Troll Warlord Guide by a 7k Player
Artist: ChiZ
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Author:
MrNiceGuy
Date: 01/2019
Tags:
text
Troll Warlord
Analysis
Builds
Tactics

Welcome

Welcome to Book of the Troll Warlord, a hero guide part of the Book of Dota series!

Here you will find all the information you need to learn to play Troll on a high level – from drafting and builds to the optimal playstyle in different lanes and situations. We hope you’ll enjoy this guide and find it useful!

TL;DR:

Draft: Troll is a flexible carry that doesn’t have many counters - picking him early on in the draft is not that bad. Enemies that have powerful disables that go through BKB (Bat, Axe, Bane) are the hardest heroes to play against.

Early Game: Choose the lane where you are most likely to find easy farm and focus on your own item development. Your goal is to get your mid game core items as fast as possible.

Mid & Late Game: Once you have your core items you can start fighting together with your team. If you manage to get pick-offs you are one of the best heroes to secure objectives. Make sure you abuse the fact that you take Roshan very fast. Secure an Aegis, a BKB and try to break the enemy high-ground.

Authors

Nikolay "CTOMAHEH1" Kalchev
Info & Editing

CTOMAHEH1 started his pro career as a support in Basically Unknown together with Mind Control. Since then he has consistently been playing on the European T2 scene, most recently on Unchained Esports.

His highest placement on the EU ladder is top 100 - he plays all roles (mainly support), which is untypical for high-ranking players and shows his great versatility and understanding of the game.

Martin "BRINGITON" Slavov
Writing & Info

Martin has lots of experience writing about Dota and he is no pushover in the actual game - a Divine III player, Martin plays mid and carry heroes on a very high level.

He has been playing Dota since Guinsoo's Dota Allstars (more than 12 years) and he loves thinking about new builds and strategies.

Kyril "MrNiceGuy" Kotashev
PM, Writing & Editing

Esports and gaming enthusiast since forever and founder of Dotahaven.

Has been playing Dota since 2005 (5.84). An Ancient I player in Dota 2.

My axes thirst!

Troll Warlord is an agility carry hero whose most iconic ability is Berserker’s Rage – it allows him to switch between melee and ranged form at any time and the melee form grants him better stats and a chance to Ensnare. His other abilities provide incredible attack speed and he uses it to overpower other carry heroes or to take objectives. Troll is famous for being one of the strongest man-fight heroes and has great late game potential.

Troll Loadout
Stats
Level 1
Level 15
Level 25
STR
21
Medium
56
Medium
81
Medium
AGI
21
High
56
High
81
High
INT
13
Very Low
27
Very Low
37
Very Low
Attack
44-56
Medium
79-91
Low
104-116
Low
Armor
3.2
Medium
10.2
High
15.2
High
Resistance
26
Medium
28
Medium
29
Medium
HP
578
Medium
1208
Medium
1658
Medium
MP
231
Very Low
399
Very Low
519
Very Low
MS
298
Medium
305
High
309
High
STRENGHTS

MAJOR:

Very strong in a 1v1 situation: Troll’s abilities help him attack incredibly fast and thanks to his Ensnare and the miss chance from Whirling Axes he can easily overpower most heroes in a man-fight.

Cannot be killed: Troll's ultimate is one of the very few abilities in the game that gives immortality (albeit temporarily). It makes him even stronger in man-fights and allows him to contribute to a fight even after a bad start.

MINOR:

Can switch between melee and range: Troll is the only hero who switch between melee and ranged attacks on demand, which gives him some advantages – he can switch to ranged attacks when he needs to finish a fleeing opponent or use it on the lane to avoid harass.

Decent stats: Although his attributes are far from great, they’re not bad. But thanks to Berserker’s Rage, Troll gains 6 armor (making it 8.5 starting armor) and 1.5 base attack time (BAT) which makes it equal to that of Morphling, Terrorblade, QoP, Windranger and close to Anti-Mage and Jugger.

Solo Rosh potential: Troll is one of the best Roshan killers in the game. Thanks to his high attack speed, he only needs lifesteal to kill Rosh very early into the game, although not as fast as Ursa.

WEAKNESSES

MAJOR:

Item dependent: As every right-clicking carry, Troll wants to farm a lot and he’s not that effective if he falls behind the enemy cores. On top of that, he’s highly dependent on his BKB in fights as he’s always the primary target for disables.

