Guide to Rooftrellen, the Treant Protector

Hero Overview

Pros:
1. Tough
2. Easy deny/last hitting
3. Unique ability: grant invisibility
4. Unique ability: heals and grants armor to allies/towers
6. Pretty imba ultimate


Cons:
1. Melee with no disable
2. No instant heal/aoe
3. can be useless without teamwork
4. Easily countered escape mechanism


What is Rooftrellen good at?
Semi-global supporter, best team player, healer, tank

When would be a good situation to choose Rooftrellen?
If your team needs an omni-supporter that isn't item dependent


Playstyle

After the latest remake, Treant Protecter(TP) is sitting on the side in many professional tournaments, largely because of his imba skills. However, he can be pretty useless in random matches, this is a hero that gives everything for the team and expects the same vice versa.




Playstyle Explained

Items, skill build and play style for the game are locked together. There is no one and only playstyle. For this guide, I propose the following builds

Support ganker:


Rooftrellen cannot gank on his own. He doesn't have that much damage. Pair up with someone. Call, beg, or threaten to rage quit. Teamwork wins the day.
Tips to a smooth, successful gank:




GANK WITH INVISIBILITY
Nature's Guise is a largely underrated skill. For ganking, it can be cast on allied heroes who are deadly at close range, such as Ursa Warrior. Closing the distance and remaining unseen is the real problem for these heroes and you are the perfect solution. Use your imagination.

Heroes that benefit from Nature's Guise:


And more. For such heroes above, getting close is the true problem. Once they do, shit happens.



These common middle lane solo gankers are so infamous experienced players would turn and run the instant someone appears. Help them close in.

SKILL BUILD


Get 2 levels of Nature's Guise for a reasonable duration and not-too-long cooldown. Maximize Leech Seed as it's your ONLY damage/slow skill. Then after lvl 7:


Living Armor is a great team skill, but in this playstyle the other two skills are much more important. 2 levels of Nature's Guise should be enough for most situations, maximize Living Armor asap.



Item Build


Get these when you start the game.



Get these and start ganking. Remember to use Urn of Shadows to heal/finish dying enemies. You'll start running out of mana pretty soon, refer to recommended items section for solutions.



ALTERNATIVE PLAYSTYLE

Rooftrellen can also be a mid-game leader. In this playstyle, you lay low and farm until level 10/11, get the necessary items, then start getting aggressive and join whoever's ganking/pushing. If no one's doing it, you need to rally your teammates.



SKILL BUILD

As you're staying on the lane longer, get Living Armor first to make it a lot easer.


Depending on the overall situation, you might wanna start moving at level 10 when things are not going well for your team. Max Leech Seeds for obvious reasons. By now, you MUST have at least 1 level of Nature's Guise.



Item Build


Get the axe to make the most out of early game. Most heroes don't have your high attack, so do your best to last hit/deny.


Predefining Rooftrellen's mid-game items is, imo, not the best thing to do. In general, you need to get a pair of upgraded boots+mana regen+something 2000+. It could look like:


Or maybe



It all depends on what your side needs. Below is a list of recommended mid-game items:


Extremely useful and versatile item. Increases mana regen, boosts armor(especially if you didn't level up Living Armor), and pushes the lane forward. Team booster. Combine this with Urn of Shadows+Phase Boots/Power Treads for unlimited mana.



Health/Mana regeneration item plus minor damage. Get this if no one in your team does. Rooftrellen will be on the frontline of the fight so as long as you die before they do, you'll collect points.



Extremely useful and upgradable item. It's active skill costs only 25 mana and can be kept on at all times.



All-round booster plus 4 charges if catching up is what you need. This is more expensive so it's situational.



Get what you want. Getting Arcane Boots makes the hero kinda fragile, so get a Vanguard or HoD to make up to it. If you get Phase Boots/Power Treads, it's best to get a Soul Ring after 2 or more levels of Living Armor to keep up with mana usage.



Get Vanguard or HoD depending the major type of damage you receive. The Pipe of Insight is also a great item on the hero. A Pipe/Urn/Mekan/Janggo is standard team items for any professional team, and so should yours. If no one gets it, then do it yourself.


Tips for teamfighting

• Fight near trees
• • Keep at least one member invisible to misguide enemies into believing that you're outnumbered.
  • Save dying allies, keep in mind that there is a 2 sec fade time. Cast early.
  • Cast invisibility on yourself and scout for your teammates. You can also cast invisibility on your allies without exposing yourself.
  
  
• Tank for your teammates
• Move together

FAQS
WTF Rooftrellen has no DPS? His stats are awesome!

Stats aren't everything, and certainly isn't the only factor to punching huge damage.

These are the major late game dpsers most professional teams use:


I've only listed the melee ones here for easy comparison. Except for Syllabear, all of them can either blink in, fly in, or literally apparate in. Next, they all farm to farm more efficiently, and once they get their first core item like Radiance or Battlefury, it's like an unstoppable stream of money flowing in. And finally, all of them have some kind of DPS skill. so the 3 major factors for a melee dps is: positioning, farming, dpsing. Does Rooftrellen qualify?


Can I play the hero as a late game carry?
Yes. Not the best option, but he can do a decent job. The trick is being one core item ahead and avoid dying.


There isn't any really expensive(cool) items in this guide, can you recommend some?
I can but the hero in this guide is a supporter/ganker/tank, he doesn't have the money. If you're spending time farming, you're shifting the pressure on your teammates. Not that farming is BAD, my reckoning is by the deciding end of the game Rooftrellen should not have 7000+ in items.
So you have like

and that's like 6400+ already.


Is that the only(best) way to play the hero?
No. It all depends on team make up and how you want to play. There isn't a clear dividing line between ganker/supporter/farmer unless you're THAT obvious. Most of the time it's a blend, this guide is only food for thought.


That's about all. Welcome to comment.