18 minute read

1. Introduction

Tired of having to choose between attacking and repositioning yourself? Wanna do both at the same time, with maximum attack speed and maximum move speed while also being invisible? Windranger is your gal!

Hey guys, I’m SlashStrike, and I’m bringing you my in-depth guide to Windranger in patch 7.35b. The guide is mainly focused on Windranger mid, but can for the most part also be followed when playing the hero on the safelane or offlane.

Before we begin, I want to point out that there are some HUGE misconceptions most people have regarding this hero, which usually results in them building and playing her suboptimally. It will all be explained clearly further into the guide, but for now I'll just tease with the following:

The best way to play Windranger is NOT as an assassin that tries to jump in and kill one guy (like LC, Marci, Ursa, Sven etc.)

Windranger is best played as a ranged DPS-er that is fast and hard to kill (a better version of Drow, Viper, Sniper, etc.)

Just like you'll be doing in-game once you've learned the hero -- let's dive right in!

2. Characteristics & Statistics

Like most heroes that turned universal, Windranger's stats took a significant hit and are below average. However, her Base Attack Time (BAT) is at an incredible 1.5s! Only 7 other heroes have the same BAT, and only 2 heroes (Anti-Mage and Juggernaut) have a lower BAT of 1.4s. (For those of you who don't know, the gist of it is: lower BAT = faster attacks = better).

Her laning is okay and she can at least draw most match-ups by securing the ranged creep with Powershot, she can threaten most mids at level 6, and she's hard to kill thanks to Windrun. She is somewhat vulnerable to spell harassment, but that can be itemized against by getting Bracers / Magic Wand / Bottle.

Windranger is definitely in the top 5, if not the best solo-killing hero in the game.

(Obviously lots of factors go into this and calling just one hero the best is not realistic, but she is WAY up there)

Her mobility is not amazing like your Spirits, Pucks and QoPs, but running around at nearly max movement speed 50% (and after the CD talent, ~65%) of the time is pretty damn good.

Being Universal is obviously just a huge plus in terms of right-click damage, especially for a hero that's so good at right-clicking.

Her main downside is that her damage is pretty much exclusively single-target and therefore she can struggle if she falls behind versus teams with heavy teamfight that group up.

3. Matchups

Good Versus

Lane Dominators

These heroes are used to bullying their lane opponent with their oppressive attacks, never being threatened and coming out of the laning stage with a huge advantage.

A combination of your high attack range and 100% evasion on demand means that you can not only avoid getting bullied by these heroes, but you can also threaten and solo kill them once you hit level 6!

Right-Click-Based Heroes

It's fairly self-explanatory; heroes whose spells mostly revolve around their attacks will struggle to do anything versus a fast ranged hero with 100% evasion. Of course, they can buy MKB or Nullifier (some sooner than others), but then they still need to actually close the gap and get on top of you - plus, by then you should have more tools that they need to deal with (invisibility from Agh's, control from Gleipnir, Linken's for Nullifier, etc.)

All in all, it's an uphill battle for them and they are heavily disadvantaged if all things are equal. Still, if you manage to get caught without Windrun by running uphill with no vision when it's expiring in 1 second, or you let the enemy Ursa farm Blink Dagger + Abyssal Blade + Monkey King Bar without getting any defensive items yourself, you will deservedly get shredded.

Bad Versus

Heavy Teamfight & Catch

Faceless Void, Mars, Naga Siren and Kunkka are examples of heroes that have massive AoE ultimates that not only threaten and control you, but also make it harder or downright impossible for you to kill their allies in the duration. When facing these, you must play around their cooldowns - itemize to survive their combos or to avoid getting caught in the first place, and then strike once their spells are no longer available.

Damage Return

Although these heroes make things a little more difficult than most, they are still significantly easier to deal with than the ones mentioned above. Simply picking up a Satanic after your core items will not only offset any damage dealt to you by Blademails & damage-returning passive abilities, it will usually even heal you through it.

