Dataslycer
11-23-2009, 11:49 AM
Index
1. Introduction
2. Hero Stats and Summary
3. Skill Stats and Detail
4. Skill/Item Build
- Skill Build
- Item Build
5. Game Phase
- Level 1-7
- Level 8-11
- Level 12-16
6. Hero Relations
- Hero Synergy
- Heroes effective against
- Heroes to watch out for
7. Eye Placement
8. Did you know?
9. Replays
10. Questions and Answers
11. Conclusion
12. VersionsI. Introduction
This is an edited port of my Rooftrellen guide in dotaportal and edited for Heroes of Newerth. However gameplay-wise Keeper of the Forest will be fairly different due to the lack of living armor, a means of last hitting harder, slower attack speed, and different roster compared to his DotA counterpart.
Though this guide can provide you with firm soil to plant your base, it is up to you to nurture your skills and grow, bearing the fruits of victory to your team as you, the Keeper of the Forest, aid your allies while weeding out the ability of your enemies to resist. For those relatively new with Keeper of the Forest or those that have used him before, this guide will help you better utilize your skills to your greatest advantage. Keep in mind that you can deviate from this guide if the situation demands it. Grow, bend, take advantage of what you have and what the enemy lacks.
2. Hero Stats and Summary
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2586/Keeper%20of%20the%20Foresttreanttm5.jpg
An ancient protector of the forest, the Keeper fights to save the lush lands of Newerth he has tended to his whole long life. Possessing a spiritual link to the trees, the Keeper has the ability to see what they see, be hidden amongst them, and even use them as brutal weapons to aid him in battle.
Keeper of the Forest
Range: 128 | | Move Speed: 290 | Primary: STR
Str: 26 + 3.6 | Agi: 14 + 1.4 | Int: 16 + 1.9
Damage: 59 - 67 | HP: 644 | Mana: 208
Armor: 2.82 | Damage Reduction: 14%
Click here (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=25) for full stats.
Pros:
Largest Base Strength and Growth of the game
Strong total stat growth of 6.9 per level
3 skill givivng your team a tactical advantage
Overgrowth is a great group disable especially against carries and damager
Extremely hard to kill (huge HP pool and escape skill)
Can easily adapt to the game situation
Has very high physical damage early game
Cons:
Mana problems early game.
Most skills can be easily countered with items.
His only offensive skill, Overgrowth, has a long cooldown makes him less reliable in the mid game ganking phase.
Has no means of stopping spells.
Can't chase very well
3. Skill Stats and Detail
http://img406.imageshack.us/i/camoflauge.jpg/ (Q)
A nifty little spell that grants invisibility to heroes that don't normally get it. Escape mechanism as well as a saving skill are two obvious ways of using it especially in battle. However a great way of utilizing it is using it on hero that requires positioning to be effective like Soul Stealer's Soul Burst, Behemoth?s Shockwave, Kraken?s Whirlpool, etc. You can also cloak your whole team for an ambush as well. The only problem is the guised hero must remain near a tree, making it less useful at the base or at the river.
http://img163.imageshack.us/i/treesight.jpg/
Your means of gathering intel on the enemy, regeneration, and even jungling utility. However as useful as this skill is, positionining it is very important due to a somehow limited sight range because it needs to be on a tree, the regeneration radius, and the fact that visible Tree Sight will get cut down by runes or hatchet. Because it is an entity, it counts as a unit thus if it is close to neutral camp, Tree Sight can prevent it from spawning thus allowing you to block neutral camps but makes it equally important to be careful of where you place yours in your jungle.
The nice thing about Tree Sight is that it can see pass any terrain that is higher than the tree that it resides. This means that its sight is a full circle and not blocked by that pesky hill or trees so you can see the nearby creep camps as well, a seriously advantage over wards.
Tree Sight do not see as far as Observor wards so they are less effective in open areas, rivers and enemy bases. With this in mind there may be situations that you will want your ally to place a ward instead which also helps save on the cooldown of your Eyes so you can place them at more effective spots. More on locations to put Eyes will be revealed in this guide.
DotA veterans should keep in mind that this does not provide True Sight thus it is important to get wards of revelations if you are up against a stealth hero.
http://img187.imageshack.us/i/naturesvengeance.jpg/
Your means of additional physical damage. Combining this with his high base damage and ridiculous strength growth, one blow can deal almost as much as a nuke. You will have the biggest windows of opportunity to use all of the strikes on the enemy when they are rooted.
This ability grants a total of 75/180/315/480 total damage without armor reduction
http://img171.imageshack.us/i/root.jpg/
]A great disable with a long range and decent damage, this skill allows you to pin down the enemy team and let your allies do what they want to do to them. Because it also disables attack, it works wonders against DPS carry heroes. Note that it does not prevent spells or items. Be sure to catch at least 60% of the enemy team in the Roots but since Roots has such a large Area of Effect, it should be a big problem.
The most practical use of Roots is to stop mobility by the team so they can retreat or pin them down from an ally's skill that deals large amount of AoE damage. I have not yet confirmed if it stops some or all teleport skills such as Magebane?s flash.
Because Roots is a area Target debuff, it can be dispelled by purge/diffusal, broken out with Manta Style or Slithice's and Nessaj's image skill, can be blocked by linken, and shrugged off with a mean of obtaining magic immunity while in Overgrowth; if they are hit while being magic immune, they will be still disabled but no Overgrowth damage will be dealt to them
Deals a total of 255/340/425 damage before magic resistance.
4. Skill/Item Build
Note:This is a foundation build in which you generally go on for a generic game. However, if the situation demands that you take an alternative path (like you need Camouflage at level 1 for Techies), then do so and adjust to the situation.
