Introduction
"No job is too big, no fee is too big."
Gondar the Bounty Hunter is a melee agility hero who excels in the offlane role. A superb roamer and ganker, persistent thorn in the side of supports and junglers, and a great utility hero, Bounty Hunter is one of most entertaining heroes to play in the game.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Strong off-laner
- Great roamer and ganker
- Annoying to play against - elusive and deadly
- Fun to play as
- Track benefits your team hugely
- Flexible item build and relatively item independent
Cons
- Fairly squishy early if enemy team has detection
- Not good in combat
- Mana problems
- Falls off late-game
Item Build
As mentioned in the pros & cons section, Bounty Hunter is fairly item independent. There are, however, items which really suit his play style, and items which absolutely do not and should be avoided at all costs.
Your starting items should be a set of Tangos, a Healing Salve, a Stout Shield, and two Branches. You can turn the Stout Shield into a Poor Man's Shield at the side shop in your lane, and eventually upgrade the Branches into a Magic Wand.
Core items on Bounty Hunter are Phase Boots and Bottle. Phase Boots are a self-explanatory pick-up - they allow you to chase down enemies, roam quickly, and deal enough damage to make Jinada potent in the early game.
Bottle may seem an odd choice at first, given that you'll be in the offlane and thus probably won't get rune priority, but give it a try and you'll soon realise why pros almost always pick up a Bottle on their Bounty Hunters. You suffer from huge mana problems, between Shuriken Toss (expensive), Shadow Walk (frequent use), and Track (you must use this liberally before and during teamfights). Bottle, alongside Magic Wand, solves your mana problems.
Another item to consider is a Medallion of Courage. It synergises well with Jinada, helps out with your mana issues, and allows your team to do Roshan early. Orb of Venom can also be a good situational pick-up.
Once you have your core you're in great shape to perform your roaming/ganking role and fulfill your purpose in teamfights (which is to constantly throw out Tracks and help burst down enemy heroes), and thus shouldn't actually need much more item-wise.
Solid post-core pick-ups - in order of cost - include Drums of Endurance (always a great choice, and gives you a little bit of everything you need), Vladmir's Offering (to augment your role as a utility hero for your team), Black King Bar (another item that, like Drums, is consistently a great pick-up - it will increase your survivability and make you less susceptible to being burst down), Heaven's Halberd (to help shut down the enemy carry and right-click damage dealers as well as give you a lot more survivability), and Orchid Malevolence (this really will put an end to your mana problems and will allow you to amplify the damage taken by a single enemy hero). You'll typically want to pick up one or two of these to go with your core.
Luxury late-game item pick ups include: Assault Cuirass (if no one else in your team is building it and you're filthy rich this is a great teamfight item), Desolator (to increase your offensive capabilities), Monkey King Bar (for the same reason, but also to allow your team to counter any enemy heroes that opt for a Butterfly), and Skull Basher into Abyssal Blade (for damage, survivability, and additional lockdown).
An item which is recommended in the old default build guide in-game which you SHOULD NEVER BUILD is Battle Fury. Please, do not build this. You are a roaming ganker and utility semi-carry that farms heroes - you are not a hard carry and you do not afk farm creeps. It will take you far too long to build a Battle Fury, preventing you from being effective during your most impactful stage of the game, and offers you far less than a combination of cheaper, more effective items mentioned above. It will also make your teammates rage at you.
Skill Build
Bounty Hunter excels in the offlane, where his elusive Shadow Walk ability gives him either free reign of the lane or forces enemy supports to spend their gold on detection. Even then, you will still be able to leach experience thanks to the new creep equilibrium. As such, your first point should go into Shadow Walk.
Your second point is best spent on Jinada. The bonus damage gives you a guaranteed last hit for that attack, or allows you to apply decent harrass to the enemy safe lane farmer. Alternatively, you can harass jungling supports at level 2 using Shadow Walk and Jinada.
After that, you want to max out Shuriken Toss. This is what makes you a potent ganker, capable of delivering a high amount of burst damage using the following combo: Shadow Walk > attack (with bonus Jinada damage) > Shuriken Toss. The range on Shuriken is excellent (650), and allows you to ensure the kill on retreating enemies with low health.
You always want to get your ultimate, Track, whenever you can (levels 6, 11 and 16). Track is what makes you a great utility hero for your team. Your entire team will have true sight of any heroes you Track, bonus movement speed and, most importantly, any allies who are within range of the enemy hero when they die will gain a gold bonus and you will too. This makes Bounty Hunter a fantastic hero for your team if you can maintain rough parity in kill count; the bonus Track gold will ensure your team comes out much further ahead in gold than the kill score suggests.
Once you hit level 6/7 you should aim to gank with your teammates, either by rotating mid or to the safelane under the cloak of Shadow Walk. Your combo should typically be Shadow Walk > attack (with Jinada bonus) > Track > chase/attack > Shuriken Toss.
| Tip: Try to save Shuriken Toss whenever possible to either finish off a low health enemy or to prevent the enemy TP'ing away (Shuriken has a mini-stun, which means it will cancel enemy TPs on impact) |
After level 7 you may want to get an extra point in Shadow Walk, which is situationally fine, but be sure to max Jinada thereafter. The bonus critical damage from Jinada far outstrips that granted by Shadow Walk.
For a detailed look at Bounty Hunter's abilities check out the Skills page.
Gameplay Tips
Shuriken Toss will mini-stun the target(s), so it's a great way to cancel TP Scrolls or channeled abilities.
In the laning phase you should be able to leach experience even against a trilane. Various buffs to the offlane in recent patches make it even easier to remain in experience range and unless the enemy team's supports invest heavily in detection you can use Shadow Walk to remain out of harm's way.
| Tip: It is possible to get the bonus damage of Shadow Walk twice by attacking once during the fade time (which does not break invisibility) and then a second time to break the invisibility. |
Track, Track, Track. This is what makes you a viable pick beyond your ability to gain experience in the offlane. It's also why you need to purchase items that allow you to recoup your mana, like a Bottle, Magic Wand, Medallion or Orchid. It gives so much to your team between vision of the enemy, increased move speed, and additional gold bounty for kills. It's even useful for disengaging from poor fights.
During stand-offs you should be casting Track this on any enemy that breaks cover. During teamfights you should be casting it pretty much every time it is off cooldown. During ganks you should cast it immediately after you break cover, and if you're late to the party make sure to throw a Track out before the enemy hero dies!
Track will also indirectly increase the damage output from Shuriken Toss - the Shuriken now bounces to all Tracked units within a 900 range, so the more targets you have tracked in engagements the more Shuriken hits you'll dish out.
Your typical combo is Shadow Walk > attack (with bonus damage and slow from Jinada) > Track > hit > pursue/Shuriken Toss. If you need to disengage the low cooldown on Shadow Walk (15 seconds) will typically mean the enemy team will need detection in order to punish your aggression.
I cannot stress this enough - DO NOT PURCAHSE BATTLE FURY - you are not a hard carry, you are a semi-carry at best, and fare far better as a roamer and a utility hero. You should be feeding off of hero kills with Track, not creep camps in the jungle.
You are countered by invisibility detection, such as Dust, Sentry Wards, Necronomicon level 3, and a Gem, so be sure to check enemy inventories for these items prior to putting yourself in harm's way.
Heroes that are good against Bounty Hunter are: Rubick (if he steals Track he cancels out the potential gold advantage you would otherwise gain from trading kills), Slardar (his ultimate grants true sight), and Zeus (Lightning Bolt briefly reveals nearby invisible units, and he has incredibly high burst damage).
Last Updated - Patch 6.83.