Most people aren't very experienced with Windranger and never buy this item, which is why they subsequently struggle versus heroes like Centaur, Axe, Spectre and Bristleback.

4. Skill Builds

Windranger's skill build is fairly static; you may sometimes switch things up a tiny bit from level 7 onwards, and, if you're on a side lane, you may consider taking the value point in Shackleshot earlier, at level 2 or 3; but the rest will rarely change.

Powershot at level 1 and 3, used almost exclusively to secure the ranged creep.
Windrun at level 2 and 4, used to trade hits and dive the tower once you get your ult.
One value point in Shackleshot at level 5 so you're able to prevent enemies from TP'ing out when you go for the kill with your ult.
Maxing Windrun first is most important since it's the spell that allows you to be aggressive, chase and escape - maxing Powershot before Windrun is a mistake because it's not a very good farming tool and unreliable for ganks.

You pretty much always want to be 1-2-2-1 at level 6, or rarely 0-2-3-1 if the enemy mid doesn't have a TP for some reason.

Check out Heading #6 - Spell Use, Item Use & Combos below for more juicy details on the intricate strengths and weaknesses of Windranger's spells.

Talents

Level 15 Talent: -2.5s Windrun Cooldown

Notice how it's listed before the level 10 one - that's because you should take it before the level 10 one. Although the alternative basically removes the damage reductions on Powershot, reducing the CD on Windrun is just so crucial that it's a no-brainer. Being able to spam Windrun more boosts your mobility, survivability, chasing capability, POTENTIAL INVISIBILIT- okay, you get the idea...bility.

Level 10 Talent: -2s Shackleshot Cooldown

Although it's nothing to write home about (like most level 10 talents), it's still significantly more relevant than the increased slow on Powershot. Stunning more often is better than slowing more, unless you're a scaredy support Windranger sitting back and hiding in the trees - and even then it's debatable.

Level 20 Talent: -12% Focus Fire Damage Reduction

This one is a no-brainer, it's a big damage increase and just makes your hero much more powerful, whereas the +0.75s stun on a spell that already lasts over 3 seconds if it connects hardly changes anything.

Level 25 Talent: Focus Fire Kills Advance Cooldown by 18s OR Windrun Cannot Be Dispelled

The only one that really requires some thought and foresight. Do the enemies have ways to dispel your Windrun, or are they likely to have them soon (Nullifiers, Agh's upgrades, etc.?) Then you make sure your Windrun cannot be dispelled. Click here for a full list of offensive dispels provided by the Dota 2 Wiki

Otherwise, grab the Focus Fire talent since it basically allows you to ult 2-3 times per successful fight, which is fantastic.

5. Item Builds

Starting Items

Ironwood Branch x3, Ancient Tango of Essifation, Circlet x2

Fairly standard items for a universal mid, except that you're not rushing Bottle so you also get 2 circlets.

You're probably thinking: "Playing mid without a bottle? BLASPHEMY!"

Calm down, let me explain! Here are the arguments:

Powershotting the ranged creep and occasionally using Windrun doesn't require constant mana regeneration.
Thanks to Windrun and your 600 attack range, you aren't that easy to harass.
Three tangoes and potentially three branches to eat equals a lot of hp regen already.
You're not very good at contesting runes and you're not very good at pushing the lane out quickly.
You will be rushing Maelstrom as a farming and killing item, and you won't be spamming Powershot off cd because it is a lousy farming spell. This means you won't need tons of mana to farm after the laning stage.
The extra slot you're freeing up by not getting bottle allows you to get 2x Wraith Band / Bracer, Magic Wand and situational Rain Drops / Dusts / Mangoes etc., which is a stat-heavier approach that leans into Windranger's universal right-clicking nature.

With all that being said, it's not necessarily wrong to get a Bottle and it certainly won't make or break your game. Consider this as me advising my personal preference, not a rule that's set in stone.