Only offers single target damage: Troll can only threaten one enemy at a time, so he can be easily kited with the right items and heroes. That also makes him bad against illusions.

MINOR:

No reliable disable: Aside from the Ensnare, which is not reliable, the hero lacks any form of disable or initiating ability to hold the enemy in one place. Troll relies on his teammates to hold enemies down.

Level-dependent: Troll needs at least 1-2 points in Whirling Axes for laning purposes, desperately needs his other 2 abilities maxed in order to fight and his ultimate is a lot worse at level 1 compared to 2 and 3 (only 60 attack speed).

Replays

Empire vs Effect, EPICENTER XL

MATCH ID: 3770504769
Replay:

Nix from team Empire plays Troll Warlord against team Effect and showcases the effectiveness of the farming Battle Fury build. He reaches 722 GPM and manages to deal the most damage out of all players on both teams. The laning stage in this replay is a great example to watch – he farms extremely efficiently and manages to accumulate the impressive 80 last hits on the 10th minute.

Drafting

Troll can be good in all stages of the game but usually requires a time window of 10-13 minutes to get his core items. This makes him good in any lineup that doesn’t require him to fight very early on.

The hero can easily compete with the strongest late game heroes so he doesn’t put your team on a clock against late game lineups.

You don’t want to pick him in lineups without disables, though, as that is one of his weaknesses – he needs help from teammates to hold his enemies in one place in the early and mid game (the extremely high attack speed in the late game make his Ensnare much more reliable).

Positions:

  • Safe Lane carry

This is his usual position. It requires little explanation - the hero needs farm and the safe lane gives him the time window he requires to get it. He could be dangerous against offlaners when he has level advantage and his ability to switch to ranged form could be useful in harder laning situations (against dual lanes in the offlane, etc.)

  • Mid Lane carry

Troll is not bad on the mid lane as he can switch between melee and range mode when needed. The melee form gives him incredible armor and allows him to use Quelling Blade to last hit better so he can’t be harassed that easily. His Whirling Axes are pretty good on the lane as well, allowing him to last-hit and harass.

Synergy

Good friends to have are:

Buffers: Magnus, Ogre, Omni, AA

Magnus Portrait
Ogre Magi Portrait
Omniknight portrait
Ancient Apparition Portrait

Magnus and Ogre are some of Troll’s best friends as they give him long-lasting buffs that help him with farming and fighting. On top of that, they have disables and slows.

Omni provides a free BKB to the hero which is huge, although that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build one yourself.

AA provides a nice damage buff and Troll can utilize all charges with his high attack speed in a fight.

Armor reduction: Slardar, Venge, TA, Elder Titan, Solar Crest

Slardar Portrait
Venge
Templar Assassin
Elder titan
Solar Crest Icon

As every right-clicker, Troll loves playing with heroes who reduce the enemy’s armor, allowing him to deal more damage. If they can initiate or disable the enemies, that’s even better.

Counters

Strong Against:

Low mobility cores: Sniper, Drow, NP, DP

Sniper
Drow Ranger
Nature's Prophet Portrait
Death prophet

Troll likes playing against cores who can’t run away from him. These heroes are easy to hunt down when you get your first core and mobility items (SB or Blink) and before their teammates get defensive items like Glimmer, Force, Ghost Scepter.

Man-fight cores: Ursa, Lifestealer, Sven, PA, Huskar

Ursa Portrait
Lifestealer Portrait
Sven
Phantom Assassin
Huskar Portrait

With your extremely high AS, bashes and the miss chance of Whirling Axes, you can beat pretty much any man-fight carry 1v1. This is very useful, especially if the strat of the enemy team revolves around such carries.

That being said, you should be careful when you enter into a man-fight with Ursa or Naix – they can dispel your miss chance with Enrage and Rage. Wait for them to use their defensive skill and engage afterwards.

Phoenix

Troll gives his entire team attack speed buff, so it’s a great reliable counter to Phoenix's Egg in all stages of the game.

Weak Against:

Heroes who can save teammates: WW, SD, Pugna, OD, Force Staff

Winter Wyvern Portrait
Shadow Demon Portrait
Pugna
Outworld Devourer
Force staff

As every physical damage core, you hate playing against those heroes as they can save their teammates or disable/slow you. Multiple heroes with Force Staff in a team are also very hard to deal with as you can’t counter them – you can bash your target but you can’t bash his teammates who are trying to save him. Moreover, you deal more and more DPS the longer you beat on one target. Such defensive abilities will most likely force you to switch targets in fights.

