This guide is specifically written for 5v5 Forest of Caldavar - Normal mode public games.

Devourer - You're Mine!

Stats
Strength: 25 + 3.2
Agility: 14 + 1.5
Intelligence: 14 + 1.5
Range: Melee

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Pros/Cons
• Skills
• Skill Builds
• Items
• Strategy
• Proper Skill Usage
• Hooking Map
• Replays
• FAQ's and Debates
• Conclusion
• Future Plans
• Changelog

I. Introduction
Devourer is one of my favorite utility heroes. He can completely isolate another player and destroy them before their team even knows
what happened. I play devourer as a heavy ganker and a late game Tank/Anti-Carry. This guide will focus around this.

II. Pros and Cons

Pros
-Has excellent strength gain.
-Has amazing ganking power.
-Is a low risk initiator. Devourer has the ability to force the enemy team to initiate, rather than charging in and doing it himself.
-Can tank as well as provide a large amount of damage in team fights.

Cons
-Has high mana costing abilities.
-Has low armor.
-Has low Agility and Intelligence stat gains.
-Requires a very good early game to maintain usefulness.
-Requires a lot of time and practice to master.

III. Skills
Quote:

Guttling Hook
The Devourer launches his Guttling Hook at a target unit or location. The first targetable unit that
touches the hook will be dragged back to the Devourer.

Action: Target Position (All Non-Siege Units)

Type: Physical Push
Range: 1100
Radius: 60
Cast Time: 0.3 seconds
Mana Cost: 140
Cooldown: 14.0 seconds
Activation: Deals 100 / 200 / 300 / 400 Physical damage to target and interrupts channeling abilities.
Drags the target to self.

Here's a technical breakdown of Guttling Hooks' travel time, courtesy of ElementUser.

Guttling Hook travels at a speed of 1600 units/second. Since it extends up to 1100 units, its max
travel time over 1100 units is 0.6875 seconds in 1 direction. If you count the time it has to travel
back, then it has a true max travel time of 0.6875 x 2 = 1.375 seconds.

This is your primary ganking tool. You can use this to isolate heroes, save allies, and even interrupt devastating ultimates from the
opposing team. It does physical damage, and a very large amount at that. It's one of the highest damaging non-ultimate nukes in game.

Notes:
-After the hook reaches it's maximum range, it will start returning to your current position.
-The hook can grab someone on its' return trip.

Quote:

Decay
The Devourer allows himself to decay, draining his Health over time and releasing poisonous gasses
that both damage and slow nearby enemy units.
 Action: Toggle
Radius: 250
Activation: Applies Decay to enemy targets in radius and deals 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 Magic damage per
second to self.

The movement slow persists for 2 seconds after an enemy leaves the Decay radius.

Decay Effects
20% Movement Slow
25 / 50 / 75 / 100 Magic damage per second

Decay is amazing. It allows you to get off massive damage on disabled heroes (Such as ones you are well, devouring) and even chase
down survivors. Albeit having a small AOE, you can usually catch 2-3 heroes during team fights. (Assuming you're not in the forest
finishing up one of their stragglers.) When used properly, you can get off a couple melee attacks while chasing someone down, too.

Notes:
-You can use it to help last hit during the laning phase.
-You can use it to kill yourself and deny their team of gold and experience.
-The slow stays for 2 seconds after they leave the radius. This means you can spam it once every 2 seconds to keep enemies slowed
down. This is most useful when running away.
-You can toggle this on and off at will, even while channeling your ultimate.

Quote:

Cadaver Armor
This grotesque armor increases the Devourer's Magic Armor and permanently adds strength for each
nearby hero kill or each kill he makes.

Action: Passive
Adds: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 Magic Armor
Aura: 400 (Enemy Heroes)
On Kill: Permanently adds 0.9 / 1.2 / 1.5 / 1.8 Strength to self per hero kill, or 0.03 / 0.05 / 0.06 / 0.09
Strength per creep kill.

Aura Effects
On death, when not killed by the devourer, permanently adds 0.9 / 1.2 / 1.5 / 1.8 Strength to the
devourer.

Cadaver Armor will provide you with a little more magic armor, and allow you to start building up a massive amount of strength. As long
as you remain in team fights and gank frequently, this skill will really start to beef itself up. It's not uncommon to see this say +30 to +50
strength by the end of the game.

Quote:
 Devour (Om Nom Nom)
The Devourer grabs a target enemy and feasts on their flesh, dealing massive damage for every
second he feeds.