Early Game

Power Treads, Wraith Band, Circlet, Magic Wand, Maelstrom

You pretty much always want to end up with these items, but the question is mainly in what order you get them. If the lane is easy I usually go Band of Elvenskin -> Power Treads -> Javelin -> Maelstrom -> upgrade into Wraith Bands and get a Magic Wand, unless there's a specific reason to switch it up - here are some examples:

Versus Kunkka, you may consider getting the 2x Wraith Bands asap to get that value armor against his Tidebringer spam.

Versus heavy magic harass like Lina / Zeus / QoP / Necro it might be a good idea to get the 2x Bracer and Magic Stick asap in order to sustain against them. You could go Bottle, but keep in mind that doesn't increase your right-click damage so it'll be harder to last-hit, plus you may struggle to maintain rune control versus those heroes since they can shove the wave much harder than you can.

Core Items

Power Treads, Wraith Band x2, Magic Wand, Maelstrom, Manta Style

Now, first of all, some of you might be confused as to why your core items are so heavy on the attack speed - after all, your ult gives you tons of it, right?! Check out Heading #6 - Spell Use, Item Use & Combos, and the section on Focus Fire in particular to understand why you're building so much attack speed.

The Maelstrom is self-explanatory - it's the biggest damage increase on your Focus Fire in its price range and just fits the hero perfectly. But why Manta Style?

Contrary to popular belief, the main benefit of Manta Style is not the ability to spawn illusions, but the ability to dispel yourself.

Dispels are very important in Dota 2 because nowadays almost every spell slows, deals some annoying damage over time, or both! The list of heroes that you absolutely need a dispel against is massive, but some notable examples include Faceless Void's Time Dilation, Crystal Maiden's Frost Bite, Ember Spirit's Searing Chains, Death Prophet & Silencer & Drow Ranger's silences, and many more; and that's not to mention all the popular items like Mage Slayer, Spirit Vessel and Orchid Malevolence!

Dispels are the new magic immunity; Manta Style is the new BKB.

Furthermore, because you're a universal hero this item gives you 32.2 damage (on top of the 41 attack speed that everybody gets), which makes it the perfect item with a defensive ability which also ensures you're not falling off in terms of damage output.

Situational / Luxury

Linken's will be useful in many games, because even if they don't have strong single-target abilities, good enemies might build Heaven's Halberd or Nullifier versus you. BKB also counters those now, but Linken's gives way better stats, especially since you're universal.

Aghanim's Scepter is obviously amazing and brings your "annoying-to-deal-with" rating from a 7/10 to an 11/10, still gives some damage because you're universal, but at the end of the day remains mostly a defensive item. It lets you land Shackleshot easier versus slippery targets like Puck and Ember, but if that's your only reason to buy it, an Orchid will accomplish the same and more.

You'll obviously be getting it every game as long as it goes on long enough (since you can consume it), but it's not always worth getting it too early. Keep in mind invisibility gets stronger the later the game goes, because enemies have fewer slots for detection!

Gleipnir is just incredibly useful for a variety of reasons: it allows you to set up your Shackleshot, it gives you another way to cancel TP's outside of Shackleshot, and it combo's nicely with Gale Force, your Aghanim's Shard. Additionally, it gives you some more team fight presence which Windranger sorely lacks.

Bloodthorn gives you the biggest damage boost outside of Divine Rapier, as long as the enemy cannot remove the active "Soul Rend". It also gives you more control, being useful versus mobile heroes as well as heroes with saves (e.g. Focus Fire the carry, silence the support Oracle) as well as allowing you to break enemy Linken's Spheres. Lastly, the stats it gives outside of the active aren't bad at all either, and its 40% pierce combined with Maelstrom can serve as a great alternative to MKB even versus enemies with dispels.

MKB is a very situational item right now. Considering that Maelstrom and its upgrades grant you a 30% chance to pierce evasion and Bloodthorn also passively grants you a 40% chance to pierce evasion (apart from the 100% True Strike on enemies debuffed with its active, Soul Rend), the 80% pierce on MKB just doesn't seem that attractive. I would only consider this item when the enemy has TONS of evasion sources AND defensive dispels that would counter a potential Bloodthorn - when you're facing multiple of Phantom Assassin's Blur, Keeper of the Light's Blinding Light, Arc Warden's Magnetic Field, Riki's Smoke Screen, Radiance buyers, Halberd buyers, Butterfly buyers, etc.

