[Progress Paused] Due to the new college year (in Ukraine the new year starts in September), I'm terribly busy with registration and legalities; as such, I will not be working on the guide for atleast a month. However, I promise that the guide WILL be completed before 2011 with enhancements to strategy (related to the latest map). Please feel free to add comments on the current draft and I will revise them thoroughly whenever I can snatch some free time. Peace~

Table of Contents

__________________________₪ Foreword and Disclaimer
__________________________₪ Introduction
__________________________₪ Hero Summary
__________________________₪ Strengths and Weaknesses
__________________________₪ Roles
__________________________₪ Skill Build
__________________________₪ Item Build
__________________________₪ Strategy
__________________________₪ Hero Relationships
__________________________₪ Replays
__________________________₪ Q & A Section
__________________________₪ Credits
__________________________₪ Changelog

Foreword and Disclaimer

This guide is directed mainly but NOT exclusively to those who wish to observe, appreciate, and experience Cairne's abilities as a 'hybrid hero'; a hero which can take on a number of roles. I will admit that the majority of my experience comes from pub-play, however, I have always strived to get the best out of every game; and enjoyed tough competition. I have ringed for the occasional inhouse and have read a plethora of guides. Summarizing, this guide should give you sufficient guidelines and strategic information needed to play a pub-level game and (depending on whether i can get further assistance from other members of the forum who participate/have participated in competetive-play of some sort) perhaps higher level play.

Introduction

Supp fellow dota lovers and friends. I've enjoyed and appreciated the quality of gameplay and level of fun dota has brought to the table in the recent years; especially the metagame contributions through luxurious and well thought-out guides that have enhanced the caliber of the competition and encouraged thinking 'outside the box'. This is my way of giving back to the community and fulfilling my somewhat long outstanding desire to create a guide.

Hero Summary

Strengths and Weaknesses

Pros:
[+] High base int and decent int gain for an str hero
[+] Ancestral spirit provides colossal burst damage
[+] Stomp and spirit allow for an extremely reliable long ranged 'stun'
[+] Ultimate provides an excellent initiator and aoe disable
[+] All his skills synergize and scale well as the game progresses

Cons:
[-] Relatively low str gain
[-] Low base agi and agi gain
[-] No reliable escape mechanism

Notable Characteristics:
₰ Relatively low str gain as compared to other str heroes
₰ All 3 of TC's active abilities provide an in-the-moment opportunity for attack
₰

Roles

Ganker
Cairne's active abilities and good base int enable him to deal significant damage from an early point in the game. The only requirement needed to fulfill this role is regen. A bottle, clarities, and if you're really smooth, soul ring should be great. In most games, this is the best and most logical role to start Cairne off with. His spells have decent cd and doesnt require much early-mid game survival items (with no items at level 6, TC has 815hp).

Initiator/Battle Caller
TC has game-breaking aoe skills which can be compared to heroes such as the 'magical' Kunkka, Earthshaker and Tide. Despite the uninevitable chance of missing due to his stomp's cast time and ult's delay, if pulled off correctly, his skills can spell defeat for enemies; If you hit all 5 heroes with Spirit (Level 4) you deal 1200 total damage, Stomp (level 4) allows 5 seconds for your team to fall into place and Earth Splitter deals 35% of targets' hp in damage while slowing by 50% for 5 (Level 4) heavenly seconds. Thats ALOT of leeway to start a battle off with don't you think? He maintains this role actively the entire game without worry because his ult remains effective due to it's % based damage.

Semi-carry
I'm aware this particular part of the guide will most likely receive harsh criticism. Nonetheless, I wish to throw this on the table as my opinion, and WILL keep an open mind about this. As such, please try to keep comments out of the "you and your carry TC guide suck" area and regulate decent suggestions supported with facts and alternatives.

