Keeper of the Forest

By Benjamin "Benny" Reynolds

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Index
Introduction
Stats
Skill Overview and Applications
Skill Builds
Team Synergy
Item Builds

• Aggressive
• Baby-sit

Gameplay

• Laning
• Midgame
• Lategame

Important Warding Locations

• Top Rune
• Legion Creep Pull Spot
• Bottom Rune
• Kongor
• Misc.

Replays
Credits

Introduction
Hello, and welcome to my guide for one of the most fearsome and undervalued heroes in the game,
Keeper of the Forest (here on in referred to as "Keeper"). With his recent buff, Keeper has both
retained his old role as a great Initiator with a huge amount of map control, and gained the potential
to be used as an early game baby-sit, in much the same way as Accursed. Now "fearsome" is word
rarely used to describe support heroes such as Keeper. It is much more readily applied to carries,
and while I do agree a farmed Magebane stomping his way through a pub is utterly terrifying for the
losing team, Keeper brings along a whole new kind of fear. It's a "fear of the dark", so to speak. Or
more literally, a "feeling you're being watched". Vs Keeper you can never truly feel safe. Not when
he's always watching. Not when an attack could come from any angle at any time. Not when he can,
quite literally, Root you. :P

Stats

The first thing we notice about Keeper's base stats is his high base damage. 59-67 is way above
average for Strength heroes. This is a godsend for Keeper, which will aid us tremendously (no pun
intended) in last hitting, as Keeper has next to no lane presence. A spread of eight is about average.
Usually the lower the spread the better (in order to avoid "slithering" a creeps hp, due to a dice roll
that would otherwise have killed it if you had done average damage), but as Keeper has an already
high base damage the difference is negligible.

Atk Range, Atk Speed, Armour and Speed are all around average. Because we either won't be
upgrading our boots until lategame, or will be getting steamboots, Keeper's Speed will be below
average for most of the game. This means we'll be relying on Camouflage or a Portal Key to get into
range to use our Ultimate, and relying on others to slow/chase for us after it.

While Keeper's base strength gain was actually lowered when he received his buff (to bring it into
line with his DotA equivalent) 3.4 is still one of the highest Str gains in the game which leaves
Keeper with a high HP pool. His base Intelligence and Intelligence gain, on the other hand, are both
quite lacklustre. This will leave him craving more mana and mana regen throughout the game,
especially if you intend to "double ultimate" with Refresher. However you'll attempt to rectify this
through your item build.
Skill Overview and Applications
Camouflage

Camouflage, the all purpose invisi-skill with one glaring drawback: It only works within 300 units of a
tree. Well it's a good thing Newerth is absolutely chocka block full of trees then. You can get a good
sense of 300 units from the picture below.

The Top and Bottom lanes are around 700 units or so wide (narrower in places). As a general rule
you can't cross from one side of a lane to another without breaking invis. If you wish to remain
cloaked you're stuck on one side. Both Mid lanes, however, fluctuate between just under
600 and just above it. There are many trees that are less than 600 units from the other side, which
means you can cross safely without breaking your Camouflage. Look for any that are jutting out or
look slightly closer to the other side than those around them and it's a good bet you can cross
without breaking your invisibility. In the jungle there are so many pathways between each camp that
you should never need to break invisibility. The river however is greater than 600 units wide without
a tree at all places.

Initially, this skill has an incredibly high mana cost for such a short duration. Despite this it
is always worth taking a level early, and making sure you always have enough mana to use it, as it's
invaluable for saving both yourself or your lane partner if you are ganked. Camouflage's best use
however is not for escaping, but for initiating. Pull back out of the other teams line of sight, cloak
yourself and as many cooperative allies as you can muster (I realise this is often difficult in pubs)
waltz into a group of enemies and initiate the fight with Root. Keep in mind that using skills no
longer breaks your Camouflage, so keep applying and re-applying Nature's Protection and Tree Sight
while invisible.

Random Trivia: At its highest level, this skill has a mana per second invisible cost of one fifth that of
Scout's invisibility.

Tree Sight

Ah, Tree Sight, Keepers bread and butter map control skill. At level one it has a cooldown of a
whopping 5 minutes. Levelling a skill while it's on cooldown will not reduce the time you are required
to wait before using it again, and due to this it's often more viable to simply take one level of Tree
Sight early then wait until level 8/9/10 to max it. This skill should never be off cooldown. You'll want
to spend all game maximizing your team’s line of sight, while the other team spends all game trying
to cut them down. With this in mind try to be discrete while placing them. If the other team has a
ward on the rune (and they most likely will, if they are anywhere near competent) and you waltz up
to the rune spot and raise your hands in the air as if praying to some long forgotten Newerth god the
first thing the other team will do is send a courier there with a hatchet to cut it down. I prefer to cast
eyes from invisibility.

