Strategy
Gameplay[]
| Playstyle | |
|---|---|
| Clinkz is a great ranged ganker with high offensive burst damage. Though frail and easy to kill, Skeleton Walk grants Clinkz stealth and haste to escape and re-position himself and summons Skeleton Archers to rain fire on enemies. This skill is also what makes Clinkz such an incredible ganker. His Tar Bomb provides huge bonus damage for Clinkz and his Archers, allowing him to quickly eliminate them with Death Pact and Strafe. Despite his high damage, Clinkz has no hard disables, and has difficulty killing enemies once they move out of range. | |
| Pros | Cons |
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Carry[]
- Clinkz's burst damage makes him a natural carry, though he is sometimes played as a farmed support due to Tar Bomb's spammable slow and zoning.
- Be careful of Dust of Appearance and Sentry Wards, which can turn a potential Skeleton Walk ambush around.
- Use Tar Bomb liberally to take structures and apply damage in fights.
- Play defensively until level 6 as Clinkz is vulnerable without Skeleton Walk.
Ability Builds[]
| Standard Clinkz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 25 | |||||
 |  | |  | |  | | | | |  | | | | | |  | | | | |||||
Talents[]
| Hero Talents | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tar Bomb Multishot | 25 | -9s Strafe Cooldown |
| +40 Strafe Attack Speed | 20 | +350 Death Pact Health |
| +1 Death Pact Charges | 15 | +75 Attack Range |
| -4s Skeleton Walk Cooldown | 10 | +15 Tar Bomb Bonus Attack Damage |
Tips & Tactics[]
General[]
- Clinkz relies on successful early to mid game ganks to be effective.
- The simplest way to gank is to go invisible with Skeleton Walk, position Clinkz near an enemy, target them with Tar Bomb and Solar Crest, and activate Strafe.
- This is made easier with an Orchid Malevolence which prevents enemies from using disabling or escape abilities.
- Enemies farming in the jungle are prime targets for Clinkz to gank with this tactic.
- Clinkz is fragile but puts out huge amounts of damage, making him a priority target in teamfights. Try to let teammates initiate while you dance around the edge of the fight dealing damage to distracted or disabled opponents.
- In the late game, most heroes will find a way to counter Clinkz's high burst damage. Consider more disabling items and better coordination with your team's disablers.
Abilities[]
Strafe[]
- This ability is your main source of damage and bursting potential. Do not underestimate the damage it can do with proper items.
- It has a long cooldown at level 1, so use it wisely. However, the cooldown decreases significantly, so maxing this spell after Tar Bomb is almost always necessary.
- Remember that Strafe benefits your Skeleton Archers, so position yourself near them before casting.
- Strafe does not break Skeleton Walk. If Skeleton Walk comes off cooldown during a fight, you can hide and buff your already-summoned Archers while remaining invisible.
Tar Bomb[]
- Tar Bomb is usually maxed first for early burst damage in ganks, harassing, and last-hitting.
- Tar Bomb has a very low cooldown; remember to recast it frequently.
- Tar Bomb can be quite mana intensive from repeated use. Solar Crest and potentially Orchid Malevolence help offset its demands.
- Tar Bomb works fully on buildings, allowing Clinkz to push effectively.
- Use Tar Bomb to open ganks, as the slow can help allies land their own abilities.
- Tar Bomb orders your Skeleton Archers to attack the marked target, so prioritize which enemies to eliminate first in a fight.
Death Pact[]
- Death Pact should be used during fights if possible for the Skeleton Archer.
- Leveling Death Pact early means losing out on damage from Strafe, but allows you to consume more powerful creeps and grants more health if your lane is going badly or you wish to farm. Level 2 is required to consume Ranged Creeps, and level 3 allows consuming all Creeps.
- Death Pact allows Clinkz to last hit in lane while pressuring enemies with the summoned Skeleton Archer.
- Use Death Pact to deny an enemy jungler some farm. Taking the largest creep while leaving the smaller ones will prevent the camp from respawning.
- Death Pact instantly kills dominated or controlled units, such as those used by Chen or Enchantress.
- Death Pact works as a heal since it increases his current health (after his max health is increased).
- You can cast Death Pact on your own Skeleton Archers. In a pinch, this can be used to heal yourself in the middle of a fight or renew an Archer that is about to be destroyed.
- Since it can be cast without Breaking the invisibility of Skeleton Walk, you can usually eat a creep without the enemy noticing, though the Skeleton Archer usually gives Clinkz away immediately. Make sure they do not have Dust of Appearance or Sentry Wards when casting Death Pact while sneaking.
- Skeleton Archers benefit from bonus attack range, base damage, talents, Strafe, and Tar Bomb.
- While laning, use Death Pact to secure last hits on Flagbearer Creeps due to the extra gold bounty.