I believe all of TC's skills combined give him the potential to fulfill this role. All his other abilities synergize perfectly with the damage and move-speed buffs that Spirit gives. Its a well known combo to slam his Spirit, Stomp, and Ult; what happens after this? To place perspective on how powerful his potential is, take a typical group of 2 heroes and 6 creeps - Spirit (Level 4) would give him 2(40) + 6(12) = a whopping 152 bonus physical attack damage (8 second duration).

What makes TC an ideal candidate to semi-carry? (carry to some degree as a side role atleast)

Originally Posted by neklodan
What is necessary for a carry to attack?

A stupid question, that needs to be answered seriously. To attack a carry must be in range (of the opponent), and must be able to attack (meaning not dead, or dissabled)!

A carry must be in range: Range can differ from melee to 600 on heroes. Obviously the longer the range, the better the hero is. My last sentence is only true for ranged heroes! Even though melee heroes are inferior in range, but they are usually better than ranged heroes with low range. Why? Heroes with low range (including melee) are balanced by better stats, or stronger abilities, but the main difference of ranged and melee, lies elsewhere. Melee can choose different items. While ranged heroes can have skadi and satanic (or mom) at the same time, melee can use Battlefury, Manta, Vladimirs and Bashers with more efficiency. Bashers get 15% chance to proc instead of the 10% for ranged heroes, but melee bash can also stun magic immune units. The damage type also differs, physical for ranged, and magic for melee heroes. Right now they are underused, but that may change in the near future.

In actual combat, the first thing we must do, is get in range! Melee and low ranged heroes have a big disadvantage here, and may need blink or invisibility to succeed. After you are in range you must maintain it. This can be done by stopping the opponents movement, or by going after him. Stopping the opponent is the best possible scenario for the carry. If you have to go after the enemy, you will loose time. Chasing is only possible, if the chasers move speed is greater than the opponents. Exceptions are heroes with low CD blinks. To achieve greater move speed, we must either decrease the opponents, or increase our own. Mobility is an important factor, when we are building carry heroes. The slower the opponent is, the less time we need to deal with him. Please note that the movement difference of the chaser and the prey has to be large enough for the chaser to attack once, before the prey gets out of range. Of course loads of IAS can help in this too, but increasing the gap between the movement speed is much more effective. For the reasons mentioned above, it is very difficult for melee heroes to maintain attack range. Of course that doesn't mater if the opponent doesn't (or can't) move.

A carry must be able to attack: If the carry is disabled or dead, he won't be able to attack. Silence cannot prevent a hero from attacking, but stun can. The opponent will disable, and kill the carry as fast as possible, since he is the main damage dealer. In order to survive the carry must either withstand the beating he gets, or he must make himself immune to disables. Another way to increase survivability is to make concentrated fire difficult for the enemy. With illusions for example. Or, if we cannot divide ourselves we might as well divide the enemy, with swapping skills. Divide and Rule! Dunno, who said that, but he was a really smart guy (edit: Julius Caesar). The carry becomes much more effective, when he deals with less opponents.

₪ "A carry must be in range" - Stomp gives you an enormous 5 second "disable" to get as 'up close and personal' to your opponent as you desire. Also Earth Splitter gives you a further 5 second movespeed advantage to beat on them.

₪ "A carry must be able to attack" - A carry must withstand the beating he gets or become immune to disables. TC has a great HP pool to take beating early on the game, and it doesn't take a genius to realize his need (depends on opponent lineup) for a BKB from mid-late game.

Originally Posted by neklodan
Even similar hero skills, can differ greatly. Generally it can be passive or spell based. Spells have limited duration, and different cooldowns. A spell may give temporary carry abilities. By now you should understand what a carry ability is, but if not please take another look at the carry tree. The target of the spell can be a factor in determining, if the hero should carry, or not. Abilities can differ whether, if they are stat-based, or not. Getting stats to balance the hero, is usually not the best solution, but some heroes have better synergy with stats, than others. Also heroes that have illusions, or abilities that work on illusions falls in to a very different category.

