Bone Clinkz || A new look at an old Hero

Skill Build:

Item Build:

Circlet of Nobility

Circlet of Nobility

Ancient Tango of Essifation

Ancient Tango of Essifation

Bracer

Bracer

Boots of Speed

Demon Edge

Empty Bottle

Javelin

Javelin

Monkey King Bar

Boots of Travel

Early Game:

To ease the strain on the eyes: My Item Build Pictographically

A Small Guide on the 'Correct Use of Searing Arrow'

Searing Arrow as I mentioned before, is your bread and butter skill. Thus using it correctly is of utmost importance to you, the gamer. There are several concepts you need to know about before successfully using Searing Arrow.

I) Orb Effects

Searing Arrows is an 'Orb Effect'. In DotA an orb effect is a 'skill which is passively given by an item or hero' which may not 'stack' with the abilities of some items e.g one effect will cancel the other out. An example of this happening is the item 'Stygian Desolator.' In red in it's item description, it will say: 'Does not stack with orb effects.'

Searing Arrow's Orb effect is the bonus damage it gives to Clinkz's attacks. Thus if we have an item which Does not stack with Orb Effects we either a) lose the bonus damage from Searing Arrows, making it useless or b) lose whatever bonus the item gives us, making it a waste of gold.

For a full list of Orb effects and how they stack, refer to this link:

http://www.dotastrategy.com/forum/ftopic867.html

2) Creep Aggro

Creeps ( the AI controled units in Dota, eg Ghouls, Priests etc ) attack those units who a) engage them first or b) do the most damage to them. We, as Heros, do want to be attacked by enemy creeps we try to land *only* a killing blow on them, thus gaining both money and experience. This falls in I) Last hitting and II) Denying, topics which are covered in other guides. 

However, all enemy creeps will attack you if c) you attack an enemy Hero using your normal auto attack. However, enemy creeps do not respond if you target an Enemy Hero with manually selected orb effect. eg. As Clinkz you press 'R' and manually select to attack an enemy hero once with Searing Arrow. This is known as 'Orbwalking' and will be explained in more depth in the next paragraph.

3) Animation Canceling/'Orb Walking'

When you manually attack an with a spell, skill or in this case 'Orb effect' there is an animation in which the character does some action e.g Clinkz raise his bow, fires the Searing arrow and lowers the bow down. You must then go through this process again to fire another Searing Arrow.

This animation interrupts movement and is thus undesirable when chasing a fleeing hero etc. However, this animation can be cancelled, that is, interrupted while still experiencing the effect of the orb/spell.

The animation is unnecessary (past a certain point) to the completion of the spell/effect !!! 

In Clinkz case, this is as soon as the searing arrows leaves the bow. Thus the rest of the animation can be 'cancelled' by issuing another command to Clinkz, eg chase after X fleeing hero.

This can be done repeatedly, with Clinkz releasing the Searing arrow, being issued another command eg. walk forward, the enemy hero again being manually selected using 'R', Clinkz lifting the bow firing, moving forward etc.

The overall effect of this process is that a) because the enemy hero is being manually selected with an 'Orb attack' the enemy creeps do not aggro on you. b) Your hero fires faster than the standard auto attack and c) your hero moves about.

The overall effect is known as 'Orb Walking' and is essential to using Clinkz effectively.

What this leading up to is the fact that until you have a MKB, you must Orbwalk when harrasing other Heros. This applys especially to levels 5 - 10, where your low HP and power as a 'late game' carry will attract ganks.

Note:

Orb Effects do not stack, EXCEPT Eye of Skadi on a Ranged Hero.

'This is because Eye of Skadi's Frost effect is based on the Frost Wyrms from ladder The Frozen Throne. Thus it will stack with Orb Effects which do not debuff a hero. These include: Lifesteal, Germinate, Maelstrom and Searing Arrows.'

Quote from www.dotaportal.com;

Thus, we can use Skadi as a late game item on Bone Clinkz.

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Early Game Build

First, lets look at your early skill build and the reasons behind it:

1. Searing Arrow

- While the first level of Searing arrow is lacklustre, the extra 10 damage helps with last hitting and denying, meaning that level 2 is achieved quicker. Because, as I have mention 57 times before, Searing Arrow is our main farming/ganking skill it must be maxed as soon as possible. 

2. Windwalk

- An early level in Windwalk provides Clinkz with an escape mechanism should he get ganked. Although slight, the movement buff makes getting back to the fountain the first time slightly quicker.

3. Searing Arrow

- Same as with level 1.

4. Stats

- Early stats boost Bone Clinkz's pitiful mana/hit points and means that he can stay in lane longer.

5. Searing Arrow

- This is where it starts to get interesting. Now that Searing Arrow's cooldown is 0 seconds, it is possible to Orbwalk and Harrass the opposing Hero. However, dont go over board as a lack of mana may mean you cannot Windwalk away from a gank.

