Troll Warlord
CLUB: NO PUSSIES

:: introduction

Receiving some major buffs in 6.60, Troll Warlord is a more viable pick than in hitherto versions. With easier laning and the ability to jungle fantastically due to abuse of the Quelling Blade, its become easier than ever to turn him into the manly, brawling badass that he was always destined to be.

Troll is certainly one of those "hard" carries that can take out just about any other hero in the game -- however, his drawbacks lie in his paper-HP and his unsatiable taste for expensive items, just like any other carry hero in the game. If you rice like a dumbfuck, go practice with another hero before coming back and attempting to "carry your team to victory." Don't make a disgrace out of a bamf like Troll.

This guide is not intended for newer players to the game. Neither is Troll. However, trolls are fully welcome. I love a good laugh.

do play Troll if...

- you think stunlocking bitches is fun
- you like to get up close and personal like a real man does
- you've always dreamed of having a mohawk but are too pussy to get one in real life
- you don't mind a bit (a ton) of farm
- all the pressure of winning the game for your team relies on you? npnp

don't play Troll if...

- you're a little pussy that usually plays CM
- you last hit like you have Parkison's
- you don't like playing ugly heroes
- you like baking muffins in the kitchen
- you're a fucking dumbshit
- your teammates are fucking dumbshits

:: table of contents

Skills & Stats
Skill Build
Jungling v. Laning
Item Build
Jungling
Roshing
Fucking up
Friends & Foes
Replays
Changelog

skills & stats

starting stats:

Str: 17 + 2.2x			Agi: 21 + 2.75x			Int: 13 + 1x
Damage: 38 - 56 / 53 - 71			HP: 473 / 573			MP: 169

stats at level 25 (with +):

Str: 69 + 20			Agi: 87 + 20			Int: 37 + 20
Damage: 104-122 / 119 - 137			HP: 1841 / 1941			MP: 741

Bezerker's Ra[g]e

Jah'rakal goes berserk, using his throwing axes as melee weapons. He gains bonus damage, movement speed, attack speed, hit points, armor, and the Bash ability, but can only attack at melee range. Adds 15 damage, 100 HP, and reduces BAT to 1.55.

Level 1: 5% chance to deal 25 bonus damage and stun for 2 seconds. Adds 20 MS.
Level 2: 5% chance to deal 50 bonus damage and stun for 2 seconds. Adds 20 MS.
Level 3: 10% chance to deal 25 bonus damage and stun for 2 seconds. Adds 20 MS.
Level 4: 10% chance to deal 50 bonus damage and stun for 2 seconds. Adds 30 MS.

This skill has it all: damage, HP, ASPD, MS, and turns your axes into little baseball bats that smash heads in. What more could you want? Of course, Troll doesn't get much girls with the way he looks, but still, by the time you're finished with that Windrunner trying to run away, she's going to be looking a lot more like Helen Keller.

[B]lind

A searing light blinds the vision of a target enemy unit, making it miss on some attacks. Lasts 15 seconds.

Level 1: 20% miss chance, 15 second CD
Level 2: 28% miss chance, 12 second CD
Level 3: 36% miss chance, 9 second CD
Level 4: 44% miss chance, 6 second CD

Although negated by the new MKB True Strike, Blind is a great skill to knock out any late-game competition you may have. A 42% miss rate combined with Butterfly's 30% evasion gives you more EHP to troll while you're trolling.

Fervor

When Jah'rakal engages an opponent, his animalistic nature grants him even greater proficiency in single combat. With each continuous blow on the same target, Jah'rakal gains understanding of the prey's defenses, and guides each strike with greater ease than the last. Caps at 100% IAS. If Troll changes targets, his rage counter drops to half of what it was before.

Level 1: 5% increased attack speed per attack
Level 2: 10% increased attack speed per attack
Level 3: 15% increased attack speed per attack
Level 4: 20% increased attack speed per attack

Fervor is perhaps Troll's greatest buff. With the ability to increase your attack speed by a hundred percent, Troll is guaranteed to get stronger and thrust his axes harder and faster as time flies on. And when you're having fun bashing skulls in, time really does fly.