Spells: If the carry ability is temporary, than temporary item effects may work the best. For example, if the hero has a spell that gives temporary damage, than temporary IAS and magic immunity works spectacularly. Even if you manage to get constant IAS and survivability, the balance will be off as long as you don't get constant damage.

Passives are usually weaker, than temporary effects, but since they are constant, passives may be stronger in the long run. If we support passives with constant item effects, than the hero will be balanced properly.

Stat based abilities are rare, but important. Abilities that give damage with percentage values only amplify damage from your base, and main attribute. Since these heroes have better synergy with stats, an item that gives the needed attribute will have a higher value, than usual. Heroes that deal their main attribute as extra damage fall into this category as well.

Heroes with illusions should get items that support their minions. If you don't do that, than there's no point in choosing a hero with illusions. Some passives and effects from spells work on illusions. If the hero you carry with has this kind of ability, but doesn't have illusions you should consider getting manta style. Especially STR heroes with passive IAS (or low BAT) and MS. Remeber that not every passive works on illusions, and that a spell on your hero may be dispelled when you split to create illus.

What skills does TC have to support his carry potential?

₪ His spell Ancestral Spirit gives massive temporary damage
₪ His passive Natural Order significantly (up to 80%) reduces physical and magical resistance

Support
This guide will not focus on the support potential of TC per say, but this section exists for the purposes of completion and illuminates TC's truely hybrid role in the dota metagame.

This role is entirely dependent on the lineup of your allies and enemies, and the roles which each selected. TC's long distance "stun" and slow can save allies or create setups for dual lane endeavours or mid-game clashes (sounds a little like his initiator role doesn't it? - the sources of his potential from the 2 roles are the same). His passive benefits the entire team by reducing enemy (within 250-500 aoe) armor and spell resistance. If the game calls for it, i.e. if your team is in urgent need for an extra disable or if the enemy lineup is stacked with glass cannons, I wouldnt forbid you to get a Guinsoo or Shivas to boost your team's battle power.

Skill Build

Level 1 - Echo Stomp 1 / Ancestral Spirit 1
Level 2 - Ancestral Spirit 1 / Echo Stomp 1
Level 3 - Ancestral Spirit 2
Level 4 - Echo Stomp 2
Level 5 - Ancestral Spirit 3
Level 6 - Earth Splitter
Level 7 - Ancestral Spirit 4
Level 8 - Natural Order / Echo Stomp 3
Level 9 - Natural Order
Level 10 - Natural Order
Level 11 - Earth Splitter
Level 12 - Natural Order
Level 13 - Echo Stomp 3 / Natural Order
Level 14 - Echo Stomp 4
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Earth Splitter
Level 17+ - Stats

Justification

Stomp or Spirit first?
In most cases I would recommend Stomp 1st. It could save an ally or yourself from an early 1st blood or help your team get an early 1st blood by setting up your ally/you with a 2sec knockout (see FAQ section). Stomp also makes sure your enemies won't escape via TP.

In some cases, you're not aiming for a 1st blood and the opponents seem to be playing passively. In these cases Spirit get you some lane control. It gives you a decent damage/mana (120damage for 110mana) ratio for a level 1 nuke, has 1000 range, and gives you some bonus damage to last hit or harass with.

The thing is, usually you never know what could happen, so going with stomp would be a safer bet but if you feel otherwise, another alternative would be to keep the skill point until the appropriate situation arises.

Why max out Spirit before Stomp?
Spirit gives you a more powerful nuke for a cheaper cost, has more range, and gives you bonus attack damage. Also, the main purpose of Stomp is to set up your Ult. Your Ult takes 3sec to proc. while Stomp gives 2/3/4/5sec knockout duration. As such, only level 2 of Stomp is sufficient to guarantee your Ult connecting, and this is all we need early game.

No stats?
TC has a decent hp and mana pool already without items. Thus, he can make full advantage of his abilities as soon as he gets them, i.e. you don't wanna give up one of your abilities for stats on TC.

