https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjVBS8Z2UYY
^ Here's a decent old video of me playing titan which shows me doing many things that I will show in my guide below. I also have a few more titan videos on youtube, but I think my micro is best in the later titan videos.
Item build:
Spoiler!
PSA: Keep ankh, don't sell it unless you need to, like to buy a pearl or more wotw/wards for a minion or extra feed. Ankh is useful to refresh heal CD, guarantee a TP and early +10 damage.
1) Webbed feet
2) Wotw (replace if you used one)
2.5) (OPTIONAL) Pearl
3) Chimera scout (use for ij and to scout for bases)
4) wards (replace if you used)
5) Titanic wards
6) life essence
7) stacking ethereal mirrors (optional)
8) armour of fate
9) LUXURY, depending on titan/tower types: armour of fate (second one) / berserker gem / helm of the dominator / abysmal waters / fog gen / energy rod
Extra gold before a siege: floating eyes + scroll of beast + replenish potion + more ward blocks
To get extra gold to finish your big items: Sell pearl/webbed feet/ankh
Claws: I don't really like getting it. Imo, it's only good for farming mid walls when you don't have a minion.
1) Webbed feet
2) Wotw (replace if you used one)
2.5) (OPTIONAL) Pearl
3) Chimera scout (use for ij and to scout for bases)
4) wards (replace if you used)
5) Titanic wards
6) life essence
7) stacking ethereal mirrors (optional)
8) armour of fate
9) LUXURY, depending on titan/tower types: armour of fate (second one) / berserker gem / helm of the dominator / abysmal waters / fog gen / energy rod
Extra gold before a siege: floating eyes + scroll of beast + replenish potion + more ward blocks
To get extra gold to finish your big items: Sell pearl/webbed feet/ankh
Claws: I don't really like getting it. Imo, it's only good for farming mid walls when you don't have a minion.
Skill build:
Spoiler!
Titan
lvl 1: nuke
lvl 2: WW
lvl 3: nuke lvl2
lvl 4: heal
lvl 5: unique
lvl 6: heal lv2
lvl 7: heal lv3
lvl 8: heal lv4/unique lv2
Minion
lvl 1: nuke
lvl 2: WW
lvl 3: heal
lvl 4: heal lv2
lvl 5: heal lv3
lvl 6: heal lv4/nuke lv2
lvl 7: Rage
Seed / full deny base Minion
lvl 1: nuke
lvl 2: WW
lvl 3: mini-minis
lvl 4: heal
lvl 5: heal lv2
lvl 6: heal lv3/nuke lv2
lvl 7: Rage
lvl 1: nuke
lvl 2: WW
lvl 3: nuke lvl2
lvl 4: heal
lvl 5: unique
lvl 6: heal lv2
lvl 7: heal lv3
lvl 8: heal lv4/unique lv2
Minion
lvl 1: nuke
lvl 2: WW
lvl 3: heal
lvl 4: heal lv2
lvl 5: heal lv3
lvl 6: heal lv4/nuke lv2
lvl 7: Rage
Seed / full deny base Minion
lvl 1: nuke
lvl 2: WW
lvl 3: mini-minis
lvl 4: heal
lvl 5: heal lv2
lvl 6: heal lv3/nuke lv2
lvl 7: Rage
Punishing debuffs
Spoiler!
Select gold mound, then use punish on a unit to make debuffs like eye of ocean (especially when WW when sieging), frostbite and slows dissapear. A way to practise this is just to spam punish on yourself randomly even when you don't need to.
How to guard your gold mound.
Spoiler!
Too much gold being stolen means a sure loss with either megas, merchant rush or g2l nat rush (e.g. [1] [2] [3]). Always have TP ready if you are leaving mid for too long, I even buy teleport staffs when TP is CD WWing or even just walking back to mid works if it's close, but if you are nuking something like burnbase from behind, the trek back is far too long so you must need TP for that. Notice in the video while the faerie is wall walking or when I was sieging, I had a minion camping mid to prevent golding. [video]
How to farm gold/exp while defending your gold mound.
Spoiler!