On the note of invisibility Keeper's Eyes now have True Sight, and can be used in much the same
way you would use Wards of Revelation. If you are about to attempt to push down a tower, or a
team fight is near, place an Eye in a nearby tree overlooking the battleground. Any invisible enemies
will be revealed and should be easy pickings, making for a 4v5 situation.

For more on where to place Tree Sight head to the Wards section.

Nature's Protection

A welcome change from Nature's Vengeance, Nature's Protection allows Keeper to perform a pseudo
baby-sit during the laning phase if you take a few levels of it early. The health regeneration equates
to 40 multiplied by the level the skill is (40/80/120/160 at levels 1/2/3/4). Overall this is relatively
minor. It's best then to take a "prevention is the best cure" approach and cast it on allies before they
are about to take damage. With its low mana cost and low cooldown(relative to its long 40 second
duration) Nature's Protection should always be used on yourself and your allies pre-emptively. You
can keep it on the entire team non-stop with enough mana regeneration. Early and Mid game, where
mana might be an issue, placing it on your teams Carry and half HP allies will suffice, but don't be
stingy with it! Because of diminishing returns Nature's Protection actually becomes even more
important lategame when your opponents will most likely have a armour removing debuff in the
form of a Shieldbreaker, a Daemonic Breastplate or various other abilities.

One of Nature's Protection's unique powers is that it can be cast on towers. The extra armour does
wonders, but it's the ability to heal the tower that's most impressive. When a tower is on low HP, it
can take as many as eight applications of Nature's Protection to heal it back to full. That's a whole 5
minutes 20 seconds you could potentially need to heal a tower, so again I'll say it: Prevention is the
best cure. Get to the tower before it's on critical hp, apply Nature's Protection, and then farm the
creeps. If you do get stuck needing to fully heal a tower the most cost and exp efficient way to do it
is to pull the creep wave towards the tower (but not close enough that any Catapults can attack it,
mind you) by denying your own creeps whenever possible and "static farm" the creeps (by denying
an equal amount as you last hit so as to keep the creep wave in roughly the same position) while
reapplying Nature's Protection whenever possible. If you need to teleport to a team fight be sure to
push the wave to keep the tower safe and reapply Nature's Protection before you go.

Root
Keepers trademark initiation skill, Disarming, Immobilising and Revealing enemies within a 750 unit
radius. Note that it does not Silence. Enemies are still able to cast spells from within Root. To use
Root to its fullest extent you need to position yourself in the middle of a group of enemies. This can
be done in three main ways. The first is to approach from the front under Camouflage. This method
is sound if the other team are not carrying any anti-stealth gear. If they are it's exceedingly risky,
and it would be best to use another method. The second is standard ganking procedure; attack the
enemies from the flanks. This gives them a lot of time in which to silence or stun you, or otherwise
blink away and escape. This should be used in conjunction with camouflage if you suspect the other
team can in some way reveal you and walking in while invisible from the front is suicide. The most
foolproof way has been utilised by initiators for ages, the Portal Key. This nifty item will of course
blink you to a target location, allowing you to Root the enemies in place with no forewarning, and
also serving as a nifty escape mechanism. By far the most foolproof method, but in many pub
games is unnecessary due to the enemies lack of anti-stealth items.

During the laning phase you can often initiate with Root by being no closer to the enemies than you
usually would be, standing at the creep wave. In most cases I would wait for the person at mid to
come help with the gank. While they're getting read to come in you should be laning much as
normal, attempting to last hit and deny as many creeps as possible. This should hopefully draw
some suppressing fire from an enemy ranged hero. Now the maximum attack range of any hero is
650 units, and the range of your Root is 750, so you can guarantee they'll be caught inside the
radius. When the player from mid is in position pop your Root, apply Nature's Protection to the
player from mid (it should have already been cast on both yourself and your lane partner) and
proceed to beat on the poor individuals trapped in your Root. You could, of course, do this the
normal way by backing out of the line of sight of the enemy heroes, cloaking then Rooting from
directly next to them but your disappearance often causes them to become much more cautious
and you might even miss the opportunity to gank them altogether.

Skill Builds
Keeper of the Forest has two regularly utilised Skill Builds. The first of which, that I shall label the
"aggressive build", focuses on being aggressive not through attacking the enemies directly but by
exerting his map control via maxing Tree Sight and an early level of Camouflage. This build is most
often used when Keeper has a lane partner who exerts lane dominance through skills rather than
attacking, like Vindicator. These heroes do not draw creep aggro as often and can afford to stand
back last hitting, reducing the need for early levels of Nature's Protection. Keeper and his lane
partner usually divide last hits roughly evenly, with Keeper taking the harder, high HP last hits with
his high base damage and his laning partner taking the "safer" ones and working with Keeper to put
creeps into Keepers last hit range but no the oppositions. This skill build accompanies the item build
on the left hand side, although they are for the most part interchangeable.

