Dota2 Hero Guides - Bounty Hunter

Half a year later... Bounty Hunter is one of those heroes that I feel a lot of players misunderstand. There are a couple of important things this guide talk about: double Shadow Walk bonus damage, staying hidden from enemy vision, importance of the fear factor, etc. It's definitely worth watching even if you feel you're competent with BH.
Big thanks to all of the contributors to this guide: Dpmlicious, DC.Restocker, Shock4you, EternalEnvy, Silkwood and others
FB: / luminousinverse
Twitter: / luminousinverse
Image used from www.dotafire.com/
Royalty Free Music by audiomicro.com/...

[@Tuom4sd]

Lumi your guides are the best there is. Not only do they teach you to play the hero, but also Dota 2 as a game. You really do have great knowledge of this game. Keep it up.

[@thatclassifiedguy2247]

I think it should've been noted that especially attentive players could use a Vlad's pick up on Bounty to their advantage. By paying attention to your melee creeps for the aura, they could find out when you're in close vicinity and catch you with your pants down. Other than that, I found it to be a great guide. Taught me a few tips to bettering my Bounty play. Medallion is beautiful by the way.

[@kb17_17]

Please don't wait another half a year for the next episode ... This guides are pretty good Lumi and somewhat relaxing to watch please try to make for all the heroes episodes ! :)

[@JJMerrill]

Still one of my top 3 favorite heroes to play. Bagged and tagged!

[@warwerewolf777]

Hey JJ, what are your other top 2? Bristle and Undying? Btw, love your vids. Both you and Lumi

[@warwerewolf777]

Aww that sucks. And nice. Cant wait for your return. Your vids are really informative (possibly even more than Purges), and I like how you have more personality in your voice. (No offense to Kevin. Like him too). Anyway, hope ya don't get rusty. See your video when you return.

[@infamousXsniper055]

***** I cant wait for you to start making videos again :-)

[@notamage131]

The quality of this guide is just amazing! Well done! I'm very impressed.

[@horrifyingthoughts]

