Dota 2 - Lone Druid Build Guide

BIO
Long before the first words of the first histories there rose the druidic Bear Clan. Wise and just they were, and focused in their ways to seek an understanding of the natural order. The arch forces of nature saw this, and so sought the most learned among them. Wise old Sylla, clan justiciar and seer, stepped forward for his kin, and to him was given the Seed with these words: 'When all of the world has dimmed, when civilization has left these lands, when the world is slain and wracked by the endless deserts at the end of ages, plant the Seed.' As he grasped his trust, Sylla felt his years recede and his vitality returned. Vast knowledge burst into his mind. He found himself able to project his very will into reality and, with some concentration, alter his own physical form as well. Yet subtle whispers and cruel ears brought word of the Seed and its power to other peoples, and a terrible war crashed upon the Bear Clan. As his ancestral home burned, Sylla took his burden and fled to the wild places. Ages passed, and time and myth forgot the Bear Clan, forgot Sylla and the Seed, forgot wondrous civilizations that rose and fell in Bear Clan's wake. For millenia Sylla has waited, waited for word from his deities, waited for peace to come to the ever warring realms, waited in exile and in secret for the end of all things and for the conclusion of his sacred commitment, preparing himself always to face and destroy whatever would dare threaten his purpose.

INTRODUCTION
Lone druid is a hero who keep a bear. He and his bear will fight together against the enemy. Lone druid has a strong physical endurance. Would be very difficult to penetrate his defenses. Besides, he also has a good  attack speed, accompanied by large damage. It makes him very strong for battles in the final round of the game.

PROS	CONS
AGI hero who has the highest HP. Therefore it is hard to  beat	It took a  bit of Microing
Has the ability to increase the attack speed and movement speed for him and his bear, is very effective to catch and kill the enemy	If the bear was killed, would give gold to the enemy
Has the ability to increase the damage for himself and his bear, this makes him like a monster when teamfight	When the bear dead, Lone Druid will take damage
Bear have the ability to bind the enemy, very good in order to entrap the enemy so that the enemy can not run away from you.	When Lone Druid dies, bears come to die

ROLE
Ranged - Carry - Durable - Pusher - Jungler

STATS

LEVEL	1	15	25
HIT POINTS	473	1,032	1,811	SIGHT RANGE	1800 / 800
MANA	169	424	866	ATTACK RANGE	550
DAMAGE	46-50	84-88	131-135	MISSILE SPEED	900
ARMOR	3	9	15

ABILITIES
1. Summon Spirit Bear

Summons a powerful Spirit Bear companion that can equip items. If the bear moves 1100 distance away from the Lone Druid, it cannot attack. If the Spirit Bear dies, the Lone Druid suffers composite damage as backlash. As the bear increases in levels, it can learn the Return, Entangling Claws, and Demolish abilities. Spirit Bear does not benefit from attributes.

MANA COST: 75/75/75/75	COOLDOWN: 180/160/140/120
ABILITY: NO TARGET	BEAR HP: 1400 / 1800 / 2300 / 2700
BEAR BASE ATTACK TIME: 1.75 / 1.65 / 1.55 / 1.45	BEAR ARMOR: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
BACKLASH DAMAGE: 100 / 200 / 300 / 400

Sylla's lifelong companion is symbiotic with his spirit and heart, coming to aid him in any time of need.
You can summon a spirit bear that can helps you in teamfights. This bear have 6 slots for your items, so in total you have 12 slots beside your own slot.
The bear will gets all item's effect but, not the receive any additional stats ( STR, AGI, and INT).
You can buy +damage item for this bear, or you can also buy +attack speed for this bear.
You can use all items that needs a mana, but you need to buy +mana item first for example Energy Booster that adds 250 mana.
The bear cannot regenerate its mana by default, you need to buy +mana regen item like a Basillus.

This bear also have some skills that are very useful for you & teams:

a. Return (R)

Immediately teleports the Spirit Bear back to Syllabear. This skill is acquired when the Spirit Bear is at lv2.

COOLDOWN: 5

Can return to you immediately. Can't return after the bear just receives  some damages.