Killing unupgraded walls at mid then chasing builders away from mound after each kill, shelters, attacking upgraded walls with not many builders repairing, walking out from mid then nuking a base, then TPing back to mid. You need to do this at least once, because at 3mins against good builders, you'll be walled in/out. At level 3, you will get lvl 2 nuke which is a massive bonus in damage, especially nuking builders repairing the wall so you can feed off walls at mid while protecting your gold mound. Claws helps against repairers (although claws is pretty overrated imo, I don't get that item generally), and magic coral + rep pot + wotw helps with golders, wotw/ward block helps cheaply to get kills (video [1] [2] [3]). Syph has an OP toxic trap that often forces an escape ability from builders if they pop it. This time I think mag got slowed by the toxic trap by a bug somehow [video].
Learn how to get minions.
Spoiler!
With enough exp/gold feed, you are very strong at mid. Use WW as much as possible, but if you don't get a WW with it, don't reveal your WW is on by popping chimera scout or nuke to break the WW. Always look out for itemjump [gifv], or builders being greedy and running towards mid while you are WWing (mostly in the early game). WOTW if there isn't worker deto [video], and ward block [gifv] if you think you can get a kill. walking or WWing out of mound to get EXP feed then TPing back is a good way to get a builder kill. I don't do this because I don't like giving builders even a single gold (for TP staffs and stuff), but you could also try to get a lot of builders at monud then TP back to try to get builders to block each other, which is good for a WOTW or ward block kill. Cornering a builder by splitting up my units guaranteed the kill on the goblin [video], ogre [video] and nature [video]. For the Nature kill, I make my minions closest to the builder take the longest routes, so that by the time I am ready to kill the builder, I have multiple minions covering multiple exits. Another thing is focus firing. A lot of bad titans will right click too much, but most of the time just by right clicking a builder gives some good range hits, like the range hit that killed draenei. [video] Or when I range hit mag + double nuked him [video], or when I killed this goblin [video] [image].
Learning how to prevent popular bases from getting built
Spoiler!
[video]. Station or patrol minions at all the bases like top right, bay base and fountain base. I think I revealed eurobase with a pearl, Buying a pearl is nice early or after a minion, but if you have MH pots (i used one for the ogre kill since I didn't have a pearl) [video], then try not to spend money on a pearl. I usually sell my pearl before a siege for items like mirror, beast scroll or a floater.
Learning how to deny lumber from certain builders and trying to get a tonne of EXP feed.
Spoiler!
A lot of the time builders will get an EB up especially before your first minion, so you can just camp 1-2 minions or your main titan to completely zone their lumber income, while micro-ing your minions to clean up the map. EXP feed is huge, especially on your main titan. Getting levels gives HP, armour, mana, heals and especially on Syph/Nox, you get the OP tower cancelling spell. Also, you should try to either have most of your minions in fog camping tower base spots and killing lumber bases with main titan, or vice versa and having your main titan always missing to scare builders from exiting bases/seeds. Main titan can be nuking lumber bases or seeds to remain in fog.
Learning when to siege (good time is 20mins into the game), noticing chain sync bounce nuke opportunities with floater abuse[video] or learning nuke range.
Spoiler!
Floater abuse chain sync bounce nuke guide:
[video] showing me do this: [video]
1) WW past the turtle or walls (optional)
2) Double right click a spot where you want to nuke to stack the minions (optional)
3) Press (Q)
4) Click one worker
Wait a second here to aim and ready yourself
5) Press (Q)
5) Click worker again
6) Press (Q)
7) Click another worker
8) Rinse and repeat for multiple workers
In the old version (like in the video), if you was fast enough, you can get more than one nuke per worker, but in the current version, only one nuke is allowed per worker no matter how fast you are.
I try to siege at around 20 minutes (because GP is a major power spike for builders), or as early as possible. In the [video], I reveal baybase at 15mins, feed off it for 5 mins with main titan, then based at 21 mins. With life essence + titanic wards + armour of fate and minion chain heals, most super bases should be an ez siege. Bounce range is 2 shelters, nuke range is 4.5 trees, and a cliff normally counts as a single tree (with few obvious exceptions like skybase, which has multiple cliffs upon cliffs).
