Hero guide: Furion, the Nature's Prophet

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to my third hero guide. As three is my favourite number, I thought I'd make a guide to my favourite and most-played hero in dota: Furion, the Nature's Prophet. As always, a hero guide with preferred item and skill builds is available following the link.

Hero general information:

Furion is a ranged intelligence hero and likely to be the best split-pusher and amongst the best gankers in dota overall. His skillset makes him one of the best multi-dimensional heroes because dependant on his opponents he will just pickup whatever item he needs for the matchup to succeed. Nature's Prophet is a real lane dominator because of his treants and long range right clicks that help him crush dual lanes. He works best as an offlaner and it is his most-played position, but he can work from the jungle and I've even seen him being played as a safelane or midlane every once in a while - but I only suggest playing him as position 3 and if you're forced to, fall back to the jungle. Since the hero fits several different playstyles, I will offer two different early game gameplans on how to approach the offlane and the greedy jungle position 4.

Favourable / unfavourable matchups:

Favourable matchups:

vs Luna: Luna is a great hero to play against since your range is superior to hers', so you can easily work through her regeneration and get a lot of farm. Be aware that Luna has potential to setup kills because of Lucent Beam, so if any support rotates in from the sidelines you're likely to die. Again, treants keeping up vision help you avoid these rotations. Also, if Luna gets her ultimate online you can always cast treants to soak up the Eclipse damage and just run away or even catch her for a turnover.

vs Slark: Slark is another weak laner, but like a Spectre becomes really scary as the game progresses. Use your early advantage to harass him in lane, since his level 6 turns the tide into his favour. He is really squishy in the early stages and you're likely to keep him from farming for almost 8-10 minutes delaying his first item by a lot, maybe even forcing him to buy a Midas just to keep himself viable. Again, it is really important to notice where supports are since Nature's Prophet is really squishy and one single pounce onto you can setup for a kill. As the game progresses, scouting an area with treants before going to farm there becomes more and more important as Slark can pop you really fast if you don't pay attention. Getting lockdown for him (Orchid Malevolence into Bloodthorn or picking up a Scythe of Vyse) will help your team dealing with him, but be sure to not cast it into the Dark Pact as it negates the debuffs applied onto him.

vs Sven: Peeeeduuur, they sprouted me again! One of my favourite memes really describes the relationship between Sven and Nature's Prophet. Since Sven has an inbuilt cleave he will never buy a Battle Fury to chop through trees when he gets sprouted. He might have a Quelling Blade in the laning stage and has a stun aswell, so just make sure to use your advantage as a ranged hero and chip him a little. You cannot really kill him because he can cleave your treants (don't feed treants!) and Warcry makes him insanely tanky, but you can usually farm, work through the supports' regeneration and keep an eye on other lanes to gank onto. Sprout is one of the best late game counters against Sven because as mentioned, he can't chop treants and you can negate a full 10 second Black King Bar by basically just sprouting him (Sprout cannot be cast onto a hero while BKB'd, but you can manually trap people nevertheless). If Sven isn't able to close the gap and hit, there's no way your team gets killed by him.

50/50 matchups:

vs Terrorblade: Terrorblade is a hero that can basically only die from burst damage, since he's starting the game with 10 base armor making it impossible for you to kill him off at all, as Furion does not provide that burst. It's not worth touching him, but keeping the supports busy with your treants gives you free reign to farm creeps and get a fast level 6 to impact the game. Be aware that Reflection has a higher radius than your attack range, so getting caught by the slow easily sets up for a kill onto you. Always have your teleportation or a teleport scroll at the ready to head back to your offlane tower and deal with the Metamorphosis push. As usual, picking up a Mjollnir does help a lot to deal with illusion-based heroes like Terrorblade and gives you a slight edge when it comes to splitpushing, so take advantage of being able to pressure two lanes at once when Terrorblade's team groups up for pushing towers with Metamorphosis.

