Dota 2 item and build guide - Bounty Hunter (Gondar)

If you are new to Dota 2, be sure to check out my guide for beginners here..

"When the hunted tell tales of Gondar the Bounty Hunter, none are sure of which are true. In whispered tones they say he was abandoned as a kit, learning his skill in tracking as..."

• Role: Semi-carry, Ganker, Offlaner.
• Farm priority: 2 or 3
  

Bounty Hunter is a melee agility hero who excels are taking down heroes one at a time. With all 4 of his abilities, he has high amounts of burst damage, allowing him to gank with ease and rack up bonus gold with this ultimate; Track.

Notes:

• Jinada:
  • This will not amplify the damage of your Shadow Walk ability.
• Shadow walk:
  • Will not break most channeling of spells upon activation.
  • The base damage this ability gives you will not be multiplied by critical hits.
  • Invisibility is broken as soon as you start an attack, or start casting any spell.
• Track:
  
  • Bounty Hunter will get the bonus gold if the target dies while the spell is still active, regardless of how it dies.
  • Gives True Sight of the target.
  • Bonus gold will be added as reliable gold.
  • Goes through magic immunity such as Black King Bar. However, if a unit becomes magic immune while under the effects of Track it will be dispelled.

With whatever build you're going, ALWAYS have 2 points into Shuriken (Q). Damage: 100/200/250/325, so we can see the damage at level 2 is double the amount of level 1, while level 3 only adds 50 damage, and level 4 adds 75.

Build 1 is focused on the heavy burst damage. This build is safe and reliable build.

Build 2 is focused on having Jinada (W) on low cooldown. and you feel as though you need more burst for last hitting or harassing. I like having Shadow walk on level 2 just for the extra duration.

Jinada (W) vs Shadow walk (E):

• At Level 7 and with phase boots (with ~100 damage attack damage), leveling Jinada (W)(after level 1) will only increase the damage output by 25 per level. Don't forget the cool down decreases per level
• Shadow walk's (E) damage increases by 30 per level. This damage independent of hero level and items.
• So which one? preference really
  • If you want lower cooldown on burst damage, then max Jinada (W)
  • If you want longer duration in invisibility and more reliable damage, max Shadow Walk (E)

Bounty hunter can be VERY versatile with this item build, these items are the typical items that work well with him:

• Phase boots: increases damage for Jinada (W), also allows you to chase and escape easier
• Bottle: you will need mana, and you'll be ganking a lot. this item is perfect for you
• Drums of endurance: Bounty Hunter is quite squishy, so you need both its stats and the aura as the attack and movement speed are very useful for this kind of heroes
• Desolator: gives you a huge boost in 1vs1 fights: the faster you get it, the more efficient it is. You can pretty much 1 shot squishy supports with this
• Black king bar: get this if the enemy team has lots of magic damage and disables.
• Monkey king bar: increase your damage

Why not Battlefury?

This is by far one of the most common items from un-experienced Bounty Hunter players: they pick this item because it's recommended by the in-game item section. Battlefury is a creep farming tool, a 4350g investment to farm creeps faster. Bounty Hunter kills enemy heroes with Track to get gold, he farms heroes NOT creeps.

"But Battlefury provides a lot of damage right?" Yes, but there are better and cheaper items suited for ganking and killing, such as a Desolator.

Early game:

• Get as much last hits as possible, you want to have your bottle and boots before level 6.
• Always make sure your Shadow walk (E) is off cooldown in case they try to kill you.
• Play it safe early on - don't die, you want to get level 6 as soon as possible.
• If you have ranged ally on your lane, you can afford to be more aggressive.

Late early game/mid game (starts when you're around level 6):

• This is the phase where you shine.
• Grab your bottle, grab your boots, grab some TP scrolls and start ganking. Have a Town Portal Scroll ALWAYS
• Roam around the map, ping to let your team know you're coming. Track, kill, get money. Rinse and repeat.
• The usual combo is - Shadow walk (E) before you go in and then hit, Track (R), you and your team hit a few times and then Shuriken (Q) to finish off. You can Shuriken (Q) earlier if you want your teammate to get the kill.
• It's advisable to let your Shadow walk (E) finish its cooldown or almost finishes its cooldown before breaking invisibility because sometimes you might get counter ganked and you have to save yourself.

Late game:

• If your mid game has been going swell, you should be a functioning semi-carry by late game.
• Be more careful now, NEVER gank alone. By this time, the supports will have enough money for a gem or sentry wards be now. So stay with your team.
• When team fighting, Track (R) as many heroes as possible to maximize the gold gained.
• Always have a town portal scroll to defend your own towers and to TP back to base.

• Try to always scout your enemy heroes to see if they have any sentries, gems or dusts. If they do, remember to play passively.
• When soloing an enemy hero, try to wait for your cooldown on Shadow walk (E) to be over so you can attack with your initial Shadow walk (E), then use your Shadow walk (E) again to trigger the burst damage twice.