Diffusal Blade is situationally a great pick up not just versus Medusa, but also versus heroes that are tough to kill yet have small mana pools and rely heavily on their spells, like Kunkka, Faceless Void, Morphling, etc.
It's also simply an amazing damage item for the cost, and the active can help you set up your Shackleshot.

Satanic is not commonly bought on Windranger, but as mentioned above, it's an absolute must versus heroes that build Blademail and have passives which return damage, since it completely counters them. Also, it gives you another self dispel on top of the Manta Style, and we already covered how important that is!

Black King Bar is sometimes necessary versus very heavy and unavoidable AoE control like Invoker, Kunkka, Mars, Underlord, etc., but it's an item you want to avoid if possible since it gives you terrible stats outside of the active.

Mjollnir is inferior to Gleipnir in most ways except for the 12 bounces it gives on your lightning procs. If you have tons of lockdown on your team already and your team just lacks AoE damage and enemies have many illusions and summons, it can still be a nice choice. It's also WR's best choice for dealing with mega creeps.

Eye of Skadi makes you super tanky, gives you decent damage since you're universal, and is obviously powerful versus some heroes that heavily rely on health regen and / or lifesteal, like Alchemist, Morphling, Death Prophet, as well as Bloodstone users like Pudge, Timbersaw, etc.

Scythe of Vyse is not so strong on universal heroes since it no longer gives great stats and therefore less damage, but the active ability remains very powerful and able to turn games around when your team lacks lockdown. A couple more that are not pictured above:

Blink Dagger is great for getting on top of high-range (Sniper, Zeus, Drow, Tinker) targets, but since it takes up a valuable slot without increasing your tankiness nor damage, you should only buy it if nobody else on your team can get the jump.

Dragon Lance / Pike can be nice for that extra long range if you also get lucky with Grove Bow and once you have damage from other items, allowing you to siege easily. Still, I would only go for it if the active ability is also useful, for example versus Nature's Prophet's Sprout, Riki's Smoke Screen, Slark's Pounce, etc.

Silver Edge is sometimes necessary versus heroes like Bristleback, Tidehunter and Spectre - even though you already get invis from your ult, it can be a necessary pickup in some games.

Daedalus I don't really recommend unless you're already winning hard and literally don't need anything else. Even then, it's not effective versus buildings so I wouldn't recommend it.

Aghanim's Shard is best gotten for free from the 2nd or 3rd Tormentor in the late game. It's nice, but not worth the gold compared to your other good item choices.

6. Spell Use, Item Use & Combos

Powershot

With 170 damage at level 1, this is one of the best spells in the game when it comes to securing the ranged creep in the early laning stage. If you ever miss a ranged creep last hit with Windranger, it's on you. Still, keep in mind that the damage gets reduced by 15% every time it passes through an enemy unit - this means that if you try to Powershot the ranged creep through 3 melee creeps and the enemy mid, it's going to deal only (170 x 0.85 x 0.85 x 0.85 x 0.85 =) ~90 damage instead, at level 1. This is why it's best to stand back and use it at an angle, making sure it only hits the ranged creep (and enemy mid, at most).

It's not a good farming tool compared to your regular attacks and Maelstrom procs, although it has some other nice purposes. You can use it to scout when going uphill; get vision and break trees when an enemy is trying to juke you; break trees when you are the one juking and trying to escape; and even assist kills on side lanes while standing in the river, making use of the fact it can hit units up to a massive 3125 range away.

Lastly, although Shackleshot is quick (1650 ms projectile), it is not quite quick enough to be a reliable catch versus heroes with Blink Daggers - this is where a Powershot (3000 ms projectile) from the fog can come in handy just to cancel a blink, and then give you the time to connect with your Shackleshot.

