- Tittle: Captain Planet
- Author: Zephirdd
As of 6.76, Rooftrellen's strength gain stands at 3.3, making it the second highest behind Centaur Warchief, who has 3.8. This change undoes much of the nerfing to his strength over the last patches since 6.72. His starting intelligence is rather good for a strength hero, which helps because Leech Seed has quite a high mana cost and will quickly drain Roof's mana. Since Nature's Guise has quite a low mana cost, it shouldn't cause much trouble, and now that Living Armour is a passive aura, that's a whole skill's worth of mana that stays in your mana pool now because the benefits are passive. As of 6.75 he now has the highest base damage, but also the highest base attack time. Last hitting is easier than before, despite the slower speed, due to the massive base damage, which exceeds even that of Spirit Breaker.
Skills
Nature's Guise
Changes a target friendly unit's appearance so that it blends in with the forest. It becomes invisible to enemy eyes and gains a 10% movement speed bonus, but it must remain near a tree, or the Guise is lost.
- 1. Mana 90 / Cooldown 10 / Duration 15 seconds / Turns target allied unit invisible
- 2. Mana 80 / Cooldown 8 / Duration 30 seconds / Turns target allied unit invisible
- 3. Mana 70 / Cooldown 6 / Duration 45 seconds / Turns target allied unit invisible
- 4. Mana 60 / Cooldown 4 / Duration 60 seconds / Turns target allied unit invisible
- Has an initial fade time of 2 seconds, during which the unit is still visible.
- If the unit has a distance of more than 375 to the closest tree during 1 second, the invisibility will be removed.
- Can be used on units even if they aren't close to a tree, but the invisibility will be removed almost instantly.
- Treant Protector can cast spells without losing invisibility from Nature's Guise.
This is one of Rooftrellen's most stable abilities, and for good reason. It's a highly spammable and cheap escape and ganking mechanism. It allows your to creep up on enemies or flee from them in a crisis. Arguably, this one skill gives you the role of support because of it's sheer utility at almost every stage of the game. In the laning phase it's vital to you and your lane partner(s) survival in case of ganks. It can be used at all stages of a match to assist with ganking, fleeing and juking, making it very versatile, not to mention the increased movement speed actually allows it to also be used as a chasing skill.
The only drawback with this ability is that you need to be within a 375 AoE of a tree at all times. There are trees absolutely everywhere on the map so this isn't all the difficult, however you need to make sure you're in range otherwise your cover will be blown.
Pros + Cons
- [+] It has a short cooldown
- [+] Makes juking easy
- [+] Useful escape/ganking spell
- [+] It lasts a long time
- [+] Targets are able to cast spells while still under it's effects
- [-] You need to stay close to trees otherwise the effects are removed
- [-] Prohibitive mana cost early on
Leech Seed
Rooftrellen plants a life-sapping seed in his enemy, causing it to be slowed by 24% and have its life force drained over the next 3 seconds. Nearby allied units are healed by the same amount. Pulses 4 times.
- 1. Mana 140 / Cooldown 16 / Duration 3 seconds / Slows by 28%, 30 damage/heal per pulse
- 2. Mana 140 / Cooldown 14 / Duration 3 seconds / Slows by 28%, 45 damage/heal per pulse
- 3. Mana 140 / Cooldown 12 / Duration 3 seconds / Slows by 28%, 60 damage/heal per pulse
- 4. Mana 140 / Cooldown 10 / Duration 3 seconds / Slows by 28%, 75 damage/heal per pulse
- Damage type: magical
- Healing continues even if the target dies.
The use of this ability depends on the situation. Using it purely to harass your lane opponents is a waste of it's potential. The mana cost also means that using it purely to harass, to my eyes, isn't great. Using it in ganks or first-blood attempts is a better use for it because it not only deals pretty heavy damage early game, but it also provides restoration to your allies when they get in close. This is a skill made for the trilane due to the fact that it encourages getting up close and personal to the opposing hero(es).
