Strategy
Gameplay
| Playstyle | |
|---|---|
| Drow Ranger is a deadly archer, chilling and killing her enemies with volleys of Frost Arrows. With one of the highest agility stats in the game, her powerful shots will tear through most enemies from a safe distance. Her Precision Aura increases the damage of her ranged allies, and a timely Gust can silence groups of enemies at pivotal moments. Drow Ranger is fairly fragile with no real escape ability, causing her to struggle against faster and more aggressive melee heroes. | |
| Pros | Cons |
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Ability Builds
| Generic Drow Ranger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 25 | |||||
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- An early point in Precision aura allows Drow Ranger's team to have more attack damage at the start, but further points in the Aura scale poorly before she has a larger pool of Agility.
- Drow Ranger has a very low move speed and is extremely vulnerable to aggression in the early game, but the powerful slow from Frost Arrows is effective at keeping most enemies at a distance.
| Free Farming Drow Ranger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 25 | |||||
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- If properly protected by supports, Drow Ranger can sacrifice the control of her Frost arrows in order to maximize her damage potential, providing a large power spike at level six to every ranged hero on her team.
- With two points in Frost arrows, she can easily farm Jungle camps from a distance, using the slow to keep out of range of most jungle creeps.
Talents
| Hero Talents | ||
|---|---|---|
| +1 Multishot Waves | 25 | +12% Marksmanship Chance |
| -4s Gust Cooldown | 20 | +25% Multishot Damage |
| -6s Multishot Cooldown | 15 | 20% Lifesteal |
| +15 Frost Arrow Damage | 10 | +15% Gust Self Movement Speed |
Notes:
- Stacks additively with other lifesteal sources.
Tips & Tactics
General
- Drow Ranger is usually played in the safe lane, with a support.
- Drow Ranger is easily ganked. Make sure not to overextend if your support is not nearby.
- Drow Ranger is all about positioning, since her Marksmanship bonus is disabled if an enemy closes to within 400 range.
- Stay behind your teammates and use them as a buffer. Reposition throughout fights to keep your tankier teammates between you and the enemy.
- Approach fights from the edges, and rely on the slow from Frost Arrows instead of physical proximity to keep enemies in range.
- Any item that helps Drow Ranger keep her distance is good, such as Dragon Lance, Shadow Blade, Blink Dagger and Force Staff.
- Like other ranged heroes, stutter stepping is useful for Drow Ranger, but not as important due to the slow from Frost Arrows.
- Because of her passive abilities, Drow Ranger is slightly less dependent on items than other carries, but can still be shut down in the early game. Be careful not to take any needless risks.
- Drow Ranger deals high damage to buildings, and should always capitalize on any opportunity to take down a tower.
- Due to her slow attack animation, Drow Ranger should not do anything except farm until at least level six, when her first point in Marksmanship will make her attack much faster.
- If you are having trouble timing last hits, try moving closer to the creep wave.
- Animation cancelling with the Stop hotkey (
Sby default) can also help with timing. - Building a Sange and Yasha and getting the +14 Strength Talent will solve Drow's poor health pool as Drow can now be both a hero with formidable health and one that can cause high damage.
Abilities
Frost Arrows
With level four Frost Arrows, Drow Ranger can kite most melee heroes.
- Manually casting Frost Arrows (known as orbwalking) prevents Drow Ranger from drawing creep/tower aggro. Use this tactic to harass, kite and escape enemies when caught out.
- Manual casts still count as attacks for Silver Edge and Shadow Blade, applying the effects of attacking from invisibility.
- Use Frost Arrows sparingly during the early game, as they can drain Drow Ranger's mana fairly quickly.
- Frost Arrows are good for harassing enemies in lane, allowing Drow Ranger to land several hits while the target slowly retreats.
- Because of the slow, Drow Ranger does not need to constantly try and catch up to her target, meaning that she should always be kept at least 400 range away to ensure Marksmanship's bonus damage is active.
- At higher levels, Drow Ranger can simultaneously kite and attack enemies with Frost Arrows.
- Frost Arrows can be used to slow and prevent an enemy from chasing down an ally.
- Always toggle autocast on Frost Arrows when you anticipate an incoming fight.
- Combined with almost any other source of slow, Frost Arrows will reduce enemies to a crawl.
- 4 levels of Frost Arrows applying 64% slow will reduce 277.77 move speed to the minimum speed of 100, meaning the addition of other slows only gradually becomes more useful for enemy hero move speeds above this.
- Frost Arrows' slow fully stacks with Eye of Skadi, allowing her to slow very fast heroes like Bloodseeker. It also allows Drow Ranger to slow enemies without using mana, and through spell immunity.
- Frost Arrows can be used to kite and farm jungle creeps, although this can be mana intensive.
- When chasing multiple enemies with your team, hitting each target once, or cycling through targets, may prevent any of them from getting away.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, Frost Arrows essentially becomes an area-of-effect slow.
- Keep in mind that each splinter shot will cost additional mana, and this can deplete Drow Ranger's mana pool surprisingly fast.
Gust
- Gust is Drow Ranger's only means of defense, and should not be used lightly.
- Use Gust defensively to push enemies who get too close, keeping them beyond the 400 Marksmanship bonus range.
- Use Gust offensively to interrupt enemies who try to react to your attacks with a disable or an escape ability.
- With Blink Dagger, Drow Ranger can use Gust to initiate on and gank single targets.
- If an enemy is already hit by a long disable (such as cyclone or Disruption), Drow Ranger can move to the opposite side of her target, and push them backwards with Gust right after the first disable ends.