BKB-piercing disables: Batrider, Beastmaster, Enigma, LC, Axe, Bane, Naga

Batrider
Beastmaster
Enigma Portrait
Legion commander
Axe Portrait
Bane Portrait
Naga siren

Those heroes are very strong against anybody who relies too much on his BKB. As we mentioned, everybody wants to disable Troll.

Besides Fiend’s Grip, Bane’s Enfeeble is also a huge counter as Troll relies more on his attack speed rather than damage, so he takes away a huge portion of your DPS.

Evasion & damage drain: Razor, Brewmaster, KotL, Underlord, Butterfly, Solar Crest, Halberd

Razor
Brewmaster
Keeper of the Light
Underlord Portrait
Butterfly
Solar Crest Icon
Heaven's_Halberd_icon

Troll doesn’t want to build MKB early as he has other important items, so heroes with evasion can be very annoying. Some of those heroes and items can be countered with spell immunity, but BKB is not everlasting either.

Skills

Troll spell1
Troll spell2
Troll spell3
Troll ultimate

While active, Troll Warlord swaps from using ranged to melee attacks. Melee attacks have a chance to ensnare, preventing the target from moving or using mobility spells. Berserker's Rage also grants additional movement speed, armor, and increased attack speed.

Whirling Axes has different functionality while Berserker's Rage is active.

STATS

Cast Animation: 0+0

Armor Bonus: 6

Move Speed Bonus: 10/20/30/40

Attack Range Loss: 350

Base Attack Time: 1.45

Root Chance: 10%/12%/14%/16%

Root Duration: 0.8/1.2/1.6/2

Berserker's Rage

Mechanics:

  • When toggling, exchanges Whirling Axes (Ranged) with Whirling Axes (Melee).
  • Turns Troll Warlord into a melee unit, meaning items treat him as such (e.g. Battle Fury, Stout Shield).
  • Berserker's Rage persists through Troll Warlord's death. If Berserker's Rage was active upon death, he respawns with it activated.

Uses and tips:

Berserker’s Rage is very useful in the laning stage – it allows you to use Quelling Blade and Stout Shield as a melee hero, gives you 6 armor to withstand harassment better. You usually want to try to switch to melee form every time the enemy hits you as you will take much less damage.

The Ensnare uses pseudo-random distribution. It means that every attack where you don’t root increases your chance to root. 

The Ensnare is a useful way to keep your target in place while you build up your attack speed and deal damage. The faster you attack, the higher the chance you'll keep your target immobile.

Troll hurls a fistful of five axes in a cone shape over 1000 range, slowing and damaging enemy units.(ranged)

Troll hurls two axes around him in a close range area of effect, damaging enemy units and causing them to miss some attacks.(melee)

STATS
Range Axes

Cast Animation: 0.2+0

Cast Range: 1000

Axes Travel Distance: 1000

Axes Radius: 100

Axes Spread End Radius: 206.17

Damage: 75

Move Speed Slow: 40%

Slow Duration: 2.5/3/3.5/4

CD: 9

Mana: 50

Melee Axes

Cast Animation: 0+0

Spin Radius: 350

Axes Radius: 100

Damage: 75/125/175/225

Miss Chance: 60%

Blind Duration: 5

Whirl Duration: 3

CD: 9

Mana: 50

Whirling Axes (Ranged/Melee)

Mechanics:

Ranged Axes:

  • Spawns 5 axes which spread up to 25 degrees and affect units within 100 radius around them.
  • Has no starting radius, the axes spawn at one point in front of Troll Warlord. The total area is shaped like a cone.
  • Can hit units up to 1100 range away (travel distance + axes radius).
  • Does not affect Roshan.
Melee Axes:
  • The axes always spawn towards east and west at Troll Warlord's position and rotate clock-wise.
  • The axes travel at a speed of 1250 and move out at a speed of 233.33 until reaching the max distance in 1.5 seconds, and then move back to Troll Warlord at the same speed.
  • Only units within 100 range of an axe get damaged and blinded.
  • Can hit units up to 450 range away (max spin radius + axes radius).
  • The visual effects of this spell are offset and do not accurately reflect the actual  area.
  • Does not affect Roshan.