Looking for different methods to play bounty hunter following a patch and I ran this guide. While old, I stayed to watch the guide and can contribute regarding the changes that have taken place since this guide was created. Most of the information in this guide is still very relevant, especially in regards to staying off the map to create fear, placing aggressive wards safely, and the type of impact in relative gold levels Bounty Hunter is liable to generate (track gold for his team, and wasted gold in wards for the enemy team). I will be detailing more the important changes as of patch 6.85 and the new meta item builds and roles, not rewriting a full guide. Still watch this one. For those unsure of what I mean by 'new meta,' it simply is a term that encompasses the current thought and theory on how a hero is to be played. The game-beyond-the-game so to speak. Major Hero Changes: Shuriken Tosses range has been nerfed, from 650 to 400. This is much more problematic than it first appears, but can be circumnavigated. because the shuriken will now bounce to all tracked targets in a 1200 range, regardless of wether or not the initial target was tracked or is a hero. This can massively increase his damage in a teamfight, and if you need to hit a target who is tracked farther away you can target a closer enemy hero or creep and have it bounce. Track has been massively nerfed, no longer providing vision around the enemy target. Still provides true sight of target, but no longer surroundings. Does provide information on gold the enemy hero is carrying, situationally useful against enemy carries with a set item progression (Anti-Mage's Battlefury, Spectre's Radience, etc) but a mostly cosmetic change. This is a straight nerf. Playstyle/Item Build/New Meta Changes: Killing Couriers: Several times in the video you saw Lumi take two hits to kill a courier, which could leave him in a bad position. Now melee heroes actually deal bonus damage to couriers so with his guaranteed crit Bounty should ALWAYS even at low levels kill the courier in one shot. A classic move that is very effective at MMR's below 5-6k is waiting at level one with invis to kill the courier bringing the enemy mid hero his bottle, denying the enemy mid regen for quite some time. Support Bounty Hunter: Especially with the nerf to Track, Bounty is much more often played in a support role role over the right click carry role exemplified in Lumi's build. It should be noted that both Lumi's right click build and new meta support role are ganking oriented. While a Bounty Hunter that gets an early lead can still steamroll through gold advantage, often in the new meta the most common Bounty Hunter role is one of support. Helping guarantee kills through invis roaming, aggressive ward placing, and the true sight of Track to prevent juking means allied carries get farmed plus the gold bonus. In addition, Bounty himself does not suffer the typical 'full support gold poverty' to nearly the same degree as more traditional supports such as Crystal Maiden or Lich. Track provides him with the gold needed for wards and support items without fully impoverishing his hero. This build often roams from level 1, rather than playing the solo offlane hero. The new item Guardian Greaves, a combination of Arcane Boots and a Mechanism, is core on the support role Bounty, and when used will remove debuffs such as dust for added bonus, and a Solar Crest another common pick up to reduce enemy armor before hitting for a guaranteed crit or providing an ally with bonus armor and miss chance. If a normal Bounty Hunter does not gain a gold advantage after the early game it is unlikely he will be able to out-carry the enemy team, this support role Bounty avoids this issue. Full Burst Bounty Hunter: If provided some farm priority and levels in the early game (for instance a solo offlane Bounty Hunter or safe lane farm till level 6) Bounty can often use his massive Track bonus gold to finance items that are normally not recommended such as an early Dagon and Ethereal Blade. With Dagon level 1 is often a good pick-up for many heroes, going from Dagon level 1 to level 5 costs 5000 gold (about the same as a second full major item) and is thus often not worth the cost. Track gold ameliorates this issue and facilitates the ganks that allow Bounty to earn more Track gold by providing massive burst damage from Bounty Hunter. The same as with a Nyx Assassin, it is recommended that a Blink Dagger be purchased for immediately escaping the enemy team after bursting down an enemy support or agility carry. After a Dagon 5 and a Blink Dagger are picked up, Ethereal Blade is an ideal pickup since it allows for greater burst potential and is an Agility item, Bounty Hunter's primary stat. Allows for a transition to a right click carry Bounty later in the game. I hope this helped anyone finding this great guide that happens to be from a few patches back learn to play this interesting if challenging hero. +LuminousInverse if you liked my addition, feel free to use it yourself elsewhere or bump it on this page. I would appreciate it if you let me know though, if only for narcissistic reasons. I refrained from suggesting or linking videos of people playing these styles in case you would prefer I did not include them.

[@horrifyingthoughts]

***** Glad you liked it! If you are looking for how a different hero is currently played lemme know I'd be happy to help (although fair warning since patch 6.86 dropped the other day all of my info is immediately outdated lol)

[@cm3462]

+horrifyingthoughts nice job thanks

[@CaptainSkeletor]

sick ice path dodge

[@LaxonPfc]

15:05 You intetionaly uploaded that Hentai "kind" of picture of Ice Lady to play with our minds :D Great guide overall, made me want to play BH more often, tnx Lumi!

[@skvillritz6399]

..Do you know what Hentai even is?

[@Jubblyjube]

Lumi your vids always put a smile on my face and I learn a lot from them! Please make more if you enjoy making them!

[@ChanTheGreat21]

Glad to see you still using Dear You as your music of choice xD

[@Mactav3]

Senpai Lumi, pls make more of these. As a very new Dota 2 player i find these extremelly informative and helpful.

[@rmwolfe_]

YO WAS THAT A REMIX OF YOU: DESTRUCTIVE AT THE END THERE?! LUMI GUIDES CONFIRMED BEST GUIDES.

[@LockeVincent]

Great work Lumi, nice to see another well produced guide. Let me know if you need a hand with any video production, I'd love to help.

[@Hawlo]

I don't agree with the concept of BH having core items, I think he's one of the most flexible heroes in the game and it really depends on the game and the lineups. However, BKB IS very useful on him most of the time.

[@Isterbollen]

drums are really nice to have aswell.

[@Hawlo]

Isterbollen Dude, drums are nice on, like, all of the heroes. What a great item.

[@kiierenn]

medallion is a really good item to burst people down in teamfights.

