THE RETURN OF THE VOODOO CHILD

No seriously, the guide is going to be about this guy:

Guide content

1. Introduction
2. History
3. Skills
4. Skillbuild
5. Item Build
6. Strategy
7. Combos
8. Good Allies
9. Strong Enemies

Rhasta, also known as shadow shaman, is one of the most effective disablers in Dota. He has two disables, and voodoo is one that most people are willing to pay 5675 to get (guinsoo).

Once a gifted troll witch doctor, young Rhasta was well versed with the secrets of voodoo magic. When the war between the Sentinel and the Scourge began, Rhasta, then a Shadow Hunter, offered his allegiance to the Sentinels to vanquish the Scourge once and for all. While he was gifted as a witch doctor, Rhasta is a genius as a shadow hunter, exceeding his master by mastering the art of summoning multiple serpent wards, binding enemies for a short time and casting elemental lightning to several units.

Ether Shock

Hotkey R

A lightning shock strikes several targets, dealing damage.

Damage:75/150/225/300
Cooldown:10
Range:600
Nr of targets:3/4/6/7
Mana cost:95/105/135/160

Notes & tips
This is the skill that makes Rhasta possible to play as an early game harasser. Though remember to keep an eye on your mana pool, you should always have enough mana to do one disable if needed. Another tip is not to spam this skill on lvl 1, at least wait until lvl 2 because the dmg on lvl 1 is just lame.

Voodoo
Hotkey D
Transforms the target unit into a chicken, silencing it and making it unable to attack. The unit under the spell still can move, but in the same speed as a chicken (very slow, 100ms)

Duration: 1.25/2/2.75/3.5
Cooldown: 13
Range: 500
Mana cost:110/140/170/200

Notes & Tips
This skill is not at all effective on lvl 1 or 2. But in late game it is worth its mana cost many times over. Very effective against "ninja-heros" like Rikimaru. Theres no such thing as permanent invisibility if he is facing rhasta! A well timed hex in combination with a nuker and riki is history!

Shackles
Hotkey E
Binds the target in a channeling shackle that deals 40 dmg per second.

Duration:2.5/3.25/4/4.75
Cooldown:16
Range:400
Mana cost:110/130/155/185

Notes and Tips
Do not let the stats fool you. This skill is NOT better than voodoo in late game. Since it is channeling, it means Rhasta is also inable to move or attack during shackles. A common noob mistake is to rush with rhasta and shackle the enemy, then a second enemy shows up and pwns Rhasta. However, this skill is very useful in combination with a nuker or your own wards, more of that in the strategies section.

Mass Serpent Wards
Hotkey W

Rhasta summons 8 immobile serpent wards that attack the enemy.

Damage (per ward): 39-43/54-58/69-73
Casting range:550
Cooldown:110
Mana cost:200/350/600

Please note that the Casting Range is the range you can place the wards in, not the wards attack range.

Notes & Tips
Rhastas ulti is a very powerful one. A common mistake with this skill however is to place it where a enemy can escape, then the whole spell (and 200-600 mana) is wasted. This skill is to be used, with NO exeptions, in combination with voodoo or shackles (or both). More about that in the strategies section.

Special
This ultimate is upgradeable with Aghanims Scepter. The effect is not 3 more wards like it used to be, instead the damage of each ward is increased like this:

lvl 1 from 39-43 to 53-59
lvl 2 from 54-58 to 74-79
lvl 3 from 69-73 to 94-100

Now, is this making the upgrade better or worse? Lets do the math.

Assume that you have wards at lvl 3 and you buy an upgrade in the old version (6.63 and older). Instead of having 8 wards dealing 69-73 dmg you now have 11 wards dealing the same dmg. This results in 73*11=807 dmg per strike.

In the new version, your wards instead deal 100*8=800 dmg. As you can see, the upgrade change is very small in reality. I still strongly recommend to buy scepter in late game. More of that in the items section.

Skillbuilds

These are three examples of skill builds, all adjusted to certain situations.