Skill Build
1. Tree Sight
2. Nature?s Vengeance/Camouflage1
3. Tree Sight
4. Camouflage/Nature?s Vengeance
5. Tree Sight
6. Root
7. Tree Sight
8. Nature?s Vengeance
9. Nature?s Vengeance
10. Nature?s Vengeance
11. Root
12. Stat/Camoflauge2
13. Stats
14. Stats
15. Stats
16. Overgrowth
17. Stat
18. Stat
19. Stat
20. Stat
21. Stat
22. Stat
23. Stat
24. Camouflage
25. Camouflage
Tree Sight is taken first as it provides both intel on enemy position as well as HP regeneration within a radius. It can also help your junglers with its HP regeneration or hinder enemy?s jungling if hidden well enough. It is max?ed out primarily due to shortening the cooldown down to a quarter of its original time which allows you to create more sight at lvl 6 and mid game ganking phase. Allowing you to have an advantage of first strike instead of them or flee when needed. One Point of Nature?s Vengeance is taken early to further his advantage in last hitting and even hit the enemy hard with his physical attack if they venture too close to him and it maxed out after Tree Sight to increase the damage and number of usage before the tree breaks. Camouflage is taken for escape purposes or to save an ally. It can also be used to stealth your allies especially for positioning provided that you have plenty of trees to hide behind. Roots is, of course taken whenever possible as it immobilizes/disables attack as well as deal decent damage.
1:The choice between Nature?s Vengeance and Camouflage is depending on your lane?s line up vs their. Having an advantage in laning favors Nature?s Vengeance while dual stun favors Camouflage.
2:One level of Camouflage should be enough for escape purposes but if you want to do ambushes and want to cloak the whole team, then level 2 Camouflage is enough.
Item Build
Keep in mind that there is technically no ?best? way to play Keeper of the Forest or ?best? item for him. I encourage you to follow the paths in the builds before experimenting with the other builds once you are familiar with him.
Starting Items
*********************************
The Tangoes are for regeneration as Keeper of the Forest will be harassed as a melee hero vs ranged heroes as well as nukers while the branches aids essentially every aspect in Keeper of the Forest's early stage.
Flask is for quick regeneration in the case you get hit by a chain stun/nuke. The wait to regenerate outside of battle is negligable since you don't want to be near the creep line while seriously hurt. Keeper of the Forest?s base HP is pretty high so he can take 400 HP without being dangerously low on health.
Support Build
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNGoldRing.gifhttp://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNPeriapt.gif --> 1750
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNBootsOfSpeed.gif 500
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNEnchantedGemstone.gif1 1000
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNINV_Mace_10.gif 1675
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNHeartOfSearinox.gif 1875
Total Cost: 6825
1: Alternatively you can substitute the Energy Booster for 2 Null Talismans. The Stats will help you a decent amount though you won?t gain as much mana capacity and it takes two spaces instead of one. (Thanks to Baconzilla)
Perseverance is taken first because Keeper of the Forest needs the mana regeneration since he is going to constantly be using his skills especially Living Armor and Eyes in the Fores. I recommend getting Voidstone to solve your mana problem first but you can get Ring of Health first if you find yourself neutralling a lot. Boots of Speed is taken next since Keeper of the Forest is going to be waking around the map fairly often. Energy Booster (or two Null Talismans) is taken for the sole purpose of mana capacity so you can possibly cast another Overgrowth when needed.
In summary, this build focuses on rushing refresher to activate Overgrowth when you need it most while it is still on cool down or extend Overgrowth to a devastating 10 seconds. The only requirement for double Overgrowth is for your mana pool to be at 725/775 (a few points lower is fine due to regeneration). The best part about the core build is that it is very cheap to complete, requiring the gold amount comparably to Skadi to finish. Because of the speed of the completion of the build, you can devastate the enemies before they get enough items for themselves possibly helping your team bringing the game to quick finish or at least devastate a lane's barrack.
The weakness of this build is skills that drain your mana or mana pool which includes but not limited to, Mana Break, Mana Burn, Mana Leak, and Mana Drain. The other problem is that, unless your Overgrowth is ready, you aren't going to contribute as much in battle since the build is emphasizing Overgrowth.
Carry/Tank Build
A carry build is more viable now that Keeper of the Forest has decent agility to attack fast enough. Keep in mind that while Roof can perform this role, he doesn?t really specialized in this role like Nevermore and Harbringer does.
Other Required Items
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNAbility_Rogue_Sprint.gif
Boots of Travel is a must after Refresher so when you successfully win a battle, you can teleport to the most vulnerable side of the enemy base to attack there instead of wasting valuable time to walk there, time which they may end up respawning on time. Also if you are out in the forest and the enemy is pushing FAST to your base, then you need to teleport there as soon as possible. Finally, if you had died at the enemy base but the enemy has died as well, Boots of Travel allows you to buy back and teleport back into the scene.
Other item Consideration
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNSentryWard.gif
Eyes of the Forest covers a good amount of area to observe but people will be killing trees on sight so you need an alternate mean reconainssance. However if you have someone else that has map control skills (Ex. Lanaya's Mines). Then you can leave this out. However do not focus too much on wards since Keeper of the Forest needs items to be effective. If you are in a situation where you are the main carrier of wards, then you may want to recheck on your line-up.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNTransmute.gif
I moved this from bad to possible since the enemy is going to be stuck in Overgrowth for a while adding to the damage. This may become a necessary item due to the change in Blink Daggers. Also since Keeper of the Forest is going to be in the middle of the enemy flank to pull it off, it also works well to catch the maximum amount of heroes in the damage. Also, since enemies can't use Blink Daggers while you are immolating them, Radiance is essential from keeping your enemies from running away by merely moving with them. If Lothar gets a surge of popularity, your Eyes and Sentry Wards should counter them. The only problem is that someone on your team may have Radiance so only get it if no one else is planning to. Also, you will need to rush this item before Refresher first or don't get it at all as the immolation loses effectiveness later on.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/assaultcuirass.gif
Assault Cuirass is to make Keeper of the Forest a dangerous presence in the field with his high base damage aided with Refresher's (and possibly Radiance) damage, giving the enemy more reason to focus fire him instead of ignoring him while the armor gives him better tanking abilities and allows him to use living armor on someone else other than himself. The increased attack speed and armor debuff auras make that your mere presence will support your allies. Get this if none of your allies aren't planning to.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNNecromancerMaster.gif
Due to the long duration of Overgrowth, Keeper of the Forest can make use of Necronomicon. Also due to his warding nature, he is also a candidate to hunt them as well, using true sight to destroy them. This also allows him to deal more damage through the Necro-Warriors as well making him more useful in battle even without Overgrowth. Also since you have a long duration disable, this allows your minions to get free hits on the enemies. Finally, if the enemy has a low mana base, the mana burn and mana break may cause your opponent to lack mana to cast any spells. The increased mana capacity should also be enough to use a Refresher as well if you desire. However, if you are going for Necronomicon, rush it first as it also loses effectiveness
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/shivaguard.gif
Because Keeper of the Forest needs to position himself in the middle of the enemy ranks, he would also be in a good position to use the active ability of Shiva Armor. This also allows him to add even more armor to himself as well as allowing his presence to slow the enemies' DPS complimenting the effect of Assault Cuirass. The Shiva activation should be good to slow the enemy down so your allies can mop up the rest of the survivors. Getting this, you should have also have enough mana for Refresher as well. Finally it gives him a purpose when Overgrowth is in cooldown.