[@Ideeem]

playing a strong bounty hunter requires immense game sense/knowledge as well as reading your opponent's mind. defo one of the most enjoyable heroes to play.

[@Timmyartificio]

great guide lumi! always looking forward to more of these

[@DaAmuricanGamers]

Your guides are really good Lumi keep up the good work!

[@FrenchFootballLegend]

Awesome guide, stay on top of these guides!

[@JesusTieneAegis1]

lumi is back!

[@w1q2e3r4t5]

Please keep making these :D Just getting into DOTA2 and these are really helpful.

[@Lightstar805]

Excellent guide Luminous

[@DreamGamingS2]

Very very well put together. GJ Lumi!

[@Roadshot1]

its a great guide waited so much for ur gides to come back in my opinion your beastmaster advance guide is the best keep them coming :D

[@cmn72]

great guide lumi, looking forward to more of these. Tons of bhs in pubs still seem to be making battle fury for some reason -_-

[@DavorBa]

I like the facts like the one with desolator procing first, making his skills do more damage.

[@juliankohJK]

you have greatest guide in dota history!

[@returningwhisper]

Building a Linken's is great for him as well, especially now that you can put it on your carry or another high priority team member.

[@dualmonkeyx]

Lovely work lumi. Keep em coming.

[@scrappydrake4683]

A lot of the items people are suggesting in comments are carry items. While BH is a melee agility hero, his role as a solo offlaner means that he won't be getting that much early farm, so you can't really buy big dps items on him until the lategame.

[@chrizter01]

i thought you had some kind of debt or trouble with the Triad so they killed you off or something. good thing you're alive! :3

[@katshuma]

I love the ending music =) Also, nice guide Lumi, ty. ^^

[@Mariose123]

Great guide dude,really detailed much better than dotacinema one's :D

[@Dune355]

well done bro, rly good like all of your guides

[@jamie_drummond]

This was really well done and informative, in an easy to absorb way. > Well played!

[@MrElleoluis]

keep doing these lumi!! Awesome guide

[@3darkn1t]

2 builds i normally go for: Boots, bottle, drums, vlad's, deso/bkb depending on what the enemy hero composition is and finish with a hard disable/raw damage item. the one hit wonder build. the other is boots, medallion, drums, SnY, deso, bkb. More chasing and better against heroes that depend on movespeed to escape.

[@tahirilyas6899]

Can someone pls explain the medi sign at lvl 17-25 at 5:12

[@Palach303]

in dota 1 jinada used to be regular % based critical attack modifier... those were the good old days... but still my favorite hero :)

[@MimiriaRuu]

Honestly, I would recommend grabbing a level 1 Diffusal (and level 2 if you run out of charges) if you feel worried about the fed carry holding dust... Most times when I play Bounty, I find myself getting focused in team-fights with a Dust from the supports... With the purge from diffusal, that will help you to be able to escape from a team-fights hoarding insane stacks of dust...

[@FPExooodus]

maiden guide will be amazing, i know it.

[@nikkovalidor4890]

yo lumi, what do you think about shadow demon? i personally love dota 2's resident skeletor cosplayer.

[@Adam-tq6ej]

omg I hear Higurashi's Dear You!! Anyway, nice guide, really like it! bagged and tagged!

[@chuan813]

at lv 5 you should really get that second point into wind walk, this allows you to keep up windwalk all times, and shuriken toss's growth is best at lv 2, get lv 3 and 4 later.

[@SiukiAegis]

Where did you find that CM pic on dotafire? XD Love the guide; Bounty Hunter's one of my favorite heroes and this guide seems like it could stay relevant past many patches. Then again, Icefrog hasn't touched BH in 6.80 or 6.79.

[@haloheroz]

Brilliant guide lumi.

[@DaetB]

great one lumi! :3 loved the guide

[@crazycomp1]

Great guide Lumi!