- In a teamfight, try to catch as many enemies with Gust as possible, preferably as a follow up to your team's initiator. This will shut down the enemy for several seconds, during which Drow Ranger can pick off one or two targets.
- Use Gust on an enemy team in the Roshan Pit to push them further inside, and render them unable to respond.
- With good timing, it is possible to push enemies onto different elevations like cliffs.
- With a Shadow Blade, Drow Ranger can gank by taking a shot to break the invisibility, then immediately using Gust.
Precision Aura
- If you are having trouble landing last hits, an early point or two in Precision Aura will help.
- Don't forget to use Precision Aura's active ability. It is very useful for pushing down towers.
- Since the active applies an aura and not a buff, it works even for ranged creeps/summons that spawn after you use it.
- Try to use the active when creep waves have catapults.
- The active lasts a considerable 30 seconds, but has a long 120 second cooldown. In the late game, reserve it for sieging barracks, or when going for an all-out attack on the enemy ancient.
- Although Precision Aura greatly benefits other ranged heroes, it is usually unwise to have two fragile ranged carries on the same team. Consider this during the picking phase.
Marksmanship
Marksmanship's damage bonus has a particle effect. It disappears when enemies are nearby.
- The huge agility boost from any point in Marksmanship will noticeably improve Drow Ranger's attack speed and damage.
- Even a single point in Marksmanship will make Drow Ranger quite proficient at taking down tier one towers.
- Because of this, levels 6, 12 and 18 are especially important milestones for Drow Ranger.
- Stacked creep camps and Tome of Knowledge can be used to reach these critical levels before a showdown.
- Marksmanship's bonus damage is indicated by a noticeable particle effect around Drow Ranger's body. This effect disappears when enemies are within 400 range.
- Keep an eye on Drow Ranger to know when an enemy is too close.
- The effect will also disappear if an invisible enemy is within 400 range, meaning that it can be used as an approximate means of detection.
- Enemies like Anti-Mage or Phantom Assassin can instantly close the gap with Drow Ranger, thus completely negating Marksmanship's bonus damage.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, additional interactions occur:
- Silver Edge's and Shadow Blade's modifiers (bonus damage / damage reduction and Break) only work on the primary target, not targets hit by the splinters.
- Mjollnir and Maelstrom have 3 opportunities to proc for each of Drow Ranger's attacks (assuming two additional targets are in search range), thus giving the following proc chances:
- 57.8% chance of at least one proc
- 42.2% chance of 1 proc
- 14.1% chance of 2 procs
- 1.56% chance of 3 procs
- Blade Mail will reflect damage done by splinters. Attacking into a group of several heroes with Blade Mail active can quickly be lethal, unless Satanic is used to restore health through lifesteal.
Items
Starting items:
- Healing Salve gives Drow Ranger a massive boost of health regeneration in one go.
- Tangos help providing Drow Ranger with health regeneration in the early game.
- Iron Branch provides a cheap a boost to Drow Ranger's attributes, and can be built into a Magic Wand.
Early game:
- Boots of Speed give Drow Ranger a speed boost which can be helpful for getting around.
- Magic Wand can be a good idea to pick up if the enemy is using a lot of spells, as the burst heal can help her survive or win early fights.
- Ring of Aquila provides Drow Ranger with bonus attributes which can be helpful in the early game. It can be sold in the late game.
Mid game:
- Power Treads provide Drow Ranger with attack speed and additional attributes.
- Dragon Lance provides useful stats for a highly cost effective price, and the increased range allows Drow Ranger to easily achieve good positioning. It also allows her to out-range towers and destroy them without much risk. Upgrades later into Hurricane Pike.
- Shadow Blade provides mobility and stealth for Drow Ranger, allowing her to approach an ideal position for team-fights. It also provides some useful attack speed and damage.
- Mask of Madness is a good source of lifesteal, and is useful for farming. It also provides a nice boost to Drow Ranger's attack and movement speed, but it comes at the cost of being unable to use her Frost Arrows.
Late game:
- Butterfly provides ever-useful agility for Drow Ranger. It is usually picked up to help Drow Ranger defend against efficient backline attackers.
- Black King Bar is important if Drow Ranger is facing a team with many disables, giving her enough time to deal at least some damage.
Situational items:
- Silver Edge builds naturally from Shadow Blade, providing valuable stats and break. It can be disassembled to build another item with the Ultimate Orb.
- Diffusal Blade allows Drow Ranger to ambush an enemy hero with Gust, then quickly burn away their mana during the silence period.
- Aghanim's Scepter causes Drow Ranger's attacks to splinter, hitting two random units near the primary target. Alone, it can be a weak upgrade, but combined with several attack modifier items, it can allow Drow to heavily damage a grouped up enemy team.
- Mjollnir is typically picked up if planning to build Aghanim's, as it speeds up her early farming ability, and the secondary splinter shots will be able to proc Chain Lightning.
- Satanic provides Drow Ranger with a huge amount of lifesteal for a short period of time, allowing Drow Ranger to stand her ground and regain practically all of her health with just a few shots.
- Manta Style provides Drow Ranger with mobility, stats, and the ability to dispel debuffs and create illusions of herself. Because her illusions benefit from Marksmanship, Manta Style provides Drow Ranger with a large damage increase, especially when sieging buildings.
- Eye of Skadi gives a decent stats boost, and stacks with Frost Arrows, making it possible to reduce most enemy heroes to minimum movespeed.
- Monkey King Bar provides an excellent damage boost, as well as a counter against evasion heroes. However, it has no defensive bonuses, and makes Drow Ranger into even more of a glass cannon.
- Daedalus provides Drow Ranger with a critical strike chance, which synergizes well with the attack speed and damage she gets from her abilities, maximizing her damage output.