Uses and tips:

The main use is obvious – the ranged form Axes are great for chasing because of the slow, the melee form Axes are great for man-fighting because of the miss chance. You usually use the ranged form Whirling Axes together with a few ranged attacks to secure the kill on enemies that are trying to run away from you after you’ve initiated on them in melee form.

The Axes have separate cooldowns which means you actually gain two abilities instead of one. They also both cost 50 mana, which is very low.

With each continuous blow on the same target, Troll gains increased attack speed. If Troll changes targets, the stacks drop to zero.

STATS

Max Stacks: 12

Attack Speed Bonus per Stack: 15/20/25/30

Fervor

Mechanics:

  • Troll Warlord gains or loses stacks as soon as he reaches his attack point.
  • This means that missed or disjointed attacks still count and it does not matter what he attacks, be it enemies, buildings, wards or allies.
  • Fervor could grant up to 360 bonus attack speed with maximum stacks (450 with talent)

Uses and tips:

Fervor is great for pushing and Roshan as you will hit a lot of times and don’t have to change targets.

Obviously, in fights, you want to stick to a single target until you kill it in order to maximize your DPS. Switching targets would not allow you to build up Fervor stacks.

The spell synergizes well with proc chance items.

Troll unleashes a powerful battle trance, that forces you to continuously attack the closest enemy unit within 900 range, prioritizing heroes. Damage does not kill you during this mode. Grants you bonus lifesteal, attack speed and movement speed. Applies a Basic Dispel.

STATS

Cast Animation: 0+0

Enemy Search Radius: 900

Lifesteal: 40%/60%/80%

Movement Speed Bonus: 30%/35%/40%

Attack Speed Bonus: 140/170/200

Duration: 6.5

CD: 90

Mana: 150

Battle Trance

Mechanics:

  • Applies a basic dispel (strong with talent)
  • Automatically attacks the closest target, prioritizing heroes
  • Troll only switches the current target when it becomes unatackable (e.g. Ghost Sceptre)
  • Grants vision over the target
  • Can cast Whirling Axes and Berserker's Rage while attacking
  • Prevents him from dying the same way as Shallow Grave

Uses and tips:

There are two general ways to use the spell.

Survivability: The usual and most efficient one is to save it until you need to use the the "can't die" mechanic. This way you will not only stay alive for longer, but you will also heal the damage you've already taken in the fight thanks to the big lifesteal percentage. This makes you an incredibly hard hero to deal with and will help you excel in long fights.

Using BKB before casting your ultimate is recommended so that it is not wasted and you are able to deal damage and heal yourself.

DPS: Battle Trance increases your Attack Speed very significantly, which helps you build Fervor stacks even faster. Because of this, especially in the late game when you have DPS items, the DPS boost you get from your ultimate is very significant. If you want to burst down a key target (the enemy carry) after the initiation of your teammates, you might want to use Battle Trance even when you are on max HP. This is risky, however - if you are not successful, you are left vulnarable in the fight.

Skill Builds

Whirling Axes Build
Rage & Fervor Build
Troll spell2
1
Troll spell1
2
Troll spell2
3
Troll spell3
4
Troll spell2
5
Troll ultimate
6
Troll spell2
7
Troll spell1
8
Troll spell3
9
Talent Icon
10
Troll spell3
11
Troll ultimate
12
Troll spell3
13
Troll spell1
14
Talent Icon
15
Troll spell1
16
Troll ultimate
18
Talent Icon
20
Talent Icon
25
Pros: better at pushing out waves and flash-farming;
Cons: lower DPS and man-fight potential;

Maxing Whirling Axes is nice for farming – the melee Axes deal 225 AoE damage for 50 mana with a 9s cooldown. This build is good if you want to farm a lot in the early game, usually with Battle Fury, and avoid fighting.

The AoE potential of the Axes in early game fights shouldn't be underestimated. This build is superior for group fights but inferior for pick-off attempts and single target DPS.

Troll spell2
1
Troll spell1
2
Troll spell3
3
Troll spell3
4
Troll spell1
5
Troll ultimate
6
Troll spell3
7
Troll spell1
8
Troll spell3
9
Talent Icon
10
Troll spell1
11
Troll ultimate
12
Troll spell2
13
Troll spell2
14
Talent Icon
15
Troll spell2
16
Troll ultimate
18
Talent Icon
20
Talent Icon
25
Pros: maximum single-target DPS;
Cons: cannot push-out waves as fast and chase as efficiently;

This build only uses one level in Whirling Axes as a 1-point wonder – the ranged ones only increase the slow’s duration (2.5s at level 1) and the melee axes only increase the damage – the blind duration and miss chance remain the same at all levels.

