Dota 2: Troll Warlord Build Guide

Jah’rakal, the Troll Warlord, inhabitant of the depths of Hoven, was expelled and betrayed by his tribe companions due to his temper. Enraged, he returned to his village and assassinated everyone, swearing that from that moment forward he would become the personification of war itself. Now, he wanders around the world, searching for battle, as the imperial commander of a one-man army.

Troll is an agility hero with ranged attacks. He throws his axes on his enemies, causing physical damage. His abilities are made for combat, and he’s the perfect choice for playing in the safe lane, where you can farm more easily and scale enough to carry the late game.

Berserker’s Rage

It allows altering Troll’s attack from ranged to melee, attacking the enemies up close with the axes. Melee hits have a chance of trapping the enemy, stopping them from running away, on top of granting movement speed bonus, armor and reducing the base attack time.

Whirling Axes

In the ranged mode, throws five axes in a cone-shaped area in the desired direction, causing damage and slowing down enemies who are hit.

In the melee mode, throws two axes that circle around the Troll’s body, causing damage to nearby enemies and granting some evasion against opposing attacks to the hero.

Whirling Axes works as two separate abilities, activated using different buttons for melee and ranged, and which can be upgraded separately.

Fervor

Each time the Troll hits the same enemy, his attack speed increases. The stacks reset if the target changes.

This skill guarantees Troll as a long and short-distance fighter who gets more and more dangerous with each blow that lands, and also makes him one of the best heroes to tear down towers and open passage in the lane, being perfectly able to destroy the enemy base alone, if given the chance.

Battle Trance

Troll gets into uncontrollable rage, attacking any close enemies, prioritizing heroes. He cannot be killed by damage while this ability is active, also receiving life steal, attack and movement speed bonuses, and also applies a basic dispel on the hero. Usually, you’ll only use this ability when you’re close to death.

Being a classic Carry, Troll will need to keep safe in the lane and grant sustain (HP and mana) to ward himself off from enemy heroes' advances. Knowing how to switch between the ranged and melee modes is one of the biggest advantages in playing the Troll, since it allows you to farm even if you’re being pressed on the lane or if the lane is too advanced.

Upgrading Talents and Abilities

Your focus will be to become an unstoppable threat in the battlefield, and assuring farm and kills is essential to follow through that plan. Avoid unnecessary confrontation at the beginning of the game and only get into combat to get a kill or if the lane is under control, always sticking by your support’s side.

Basic Items

Playing as a Carry requires a lot of wit and skill, but Troll is a simple hero to comprehend, and his build will be implemented as needed.

As always, Tango and Magic Ward are rather important items in the early game, since they will grant you the sustain you need to keep farming.

Wraith Band

Your agility bonus, as well as other important attributes for the hero, will allow you to survive more easily in the early game.

Phase Boots

Grants movement speed and allows you to walk through units (creeps) and to rotate lanes more easily once activated. Great for chasing enemies or running away.

Essential Items

Here, you will follow up the build depending on the situation. If the lane is easy and secure, you should build Battlefury. But if the lane is hard and the farm limited, or if you’re facing a hero who easily repels the Troll or who puts too much pressure on the lane, follow up the build with Malestrom.

Battlefury

Grants damage bonus, HP and mana regeneration, and also makes it so that your attacks cause splash damage (damage split up among enemies) to any nearby units. One of the best farming items, and it should be prioritized, since it will allow you to evolve in the early game.

Maelstrom and Mjollnir

Gives you damage and attack speed bonuses. The bonus damage is lower than Battlefury’s. However, Maelstrom allows a chance for your attacks to generate a lightning bolt which leaps between enemy units and heroes, causing magical damage that ignores dodging and causes bonus damage to illusions.

Malstrom can be used to build Mjollnir, its improved version, which grants a higher attack speed bonus and which can also be used to place a loaded shield on you or on an ally, that has the chance to shoot out a bolt causing magical damage to a nearby attack unit and up to four other enemy units.

Black King Bar and Satanic

Black King Bar or BKB is an item which will protect you from disables and effects that could take the Troll out of combat, on top of allowing you to start fights safely.

Satanic is an item that matches the Troll’s Battle Trance well, granting a much higher sustain. Prioritize activating Satanic only after also activating Battle Trance, to recover your HP to the maximum and keep yourself in combat longer.

Optionals

Power Treads, Manta Style and Silver Edge are items you can build according to what is needed in each game.

Treads can be adjusted to increase strength, intelligence or agility fitting your needs, substituting the Phase Boots in early game.

Manta is an item that helps break certain effects such as silence and slow, which can prevent you from starting or getting into combat safely.

Silver Edge is the perfect item to deal with heroes with problematic passive abilities, such as Bristleback, allowing you to turn invisible and start combat causing extra damage when coming out of the invisibility state.

Final Items

Nullifier

This is an indispensable item in the late game, allowing you to deal with items and abilities that your enemies will use to deal with Troll, such as Aeon Disk, Ghost Scepter, etc.

Nullifier dispels the positive effects on the target and applies a negative effect lasting for five seconds. The dispel is continuous.

Disperser

Important for having damage and control in late game, being capable of slowing the target, and your attacks burn off the target’s mana, causing 1 extra damage point to each burned damage point.

Abyssal Blade

Another important item which will help you to control more in the late game, granting damage, strength, HP and HP regen bonuses. Stuns a unit for a short amount of time and ignores magic immunities. It also gives a chance of stunning the enemy and causing extra damage (25% of chance for melee and 10% chance for ranged), in addition to granting a chance of blocking damage (70 damage for melee, 35 for ranged).

Situational Items

Boots of Travel

Allows you to use the Town Portal Scrolls to teleport to where any ally unit is standing, also conceding a big movement speed bonus.

Linken’s Sphere

A good item to deal with situations where the BKB is not being enough or where the enemy is not giving you enough reaction time, on top of being a great counter for abilities that target and can be problematic.

Monkey King Bar

Excellent item to deal with highly evasive heroes, allowing you to hit them.

Refresher Orb

Resets your abilities and items and allows you to use Battle Trace a second time, and also concedes HP, regen and damage bonuses.

Blink Dagger and Swift Blink

Allows you to leap a small distance instantly (blink). The evolution of the Blink Dagger also grants you agility and movement speed bonuses for an amount of time.

Troll Warlord is a powerful hero, which is one of the best options to learn the Carry position in Dota 2. His skills are versatile and adapt to several game situations, in addition to being a great lane pusher and combat starter.

Leave your opinions, doubts or suggestions for the next Dota articles in the comments below!

See you next time!