[video] showing me do this: [video]
1) WW past the turtle or walls (optional)
2) Double right click a spot where you want to nuke to stack the minions (optional)
3) Press (Q)
4) Click one worker
Wait a second here to aim and ready yourself
5) Press (Q)
5) Click worker again
6) Press (Q)
7) Click another worker
8) Rinse and repeat for multiple workers
In the old version (like in the video), if you was fast enough, you can get more than one nuke per worker, but in the current version, only one nuke is allowed per worker no matter how fast you are.
I try to siege at around 20 minutes (because GP is a major power spike for builders), or as early as possible. In the [video], I reveal baybase at 15mins, feed off it for 5 mins with main titan, then based at 21 mins. With life essence + titanic wards + armour of fate and minion chain heals, most super bases should be an ez siege. Bounce range is 2 shelters, nuke range is 4.5 trees, and a cliff normally counts as a single tree (with few obvious exceptions like skybase, which has multiple cliffs upon cliffs).
How to siege.
Spoiler!
I like getting titanic wards + floating eye + life essence + ethereal mirror + armor of fate (in that order) first on Noxx(sypherious) [image] , because chain healing is so OP when seiging and life essence gives infinite mana, mirror rests your chain heal CD and AoF boosts EHP by a tonne, especially with a low level titan which will have low armour. Skill build for minion is lvl 1 nuke, WW and max heal for chain healing. For titan, I try not to get lvl 2 nuke unless I need the lvl 2 nuke to get a minion and camp mid easier. Also, get WW, and level 1 of the building cancelling skill, then max heal. You want to siege as soon as you think you can break a base, or else they might deny their base if you get too fed. Also, send a minion to camp mound if builders are golding. Just make sure the minion doesn't get ganked at mid and die. In this image, I have a minion camping the top left popular base and sent a minion to mid to defend gold mound [[url]image[/url]].
Now, for the actual siege. This will get long, so this lesson has multiple paragraphs. For extra reading, here's an old guide I had for 309d: viewtopic.php?f=209&t=47282
1) Try to conserve mana and cooldowns. You'll need the mana for worker blocks or nuking builders, especailly if they have heal stones, rep pots, hunters or healing wards. In this [video], I only use main titan heal after second wall (also note I heal outside of tower range because healing stuns you for like 0.5 seconds), minion heals on the third wall, chain my heals on the fourth wall, then going all on on the fifth wall (base with 3 walls deep with all your WWs ready usually means an easy break. In this example, I didn't even need to use my WW because syph with AoF + TW + LE = OP). I also only used my (R) spell which disables buildings when the base had 1 wall left, because I used it too early when the base still had 5 walls thinking I can break it, underestimating the damage provided from baybase.
2) Control groups. I have [4] for both main titan and minions, [3] for all minions, [2] for pearler/life essencer, [1] for main titan, [5] for gold mound for punish. [5] -> [s] with index finger + ring finger is easy for me, figure out your own control groups.
3) Attacking the walls. In this video, I attack with one minion + titan always. I tried to attack the first wall with 3 minions, but only two could fit [video]. If the base focuses my minion, I just back off instantly and replace it with another minion [gifv]. Against bad players who don't focus fire, it's nice to spread out the units to absorb tower damage, especially the damage from walking towards the wall (not that visible in the video). Another trick is to have a low titan, and have it only in range of a few towers and having your minions siege the base [gifv].
4) Minion control: The reason why I have all minions as a control group [3] is because I can back them early so my main titan doesn't get blocked, or have a minion left behind to get worker blocked in, and so my main titan can heal behind my minions when they are preventing rewall. Which brings me to rewall prevention.
5) Rewall prevention: In this [video], I have my minions really close to walls tanking the tower hits because gnoll towers are weak. It needs to be as close as possible so that there is next to no chance for re-walling. If the towers are too strong, you can back up the low minion in front and replace it with another minion to tank. But in this example, I just moved the minions back then let my main titan tank, then heal once when my main was low.
