Goblin Techies

Squee, Spleen & Spoon

Hero Story:

"Devilishly clever, the goblin techies, despite their small physical presence, are a force to be reckoned with. In line with their goblin brethren, the techies have the skill of laying mines in the earth, invisible to the naked eye. Also, after extensive training with the Orcish voodoo priests of Kalimdor, the Techies are adept at laying paralysis-inducing traps along with their potent explosives. Wary be the foe who takes these three lightly."

Introduction:

Welcome to my guide to the Goblin Techies.

There are a lot of various ways to play this hero; in my opinion the one shown in this guide is the most effective. I hope it does help you improve and that you enjoy the read. You should remember that this is not the only way how you can play Techies; so try to find the style that fits you the most. You are not supposed to copy my play-style, but rather use it as a help.

When you want to search for a specific keyword you should be able to open the search function of your browser with "F3" and you will just have to type in the word you are searching for.

I'm very open to (reasonable) criticism and appreciate every help I get.
Good luck and thank you for reading.

Advanced Statistics:

Strength: 17 + 2
Agility: 14 + 1.3
Intelligence: 22 + 2.9

Affiliation: Sentinel
Attack Animation: 0.5/0.5
Damage: 24-26
Casting Animation: 0/0.51
Armor: 1
Base Attack Time: 1.7
Movespeed: 270
Missile Speed: 900
Attack Range: 650
Sight Range: 1800/800

1. Pros and Cons
2. Skills
3. Items
4. Heroes
5. Strategy
6. Gameplay
7. Tips & Tricks
8. Replays
9. Q&A

Pros:

has the longest Stun of all heroes
can deny himself
longest attack range of all heroes (without skillpoints)
a good strength gain compared to other int heroes
a very strategic/psychological hero
a high chance to get first-blood
can farm a creepwave in an instant
doesn't have to be on a lane to defend it

Cons:

very slow movement speed
very low base damage
low armor and agility gain.
without a good team you are useless
a lot of heroes can counter Techies

Land Mine:

Plants an invisible mine that explodes when an enemy nears. The explosion deals less damage if the target is farther away. You may only have 20 mines placed at a time.

[Level 1] 300 damage
[Level 2] 400 damage
[Level 3] 500 damage
[Level 4] 600 damage

Cooldown: 25/20/15/12
Manacost: 125/150/175/205

Stasis Trap:

Plants an invisible Stasis Trap that stuns nearby enemy units when detonated.

[Level 1] 3 seconds stun duration; 270 seconds ward duration.
[Level 2] 4 seconds stun duration; 300 seconds ward duration.
[Level 3] 5 seconds stun duration; 330 seconds ward duration.
[Level 4] 6 seconds stun duration; 360 seconds ward duration.

Cooldown: 20/16/13/10
Manacost: 80/110/140/160

Suicide Squad, Attack!:

Sacrifice yourself for the greater good. Deals massive area of effect damage.

[Level 1] Deals 650 full damage; Deals 350 partial damage
[Level 2] Deals 850 full damage; Deals 400 partial damage
[Level 3] Deals 1150 full damage; Deals 450 partial damage
[Level 4] Deals 1550 full damage; Deals 500 partial damage

Cooldown: 180/170/160/150
Manacost: 100/125/150/175

Remote Mines:

Plants an invisible mine that will only activate when triggered. Doesn't damage buildings.

[Level 1] 300 damage (*450 damage)
[Level 2] 450 damage (*600 damage)
[Level 3] 600 damage (*750 damage)
*Aghanims Scepter bonus.

Cooldown: 10
Manacost: 200/240/300

Skillbuild #1 [Miner]
Skillbuild #2 [Disabler]
Skillbuild #3 [Suicide Ganker]

1. Land Mine
2. Suicide Squad, AttacK!
3. Land Mine
4. Stasis Trap
5. Land Mine
6. Remote Mines
7. Land Mine
8. Stasis Trap
9. Stasis Trap
10. Stasis Trap
11. Remote Mines
12-15. Stats
16. Remote Mines
17-22. Stats
23. Suicide Squad, AttacK!
24. Suicide Squad, AttacK!
25. Suicide Squad, AttacK!

Skillbuild explanation:

First of all you need one level of Land Mines so you can put your mines on the "First-Blood" spots. After that you get !Suicide Squad, Attack!! so you can deny yourself, or get an early game kill. With Arcane Boots and Soul Ring you should have enough mana to place level 4 Land Mines, so you should max it first. Stasis Trap is the next skill you should max. Suicide isn�t worth leveling past level 1 or 2 after early game because the enemies will have too much armor. You should take Remote Mine every time you can, for obvious reasons.
This Build is primarily used for anti-gank tactics and is useful against triple lanes or gank teams. Your job is to support your carry by preventing ganks on him. �Gank him and you will be fine� won�t work as long as you mine the lane.
By maxing your Land Mines you are also a good pusher, so TPing to pushed lanes and destroying towers can maybe give your team a nice advantage.