Why leave Stomp at level 2 in exchange for Natural Order?
Your need from Stomp stems from its ability to set you up with a disable to land your Ult or provide sufficient time to get in place for attack / run away. Seeing as your Ult has a 3 sec delay (for all levels), level 2 of stomp is good enough. Regarding "getting closer to attack", lets employ some mathcraft to observe movement; we're talking levels 1-12 so you (or your allies) would have BoS / Treads / Phase by now. Getting in place means we're talking about getting Stomp in via Spirit (which has 1000 cast range). Even if you use Spirit's max cast range to land a stomp, that's about 1000units away. If you got just BoS on and start moving the moment Stomp kicks in, you can move 3(310+50)=1080units before the enemy becomes conscious again - in most cases this would be good enough. In some cases where you have utilized the max possible range of the Spirit+Stomp combo (1500), you will not have enough time to get in place; this is why I've included an optional Level 3 Stomp at Level 8.

If you stick with level 2 Stomp, then you'd be better off taking up Natural Order over stats because of how well it synergizes with all your other skills (your Ult deals half its damage as physical and the other half as magical, Spirit's Stomp is magical while TC's Stomp is physical and ofcourse Spirit does magical damage) by reducing both physical AND magical resistance. Also, your allies can benefit from the aura. The extra hp, mana, damage that stats provide is negligible compared to the bonuses the you get from the aura.

Items

Starter Items

All the items above are viable starter items for TC. Generally, the right combination depends on the player's preference/play-style and opponent lineup.

No-Brainer Justification

Lane Items

When picking your early game items, be conservative and only pick items that correspond to your intended core build and role (with the exception of stout shield).

Justification

Role Item Builds

Ganker

Justification

The Suzerain

Core

Luxury

Justification

Lothars: Same as with ganker TC; speed boost, invis and "phase" helps position yourself better or escape after you've initiated the battle (got off your combo and taken some hits)

Vanguard: If you're initiating it means in most cases you'll be heading your team onto the battlefield, taking focus fire head-on. Only when your enemies don't have many disables and deal most of their damage through physical attacks would vanguard be suitable. The 300hp boost and damage block both help to resist the extra attention.

BKB: Now this little gem is the item you'd get ASAP. In most games your opponents WILL have disables and nukes up their sleeves. Do you wanna be the guy that lands a perfect Spirit+Stomp combo then gets stunned before he can Ult? Or even the guy who DOES pull off his entire combo but when he runs in to finish the job off, he gets Gushed, Hexed and Fingered to death? Naah, you wanna be the bad-ass that walks in twice as big as the other guys on the block, invincible to their puny spells; you look em in the scared eyes, smile softly, then

Blademail: Being able to return all the focus fire you get = $profit$

Shivas: 15 armor and -25 AS aura makes enemy carries cry. The aura has 1000aoe and you'll be at the centre of team clashes for this role. Arctic blast's slow is priceless to chase down left over chunks of the enemy team.

Guinsoo: You're gonna be all up in everyone's face, so an extra disable can save or destroy a life at your choosing. Spirit, Stomp, Ult, Wack, Hex, Wack.

Boots of Travel: If you can afford it, GET IT. How can you initiate if you're not in the right place at the right time? The shoes from Hermes himself really DO provide ultimate mobility - at a hefty cost.

Phase Boots: Get this if your farming isn't going so well (not too much pressure since you're TC) and you realize you're slacking or finding it rather difficult to keep up with the team. Otherwise, stick with BoS for as long as you can (you need to save your gold for other core items).