The common build

1.Shackles
2.Ether Shock
3.Ether Shock
4.Shackles
5.Voodoo
6.Mass Serpent Ward
7.Voodoo
8.Voodoo
9.Voodoo
10.Shackles/Ether Shock
11.Mass Serpent Ward
12.Ether Shock/Shackles
13.Ether Shock
14.Shackles
15.Stats
16.Mass Serpent Wards
17-25.Stats

This is probably the best skill build for Rhasta. You might want to get lvl 4 Shackles earlier, most likely at the cost of ether shock I would say. At lvl 11 however you should have voodoo lvl 4 in order to be able to use tactics like ward-trap and different combos with greater success (a chicken is far more easy to handle than a fierce Dragon or Stone Giant)

The early-game harasser build

1.Shackles
2.Ether Shock
3.Ether Shock
4.Stats
5.Ether Shock
6.Mass Serpent Wards
7.Ether Shock
8.Voodoo
9.Voodoo
10.Voodoo
11.Mass Serpent Wards
12.Voodoo
13.Shackles
14.Shackles
15.Shackles
16.Mass Serpent Wards
17-25. Stats

This build is not my favorite. It is assuming that your team already has a disabler or that you go solo mid for some reason. Remember, Rhasta is a team hero, and a noob attempt to get first blood with this build could end in a disaster.

The Disabler Build

1.Shackles
2.Voodoo
3.Shackles
4.Voodoo
5.Shackles
6.MSW
7.Voodoo
8.Voodoo
9.Shackles
10.Ether shock/Stats
11.Mass Serpent Wards
12.Ether shock/stats
13.Ether Shock
14.Ether Shock
15.Ether Shock/Stats
16.Mass Serpent Wards
17-25. Stats/Ether shock

This build is assuming that you have a strong nuker on your team. together with him, you should be able to get a first blood with shackles. Just remember the 400 short range of shackles, don't assume that just because ur inside attacking range, your'e inside shackle range. Ether shock can be totally ignored if u want to, but it might give you a kill in combination with orchid's damage amplification in mid game, so I would still go for it instead of stats.

Item build

There are several ways to build up your inventory with Rhasta. The build that I will show you works best when Rhasta has a role of team disabler, because it is the only role I think he is really capable of in a "real" game.


In base:
1 courier
1 tango
magic wand recipe
3x ironwood brances

A total of 200+90+150+3*53=599 gold.

In goblin laboratory you can buy magic stick. That item together with ironwood branches and magic wand recipe will build magic wand, which is one of your core items.

The core items you will want to have as soon as possible are Magic Wand
Orchid Malevolence
Power Treads
Mekansm


I would recommend that you buy the items in the following order:

1. magic wand
2. oblivion staff
3. boots of speed
4. headress of rejuvination
5. oblivion staff
6. power treads
7. Orchid Malevolence
8. Nathrezim Buckler
9. Mekansm

Magic wand is great because you will be staying in lane most of the early game, farming for orchid. All the components in orchid are buyable from goblin laboratory and merchant, and you also have a courier to bring you items like boots and healing salves. So you should hardly ever leave your game, unless you have a nuker that you should assist in ganking. Orchid works good with Rhastas role in the team, making your nukers even more effective with the damage increase. Power treads are self-explanatory. Mekansm is good because you do not need the health regen of ring of health in early or mid game. But in late game, you are supposed to be ganking with your teammates, and so an AoE heal is very useful. Also, the active heal and armor boost can be useful in some situations.

After the listed items the choice is quite free. I would suggest Aghanims scepter since it really boosts your ulti and gives you some stats upgrades that can be quite good since you do not boost stats upgrade as an ability until very late game. Shivas guard is another example of a good item, though I would not recommend it that much since if your team is good, the enemy won't try to kill you at all, and so an armor boost would be unnessessary.

Refresher orb can be bought earlier, probably replacing mekansm. This could be a useful item if you are skilled enough to spam spells really fast. 16 serpents each dealing 100 dmg at the same place can bring down every hero in dota, with no exeptions. The only problem would be to have the time and mana it takes to do this. Although orchid+refresher orb does give you a huge mana regen boost, remember that MSW costs 600 in mana, and refresher orb 375. Because of this high mana cost, refresher orb is definitely a late game-item.

One thing to keep in mind when choosing items for Rhasta is that in first hand you do not want to boost your attack damage and speed. You are no tank, you are no nuker. You are disabler. You need a huga mana pool and mana regen. But you do not need HP regen or pool. At least you are not supposed to need it.

Alternative item build

1. Starting items
2. Bracer
3. void stone
4. boots of speed
5. oblivion staff
6. ultimate orb
7. BoT
8. Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
9. Perservarance
10. Refresher orb

Just an idea I have, will probably adjust it later. Anyway the main idea is that you farm very well and get much money fast. Then you can go for "bigger chunks" like BoT recipe, ultimate orb and Mystic Staff in order to get items like BoT and Guinsoo. In late game when you have refresher orb, your mana regen will be so huge that you will hardly have a problem with the 1575 mana cost of MSW+RO+MSW. I have to give iKrivetko some credit for this build. Finally I am convinced that guinsoo is suitable for Rhasta, if you have the skill to farm for it that is.