Starting Items:

You need a TP scroll to place as many mines as possible before the creeps reach the lane. You buy two branches for the boost in stats and Clarity Potions with the rest of the gold. One clarity gives 100 mana which is about 1 Land Mine. So you will be able to place around 9-11 Land Mines. You could get Tangos instead of the branches, or buy less Clarity Potions, but everything has its ups and downs.

(Very) Early Game:

Get a Sobi Mask in the beginning so you can regen some mana. Sometimes you have enough gold (first-blood) to buy the Sobi Mask and the Ring of Regeneration, but I would always take the mana regen first. The recipe costs just a few gold so that should be not taking too long. Soul Ring should be get as first item because not a single item in the game can match its mana regen of 6 mana/sec.

Early-Mid Game:

Your next goal should be the Energy Booster (or Boots) depending on the state of the game. By dropping the Energy Booster before you use the Soul Ring you will gain more mana. With your Arcane Boots and Soul Ring you got a mana regeneration of around 9 mana per second, which is a lot.

Mid-Late Game (Aghanim vs Force Staff):

A Point Booster is always useful and can give you a lot of mana. Aghanim�s is a real beast in team fights, because you can place your Remote Mines from a distance of 700. So you can place them from a save position. But it only works when you push or you have a lot of team fights.
If the enemy pushes a lot you should rather get Force Staff:

It�s very useful against Gem and Sentry Wards, and you can easily kill heroes that don�t want to step on your Remote Mines, but don�t want to back either. It gives mana and it�s cheap, which is quite good for mid-game, but it�s not a late-game item.

Core:

Table - Mana Regeneration and Mana Consumption

The table shows the mana regeneration per second and the possible mana costs per second.

Clarity:

Clarity Potions give you 100 mana in 30sec (3,3 mana per second). In early game your Land Mines cost 125-150 mana and have a CD of 25-20 sec. So its a very good item for Techies; 1 Clarity Potion is 1 Land Mine.

Soul Ring:

Soul Ring is a the perfect item for Techies. You get 150 Mana every 25 seconds (6 mana per second), which is a lot of mana. It also means that you can place at least one Land Mine every 25 seconds.

Arcane Boots

Arcane Boots gives you a lot of mana and some mana regeneration. Combined with your Soul Ring you will have almost endless mana. After you get Soul Ring and Arcane Boots you actually got all items you need till late game. The rest is optional and luxury.

Force Staff:

Force staff seems better than it actually is. You can push your enemies into the mines, but as long as they don�t have Gem you should be able to kill them without it. Force Staff is just a Gem and Sentry Ward counter, hence inferior to Aghanim's.

Aghanims:

Techies� Scepter- oh wait. This item gives you mana, health and it also improves your ultimate. Your Remote Mines will have a higher casting range and you can actually save some mana because the Damage/Mana ratio is higher (0,5 more damage per mana).

Luxury:

Shiva's Guard:

Shiva's Guard gives you a lot of mana and an AoE nuke with slow (and lag), which generally helps your team in fights. This item is recommended if you lack some physical survivability and/or your team needs an AoE slow/nuke. The downside of Shiva�s Guard is that it requires you to save 2700 gold and to be close to your enemy, which is bad because you are still weak to nukes.

Orchid Malevolence:

Orchid is a possibility but not really good. The build up is cheap and easy, but you don't have gold problems and other items are way more useful (for example: Guinsoo or Eul�s). An early rush is also very bad, because it gives you no survivability at all.

Eye of Skadi:

At first you might wonder why Techies would/should get Eye of Skadi, but it is really good if you are chasing enemies a lot. Because of your high attack range you can use it very well. Still I would only buy it after your core items and maybe 1-2 luxury items. Also you shouldn't forget that it gives good stats as well.

Necronomicon:

Necronomicon is a really good team clash item. You can mana drain and damage your opponents with the summons and you can counter wards and invisible enemies who try to sneak around your mines. The life and mana is very nice and the build up is quite easy.

Eul's:

It has a very cheap build up and gives you +25 movement speed which closes the ms gap between you and other heroes. The cyclone ability can be really useful for your team and you can land Stasis Traps and other mines easier with it. Also note that you can block stuns/attacks by using it on yourself.

Guinsoo:

Guinsoo is a very good item on every intelligence hero and Techies is no exception.
It gives you mana and mana regeneration, plus a disable for your team. If you have the money you should definitely go for this item.