[@ohgunz02]

[@reehji]

guardian greaves, (situational: blink), and dagon, eblade are the way to go for teamfight contribution :3

[@Kasugano]

This was really helpful. Hope you make more :P

[@warwerewolf777]

Quick question about Shadow walk. What levels is the fade time low enough to do the double fade swing? Just 1 and 2 or can level 3 do it too? (Assuming the earlier levels because high levels of AS can swing faster and I get that)

[@marius127]

Anyone know the name of the "Dear you" remix at the end, and possibly a youtube link for it?

[@vladiperez]

Can you do a guide on strategic places to block pulling camps for both radiance and dire using wards? Thanks

[@narukio]

YO LUMI, very good guide

[@ClassicStupid]

what is the outro music?

[@Catch22iscrazy]

Thanks Luminous!

[@Mellanslag]

Love these! More guides!

[@PsychoFatCat]

Gondar is my favorite hero, but i do have some questions that i hope can help me get better playing as him. 1. How do I hog more experience/gold so i can snowball easier and not get left behind in the lower levels. I ask this because in the last game i played a lot of my xp was stolen by my lane partner. Then when i went ganking at level six i couldn't get many kills due to the same reason. 2. What tactics besides checking inventory can help me counter sentry wards, dust, and gem of truesight. 3. Have you learned any special tricks with this hero that you wouldn't mind sharing? I just played my 13th game so im still fairly new but I would really appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

[@jblong2711]

One thing I've observed when playing BH is that Bounty Hunter in a duo lane is just crippled. Unless you get kills or your teammate pulls (no-go if you're offlane), you'll have a bad time. I think you'll be better off ganking when your mid hits 6 to get exp.

[@PsychoFatCat]

Ok thanks for the advice!

[@rubinpiya2959]

Im no lumi but here are some tips: 1. To hog more experience try to use fog of war. keep in mind most of the time ppl will put sentries in lane and not the jungle.. beware of supports tho... also you can pull the 0:30 creep wave to your tower if you know your enemies dont have a stun.. just get boots, tango, branch start and draaw the creepwave from behind their t1(1st tower).. admiral bulldog does this alot with his syllia.. do it with your hero but make sure they cant chase you down 2. go near the enemy creepwave when you dont see a hero. if there are sentries they will aggro you when invis.. also, you can plant your own sentry in the treeline out of their support vision. IGzhou did that in ti2 with broodmother. 3. once you get into more regimented tier where lanes are more defined, bh almost always goes in the offlane.. if youre having trouble getting exp you can stack ancients/jungle for your carry. you can check runes and harass supports.junglers that are pulling(beware of dust) or their mid to help out your mid(with jinata) protip: dont die and track alot.. thats the least you can do for your team(in higher tier play).. -- try to get your team to fight alot as the best way for lowlvl heroes to get more exp is to kill highlvl heroes. -- also.. if youre getting good farm, with medallion(active) and deso you can 1 shot squishy heroes with max jinata.. --nextllvl min 1:12 sniping couriers vs bottlerush is also an option(when their mid can actually lasthit)

[@rubinpiya2959]

Also remeber, red necro3 creep has truesight... so dont harass an invoker/prophet/lycan with necro3 done... and yea i for got to mention... ward their pull

[@SmokingBlackBear]

Luminous can you please put up a video for how to counter a weaver (with a Linken's sphere)? Much appreciation if possible

[@Epsilonic]

I love Bounty, the only change I want is that it shouldn't tell enemies if they're tracked.

[@juixyy]

i personally feel getting 2 ww early before maxing toss is pretty important since it last longer

[@ManojKumar-mn8ie]

I am a new dota2 player who has played for just 4 days or so. I had a team where 2 good players disconnected and there were just three of us. the enemy team was owning the game with monkey king, enigma and crystal maiden. I kept tracking and farming like this video says. I was almost always in shadowwalk. They had 37 kills and we had around 25. I bought desolator, and eye of skadi at once and the whole game turned over. I, Luna, and Clockwerk killed continuosly and I went on a beyond god-like strreak XD. This Bounty Hunter is very strong late game. If any of you read this far, I am sorry for the blabbering. XD

[@lieseharte3726]

Can you create a build in dota 2 pls? I really can't remember it and usually use a build in dota 2

[@traviskanegmail]

Damn good guide! Thanks man!