Strategy

Early game

Farm farm farm. This is what you will do, day and night. Though due to your low hp amount and regen, you should not go solo mid. Go for top or bot lane with a nuker. If the nuker seems to go for a rush, disable the enemy with shackles. If you have good communication with the nuker, you are most likely to get a kill.

Mid Game

You need to listen to your team. When and where are they ganking/pushing/defending? Be sure to be there when it happens, but never alone. Your team needs you, but more important, you need your team.

Late game

This is where you shine with voodoo and MSW. If you are skilled with the voodoo and manage to time it on a hero like riki or gondar, your teams nukers will be forever thankful. If you are able to ward-trap the enemy, they will hate you forever.

Combos

There are many different combos to be used with Rhasta, due to the fact that all of his four skills are active ones.

voodoo+MSW+Shackles=tons of damage!

Notes
The voodoo will give you time to place the MSW, the shackles will hold the enemy still while your MSW pwns him. Can of course be used in combination with nuker, though it is optional.

Ether Shock+Shackles=an unexpected death in early game

Notes
Is useless in late game, though the fact that also shackles do damage can be quite a surprise to some. After all, 40*4 is 160! (you will probably not have shackles lvl 4 when this combo still is useful). OBS! Note that the ether shock has a range of 600 while shackles only have 400. You need to stand close to the enemy while doing this combo. It could also be used in reverse, meaning you shackle the enemy and then ether shock him when he's running away.

Good Allies

Admiral
Having problems with enemies running away from MSW before u can shackle them? Return to the X gives u a second chance.

Axe
Berserkers call gives you enough time focus on your spellcasting without having to worry about enemy nukers. in addition, the enemies cannot run away from ur MSW! And thats just what ONE of Axe's spells can do this guy is incredible! go with him!

Juggernaut
Shackles+Blade Fury=early and late game PWNING!!! Shackles+ Omnislash is even more incredible (though maybe a bit of an overkill).

Death Prophet
Shackles + Exorcism= a certain death
If the foes death is not that certain, add hex to buy u some time and follow up with MSW.

Lightning Revenant
Razor's usual problem is his lack of stun ability. His ulti really could use one... However, cranium basher is just not worth the pay if ur ranged The solution: Voodoo and Shackles!

Vengeful Spirit
Despite the confusing name, this is one of my favourite heros to team with Rhasta. Imagine this combo:
Nether Swap+Shackles+Magic Missile+Voodoo+MSW

Now u could put an end to most heroes life at the magic missile, but if the hero is a tank and never seem to die, keep up the spamming with Voodoo and MSW while venge is using ye old attacks, works great.

Windrunner
Shackles and/or Voodoo really gives Windrunner the peace she might need to get a sure kill with Focus Fire.

Witch Doctor
Incredible Combo
Shackles+Maledict+Chaos Ward+voodoo

One of the major issues when playing witch doctor is the fact that his best spell, maledict, is very hard to aim. But in combination with Rhasta's shackle, the problem is solved. The enemy is shackled and will stay that way for 2.5-4.75 seconds. During this time, witch doctor can aim his maledict, bringing doom upon the unlucky enemy. Voodoo is optional if the #¤%$ing enemy just wont die.



Lord of Avernus
This guy can prove to be really irritating. You try to damage him, he uses his ulti to heal himself (your bloody wards just wont stop attacking him). and when u go for a kill on one of his teammates, it suddenly starts to absorb the damage! Though it is not that much damage so thats not a great problem, still irritating sometimes.

Omniknight
Like Lord of Avernus, this is a pure support hero. He heals his teammates when u try to kill them. And when u wasted all ur mana on an epic combo, he just uses his ulti to make everything nice again... try to get ur team to harass this hero if u are facing him, u do NOT want him to level up, trust me!


Phantom Lancer
Voodoo! Illusion... Shackles! Illusion... oops, there u die from the real one + 4 other illusions...
This guy is one of Rhasta's major enemies. You will have to rely on normal attacks, ether shock and ur friends until u only have one image left, though it is often also and illusion...

Naga Siren
Same as Phantom, though not as irritating due to the fact that slithice only creates 3 illusions. If she should get her hands on a manta style and/or an illusion rune + her illusion ability it can be real confusing though...

Lone Druid
This guy has no illusions. Though he has a bear with him Rhasta is best at disabling one strong enemy, not two at the same time. So this guy and his furry friend can cause some trouble for u. However, if u are facing this hero, getting a guinsoo and some training in spellspamming will help alot!


Finally, remember this. Rhasta is a spellcaster, so you will need to practise on those ability hotkeys in order to spam your skills with higher speed. In tough games, you sure will need it!