Bloodstone:

Bloodstone, once on my �Rejected� list, now made its way up here. You start with 5 charges, which is quite a lot of mana regen. It�s not core and should only be bought after Aghanim�s or Force Staff, but it�s the only item which can really give you unlimited mana. If you manage to get ~10 charges you can actually sell your Soul Ring/Arcane Boots and make some place in your inventory.

Rejected:

Refresher Orb:

All your skills have a decent cooldown, so a Refresher Orb is not needed. Though you actually could get one for fun, because it would make a 18 seconds stun possible.

Dagon:

Dagon is not really a bad item, but way worse than other alternatives. It�s just an item that consumes needed mana. Also people tend to kill-steal with Dagon, which is counterproductive because your carry should get the kills.

Lothar's & Dagger:

Good for initiation, but in my opinion they just take away inventory place and make you suicide for no reason. You have Force Staff, which should be enough for this purpose.

Linken's Sphere & BKB:

Goblin Techies is not a tank hero. You usually stand back and place your mines, so you don�t need those items.

DPS Items:

You have low agility and low base damage. You can�t carry with physical dps items.

Techies biggest weakness is his terrible lane control, because of his low ms and base damage. The enemy can easily harass him with auto-attacks. Heroes that are defensive can be very annoying, because they won�t give kills, but some heroes can be played aggressively without any consequences, because they have skills that will make you cry.

Bad Enemies:

Mana Drainer:

They are going to annoy you by draining all your mana. You can forget laning against them, because they make you into a creep.

Flying Units:

Bat Rider can actually fly over your Land Mines without triggering them. Ice Frog, please fix that.

Minesweeper:

They can use units or skills to walk over your mines. They will make you waste your mana and prevent kills.

Silence/Long Stunners:

If they gank you, and you won�t be fine. You will most probably die if they try to gank you.

Good allies are very important for Techies. Your team has to pressure the enemy, so heroes with good lane control are very important. Also gankers are pretty good because they force the enemy to swap lanes, which can give Techies even more kills.

Good Allies:

Sharpshooter:

They can kill the enemies that survived with low life.

(Semi-)Solo Laners:

Techies won�t be on the lane all the time, so the lane partner will get more experience and gold.

Stunners & Disablers:

:medtc.jpeg:

Maybe not good as lane partners, but if they come gank together with you, the enemy will be a sure kill.

Mine Triggerer:

They have skills that can pull/move the enemy to your mines, and give you kills.

I divide my strategy section in 4 parts.

Part #1 is a "short" instruction in what to do with your skills.
Part #2 is an in depth guide about mining.
Part #3 is a guide about good laning partners and strategies.
Part #4 is a quick instruction on how to deal with some enemies.

Strategy: Part #1

Land Mine:

"Land Mine" is the skill which makes Techies to the hero he is.
The mines got a small delay, which means that they don't trigger immediately after planting/moving into their AoE. Land mines can be triggered by invisible units.
It deals 300 damage on level 1 (reduced by magic resistance and armor) and can be used in many different ways:

You can stack a few mines on a certain spot to kill an enemy, once he walks over them.
You can farm with them. Creeps will survive with very low hp after they activate a mine.
You can harass opponents who try to deny/last-hit a creep (against melee heroes).
You can use them as little wards on rune spots. Land mines don't give a lot of vision, but it's enough to see whether there is a rune or not.
You can stop the neutral creeps from spawning.
You can use them as a nuke in team fights.

If you search for more information you should take a look at part 2 of the strategy section.

Suicide Squad, Attack!:

Suicide should only be used to deny yourself or if you can get a kill while on low mana. Since the Suicide buff your lane partner and you will gain full experience which in a way can be abused, by simply suiciding on a sure kill just to give your carry more experience.
The damage is reduced by magic resistance and armor, which means that Suicide will only deal 30~70% of the damage (depending on the enemy�s armor):

Level 1: 550 -> reduction -> 275 damage.
Level 2: 850 -> reduction -> 425 damage.
Level 3: 1150 -> reduction -> 575 damage.
Level 4: 1550 -> reduction -> 775 damage.

The more armor the enemy has, the less damage he will take. Also you should not forget that the full damage AoE is only 200.

You should also use your Suicide if you see a chance to kill 2 or more kills or to scare an enemy away who is going to kill your mate.