vs Sniper: Watching this matchup can be very interesting as both heroes have ways to deal with each other. Sniper can keep vision when you hide inside your Sprout by casting his Shrapnel, but you can always jump behind enemy lines in a fight and catch Sniper by surprise. Sniper can cancel you teleporting out because of Headshot's ministun, but you can sprout him making him unable to chase you down since he's unlikely to grab a Quelling Blade against the trees. He does hit harder and further than you can, but in the laning stage treants do hurt him quite a lot and you can likely kill him if unprotected. However, one support with a stun can be enough to counter any aggression from you. Sniper might be one of the very few heroes to consider getting a Dagon against. Relying on standing far away from anyone makes him susceptible to just jumping onto him, casting Wraith of Nature and zapping him down to 0 with your Dagon (if you go for Dagon, definitely skip Midas since a Dagon's value does fall off quite heavily on Furion if acquired too late).

vs Ember Spirit: People think this matchup heavily favours Ember Spirit, but that's just partially true. In the laning stage, Ember does have ways to deal with you: He always buys a Battle Fury sooner or later, so he will have a Quelling Blade to deal with Sprout. Also, his heavy burst with Searing Chains and especially Flame Guard does hurt you a lot - and Nature's Prophet has no way to deal with Magic Damage. Treants might help you escape though by soaking up the Searing Chains with some luck in RNG, however you can never go aggressive on him by your own. Later on Ember Spirit and Nature's Prophet just battle out their own little splitpush game. Be aware to keep your treants far away from the creep waves as Ember Spirit is just gonna cleave through them with Battle Fury and earn extra gold to get his items up faster (even before Battle Fury his Flame Guard lets him easily kill off treants for extra cash). Nevertheless, Ember's natural advantage does get negated because you will have to pick up an Orchid Malevolence and later on a Scythe of Vyse to kite and kill him. During the mid and late game it basically comes down to who's getting the jump on whom. If Ember catches you off-guard you just die, if you catch him off-guard he'll likely die aswell. Positioning and map awareness are your best friends in this matchup.

Unfavourable matchups:

vs Timbersaw: Furion's best friends are trees, and guess what - Timbersaw cuts trees. You don't ever wanna play this matchup if you can avoid it, since Timbersaw can quickly burst you down and you can't. Even with lockdown you're just gonna stack up his Reactive Armor making it impossible to right-click him down. Timbersaw wins the matchup in every stage of the game and only heavy outplay can turn the tide into your favour if at all. Again, do not feed your treants since Timbersaw can slice them down by hitting two buttons. Silver Edge might be useful for negating his passive or to escape from him. Also Orchid Malevolence can give you a chance to escape Timbersaw. Don't ever try to manfight him, just try to splitpush by sneaking through the map and keeping your opponents moving from lane to lane.

vs Spirit Breaker: Spirit Breaker is a high value pick against splitpush in general, but especially against Nature's Prophet. His charge doesn't care about Sprout if it's already cast as he just sprints through trees. When Spirit Breaker is level 6 he can burst you down by basically just charging into you and casting an ultimate afterwards. You will basically never have a chance to jump away so your only chance to keep up the splitpush is by farming the jungle or ancient area and sending out trees to push waves with yourself staying off the map at all stages of the game. There are a few itemizations that work really good against Spirit Breaker though, which are Guardian Greaves, Blademail and Linken's Sphere. Check your teams' items and go for whatever of those three items is available for you. Also, as soon as you have at least one damage item plus a Scythe of Vyse you do have ways to kill him off, but make sure to bring friends to help you out. In the very late stages of the game Nature's Prophet does have a slight edge because he just scales way harder than the space cow. Just stay off the map for as long as possible and stop him from snowballing by killing you over and over again and your team is gonna be fine.

vs Broodmother: Broodmother is really good against Nature's Prophet, especially in the laning phase and when she has a better early game than you have. If you try to escape from her she will drop a web and just walk through trees. A good Broodmother player will always pick up that Orchid Malevolence to kill you off easily. Mjollnir is a great item against the broodlings. Also, Broodmother is a very stationary hero that doesn't really want to leave her lane at all. How about you just avoid her lane completely and farm the ancient area until you feel comfortable to push and fight with your team. Furion does have that global teleportation to help his teammates whilst Broodmother does not. Use your mobility against her!

