Nature's Prophet/Guide

Hero

 

Strategy

 

Equipment

 

Gear

 

Talents

 

Relics

 

Responses

 

Sounds

 

Animations

 

Lore

 

Old Abilities

 

Changelogs

 

Known Bugs

 

Gameplay

Playstyle
Nature's Prophet is a very unorthodox hero most renowned for his ability to push and gank, as his combination of abilities gives him powerful global presence and pushing potential. However, the hero himself is quite frail and can be killed easily if caught by the enemy.
Pros	Cons
Global presence Great pusher Powerful late game Versatility to fit any role High base attack damage	Farm dependent Low armor Squishy early game Highly dependent on map awareness No disable

Offlane

Nature's Call treants have good health and some damage early. So, Nature's Prophet can use them to contest last hits or even attempt to harass enemy heroes. When the lane does not work out, Nature's Prophet can fall back to use shrine and jungle. From then on, he should keep an eye on the map to gank enemies with Teleportation and Sprout. With successful ganks and some farm, Nature's Prophet transforms into a strong pusher with global Teleportation and Wrath of Nature, opening up opportunities around the map for teammates.

Ability Builds

Generic Nature's Prophet
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	20	25

Talents

Hero Talents
2.5x Treant HP/Damage	25	Removed Teleportation Cooldown
100% Miss chance for Sprouted units	20	Sprout Leashes
+4 Teleportation Max Stacks	15	+5 Treants Summoned
+30 Wrath of Nature Base Damage	10	-8s Nature's Call Cooldown

Tips & Tactics

• Due to his global mobility, map awareness is extremely important with Nature's Prophet. Good Nature's Prophet play requires paying constant attention to the map in order to find opportunities to exploit the enemy's weak spots. Since Teleportation allows Nature's Prophet to quickly re-position himself to any point on the map, he can effectively assist in ganks, help allies in need, aggressively push lanes when the enemy leave them unattended, finish off fleeing enemies, and so on.
• Generally, Nature's Prophet can be effective in almost any lane required by his team. His flexibility allows him to perform well in many roles.
• Most frequently, Nature's Prophet is played as a jungler, as his ability to summon Treants through Nature's Call allows him to kill neutral camps relatively safely by using the Treants to tank their attacks. While this can end up weakening his team's laning by leaving his safe lane more vulnerable to enemy offlane aggression, it also improves his team's overall economy by allowing four heroes to farm at the same time rather than just three.
• Nature's Prophet can also be played as an offlaner, as he can disrupt creep equilibrium by using Nature's Call. By kiting the enemy creep wave using Treants, he can secure last-hits and experience for himself even if the enemy attempts to pull neutral camps. As well, the Treants can disrupt enemy pulls or outright block the pull camp from spawning, as the enemy will be unable to kill Treants in a timely manner in the laning stage.
• Unlike most other casting-focused intelligence heroes, Nature's Prophet relies on his physical attacks to deal damage. His respectable base damage, ample attack range and good attack animation give him a strong edge when trading attacks with enemies in the laning stage, and can be a force to be reckoned with when boosted up by farming items that give him more damage and attack speed.

Abilities

Sprout

• In general, only one early skill point should be taken in Sprout, as it does not scale as well compared to Nature's Prophet's other spells. While the skill benefits from being maxed out eventually, Nature's Prophet can benefit more in the early game from putting his skill points into other spells.
• The most basic use of Sprout is to pen in an enemy hero to block off their movement so that they can be focused down and killed. Keep in mind, however, that the trees can still be destroyed by items such as Tango and Quelling Blade, both of which are common in the early game, as well as abilities such as Midnight Pulse and Powershot. As such, be careful not to assume that it will be a foolproof way to trap enemies.
  • Conversely to the above, however, Sprout can be a powerful spell in the late game, when nobody has a Quelling Blade or Tango anymore. Against the right line-ups, it can potentially lock down enemies for its full duration, as spell immunity will not allow them to path through the trees, meaning that their only method of escape will be through their own abilities (which can be silenced) or items such as Battle Fury or Force Staff, which may not always be on hand.
  • When casting Sprout to hinder enemies' pathing, remember that it does not have to be targeted directly on an enemy. Placing the trees to block an enemy's path can limit their escape options (such as forcing them to run towards your allies), or can prevent reinforcements from coming to their teammate's aid by halting their approach and splitting the battlefield. Try to be creative with how you use Sprout, as its low cooldown, long cast range and high duration allow it to be cast multiple times in a single engagement to great effect.
• Remember that at level 1, Sprout lasts for 3 seconds, exactly enough time to channel Teleportation or to use a Town Portal Scroll (provided you are not teleporting to a building that an ally has recently teleported to). As such, it can be used to shroud yourself in the fog of war while escaping, but beware that enemies can still use area-targeted disables to stop you in your tracks, or can simply destroy the trees to reveal you for a unit-targeted disable.
• Sprout provides flying vision within the ring, as well as in an area around it. This allows it to be used to give vision over obstacles such as high ground, or to completely reveal an area that an enemy may be trying to juke through to escape. In a pinch, it can also be used for de-warding by providing vision over elevated ward spots.
• Sprout can be used to protect allies, not just to pin down enemies. If an ally is running away, casting Sprout in the enemy's path can block off their chase route, forcing them to path around to pursue. However, be extremely careful not to accidentally pen in allies with this spell, as you may accidentally secure a kill for the enemy instead.
• Keep in mind that certain allied spells can be cast in tandem with Sprout to create extremely powerful combinations. For instance, Shackleshot can be virtually guaranteed to latch for its full duration, Mystic Flare can focus its full power on an immobilized target, Static Link and Eye of the Storm can run for a much longer duration, Timber Chain can be used to quickly move to a destination where there would normally not be trees, and so on. Be creative with how you use Sprout if a teammate can benefit from it.
• Sprout can push Nature's Prophet over cliffs if placed at the precise distance away from him.
• Against heroes with Quelling Blade, wait for them to juke in the trees to use Sprout, they will not have to time to cut two trees to escape.
• To keep trapping target with treants as Sprout's trees are expiring, use max level Nature's Call right where you have used Sprout on the target, preferably closer to the center of target's selection cirlce, and trying not to move your mouse after Sprout.