If you want to buy items with this bear, after you got your item, you can call your bear immediately.
Also useful for farming on another lane and jungling using radiance, bear can teleport instantly to you and if you are ready for teamfight.

b. Demolish

Passive ability that causes attacks to do 1.6 times normal damage to buildings.

Deal more damage to buildings. What a perfect skill. This skill is what you need to win a dota game, you need to destroy buildings quickly before the enemy can move and protect their building. With +damage items and +attack speed item for your bear, this skill will make enemies base become dust in an instant.

Spell Resistance
Spirit Bear gains resistance against spell damage.

Gives 33% Spell Resistance

Gives you a nice spell resistance that makes your bear can survive in a teamfight.

c. Entangle

Attacks randomly cause roots to burst from the ground, immobilizing a target enemy unit for 3 seconds, and dealing 60 damage per second. 20% Chance to entangle.

COOLDOWN: 5	DURATION: 3 (9 FOR CREEPS)
DAMAGE TYPE: PHYSICAL	DAMAGE PER SECOND: 60
ORB EFFECT	INVISIBLE HERO CAN BE SEEN
TARGET CAN'T BLINK	TARGET CAN'T TRANSFORM

This ability confines an enemy, it make the enemy can't move. Very good skill to chase someone and make him your prey.

2. Rabid

Increases the attack and movement speed of Lone Druid and the Spirit Bear.

MANA COST: 50/50/50/50	COOLDOWN: 30
ABILITY: NO TARGET	ATTACK SPEED: 10% / 20% / 30% / 40%
MOVEMENT SPEED: 5% / 10% / 15% / 20%	DURATION: 10 / 10 / 10 / 10

Bears are not commonly seen as being agile creatures, but can actually move rather quickly, especially when enraged.
Increase the movement speed and attack speed for you and your bear. This is what a carry really needs. You need to attack faster. It will makes you become a beast. You will crush enemies easily

You can escape or chasing pleasantly with it's additional movement speed.

3. Synergy

Increases the Lone Druid's synergy with his Spirit Bear and himself, upgrading attributes and abilities.

ABILITY: PASSIVE	BEAR BONUS DAMAGE: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40
BEAR BONUS SPEED: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40	RABID DURATION BONUS: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40
TRUE FORM BONUS HP: 100 / 200 / 300 / 400

Sylla studies and masters the arts of the lost Bear Clan, enhancing his attunement with the wild.
This ability will gives some important skill/status for you and your bear. Very good. With this you will be more stronger and durable carry.

4. True Form

Lone Druid learns to morph himself into a raging bear, losing his ranged advantage and some base movement speed, but gaining melee power as well as the Battle Cry ability. He can morph freely between druid and bear form.

MANA COST: 25/25/25	COOLDOWN: 0
ABILITY: NO TARGET	BASE ATTACK TIME: 1.5 / 1.5 / 1.5
BONUS ARMOR: 4 / 6 / 8	BONUS HP: 250 / 400 / 600
BASE SPEED LOSS: 35 / 35 / 35

The mighty bear is the king of the forest, possessing the throne through raw power.
Transform you from human into a kind of bear that so strong. This skill will makes you be  more tanky. Needed to increase your survivability in the teamfight.
This skill also increase your attack speed and gives you a Battle Cry ability. Battle Cry is a skill that gives bonus damage for several seconds. That's what you need for carrying.

This bear form is what your real self are. A strong bear that ready to knock down all enemy heroes. Just don't afraid of anything because you have the bigger power. So don't afraid of  Naix, Void, Drow, or anything, you can kill them all.

Druid Form

Return to Druid form.

MANA COST: 25/25/25	COOLDOWN: 0
ABILITY: NO TARGET

Transform you back into the human form, Human form can attack enemies from range. Nice form in early mid game, where you need to be safe from enemy's harassment.

Battle Cry

Adds damage and armor to the Lone Druid and his Spirit Bear.