6. Death Pact

- Ah, the controversial level. A level in Death Pact at level 6 means that Clinkz can stay in lane longer, out leveling his opponents. By outlasting opposing Heros Clinkz can gain gold faster when they make their first fountain trip, meaning a quicker MKB. Death pact is also a free deny of gold/xp to your opponents.

7. Searing Arrows

- With Searing Arrows maxed out, denying/last hitting is a breeze, as is harrasing the opposing Hero(s).

8 - 9. Stats

- Stats from levels 8 to 9 provide Clinkz with the Mana to use autocast Searing Arrow along with Strafe, which he will acquire Midgame. 2 Levels in Stats also boost Clinkz Damage and survivability for ganking/being ganked in the midgame.

10. Strafe

- Now that Bone Clinkz has the Mana pool to support Searing Arrow on autocast, as well as having Searing Arrow maxed out, Strafe becomes a very valuable skill for both taking down towers and killing Heros. This level is also gotten in the expectation of gaining Demon Edge at level 12.

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Baby Steps - The Bone Fletcher's Early Levels.

Important: First, let me get everything straight; 

1) Bone is Brittle: Despite being a DPS machine in the late game, Bone Clinkz is very fragile in the early stages of his life - don't hug him too hard.

2) Do not die. This may sound obvious, but this applies to Clinkz more so than other heros; By dying you are losing gold and levels, by losing levels you are losing lane dominance and thus more gold.  

And by losing gold you are losing items!

This is Bad. The Bonefletcher is a Carry Hero and as such, relies on items for him to be effective.

3) When, using this guide, you (hopefully) are 'liek z0mg pewpew 1337 hax0r1ng 3veryone' be kind and respectful towards them, otherwise your '1337 epeen' makes you look like an arse.

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Actually Playing 

I'm going to assume that you know in which tavern Bone Clinkz is in and how to select him. As soon as you spawn, buy 2 Tangos and 2 Circlets. Note: Do not buy an animal courier/wards you are a carry Hero and need the items and thus gold to be useful for your team.

Take a Solo lane: Sentinel Bottom or Scourge Top. When it is 1:30 and your creeps arrive, I would suggest that you creep block them, a guide to doing so can be found here;

http://www.dotastrategy.com/forum/ftopic3845.html

There are different Scenarios of Gameplay depending on who you are laning against, I will list them below:

2 Melees:

Arguably the best match up for you. Although there are two of them, you 600 range gives you an advantage over them ( as always ). You should comfortably out level them due to the fact that a) your ranged and they're melee and b) there are two of them.

If your feeling confident, try and harrass one of them with Searing Arrows and make them return to the fountain and then call a gank on the remaining Hero for a quick first blood. 

Just be careful if one or both of them have a disable/stun , disable means no Wind Walk, means no Clinkz.

1 Melee:

As with 2 Melees, you still have the advantage, however the level difference should be less pronounced. Feel free to harrass at level 5 with Searing Arrow. If your opponent makes a fountain trip, once again its more gold/xp for you.

1 Range:

Because Clinkz is so delicate, play this one carefully. Concentrate on denying your own creep and allowing the enemy creeps to push to your tower. If your opponent is foolish enough to come within range of your tower, send a few Searing Arrows their way and they should either a) Flee with low hp, or b) Die (Yay!).

Either way, you've slowed down their leveling and hopefully will establish lane dominance.

2 Range:

Assuming you've taken Scourge Top/Sentinel Bottom, one wonders what two Range Heros are doing in your lane. Once again concentrate on denying, and do not pass over the river. Obviously this applies even more is one opponent has a ranged stun eg. Vengeful Sprite.

1 Nuker:

This bad - you need to play it very cautiously until you acquire 2 Bracers, infact you may want to delay Boots of Speed and go grab some Bracers early. Hug your tower and try to harrass with searing arrow - like playing against a ranged Hero, only scarier.

2 Nukers:

Obviously if 1 Nuker is bad, 2 is worse. Hug your tower like a teddybear and either a) call a gank, b) switch or c) if your team allows for it: call for a lane Partner from either Silencer, Narubian Assassian or Antimage.

Melee and Range:

Play like you would against a single Ranger, but harrass the Melee instead of the Ranged Hero.

Obviously, be very careful around disablers such as Rhasta and VS and heavy nukers such as Tormented Soul and Zeus.

  <-- Scary Opposing Heros!

By the time your level 8, you should have over 1050 gold, return to the fountain, Windwalking to get there quicker, now purchase the ingredients/recipes for duel Bracers, Boots of Speed and whatever consumables you feel you need, perhaps some more Tangos or Sapphire Water.

Regardless you should have gold left over - keep it.

Continue to farm, last hitting and denying like a machine. By level 10 you should be at least halfway to a Demon Edge, and thus entering the midgame. 

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To recap, by level 10 you should have:

Along with around: 1000 Gold.