Items not Recommended
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNArcaneRing.gif
Originally I had this item as a consideration but after several test, I see this item is not needed. Perseverance/Refresher is enough regeneration as your skills has low mana costs and you only need to maintain your to at least 875. The other reason is the limt of one Arcane in higher level competition and Zeus or Raigor would be a better candidiate to hold this than you.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNHelmOfValor.gif
Hyperstone serves a better purpose in increasing your attack speed because it can be turned into a useful Assault Cuirass which gives just enough attack speed but the added benefits of the auras while the only thing the Mask of Madness have over Hyperstone is for the life steal. It is best leave this item to Magnus or Sven as they deal far more damage to benefit from the life steal.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNHeartOfAszune.gif
Giving too much survival to Keeper of the Forest would discourage attacking him causing the attack to fall onto your allies, particularly your carry hero, which defeats your purpose as a tank.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNRodOfNecromancy.gif
Like Heart of Tarrasque, this will draw spells away from Keeper of the Forest and onto your more fragile allies.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNINV_Weapon_Crossbow_10.gifhttp://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNINV_Weapon_Halberd_10.gif
Unless you finish your luxury build, damage items are not a high priority on your shopping list. If anything, desolator would be a better choice as it will augment your negative armor bonus and allow your allies to deal more damage to your chosen target.
5. Game Phase
Level 1-7
Buy your items and immediately run to the top river to plant your eye on the top rune area. Doing this early will allow part of the time of no creeps to absorb some of the cool down, something you will need as the cool down for Eyes is a whooping 300 seconds at level 1. Also, the top area is more idea at the bottom before there is no easily accessible trees at the bottom lane that will observe both gank routes. Keeper of the Forest as a teammate on lane only provides extra survivability but little ganking skills so focus more on last hitting, denying, and healing with living armor. Keeper of the Forest has a high base damage but a slight animation delay in his attack so you should time your last hits a bit earlier than most heroes. Also due to your high base strength, you are more able to take harassments than a more fragile hero like, lets say, Rhasta. In the midst of last hitting, make sure anyone with wounds get a Living Armor to help a bit of healing along with Tangoes.
Once, you hit level 6, try to conserve your mana so that you can be able to cast Overgrowth. With an ally with good lane control as well as one that synergizes with yours, you can be able to take out one or more of the enemy heroes. However, if you find your lane at a disadvantage, you may have to call for help in the adjacent lane. Also keep track of the cooldown of Eyes of the Forest so you can place another of these non river spots or renew them when an enemy tangoes your first one.
Make sure to purchase wards off of your chicken or, better yet, turn it into a crow and have it fly and place it for you. Just make sure to turn on the courier shield when you are near the location so it does not get shot down by an enemy that is may be nearby.
Mid Game
With leveled eyes, you should be going about the map to places them at key points like gank routes and neutral creeps. Some of the previous eyes are probably destroyed by Tangoes or AoE tree-eaters. Renew the critical spots when needed. For locations that contain only a single tree, take note that the trees regrow at 5 minute intervals (5:00, 10:00, 15:00, etc). You should stay in lane and move off when you are either pushing too far, placing an Eye, neutral creeping, or going back to retrieve your purchase from a courrier (or go back to shop if it's a pub game and no one shares chicken). Always keep a scroll with you for if you anticipate a battle, you can teleport to their location and lend them a hand with your Guise and Overgrowth.
This phase of the game is particularly important for Keeper of the Forest since ganks are more frequent and you can foil them through Eyes of the Forest, wards, and Camouflage. The other reason is checking on how the enemy is reacting to your team line-up as well as your own presence. A few times, you should check the enemy's inventory for the following items:
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNAncientOfTheEarth.gif
If you see an unusually large amount of tangoes and there is no constant tree killer hero, then this is the hero designated to kill off your eyes while scouting the map. To counter, use observer wards in the same location as well. Few people would suspect the redundancy of Eyes and wards from the same hero and even less in the same area. They also, oddly, have good synergy with each other. Eyes of the Forest would detect sentry wards against your observers, and observer are back up scouting if someone tangoes or tree kills.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNSentryWard.gif (Sentry edition)
This is to counter your Camouflage to make sure that they don't get away. However, if you have another stealth hero, such as Gondor, Bone Clinkz, or Black Arachnia, they may have gotten that to kill two birds with one stone, or one ward, so to speak. Pay attention if you see an odd number or decreased amount of wards. Buy your own sentries as well to destroy theirs when you have control of the area. Don't use Eyes for the task as their line of sight is too low and are easily killed. Make them busy waging ward wars that they have less time hunting your eyes.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNNecromancerMaster.gif
Nothing is more annoying to Keeper of the Forest than an item with the annoyance of Magina's Mana Break, Anub'arak's Mana Burn, and a Gem of True Sight, all in one moldy book. The mana issue may prevent you from using Overgrowth twice or even once in the early games while the level 3 true sight will prevent Camouflage from working. Try to initiate first so you have already used Overgrowth making the Mana Burn less effective. If someone has a book, never linger near the enemies and assume that you can be spotted at any moment's notice.