1. Tree Sight
2. Camouflage
3. Tree Sight
4. Nature's Protection
5. Tree Sight
6. Root
7. Tree Sight
8. Nature's Protection / Camouflage
9. Nature's Protection
10. Nature's Protection
11. Root
12. Camouflage / Nature's Protection
13. Camouflage
14. Camouflage
15. Stats
16. Root

However Keeper is often lanes with heroes that need to directly attack the opposition, and these
draw creep aggro. Levelling Nature's Protection for them drastically increases their survivability and
lets them exert much more pressure on the other team. These heroes are often the kind that needs
a good deal of money to be effective, but have poor last hitting power, such as Forsaken Archer. You
should focus on letting them get as many of the last hits as possible (you are the "baby-sit" after
all), but be on the look out for last hits they would otherwise miss and take advantage of your high
base damage to maintain a steady income of gold. This skill build accompanies the item build on the
right hand side, although they are for the most part interchangeable.

1. Tree Sight
2. Nature's Protection
3. Nature's Protection
4. Camouflage
5. Nature's Protection
6. Root
7. Nature's Protection
8. Tree Sight
9. Tree Sight
10. Tree Sight
11. Root
12. Camouflage
13. Camouflage
14. Camouflage
15. Stats
16. Root

Team Synergy
Good Lane Partners
Vindicator, Arachna, Voodoo Jester, Puppet Master, Valkyrie
Often you will come across scenarios where a ranged support is babysitting a melee
carry. A Demented Shaman and Sand Wraith lane would be a prime example of this.
For Keeper it works best reverse, with Keeper of the Forest laning with an Int or Agi
Ranged Carry when they're not suitable to go mid, or when the team has two
potential mid choices. I am reluctant to call Keeper a "baby-sit" in this case, as I feel
that a good ranged ally offers as much protection to Keeper, if not more, then Keeper
does to them. With a strong lane partner such as Vindicator Keeper can rack up last
hits, while Keepers Armour allows his ranged counterpart to become aggressive. If
they get into trouble Camouflage will safely see them out of harms way.

Note that I don't include any of the classic ranged baby-sits in the above list. This is
because many of them, such as Nymph and Hellbringer require some form of burst
damage from their baby-sit to enforce their lane control (I didn't include Demented
Shaman in that example, because he lanes well with nearly anybody). In any case, a
ranged babysitter wouldn't be doing their job if they were laned with you instead of
the teams carry.

Bad Allies

Night Hound, Scout, Legionnaire, Kraken, Assassins Shroud

Night Hound and Scout are perhaps two of the most loathed heroes in the entire
game, and not without good reason. For any Keeper player, however, having either of
these heroes on your team means the opposition are almost guaranteed to buy Dust,
Wards or a Bound Eye to counter their invisibility, which will also render yours
useless. Note also that as your invisibility can be used on allies theirs is all but
worthless.
*Please note that I do not count Madman as a bad ally, as he is a fantastic carry that
takes good advantage of your initiation.

I single out Legionnaire and Kraken specifically because they are the two most
obvious Strength initiators that are completely overlapping in roles with you. In
addition, they leave no room in the team for a proper carry, unless you're willing to
have a double melee lane. Legionnaire especially, if he wants to jungle, can put you
in an awkward position.

Apart from the fact that Assassins Shroud is a dubious item choice at best in this
guide writer opinion, it also loses any purpose whatsoever when Keeper is around
with his low cool down, spamable invisibility skill. On most characters a Portal Key is
a far superior choice. (and if anyone attempts to buy this on Keeper himself I will
personally rip a tree out of the ground and beat them with it)

Hated Enemies

Night Hound, Engineer, Vindicator, Arachna, Shrunken Head, Predator,

Accursed, Electrician, Winged Courier, Hatchet, Pestilence, Pyromancer,
Torturer and Pebbles
Night Hound, Engineer and Vindicator all have massive AoE/global/ring silences, and
all of them will be poping them exactly when you most want to use Root (or, knowing
my luck, the millisecond before). What's worse, this often leaves Keeper in the middle
of the action, vulnerable to the entire enemy teams focus fire aimed at preventing
you from getting off Root. In these cases Portal Key becomes your favourite item,
allowing you to initiate onto the other team beforethey can use their silences.