Between Berserker’s Rage and Fervor – you can tweak the build to your liking, both abilities are good and there are arguments for maxing either of them. We usually max them simultaneously because both of them aren’t that good without the other (sort of like Ursa’s Overpower and Fury Swipes – you just want to have both).

The benefit of this build is that you have maximum single target damage and control from early on - great for Blink/Shadow Blade builds that aim to hunt enemy heroes.

The talents are great and deserve to be skilled on every possible level.

Talents

Battle Trance Strong Dispel

25
-6s Whirling Axes Cooldown
+50 Damage
20
20% Evasion
+75 Whirling Axes Damage
15
+3 Max Fervor Stacks
+250 Health
10
+10 Agility

Lvl10: Both are good, but the choice usually goes in favor of the agility for the DPS. You can’t go wrong with the other one either, if you are afraid of nuke damage for example.

Lvl15: At level 15 you probably don’t use Axes as a damage source, so this is easily in favor of Fervor.

Lvl20: Troll usually has a lot of attack speed but lacks damage, so +50 damage comes as a 20-25% boost (with the core items of Phase, Aquilla, S&Y, BKB) which is huge.

Lvl25: The strong dispel is the safe choice because it makes it easier to stay alive if you get focused with debuffs and disables. That being said, if you don't need it the CD reduction is great for fighting against enemy carries when their BKB duration is lower - it gives permanent miss chance.

Standard Fighting Troll Build

The early game items are standard for most AGI carries. You need to decide whether you need Morbid Mask before your other core items. If you spend a lot of time farming - get it for the sustain (and Rosh potential). If you spend most of your time fighting, skip it.

In the mid game, you go for the standard for Troll S&Y + BKB. It makes reaching and sticking to your target much easier. Afterward you get MKB -it's the most cost-efficeint way to increase Troll's DPS thanks to his very high AS.

Starting Items
Stout Shield
Tangoes
Healing_Salve_icon
Mango
Iron branch
Early Game
Wraith Band
Wraith Band
Power treads Strength
Magic wand
Mid Game
Sange_and_Yasha_new
Black King Bar
Late Game
Monkey_King_Bar_icon
Satanic
Butterfly
Stout Shield
Tangoes
Healing_Salve_icon
Mango
Iron branch
Wraith Band
Wraith Band
Power treads Strength

Treads: the hero also attacks very fast, so the bonus damage outweighs the attack speed from Phase Boots. Moreover, the stats are great for some early game survivability. 

Magic wand
Sange_and_Yasha_new

Sange&Yasha: Your first major item. S&Y offers a lot of useful things for Troll, it increases his speed, attack speed, gives him damage and some HP. The best part is that it’s relatively cheap and its components are small and useful – Yasha is useful for farming and helps you to get the rest faster.

Black King Bar

Black King Bar: Troll needs to lock on a target and hit it a lot before he builds his attack speed. This gives a lot of time for the enemies to disable him, so BKB is one of the most important items on the hero – it allows you to go ham on the enemies. 

Monkey_King_Bar_icon

MKB is the most cost-efficient way to increase Troll's DPS output because of the 75% chance to deal 100 bonus damage combined with Troll's insane attack speed.

Satanic

Satanic: can offer a ton of survivability in the late game, some damage and importantly - status resistance, which becomes very valuable when your BKB duration is low.

Butterfly

Butterfly: great DPS item on Troll – it provides 60 damage and 65 attack speed. The evasion is also useful as it forces the enemies to build MKB – while the Whirling Axes blind can be countered by dispels and BKB, the evasion from Butterfly requires MKB.

Farming Build

This build is oriented around farming and it’s great when you want to secure your late game.

Of course, this build comes with the disadvantage that you need some extra minutes of farming, delaying the moment where you can fight with your team. However, the farm with Battle Fury is incredibly fast, so if you’re not disturbed while farming with it, the next item comes extremely fast.