Keep in mind that for many of these uses, speed is more important than damage, meaning it's not necessary to wind up the Powershot for the full 1 second. The only times you absolutely need to wind it up fully are when damage is most important, i.e. when farming creeps or hitting a hero that's disabled / doesn't see you, giving you certainty that they will not dodge it.

Shackleshot

The most important thing to understand about this spell - if you're not sure it's gonna land, DON'T THROW IT FOR NO REASON!

It's much better to hold on to it for a few seconds until you're sure you can hit it, use it to follow up on an allied stun, or just save it to cancel TP's.

Although it's a skill shot, it's almost guaranteed on lanes if you're coming from the side or are invisible, so it's excellent for catching split pushers. A little harder to land in the middle of the jungle, and only really difficult in the river where there are no trees.

Getting a Blink Dagger makes it reliable anywhere, and even allows you to land 2-man shackles, but it's rarely necessary since Windranger is best at targeting the enemy frontliner or carry that will be trying to go in -- not elusive heroes that will be running away.

Getting an Aghanim's Scepter makes it easier to use, especially when hunting split pushers.

If you're getting a pick-off with your team, this is a good spell to start with since it's fast and difficult to dodge, and the duration will be long enough to kill most heroes when you have back-up.

However, if you're going for a solo kill, it's not always a good idea to start with Shackleshot, unless you are sure you have enough damage to kill the enemy in the stun duration. Versus immobile targets that cannot retaliate easily (DP, Pudge, Tidehunter, Underlord, etc.) it's better to wait till your ult brings their HP down, and then use the Shackleshot once you're able to finish them, otherwise they will just TP out after the stun ends since you'll usually lack the damage to burst them. Getting a Gleipnir fixes this issue, since you can always save that to cancel TP's.

Windrun

Your escape and mobility tool, as well as one of the factors that determines whether it's a 'good Windranger game' or not. Some heroes rely fully on right-clicks and cannot threaten you when you are windrunning (Ursa, Lycan, Clinkz, Furion) while others don't care at all (Primal Beast, Pugna, Kunkka, Timber). Identifying which heroes could pose a threat and which cannot will allow you to pressure those you have an advantage against, and avoid those that are dangerous.

Some heroes are able to dispel or purge your Windrun (Invoker's Tornado, Enchantress' Enchant, Oracle's Fortune's End). Honourable mention goes out to SD which is a very hard counter, since his ultimate Demonic Purge continuously dispels you meaning that even after he casts it you cannot activate Windrun for its entire 7 second duration (or it will immediately get purged).

Keep in mind that all of this changes when the enemy carry gets an MKB, at which point you need to be a lot more careful.

Windrun is also your main trading tool in the laning stage, since it allows you to get free hits in and avoid damage in return for a very low manacost.

Focus Fire

Although this ultimate is very powerful, it's also the reason why this hero is misunderstood and underestimated. It causes people to falsely believe two things that may have been true many patches and years ago, but are now completely wrong: "You shouldn't build attack speed because your ult already gives it, and you shouldn't hit people without using your ul-" WRONG!

Attack speed is very important on this hero because you need to be attacking constantly and only using your ult occasionally.

Combined with Shackleshot, you can take down most supports before they are able to cast anything. However, since the cooldown is too long (until late game) for you to use it twice in a fight, it's usually necessary to save it for an important enemy core. The best targets are cores that don't have an easy way to disengage once you start hitting them.

This is why having decent attack speed means you can kill supports within a Shackleshot without having to expend your ultimate, allowing you to save it for a more important target while still being a threat.

A neat thing about Focus Fire is that if you manage to target the real hero, you will keep hitting them even if they spawn illusions, which can be great if you catch a PL or Naga Siren off guard. Still, if they are the ones running at you with their illusions, you will need to reveal which is the real one or choose a different target, since you absolutely cannot risk targeting an illusion with it.

Spell & Item Combos

The most common mistake people make with this hero is thinking that there's only one possible way to try and get a kill.