Arachna and Predator both have abilities that can release them from your ultimate, in
Harden Carapace and Stone Hide respectively. Stone Hide, as we all know, is
essentially a Shrunken Head, and that too purges your ultimate. Accursed and
Electrician however are the worst of all, removing your Ultimate from whomever they
choose with Fire Shield and Cleansing Shock.

Ah, the humble Flying Courier. Capable of Codexing you to death before you even
know what's hit you, his true strength lies in his ability to simultaneously wield a
hatchet while flying around carrying a sack full of goodies. In other words, the Flying
Courier can be used to cut down your Tree Sight. Fortunately, most players lack the
ability to micro both a Hatchet Wielding Monkey and a regular Hero, and hence fly it
around only when they're dead or when they spot an Eye during regular gameplay.
The Flying Courier is also an easy way to get to Eyes that would normally be out of
the reach of regular heroes without clearing the entire forest or scaling a shear cliff.
Unfortunately there's nothing you can really do to avoid the other team using a
Courier, bar shooting it down whenever you see one, but smart ward placement will
help maximise the amount of the map you can see in spite of any winged antics that
may be attempted. More on this in the "wards" section.

Pestilence is of course the bane of all heroes with any form of invisibility. Instead of
sitting around patiently waiting for Swarm to wear off try to take the initiative in team
fights and buy a Portal Key. Arachna's ultimate Spiderling will also reveal you while
it's on you. Thankfully, it dies in a measly 3 hits, so focus fire the spider before
turning invisible.

Pyromancer, Torturer and Pebbles can all destroy trees with their nukes. This isn't
usually a problem in the mid game where none of them have the mana to support
knocking down too many eyes, but can by an annoyance late game. Tempest can do
the same with his Meteor, however Keeper counters him in other ways as you can
see below. Overall it's not really a big deal though; they could always do it with the
Monkey if they had the mind to.

Counterpick Keeper Against

Night Hound, Scout, Madman, Wildsoul, Zephyr, Tempest, Ophelia,
Warbeast, Legionairre.
With True Sight on his Eyes, Keeper become a prime counterpick to invisibility heroes
such as Night Hound, Scout and to a lesser extent (but all the more potent in a
competitive setting) Madman and Valkyrie. In these cases you should prioritise
putting eyes up along each lane and in the nearby jungle, then gank the so called
"invisi-heroes" before they escape the limits of your vision.

Any hero who utilises the jungle can be delayed, if not shut down entirely by warding
their jungle. While your Eyes will inevitably be cut down you should replace them as
often as possible. Even if you lose some vision you could otherwise have gained in
other places you force them to constantly waste time searching for eyes and usually
block at least one spawn with every Eye you place. You can't win the battle, but
you're guaranteed to win the war. Every now and again place them on more obscure
trees that are still right next to the creeps, such as to the right or left instead of dead
in the centre of them. Buy some ordinary wards too and put them into the jungle.
They'll waste ages searching for a Tree Sight Eye that they're never going to find!

Item Builds
In the same way there are two possible Skill Builds for Keeper I find there are two
effective starting Item Builds. However the differences are only stark during the
laning phase. As the game progresses the two builds begin to resemble one another,
until the only difference is between a Power Supply and a Nome's Wisdom. Please
note, however, that it's not a choice between a Power Supply and a Nome's Wisdom
(I certainly know which one I'd choose!). Both have different purposes and for the
first 20 minutes of the game both will play quite differently. The build on the right will
often be an item or two behind the build on the left; however for simplicities sake I
have merged the two after three frames.

The left hand build focuses on burst mana regeneration through Power Supply until
you have a Sustainer then rushes for Restoration Stone. This works better for a more
aggressive play style. Always being in the thick of the action allows you to quickly
build up charges on your Power Supply, gives you the mana you desperately need at
this stage of the game. The build on the right however goes for mana regeneration
right from the start and delays Restoration Stone to pick up a Nome's Wisdom. By
stacking cheap mana regeneration you will find that your mana problems end sooner,
and Nome's Wisdom's active ability is a great way to support the team. When
deciding which build to use make sure to keep in mind both your opponents picks
and your own team-mates. Is my Accursed or Demented Shaman planning on
building a Nome's Wisdom? Well then you're better off going for a Power Supply. Am I
(god forbid) about to be laning vs. Pebbles and Nymphora? Then you'll definitely
need a Power Supply.

Please keep in mind that these specific builds are just an example of what might be
appropriate in a specific game, and that you should always use your own judgement
when deciding exactly what items to buy.