MANA COST: 50/50/50	COOLDOWN: 30
ABILITY: NO TARGET	BONUS DAMAGE: 20 / 40 / 60
BONUS ARMOR: 2 / 4 / 6	DURATION: 8 / 8 / 8

When Syllabear cries in the forest, the reverberations are felt for a great distance.
Gives you an additional damage and a bonus armor. This will makes you become a true monster. You will go berserk. and destroy everything that blocks you.

SKILLBUILD

Level 1: Summon Spirit Bear
Level 2: Synergy
Level 3: Summon Spirit Bear
Level 4: Synergy
Level 5: Summon Spirit Bear
Level 6: Synergy
Level 7: Summon Spirit Bear
Level 8: Synergy
Level 9 : Rabid
Level 10: Rabid
Level 11: Rabid
Level 12: Rabid
Level 13: Druid Form
Level 14: Druid Form
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Druid Form
Level 17-25: Stats

Why Summon Spirit Bear and Synergy first? These 2 skiils are what you really needs in early game phase. You need your bear to tank damages and deal damages to creeps, in jungle or in lane. You need synergy to increase bear's damage. If you take rabid before Synergy, the duration will not last long.

Why Rabid befpre Druid form? actually druid form is ok too. This is all up to you. Rabid is very useful because it gives attack speed for faster farming. And Druid from is mainly for teamfights, so if you need to farm in early-mid game and don't want to go teamfight, you can take Rabid first. But it is all up to condition and situation, if you feel you want to be aggressive and doing some teamfights from early-mid game, there is nothing wrong with maxing Druid Form first.

STRATEGY
Early Game
Early game is your time for getting as much gold to buy nice items. You have 2 options here,

1. you farms in lane (mid, top, or bot). Or
If you choose to farms in lane. You need to last hits carefully. Bear will be really helpful in lashitting, damage from bear is a decent damage to helps you lasthits in early game. Or you can use bear to harass enemies and make them unfomfortable in the lane.

2. you can farms in jungle.
Jungling will be much easier than farming in lane because you do not need to last hits carefully.
To farms in jungle, you need stout shield for your bear, this is for tanking the damages from creeps. And you may also needs 1 healing salve for your bear.
Hand of Midas will come in handy for your jungling.
Midas will makes your gold and exp runs smoother.

Beware of enemy's attempt to gank you. Your team's needs a vision so your support better buy the Observer Wards.

Mid Game
I recommend you to keep farming everywhere. You should farm in lane and in jungle. The faster you get the big items (Radiance etc.), the higher the chance your team will win the teamfight. You have high movement speed to helps you move between lane and jungle. Try to destroy all the creeps you found there.

You can helps the team in the teamfight. That is needed if your partners can't handle the teamfight by 4 person, so you should come and join them. By your participation in a teamfight, your friend will feel greatly helped.

On the late of teamfight, you can't let enemy to escape. because you have high movement speed, and also have entangle from the bear so you can chase enemy quickly. I believe you can chase enemy who escapes.

Late Game
Late game is the biggest part that you can donate your power for the team. Here on the late game you will have overwhelming power to destroy all enemy's effort. Just believe in your power and I believe you will overpower enemies. Watch carefully and click the squishiest hero first. Kill him quickly and then go to their carry hero after it.

After you won the teamfight, you better fight the Roshan to get the Aegis for your safety.
And then after that, you can push conveniently.

ITEM BUILD

Lone Druid rely on bear to carry his main items. (Radiance and Cuirass)

Lone Druid should put himself not in the frontlane of the battle. It will makes you be more safer from enemy's damages.

This build will makes you have a great pushing power because of the natural ability of the bear that will deal more damage to buildings.

With this build, you can farms safer on the late game because  he can use radiance to farms far away and the master can stay in the base.

Items for bear:
1. Stout Shield
Total cost: 250

Passive: Damage Block - Gives a chance to block damage, depending on the type of hero you are. MELEE BLOCK: 20    RANGED BLOCK: 10    BLOCK CHANCE: 60%

Why Stout Shield? To tank damages in early game, this items will be very helpful.