[@styxrakash4639]

I can’t find any good guides on BH that are up to date

[@AlvinIsChipmunk]

good guide lumi.. well done

[@TheDoctorThrax]

Every BH I see gets a battlefury rather than drums and vlads.

[@ThomasLai2]

better get out of trench tier

[@papulrocks794]

idk how, but the highest rated guide for bh lists bfury as core item and i'm frustrated of noobs blindly building on them.

[@Aadasss]

battlefury is bullshit.

[@Aadasss]

people be like "i need mana and health reg and damage never hurts, lets go battlefury". a nice and early orchid is 1000000x more useful. noobs just don't know how to play without a healthring...

[@SabreenRezvie]

BF is piece of shit item on a bounty, hate when they go in to lanes and farm with their BF. I usually go Boots > urn/medallion > drums/orchid rush > desso > MKB/heart

[@lhionexstudio1080]

Best item for bounty is medal of valor and with the new patch and solar crest, it's GG. BTW I play support/carry to BH, I got rampage!

[@lhionexstudio1080]

Sorry *medallion of courage instead of medal of valor.

[@boykiller303]

Jerome Norico why?

[@lhionexstudio1080]

flupelish what "why" dude? If you mean why medallion is because you reduce enemy armor by 7, plus mana regen. Aaaahm... I'll share some of my item build after getting medallion. First drums next is solar crest then silver edge or sometimes bf before silver edge. Why "silver edge" because it works with jinada and Bf then final item is desolator. Pls don't forget magic wand.

[@georgecheung3853]

best guide ever!

[@Gyvulys]

What you are building is a support bounty hunter, while he can be an amazing carry. I always build phase boots, sange and yasha, desolator, skull basher, orchid(if needed), and I always own with bounty hunter. Most intelligence heroes go down nearly in just 1 hit.

[@yassinebousakla8633]

Does shuriken Toss get amplified by Jinada?

[@infamousXsniper055]

I cant find your bounty hunter guide anywhere :-(

[@LuminousInverse]

Check again, it should be there now :)

[@infamousXsniper055]

LuminousInverse Thanks, it's there now :-)

[@imnigel1]

Anyone know what's the ending song?

[@Vguitar666qc]

Very good guide!!!!

[@revverb7459]

For bounty, I always max Jinada and Shadow Walk first, leaving Shurikan for last. Why? When laning, I love spamming those invisible strikes, and then fading back. The nuke damage will either make an enemy hero use a tango or suffer lower HP, making it easier to kill them. As for items, I tend to get Sange and Yasha, early Butterfly, Dealdeus, and Tranquil boots. With the rest of the item's move speed bonuses, Tranquil boots become a major item for relocating, slashing down a low-HP enemy, and chasing. The crit is very important, as with S&Y/butterfly Bounty will have an insane auto attack DPS, and crits will only make it better. Two other items I might buy is a Drum, or Skullbasher. Both of these will make chasing enemy heroes child's play. Other than that, you could get a Divine Rapier if you're feeling lucky. Now, I have to ask, what differs from this guide and the build I'm proposing right now? Which would be better?

[@Isterbollen]

jinda max is ok but stealth max is just bad now that it has longer duration than cooldown even at level 1 with the buffs.

[@StormBr34ker142]

Putting shurkan at 2 is best cuz it doubles the damage . It scales best that way

[@revverb7459]

I put Shadow Walk early not only because BH can't support Shurikan's mana cost that early game, and also because one of my most major rules when playing BH is that you don't break invisibility until your cooldown is finished, so you can HIT then fade back.

[@Isterbollen]

Dante Stoppenbach True, but never put more than 2 points because then you cant pull of the trick where you hit someone durring the fade time to trigger bonus damage twice.

[@cenfre2866]

Isterbollen Actually you still can hit that first strike even at higher levels. Happened to me by coincidence and I was surprised when I still got the extra damage.

[@Matteroll]

"Dust, sentries, or gem".....NOT IN MY PLEB TIER DOTAAAAA

[@simonetarenzi3831]

It's like playing Splinter Cell!