___
Monkey Courier, 4x Minor Totems, 2x Runes of Blight (592g) or
Monkey Courier, Guardian Ring, 2x Minor Totems, Runes of Blight (571g)
The first build you see on the left usually (but not always) corresponds to the
"aggressive" skill build where Tree Sight is leveled quickly. It provides stats, health
regeneration and best of all a Monkey Courier, an invaluable tool. This kind of build is
meant for a scenario where your lane partner has sufficient mana regeneration to
sustain him/herself. Your extra set of Runes make up for a lack of Nature's Protection
and allow you so soak up a small amount of extra damage while last hitting. If you
feel the need for mana regeneration I recommend using the right hand build, but you
could always substitute two mana pots for one of the sets of Runes of Blight.

The build on the right should be used when mana regeneration is needed by both you
and your lane partner. The Guardian Ring will be upgraded to a Ring of the
Teacher via a Scarab from the Outpost as soon as possible, allowing you to keep
Nature's Protection constantly on yourself and your lane partner. This item build
works well with both skill builds, but is a must if you intend to max Nature's
Protection early.

____
Loggers Hatchet, Power Supply, Boots, Homecoming Stone (1138g) or
Loggers Hatchet, Ring of the Teacher, Boots, 2x Minor Totems,
Homecoming Stone (1959g)
In both builds a Loggers Hatchet is grabbed from the Secret Shop as soon as
possible, giving you unrivalled last hitting power. The build on the left favours burst
regeneration, taking a Mana Battery from the Outpost and having it upgraded into
a Power Supply via the courier. The right hand build favours slow, constant
regeneration, taking a Scarab from the Outpost which combines with your Guardian
Ring to form a Ring of the Teacher (be sure to switch it off creeps, or else the lane
will push). In both cases Boots are sent via the courier after the other items are
assembled. As soon as you hit level 6 Homecoming Stones become a must have
item. You are the initiator and your team needs you at every 5v5 team fight.
Although it is tempting, and some of your upcoming items are slightly expensive, it is
not acceptable to be free farming a lane when it looks as if a fight is about to break
out. You're not a hard carry, and in any case you could earn almost as much money
by porting into the fight and winning it for your team than by free farming.

____
Loggers Hatchet, Boots, Sustainer, Power Supply, Homecoming
Stone (1750g) or
Loggers Hatchet, Boots, Sustainer, Nome's Wisdom, Homecoming
Stone (3550g)
The next step in both builds is to work towards a Sustainer. Both Mana regeneration
and HP regeneration are much welcomed by Keeper. If you have a Ring of the
Teacher, it may be more useful to get a Lifetube, then upgrade your Ring of the
Teacher into Nome's Wisdom for the extra stats rather than taking yet more Mana
Regeneration in the form of a Manatube. Its active ability also perfectly suits Keeper,
giving him HP as you spam Nature's Protection.

Restoration Stone (3550g)

From here, build up a Greater Arcana which offers a decent amount of mana and
mana regeneration, allowing us finally to spam Nature's Protection on everyone and
any thing. While it may look dreadfully important, you don't yet have the mana to
support a double ulti, so don't worry yourself over farming towards Restoration Stone
Recipe. Instead focus on winning the team fights and getting Eyes all over the map
and the money should come in by itself. At this point, the main use of Restoration
Stone is to be ready for a team fight at any time, rather than to be using your ulti
twice in a row within the space of a few seconds. At this stage of the game fights
often break out 30 or 40 seconds apart, and being able to use Root in both of these
fights can easily turn the tide in your favour, even if you can't ulti twice in a row.

Post Haste, Portal Key (2200g and 2150g)

Two more wonderful items. As I have stressed before, Keeper is the initiator and is
needed at every team fight. However he is also needed in every lane at once to
protect the towers. For that reason alone Post Haste is well worth the price. If you are
having any difficulty initiating at all, be it because the other team has anti-invisibility
gear, has heavy silencers or just because they're initiating before you can then you
should grab a Portal Key. It's by far the easiest way to initiate and will fix most, if not
all, of your troubles. If you are initiating fine by simply running in under Camouflage
then by all means skip Portal Key and go onto the next step.

If you make it this far into your item build and the game is still going then
congratulations, you've built all the core items you could ever wish for on Keeper!
However I suspect you'll still be wanting to purchase more items as the game goes
on, so see below for my impressions on a few other items in Keeper's
"recommended" tab and take your pick.

Other Items

Wards of Sight (200g)

"But we have Keeper! We don't need to buy wards any more!" I hear someone
screaming. Wrong, so very wrong. At level 1 Tree Sight has a cooldown of 5 minutes.
Five entire minutes. If you were to hold your breath for that long waiting for Keeper's
second Eye you would go blue in the face. Wards of Sight should still be bought by
someone in your team at the beginning of the game just like any other. You can then
plant one in the other teams pull spot and the other on the ramp at mid, to give your
mid player good vision of his opponent. Keeper's Eye can then go on the top rune as
normal, and his second to blocking the pull spot (just as the wards timer runs down).
Verdict: A must have.