Type: Superior Magic

Range: 160
Channeling Time: 3 Seconds
Mana Cost: 100 / 130 / 170
Cooldown: 30.0 Seconds
Activation: Applies Devour to target enemy for 3 seconds or until channel is canceled.

Devour Effects
75 / 125 / 175 Magic damage per second

This ability can be boosted by Staff of the Master.

Staff Effect: Heals self equal to the damage done. Deals additional (0.75 * Strength) Magic damage
per second.

Devour synergizes well with his other skills. You can Hook an enemy hero, Devour them, and proceed to burn them down with Decay. The
amount of damage you obtain from this combo is amazing during early-mid game, and is almost always a sure kill. Late game you will
primarily use this ability to disable the enemies carry or initiator before a teamfight begins.

The ability is upgradable with Staff of the Master, giving it a major damage increase that will heal you for the damage it does. This is
particularly useful for non-stop team pushing. With a low cooldown of 30 seconds, you can heal a good portion of your health in just
about every fight you engage in.

Note that this ability is superior magic. The disable will work through magic immunity, but the target will not be damaged. If you have
Staff of the master, you will still be healed while the target is magic immune.

IV. Skill Builds

The "Pro Hooker" build
1. Decay
2. Guttling Hook
3. Guttling Hook
4. Decay
5. Guttling Hook
6. Devour
7. Guttling Hook
8. Cadaver Armor
9. Decay
10. Decay
11. Devour
12. Cadaver Armor
13. Cadaver Armor
14. Cadaver Armor
15. Stats
16. Devour
17-25. Stats

Explanation
While some would argue that you don't need to level Guttling Hook so much early game as of patch 1.64, I still believe it's worth leveling
above everything else. If you levelDecay above Guttling Hook, you will be required to chase a hero for at least a couple seconds longer
just to match the damage you get from landing a hook. Not to mention decay damages you too, whereas hook does not.

I normally grab Cadaver Armor at level 8. The reasoning behind this is simple: You should be ganking a lot now, and you will probably be
part of a few team fights. Decay is high enough level to "get the point across" and your hook + ult is enough damage to get the job
done. Cadaver Armor will reduce the overall magic damage you take by a small amount, and will also allow you to start building your
strength up. Hopefully it will give you a small hp boost mid game.

If you're not confident in your hooking ability, then this may not be the best build to go for. Decay is rather easy to deal damage with as
long as you chase; whereas you must actually land a hook to benefit from the skill points.

The "Chaser" build

1. Decay
2. Guttling Hook
3. Decay
4. Cadaver Armor
5. Decay
6. Devour
7. Decay
8. Cadaver Armor
9. Cadaver Armor
10. Cadaver Armor
11. Devour
12. Guttling Hook
13. Guttling Hook
14. Guttling Hook
15. Stats
16. Devour
17-25. Stats

Explanation
This build is primarily focused around being part of every single team fight. You take one level of Guttling Hook so you can still hook
heroes when you really need to, but you won't be relying on it for damage. Decay will be your primary source of damage, and is leveled
above everything else. You pick up Cadaver Armor at level 4 so that your early game kills will benefit you a bit more, but it's not maxed
until midgame. Hook is taken last just for the extra damage boost. By then the hooking should consist of either easy straight line
stragglers, or teamfight initiation, and the damage can help end both faster.

Something to note is that while Decay boosts your damage output, it also boosts the rate at which you kill yourself. When choosing this
build it is recommended you have some sort of "support" role to lane with you to ease the burden on your health loss.

V. Items
You need to stay on top of your farm so that you can rush your core build. Health regen and magic armor directly synergize with Decay,
and allow him to tank better as a whole. Devourer also has fairly slow base movement speed, so getting boots early is needed for
efficient ganking.

Starting Items

Healing Potion x1 - 100g

Runes of Blight x1 - 90g
Mana Potion x1 - 50g
Minor Totem x3 - 159g
Courier - 200g
Total Cost - 599g

Generally speaking, I get roughly the same starting items on almost every hero I play. Nobody in pubs buys a courier, so I'm usually the
one stuck doing it, which leaves you with little gold to work with. I do however, wait to see if somebody else decides to. If they give me
control then I'll buy a mana battery instead of the third Minor Totem.

The consumables are just enough to allow you to take some damage while you deal out hooks and decay-chase early game. You should
take note that Devourer has a very low mana pool. One hook takes over half your mana early game. Use your mana sparingly, and be
very defensive about not getting hit after drinking a potion/using bottle.

If you're in a side lane with ability spammers, build a power supply as quickly as possible. It clears up inventory space, and the constant
flow of health and mana will keep you in the lane much longer.