Level 12-16
At this stage, ganks are less frequents since both teams are going to be moving in groups and any attacks probably be from the entire enemy roster. Because of this, it is imperative that you remain with your allies as well. Posts Eyes on any of the ambush zones near the lane you are pushing and give all of your allies constant living armor, particular your carry hero. If you have your Refresher at this time, then try to capitalize on your allies' combo by extending the disable time so you can take out their entire team at once so they are either forced to buy back or push and break down the enemy barracks. You can also use your refresher if you need Overgrowth at a crucial moment but it's still on cool down. Remember only to use the Refresh if you need that second Overgrowth. Don't get into a habit of hitting refresher after Overgrowth just to find out that second Overgrowth will not be needed.
Level 17-25
You should have refresher and boots or travel at this time. Focus all of your support onto your carry hero as you move in a group. If he is being focus fired, immediately use Camouflage to throw targeting off of him. You can possibly spam this to increase his EHP through frustrating Phase Shift. If you managed to get a Radiance and/or Assault Cuirass try to get into the enemy's face so they focus fire on you once you used your Overgrowth. The focus is the same as before but keep in mind that respawn time is very long and the buyback price is very high.
Role of Battle
Keeper of the Forest is going to be in the enemies face thanks to his large HP and Living Armor. He should position himself in the middle of the enemy ranks to encompass as many enemies in Overgrowth as possible (see the Overgrowth Screenshot). Then focus your attack on the carry hero and the strong disable/AoE casters in that order.
Beginning game, you can use Overgrowth as a mere disabler since you won't get too many people in a single lane at the time. Mid game you should get 2-3. Late Game, you should reserve it for team battles since most sensible teams will go in groups.
If your team is losing the battle, make sure to cast Guise on your allies to aid their escape before Guising yourself.
6. Hero Relations
Hero Synergies
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Hjai.gif
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/E005.gif
Your Overgrowth will keep the enemies in the range of their ult and Camouflage conceals them from single target disables. You can also help them get away since these heroes have no escape means, although most of them generally get a blink dagger.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/UC11.gifhttp://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/GeoM.gif
Camouflage will help these heroes position themselves to use their devastating close range AoE. Darchrow and Magnus, also puts them in a nice little bundle for Overgrowth as well while you can Camouflage away a wounded Geomancer/clone while he is retreating.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Ekee.gif
The longer they are standing still, the longer they are suffering from the devastation of Pulse Nova. Once it started, it cannot be turned off, allowing Leshrac to constantly deal damage. I would say this is one of the best allies for Keeper of the Forest.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/N01A.gif
Overgrowth does not prevent skills so these guys will seal up that weakness. Nortrom's Global Silence along with Rootrellen's Overgrowth will stop, attacks, movement, AND spells, thus almost disabling all enemies entirely while he can slash them to ribbons with those devastating glaives. Overgrowth also keeps the enemies within the swarms of Krobelus's Exorcism ghosts as well.
Heroes effective against
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Nfir.gif
DPS heroes that uses physical attacks to annihilate your team will be rendered helpless due to Overgrowth's ability to stop attacks, even Syllabear's spirit bear, unless they have a mean of dealing a lot of damage from spells, like Luna?s Eclipse. Their HP isn't particularly high either.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Naka.gif
These heroes rely on their invisibility that makes it hard to call missing as they go gank someone. However, Eyes will still detect them as they move elsewhere on the map towards your allies, allowing them to flee. Between Sentry Wards, and Eyes of the Forest, their main advantage is negated. Also, most of them are strong physical attackers, thus countered by Overgrowth.
Neutral Creepers
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/U007.gif
Eyes placed on neutral creeps will catch these heroes creeping, allowing you to gank them, possibly without allies. Also placing wards at neutral locations will prevent them from spawning, thus effectively negating part of their income.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Ubal.gif
Watchers and Hawks are invisible so you will know if they are map controlling. Also you can intercept and kill the watchers as well. Revenants aren't invisible so you will know if they are posted on areas of the map. However, keep in mind that they can use their own units to do the same and find your eyes and Rexxar can use his axes to cut them down.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNSentryWard.gif
Keeper of the Forest has a bit of an advantage in waging a ward wars as his eyes will reveal any observer wards within its close vicinity. It is not a huge advantage but one nevertheless. In addition, Keeper of the Forest can also use observers in conjunction with Eyes to give better map coverage than an average map warder.
Heroes to watch out for
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/N01A.gif
Because Keeper of the Forest is also a skill oriented hero, he is also highly hampered by any form of Silence. If he intiates with Overgrowth then silence won't cripple him as much though.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/UC42.gif
If he dooms you, then you cannot use Overgrowth. Albeit the damage may not kill you, but it very annoying not to be able to contribute to the team with Overgrowth or Camouflage.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/U000.gif
Without mana, you cannot cast your support spells or use Overgrowth and just one skill usage may drain enough mana to prevent you from using Overgrowth twice as it is. If you are up against these foes, then it's best to turn your Energy Booster into an Arcane Ring.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Ekee.gif
Heroes that have spells that can kill trees. Three of them are int heroes, thus have plenty of mana to spare to nuke your eyes while Beastmaster can axe your trees and wage his own map control war with his invisible hawk. The unique case is Medusa who can purge an eye out of trees without needed to kill it.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/HC49.gif
What a pain in the ass! Song of the Siren will waste Overgrowth, Split Image will get her out of any other Overgrowth, her Ensnare will prevent you from running into the forest. The only saving factor is that she has a lot of trouble laning but she can gank decently so keep those eyes up at all times..