/
Fortified Bracelet / Talisman of Exile (510g and 485g)
Common minor stat items that are taken early on many heroes to make up for poor
HP or Mana pools. Keeper of the Forest has both a large Str gain and a large base Str,
and hence has no need for raw Strength. Instead, he is much better served by HP
regeneration in the form of a Lifetube. Mana, on the other hand, is something that
Keeper really only needs a large amount of after he has his Restoration Stone. His
only mana intensive skill is his ultimate, and with its 160 second cooldown he should
be able to regenerate more than enough mana in between fights. You're much better
off going for mana regeneration then a Talisman of Exile. If you simply can't live
without more Int, then the Nome's Wisdom or Steamboots are a much better choice.
Verdict: Rejected
Alchemist's Bones (1900g)
Alchemist's Bones seems like the natural choice for a hero like Keeper, who spends a
lot of time moving between Jungles and lanes and yet has no farming abilities. The
only problem I find with it is that excessively warding your own jungle is usually a
waste of time (only the entrances should be warded) and any time spent in the
opponents Jungle is inherently risky. You should be porting between lanes rather than
moving between them. These factors severely limit the amount of gold you can gain
from Alchemist's Bones, however if you can farm them up relatively quickly (before
the 15 minute mark, at the latest) then they can easily pay for themselves.
Verdict: Should be gotten early only if you have found it hard to farm with Keeper in
the past.

Steamboots (950g extra)

The main attraction of Steamboots for Keeper of the Forest is an extra 10 Int to
increase Keepers rather shallow mana pool. However, as I discussed above, Keeper
doesn't have need of a much larger mana pool until Restoration Stone, and then he's
much better off going for an Acolyte's Staff that he can upgrade into Frostfield. By
the time Keeper has Restoration Stone you are beginning to think about buying Post
Haste, and how nice it would be to get rid of your Homecoming Stones to free up a
much needed item slot. However at an actual cost of only $475 (presuming you
break them apart and sell the other components not used in Post Haste) 10 Int, 10
more Speed and some Atk Speed isn't a bad deal.
Verdict: A decent "In between" item that will most likely be replaced soon after you
find a real use for it. Buy it if you're craving stats early.

Kuldra's Sheepstick (5675g)

Never a bad choice on any hero even remotely support-ish, Kuldra's Sheepstick can
be gotten after Restoration Stone to provide the mana pool necessary to pull of
double Root, as well as some secondary stats, all the mana regeneration you could
ever wish for and a great hex. If you find that the other teams carry takes you down
fast every time you initiate and the rest of his or her team is doing very little then
Sheepstick is an excellent choice.
Verdict: A great luxury item if there is one opponent you wish to shut down
completely.

Frostfield Plate (4700g)

Frostified Plate gives Keeper everything he needs lategame in one item. 30 Int
equates to enough mana to be (finally!) able to take advantage of your restoration
stone to its fullest and double ulti, allowing 10 full seconds of immobilisation.
Frostfield -Atk Spd aura and nuke/slow are the perfect follow up to a good Root,
allowing you to chase low HP enemies effectively.
Verdict: A great first luxury.

Behemoth's Heart (5500g)

Behemoth's Heart offers a ton of survivability in the form or Strength, raw HP and HP
regeneration. However it doesn't offer a lot for the team other than keeping you alive
after you initiate the fight (ie. when your job is done and you're no longer needed).
Verdict: Makes you nigh on impossible to kill, always a good choice on a Strength
hero.

Daemonic Breastplate (5500g)

Daemonic provides a whole ton of armour, a bunch of Atk Speed and an awesome
-armour aura. However Keeper already has 12 extra armour from his Nature's
Protection, and the protection provided by Daemonic's armour pales to insignificance
when compared to Behemoth's Heart. Your team-mates will benefit much more from
it than you will.
Verdict: Fits well with Keepers team orientated role, and will offer a significant edge
in team fights in the long run.
Mock of Brilliance (5150g)
The ultimate damage item. 60 damage allows you to dish out some auto attack
damage after using Root. Plus one of the best auras in the game, it's always a laugh
to follow an enemy around while invisible, watching their health slowly deplete as
they look around for the source of their damage. I would call this item situational at
best. Keeper's Root is meant to allow your team to dish out as much damage as
possible while it lasts, however if you find your team is short of high DPS heroes then
Mock can be a great pickup for Keeper. Just make sure you're not stealing any farm
from your carry in order to buy this.
Verdict: Only farm it if you don't have many DPS, farm heavy heroes on your team.