Before the Core

Before you pick your core build, this is what you want your items to look like. You will need these items before you start "Hardcore
Ganking". You can mitigate a decent amount of damage with vestments, and bottle+power supply will sustain you in between each gank.

Choosing Your Core Build

There has been a lot of debate lately on what exactly is the most effective "Core build" for Devourer. I've done extensive testing on
different builds and have been unable to decide one way or the other. Due to my inability to "chose" the proper build, I've decided to let
it boil down to personal preference.

Core Build 1

Shaman's Headdress - 2050g

Plated Greaves - 1503g
Bottle - 600g
Homecoming Stone - 135g
Power Supply - 606g
Total Cost - 4395g

Headdress has always been an effective item for devourer due to the massive magic armor and health regen. This combined with
Cadaver Armor (Level 4) gives you 53.9% magic reduction! Plated greaves are taken for survival purposes. They give you everything you
need. They give you some stats and a ton of armor. They're also the fastest boots excluding Post-Haste.

Core Build 2

Helm of the Black Legion - 2225g

Plated Greaves - 1503g
Bottle - 600g
Mystic Vestments - 400g
Homecoming Stone - 135g
Power Supply - 606g
Total Cost - 4870g

There has been a lot of speculating and theorycrafting done with this build. It is entirely dependent on the fact that you keep mystic
vestments throughout the entire game. This build mitigates more damage than Core Build 1 in all situations. The drawbacks are that it
costs 575 more gold than Core Build 1, and it requires one extra inventory slot.

Once lategame rolls around, you may want to consider disassembling your HotBL and building Headdress/Behemoth's heart out of the
pieces. This allows you to make use of an item that would otherwise be worthless late game.

Details on the Core Builds

Both core builds are completely valid, and each have their drawbacks/perks. Some people prefer headdress, and others swear by HotBL. I
personally, prefer Core Build 1over Core Build 2. Losing that extra inventory slot from Core Build 2 doesn't matter much mid game,
but once you work towards late game it starts to hurt. Numbers don't lie though, and Core Build 2 does make you a better tank. (Yes,
even when the enemy team has a lot of magic damage.)

You can see all the mathcraft and gritty details in the "FAQ's and Debates" section near the end of the guide.

Honorable Mentions
These are items you want to purchase for specific situations. Some could be bought before you finish your core, and others should be put
off until after. Strictly speaking you should almost never need to buy these items, they're completely situational.
Ward of Sight - 200g
You shouldn't ever really need to purchase wards. There are better heroes that are less item dependent, and they should be buying these
instead. Nevertheless, some support heroes just don't do there job right, and spending a mere 200g can give you sight of a good portion
of the map, and provide you with even more ganking opportunities.

Barbed Armor - 2200g

If you're actually being focused a lot, this may be worth a purchase. It gives some OK stats and can often ensure you and your "new best
friend" aren't interrupted by his pesky teammates. It's also a great counter to many of the heroes that counter you. (Bloodhunter is one
example.)

Portal Key - 2150g

There are heroes that require this item to initiate properly, but devourer isn't one of them. He can initiate with hook just fine; and while
portal key can help you hook heroes into some secluded locations, he just doesn't need it. Though, if you're having a hard time getting
hooks off, this item can really help you still be useful to your team. You can blink in and ult, then hook them as they run away instead.
-I haven't used this item enough to really see it's full potential. If you have a replay showcasing the "true power" of Portal Key, please let
me know!

Tablet of Command - 2040g

I find the actual "push" of Tablet to be rather weak. It's hard to find situations where I'd rather use tablet instead of simply hooking them
instead. In every case that I've purchased Tablet, I was only able to utilize it for chasing purposes.
-I haven't used this item enough to really see it's full potential. If you have a replay showcasing the "true power" of the Tablet of
Command, please let me know!

Late Game/Luxury Items

Choosing a late game item is very important, and you must judge which one is best suited for the game you're in. If you've had a good
early-mid game it's more than likely you'll be able to squeeze in one-two of these items. Try to decide what your team needs to win the
game, and rush it as fast as you can.

Barrier Idol - 3653g (1603g Upgrade from Headdress)

If their team has a lot of AOE damage, this is an amazingly smart purchase to make. You could save your team as well as yourself. It
gives you a little bit more health regen, and a nice 400 magic damage shield for 8 seconds. Using this in the middle of a teamfight will
give your team quite the edge.