1. Introduction
2. Hero Stats and Summary
3. Skill Stats and Detail
4. Skill/Item Build
- Skill Build
- Item Build
5. Game Phase
- Level 1-7
- Level 8-11
- Level 12-16
6. Hero Relations
- Hero Synergy
- Heroes effective against
- Heroes to watch out for
7. Eye Placement
8. Did you know?
9. Replays
10. Questions and Answers
11. Conclusion
12. VersionsI. Introduction
This is an edited port of my Rooftrellen guide in dotaportal and edited for Heroes of Newerth. However gameplay-wise Keeper of the Forest will be fairly different due to the lack of living armor, a means of last hitting harder, slower attack speed, and different roster compared to his DotA counterpart.
Though this guide can provide you with firm soil to plant your base, it is up to you to nurture your skills and grow, bearing the fruits of victory to your team as you, the Keeper of the Forest, aid your allies while weeding out the ability of your enemies to resist. For those relatively new with Keeper of the Forest or those that have used him before, this guide will help you better utilize your skills to your greatest advantage. Keep in mind that you can deviate from this guide if the situation demands it. Grow, bend, take advantage of what you have and what the enemy lacks.
2. Hero Stats and Summary
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2586/Keeper%20of%20the%20Foresttreanttm5.jpg
An ancient protector of the forest, the Keeper fights to save the lush lands of Newerth he has tended to his whole long life. Possessing a spiritual link to the trees, the Keeper has the ability to see what they see, be hidden amongst them, and even use them as brutal weapons to aid him in battle.
Keeper of the Forest
Range: 128 | | Move Speed: 290 | Primary: STR
Str: 26 + 3.6 | Agi: 14 + 1.4 | Int: 16 + 1.9
Damage: 59 - 67 | HP: 644 | Mana: 208
Armor: 2.82 | Damage Reduction: 14%
Click here (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=25) for full stats.
Pros:
Largest Base Strength and Growth of the game
Strong total stat growth of 6.9 per level
3 skill givivng your team a tactical advantage
Overgrowth is a great group disable especially against carries and damager
Extremely hard to kill (huge HP pool and escape skill)
Can easily adapt to the game situation
Has very high physical damage early game
Cons:
Mana problems early game.
Most skills can be easily countered with items.
His only offensive skill, Overgrowth, has a long cooldown makes him less reliable in the mid game ganking phase.
Has no means of stopping spells.
Can't chase very well
3. Skill Stats and Detail
http://img406.imageshack.us/i/camoflauge.jpg/ (Q)
A nifty little spell that grants invisibility to heroes that don't normally get it. Escape mechanism as well as a saving skill are two obvious ways of using it especially in battle. However a great way of utilizing it is using it on hero that requires positioning to be effective like Soul Stealer's Soul Burst, Behemoth?s Shockwave, Kraken?s Whirlpool, etc. You can also cloak your whole team for an ambush as well. The only problem is the guised hero must remain near a tree, making it less useful at the base or at the river.
http://img163.imageshack.us/i/treesight.jpg/
Your means of gathering intel on the enemy, regeneration, and even jungling utility. However as useful as this skill is, positionining it is very important due to a somehow limited sight range because it needs to be on a tree, the regeneration radius, and the fact that visible Tree Sight will get cut down by runes or hatchet. Because it is an entity, it counts as a unit thus if it is close to neutral camp, Tree Sight can prevent it from spawning thus allowing you to block neutral camps but makes it equally important to be careful of where you place yours in your jungle.
The nice thing about Tree Sight is that it can see pass any terrain that is higher than the tree that it resides. This means that its sight is a full circle and not blocked by that pesky hill or trees so you can see the nearby creep camps as well, a seriously advantage over wards.
Tree Sight do not see as far as Observor wards so they are less effective in open areas, rivers and enemy bases. With this in mind there may be situations that you will want your ally to place a ward instead which also helps save on the cooldown of your Eyes so you can place them at more effective spots. More on locations to put Eyes will be revealed in this guide.
DotA veterans should keep in mind that this does not provide True Sight thus it is important to get wards of revelations if you are up against a stealth hero.
http://img187.imageshack.us/i/naturesvengeance.jpg/
Your means of additional physical damage. Combining this with his high base damage and ridiculous strength growth, one blow can deal almost as much as a nuke. You will have the biggest windows of opportunity to use all of the strikes on the enemy when they are rooted.
This ability grants a total of 75/180/315/480 total damage without armor reduction
http://img171.imageshack.us/i/root.jpg/
]A great disable with a long range and decent damage, this skill allows you to pin down the enemy team and let your allies do what they want to do to them. Because it also disables attack, it works wonders against DPS carry heroes. Note that it does not prevent spells or items. Be sure to catch at least 60% of the enemy team in the Roots but since Roots has such a large Area of Effect, it should be a big problem.
The most practical use of Roots is to stop mobility by the team so they can retreat or pin them down from an ally's skill that deals large amount of AoE damage. I have not yet confirmed if it stops some or all teleport skills such as Magebane?s flash.
Because Roots is a area Target debuff, it can be dispelled by purge/diffusal, broken out with Manta Style or Slithice's and Nessaj's image skill, can be blocked by linken, and shrugged off with a mean of obtaining magic immunity while in Overgrowth; if they are hit while being magic immune, they will be still disabled but no Overgrowth damage will be dealt to them
Deals a total of 255/340/425 damage before magic resistance.
4. Skill/Item Build
Note:This is a foundation build in which you generally go on for a generic game. However, if the situation demands that you take an alternative path (like you need Camouflage at level 1 for Techies), then do so and adjust to the situation.