After BF you could go for the same items as in the standard build. In this example, however, we go for Blink Dagger - it is great against hard to reach heroes and even increases your farming speed a bit. BKB, of course, is mandatory. In the late game, your options are open depending on what you need most - more damage/survivability/etc. Nullifier is great in combination with Blink because it prevents the enemy hero from

Starting items
Stout Shield
Tangoes
Healing_Salve_icon
Iron branch
Iron branch
Mango
Early game
Quelling Blade
Wraith Band
Wraith Band
Power treads Strength
Battle_Fury_icon
Mid game
Black King Bar
Blink_Dagger_icon
Monkey_King_Bar_icon
Late game
Nullifier
Satanic
Stout Shield
Tangoes
Healing_Salve_icon
Iron branch
Iron branch
Mango
Quelling Blade
Wraith Band
Wraith Band
Power treads Strength

Treads: the hero also attacks very fast, so the bonus damage outweighs the attack speed from Phase Boots. Moreover, the stats are great for some early game survivability. 

Battle_Fury_icon

Battle Fury: One of the best farming items for Troll, also very useful with the Ring of Health in the laning stage.

Black King Bar

BKB: Troll needs to lock on a target and hit it a lot before he builds his attack speed. This gives a lot of time for the enemies to disable him, so BKB is one of the most important items on the hero – it allows you to go ham on the enemies.

Blink_Dagger_icon

Blink Dagger: This is a very nice addition to your build as it allows you to jump on a hero instantly and start hitting before they can react. Its only weakness is that it takes an extra inventory slot and you have to replace it later on – some players don’t even replace it when they’re full slotted, this is how good the item is.

Monkey_King_Bar_icon

MKB is the most cost-efficient way to increase Troll's DPS output because of the 75% chance to deal 100 bonus damage combined with Troll's insane attack speed.

Nullifier

Nullifier: A great late game item that allows you to block the enemies’ escape items – they won’t be able to use Ghost Scepter, Force Staff, BKB, Eul, etc. It’s especially good against heroes who only use items to stay alive – for instance, SF, Luna, Gyro, Sniper lack any form of escape without using items. 

Satanic

Satanic: can offer a ton of survivability in the late game, some damage and importantly - status resistance, which becomes very valuable when your BKB duration is low.

Other Items

Early & Mid Game
Vladmir's Offering
Shadow_Blade_icon
Maelstorm
Basher
Late Game
Bloodthorn_icon
Mjollnir_icon
Linken's Sphere
Skadi
Vladmir's Offering

Vlads: Some players favor Vlads as a first item because it grants a variety of useful things – it has a built-in Ring of Basilius (so you don’t build Aquilla), it gives some HP regen on the lane and provides a useful aura which is not half bad – 15% lifesteal, 15% damage, 4 armor. It also helps a lot with farming the jungle, although it lacks the aggressive approach of MoM.

Shadow_Blade_icon

Shadow Blade: An alternative to Blink Dagger – not that good for initiating as it can be countered by True Sight. However, it can be built earlier into the game (before even S&Y) and used for pick-offs. It can also be upgraded into Silver Edge which is a counter to heroes like Bristleback, Tidehunter, Spectre, etc.

Maelstorm

Maelstrom: a cheaper farming tool than Battlefury and provides AoE damage in fights if needed. Your big attack speed means a lot of procs.

Basher

Basher: combining Bashes with your Ensnares and high attack speed equals a lot of control. The DPS increase also shouldn't be underestimated. In the late game could be upgraded to abyssal if you need hard disables against elusive targets.

Bloodthorn_icon

Bloodthorn: Another great late game item. You can use it on supports or even cores after their BKB ends and if the silence is not removed, the damage increase is huge. It also synergizes very well with Nullifier – you basically Doom the target, blocking all of their abilities and items.

Mjollnir_icon

Mjollnir: Mjollnir is a good DPS item with one huge weakness – it’s useless against spell immune targets. However, it could be a nice tool to play against illusions or other heroes who don’t use BKB. 

Linken's Sphere

Linken's: You usually don’t want to build it, but it’s sometimes necessary – mainly against heroes with BKB-piercing disables like Batrider, Beastmaster, Bane, etc.

Skadi

Skadi: gives us survivability along with some agility. The slow also helps you with chasing enemies – it synergizes well with the Whirling Axes slow and Maim from S&Y.

Early Game

Troll 350px

Troll’s early game revolves around farming and harassing the enemy once he has his Phase Boots.