Stasis Trap:

The Stasis Trap is one of the longest stuns in DotA and can (if you place one Stasis after the first activated) stun for 12 seconds. The Trap lasts 270-360 seconds.
The negative sites on Stasis Trap are, the small activation AoE of 200 and the activation time of 2 seconds. You should also remember that after a stasis trap activates all other Stasis Traps in a 450 AoE will be destroyed. Stasis Traps hit invisible units, but won�t be triggered by them. Enemies with high movement speed can walk over the mines (due the 2 second activation time) without activating them.
Having Stasis Traps all over the map can be very useful in team fights, because it can delay support, ensure a safe escape or stop fleeing enemies.

Stasis Traps are usually connected with Land Mines so you should check part 2 of the strategy section for more information.

Remote Mines:

Remote Mine is a really tricky ability, because it has so many good uses. They have a duration of whole 8 minutes, and deal damage in an AoE of 400-425. The low casting range of 500 can be upgraded to 700 by Aghanim's Scepter. A good trick for calculating the damage of your Remote Mines is:

Remember how much damage each mine does after magic reduction: 225/335/450/560
Or to place your remote mines in a bundle of 4 which means that you just have to summarize the damage of 3 of the mines.

If you combine both methods you can easily calculate the 'pure' damage your mines do even if you have 5 or more mines on one spot.
A good tip for placing your remote mines is to make them in small bundles of 4 to deal a lot of damage in a 'small' AoE or to scatter them around a certain spot which increase the damage, but it could also reduce the damage of your mines (because 1 or 2 mines don't hit the enemy).
They can also clear a whole creep wave on level 3, which means you can farm and push globally.
Remote Mines can and should also be used as Wards, because of their low cooldown and long duration they are perfect.

Gem & Sentry Wards:

Every game will reach a point when the enemy will buy either a Gem or Sentry Wards. If your team mates can�t make pressure or fail to get kills you are pretty much screwed. The enemy will search your mines and destroy every single one of them. But that doesn�t mean you lost. You can try to turn the sides by forcing team fight where Gem is pretty much useless, or you use Suicide to support your team in clashes.
The problem isn�t that grave if your team actually pressures the enemy or is dominating. To counter Gem or Sentry Wards when you are leading there are few ways:

Force Staff: You can simply push the enemy on you mines and initiate a team fight.
Aghanim�s: With Aghanim�s you don't have to stack your Remote Mines anymore, but you can use them in team fights.
You can also place your mines uphill so the enemy cant see them until they are already dead.

Gem and Sentry Wards are overrated as counters, and are only useful as long as the enemy is dominating the game.

Strategy: Part #2

In part 2 of my strategy section I will tell you about good spots for your mines and traps.

Square: Stasis Traps & Land Mines
Circle: Land Mine & Remote Mines

A good, but often risky spot is on Roshan. If the enemy has wards you won�t get any kills and you just wasted your time. But sometimes a Remote Mine can give away enemies who try to kill Roshan. As long as the enemy has no wards it�s a really good spot.

Many people walk on this ramp, because it�s the way to the bottom rune, to Roshan and to the secret shop. If you have a lot of clashes in the area of Roshan you can kill escaping enemies. But there are some other goods spots around this are as well, so it depends on how your enemy moves.

Very good spot if the enemy moves in your jungle a lot. Depending on your affliction the spot can vary because placing mines right above the cliff can give you kills even if the enemy has gem. Also a good place to put your Stasis Traps are juking spots in the jungle.

One of my favourite spots since this path is used by gankers a lot.

Sometimes when your enemy loves to tower dive from behind, why not just put some mines on that spot, so they think twice about it next time.

The usual anti-gank spots. Very effective if the enemy mid hero is a ganker. Sometimes it can also give your kill when the bottom enemy want to check for the rune.

Many people like to mine inside of the shop, but you can actually plant them around the entry, so the enemy doesn�t even need to get to the shop.

Very good spot for first blood, because sometimes the enemy wants to harass you and moves around the creeps and right onto your mines. Also very good if you have aggressive players on your lane who chase you down.

Similar to above. The mine spots are good and can kill enemies who dont watch their steps while on the lane.

Again a spot thats aimed at tower divers, but this time at the second tower.

The sentinel forest. A lot of clashes happen here, that�s why you should place some mines around the place. If you have a jungler in your team you can save him from ganks by killing the enemy before he can kill your mate.

People rarely walk in the middle of the path, because they either use the shortest way up or the shortest way down to the tower.

Good spots for early game and prevents a lot of ambushes and ganks.

Very good spot, because it blocks the way for top ganks and to the rune.

The good thing about mining mid is, that the enemies don't expect it.

Basically the same as above, but from the other side.

Nice anti-ganking spot, if the enemy team has a ganker on mid.

Not good for early game, but depending on the situation of the game this spot can do wonders.