Skill Build
1. Tree Sight
2. Nature?s Vengeance/Camouflage1
3. Tree Sight
4. Camouflage/Nature?s Vengeance
5. Tree Sight
6. Root
7. Tree Sight
8. Nature?s Vengeance
9. Nature?s Vengeance
10. Nature?s Vengeance
11. Root
12. Stat/Camoflauge2
13. Stats
14. Stats
15. Stats
16. Overgrowth
17. Stat
18. Stat
19. Stat
20. Stat
21. Stat
22. Stat
23. Stat
24. Camouflage
25. Camouflage
Tree Sight is taken first as it provides both intel on enemy position as well as HP regeneration within a radius. It can also help your junglers with its HP regeneration or hinder enemy?s jungling if hidden well enough. It is max?ed out primarily due to shortening the cooldown down to a quarter of its original time which allows you to create more sight at lvl 6 and mid game ganking phase. Allowing you to have an advantage of first strike instead of them or flee when needed. One Point of Nature?s Vengeance is taken early to further his advantage in last hitting and even hit the enemy hard with his physical attack if they venture too close to him and it maxed out after Tree Sight to increase the damage and number of usage before the tree breaks. Camouflage is taken for escape purposes or to save an ally. It can also be used to stealth your allies especially for positioning provided that you have plenty of trees to hide behind. Roots is, of course taken whenever possible as it immobilizes/disables attack as well as deal decent damage.
1:The choice between Nature?s Vengeance and Camouflage is depending on your lane?s line up vs their. Having an advantage in laning favors Nature?s Vengeance while dual stun favors Camouflage.
2:One level of Camouflage should be enough for escape purposes but if you want to do ambushes and want to cloak the whole team, then level 2 Camouflage is enough.
Item Build
Keep in mind that there is technically no ?best? way to play Keeper of the Forest or ?best? item for him. I encourage you to follow the paths in the builds before experimenting with the other builds once you are familiar with him.
Starting Items
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The Tangoes are for regeneration as Keeper of the Forest will be harassed as a melee hero vs ranged heroes as well as nukers while the branches aids essentially every aspect in Keeper of the Forest's early stage.
Flask is for quick regeneration in the case you get hit by a chain stun/nuke. The wait to regenerate outside of battle is negligable since you don't want to be near the creep line while seriously hurt. Keeper of the Forest?s base HP is pretty high so he can take 400 HP without being dangerously low on health.
Support Build
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNGoldRing.gifhttp://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNPeriapt.gif --> 1750
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNBootsOfSpeed.gif 500
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNEnchantedGemstone.gif1 1000
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNINV_Mace_10.gif 1675
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNHeartOfSearinox.gif 1875
Total Cost: 6825
1: Alternatively you can substitute the Energy Booster for 2 Null Talismans. The Stats will help you a decent amount though you won?t gain as much mana capacity and it takes two spaces instead of one. (Thanks to Baconzilla)
Perseverance is taken first because Keeper of the Forest needs the mana regeneration since he is going to constantly be using his skills especially Living Armor and Eyes in the Fores. I recommend getting Voidstone to solve your mana problem first but you can get Ring of Health first if you find yourself neutralling a lot. Boots of Speed is taken next since Keeper of the Forest is going to be waking around the map fairly often. Energy Booster (or two Null Talismans) is taken for the sole purpose of mana capacity so you can possibly cast another Overgrowth when needed.
In summary, this build focuses on rushing refresher to activate Overgrowth when you need it most while it is still on cool down or extend Overgrowth to a devastating 10 seconds. The only requirement for double Overgrowth is for your mana pool to be at 725/775 (a few points lower is fine due to regeneration). The best part about the core build is that it is very cheap to complete, requiring the gold amount comparably to Skadi to finish. Because of the speed of the completion of the build, you can devastate the enemies before they get enough items for themselves possibly helping your team bringing the game to quick finish or at least devastate a lane's barrack.
The weakness of this build is skills that drain your mana or mana pool which includes but not limited to, Mana Break, Mana Burn, Mana Leak, and Mana Drain. The other problem is that, unless your Overgrowth is ready, you aren't going to contribute as much in battle since the build is emphasizing Overgrowth.
Carry/Tank Build
A carry build is more viable now that Keeper of the Forest has decent agility to attack fast enough. Keep in mind that while Roof can perform this role, he doesn?t really specialized in this role like Nevermore and Harbringer does.
Other Required Items
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNAbility_Rogue_Sprint.gif
Boots of Travel is a must after Refresher so when you successfully win a battle, you can teleport to the most vulnerable side of the enemy base to attack there instead of wasting valuable time to walk there, time which they may end up respawning on time. Also if you are out in the forest and the enemy is pushing FAST to your base, then you need to teleport there as soon as possible. Finally, if you had died at the enemy base but the enemy has died as well, Boots of Travel allows you to buy back and teleport back into the scene.
Other item Consideration
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNSentryWard.gif
Eyes of the Forest covers a good amount of area to observe but people will be killing trees on sight so you need an alternate mean reconainssance. However if you have someone else that has map control skills (Ex. Lanaya's Mines). Then you can leave this out. However do not focus too much on wards since Keeper of the Forest needs items to be effective. If you are in a situation where you are the main carrier of wards, then you may want to recheck on your line-up.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNTransmute.gif
I moved this from bad to possible since the enemy is going to be stuck in Overgrowth for a while adding to the damage. This may become a necessary item due to the change in Blink Daggers. Also since Keeper of the Forest is going to be in the middle of the enemy flank to pull it off, it also works well to catch the maximum amount of heroes in the damage. Also, since enemies can't use Blink Daggers while you are immolating them, Radiance is essential from keeping your enemies from running away by merely moving with them. If Lothar gets a surge of popularity, your Eyes and Sentry Wards should counter them. The only problem is that someone on your team may have Radiance so only get it if no one else is planning to. Also, you will need to rush this item before Refresher first or don't get it at all as the immolation loses effectiveness later on.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/assaultcuirass.gif
Assault Cuirass is to make Keeper of the Forest a dangerous presence in the field with his high base damage aided with Refresher's (and possibly Radiance) damage, giving the enemy more reason to focus fire him instead of ignoring him while the armor gives him better tanking abilities and allows him to use living armor on someone else other than himself. The increased attack speed and armor debuff auras make that your mere presence will support your allies. Get this if none of your allies aren't planning to.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNNecromancerMaster.gif
Due to the long duration of Overgrowth, Keeper of the Forest can make use of Necronomicon. Also due to his warding nature, he is also a candidate to hunt them as well, using true sight to destroy them. This also allows him to deal more damage through the Necro-Warriors as well making him more useful in battle even without Overgrowth. Also since you have a long duration disable, this allows your minions to get free hits on the enemies. Finally, if the enemy has a low mana base, the mana burn and mana break may cause your opponent to lack mana to cast any spells. The increased mana capacity should also be enough to use a Refresher as well if you desire. However, if you are going for Necronomicon, rush it first as it also loses effectiveness
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/shivaguard.gif
Because Keeper of the Forest needs to position himself in the middle of the enemy ranks, he would also be in a good position to use the active ability of Shiva Armor. This also allows him to add even more armor to himself as well as allowing his presence to slow the enemies' DPS complimenting the effect of Assault Cuirass. The Shiva activation should be good to slow the enemy down so your allies can mop up the rest of the survivors. Getting this, you should have also have enough mana for Refresher as well. Finally it gives him a purpose when Overgrowth is in cooldown.
