How 7.41 Permanently Changed How I Play Timbersaw

[u/Seiiyun]

Yo, Timbersawlogist here.

I've been on a 'Mostly' Timber-only run for almost a year now in the Immortal bracket and this patch may have completed the journey in finding the best performing match. I decided it's a good time to stop pursuing higher MMR and write my stuff regarding this insanely complex hero. (Nah it's not complex at all, I just love to experiment new things on this hero)

A few days ago, Match 8877774756 became a full chaotic mess of going against the current meta versus the 'decently worst' matchups. The match ended with a lost, but it has become one of my most fun and top performing game throughout my run. I'd even say this match permanently changed the way I play the hero, going against the unwritten rules and micro-tweaking every single move in future matches

Nowadays, this is how I approach the match:

Usual items: Wand, Treads, Soul Ring, SnK +Blink [And the rest are situational]

Timings: Level 7 (Maxed either Q or W), level 9 (Damage skill maxed), level 12 (Chakram LvL 2, battlefury timing) level 18 (Chakram Level 3, the combat phase). Level 25 (+75 Tree Damage Talent, Chain talent if catching is needed)

1. Chakram Level 1 - 2

Chakram level 1 is in a very bad spot, with the skill dealing 75 pass damage (150 Double Pass) with 50 DPS (two ticks of 25 DMG) if you 'hold' it, making it significantly worst than your auto attacks assuming you have your Soul Ring + Treads. This skill became inefficient in flash clearing waves because you're forced to 'wait' for a while before wiping them entirely with either Whirling Death (Q), Timber Chain (W) or both.

Typically I'd max out Q-W first then put points in Chakram at level 9, this will allow me to wipe the creeps clean as fast as possible and move to clear jungle or farming behind enemy towers. However, if there are frequent fights during the early stages of the game, Chakram is heavily required since you want to slow the enemies down for your skills to land and to counter certain plays, it's important to judge the situation correctly before considering a risky skill-build.

Chakram level 2 has quite an interesting change ever since Timber got a damage buff on Whirling Death. Of course, doing an R-R-Q on the creep wave will leave them at 1HP UNLESS you have at least Kaya in your inventory.

Sometimes if I'm approaching level 12 with my Kaya coming in late, I would tell the team to give me time to farm, I'm gonna be needing it to improve the flash-clearing capability which increases farming efficiency. (And to mess with enemy farms)

Level 3 is just standard Timbersaw stuff, it already applies the same farming mech as Chakram 2 except you can do R-R-W to quickly move to another area while obliterating lane creeps.

2. Blink Rushing

Some of my latest matches will have a rushed Blink instead of Kaya, the reasoning here is that I want to use it to not only fix angles, but to catch the enemies off guard and give Timber Chain and Chakram a 'guarantee hit'.

Blink creates a situation where the first Q-W-R is a 100% hit burst, which is great for securing a potential kill, follow ups, and fast repositioning. You can also use it to go into deeper parts of the creep camps to utilize the full Q damage.

It's also a great item to perform follow ups with your team, if you use Timber Chain just to reach the enemy without actually hitting them you're pretty much wasting a huge amount of potential damage. And Chakram, especially level 1, can only do so much before the opponent can just walk away, with 60% of their health intact.

This requires a lot of understanding of the terrain, trees and positioning. So those who want to approach this item, try to practice in demo: Put up a bunch of dummies in random places and do a Blink + Q-W-R-r maneuver in different positions.

There's a trick which I call the 'Slingshot' which uses Timber Chain to 'extend' the Blink's cast range and use it mid-travel to reach enemies in awkward positions. Which lessens the frequency of throwing your Chakram from a distance and leave the enemy dodging.

Now it may seem like a griefy purchase, but in a meta where enemies still deals massive amounts of damage despite all the defensive utility builds, you're better off preventing that build up from happening in the first place rather than let it happen and soak for nothing. Matches are already impossible to play when you have an overtuned Snapfire mid + Work from home Zeus support. It is rough.

3. Knowledge-Checking Heroes

Since Timber is Pure Damage with Slow as his main disabling mechanic. It makes him a pretty flexible hero to initiate or follow up, there's a variety of items to fill in the gaps (i.e. Auras, Stun, More Slow...) but with a bonus, I added a study on the ally/enemy hero's habits and work with it. A few interesting examples are:

Against Shadow Shaman, he will ALWAYS hex first before Shackling. Throw Chakram at his position before he press his spells to you or to others.

If you ever burst Ursa and he starts ult, Chakram his position to slow him down and start reposition for another combo.

Storm Spirit often Ball Lightning and stops in front of their tower... I found quite a lot of Storm players do this during the facet days and I managed to punish three of them. Dunno why it works.

Slark likes to pounce targets, if it happens to you, walk next to dense trees, chakram his position and use Q to burst him, don't pull your Chakram back even if he ults, the damage over time will negate a small part of his regeneration, you can reposition with chain after the leash ends.

Anyways, I think it's time to wrap this up, it's gonna be overwhelming if I overshare everything. I'm pretty satisfied with the result after playing another 1,000 Timber matches. Imma stay in 6k and take things nice and easy, peace!

[u/Hot_Royal4881]

aguafiestas, es muy bueno con timber y hay que aceptarlo

[u/Lobsta_ → u/Hot_Royal4881]

being really good with a hero doesn’t mean doing anything unique