Teleportation

• With one early skill point in this ability, Nature's Prophet gains tremendous global mobility. As the only constraint on this spell is the 3 second cast animation, he can appear anywhere on the map that he wishes. This allows Nature's Prophet to show up to ganks even if he's on the other side of the map, and possibly use Sprout to aid his teammates in disabling and focusing down an enemy.
• Remember that this ability has a 3 second cast animation, and is not a channeled spell. This means that, at any time during the 3 second delay, you can cancel it and choose a different place to teleport to, without incurring the mana cost or cooldown. This can be used to fake out the enemy into maneuvering down a different path to avoid your arrival, to choose a different arrival point to better suit an evolving situation, and so on. However, beware that cancelling the animation means that you will delay your arrival by that much longer, which may result in you arriving too late to make a difference.
• With good timing and possibly assisting ward vision, Teleportation can be used to kill the enemy's courier as it is en route to deliver items. This can be particularly effective if you can kill the courier before it can deliver a Bottle to the enemy's mid, giving your mid player a firm advantage. It is advised, however, to carry a Town Portal Scroll when attempting this, as you may require a speedy escape in order to avoid being caught and killed.
• Judicious use of this ability is what makes Nature's Prophet such a powerful hero. If the enemy is seen using their Town Portal Scrolls to teleport to one lane, you can cast Teleportation to jump to another lane and then quickly push it and attempt to take a tower if the creep wave is close. If a low-health enemy hero is seen retreating after an engagement, you can interdict them and kill them before they get back to their fountain. If an ally is engaging an enemy in a one-on-one fight and neither side has teammates nearby, you can teleport in to turn it into an uneven match and secure a kill. Proper use of this ability requires strong map awareness and good judgment.
• Use Teleportation to plant tricky wards, minimizing the risk of enemies spotting the wards. Try to plant deep wards around enemy towers to prepare for pushes or to detect enemy movement.