Items not Recommended
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNArcaneRing.gif
Originally I had this item as a consideration but after several test, I see this item is not needed. Perseverance/Refresher is enough regeneration as your skills has low mana costs and you only need to maintain your to at least 875. The other reason is the limt of one Arcane in higher level competition and Zeus or Raigor would be a better candidiate to hold this than you.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNHelmOfValor.gif
Hyperstone serves a better purpose in increasing your attack speed because it can be turned into a useful Assault Cuirass which gives just enough attack speed but the added benefits of the auras while the only thing the Mask of Madness have over Hyperstone is for the life steal. It is best leave this item to Magnus or Sven as they deal far more damage to benefit from the life steal.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNHeartOfAszune.gif
Giving too much survival to Keeper of the Forest would discourage attacking him causing the attack to fall onto your allies, particularly your carry hero, which defeats your purpose as a tank.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNRodOfNecromancy.gif
Like Heart of Tarrasque, this will draw spells away from Keeper of the Forest and onto your more fragile allies.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNINV_Weapon_Crossbow_10.gifhttp://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNINV_Weapon_Halberd_10.gif
Unless you finish your luxury build, damage items are not a high priority on your shopping list. If anything, desolator would be a better choice as it will augment your negative armor bonus and allow your allies to deal more damage to your chosen target.
5. Game Phase
Level 1-7
Buy your items and immediately run to the top river to plant your eye on the top rune area. Doing this early will allow part of the time of no creeps to absorb some of the cool down, something you will need as the cool down for Eyes is a whooping 300 seconds at level 1. Also, the top area is more idea at the bottom before there is no easily accessible trees at the bottom lane that will observe both gank routes. Keeper of the Forest as a teammate on lane only provides extra survivability but little ganking skills so focus more on last hitting, denying, and healing with living armor. Keeper of the Forest has a high base damage but a slight animation delay in his attack so you should time your last hits a bit earlier than most heroes. Also due to your high base strength, you are more able to take harassments than a more fragile hero like, lets say, Rhasta. In the midst of last hitting, make sure anyone with wounds get a Living Armor to help a bit of healing along with Tangoes.
Once, you hit level 6, try to conserve your mana so that you can be able to cast Overgrowth. With an ally with good lane control as well as one that synergizes with yours, you can be able to take out one or more of the enemy heroes. However, if you find your lane at a disadvantage, you may have to call for help in the adjacent lane. Also keep track of the cooldown of Eyes of the Forest so you can place another of these non river spots or renew them when an enemy tangoes your first one.
Make sure to purchase wards off of your chicken or, better yet, turn it into a crow and have it fly and place it for you. Just make sure to turn on the courier shield when you are near the location so it does not get shot down by an enemy that is may be nearby.
Mid Game
With leveled eyes, you should be going about the map to places them at key points like gank routes and neutral creeps. Some of the previous eyes are probably destroyed by Tangoes or AoE tree-eaters. Renew the critical spots when needed. For locations that contain only a single tree, take note that the trees regrow at 5 minute intervals (5:00, 10:00, 15:00, etc). You should stay in lane and move off when you are either pushing too far, placing an Eye, neutral creeping, or going back to retrieve your purchase from a courrier (or go back to shop if it's a pub game and no one shares chicken). Always keep a scroll with you for if you anticipate a battle, you can teleport to their location and lend them a hand with your Guise and Overgrowth.
This phase of the game is particularly important for Keeper of the Forest since ganks are more frequent and you can foil them through Eyes of the Forest, wards, and Camouflage. The other reason is checking on how the enemy is reacting to your team line-up as well as your own presence. A few times, you should check the enemy's inventory for the following items:
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNAncientOfTheEarth.gif
If you see an unusually large amount of tangoes and there is no constant tree killer hero, then this is the hero designated to kill off your eyes while scouting the map. To counter, use observer wards in the same location as well. Few people would suspect the redundancy of Eyes and wards from the same hero and even less in the same area. They also, oddly, have good synergy with each other. Eyes of the Forest would detect sentry wards against your observers, and observer are back up scouting if someone tangoes or tree kills.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNSentryWard.gif (Sentry edition)
This is to counter your Camouflage to make sure that they don't get away. However, if you have another stealth hero, such as Gondor, Bone Clinkz, or Black Arachnia, they may have gotten that to kill two birds with one stone, or one ward, so to speak. Pay attention if you see an odd number or decreased amount of wards. Buy your own sentries as well to destroy theirs when you have control of the area. Don't use Eyes for the task as their line of sight is too low and are easily killed. Make them busy waging ward wars that they have less time hunting your eyes.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNNecromancerMaster.gif
Nothing is more annoying to Keeper of the Forest than an item with the annoyance of Magina's Mana Break, Anub'arak's Mana Burn, and a Gem of True Sight, all in one moldy book. The mana issue may prevent you from using Overgrowth twice or even once in the early games while the level 3 true sight will prevent Camouflage from working. Try to initiate first so you have already used Overgrowth making the Mana Burn less effective. If someone has a book, never linger near the enemies and assume that you can be spotted at any moment's notice.