Skeleton Walk[]
- Skeleton Walk is Clinkz's initiation tool as it summons Skeleton Archers, helping him quickly burst enemies down. It also gives him an escape tool.
- Use Skeleton Walk a good amount of time before you expect to ambush an enemy, or appear in a fight. This triggers the cooldown early, therefore allowing you it again soon after, either for a quick escape or to chase down any survivors.
- Use Skeleton Walk before crossing commonly warded spots, such as the river, to avoid being seen coming.
- Avoid non-warded high grounds if you plan to gank invisibly, as the enemy may have Sentries up the cliff.
- Use Skeleton Walk to chase down heroes, move between lanes, and escape from failed ganks/teamfights.
Burning Army[]
- Burning Army does incredible damage by summoning 5 Skeleton Archers, effectively doubling Clinkz's damage output to quickly focus down Tar Bomb targets.
- Use Burning Army at the center of a fight or along the path of where enemy heroes are using to escape.
- Use it to disable enemy Blink Daggers.
Burning Barrage[]
- Burning Barrage gives Clinkz access to area of effect damage, making him more dangerous in the late game.
- Use it to break Skeleton Walk as it applies Tar Bomb to enemies, allowing for high burst damage with the summoned Skeleton Archers.
- Use Burning Barrage to farm neutral creeps. Even better if you have a support who can make stacks for you, since this ability excels at taking stacks.
- Against single targets, Strafe usually offers more potential damage. Burning Barrage is better for clearing creeps and dealing damage in teamfights.
Items[]
Starting items:
- Iron Branch gives Clinkz much needed attributes. They can either be planted to double the duration of Tangoes, or can later be built into Magic Wand.
- Slippers of Agility gives Clinkz agility, helping offset his low base attack damage.
- Tango gives Clinkz the basic health regeneration to stay longer in lane.
- Healing Salve helps rapidly regenerate after your health drops very low. They can also save Clinkz at the very last second in an emergency.
- Faerie Fire gives damage which helps Clinkz last hit, but more importantly, allows him to narrowly survive bad situations.
- Clarity helps Clinkz dominate the lane by harassing your enemies with Searing Arrows.
Early game:
- Magic Wand helps against enemies that can spam spells, and gives some attributes.
- Wraith Band pads out Clinkz's attributes to help with harassing and last-hitting.
- Power Treads's versatility is greatly appreciated on Clinkz. The additional attack speed also helps him farm.
Mid game:
- Orchid Malevolence solves Clinkz's mana problems associated with using Searing Arrows and allows you to silence heroes. It allows Clinkz to gank more effectively and disable enemies' abilities in fights.
- Phylactery grants a relatively cheap boost to mana and single-target damage, as Tar Bomb can reliably and repeatedly proc Empower Spell.
Late game:
- Bloodthorn is a natural upgrade from Orchid Malevolence, and grants active True Strike and critical damage on top of silence, enhancing Clinkz's ability to shred heroes.
- Monkey King Bar improves Clinkz's attack damage and Pierce to reliably bring down heroes with evasion.
- Khanda is an upgrade to Phylactery that grants more damage with a stronger Empower Spell and Critical Strike.
- Black King Bar counters enemy disables so Clinkz can continue to output damage.
Situational items:
- Dragon Lance extends the effective range of Skeleton Archers to help with positioning. It also upgrades into Hurricane Pike for some mobility and extra attributes.
- Desolator provides more pushing power and burst damage, letting Clinkz quickly demolish buildings and heroes with the armor reduction.
- Diffusal Blade's mana break allows Clinkz to quickly burn his target's mana while also dealing bonus damage. The active ability also grants Clinkz a slow to keep targets within range of Burning Army.
- Gleipnir allows Clinkz to lock enemies down within range of his attacks, Skeleton Archers, and potentially Burning Barrage. The Chain Lightning procs easily from Strafe's attack speed bonus.
- Daedalus's critical multiplier massively increases Clinkz's damage output.
- Blink Dagger paired up with Scythe of Vyse or Nullifier may help you catch some of the most elusive heroes in the game. Consider it if your innate mobililty isn't enough.
- Scythe of Vyse is comparable to Bloodthorn as a mana boost and active disable; it offers no damage but provides better lockdown and mana regeneration.
- Eye of Skadi stacks with Searing Arrows, which allows you to chase down heroes while improving all your attributes.
- Linken's Sphere can enable you to roam more aggressively without fear, and gives good mana regeneration.
- Nullifier shuts down buffs like Glimmer Cape and Ghost Scepter, grants bonus damage, and can heavily help you kill a hero even when his supports are there to help them.
- Satanic grants enormous Lifesteal that synergizes nicely with Clinkz's immense damage output, giving him an edge in manfights.
- Divine Rapier is your only option in some games, when other items aren't enough. It should be picked up for incredible damage, preferrably after a Roshan kill. Paired up with Burning Army and Multishot it can shred both enemy supports and cores. However, it is a risky investment.