Nature's Call

• Nature's Call allows Nature's Prophet to summon Treants to do his bidding. It is a very flexible spell that is most powerful in the early game, but requires good micromanagement in order to get the most benefit out of the ability.
• Never underestimate the survivability of Treants in the laning stage of the game. They possess 550 health at all points in the game, rivaling that of heroes in the beginning. As such, they can be used for multiple purposes such as scouting out pre-rune aggression, physically blocking enemy pull camps, and so on.
• In general, Treants are used to assist Nature's Prophet in jungling in the early game, as they can deal additional damage to neutral camps while tanking creep attacks, keeping Nature's Prophet safe from harm; as such, it is generally the most important spell to max out in the early game. Remember to micromanage Treants so that they do not get killed by creeps, as even low-health Treants can still contribute attack damage to increase the rate of farming.
• Treants can act as strong lane pushers past the early game. Not only can they add their attack power to a pushing creep wave, they can soak up tower hits and can be maneuvered to kite away approaching enemy creeps to delay defenders from arriving. They can also provide vision behind towers and around treelines to spot any enemy attempts to teleport in.
• Keep in mind, Nature's Call will destroy all trees in its area. This can be used to allow easier transit between neutral camps while jungling, destroying enemy juke paths, and so on. However, also remember that trees take 5 minutes to respawn after destruction, so it can be beneficial to target the spell such that only the minimum number of trees are destroyed per cast, in order to preserve some trees for later summons.
• Trees created by Sprout are valid targets for Nature's Call. This means that should Nature's Prophet need reinforcements in an area outside of the jungle (such as pushing up the enemy's high ground or while within the enemy's base), casting Sprout first will allow him to summon Treants wherever they are needed.
• Nature's Call can be used to great effect for scouting enemy player movement prior to the horn, particularly around the rune spots. Cast Nature's Call a bit after the minute mark (around 0:55 or 0:50), and then maneuver one Treant to the areas around each rune spot. While they cannot block the enemy from picking up the rune, they can scout out enemy positions, giving your team valuable intelligence and allow them to re-position to engage the enemy as needed. Be sure to maneuver the Treants and avoid feeding them to the enemy, as they do provide a small gold and experience bounty.
• If your Treants are about to expire and cannot be readily used to farm another neutral camp, it can be useful to maneuver them to the rune spots prior to the even-minute mark. They can be used to scout out and guard the runes for your mid player, and under optimal circumstances can deny runes for the opposing mid player.
• Treants become less effective as games progress, as they eventually become easy fodder for enemy heroes. However, they still provide useful service when utilized properly.
  • As they are still treated as regular units, Treants can be used to frustrate enemy attempts at using their spells. For instance, they can physically block attempts to hit heroes with spells such as Meat Hook, Hookshot and Sacred Arrow, and can act as additional targets for random-target area spells such as Chain Frost, Rocket Barrage, Paralyzing Cask, , and so on.
  • Treants can give vision and can be directly controlled, allowing them to be used to gather intelligence. They can scout out dangerous areas for enemy movement (such as checking behind treelines for hiding initiators), increase your vision radius at night by placing them at the outer perimeters of your team's location, look inside Roshan's pit, and so on.

Wrath of Nature

• Generally, Wrath of Nature is best used to halt enemy pushes, or add an initiation nuke to a gank. It should generally not be used to farm lane creeps around the map every time it is off cooldown, as this can take away farm from teammates and push creep waves, giving teammates less safe places to farm.
• Remember that Wrath of Nature deals more damage to the units hit at the end of its duration, so skillful use of this spell requires targeting it to land on as many units as possible prior to reaching your intended target, but without overrunning the unit cap. Watch your minimap for how many possible targets there are currently, and cast the spell at the right moment. If your target is in the bottom lane, target the spell on the top lane to give it units to build up on, and vice versa.
• Use Nature's Call treants to scout the map and provide vision for more targets of Wrath of Nature bounces.
• Wrath of Nature can be used to effectively stall enemy pushes and give them pause. If the enemy is attempting to push a tower, using the spell can deal heavy damage to their creep wave and any heroes within vision, possibly killing their whole creep wave and preventing them from effectively pushing. To the same purpose, it can be used to push out lanes so that your team can more easily take towers.
• Wrath of Nature can be useful for starting up a nuke prior to ganking an enemy. If cast right before initiating with Teleportation, it can hit enemy creeps to build up its damage before arriving at the gank target, striking them shortly before Nature's Prophet emerges.
• With Aghanim's Scepter, the overall nuking power of Wrath of Nature increases, giving it a greater chance to kill any creep it strikes and summoning a Treant for every successful kill. This can greatly augment Nature's Prophet's ability to push, as every successful kill will also summon instant reinforcements for that lane to increase its pushing power.

Items

Starting items:

• Tango provides health regeneration for Nature's Propet to survive his lane.
• Healing Salve restores health as well.
• Clarity restores mana to Nature's Prophet so he can continually use his spells in the early game, particularly Nature's Call, as his base intelligence and comparatively costly spells means that he will otherwise quickly run out.
• Iron Branch is cheap attribute item that can shore up Nature's Prophet's health, damage, and mana.

Early game:

• Magic Stick provides burst health and mana can give him the survivability to escape an enemy gank, or enough mana to cast one more spell.
• Boots of Speed provide Nature's Prophet with a boost to his movement speed, important for catching up to enemies to cast his spells during ganks. While he has strong global mobility in Teleportation, having enough speed to re-position during fights is crucial.
• Town Portal Scroll augments Nature's Prophet's global mobility. While Teleportation already grants him global presence without the need to target his destination at an allied building, a Town Portal Scroll allows him to use the two in tandem, such as retreating to base or defending a tower after using his innate spell. As well, using the Town Portal Scroll will leave Teleportation at the ready should an opportunity to gank an enemy present itself shortly.