Staff of the Master - 4300g

While Barrier Idol is a much better "support" item for your team, Staff of the Master allows you to become a beastly tank. Due to the
items required to make this item, you can keep your health and mana stats rising throughout the game; sustaining your early game
edge. Strictly speaking - the major reason I buy this is for effect on your ultimate. It allows you to become a tank that is able to heal a
quarter of his health every 30 seconds while their carry is busy being burned down to nothing. Hands down this is my most preferred late
game item.
Behemoth's Heart - 5500g
This is usually what I go for if the game continues after I've finished my core build and obtained a Staff. You get a major boost to your HP,
more ult damage(assuming you have a staff), and a 0.75% hp/s regen. If you haven't had a particularly "great" early game, it can be
difficult to farm this item due to the expensive parts. If you plan to use Behemoth's as your first late game item, it is important for you to
make sure that you can actually farm the item. Unlike other late game items, the components required to make behemoth's heart can't
be acquired easily as the game progresses.

VI. Strategy
Strategy is very important in HoN. You would be amazing how much better off you will be if you properly chose the correct lane and
laning partner. Maximizing your early game effectiveness is extremely important for Devourer. He's a hero that relies on his early game
edge, and you won't have one if you don't properly plan things out beforehand.

Choosing a lane
Solo Mid: If you're confident in your ability to hook well, ask for solo mid. If not, don't risk it. The solo is a very important role for your
team, and devourer can be easily shut down.

The main benefit from mid is having the large ganking potential. Devourer is a ganker, and one of the best at that. You should have your
bottle before you roam, and always try to gank the lane with the rune. Every 2 minutes the rune will spawn, and you better be there. A
lucky haste or regen rune is all you need for a double kill. Another major benefit from middle is the ability to easily hook your opponent
into the tower. You can pull a hero from the center of the river directly into the range of your tower, as well asslow them while they are
within its' range.

The Side Lanes: If you aren't quite as confident in your hooking abilities, or even if there is somebody who would be better off mid, you
should head off to a side lane. (It doesn't matter which, each has their own benefits) You can usually get a couple hooks from the trees
while in a side lane, and you're provided with a lot more hooking opportunities due to the length of the lanes.

Mid Game
After mid game hits you should start roaming, gank as much as possible! Ganks buff you up and save your team from getting killed
themselves. Keep up your creep farm until you see an opportunity to get moving; you have to find an opportunity to catch them off
guard. When ganking a lane with two enemy heroes, always try to make your hooked target as isolated as possible. The further their
teammate has to walk to get to you, the more likely you are to get away clean.

Late Game
Late game you start to lose your effectiveness. Your role at that point is to be "A massive AoE Damaging tank that provides his team with
free kills". Your goal is to hook heroes into your team, and make sure that the fights end before they even begin. You have a 1100 range
hook, make use of it!

Laning Partners and Enemies to Avoid

This is where I will outline the better laning partners, as well as your "worst enemies". Just keep in mind that if somebody is great in a
lane with you, it also sucks to have themagainst you. Treat your greatest laning partners as some of your worst enemies.

Great Laning Partners

Devourer goes great with a very wide variety of heroes. You're basically looking for heroes that can pump the crap out of your early
game farm. Anyone with a stun or high burst damage is immediately a good laning partner, and of course the major support heroes are
natural buddies as well. I won't list heroes that fall into those categories. If they've got a stun/slow, they're great to lane with, period.

Jeraziah's Repel and Heal synergize so well it's ridiculous. Probably the best partner for devourer. He can make you immune to
your Decay, and then heal you directly after the effects wear off; taking your enemy down and keeping you alive in the process. He can
help you stay in the lane longer, as well as nab you a few early game kills. A well played Jeraziah can make you nearly invincible.

Nymphora can stun, heal, and refill your mana. While I'd honestly prefer a good Jera over a good nymph, she can be a very strong asset
to your early game.

Accursed can shield you and mitigate the damage from Decay. This keeps you from doing too much damage to yourself, and then
proceeds to blow up whoever you are Decay-Chasing. He also has a nuke that can be used as a heal, which can help when you're in a
pinch.

Not too many people play Pollywog Priest these days, even though he is a very powerful hero. He of course lanes well with just about
anyone, but I consider him to go exceptionally well with devourer. A 2.5 to 4.75 second disable where you can just sit there
and Decay them while auto attacking is nothing to joke about. The damage output of these two heroes together is amazing.

Enemies to Avoid
Devourer's worst enemies are ones that blink, silence, or drain mana. Stuns can mess you up, but not nearly as bad as a 4HP hero
blinking away, or a silence right before you go in to hook their carry.