The area of effect of the healing portion of the ability is roughly the same as level 2 of Sanity's Eclipse so medium ranged heroes like Morphling, Luna, Lanaya, Huskar, etc are also able to benefit from the healing that occurs. Later in the game it somewhat loses it's effectiveness because the numbers are fixed, however 300 damage at level 4 over 3 seconds is still significant enough to be of use in most teamfights, especially when combined with Vacuum and any other AoE stun. During ganks, if you're not initiating with your ultimate, it's best to open with this ability and follow up with your ultimate later if the targets look like getting away.
One of the most noticeable drawbacks of Leech Seed is the prohibitive casting range. To get this right it's often best to use Nature's Guise to sneak up on the target before hitting them with it.
Pros + Cons
- [+] Significant damage/heal early game
- [+] For a healing ability, it has a large AoE
- [+] Non-prohibitive cooldown allows it to be used when needed
- [+] Multi-purpose (can slow, heal and damage at once)
- [-] High mana cost prevents liberal use early on
- [-] The healing requires getting close to the enemy
- [-] Short casting range
Living Armor
Magically creates an armor of vines around a friendly unit or structure, protecting it from harm and healing wounds. Dispels after taking 4-7 instances of damage.
- 1. Mana 25 / Cooldown 15 seconds / 4 instances / Grants 4 HP regen and a 20 damage block.
- 2. Mana 25 / Cooldown 15 seconds / 5 instances / Grants 7 HP regen and a 40 damage block.
- 3. Mana 25 / Cooldown 15 seconds / 6 instances / Grants 10 HP regen and a 60 damage block.
- 4. Mana 25 / Cooldown 15 seconds / 7 instances / Grants 13 HP regen and a 80 damage block.
- Can be cast through minimap
- Blocks damage from all sources
- Damage block is calculated after all reductions (armore, magic resistance, etc.)
This one skill, after 6.75, almost completely changes the way Rooftrellen is laned. Because it's no longer passive you have to really think about where and when you cast it, since only 1 unit on the map can have the buff at any one time (20 second duration with 20 second cooldown). You will need very good communication with the rest of your team in order to make the best use out of it, since during laning it's essentially the defensive portion of Lanaya's Refraction ability, but with built in HP regeneration. Later on it's fantastic to heal up towers back to full due to it healing 260hp at level 4 after the duration. The manacost is fantastically low, allowing you to essentially spam cast it every time it's off cooldown. You will need strong teamwork and co-ordination to make use of this skill now, which means Rooftrellen is best picked if you have some sort of voice chat system because sometimes a fast cast will be needed, which cannot be achieved through text-based communication.
If you are playing Rooftrellen in Dota 2, the in-game chat system can suffice; for Warcraft III DotA, 3rd-party programs like Skype, Mumble or TeamSpeak are easy to use. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of co-ordination to make the most of this ability when laning. Moreover, this means that Rooftrellen is now a great offlane hero, who can just leech experience from his lane while providing healing and defense to the other 2 lanes. Of course this means that ganking is less of an option but if your team has picked Rooftrellen in an organised match, chances are you already have dedicated ganking heroes with Rooftrellen being much more of a support. If not, then your team has issues because this ability requires more supportive skill builds to be effective.
Pros + Cons
- [+] Global scope
- [+] Very low mana cost
- [+] Really strong early on
- [+] Benefits buildings
- [+] Free regeneration and defence
- [-] Only 1 target at a time
- [-] Relatively easy to dispel
Overgrowth
Summons an overgrowth of damaging vines and branches. Prevents all nearby enemies from moving or attacking.
- 1. Mana 150 / Cooldown 70 / Duration 3 seconds / Entangles all nearby enemy units.
- 2. Mana 175 / Cooldown 70 / Duration 3.75 seconds / Entangles all nearby enemy units.
- 3. Mana 200 / Cooldown 70 / Duration 4.5 seconds / Entangles all nearby enemy units.
- Prevents usage of the Blink spell.
- Disable works on currently magic immune units, however if a unit becomes magic immune while already affected by Overgrowth, they will break free.
The general usage of this ability hasn't really changed from pre-6.72 versions, aside from the fact that it can be used much more often now. The area of effect is noticeably smaller but it still very large (625, which is even bigger than Rain of Chaos' AoE). With the most recent rebalance this ultimate has seen a change for the better. While the damage component has been completely removed, the duration has been buffed at levels 2 and 3 to 3.75 and 4.5 seconds respectively. The constant 80 second cooldown makes it readily available in almost every team fight. The best uses of this ability, however, still lies in co-ordinated team fight initiation in conjunction with some other ability like Epicenter or Ravage, or secondary initiation skills like Slithereen Crush or other Stomp-based abilities.