Mid game:

• Magic Wand provide additional attribute bonuses to Nature's Prophet, and give him even more burst health and mana regeneration. A fully-charged Magic Wand can give Nature's Prophet enough mana to cast any of his spells even when completely empty.
• Phase Boots augment Nature's Prophet's attack speed and allows him to boost his movement speed, it can make him a bigger threat in ganks since he can maneuver into position more easily after casting Teleportation, to pen in an enemy with Sprout and deal heavily damaging right-clicks. He can use the item to phase through other units, such as his own Treants.
• Shadow Blade gives Nature's Prophet more initiation and escape ability, augmenting his already formidable global presence due to Teleportation. Used offensively, Nature's Prophet can get in a powerful first strike on unwary enemies prior to disabling and focusing them down. Used defensively, the invisibility and increased movement speed allow him to evade any enemy rotations aimed at halting his pushes, and can allow him to invisibly cast Teleportation.

Late game:

• Orchid Malevolence is a powerful early aggression tool. Its low cost and easy buildup make it possible to obtain quickly in the early game, while the bonuses it provides augment Nature's Prophet's physical attacks (via increased intelligence, damage and attack speed) and allow him to gank enemies to great effect by silencing them, preventing them from casting retaliatory disables or escape spells. The augmented mana regeneration also allows him to stay out in the field longer without needing to return to base as often.
• Nullifier complements Orchid Malevolence's silence with its mute that disables enemy items, taking out a dangerous enemy.

Situational items:

• Hand of Midas, if obtained early, can greatly augment Nature's Prophet's late-game potential by accelerating his gold and experience gain at the cost of early-game aggression. As well, the bonus attack speed give his physical attacks more power.
• Power Treads provide Nature's Prophet with a boost to his attributes and additional attack damage. The attributes allow him to give himself more health, or mana and base damage.
• Scythe of Vyse massively increases the ganking power of Nature's Prophet by giving him a hex ability, giving him another way to control enemies' movements on top of Sprout. It also provides a large increase to his intelligence, giving him more damage and mana, as well as all-around attributes and powerful mana regeneration.
• Aghanim's Scepter augments the strength of Wrath of Nature, allowing it to deal more damage overall and sprouting Treants upon successfully killing an enemy unit, be it a creep or hero. This greatly augments Nature's Prophet's pushing power, since it will summon reinforcements upon striking down enemy lane creeps.
• Desolator can greatly augment Nature's Prophet's offensive and pushing potential. The increased damage and armor reduction on targets make his physical attacks much deadlier, allowing him to soften up gank targets or reduce tower armor to hasten pushes.
• Necronomicon provides Nature's Prophet with additional pushing power and an additional damage source when ganking enemy heroes. At level 3, the Necronomicon will also provide True Sight, which can be used to de-ward enemy vision and prevent invisible enemy heroes from escaping ganks.
• Silver Edge, when upgraded from Shadow Blade, can give Nature's Prophet additional ganking power when used properly. By applying a break on gank targets, enemy passives can be removed from play, increasing the odds of a successful kill. Also, the bonus attributes give Nature's Prophet increased resilience.
• Null Talisman provides cheap attributes, and improves Nature's Prophet's mana pool and damage output, making early jungling easier. Purchasing two or more can give him respectable early attributes and allow him to fight enemies earlier on.
• Force Staff can be a useful item to purchase on Nature's Prophet, depending on the situation. It can enhance his mobility by allowing him to quickly re-position himself, such as pushing himself over a cliff, re-positioning allies, or breaking Linken's Sphere on a gank target prior to other disables.
• Blink Dagger can tremendously increase Nature's Prophet's maneuverability and ability to evade enemy ganks. After using Teleportation to arrive at a lane and Nature's Call to summon Treants to push, Blink Dagger can be used to instantly jump away to evade any enemies attempting to rotate in. It can also be used to initiate more easily on gank targets, as they may easily run away if they see a Teleportation coming in.
• Blade Mail is a very unorthodox early-game item to build on Nature's Prophet, as he does not have the health to efficiently utilize any reflected damage. However, it can be a powerful offensive item, as it provides a large amount of attack damage and intelligence, tremendously increasing the power of his right-click damage. As well, the armor increases his survivability and the active can still be useful when focusing down single targets, and any damage incurred can be replenished by returning to the fountain with Teleportation.
• Dagon gives Nature's Prophet significantly more ganking power as he can instantly burst down a portion a gank target's health, making successful kills more likely. His ability to farm and get kills also allows him to upgrade it to allow it to remain potent throughout a match.
• Assault Cuirass is a very powerful offensive and pushing item. By boosting his attack speed and inflicting the enemy with a negative armor aura, Nature's Prophet's physical attacks become much deadlier, and the increased armor also gives him survivability against physical damage. As well, the negative armor aura affects enemy buildings as well as creeps, and the allied aura increases creep armor and attack speed, making pushes more powerful when outside of teamfights.
• Mjollnir is a strong all-around pushing and fighting item. The greatly increased attack speed as well as attack modifier allows Nature's Prophet to make short work of creep waves, and increases the potency of his attacks during ganks and teamfights. The active can be cast to increase damage output via proccing the shield.