You know what's fun? Being silenced for 15 seconds while you are doing 100 damage per second to yourself. Bloodhunter is no joke. He
can completely destroy your use in a team fight, and make you kill yourself at the same time. Never caught by him with
your Decay toggled on. You might not get a chance to turn it back off.

Vindicator will destroy your early game, 100%. Do not even risk laning against him, or it will ruin you; regardless of whether or not he
actually kills you. His DoT will drain your mana, and slowly take down a good portion of your HP. He steals your intellect, and even
prevents you from chain casting your abilities. While during late game he can silence you when your team needs you most.

Anyone that has any form of blink is a natural enemy. If you don't ult them quick enough, your hooks will mean nothing. Dark Lady's
charge may just be a "pseudo blink" type of ability, but it's usually enough to escape your wrath. She does a great deal of damage late
game, and will silence you with every attack. What's more is that her ult can take you completely off guard. Just as you thought you've
hooked yourself a kill, the darkness clears and you're surrounded by five enemy heroes. Not cool.

He drains mana, blinks out of hooks, and rapes your face late game. Magebane can be a real pain. Early game he won't do too much
other than blink away after you hook him, but in the mid-late game phases he's not too fun to deal with. Magebane will blink right next to
you, drain you of the mana required to ult, kill you, and then blink away like nothing happened. This all happens in a matter of a couple
seconds, and there's little you can do to stop it.

Pharaoh is a powerful hero in any game. He's a walking bag of channel canceling abilities. A 3000 range stun that will bring him to your
position, and a recurring mini-stun. I've often hooked Pharaoh only to have him activate hellfire right as I ultimate. He gets out of my
combo and I'm now in a position where I will most likely die. Even if you hook somebody else, Pharaoh will be there in an instant, and he
will destroy all of your hard work. In addition to all of that, he is able to "block" a majority of the lane, draining your mana if you get too
close, this makes chasing heroes more difficult as well.

VII. Proper Skill Usage

This section will demonstrate how to effectively use each of Devourer's skills properly. Devourer has a large amount of utility due to the
sheer amount of possible usages each skill has. To make full use of Devourer you must properly practice each of these techniques.

Hooking Stationary Targets

The best way to aim Devourer's hook, is to click right behind the hero you want to pull. You have a total reach of 1100 units from your
current position. Something to note is that Guttling Hook will always extend to the full range; if you click 100 units in front of yourself, it
will still extend another 1000 units past the point you clicked. Something you will also need to take note of is that it takes 0.3 seconds to
begin launching your hook.

In the below screenshot, Nighthound has just come out of invis to finish off one of our creeps. He cannot see me, so he will no doubt sit in
that same spot auto attacking until he is finished. Stationary heroes are the easiest targets to hook.
 As you can see, Night Hound has been hooked, and is on the way to my position. What's more, is that he has lost a massive 39% of his
maximum HP.

Predicting Actions and Movements

The farther ahead you can predict what will happen, the easier it will be to get your opponent to do exactly what you want them to do. If
you know what the enemy is thinking, you'll be able to kill them before they even know what happened. Predicting actions isn't always
that easy. Rarely do people think in the exact same way as another person. It's even more difficult if you play with varied skill opponents.
I've actually missed a lot of my hooks because I was playing with noobier players, and they didn't act as I thought they would.

In the above screenshot, I'm running to a position where I can hook Accursed into my tower. Accursed thinks he is safe because there is a
creep blocking the "Hook Line" between us, and he's right.

I was looking for an opportunity to catch Accursed off guard. In an effort to do so, I've been trying to predict every action he will take
within the lane. He has been denying whenever possible, so it's obvious what he's about to do. That is why I ran to my current position.
I know that he is going to deny that creep. Even if he doesn't, the tower will kill it anyways. The moment that creep dies the hook line
will be clear. If I wait for the creep to die before I hook though, accursed will move away.

The trick is to make make sure your hook is on the way to your target before the creep dies. If you time it right, the creep will die during
its' travel time. This will allow you to hit your target hero before they realize they're in danger.
As predicted, he denied the creep, and my hook went off just in time. He will soon be in range of my tower, and I will have plenty of time
to chase him for the bloodlust kill.
This is where your Decay chasing skills come to play. The tower hit him once, the hook took out a good deal of health, and I must now
chase him with decay until he is dead. Decay slows them by 20%. This will usually give you enough time to run in front of the hero and
melee attack him. Especially during early game when most heroes don't even have boots yet. If I start running the moment I attack
Accursed, he won't be able to get out of my range of decay. Decay slows for 2 seconds after a target leaves your AoE, so even if he does
manage to slip by during my auto attacks, I will still be able to catch up to him.
I was able to melee attack him 4 times during the entire chase.