You pushed the second tower and now you want to rax, so place mines for your escape or to kill off people who try to chase you. Also many people change their lane in end game by using this path.

Same as above, but on the bottom lane.

Many enemies walk here due to the secret shop and roshan, so placing some mines there should be a kill.

(Ramp got bigger) Mining the rune spot is always quite useful because it can kill bottle heroes or stop the enemy from taking the runes. Also the ramp is a nice mine spot, if the enemy ganks a lot. But you should be aware that the enemy most probably warded that area.

The secret shop and the way to it. Can kill someone who just got enough money for his luxury item, and make him rage about the loss of gold because he died.

The ramp to roshan and bottom lane is a nice spot if you have team fights around roshan or you are about to kill him.

I like this spot a lot because people walk around this area a lot, especially when they have initiators like Sand King and Pudge.

Also a nice early game spot, because people don't expect mines there. Sometimes people will go this way to gank mid (they don't go through the river because of your mines).

Nice spot if the enemy farms a lot in their forest.

Very good spot when you push the top lane (2ND tower) and/or your enemy walks around the forest.

Good spot if your enemy wants to pull or he tries to gank.

Good first-blood or anti-gank spots for early game.

Probably one of the best early game spots on the top lane.

Just an anti-gank spot, so the enemy cant gank from the river.

Can kill enemies who go to the sentinel secret shop or who want to gank the top lane.

Better than the above spot, because it can hit more enemies, because their are more routes which lead to the mines.

Also very nice, and similar to the above one. But this one is for mid ganks after you�ve lost the first tower.

The notes below the pictures are from the sentinel's point of view, but they are actually very similar to the spots for Scourge. Some 'defensive' spots are rather aggressive when placed by a scourge player.

I'm probably going to add notes for both sides soon.

Strategy: Part #3

A good laning partner is very important for Goblin Techies, because if the enemy has control over the lane they won't need ganks and your mines will be a lot less useful. Here are some good partners, who can even give you kills and who profit from the bonus experience from the kills.

Techies & Mirana

They are a very good combo, because a well placed arrow is a sure kill. You can actually place a Stasis Trap and a Land Mine, while the enemy is still stunned, and if he isn't dead yet you can even use Suicide. Mirana has also a good lane control and is safe from ganks which means you can leave your lane without any concern. Also Mirana's ulti can give you easy stealth suicides that could even lead to double kills.

Techies & Windrunner

Windrunner is even better that Mirana, because she can harass the enemies more hence has a better lane control. She can also shackle the enemies more reliable than Mirana. The only downside is, that she can't carry as good, or rather needs more items to carry than Mirana. But she is perfect if you want to push a lot and get tower early. For a push strategy, that involves Techies she is the best laning partner.

Techies & Rhasta

Wait. Why would you lane with a support hero? Because Rhasta is the second best lane partner for a push strategy. In a pushing strategy Rhasta can work well as a carry, and his disables can give enough kill to finish the game fast. Combined with other pushers Techies is no longer a turtle hero, but a tower destroying monster trio. Hex and Shackle both very useful, but I would suggest to skip Hex for the Nuke, because a shackle will be enough time for Techies to bring the enemy down completely or at least on extremely low life.

Techies & Necro

Necro is a good solo hero and since the recent ultimate buff one of the best combos after he reached level 6. He can use his ultimate and stun the enemy long enough for you to suicide on him. Combined with a death pulse of Necro, the enemy will be death for sure. The only downside is that you won't get experience, because you didn't kill the enemy, but at least Necro will have an advantage. Necro can also heal you and support you when you get your soul ring, and lose a lot of life. The con compared to Mirana and Windrunnes is, that Necro has very low survivability beside Death Pulse. Which means that he has to be on the long lane.

Techies & Ezalor

Ezalor is a good partner when you want to push fast, and you try to end the game as fast as possible. Ezalor can keep the lane pushed with his illuminate, and Techies can lay mines on the enemy tower to deal massive damage. Chakra Magic can support Techies and give him the mana to even place more mines, but Ezalor should also keep some mana so he can push. The huge downside of this tactic is, that both heroes are weak to ganks and stuns, because both heroes have low survivability and low health. I would recommend to use this tactic only against a solo, or carry & support lane.

Techies & Venomancer

Veno is maybe not a very good carry, but his slow is so strong that you can just walk up to the enemy and use suicide. The combo isn't really that overwhelming, but it's a very good strategy if you want to plan your strategy around suicide.

Techies & Rubick

A very good combination, because Rubick has good lane control with his Fade Bolt. With his Telekinesis he can throw your enemies on your mines, or pull them in your Remote Mine AoE in late-game. He is the best "Mine Triggerer" as a lane partner, and is very good during late game with his telekinesis. He would also be good because you can have some more farm on the lane, because Rubick doesn't have to farm a lot.