Gameplay
Laning Phase
Your first task as Keeper, before the Laning phase even really begins, is to get an Eye
onto the top rune ASAP. Usually you will be laning in the long lane (top for Legion,
bottom for Hellbourne). This allows you easy access to your opponents jungle from
an early level and makes accessing the Outpost easier as well (However if you're
pubbing chances are your allies will mistake your haste to ward the top rune as
claiming top lane as your own.). In either case make it to the rune spot closest to
your long lane in time for the rune spawn. If the rune spawns do with it what you
normally would, be that leaving it for your lane partner, the person at middle, or
snaffling it yourself. It honestly depends more on which heroes you have then
anything.

Now that you're in the lane proper the game continues much as any other. Your lane
partner should be harassing your opponents, and you should be aiming to deny and
last hit as much as possible. As soon as you can grab a Loggers Hatchet from the
outpost, followed by a Mana Battery/Scarab. Take advantage of your superior base
damage to last hit/deny creeps that are well out of the opponents range, and keep
Nature's Protection on your lane partner as often as they require it and you have
mana to do so. Always leave enough mana for an emergency Camouflage, especially
if there is anyone missing, as you never know when you're going to need it. As soon
as Tree Sight comes off cooldown ward your opponents pull spot.

As soon as level 6 rolls around you're usually ready to try and secure a kill. Make sure
the lane pulls towards you and preferably enlist the help of the person at mid to
come from the jungle. You're aiming to trap both of the heroes you're laning against
with Root while your allies beat on them. There are two main ways to achieve this.
The first is to pull back out of the line of sight of the enemy heroes, Camouflage
yourself, then walk into range (preferably in between the enemy heroes) and use
Root. The second way is to continue laning much as usual, however now go for all of
the last hits and denies using your large base damage. The opponents should seek to
harass you out of the lane. The maximum range of any auto attacks is 600, and your
Root has a range of 750, so if they can attack you then your Root is guaranteed to
hit. If your lane partner or the person from mid can follow it up with some form of
stun or slow you're usually guaranteed at least one kill.

Midgame
After level 6, perhaps a bit later, the lanes tend to deteriorate. Many of the best lane
partners for Keeper require quite a bit of farm for themselves, and it's at this stage
you should leave them in the lane to grab that farm and move into a different
one. Check what HP all of your towers are on. If there are any that are even slightly
damaged port in and apply Nature's Protection to them, while farming that lane a bit.
This is where your main source of income will come from in the midgame. You should
by now always be carrying a Teleport Scroll (TP). You are the initiator and I can't
stress how important it is for you to turn up to every teamfight. At this stage, where
you don't have your Portal Key (if you intend to build one at all) you should be
initiating via Camouflage and Root, while being sure to keep Nature's Protection on
your teams Carry, any squishies (Teammates with a low HP pool or a few deaths that
marks them as an easy target for the other team) and any hurt towers. When
pushing down towers Keepers roll changes slightly. Ideally your team should only
attempt to push down towers after you have used your ulti (preferably to kill a few of
the opposition) because due to the towers true sight Keeper can't initiate near it. If
you do find yourself attempting to push town a tower with most of the other team
available to defend it then be patient and wait for the best opportunity to use Root.
This is usually right after the other team has initiated and their casters have come
into your 750 unit range.

You should keep trying to get up as many wards as possible, especially via
Camouflage aided excursions deep into the enemy Jungle. You should also focus on
securing the entrances into your jungle, to make it safer for your carry to farm there.
Any places where it is possible to cross the river should also get priority, most
notably around the entrance to Kongor. The middle of your jungle can usually be left
unwarded - it is usually enough to know that an enemy has entered your jungle. An
Eye in the middle of the other teams jungle however will often catch a glimpse of
someone moving from one neutral camp to another, which has the potential to nab
your team an easy kill. Don't forget to keep warding the neutral camps themselves
though. Replacing the vision of any towers that happen to fall, as well as vision just
behind enemy towers is also important. Knowing how many people are planning to
defend a tower can often be the difference between suiciding into waiting
enemies and backing out of a fight you can't win. You should also try and ward the
"fog of war abuse" positions. By that I mean places off to the side of a lane that are
usually shrouded in fog. The prime examples of these are just to the right of the
Legion mid lane and to the left of the Hellbourne mid lane.

At some point in the midgame you will aquire your Restoration Stone, but
probably won't yet have the mana to perform two sucessive Roots. You do, however,
have a whole bunch of mana regeneration. After every ultimate you should use your
Restoration Stone. Don't worry that you can't yet use another Root. At this stage of
the game skirmishes tend to break out 30 or 40 seconds apart, and in that time you
will have regenerated enough mana to use Root again.