2. Orb of Venom
Total cost: 275

Passive: Poison Attack - Poisons the target, dealing damage over time and slowing, depending on whether your hero is melee or ranged. Orb of Venom is a Unique Attack Modifier, and does not stack with other Unique Attack Modifiers. MELEE SLOW: 12%    RANGED SLOW: 4%    DURATION: 4    POISON DAMAGE: 3

Why Orb of Venom? helps you harass and chase enemies.

3. Boots of Speed
Total cost: 450

Passive: Poison Attack - Poisons the target, dealing damage over time and slowing, depending on whether your hero is melee or ranged. Orb of Venom is a Unique Attack Modifier, and does not stack with other Unique Attack Modifiers. MELEE SLOW: 12%    RANGED SLOW: 4%    DURATION: 4    POISON DAMAGE: 3

Your bear needs movement speed too.

Tips: If your bear already buys boots. Lone Druid better buys too. This is for the balancing of the movement speed.

4.  Radiance
Total cost: 5150
Recipe: Sacred Relic + Recipe

Active: Toggles Burn Damage on or off. Passive: Burn Damage - Deals damage per second in a 650 radius. + 60 Damage BURN DAMAGE: 45

Why Radiance? Helps yo to deal some constant damages in teamfights. Also helps in farming creeps. Can farms using the bear while bear are far away from it's master.

5. Assault Cuirass

Total cost:: 5300
Recipe: Platemail, Hyperstone, Chainmail, Recipe

Passive: Assault Aura - Grants attack speed and armor to nearby allied units, and decreases armor for nearby enemies. Multiple instances of Assault Aura do not stack. + 35 Attack Speed     + 10 Armor       AURA ATTACK SPEED: 20 AURA BONUS ARMOR: 5                ARMOR REDUCTION: 5

Why Assault Cuirass?
Helps the bear to tank more damages in teamfights. And also helps bear gets some attack speed for destroying towers, entangling,  and carrying the team in teamfights.

+Armor aura for allies and -Armor for enemy is very important for a late game, You need more survivability for your team. You also need to destoy's enemys armor.

Items for Lone Druid:
1. Headress
Total cost: 603
Recipe: Ring of Regen + Iron Branch + Recipe

Passive: Regeneration Aura - Restores HP to allies in a 500 unit radius. Multiple instances of Regeneration Aura do not stack. + 2 All Attributes BONUS REGEN: 3

Why Headress? Helps you and your bear to survive in early game.

2. Power Threads
Total cost: 1400
Recipe: Gloves of Haste, Boots of Speed, Belt og Giant Strength/ Robe of Magi/ Band of Elvenskin

Active: Switch Attribute - Changes selected attribute between Strength, Agility and Intelligence. Flat movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack. + 55 Movement Speed + 8 Selected Attribute   + 30 Attack Speed

Why Power Threads? It will gives you attack speed, thats what you need, attack speed and damages. Power threads is also a flexible shoes, you can change it to STR, AGI, or INT for what you need.

3. Pipe of Insight
Total cost: 3628
Recipe: Hood of Defiance + Headress + Recipe

Active: Barrier - Gives nearby friendly units a shield that blocks 400 spell damage. Multiple instances of spell resistance from items do not stack. + 11 HP Regeneration + 30% Spell Resistance Manacost: 100   Cooldown: 60

Why Pipe of Insight? Gives a barrier for all allies nearby that Blocsk 400 spell damage per ally, very useful to makes all aliied to survive.

GOOD ALLIES
1. Supportive Heroes
(Example: Shadow Shaman, Crystal Maiden, Vengeful Spirit)

Supportive heroes have disables and nice skill to helps carries and makes a teamfight easier for the team.

Shadow shaman: Have hex, shackles, and wards to helps you disables enemy

Crystal Maiden: Have 1 lockdown, 1 slower, and have +mana regeneration

Vengeful Spirit: Have stun, swap, and +damage aura

2. Good Initiator
(Example: Enigma, Invoker, Earthshaker)

Good initiator is best carry's friends.
Enigma have blackhole that makes you will be easier to kill all the enemies
Invoker, have many skills to initiate a teamfight and deal some damages
Earthshaker is a good initiator with his Echo Slam and Fissure.