Roamers:

They are good roamers, because they all have a stun, but everyone has one ability that can be more useful depending on the situation. Alchemist has a longer stun duration and his Acid Spray lowers the defense of your enemy, which means that your suicide and your mines deal more damage. Rylai does not only have a stun, but also a slow, which can give you time to walk up to the enemy. Last but not least, Vengeful Spirit has the ability to swap your enemy on your mines, which is a sure kill. They are good as roamers, but you should not be laning together with them.

Junglers:

Junglers are not really great together with Techies, because it means that you will need 2.5 solo heroes. But if you want exactly this, you should go for one of these heroes. Enigma's ultimate combined with Techies mines is a team wipe. Dark Seers Vacuum can actually pull the whole enemy team on your mines, which means "Rampage!". Though N'aix is not as strong as the other heroes, he has a good slow, and Techies' mines would be a great support for his jungling.

Strategy: Part #4

In this part of the strategy section I talk about how to deal with some very hard enemies, who counter you. It's very important to know against who you are going to lane, because the early laning phase can give your team a big advantage or ruin your game. This is actually the reason why so many people think that Goblin Techies is a useless hero, or that when he is in the game it's a 5v4. But most of the time the reason for a Techies to fail is that the enemies counter him and ruin his whole early to mid game. But I'm not just going to talk about difficult enemies, but all enemies.

Most of the information I've learned from experience, or after checking some parser results.

Goblin Techies vs Extreme Counters:
vs

Those heroes counter Goblin Techies in absolutely every aspect. Bat Rider doesn't even need a skill to make your land mines useless; he doesn't trigger them at all. Also Batrider can kill you easily with his napalm and firefly combo because you have a very low base movement speed. Visage on the other hand does need a skill to make you whine, but he only needs one skill. His cloak protects him from land mines, remote mines and suicide attempts. Yes, that's actually all your skills (except Stasis Trap). Not only is he impossible to kill, but with his familiars he can easily kill you before you even notice that he attacks you. Now Beastmaster can't tank your mines, but he can see where you place them with his hawk, which makes them completely useless for the whole game, and he prevents every suicide gank with his pig. Again, you've just been completely countered. Puck is a bit nicer, but this hero is going to destroy every single land mine with phase shift. Not only that, but Puck can easily gank you with warning rift, which silences you so you can't use suicide.

The only way to beat those heroes is to ban them, or to let your team mates pick them.

Goblin Techies vs Forest Gankers:
vs

Forest gankers have one thing in common; they use summons and creeps to gank. That could be a problem because they can destroy your mines with one minion and gank you with the rest. But they usually have the same playstyle, so there are no differences on how to deal with them. I would suggest you to mine the forest on spots where it's probable that enemy will either cluster with his neutrals, or even walk alone (in the beginning). An early kill is very effective, because the enemy will lose most of his gold and his neutral farming will slow down in general. Furion deserves a special mention, since he can gank you by teleporting right next to you; which means that he won't step on your mines at all.

Gankers are our friends, but gankers who use summons to gank can either make you rage, or give you even more money, depending on how they move with the minions. During late game you are a perfect counter because your mines can easily kill all their summons and make them weaker.

Goblin Techies vs Forest Carries:
vs

Techies has a very useful ability against carries that prefer to farm on neutrals. In the beginning of the game you can stop the neutral creeps from spawning, which means that their carry will either have to tank the mines, or he can't farm the camp. They are easily managed early game, but they are really strong in late game, if your team doesn't gank them. So your team has to do the most part in handling them. But most forest carries have different methods on how to farm which means they are very different.
Lone Druid for example can easily destroy/tank your mines with his bear, which means that you can't really stop the neutrals spawn. Lycan is similar because he also can summon wolves who can destroy the mines, but this will actually slow down his farm. Lycan has actually a different way to annoy you. With his 522 ms wolfs form he won't trigger any stasis traps, and he can easily chase you down. Compared to Lone Druid or Lycan, Leoric has no summons, which means you can mines the neutrals, but when Leoric hits level 6, he will be able to destroy stacks and he wont even give you a kill.

Sometimes you can slow their farm down, but they are not your targets. They will most probably give you less kills, but they can give you a fair amount, if they gank sometimes or you mine a lot in their forest.

Goblin Techies vs Gankers
vs

You got to love gankers; they are the perfect enemies for Techies. Your land mines will only give you kills when the enemy moves around the lanes, which is what gankers do. And I've got to say, there are no exceptions. Yes you heard right, even Balanar will be countered by Techies (not the other way around). Balanar usually starts to gank during the first night which means that you have enough time to place land mines and stasis traps to kill him. Many people think that Balanar counters Techies with his Aghanim�s effect and gem, which is wrong. I mean he just spent over 5000 gold and 2 item slots just for you.

