I've been reading guides for quite a while now, and some really impressed me, while other made me LMAO. I decided to finally write one of my own and hopefully you guys will like it. This guide is no where near perfect, everything i say maybe argued with, but thats not saying I'm an idiot it only means that everyone is entitled to his opinion. This guide is just the best way to play Balanar IMO, based on experience and trial. Its going to take me a while to finish this guide, but tell me anyway what you think i should change.

Regardless of the constant buffs Balanar has been getting, he still isn't a favorite. Why? IMO, Although he can be a carry/semi-carry hero or a roaming hero, there are other heroes who can do it better then him. But he stil is a very powerful hero. There is something Balanar can do that no other other hero can do, and thats having UNOBSTRUCTED vision at night.

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Mana Cost	80	90	100	110
Cool Down	8 Seconds	8 Seconds	8 Seconds	8 Seconds
Spell Type	DoT	DoT	DoT	DoT
Casting Range	525	525	525	525
Damage Dealt	90	160	255	335
Damage Dealt on Heroes	68	120	191	251
Damage Type	Magic	Magic	Magic	Magic
Effect	Mini-Stun + Slows AS by 35% and MS by 50%	Mini-Stun + Slows AS by 35% and MS by 50%	Mini-Stun + Slows AS by 35% and MS by 50%	Mini-Stun + Slows AS by 35% and MS by 50%
Duration of Effect	4 seconds (night), 2 seconds (day)	4 seconds (night), 2 seconds (day)	4 seconds (night), 2 seconds (day)	4 seconds (night), 2 seconds (day)

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Mana Cost	90	90	90	90
Cool Down	12 Seconds	12 Seconds	12 Seconds	12 Seconds
Spell Type	DoT	DoT	DoT	DoT
Casting Range	500	500	500	500
Effect	Miss on 40% of attacks (Night), Miss on 10% of attacks (Day)	Miss on 40% of attacks (Night), Miss on 10% of attacks (Day)	Miss on 40% of attacks (Night), Miss on 10% of attacks (Day)	Miss on 40% of attacks (Night), Miss on 10% of attacks (Day)
Duration of Effect	5 seconds (night), 3 seconds (day)	6 seconds (night), 3 seconds (day)	7 seconds (night), 3 seconds (day)	8 seconds (night), 3 seconds (day)

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Spell Type	Aura	Aura	Aura	Aura
Effect	20% AS, 15% MS increase	35% AS, 20% MS increase	55% AS, 30% MS increase	75% AS, 35% MS increase
Duration of Effect	Only in the night	Only in the night	Only in the night	Only in the night

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
Mana Cost	0	0	0
Cool Down	180 Seconds	150 Seconds	120 Seconds
Spell Type	Active	Active	Active
Effect	Pauses time, and creates an artificial night	Pauses time, and creates an artificial night	Pauses time, and creates an artificial night
Duration of Effect	25	50	80
With Aghanim's Scepter	Unobstructed vision at night	Unobstructed vision at night	Unobstructed vision at night

[+]Mele Hero.(Less orb limitations)
[+]Fairly high base damage.
[+]Very high base armor .
[+]Good attack speed animation.
[+]Very fast Move speed.
[+]Very fast attack speed.(Saves the trouble of buying AS items)
[+]Skills synergies well.
[+]A mini-stun, slow, and a disable.
[+]Can easily change builds to fit your situation.
[+]He gains stats where he needs them.
[+]Little to no micro skill needed

[-]Mele Hero(Harrasable)
[-]Easily ganked.
[-]No real escape mechanism other then insane speed.
[-]Effectiveness is non-consistent.
[-]Time oriented small miss calculations can mess up your game.
[-]Requires a lot of juking.
[-]MUST TAKE RISKS!

This is your signature. This skill is pure awesomeness. It's one of a few nukes that doesn't lose effectiveness, as the game progresses. It will help you farm, gank, chase and escape. Also put into consideration that it deal 335 damage
and only a 8 second cooldown! Epic harassment!