Lategame
Lategame for Keeper carries on much the same as mid. Once you have enough mana
(usually as soon as you pick up your Acolyte's Staff) you can double ultimate. This is
an incredibly simple manoeuvre to pull of. All you need to do it initiate as you
normally would, pop your Restoration Stone and use Root again as soon as the first
one wears off (5 second duration). If you have failed to catch many people in your
first ultimate (which shouldn't happen if you have a Portal Key, but often can if you're
unexpectedly silenced) you can save the second Root to catch fleeing enemies if you
win the fight or potentially to escape if you lose it. At this stage a good double ulti will
usually be enough to secure you a set of barracks, if not the game.

Due to your now seemingly unlimited mana pool you should be spamming your
Nature's Protection on everything you can see. Heroes, buildings... Heck, even creeps
tanking the tower make for a decent target. Tree Sight should also be used as often
as possible, and in as pervasive a way as possible. Try and get sight of things such as
the entrance to the other teams base so you can see who's coming and who's going,
their Secret Shop and the likes. Be creative, but don't forget to replace and wards
that are chopped down (preferably not with Eyes in the exact same place).

Important Warding Locations

I say "Important" because ideally we would like to place enough Eyes to give us
vision everywhere on the map, and on every neutral camp on the other side of the
river. However these are the Eye locations that should be prioritised. When placing
Eyes in more general locations try and place them in the second or third row of
trees in a cluster. This way enemy heroes are much less likely to run by and spot
your Eyes unintentionally, and in many cases a Flying Courier is necessary to see
them at all.

Top Rune
Usually, you will want to rush to the top rune stop and place an Eye on your side of
the river that covers the rune, whichever side that may be. Conventional Wards of
Sight should still be used on the other rune spot and on the enemies Neutrals to
prevent them creep pulling.
Legion Creep Pull Spot
You can imagine the same on the Hellbourne pull spot, it's relatively simple. And of
the trees in the semi circle that make up the boundary of the creep camp will do, but
it's best to use one at the back. Get an Eye hear as soon as the Ward runs out.
NOTE: Don't put an Eye here if you are on the Legion side. Try and put one on the
same spot on the Hellbourne side of the map!
Bottom Rune
The Eye spot that covers the bottom rune. Now here we encounter several problems.
The first is that the only tree that can see the bottom rune is the one I have used in
that image. If you're on the Legion side I'm afraid you're out of luck, because it will
also block the creep camp. If you're on Hellbourne this becomes the most crucial tree
to have warded. The other team will cut it down time and time again, and you will put
it back up over and over. It's well worth it. The second problem is that this Eye can't
actually see the rune until it hits level 3. Therefore it is not suitable to be used right
off the bat. You'll have to ward the top rune and come back to bottom later.

EDIT: With all the changes to Kotf Eye reveal range, this eye spot no longer
blocks the creep camp from spawning.
Kongor
In my opinion Kongor is the third most important ward spot. Any of these trees will let
you know if the other team are doing Kongor, and all have their ups and downs. The
Eye at the very back of Kongor is not likely to be seen or cut down, but its vision of
Kongor is limited and you may not notice him disappearing if Kongor is moved
forward slightly before being killed. The one slightly to the left of it also covers a vital
juking spot, however is quite obvious. The two trees standing on their own to
Kongor's bottom left are also rather obvious, but give great vision of Kongor. The tree
on the top right provides great vision of both Kongor and the Hellbourne Secret Shop,
and is unlikely to be spotted without a Flying Courier. The ward spot directly outside
Kongor does not see anyone who teleports directly inside Kongor's lair (Nymphora,
I'm looking at you) but will see anyone entering by more conventional means.
Personally I recommend using a combination of all of these, some of the more
obvious ones combined with the one on the right that also covers the Secret Shop is
ideal for lulling the enemy into a false sense of security after they cut down a single
eye covering Kongor. They will often presume it was the only eye covering Kongor
and presume no more can see him, giving your team an easy Genocide and you or
the teams carry a Token of Life.

Kongor should be warded as soon as possible if the other team has War Beast or
Wildsoul, as both can tackle Kongor surprisingly early.
Misc.
Spots that do not fall under any other category, but still give good vision of important
parts of the map.
Anywhere mentioned in Nome's Ward Guide is a good spot for an Eye, if there is a
tree close nearby.

Replays
Coming Soon!

Credits
Inspired in part by Glorify's Guide to Babysit Hellbringer
Inspired in part and format based off JoeMartin's Demented Shaman Guide

VISIT
http://dotahon.blogspot.com
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NEEDS!