You just have to mine around on the usual spots and paths that are commonly used by gankers and you will get a lot of kills.

Goblin Techies vs Anti-Mage
vs

Anti-Mage is a very tricky enemy; He has a lot of annoying skills. With his Mana Break he can drain your mana, with his Spell Shield he will be able to tank more mines and with his Blink he can jump over your mines. But in team fights his Mana Void is the biggest weak point of you. You usually have about the same mana as health which means that Magina�s ultimate will do a lot of damage to you and your team. The good thing though, is that Magina has very low life, which means that he dies fast.

You basically just have to pay more attention to your mana (you should have more life than mana at all times). In team fights you have to position yourself saver and shouldn't stick too much to your mates. Try not to lane against him, since he can easily kill you with Mana Break and Blink.

Goblin Techies vs Magic Resistance & High Armor
vs

Magic resistance is definitely the greater evil, but enemies with high armor can be very annoying. Davion Knight for example has very high armor (because of dragon blood) which means that your Land Mines and your Suicide are going to do (a lot) less damage. But armor won�t protect you from magic damage, which means your remotes will still do the same damage. That�s why magic resistance does counter you more than armor. It nullifies your remote mines completely and reduces the damage of your land mines and suicide even more than armor. The good think about Naix is that the magic immunity duration is short, but it is enough to Techies before he can use any skills. Omniknight is really annoying because the duration is longer than BKB or Rage, and it can be targeted on team mates and not only on yourself.

You can�t really handle them, because they have this boost the whole game, which means that you can�t even try to stop them in early game. You will simply have to wait in team fights for the duration to end, or you kill the other enemies.

Goblin Techies vs Pudge & Silencer
vs

Oh hell. Many people pick Pudge against Techies although he isn't really a huge counter to the three little goblins. The problem is that he can hook you while you cast your remote mines or stasis traps because of the cast time. Also he gains strength every time you suicide around him, which is bad for your team. To be honest you can easily play against Pudge because he is a ganker, and gankers are your optimal enemies. You will have to place a few more mines to kill him though because he has a lot of life and more magic resistance than other heroes.
So, Pudge is manageable, but Silencer is really a pain in the ass. Silencer does not only drain your mana away, but you will lose 1 int every time you die or suicide in his Last Word AoE. Intelligence is very important for you since it gives you mana and mana regen, so you should avoid him during the whole game, and just try to plant mines.

The best way to deal with Silencer is to just stay away from him, and don't lane against him at all; same goes for Pudge.

Goblin Techies vs Black King Bar
vs

Heroes who use Black King Bar are not really a threat during early game. Also most of the BKB heroes are gankers or semi-carries with low health who are easily killed by your mines. But in late-game they are extremely annoying because in team fights they are immune to your stuns and remote mines.

Like every other hero that uses mainly magic to attack you should stay away until the duration wears off, or you ignore the hero and try to kill the rest of the team.

Goblin Techies vs Observer Wards
vs

Observer wards will make a lot of mine spots useless and you won't be able to mine safely around the river, but most ward spots are predictable. If you know a lot about warding you can even counter ward them. You usually just have to stay away from the warding spots, which shouldn't be too hard.

Goblin Techies vs Heavy Nukers
vs

Heavy Nukers can kill Techies very fast, but as many other heroes they are also gankers, which means that they are good targets for your land mines. The difference between heavy nukers and gankers is that heavy nukers deal a lot of burst damage in team fights, which could kill you if you dont pay enough attention, Tinker and Zeus are decent enemies, and you can kill quite easily. Tiny is a really hard enemy, because he is also a dagger carries, which means that he doesnt even have to walk passed your mines, because he can simply blink on you and kill you. He is also dangerous in early game since he can do a lot of damage and has more hp than other heroes.

You handle them like the usual gankers, but you have to be more careful. You should use your Remote Miens as wards more often now (it can help a lot). They are still good opponents, but they are harder to handle. In team fights you should try to avoid their skills or you will die fast.

Goblin Techies vs Beefy Tanks
vs

Enemies with a lot of life are not a big threat to Techies, but they force you to plant more mines than usual. During late game they will be able to tank most of your land mine stacks, so Stasis traps are more important. But with your remote mines you can take a lot of their hp away.

If you lane against them you will have to place more land mines than usual, but overall they are easy to handle.