Cut-Throat Bull

Core

Luxury

Justification

MoM: This is my all-time favorite DPS item on Cairne. Its cheap and lets him achieve balance during midgame itself. Cairne has stupidly awesome damage from Spirit, decent HP and a MP pools, but abyssmal attack speed. Theres nothing sweeter than the item that gives the highest (by far) attack speed in the game. Berserk being an ephemeral effect, it suits TC perfectly; this is because he works in-the-moment and peaks once the Spirit-Stomp-Splitter (SSS) combo has connected. At this point there's a small period of time where you are God (insane damage and movespeed advantage - similar to Sven or Lycan). You've got to abuse your godly abilities by boosting your AS. Also, you only have to wait 13sec (it's is usually ready when your Spirit and Stomp have cooled down). The extra physical damage you take is negligible because of lifesteal. Usually i get a BKB after this so I'm not
disturbed while being godly

Hyperstone: This recherch� item is something which every DPS Cairne wishes he'd get for his birthday. +55 attack speed fills the great void of imbalance that Spirit creates when it returns to you. Builds up to the exotic Mjollnir.

Armlet: I love this item in general and it truely has it's place in the Mindgame Items Hall of Fame, but on TC it's mediocre at best - mainly because he just doesn't have enough HP regen to cope with the -35hp degen. It gives decent attack speed when activated and a massive damage boost since TC is an str hero. The +475hp on call can be a lifesaver and helps you soak up damage once you get in the battlefield.

Manta: I've only once seen a player using this on TC, which is intriguing because it actually is a decent item on him. Each of the required items helps round him out - Yasha quenches his missing AS and Ultimate Orb pushes his HP and Mana so he can spam a bit more and soak up some extra damage.

Battlefury: However often you may see other TC players getting this item, trust me when i say it's only beneficial for the rare-as-fuck games. Circumstances calling for a bfury include having to deal with a Broodmother or Phantom Lancer (cleave basically spells GG for them). A scenario where your team has no carry may also make bfury more appealing - TC has no farming mechanism so cleave can rack up the creeps, and your needed dps items in no time. For the normal DotA game, a bfury racks up your raw damage more - something you already have enough off. There's no point having sick damage but no attack speed. The regen is useful ofcourse, but you can get that with a perseverance alone (waste of an item slot if you aren't gonna up it). The cleave won't be as useful to TC as it will be to a hero like Magnataur (who can bring all nearby heroes to a single point with his ult) because of its small 250 aoe. As such, try your very best to stay the hell away from this. Please.

Deso: Just as with the damage boost of bfury, you can't really abuse it because of TC's terrible AS. The corruption buff is the only thing that makes this item worth buying - the only thing standing between their flesh and your steel, is armor. You take armor out of the equation and you'll have unleashed phenomenal pain. The problem with deso is that it makes you a glass cannon because right after deso you've gotta rush for IAS. This is where the problem lies. It's dangerous but if you're confident and the enemy lineup has mostly dps heroes or heroes without crazy nukes, then by all means go ahead.

Treads: If you're going on the DPS route, theres no question about what to upgrade your boots to. You need as much AS as you can get. The stat boost goes a long way early-mid game aswell.

Mjollnir: The cr�me de la cr�me of the items that give IAS. This jewel gives you a solid +75 attack speed, a shockingly good orb effect, and an imba active. The only thing that doesn't 'fit' with TC is the constant IAS (TC needs his IAS in bursts for perfect synergy with bonus Spirit damage - the only item that gives this is MoM). Still, who I am to complain for perfect synergy, the constant IAS won't harm you :P. The only problem is how expensive it is for TC (5400 is no joke for a hero without effective farming abilities) - you won't be getting maelstrom 1st so farming up to this is gonna be tough.

Cuirass: Tolerable IF and only IF the majority of the enemy lineup has heroes that deal most of their damage through physical attacks. The IAS works well with you, and so does the armor reduction, but the excess armor and armor aura for your team is pretty much a shitty investmest if it won't give you maximum profit. Even in that scenerio it would be preferrable for another member on your team to get this. You don't have the time or abilities to be farming up the armor components of this item. If you're gonna get it anyways, just make sure noone has gotten vlads (the armor auras DON'T stack!!)

MKB: I never get this on TC but it's definately in my bag of tricks if I ever need it. When facing the imba PA or panda, the truestrike can indeed be handy. Apart from this, the IAS is tiny and you can't really abuse the raw +80 damage. Bash is negligible because you won't be hitting fast enough for it proc as much as you'd like it to. Tread carefully when deciding whether to buy this, unless you somehow have 5.4k gold lying around (hack much lol?).