This skill is what saves lives. If you payed attention to my animation tab you would see that, he has an amazingly fast cast animation. How will that help? simple, Just focus on the hero, when you notice he is about to cast a spell you can silence them right before they nuke/stun you. And this can be really helpful late games against the hard-carries, nobody likes a 40% miss chance.
(will add pictures soon)

This = SEX. Seriously this basically makes u op at night. I mean come on 75% AS and 35% MS WOW! Thats worth more than a Hyperstone + BoS. Blood Seeker has got nothing on you :P. No one can escape, as long as u got the meat to keep going you got nothing to worry about. Unlike all his other skills this skill is completely useless in the day.

Imo this skill should be changed a bit, no matter though, it is still very helpful. A little trick that is widely accepted, and known now, is to cast this at night as much as possible
because it prolongs the night. But IMO you should abuse this in morning as well. If it helps you get 1 kill, its worth it. But of course don't use it randomly because you're only prolonging the day and just wasting time gaining nothing from it.

Side-Dual
Getting Crippling fear at level 1, is very important. You never know what kind of first kill combos could be used against you, and not only do you have to save your self, but your teammate as well. Void comes next because with a partner you might be able to pull of a first kill at level 2! also we level it up early because you will be harassing with it instead of last hitting creeps, because with a good lane partner you will control the lane. You should be hitting level 6 around the first night so you get it, too prolong the night as much as possible. Now we focus on Hunter in the night more then crippling fear because the MS WILL GAME BREAK.

Side-Solo
Why not crippling fear first? simply because you will be near you tower, most of the time and they can't kill you there. Also its hard to last hit a level 1 void is cheap and can solve your problem. You won't expect any kills until the first night so until then just farm with void, and you should be level 8 when the night comes, and that is why you level it up then, because even if you used it at level 6 the chances of getting a kill is very low. The rest is obvious, Hunter in the night is always prioritized of over crippling fear.

When to build for
1-When your team does not have a reliable carry
2-If you that you can pull it off faster then other carries
3-PUBS(you should do this in all pub games IMO)

Initiation

Basically you choose your stat boost of choice, 3 branches if you will build up a magic wand. Gauntlets if you will get bracers or Urn of shadows. Then you get a farming item of choice. Quelling blade if you're good at last hitting, sobi mask if you want to harass or just bad at last hitting, because whats the point if you end up not getting any last hits :S. Finally, pick you healing item of choice based on you preference, and how much gold you have left.

Laneing
What lane you choose will define how you will be playing, Balanar at first, but it will eventually lead to this same mid-late game(No, not which build to choose. Just how you play this build). So what lane? What really decides where you should lane, are the other heroes in the game, not YOU. If the other team has a dominant solo hero you can't handle, don't be stubborn and let it go. If your team has a better solo hero, you should lane on a side also. Always give and take with your team remember that.

If you're solo laneing, i prefer you get a sobi mask because you will be nukeing alot. It's still up to you though. Hopefully someone on your team buys a courier, if not life will suck. Basically you should keep void at level 1 untill you're level 5, when you will start to harras your enemy with void. At level 6 or level 7 you if you have boots, and its night try for the kill. This is how it goes, keep void at level 1, but save the skill points untill your level 5, level up void. You start harassing the hero with it. Wait untill its night time and then you should head to base, go to a side lane and start to gank them as much as possible. Or in other words start to roam.
Before you roam your gear should look like this:



If you're dual laneing, you should get a queling blade, becasue you will need more surviability, and you won't nuke as much. Focus mainly on last hits, don't try to harras or nuke the enemy just farm with void, it will be very hard to get a kill untill level 7 realy. level void once or twice and then just use it to farm. farm farm because you wana try to get your core as fast as possible so you can gain the most out of the first night. the moment you get your first kill, is when you should leave your lane.