Using WW in conjunction to having minions close to the base to prevent rewalling is also nice [gifv], especially when you don't have a floating eye on the base.
6) Titanic wards, pretty self-explanatory, have it up 24/7. I like to pass it from the icons
7) Worker block. Nuke hard, and use hold position, use WW or TP if you're scared of dying. If not, then try not to use either. This will get your titan and minion levels up, which will provide easy chain heals. When you have high level titan and minions, you can just hold position nearly forever and farm your levels up as high as it'll go before feed reduction kicks in and makes it nearly impossible to get any more levels. When that happens, you must try to chain nuke and clear workers and try to get to the wall, and abuse multiple ethereal mirrors and rush minions in with hold position to instantly kill workers as they spawn. If there are too many, you can use WW to get past the workers. Try to siege walls away from the worker block shelters, because then the workers will spawn behind you instead of in front.
Now, for the actual siege. This will get long, so this lesson has multiple paragraphs. For extra reading, here's an old guide I had for 309d: viewtopic.php?f=209&t=47282
1) Try to conserve mana and cooldowns. You'll need the mana for worker blocks or nuking builders, especailly if they have heal stones, rep pots, hunters or healing wards. In this [video], I only use main titan heal after second wall (also note I heal outside of tower range because healing stuns you for like 0.5 seconds), minion heals on the third wall, chain my heals on the fourth wall, then going all on on the fifth wall (base with 3 walls deep with all your WWs ready usually means an easy break. In this example, I didn't even need to use my WW because syph with AoF + TW + LE = OP). I also only used my (R) spell which disables buildings when the base had 1 wall left, because I used it too early when the base still had 5 walls thinking I can break it, underestimating the damage provided from baybase.
2) Control groups. I have [4] for both main titan and minions, [3] for all minions, [2] for pearler/life essencer, [1] for main titan, [5] for gold mound for punish. [5] -> [s] with index finger + ring finger is easy for me, figure out your own control groups.
3) Attacking the walls. In this video, I attack with one minion + titan always. I tried to attack the first wall with 3 minions, but only two could fit [video]. If the base focuses my minion, I just back off instantly and replace it with another minion [gifv]. Against bad players who don't focus fire, it's nice to spread out the units to absorb tower damage, especially the damage from walking towards the wall (not that visible in the video). Another trick is to have a low titan, and have it only in range of a few towers and having your minions siege the base [gifv].
4) Minion control: The reason why I have all minions as a control group [3] is because I can back them early so my main titan doesn't get blocked, or have a minion left behind to get worker blocked in, and so my main titan can heal behind my minions when they are preventing rewall. Which brings me to rewall prevention.
5) Rewall prevention: In this [video], I have my minions really close to walls tanking the tower hits because gnoll towers are weak. It needs to be as close as possible so that there is next to no chance for re-walling. If the towers are too strong, you can back up the low minion in front and replace it with another minion to tank. But in this example, I just moved the minions back then let my main titan tank, then heal once when my main was low.
Using WW in conjunction to having minions close to the base to prevent rewalling is also nice [gifv], especially when you don't have a floating eye on the base.
6) Titanic wards, pretty self-explanatory, have it up 24/7. I like to pass it from the icons
7) Worker block. Nuke hard, and use hold position, use WW or TP if you're scared of dying. If not, then try not to use either. This will get your titan and minion levels up, which will provide easy chain heals. When you have high level titan and minions, you can just hold position nearly forever and farm your levels up as high as it'll go before feed reduction kicks in and makes it nearly impossible to get any more levels. When that happens, you must try to chain nuke and clear workers and try to get to the wall, and abuse multiple ethereal mirrors and rush minions in with hold position to instantly kill workers as they spawn. If there are too many, you can use WW to get past the workers. Try to siege walls away from the worker block shelters, because then the workers will spawn behind you instead of in front.
Predicting where builders are going to go or be.
Spoiler!
First clue is which direction a builder leaves mid, Where the scout walls are located, where seeds are, and where the popular bases are. In this video, since I wasted my pearl on eurobase, I bought a pearl on my minion to scout bottom left, where I knew was the only viable solo base left for plus. to base [video].