vs Riki/Bounty Hunter/Clinkz: Invisible heroes are a huge problem for splitpushers since they can always catch you off-guard. Jungling against Riki (or the others mentioned) is very risky, so try to avoid it in general. If you have to face this matchup, make sure to stay off the map and close to your towers, always have detection at the ready and play as safe as possible. Giving them one kill makes it even easier to get the next one, so if you can avoid their snowball you're usually fine. Against invisible heroes your playstyle has to change since you can't just go on a lane by yourself and splitpush, so just gather your teammates and push together - because Riki, Bounty Hunter aswell as Clinkz do not work best against five man pushes (especially early in the game, when Furion is strongest). Take advantage of that fact and get your team grouped to push the Tier 1 towers early and gain gold stacking up your teams' momentum. Furthermore, going for Necronomicon as your first item is huge in this matchup as Necronomicon 3 does provide True Sight and heavier push potential - usually it's a must-buy for this scenario. Again, if you go for Necronomicon first just skip the Midas you'd usually get.

Gameplan:

Nature's Prophet is a fast-paced push hero that wants to win the game in the first 30 minutes. He needs to take advantage of his push potential to take fast towers and gain map control to secure Roshan. If you don't claim at least one set of barracks before your opponents get their first major item it becomes way harder to push highground. Getting wiped in a single fight can completely turn the tide into your opponents' favour and force you into splitpushing to even stay in the game.

> Playing the offlane: Your aim in the laning stage is to manipulate the creep equilibrium with your treants to create double creep waves that will push into your tower so you can claim free experience safely and possibly also work through a lot of regeneration on the enemy safelane by using that extra damage provided by your treants. Therefore, stay in the fountain and cast treants at ca. 12 seconds before the 0:00 mark since having three units helps you get off a superb block. Once you reach your Tier 1 tower you have Nature's Call off cooldown to cast it again. Starting the lane with four treants can completely shutdown any enemy aggression. You don't need a lane ward at all since you can always send a treant to block the pull camps. If you can't avoid a creep pull you don't care at all. Just fall back to your secret shop and farm that camp instead. Nature's Prophet can always fall back to this option and get a fast level 6 and Hand of Midas online without ever entering a lane. Since you have this option available dying in the laning stage is an absolute no-go. As soon as you see a creep wave approaching your tower you just teleport back to it and push it back out. Your aim is to always go back to the tower to prevent it from being taken quickly. Oftentimes I will keep my Tier 1 tower up to 20-25 minutes into the game (which is really useful on Dire since they have the Roshan advantage) if my enemy team doesn't force it down. And if they do force it down, you teleport to your own safelane and take their tower as a trade. When it comes to items, you usually want to start off with Boots, a Clarity and a set of tangoes or you go for a Wind Lace alongside a Blight Stone and any regeneration affordable to contest the enemy safelane. If you're forced to stay back against a trilane, anticipate it properly by checking the enemy lineup and grab an Iron Talon to jungle faster.

> Playing from the jungle: Unlike the offlane (where you usually play very stationary around the enemy safelane and your ancient area) playing from the jungle is way harder to play properly. Many Furion's just sit there for 20 minutes not providing any help for their team and when asked will answer with their usual phrase "I will help when I'm ready". YOU'RE THE BEST LEVEL 2 GANKER IN THE GAME SO JUST FREAKING HELP YOUR GODDAMN TEAM!!! When the enemy midlaner is grabbing a bottle (only Huskar, Invoker and Outworld Devourer usually don't get one) you start the game by buying one ward, one teleport scroll, a clarity and some stats. Cast treants at 15 seconds before the 0:00 mark and start off the jungle with four treants to clear the camp and get level 2 before 1 minute into the game. Always check the enemy midlaners' items to anticipate his bottle timing. As you have your global teleportation up, teleport onto the enemy Tier 2 tower area. There is a stairway to use the highground from: Place your ward right there and wait for the courier. As it comes to deliver the bottle, snipe the courier, get out of vision and use the teleport scroll to teleport back to the fountain. The ward can oftentimes provide another courier snipe, but getting it once usually wins your midlane by delaying the opponents' bottle by default. Afterwards. you will want to keep farming the jungle for your boots and Hand of Midas (or rarely Dagon or Necronomicon as mentioned before). While doing so, just keep watching every lane to anticipate where to get involved for kills. Usually, you will be able to setup or help a kill once you get your level 4 and first level in Sprout. If possible aim for the enemy midlaner or offlaner as it sets up for easy damage onto those Tier 1 towers. It's likely to be able to push the enemy offlane tower at 8 minutes into the game and just keep rolling from that point.