Battle T[r]ance

Jah'rakal unconsciously uses dormant magic to awaken the savagery of every warrior on the battlefield. Greatly increases attack speed for a short duration. Lasts 5 seconds on allies, and 8 on Troll.

Level 1: Increases attack speed by 60%
Level 2: Increases attack speed by 80%
Level 3: Increases attack speed by 100%

Combined with the new Fervor, the new Battle Trance makes Troll's attack speed devastating. Although much shorter than the old Rampage, the new skill boasts a global, team presence. Additionally, it gives you a "jump-start" so that by the time it ends, your Fervor has already kicked in to its fullest potential. Plus, it makes you light up like Chinese fireworks.

skill build

the cookie-cutter jungler build

1 - Bezerker Rage
2 - Fervor
3 - Fervor
4 - Bezerker Rage
5 - Fervor
6 - Battle Trance
7 - Fervor
8~9 - Bezerker Rage
10 - Blind
11 - Battle Trance
12~14 - Blind
15 - +
16 -Battle Trance
17~25 - +

the lane-build

1 - Bezerker Rage
2 - Blind
3 - Blind
4 - Bezerker Rage
5 - Blind
6 - Battle Trance
7 - Blind/Fervor
8~9 - Bezerker Rage
10 - Fervor
11 - Battle Trance
12 - Fervor
13 - Fervor
14 - Fervor/Blind
15 - +
16 -Battle Trance
17~25 - +

Tip: It is especially important to stress that Troll's skill build is highly variable, especially dependent on whether you choose to lane or take to the jungle, as well as the opposing line-up. As general rules of thumb:

Blind...
- should only be taken early in a lane where there are physical DPSers or if you wish to make last-hitting hell.
- can be completely skipped if the opposing team has a lack of physical DPSers that pose any significant threat. In this case, taking Stats would be a much better option.
Bezerker's Rage
- level three of Rage and four give the same chance to bash; however, four offers the benefit of 10 extra MS and 25 bonus bash damage (insignificant). Consider taking Stats in place of L4 Rage if you don't need the extra MS.

Fervor
- can be skipped in favor of Blind or Stats if you're laning instead of jungling, as the extra ASPD is mostly wasted.
- is absolutely imperative for jungling; if you choose to NC, max Fervor out as soon as possible.

Battle Trance
- take it whenever you can, and activate it not only for yourself, but when your team needs the bonus ASPD as well.

jungling v. laning

There are scenarios in which either of them is a good option. Generally, you should duck into the jungle if you're in a hard lane (think CM and Kunkaa). On the flip-side, staying in lane is usually a better option if you're laning against an easier enemy combo (such as pubs pairing together a Mortred and an Ursa), or you have a babysitter watching over you. The golden rule? Go wherever there's money to be made.

item build

starting items

Stout Shield - Great for jungling, and good in lane too. Stout Shield should be upgraded to a PMS as soon as possible.

Quelling Blade - Combined with Fervor, makes you an even better jungler.

Real Man's Tip: Be sure to level up Bezerker Rage at level one, switch to melee, and then buy a QB. If you decide to lane, switching it back to ranged will still keep you the 32% extra damage.

Tangoes - why hullo thur, regen item is gud

core items

Poor Man's Shield - Gives you agility, and a great damage block for an easier time jungling. A must-have for Troll. Sell this later when you don't need it anymore.

Wraith Bands - Gives you an extra bit of damage and HP if you're in the market. One, two, three, stack them as you see fit. If you're farming well, you can opt to skip them.

Treads - Switch them to HP treads for that extra bit of life and a nice 30% IAS boost.

BKB - Absolutely essential on Troll Warlord, BKB gives you HP, damage, and most importantly, lets you fuck shit up without getting pounded down by one Hellfire Blast or Laguna Blade. ~~You can skip this in pubs since they suck~~ Never skip it.