Even with his shield, he wasn't able to withstand my massive amount of damage. 50 Magic damage per second with a 20% slow is a big
deal. Melee attacking whenever possible will boost the amount of damage you output by a decent amount. It helps to only melee attack
them when you are right in front of them. This will cause them to stop for a moment, followed by them running around you. You just have
to make sure they don't get too far away from your decay radius while you're busy whacking them. Speaking of;

The AoE Range of Decay

The AoE of decay is pretty obvious, thanks to the graphic effect on both your hero and theirs. There is, however, a bit of space outside of
what you can directly "see" that is still affected by decay.
As mentioned above, the slow effect from decay persists for 2 seconds after they leave this radius. Just being able to catch a hero within
the AoE for a split second could be enough to get them killed. Note that while the slow does stay on their hero, the damage will not be
applied during the extra 2 second duration.

Hooking a Moving Target

Let's face it, you aren't going to see stationary targets passed the early game phase. Maybe a few here and there, but not enough to
where you can just "ignore" a moving target. In the below screenshot, I'm following an underfarmed electrician. Mmm~, my favorite. I'm
not much faster than him, but he's got corners to go around, and corners are Devourer's best friend.
Hooking a moving target requires you to accurately judge an enemy heroes movement speed, and then target where you think they're
going to run. A smart opponent would know this and they would never turn a corner when you're around. Rather than continuing to follow
the blue arrows, he would simply turn the other way.
Fortunately for me, Electrician isn't smart. Seeing as how just my hook alone was enough to bring him down to 59% HP, it's unlikely that
he will be able to get away.

Bringing Everything Together

Devourer is all about synergy. Every one of his abilities helps the other, and they can all be combined into one powerful-ass combo.
I came up from behind Scout just after he came out of invis, so I have a brief amount of time to unleash my combo before he enters
stealth and escapes from my wrath.

Scout is a moving target, and so I must predict what he will do. He's already started running to the right, so I can only assume he will
continue to do so. I click a small distance in front of his current position.

And there you have it. A full combo using every skill at Devourer's disposal. Scout couldn't even withstand the full duration of my ult, so I
didn't even need to blindly run after him with Decay toggled on.
Blind Hooking
Blind hooking is where you predict a players actions and successfully hook them while they are not on your screen; when you're
completely blind.

This is an advanced technique, so don't expect to be able to pull it off right away. It requires a lot of DotA/HoN experience to be able to
properly predict a players actions within the fog.
The below screenshot gives an overview of the situation within my lane.

Zephyr and Magebane are going to push the lane back my way. I'm watching their actions and waiting for a chance to land a hook.
I notice zephyr position himself on the left side of the creep, which coincidentally puts him in the perfect hooking position. Unfortunately
though, there aren't any more creeps, and the fog is dimming.
Zephyr hasn't been in the fog for very long. I have a good grasp of how fast he moves, so if I were to assume he ran straight the entire
time, he would be at the red circle.

This part often makes my heart skip a beat. If you look at the bloodstain, you can tell that I've obviously hit "something". If Zephyr did
exactly as I predicted, it's no doubt going to be him, and I'll soon be having myself a kill. But what if it wasn't? Zephyr could have just as
easily thought "I should probably move, devourer is missing." If he did, that could be a creep for all I know!
When you see this situation, you can't help but smirk a little. I predicted exactly what zephyr would do, and caught him completely off
guard. When targeting your hook, you need to also predict what could go wrong if you miss your desired target. In this specific situation, I
could have been easily killed by the two of them if I had missed that hook. You have to decide if the risk is worth the reward. For those
interested, I Devoured Zephyr and he died before magebane could even realize what just happened.

Blind hooks aren't always ridiculously hard to pull off. In a situation where an enemy is running for his life, he is more likely to make
mistakes, such as running in a completely predictable straight line.
Sand Wraith is running in fear of the Kraken. He just ulted in hopes to confuse my team and save his life. I'm well aware that he's still
there though, and I am within hooking range. Generally speaking, people will run in a straight line towards the fountain when running up
their base ramp. Sand wraith is about to do just that.
After watching his actions for the past couple of seconds, I try to predict where he is going to run. I've never seen him throw off any crazy
juking movements, and just before he enters the fog he's running in a straight line; so I can only assume he will continue to do so.
It might take Kraken a second to realize that what I have in my hands is not an illusion, but I imagine he will be dead before that
happens. Success!