You should NOT always Windrun in -> Shackleshot someone -> Focus Fire them.

In fact, that's usually the wrong approach! Unless the enemy has a great escape spell, it's generally better to walk into range, Focus Fire someone, then Windrun to chase only after they've actually started running away, and then look for a good Shackleshot opportunity while you're running after them and shooting them.

That's the most common Windranger play. Below are some more combos that you may occasionally use:

Throwing a Shackleshot that has no chance of landing, just to get the 0.75 second ministun which can set up a fully channeled Powershot to finish someone off
Using Gleipnir to then Windrun into the right angle for a two-man Shackleshot
Using Gale Force and then Gleipnir so that enemies are dragged out of position while rooted
Versus evasive Linken's wielders - throwing Shackleshot and immediately afterwards using Orchid / Bloodthorn on them, so that both end up "connecting" roughly at the same time - you don't know which one will go through but it doesn't matter since they both disable, and this gives the enemy less time to react and escape after their Linken's has been triggered.

7. Playstyles & Tempo

Early Game

If you have kill potential on the enemy mid, try to step up aggressively when you're 1 or 2 creeps away from hitting level 6, and then tower diving them as soon as you level up. If you wait, most players will start playing more carefully after they see you're level 6.

From level 7-8 onwards and with Power Treads + Javelin + other small items, you can kill most heroes solo. Instead of farming enemy supports, however, try to think about which enemy core will be the biggest threat and try to gank and kill them, in order to slow down their game.

Mid Game

This is the stage of the game in which the enemy team will start grouping together more and it'll be harder to find solo pick offs. Your opponents may even hide behind one another to try and bait you - don't fall for this! Use this time to aggressively out-farm them with Maelstrom, shoving waves on the sidelanes and then jungling near the edge of the map, killing anybody that comes to de-push on their own.

Try to fight around enemy objectives so that you can get a tower after winning a fight successfully.

You can also hit towers on your own in order to force reactions, but never use your ult on a tower!

You need it in order to threaten a solo kill in case enemies decide to only send one hero to defend. If they send two or more heroes, you've done your job well and can just back off and continue farming, knowing you've created tons of space for your team.

Note: while your ult is good for killing Roshan, you cannot really fight without it. So either commit it on Rosh when you are sure the enemy team will not contest nor fight you afterwards, or use the ult to win a fight and then take Roshan afterwards.

Late Game

At this stage you should already be quite tanky and survivable with the items you have, as well as a threatening right-clicker even without your ult.

When a fight breaks out, don't immediately commit everything you have on the first guy you see!

Think of who your most valuable target is (usually the enemy hero that does the most damage), and save your ult so that you can commit on them once they show themselves.

You generally cannot afford to use your ult on a support, unless you are sure that you will kill them before they get any spells or items off, AND they are not able to just buy-back and TP in afterwards!

This is also the part of the game where split pushing becomes more common, and fortunately for you, you are one of the best solo killers in the game! Two big tips here:

1 - Use Powershot from far away to push waves without showing yourself. You don't always need to get all the creep last-hits, you just need enemy creeps to die faster so that the wave pushes towards the enemy base!

2 - Use Powershot to cut yourself a path in the trees on the side of the lanes. This puts you in a much safer spot since enemies hunting will have a much harder time finding you there, and it also puts you in a great position to catch an enemy that comes to shove the wave back, since you can sneak up right next to them from the trees, which they won't expect!

8. Closing Words

You have finished the article and now know better how to play with and against Windranger!

To help you improve further, I can offer the following:

Join my discord here
Take a look at my infographics & hero grids here
Read my other articles here (if there is any topic you'd like to see, please join my discord and tell me there!)
Book one-on-one coaching with me here

I hope you found this guide informative and I look forward to hearing your feedback! Unfortunately this platform requires you to sign up in order to like & leave a comment, which of course is a hassle, but I would still appreciate it big time!

Thanks for getting this far, and remember:

Balance in all things.

SlashStrike's In-Depth Guide to Windranger