HotD - You lifesteal while you're trolling? Damn, son, you're cooler than Lil' Wayne and his dipshit music. Note that lifesteal overrides QB, so drop it like its hot after you get a Dominator. Don't forget to actually dominate something to help you unless you have an IQ of under 60 and lost your right hand in the Vietnam War (you're forgiven if you do).

Real Man's Tip: HotD can be used in a large variety of ways other than to simply steal life. Dominating a creep grants you access to a large variety of skills (snares, stuns, buffs, and disables), allows you to stack ancients remotely (and come back later for a fast thousand gold), and can be used as a 1k HP, mobile, defensive (or offensive) ward. In late-game, it even retains its usefulness by allowing you to dominate an Alpha Wolf for the Command Aura (the bonus damage is nothing to be laughed at).

Is it expensive? Hell yeah, bitch, have you ever played a carry before? Farm it as fast as you can; whether that's feeding on heroes or feeding on furlbogs, its all good as long as you do it like a man and faster than a girl takes to buy jeans at the mall.

luxury & situational items

rejected items

jungling

With his new Fervor skill, Troll is one of the better junglers in the game. With just a Stout Shield, QB, and some regen, Troll can jungle starting from level one.

Your support hero should be buying a chicken (later upgraded to a flying crow) as well as warding down your forest to prevent ganks -- any competent player would be happy to do so. If your support hero is unwilling to make that small investment, tell him to fuck off, add him to your banlist, and don't play Troll. In any sort of higher-level play, your ass will be pounded down harder than a good porno flick without the help of wards.

Keep a constant flow of regen items flowing from your base to yourself in the jungle through the use of your courier. Remember to pull and stack creep camps when necessary. Stay in the jungle for as long as possible, and pop out to assist ganks if 1) you're assured of a kill, and 2) you have enough firepower to not get throttled in the process. Be sure to ult not only for yourself, but for your team as well: the extra attack speed could be the small difference it takes to successfully gank a hero or to fail miserably and miserably fail.

Remember: above all, your job is to rice and carry your team. Stay in the jungle, and duck out to lane whenever its safe. A crucial skill of playing a carry hero is to know when its "safe" to farm in lane. Keen map-awareness, common sense, and experience are all necessary elements in understanding when its safe to grab that extra bit of EXP and gold in lane, as opposed to getting your ass ganked down by that sexy Crystal Maiden with a BSDM Troll fetish.

roshing

No one can solo Rosh quite like Ursa, but Troll comes rather close. With HotD alone, Troll can decimate Roshan into rubble, net that extra gold, pick up an Aegis, and rape more face. Watch out for wards and ganks while you're at it, though. The last thing you want is for the enemy team to gank you right when you're almost done and to steal your hard-earned kill.

Real Man's Tip: Dominating an Ogre Mage and having it cast Frost Shield on you helps enormously. With it, its possible to kill Roshan at level 8.

fucking up

Its okay, sometimes even real men mess it up. Like how James Bond only got to sleep with Strawberry Fields once in Quantum of Solace before she got fuckeeed up. Hopefully you won't make a mistake that big, but if you're reading a guide, you probably will. But atleast if you fuck up, learn to do it like a man.

- you have a shit early-game

Tip: Oh no, really? You have no escape mechanism, no nuke, you hit like a girl, and you have to get up close to them to actually bash their head in; in most cases, if you even take two steps forward you get nuked into oblivion. If that's the case, ward down your jungle and stay in there for a while. Its not being a pussy if you're Troll - hell fucking no! You're Mike Tyson training to kill them bitches later in the ring.

- learn to switch from melee to range

Tip: Although Troll's MO is to stunlock the shit out of every single hero on the battlefield, he's also a straight DPS monster with his insane ASPD. There are many instances where it's more than favorable to switch out of melee and lose your bash ability for the advantage of a ranged attack. Sure, he loses MS, ASPD, and bash, but in those instances where you don't need a bash to kill an enemy / finish them off, swapping to melee to throw your somehow-infinite axes like a fucking madman is the better option.