[@ShahzDaneil]

I'd level Shadow Walk first and max it by 7, Jinada second and Shuriken Toss last. What do you guys think?

[@crose8149]

magical nukes fall off as the game goes on so you would want to get the most out of them early game

[@RareBrink]

TheShiharu1998 nah you want shuriken maxed early. Levels beyond the first in shadow walk early are fairly useless, especially during lane. You want more lenience on your fade time for the lane. You only need quick fades and long duration in the mid-late game. Plus, the longer the game goes on, the worse shuriken gets so you want to take it early for maximum impact.

[@treemax3195]

Personally I max shuriken at 8 giving 7 to shadow walk

[@treemax3195]

+tree max and kinda at lvl 2 and first shadow at 1

[@treemax3195]

+treemax jinada

[@HurFordMeat]

So I went testing with bots and I found it impossible to use the bonus damage from shadowalk twice at lvl 4 because the fad time is only 0.25 secs. Not even with 5 hyperstones I could manage to get a way to use it. Anyone has any tips about using the bonus damage-fade time thing with lvl 4 shadow walk?

[@mcnamaraky]

you cant past lvl 2

[@SabreenRezvie]

you dont need to max shadow walk till you max everything else. At level 2 you are invisible till the skill is out of CD.

[@pirat87pl]

I'm not sure on the track not revealing your location. I'm pretty sure I tested that and it revealed BH whn he was highground. EDIT: Tested again (6.81). Tracking REVEALS your location wherever you are.

[@TheYuxiaodi]

Although outdated now, I like it :)

[@DiEgOo440]

what lummi is alive?

[@FearShadows1234]

Its I get as bounty hunter urn of shadows,phase boots desolator,mkb and poor mans shield these work very well

[@quinsenpai9851]

+LuminousInverse, what role for BH do u prefer? :)

[@hexplaud1237]

+Quin Senpai ganker ps senpai notice me

[@quinsenpai9851]

hexplaud 123 hahahah. Sure I'll try the ganking build. Wanna play? :)

[@latvian_fallen_angel]

Nice video!

[@shanechin7242]

Earthshaker next!

[@rtocow]

つ ◕_◕ ༽つ GIFF LUMI CAST

[@huskopeshroud8682]

the build skill is right, but u dont need vladimir and magic wand, ethereal, dagon lvl 5 and butterfly would be great

[@Unusedname1234]

Does track break the invis?

[@simonetarenzi3831]

Yes

[@azharahmed1119]

Heart is good too, so is MKB.

[@sen7167]

Whats ur mmr now sir?

[@-m4gnix-288]

I always build bh core items Is vlads sange and yasha and desolator I do not build battlefury becuase he has Low attack speed

[@huskopeshroud8682]

use shadow walk, hit hit hit, ethereal, dagon, shuriken toss

[@ukigum0]

Is that a Mirai Nikki avatar Lumi?

[@ShakerGER]

FINALLY! WUHU

[@GashRGaming]

is there a hack of bounty hunter? i played with a russian he use to do 1400+ dmg with1 hit direct attack.dropping towers with 3 hits

[@seph3910]

+CSSG0 bounty hunter does relly silly stuff if you get divine rapier and other high dmg items. I have seen bounty hunters do this stuff, but the moment they die, the rapier is gone and they lose a lot of their power.

[@Hypermegaultrasuper]

10:08 Dat douple orb

[@mesh2147]

If you want to one shot squishy heroes here's a more legit build for BH: Phase boots, Stygian Desolator, Dagon (max level), Black King Bar, Blood stone, (change phase boots to boots of travel). Try it, in my experience I got 30-0-13 in ranked with that.

[@adhwa29]

what. bloodstone?

[@90maducc]

Bro, I think Octarine core is better for BH.

[@sudarshansingh5806]

Keep up the good work Lumi!! Great vid! Now i know what to show those stupid goddamn pubbers who just keep on farming with BH till 25 mins, then show up in team fights and feed...

[@Brynhildrify]

dat picture of Crystal Maiden :x marry meh pls