As most carries, Troll wants to get his core items as soon as possible. He’s not bad in early fights, especially with early game items like MoM or Vlads, but in the ideal situation, you’d prefer to farm a little longer. Reaching his mid-game items (S&Y, Shadow Blade, etc.)  before he starts fighting is preferable, because he will become much stronger in fights – not only in terms of DPS output, but he will be harder to kill, which is very important for a melee carry that wants play from ahead.

Priorities:
Focus on last-hitting; Later on push-out the wave and pressure the tower or farm the jungle;
Harass; try to zone-out if possible and attempt kills with your supports;
Farming:

Get Quelling Blade as soon as possible and use the melee form to the last hit. The only situation where you should use the ranged form is if you’re being harassed when you get closer – this is usually the case when you’re playing mid or against dual/tri lanes in the offlane.

Once you have your early game items and level 5-6, you can start jungling as well to boost your farm. You can push out the lane and then head for the jungle, so that way you don’t miss lane creeps. Use Whirling Axes to blind/damage the jungle creeps so you won’t take that much damage.

If you’re using the Battle Fury build, your farm will improve a lot – use it to clear the creep wave and then clear out the entire jungle. Having some stacks will also be very profitable – Troll can clear out even ancient stacks thanks to the blind from Whirling Axes, you will just have to pull them a bit before you start hitting so you don’t take that much damage.

Harassing & Kill Potential:

Your damage is pretty low until you get Phase Boots, so you should play passively in the beginning. Once you have Phase, you can use them to harass the enemy.

You usually want to use the ranged form to harass the enemy when he has full HP. If you manage to bring them down to 60-70% of their HP, you can wait for them to come for a last hit and go on them in melee mode. Don’t forget to switch to ranged to finish them off or when they reach their tower and you can’t chase any longer.

Solo kills should usually be impossible unless the enemy makes a mistake. With the help of a support, however, Troll has good kill potential – an extra slow or disable can buy you the time to build your attack speed and eventually Ensnare the enemy and secure the kill.

Timings and rotations:

With Troll, you don’t want to rotate in the early game at all. You want to get at least a Yasha before you can fight, and if you have the time to get S&Y – that’s even better. It will give you enough survivability and mobility to stay in fights.

If you farm a Battle Fury, you don’t want to move at all – stay on your lane and farm the jungle as well. The whole idea of Battle Fury is to get your next item as fast as possible. You can farm S&Y in 5-6 minutes after the BF without really breaking a sweat, sometimes even faster. If your team needs you, you can buy BKB after Yasha and finish S&Y later.

If you get a lifesteal item, you can also try to kill Roshan early in the game, however, it could be very risky. If you decide to do it, get more points in Fervor to increase your DPS.

Video Example

In this game we will observe Ace’s Troll against team Newbie – he gets to play against Sccc’s Medusa in the mid lane.

He skills Berserker’s Rage at level 1 as he has no kill potential on this lane and it basically upgrades Stout and Quelling Blade for melee heroes. 

Check how he constantly switches to ranged mode to last hit or deny creeps from a distance when needed and then instantly switches to melee for the extra move speed and armor when he’s being hit.

At 0:50 you can see how he harasses the Medusa a bit – not enough to pose threat to her as he’s only level 2, but this is usually how the harass should be done.

He brings an extra set of tangos as the Medusa constantly hits him – something you should never be afraid to do. Better spend some money on regen items instead of not farming because your HP is low.

At 3:25 he goes on the Medusa and manages to score a solo kill. It was a mistake from his enemy, but the harassment before the kill was masterful – occasional ranged hits here and there to harass and the Medusa wanted to stay on the lane so she doesn’t miss farm. Also, if you take a closer look, the moment where Ace went for the kill was when the Medusa was trying to last hit a ranged creep – might look random, but it’s calculated and every good player does it.

He makes a rotation only because he found a Double Damage rune and his team was fighting at the same time. Otherwise, you don’t want to move from your lane to initiate ganks.

At 6:30 it’s nice to see how he roams around the Haste rune and waits for the courier to bring him a Salve before he takes it, so he doesn’t waste its duration and uses it to gank. In result, they get a kill on Omni. After that he moves for a while to the jungle to let his Clockwerk get some levels on the mid lane – this is a nice thing to do in order to let them get to level 6 and eventually farm some small items.

He chooses to get Morbid Mask which is a great choice to sustain him in the jungle and then queues up Yasha. 