> Pushing with or without the team: After the laning stage you're ready to go. You'll have level 6 and your ultimate up, so when to use it? Early on, you always want to use your ultimate for engagements. Never just pop it to farm as it pushes creep waves when your safelaner wants to farm under his tower and also denies last hits to your team when they desperately need their first item to get online. When you see an engagement, always hit your ultimate on the opposite site of the map as the bounces' damage is increasing up until the last one. Hitting the ultimate on bottom when there's an engagement top usually ensures huge damage output with the last bounces. When your team gets such an advantageous fight, go push the tower with your friends. Just keep farming and wait for a good engagement to take to clear all outer towers just like said. Taking out 2-3 heroes usually is more than enough to push a tower and safely retreat. Make sure to also not take your teams' farm in your own jungle or by pushing lanes that could safely be farmed by your hard carry. Instead go to your ancient area and clear these camps instead. Scout the enemy jungle using your treants to take advantage of available farming spots within your enemies' side of the map. This will not only guarantee farm on your teams' core heroes but also starve out the opponents'. Sometimes, your team will have a harder time to stay in the game and is gonna be pressured into your own side of the map. That's when Furion wants to splitpush instead of grouping up for towers. Send treants to scout the enemy jungle and stay off the map farming the enemies' jungle camps while pushing with your zoo. As soon as you see the enemy team pressure your side of the map you can always fall back to splitpushing your offlane to force them back. Sometimes, your team can capitalize on the enemy retreating and get exit kills enabling an easy tower push. Also, don't forget to send a creep to Roshan every once in a while to scout what's going on there and make use of Furion's strong Roshan killing potential. If your team gets an Aegis, it usually ends up in getting a set of barracks.

> Your team didn't break highground, welcome to split push hell: If you have to read this part of the guide - and yes you will encounter several matches when your team doesn't close the game - you will have to go for the good ol' Alliance rat style play. Mostly you will have to slightly adjust but play the same game that I have mentioned in the passage before. The main difference is that you will not push with your team anymore as you couldn't close the game on a five man push and at that point (if you don't have something like a Spectre to just go and try again) will have to go for split push only. Disrupt the enemy teams' movements with yourself pushing the offlane over and over again. If you don't feel safe, just send your trees and farm out of sight. If you see a lot of heroes on the map and feel safe go push with your hero to be that little bit faster, but fall back off the map quickly. As you reach your six slots, you can enforce your push power by getting your own courier and equipping it with a Necronomicon 3 and Manta Style (which you usually wouldn't get most of the games). Park it somewhere around the Tinker ward spots and hide it within the trees. As you see a chance to push heavily you swap your items to cast the Necronomicons aswell as Manta illusions and send them into the enemy base. It's a little gimmicky, but your teammates can use Boots of Travel (Level 2) to jump in and go for a base race. The hero generally gives you lots of options with this. Most importantly though you will have to focus on two things in the late game: Buy wards and get vision out on the spots you want to be able to teleport onto since the game might just end with you being dead. Being alive on Furion is almost equal to not losing in many scenarios. Secondly, keep the enemy team moving! If you reached this late part of the game and missed your timing, you just have to keep the enemy moving to split up and push out lanes avoiding them to group up and get into your base or claim the Aegis. If you follow these steps and make sure to play really safe, you will have a lot of fun late game matches where you can completely outplay enemy teams by basically just good decision making. Don't forget, this hero is in my humble opinion one of the top 5 hardest heroes to play in all of Dota (amongst Chen, Earth Spirit, Invoker and Meepo).

If you have further questions on Furion, the Nature's Prophet feel free to leave comments to this post!