Level 12-16
At this stage, ganks are less frequents since both teams are going to be moving in groups and any attacks probably be from the entire enemy roster. Because of this, it is imperative that you remain with your allies as well. Posts Eyes on any of the ambush zones near the lane you are pushing and give all of your allies constant living armor, particular your carry hero. If you have your Refresher at this time, then try to capitalize on your allies' combo by extending the disable time so you can take out their entire team at once so they are either forced to buy back or push and break down the enemy barracks. You can also use your refresher if you need Overgrowth at a crucial moment but it's still on cool down. Remember only to use the Refresh if you need that second Overgrowth. Don't get into a habit of hitting refresher after Overgrowth just to find out that second Overgrowth will not be needed.
Level 17-25
You should have refresher and boots or travel at this time. Focus all of your support onto your carry hero as you move in a group. If he is being focus fired, immediately use Camouflage to throw targeting off of him. You can possibly spam this to increase his EHP through frustrating Phase Shift. If you managed to get a Radiance and/or Assault Cuirass try to get into the enemy's face so they focus fire on you once you used your Overgrowth. The focus is the same as before but keep in mind that respawn time is very long and the buyback price is very high.
Role of Battle
Keeper of the Forest is going to be in the enemies face thanks to his large HP and Living Armor. He should position himself in the middle of the enemy ranks to encompass as many enemies in Overgrowth as possible (see the Overgrowth Screenshot). Then focus your attack on the carry hero and the strong disable/AoE casters in that order.
Beginning game, you can use Overgrowth as a mere disabler since you won't get too many people in a single lane at the time. Mid game you should get 2-3. Late Game, you should reserve it for team battles since most sensible teams will go in groups.
If your team is losing the battle, make sure to cast Guise on your allies to aid their escape before Guising yourself.
6. Hero Relations
Hero Synergies
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Hjai.gif
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/E005.gif
Your Overgrowth will keep the enemies in the range of their ult and Camouflage conceals them from single target disables. You can also help them get away since these heroes have no escape means, although most of them generally get a blink dagger.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/UC11.gifhttp://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/GeoM.gif
Camouflage will help these heroes position themselves to use their devastating close range AoE. Darchrow and Magnus, also puts them in a nice little bundle for Overgrowth as well while you can Camouflage away a wounded Geomancer/clone while he is retreating.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Ekee.gif
The longer they are standing still, the longer they are suffering from the devastation of Pulse Nova. Once it started, it cannot be turned off, allowing Leshrac to constantly deal damage. I would say this is one of the best allies for Keeper of the Forest.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/N01A.gif
Overgrowth does not prevent skills so these guys will seal up that weakness. Nortrom's Global Silence along with Rootrellen's Overgrowth will stop, attacks, movement, AND spells, thus almost disabling all enemies entirely while he can slash them to ribbons with those devastating glaives. Overgrowth also keeps the enemies within the swarms of Krobelus's Exorcism ghosts as well.
Heroes effective against
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Nfir.gif
DPS heroes that uses physical attacks to annihilate your team will be rendered helpless due to Overgrowth's ability to stop attacks, even Syllabear's spirit bear, unless they have a mean of dealing a lot of damage from spells, like Luna?s Eclipse. Their HP isn't particularly high either.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Naka.gif
These heroes rely on their invisibility that makes it hard to call missing as they go gank someone. However, Eyes will still detect them as they move elsewhere on the map towards your allies, allowing them to flee. Between Sentry Wards, and Eyes of the Forest, their main advantage is negated. Also, most of them are strong physical attackers, thus countered by Overgrowth.
Neutral Creepers
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/U007.gif
Eyes placed on neutral creeps will catch these heroes creeping, allowing you to gank them, possibly without allies. Also placing wards at neutral locations will prevent them from spawning, thus effectively negating part of their income.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Ubal.gif
Watchers and Hawks are invisible so you will know if they are map controlling. Also you can intercept and kill the watchers as well. Revenants aren't invisible so you will know if they are posted on areas of the map. However, keep in mind that they can use their own units to do the same and find your eyes and Rexxar can use his axes to cut them down.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/items/BTNSentryWard.gif
Keeper of the Forest has a bit of an advantage in waging a ward wars as his eyes will reveal any observer wards within its close vicinity. It is not a huge advantage but one nevertheless. In addition, Keeper of the Forest can also use observers in conjunction with Eyes to give better map coverage than an average map warder.
Heroes to watch out for
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/N01A.gif
Because Keeper of the Forest is also a skill oriented hero, he is also highly hampered by any form of Silence. If he intiates with Overgrowth then silence won't cripple him as much though.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/UC42.gif
If he dooms you, then you cannot use Overgrowth. Albeit the damage may not kill you, but it very annoying not to be able to contribute to the team with Overgrowth or Camouflage.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/U000.gif
Without mana, you cannot cast your support spells or use Overgrowth and just one skill usage may drain enough mana to prevent you from using Overgrowth twice as it is. If you are up against these foes, then it's best to turn your Energy Booster into an Arcane Ring.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/Ekee.gif
Heroes that have spells that can kill trees. Three of them are int heroes, thus have plenty of mana to spare to nuke your eyes while Beastmaster can axe your trees and wage his own map control war with his invisible hawk. The unique case is Medusa who can purge an eye out of trees without needed to kill it.
http://www.dotaportal.com/images/heroes/HC49.gif
What a pain in the ass! Song of the Siren will waste Overgrowth, Split Image will get her out of any other Overgrowth, her Ensnare will prevent you from running into the forest. The only saving factor is that she has a lot of trouble laning but she can gank decently so keep those eyes up at all times..