VIII. Hooking Map

Throughout the map there are certain locations that Devourer can make excellent usage of. There are a few reasons why you would want
to make note of these locations. One is that some of these spots allow you to hook enemy heroes in locations where they are unable to
see you, and others are just spots where it is easy to catch enemies off guard. This makes things a lot easier in terms of predicting an
opponents actions. If they can't see you, they are less likely to run away in fear hiding behind their precious creeps. Areas where you are
"guarded" by cliffs and trees are perfect locations for you to snag enemy heroes.

Please note that each spot isn't strictly useful for the team it is color coordinated for. A good majority of the hooking locations can be
used both ways. I simply colored them accordingly to whichever team I felt benefited more from that specific spot. Don't treat this map
as a black and white guide for hooking spots.
Try to observe the hooking spots that appear/disappear as the game progresses. If you look closely you can see that the Legion has more
ganking locations during the laning phase, while the Hellbourne has considerably more "defensive" hooking spots compared to the
Legion. The team you play on will actually change your role as Devourer by a little bit.

IX. Replays
This section is dedicated to replays that were submitted using my guide as a basis for their style of play. This section will have a
maximum of 10 total replays.

If you have a replay that you think deserves a spot in this section, post it in this thread. I will filter these as time goes by to try and
showcase only the best replays that have been submitted. So try not to get too disappointed if you made the section but were later
removed.

MatchID: 22452073
Submitted by: Delfofthebla
Outcome: Defeat.
Score: 24 / 9 / 15
Duration: 0:55:45

Even though we lost the game, I played devourer pretty well. It was a fairly even match between teams, and I'd say I was a major asset
to the team. Both as an initiator, as well as a tank. This replay also shows how powerful Jeraziah + Devourer can be in a lane together.

MatchID: 21538277
Submitted by: Delfofthebla
Outcome: Victory!
Score: 23 / 8 / 26
Duration: 1:07:30
This was actually one of my best games, I had a very high score, and pulled off some crazy hooks. By the end of the game, Cadavar
Armor had stacked up to 91 strength. Even though both teams had some noob players, it was a pretty even match.
MatchID: 21073170
Submitted by: Delfofthebla
Outcome: Victory!
Score: 15 / 5 / 4
Duration: 0:35:39
This was listed as a noob game, but it turned out being filled with some average players. Not the greatest game to watch, but I pulled off
quite a few nice hooks.

MatchID: 30701952
Submitted by: frog
Outcome: Victory!
Score: 22 / 2 / 7
Duration: 0:45:26
Replay with Portal Key on Devourer. frog played devourer very well, and it was a fun game to watch. While portal key wasn't a major
asset to his victory, it did make a difference. Worth checking out if you are interested to see how Portal Key can work with Devourer.

X. FAQ's and Debates

Q. What UI mods do you use?
A. Quite a few! The most common one that I am asked about is "Player Names" by wuuh_riddie. This is the mod that changes the health
bar.

HotBL vs Shamans Headdress

I did a lot of mathcrafting in this post here: [Link]

Yes, HotBL is better (as long as you buy mystic vestments with it), but there are acouple drawbacks that come with it. One drawback is
that you will be forced to sell one item earlier than you would if you had bought Headdress instead.
The other is that you are required to spend 575g more towards your core build, and the amount of damage you mitigate is minor
compared to Headdress. It's really a matter of preference when it comes down to it.

"Do you want the item slot, or do you want to save more health in team fights?"

XI. Conclusion
Devourer has much utility but he is heavily based around the early-mid game phases. If you don't do well during this time, it's very
possible you will be 100% useless late game. Due to this, it can be very disheartening to play Devourer in games where you aren't
hooking well. You have to remember not to get discouraged with a bad game! I've seriously had games where I went something like 22-5-
15, and then 5-15-8 the next. Just as how a "pro hook" can land your team victory, a missed hook can end up losing you the entire game.
Devourer is an excellent hero but he must be played flawlessly in order to maintain his usefulness. You just need to practice, practice,
practice!

Don't agree with something?

Think something could be added?
See a grammatical error?
Would it be easier to read if the guide was _______?
Please post any and all feedback! If you explain your thoughts with facts and logical details I would be more than willing to change my
guide accordingly!

XII. Future Plans

This section will briefly layout my plans for guide updates.