Mid & Late Game

Priorities:
Maintain your farm
Join fights with your team
Look for objectives – towers, Roshan
Timings:

One of the most important timings is getting your BKB – that basically unlocks your team-fight potential. Without BKB you’re going to be the primary disable target. Troll is good in smaller skirmishes, but unless your team has an advantage, you’d rather get BKB before you start participating in team-fights.

With S&Y and BKB you are very strong in the mid game. Use this timing to secure objectives – push the outer towers and take Roshan. If you are successful at this you are likely to enter the late game with an advantage.

Another very important timing is level 20 – the +50 damage talent is very important for Troll as S&Y and BKB are not exactly damage items. This talent increases your DPS significantly as you can attack incredibly fast.

Comeback Potential:

With the standard fighting build, Troll is not that good at playing from behind as he doesn’t farm very fast. He’s also a right-clicker and melee hero, so he needs to stay close to his enemies and that is easily countered with Force Staffs, Ghost Scepters and a variety of other skills and items that the enemy supports can afford if they have the advantage.

It’s still not impossible of course as Troll is one of the best late game carries, but it’s going to be tough. Your best chance is to somehow get BKB (for example after Yasha) and if you’re close to level 20 – wait for it as well, before you start fighting. Until then just try to survive and don’t join fights.

If you chose the Battle Fury build, nothing major changes in your play style – you continue farming, just play more defensively and try to survive. You can buy Blink Dagger to push the lanes and eventually pose threat to the enemy towers – the Dagger helps in that regard as you can use it to blink as soon as you see an enemy hero - you’re much harder to catch this way. That would create some space for your team and possibly allow you to reach the late game without losing too many objectives.

Team Fights:

Troll is not bad in team-fights but as we mentioned – BKB is not negotiable. You need it in 99% of the games.

Unless you have Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger, let your teammates initiate. The enemies can run away if they see you first.

Who to focus:

Your job is usually to lock on a hero (ideally the main damage dealer on the enemy team) and kill him. If the enemies have squishy heroes with important abilities – you want to focus them. For example Invoker, Enigma, Zeus can do a lot in team-fights and if you can catch them, they’re the best targets.

You usually want to leave the high armor cores for last – DK, Timber, Gyro, Terrorblade are not great targets. You always want to kill the squishier core first – if the enemy has Terrorblade carry and Invoker mid, the latter is much easier to kill so you want to focus him.

If the enemy has elusive heroes like Puck, QoP, Storm and they come close to you, you can try to hit them a few times and hope for an Ensnare, but otherwise, don’t try to chase them. Find more immobile targets to commit to (usually the hard carry, remember that other factors removed you should be able to win man-fights).

Battle Trance:

Save your ultimate until you are on low HP and want to use it as a survivability and sustain mechanism. This will allow you to fight efficiently and safely for a longer period of time.

Use your ultimate right away only when you are certian you need to burst down a key target as fast as possible - usually this would be the main (and probably only) damage dealer of the enemy team.

Troll knows that the enemy team doesn’t have Force or Black Hole (it’s on CD), which means he can easily enter the fight and kill off a big target. He chooses the Viper and uses his BKB and Ult to burst him down in seconds. Notice how he uses the ranged attacks to finish off the kill without getting kited.

Pushing:

5-man pushing:

You usually want to push high ground after you’ve won a team-fight, but it’s not mandatory especially if you have a resource advantage. Fervor works on building, so you can demolish the enemy towers and barracks in no time if you don’t have to switch targets.

Sieging the enemy tower with ranged attacks is also possible if you want to stay in a safer position. Your finger needs to be on the BKB and ultimate, however, to activate it as fast as possible if the enemy team initiates on you.

Split-Pushing:

Troll has high movement speed and building damage, so he can afford to occasionally split-push. It’s easier if you have Battle Fury and/or Blink or Shadow Blade to kill the creep waves faster and escape if needed. However, it’s still possible with the standard build as well if you spam Whirling Axes.

Generally, though, you prefer to fight with your team if you have a BKB instead of split-pushing.

Ganking:

If the enemy team has easy to gank immobile cores, you can go for SB and attempt to find ganks in the early-mid game.

Ganking in the mid/late game, however, depends almost entirely on your teammates as they have to provide a disable for you. If you have Blink or Shadow Strike you can sometimes find pick-offs even on heroes with escape mechanism if you manage to Ensnare them and have allies to follow-up.