Thaumaturge

Core

Luxury

Justification

Pipe: Amazing support item IF in the right hands. Anyone can buy a pipe and activate Barrier. A skilled player knows the best time and place for it. It only lasts for 8 seconds and has an annoyingly long cd for an item, but during those 8 seconds it's like a mini-BKB for your entire team. If you can buff your whole team thats 5 x 400 = 2000 spell damage damage reduction. The +10hp/sec and % spell reduction gives you some elbow room to assist your team without feeling so glassy. As with all items, it's up to you to judge whether this is necessary for the particular game your having. Even if the opponents have many active spells, most of them could be disables or slows, both of which Pipe can't save you from (get a BKB FFS).

Phase: Get this if your farming isn't going so well (not too much pressure since you're TC) and you realize you're slacking or finding it rather difficult to keep up with the team. Otherwise, stick with BoS for as long as you can (you need to save your gold for other core items).

Necrobook: Decent item, especially useful in ward-wars, and gives a neat MS boost aura when activated. You can definately use the str this item gives you, and the +int wont go to waste either - seeing as how powerful your nukes are. 90sec CD is painfully long but the warriors last for 35seconds - thats good enough for a pre to post team clash (with mana burn, bonus MS, and a "suicide bomber" on your side hehe).

Guinsoo: God of all disables. You wanna support your team? This will grant you a wicked advantage over your opponents. The shitty thing is you can't really capitalize on the monstrous bonus Int you'll get from this - unless you get a refresher (see Additional Items). It's gonna be hell on DotA to farm the mystic staff component, which is why you'd get the Ultimate Orb as fast as you possibly can so you don't get overpowered while your enemies are reaping the benefits of their early glory. Don't lose focus though, you're playing support, so farming is NOT top priority.

Travels: If you can afford it, GET IT. How can you support your team if you're not with them. The shoes from Hermes himself really DO provide ultimate mobility - at a hefty cost.

Orchid: Younger sister to Guinsoo's Scythe, Orchid is the spellcaster's WORST nightmare. Unlike the Guinsoo, this makes life a little easier because of the gradual item buildup. You can still linger on semi-carry territory with this in your hands. +45 and 30IAS isn't childs-play, and neither is the damage amp. Go kick some ass~

Core Regen Items

Justification

Additional Items

Justification

NOTE: I am not, in any way, suggesting that you get all the items in a particular build. It's up to you to decide which role best suites your current game, and choose a combination of the items listed for the role you picked. For example, if I was going DPS TC, a standard core build could be MoM, BKB, Treads. Later I could get a Cuirass and HoT as luxary items.

Strategy

Early Game

Mid Game

Late Game

Mini-Guide to Cairne's Spells

Spirit

Stomp

Splitter

Hero Relationships

FAQ

You suggest getting stomp before spirit at level 1, how the heck am i supposed to land stomp without spirit?
--> TC has an amazing base MS (310) and in most cases no heroes will have boots. This means they will be moving at their base MS. An example situation - You are engaged with a TB (300 base MS). Both of you are at level 1 and it has reached a point where you think you can kill him with a stomp and an attack. You click Stomp and the TB has godlike reflexes and starts running. Lets use some mathcraft. He will move 300units per second. Stomp's AOE is 500 units but has a 1.4second cast time. In 1.4seconds TB can move a maximum of 1.4(300)=420units. 500>420 ∴ even if TB has godlike reflexes and moves the instant TC's cast animation begins, Stomp will still connect. Also, in the case where you are out of range to begin casting, you can use you 310 base MS to your advantage to catch up to him. In this case you need to be within 500 - 420 = 80 range to ensure a knockout.

Replays
If anyone can find or has a nice TC replay (preferably league or IH) , please PM me the link with brief details and I'll check it out. If it's good i'll add it here and you'll get a spot in my credits section