Jin'zakk The Batrider

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How to gang the hell out of your enemies

23 + 2.5 15 + 1.5 24 + 2.5

Introduction:

The following guide will give you the basics about Jin'zakk - a new hero featured in DotA 6.60. All statistics and ability descriptions in it are as in the 6.60 version of the map.

Abilities introduction:

Sticky Napalm

Damage wise the additional damage is rather useless. The movement and turn rate speeds slow is also at too low values, so better spend some skill points at stats bonus rather on sticky napalm, unless your team lacks serious stunners/disablers so even the not-so-effective Sticky Napalm may come in handy.

Flamebreak

The best skill in early game for Jin'zakk for three reasons: low manacost, good farming skill (even without combining it with Sticky Napalm), good AoE/disable for ganging if used wise.

Firefly

A very useful skill giving Jin'zakk huge strategic advantage, allowing him to fly over ANY objects and obstackles for full 15 seconds AND doing fairly nice damage. This two featurs of the same skill allow him to hit and run without being killed if surprised by too many foes and to farm better at midgame. Due to it's higher manacost compared to Flamebreak and long cooldown (40 sec) it's more useful mid/late game.

Flaming Lasso

A very funny disabling skill, that can be quite useful if used right! It's important to mention that the Flaming Lasso itself does NOT cause any harm to the enemy, so usage is the key to success.

Note: Full description and statistics of the skills can be found here.

Strategy:

The goal of this guide is to give you tips on how to use Jin'zakk effectively as ganging and support hero in early/mid game. This determines the core build (see below) of the hero used for this guide:

Skill build

Core Items

Useful Items

Why Lothar's Edge?

The whole idea is based on making the batrider a decent gang hero. Since the Flaming Lasso cast range is around 250, it's hard to surprise the victim and catch him, especially when there's ally with him. That's where the Lothar's Edge come in handy. Just sneak next to it grab him with the Lasso and start the Firefly. Keep in mind that the lasso itself does NOT hurt the foes, so it's enough just to drag him a bit so he can go over the fire(unless there're allies to help him). While the lasso is still active do 2-3 hits and use the Flamebreak for additional damage/disable. Agility and inteligence heroes will die pretty easy, since the base damage of Jin'zakk is pretty high.

Important note: When the Firefly is active, the activation of lothar edge will override the fly-over-obstacles feature of the Firefly untill you are under the Lothar's Edge effect.

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To farm or to gang early game?

For effective 1 on 1 kills it's nice to have 3-4 lvl on both Firefly and Flamebreak, so it's good to concentrate on farming first. It's vital to get the Lothar's Edge as fast as possible, so use the strong last hit and the decent AOE of the Flamebreak to achieve that. Khalen's Dagger could be used as well, but the Lothar's edge combined with the Firefly is a superb escape mechanism.

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What to do after that?

The other useful items that you can go for after the Lothar's Edge is dagon to make 1 on 1 insta kills.

The new for 6.60 item Force Staff is rather cheep, but can be deadly if used correctly: Basically sneak near your viction and Lasso it triggering the Firefly. When the Lasso is over fast use the Force Staff to push him in your direction (he will be facing you due to the Lasso), so if he wants to escape should run in your direction or go through the burning trails by your Firefly. Finish him off with Firebreak when you see fit.

The bloodstone can be useful to recharge your HP and mana between two attacks (30-60 seconds).

Since the Strenght/Intelligence gain of Jin'zakk are pretty high, he doesn't need any Null Talismans or Bracers early game, so you can go straight to the precious Lothar's Edge.

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Why Sticky Napalm on level 4?

Sticky napalm gives small bonus damage to your fire spells such as the Firebreak. After a few tries I found it easier to farm (especially the range Sentinel/Scourge creeps) with 1 level on it. However to be really effective against heroes, this skill needs to be cast at lest 3-4 times on the enemy, which will warn him on your planned attack and is rather useless combined with the Lothar's edge.

Conclusion:

Jin'zakk is a hero with much potential and verastility. This guide helped you to use him as gang hero and 1 on 1 fighter early/mid game (much like the Nerubian Assassin). Of course this is just a frame of Jin'zakk's applications, especially combined with other heroes. So feel free to experiment. Expect how to use Jin'zakk in combinations with other heroes in the next version of the guide!