mana, 15 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 90 mana, 15 sec cooldown.

Area of effect : 275

Casting Range : 900

Notes:

• This skill does not include items and their active abilities.

• This skill disables Permanent Invisibility.

• The skill does not work on magic immune units.

This makes you the biggest BADASS against spellcasters in ganks and team fights, It allows you to easily dispatch 2 fragile heroes single handedly in a fight (late game mainly). Due to the spells 275 AOE radius, you should try to silence as many enemies as you can. The mana cost and its cooldown are sky high when it comes down to your mana pool. For example, at level 6, you only have a manapool of 286, so use your Silence wisely. In teamfights, always aim for the most dangerous heroes (Lich, Doom Bringer, etc.). Use it for initiation, escaping stuns/disables in general, and so on.

TrueShot Aura

Spell Description:

An aura that gives friendly nearby units bonus damage to their ranged attacks.

Level 1 - Increases base ranged damage by 7%.
Level 2 - Increases base ranged damage by 14%.
Level 3 - Increases base ranged damage by 21%.
Level 4 - Increases base ranged damage by 28%.

Notes:

• Aura bonuses consider only unit base damage + primary attribute increases (not raw damage items).

• This skill does not stack with Lunar Blessing, but does stack with Command Aura.

This aura syncs amazingly well with other ranged carries in your team. For example, if there is a Vengeful Spirit and/or a Moon Rider in your team, the synergy is so strong that all of the enemy team ought to buy Ghost Scepter. Keep in mind that this also increases the primary attribute's damage.

Marksmanship

Spell Description:

The Ranger's accuracy has increased, giving her more agility.

Level 1 - +15 Agility.
Level 2 - +30 Agility.
Level 3 - +45 Agility.

If you ever had problems early on in the game with last hitting and denying creeps, well this ultimate will most definetly solve that problem. +15 Agility is nothing to be laughed at early on in the game. At level 16, with the standard skill build, you already have aprox 99 points of Agility. This skill also gives you the highest attack speed in the game amongst all heroes without buffs/spells, meaning that items that require attack speed in order to proc often are a viable option on her.

Skill Build:

There are 3 types of skill builds depending on how you want to play her.

Standard Build:

Level 1 - Silence
Level 2 - Frost Arrows
Level 3 - Frost Arrows
Level 4 - Stats
Level 5 - Frost Arrows
Level 6 - Marksmanship
Level 7 - Frost Arrows
Level 8 - Silence
Level 9 - Silence
Level 10 - Silence
Level 11 - Marksmanship
Level 12 - Trueshot Aura
Level 13 - Trueshot Aura
Level 14 - Trueshot Aura
Level 15 - Trueshot Aura
Level 16 - Marksmanship
Level 17-25 - Stats

Aura Drow:

Level 1 - Silence
Level 2 - Frost Arrows
Level 3 - Frost Arrows
Level 4 - Trueshot Aura
Level 5 - Frost Arrows
Level 6 - Marksmanship
Level 7 - Frost Arrows
Level 8 - Trueshot Aura
Level 9 - Trueshot Aura
Level 10 - Trueshot Aura
Level 11 - Marksmanship
Level 12 - Silence
Level 13 - Silence
Level 14 - Silence
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Marksmanship
Level 17-25 - Stats

HotD Drow:

Level 1 - Silence
Level 2 - Trueshot Aura
Level 3 - Trueshot Aura
Level 4 - Frost Arrows
Level 5 - Trueshot Aura
Level 6 - Marksmanship
Level 7 - Trueshot Aura
Level 8 - Silence
Level 9 - Silence
Level 10 - Silence
Level 11 - Marksmanship
Level 12 - Frost Arrows/Stats
Level 13 - Frost Arrows/Stats
Level 14 - Frost Arrows/Stats
Level 15 - Stats/Frost Arrows
Level 16 - Marksmanship
Level 17-25 - Stats

Core Items

Power Treads -> They ensure survivability while boosting your DPS. If you need to regenerate some HP or Mana, put them in Agility to gain more from your Tangoes/Salves/Magic Wand etc. Personally, my opinion that you should always keep the treads in the agility mode unless you smell a gank coming. If there is  a gank about to happen, swap your treads to Strength.
Manta Style -> Illusions are very useful to confuse your enemies and greatly multiply your damage output. Also keep in mind that if using Manta Style right before being hit, you can dodge some projectile spells.
Magic Wand -> Excellent for restoring HP & Mana at crucial moments.
Wraith Bands -> Cheap agility, while still getting some other useful stats.
Teleport Scroll -> Mandatory for surviving, ganking, helping your team, farming and so on.

Luxury Items:

All these items depend on wheater you have farm or not, and the situation you are facing yourself in. For example, Diffusal blade is extremely situational. If your team has no good Diffusal Carries, and if you're facing a team with dangerous heroes thanks to their buffs, then this is definetly the item for you. Drow has a fast attack rate, burning mana very quickly, and if needed, you've got a purge to debuff &/or keep an enemy from escaping.
Always buy these items depending on your own & enemy team.

Where to lane?

Your job early game is to farm gold and experience. So unless there's a high threat that you expect soloing mid or a stronger solo in your team, grab your items and head for mid. If you can't go mid, go laning. Bottom for Sentinel and top for Scourge. These lanes are safer than the other side lanes with some proper warding. If you have a partner that is playing a support hero in your lane, you can ask him to creep pull & creep stack so you leave the enemy heroes  underleveled and give yourself a bit more farm while gaining that extra experience. Another good point of going laning is that you can take cover in the forest below the tower for the Sentinel or above for the Scourge (useful in case of ganks).

Additional Tips:

Practice makes perfect. Make sure to do your best at farming the creeps & don't forget to gank!

Video Info:

Here's a video from DotaCinema to get you acquainted with the hero: Traxex, The Drow Ranger.

Notes:

Many more Guides will be posted regarding DoTA 2 in the following days on Gamersbook. Stay tuned.

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