- disables > you

Tip: Right, so you can stunlock a person so fast and for so long that they can't even blame it on lag. Too bad that they just chain-stun you and you die...

- your team isn't doing its job

Tip: If you have a bad line-up, you're more or less fucked. There's not much you can do with a team of 5 AGI carries. On the other hand, if you're line-up is fine, make sure your teammates are doing their job: in late-game, 90% of the time it'll be supporting you as best as they can. Make sure all buffs are casted on you (e.g. Repel, Bloodlust, Empower, etc.) rather than on your fellow teammates, and that you are not the one initiating. Troll should be the one dropping people dead all over the place, not the one Ramboing in and throwing a massive ring of spikes around. Communication is extremely important: make sure that your teammates know who to focus out first and set up the kill accordingly for you. Above all, play as a team at the end. Stop jungling, stop farming, and show off to your friends what a goddamn BAMF you are / aka kill them bitches and fuck them hoes.

- you're farming and you're farming, but you're dying so much that you can't get your core items

Tip: Learn to farm a little more safely. Some of it is just experience; most of it is map-awareness and common sense. If you're jungling, make sure your forest is warded down and ~~run like hell when you see them coming~~ evade them like a man for the time being so that you can live to fight another day. If you're getting ganked every five seconds, you're doing something wrong.

- I just got dominated against a line-up of Dirge, Rhasta, CM, Krob, and Tidehunter. Where did I go wrong?

Tip: Let's face it. Troll still needs some hard buffs to be anything else than a surprise pick in higher-level play. The current meta-game simply doesn't favor AGI carries anymore, as their lackadaisical early-game wrecks them hard. Don't get your panties up in a bunch if you got dominated against a stronger line-up, and take solace in the fact that while they picked pussy heroes like Krob and Necro, that you went down fighting like a man. Fuck yeah.

- you're a noob and/or don't have common sense

Tip: Sorry man, but you're fucked. This guide can't help you.

- your teammates suck

Tip: gg for you.

friends & foes

Who does Troll work well with?

Troll works extremely well with disablers, initiators, and tanks. Any hero that can draw fire away from himself and his low-HP is a god-given teammate for Troll. Heroes like Tidehunter, Sven, Axe, Warlock, and even casters like Lion and Puck are extremely good allies, as they have an easy time setting up the kill for Troll.

Other heroes worth mentioning are item-independent support heroes that can help him farm up and keep safe. Warlock (with his Shadow Word and RoC), Dazzle (his entire skillset), CM (Aura and Bite), Chen (stuns, slows, and heals) are always good picks to place in a lane with Troll so that he has an easier time beefing up.

Tip: If the enemy team has no natural Diffusal carriers, an Omniknight/Troll combo wrecks teams entirely. With Omni repelling Troll, Troll can skip BKB in its entirety and farm up a quick Butterfly, swallowing teams whole in his wake.

Who does Troll fall hard to?

The only potential hero that a farmed Troll can fall hard to is an equally farmed Void - and even that's unlikely, as its almost twice as hard to farm up a Void as it is a Troll due to Troll's innate jungling ability.

As such, the only heroes that truly ruin him are spellcasters and gankers that have the ability to shut him down and stun him to death early-game. Heroes such as Lion, Slayer, Lich, Puck, Bloodseeker, Spiritbreaker, Vengeful, and Leshrac, are all problems. After obtaining your BKB, they should be no problem to handle -- anytime before then, however, and you're absolute food.

Tip: Bloodseeker is an important hero to mention if you're jungling. With Thirst, he can sense you when you're at low-HP and repeatedly gank you to death. Even with wards, his IMS and Rupture overpowers you and makes your life a hell.

replays

vigoss v. RiPPeR