Given the old ultimate was almost always cut short on heroes with BKB at around the 2-3 second mark, this remake is a realistic look at the problem, without making it too powerful to counter these things. It's still an effective initiation skill when combined with Guise (sneak in, SURPRISE BUTTSECKS the enemy team). Combined with an another AoE initiation and Leech Seed you can pump out some hefty damage while healing your team as they beat down on those trapped.
Pros + Cons
- [+] Large area of effect
- [+] Shorter cooldown
- [+] Effective damage over a short duration
- [+] Prevents blinking
- [+] Disables already magic immune units
- [+] Low mana cost compared to other comparable ultimates
- [-] Easily countered by BKB/Repel
- [-] (Relatively) short duration
Skill Builds
Ganker Build
- 1. Living Armour
- 2. Nature's Guise
- 3. Living Armour
- 4. Leech Seed
- 5. Living Armour
- 6. Overgrowth
- 7. Living Armour
- 8. Leech Seed
- 9. Leech Seed
- 10. Leech Seed
- 11. Overgrowth
- 12. Nature's Guise
- 13. Nature's Guise
- 14. Nature's Guise
- 15. Attribute Bonus
- 16. Overgrowth
- 17+ Attribute Bonus
Very different from the ganker build due to the change in Living Armour, you now max Living Armour first by level 7, taking 1 level in Guise and 1 level in Seed because your main goal in laning, now, is to be of assistance to either your lane partner, or to the other 2 lanes if you're the hardlane-solo. You only need 1 level in Guise because all you're doing is leeching XP from the lane as Rooftrellen is very item independent, being naturally tanky, and that 1 level of Guise is enough to ensure you're able to escape kill attempts on your early on as it's unlikely they will have enough invisibility reveal to kill you or enough HP to dive your tower (however I stress this won't always be the case).
Support Build
- 1. Living Armour
- 2. Nature's Guise
- 3. Living Armour
- 4. Leech Seed
- 5. Living Armour
- 6. Overgrowth
- 7. Living Armour
- 8. Leech Seed
- 9. Leech Seed
- 10. Leech Seed
- 11. Overgrowth
- 12. Nature's Guise
- 13. Nature's Guise
- 14. Nature's Guise
- 15. Attribute Bonus
- 16. Overgrowth
- 17+Attribute Bonus
Very different from the ganker build due to the change in Living Armour, you now max Living Armour first by level 7, taking 1 level in Guise and 1 level in Seed because your main goal in laning, now, is to be of assistance to either your lane partner, or to the other 2 lanes if you're the hardlane-solo. You only need 1 level in Guise because all you're doing is leeching XP from the lane as Rooftrellen is very item independent, being naturally tanky, and that 1 level of Guise is enough to ensure you're able to escape kill attempts on your early on as it's unlikely they will have enough invisibility reveal to kill you or enough HP to dive your tower (however I stress this won't always be the case).
Item Builds
Early Items
For those still favouring a more defensive playstyle, Headdress of Rejuvenation is a decent item, offering stats and an addition regeneration aura for your lane partner(s). It doesn't provide anything for your mana regeneration but with good last hitting you can buy clarities/RoB with little hassle.
A classic starting item for many heroes, it also works well with Rooftrellen if you feel like going for a more agressive playstyle. Since you already get health regeneration from your aura, RoB provides the other side of regen with it's mana aura. The additional armour is also great for absorbing harassing.
A stock-standard item for many heroes, but being a support hero, Rooftrellen is a strong candidate to buy a courier.
Quelling Blade is very useful on Rooftrellen. He has high starting damage, making using it even easier than on most heroes. It helps you last hit much more effectively.
A great item for ganking and laning, it provides HP and MP regeneration, as well as burst MP restoration. This is probably better than Urn for Rooftrellen, however both are pretty good. Soul Ring is slightly cheaper, however, and is probably a better option because it doesn't rely on charges.