-I'm hoping to get a section going regarding saving allies with your hooks.
-Hoping to get more data on games with Portal key/Tablet on devourer. I'm unable to provide completely accurate information on this
item due to how often I don't use it.
-More tweaks to the "Item" and "Strategy" sections.
-More replays!
-General formatting tweaks and changes.

XIII. Changelog
V2.7
-Added the "Hooking Map" section! -Hurray~
-Added the ability to "Jump" to each section from the Table of Contents.
-Changed some text within the "Skill Build" section.
-Changed a lot of text within the "Items" section.
-Italicized the more important information within the "Laning Partners" subsection.
-Added more info regarding Pharaoh's abilities within the "Greatest Enemies" subsection.
-Conclusion section had a few minor edits done to it.
v2.6
-Updated skill build to promote getting Decay at level 1.
-Added text in "Core Build 2" informing the ability to dissasemble HotBL for Headdress+Behemoth's Heart.
-Fixed a typo in the "Predicting Actions and Movements subsection"
-Added another Replay! Thanks frog for your submission!
-Future Plans section updated.
v2.5
-Minor edits to the text within the "Skills" section. (An important note about Devourer's ult was added.)
-Corrected the total gold value for "Core Build 2" within the "Items" section.
-Removed a couple placeholder stubs that I forgot to remove.
v2.4
-Minor edits to the text within the "Skill Builds" section
-Major overhaul to the "Items" section. The core build has changed!
-"Strategy" section split! The new sections are "Strategy" and "Proper Skill Usage".
-Added a "late game" subsection to the "Strategy" section. (Seems I actually forgot to add that in...oops?)
-Added an actual subsection to the "Strategy" section for laning partners and enemies to avoid. (Subsection is called "Laning Partners
and Enemies to Avoid")
-Text within "Laning Partners and Enemies to Avoid" subsection tweaked.
-New section added! "FAQ's and Debates!"
-"Future Plans" section updated!
v2.3
-The first screenshot for hooking a moving target was broken. I've properly added it to the guide.
-Made a few spelling and grammar corrections.
V2.2
-Added a new subsection called "Hooking a Moving Target"!
-Added a new subsection called "Blind Hooking"!
-Added a new section called "Future Plans"!
-Renamed the "Aiming your Hook" subsection to "Hitting Stationary Targets".
-Updated text & screenshots according to the 1.66 patch. (The Decay slow effect and the hook target range increase).
-Removed more colored text for abilities where I felt it wasn't needed.
v2.1
-Updated Guttling Hook skill information regarding the target range. (This change makes a lot of the information regarding target range
obsolete. Will update soon)
-Fixed typo regarding laning partners subsection.
V2.0
-Updated guide to be consistent with the 1.66 patch. No major changes were needed, however.
-Items section got a bit of an update. It's now more oriented around making you chose the right items based on their team.
-Removed coloring format on skill abilities where I felt it wasn't needed. (This is a work in progress, I'll keep tweaking it as time goes by)
-General formatting changes.
V1.9
-New thread, yay! (This allowed me to properly reserve the second post. There's now lots of room to cram things into the guide)
-Re-added the changelog for previous versions.
V1.8
-Added a little more info to the Decay Chasing screenshot explanation.
-Small update to "Great Laning Partners" subsection (Jeraziah's section).
-Added Pharaoh to "Enemies to Avoid" subsection.
-Removed previous changelogs until I can sort out the "post character limit" issue.
V1.7
-Updated images to be 50% smaller. Low-Res monitor users rejoice!
-Centered text and images around the "Proper Skill Usage" sub-section.
-Rewrote the Conclusion section.
V1.6
-Strategy section got a big update!
-"Proper Skill Usage" sub-section added.
-Added highlighting for mentioning of specific skills throughout the guide.
V1.5
-Reformatted text of document, should be easier to read now.
-Finished shrinking images for all items, abilities, ect.
-Added the "Laning Partners" and "Enemies to Avoid" sections! (Would be great to hear some feedback on this)
-Changed to a better format for the replay section.
-Skill usage section cleared out. I will update this with screenshots and better explanations later.
V1.4
-Finished uploading smaller images.
-Barbed Armor added to Items section.
-Framework for upcoming Strategy revamps placed.
V1.3
-Most images have been shrunken down.
-Guide cleaned up a bit.
-New skillbuild - "The Chaser".
-More details added to items section.
V1.2
-Tweaked skillbuild - "Pro Hooker" explanation, added more to the items section.
V1.1
-Added a few basic hooking tips, as well as two replays.
V1.0
-Guide created.

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FOR ALL YOUR GAMING NEEDS!