Goblin Techies vs Invisibility
vs

Invisible heroes are similar to gank heroes, because they often try to gank or harass you. They usually have low life, so a few mines are enough to kill them. A good way to protect yourself from them is to stand on or behind some remote mines. One problem could be that your team will need a gem in late game to win team fights, but if they lose it, the team will obtain it and the enemy will try to destroy all your mines. In early game they won't do much, but harass you with ranged attacks, so laning against them should be decent.

You should definitely place a lot of Land Mines so the enemy can�t surprise attack you. Usually 4-5 Mines are more than enough to kill them due to their low health. In team fights you can kill them very fast with your remote mines. They are quite easy opponents, but sometimes very annoying.

Level 1-6

In the beginning you pick Goblin Techies as fast as possible, so you have enough time to place your Land Mines around the map. I suggest you to place 4-5 Land Mines on one spot for first-blood. If you have some time left you should place one 'obvious' Land Mine on a spot not near the the others, and you do that when the enemy can see it. This will make the enemy think that there are all your mines and walk right onto your Land Mine stack. You can stay on the lane until you reach level 3 or 4 thanks to the Clarity Potions you bought earlier. After you mined 2-3 spots on the bottom lane, and you see that your mate can solo the enemies, you should place mines around the whole map. You should check, during the first 5 minutes, how your enemy moves, because this will help you during mid game and maybe give you some good kills in early game.
With level 6 you must have at least Soul Ring, even if you have to steal some farm or else you will lack the important regen to use Remote Mines.
During early game you should place your remotes on the lanes, to help your team in ganks, or kill them before they can push a tower.

- Level 6-11

Right now you should be switching between lanes, so your enemy can't predict your mine spots. This should also give you some kills which make this phase one of the shortest. You can also stack some creeps and kill them off with 2-3 Remote Mines to gain some levels. Getting to level 11 should go really fast and by then you should also have your core items plus some extra gold depending on how much you 'could' farm. You should never steal away farm from anyone after you got your core. Rather try to kill your enemies or kill neutral creeps.

- Level 11-16

This phase is the most important one, because you will have to decide on your optional & luxury item. By now you should know how your enemy acts and moves on the map. The enemy will start to group and gank with the whole team, so you have to place even more mines to help your carry. With your skills you can also keep pushing the lanes, so your team can kill a tower whenever they see the chance.
Depending on your farm you should have Aghanim's Scepter and some gold by level 16. With level 16 you should be able to win almost every team fight, by nuking the enemy away with your 750 damage mines.

- Level 16+

You will probably win the game a few minutes after you reach level 16, but if you have to turtle it's definitely going to take a while. A good way to turtle is to place your Remote Mines on the lane and not on the tower, because like this you can kill the creeps before the creeps even reach the tower. The only choice for the enemy will be either buying a gem, or to backdoor. Both would give your team an advantage during a team battle. This is a good opportunity to change the flow of the game plus you will have a nice amount of gold which you can invest in some nice luxury like Shiva's Guard or Guinsoo.

- Forrest/Jungle

Techies can jungle good as well. With some Mines they can kill a whole camp without taking damage. If you want you can put some mines in the beginning and let the neutral creeps spawn (4-5 times) then let them walk over your mines, which should give you 2 to 3 levels. Actually you could let your mid hero, or someone else get the experience points, so they get an useful early game advantage. Later you can kill creepwaves with only 1-2 Mines!

The drop and regen trick:

There is a simple way to increase the mana you regenerate. You just have to drop items which give you a boost in raw mana, but give no or very low regen.
The moment you pick up your items again you will have a boost in mana. The most effective way to use this trick is with Soul Ring and Arcane Boots. You can easily drop your mana items, refresh your mana with SR and AB, and pick up the items again.

More Tips & Tricks coming soon...

If you want to download my replays, you will have to visit my blog here.

Replay #1:

Replay #2:

More Replays coming soon...

Q: Do Goblin Techies' mines trigger on buildings?

A: No they don't, unless a creep activates the land mine. Towers make an exception.

Q: Is there a situation where Goblin Techies should max suicide early?

A: In the current meta game, and after the recent cooldown nerf, it is not very smart to max suicide early. The skill has a cooldown of almost 3 minutes, which means that you will be only able to use it 2 or 3 times before it becomes useless.
The only arguable reason and why to use it, would be if you want to give your carry an experience advantage over the enemy team. (When you suicide your carry gets full exp).

Squee Spleen and Spoon the Goblin Techies
Author: .Budi
Map Vers.: 6.72f

.Budi's Guide to the Goblin Techies

'With Patience comes Victory.'

Date Posted: 05/15/11
Last Comment:16/05/2012
Total Votes: 105
Current Rating: 8.57
Views: 148891