Mid Game Items
One of the most widely used items across all heroes, Power Treads is a sound investment for most of the game. Giving stats and attackspeed (as well as movement speed) it's an allround item that finds it's place on just about every hero, Rooftrellen as well.
In the late game, Boots of Travel allows you and your auras to be where they need to be, when they need to be. However they cost a bomb (for boots) and so may not be for everyone.
Cheap and easy to make, these will solve your mana problems pretty well. They also benefit your lane partner(s) by giving them extra mana boosts as well. Later, however, they should be swapped out for either Treads or Travels, due to their total lack of survivability in any form (Treads have +strength, Travels have Tp).
Being a gank oriented hero, as well as a support hero, makes Rooftrellen a decent candidate for buying Urn on most teams. The mana regeneration is welcome, as is the +6 strength. The active ability suites his ganker style since he'll be likely to be close to plenty of action.
The health bonuses from this item, as well as the movement speed aura and the active ability are ideal on Rooftrellen. Leech Seed slows enemies, this makes you and your team faster, both passively and additively actively. A very effective item on Rooftrellen, in both his ganker and support roles.
Other than Mekansm, no other item defines supportive like Vladmir's Offering. Providing a raft of great auras for the team, it boosts your damage, armour, mana regen and gives lifesteal to boot. As an aurawhore hero, this item is great on Rooftrellen who, with his "near unstoppable constitution" will always be in the thick of things, giving all the auras he's got.
Another few auras for Rooftrellen to hoarde, this item is a strong supporting item but also works well in ganks, giving the team that extra health boost to helps them strike through and win the fight. This boost does taper off in it's effectiveness during the late game but it's still nevertheless useful. However by the time it is less useful in teamfights, it's a great item for pushing, effectively doubling the durability of a creep wave.
Essentially this item can work as a supplement to Nature's Guise, providing both a ganking and escaping mechanism to Roof. I think the use of this item is quite clear to most players.
The armour reduction of this item's active makes it a powerful ganking item when you've decided to take down a specific hero. Bear in mind it also reduces YOUR armour, but if you've co-ordinated the gank properly, that shouldn't be a problem. The armour and mana regeneration are very welcome, making this a pretty decent item.
Late Game Items
Rooftrellen is a tank. There are no two ways about it. He's got a large native health pool (~2300hp without items @ level 25) and Heart of Tarrasque just makes him all the harder to take down. With Heart alone he has over 3300hp, making him a formidable hero to kill.
An awesome item for a tank like Rooftrellen, and when combined with his slow, allowing him to stay with the targeted hero, can dish out heavy damage over a period of time. The raw damage is quite high, providing extra oomph to his physical attacks. If he already has a Janggo, then he can chase enemies down with this. Bear this in mind when deciding on Radiance, however: I have placed it in the late game category due to it's price, however it's effects are much more suited to the MID game, and if you want to get this at a time when it's MOST effective, it's best bought as a rushed item.
Necronomicon is a powerful item in the mid to late game when used properly. The movement speed aura given by the summons further assists Rooftrellen and his team in chasing fleeing heroes. The mana burn and feedback abilities also dish out additional DPS to compliment Rooftrellen's ultimate and Leech Seed.
While not providing an aura of any kind, Khadgar's Pipe of Insight is a team item, providing protection to nearby allies from a decent chunk of magical damage. It would compliment Necronomicon nicely by extending the protection to your summons. The health regeneration and magic resistance further increase the tankiness of Rooftrellen.
While the damage portion of his ultimate has been completely removed, the duration at level 3 with Refresher orb is now 9 seconds, which is massive. It also means that any BKBs that were baited out with the first cast of his ultimate will now be caught by the second cast. And if the enemy BKBs have low level durations, then Refresher Orb becomes even more powerful in rendering their BKBs useless. This is not an item that can be rushed because of the incredibly high mana cost of refreshing, but as a mid-late game item it is quite viable now.
Giving another 3 auras (2 for your team, 1 to weaken the enemy) Assault Cuirass is a powerful IAS and armour item for the late game. If you're going for a more DPS styled Rooftrellen, then this is a solid item choice for this stage in the game due to the strong bonuses it gives both you and your team. Support Build Set
DPS/Tank Build Set
Edited by basicdotaguide.blogspot.com