Pearl #1 is because top right river base is a popular base [video].
Pearl #2 is because I saw walls at far left without a lumber base.
Pearl #3 is where the builders are obviously going to go [video].
Pearl #4 is because I saw a lumber base, and the best place for the builder to go is upwards because bot right doesn't have many juke spots, and going towards mid is where my titan has to walk to get to the lumber base [video].
MH sense #5: I had a feeling they based far top, because that was an unpopular base that not many builders go, and since I had many minions to scout bases, it was also unlikely I patrolled a minion all the way there [video]. Pearling is an art. I bought it at 1:29, and only used it around 7 times in a 12 minute game.
For this pearl, I just pearled in the vicinity of where I think he is most likely to TP to in a panic [video]. Using it every time ASAP blindly is sometimes a waste of the long CD the pearl has. For early game, I usually roam left towards burnbase (close base to nuke for EXP and WW back to mid, or pearl bot left in a pub (many lumber bases there), or pearl bot right or top right in an inhouse (popular nuke-proof lumber bases). Also where WW units go when you chase them. [video], and this nice one where i item blocked this pirate (tbh I didn't think it worked, so I didn't waste a ward to secure the kill) [video].
Pearl #1 is because top right river base is a popular base [video].
Pearl #2 is because I saw walls at far left without a lumber base.
Pearl #3 is where the builders are obviously going to go [video].
Pearl #4 is because I saw a lumber base, and the best place for the builder to go is upwards because bot right doesn't have many juke spots, and going towards mid is where my titan has to walk to get to the lumber base [video].
MH sense #5: I had a feeling they based far top, because that was an unpopular base that not many builders go, and since I had many minions to scout bases, it was also unlikely I patrolled a minion all the way there [video]. Pearling is an art. I bought it at 1:29, and only used it around 7 times in a 12 minute game.
For this pearl, I just pearled in the vicinity of where I think he is most likely to TP to in a panic [video]. Using it every time ASAP blindly is sometimes a waste of the long CD the pearl has. For early game, I usually roam left towards burnbase (close base to nuke for EXP and WW back to mid, or pearl bot left in a pub (many lumber bases there), or pearl bot right or top right in an inhouse (popular nuke-proof lumber bases). Also where WW units go when you chase them. [video], and this nice one where i item blocked this pirate (tbh I didn't think it worked, so I didn't waste a ward to secure the kill) [video].
Applying pressure.
Spoiler!
Whenever you see a builder out of the walls while you are in fog or near any of your units, head over there to try for a kill [video] [video 2]. A lot of the time, I prefer going for the kill over farming for EXP/gold. However, guarding the gold mound should always be first priority, depending on the builder(example is me trying to kill a wall walker but still camping a mini mid [video]). There aren't many reasons for builders to risk, and many include feeding you fruit trees/RC/ARC or with a kill or make them waste escape CD. When you have minions this is even more important because it's usually to make a tower base. By applying pressure, especially when builders with their escape skills on CD will play a lot more safe. They'll be scared to gold, lumber base and tower base, costing them valuable time and resources, because if they play too risky, they will die.
Efficiency.
Spoiler!
Try to have every unit you are controlling have a mission and reduce useless actions. If your micro is not good, having minions afk at bases or patrolled while using the rest of your minions for attacking buildings boosts efficiency. Just efficiency, in general. You'll get this from mentally trying to improve efficiency and playing games a lot. Just from this part of the video: [video], I hold control + shift + click all my minions + titan to select them all fast, drag clicking the mound to prevent misclicks, then drop the magic coral + eye of the ocean from the mound to the ground so I can hold shift and pick up both items at once, then start micro-ing minions and recovering mana on main titan. Compare it to this part of the video: [video] where since I was new to the version and hotkeys, it took me 15 seconds to even get my first pearl off, which can be reduced to only a couple of seconds.
Must-use tool: viewtopic.php?f=101&t=36923&p=157401&hilit=inventory#p157401
-Burn
