[Jim.Raynor - v1.144] - Commander of the Useless Armour

[PsyOps]

He looks so tank, but that armour is horribly useless..He's got a big gun though, and that's what matters...

 

Raynor is a super-longrange support caster who, played well, is a great asset to any team, with a massive physical and spell damage amp that ALSO reveals cloaked units ( Q ), 2 minions which act as slows and free wards ( W ), a high damage, AOE silence ( E ) and a ridiculously longrange finishing ability ( R ). Raynor excels at breaking turtles, sitting behind the team and taking out priority targets from afar, silencing problematic casters and finishing anyone with low hp. His downside though is a lack of mobility and being extremely squishy, without teammates nearby or towers, you're walking food. Play carefully with him.

 

Talents:

 

Might (+15 Weapon Damage)

Fitness (+180 Health)

Prodigy (+12% Cooldown Reduction)

Swiftness (+6% Movespeed)

Youth (+180 Energy)

Wealth (+200 Minerals)

 

Skills:

 

Q-E-E-Q-E-R-E-Q-Q-W-R-W-W-W-Stats-R-Stats-Stats.

 

Start with Q (to mark the big neutrals and give you and your teammate and edge if ganked early), then max E (your main damage spell, also AOE in a line and a very long silence, too good not to max first!) prioritizing R (your finisher and most damaging and longrange spell, especially when combined with Q) when available as it will enable you to start getting kills and taking ( Q ) when you can't get ( E ) or ( R ). After everything is maxed, take W (2 free ward minions with a slow) before Stats.

 

Core Items:

 

A mobility item, pick one of these:

 

As you're almost entirely spell dependent and every spell you have (except ( Q ) ) scales from INT, you can't beat Gravity Edge, it has almost everything Raynor needs: 100INT (the most out of any item in the game) 20% extra true damage for cutting through spell resist, and 5% movespeed for positioning and escapes.

 

Nitrogen Retrofit turns your ( E ) into an AOE slow as well as a silence, providing futher utility to you and your team, also gives a decent amounts of both INT and Health.

 

Yamato Reactor has it all, everything you need for Raynor, about 70 INT, 15% Cooldown Reduction, even some Health, the active is great for both offensive and defensive purposes, the timescale boost helps you escape from danger or get that little bit further you need to land an ( R ) on a fleeing enemy, also helps your cooldown. And then of course there's the 25% spell damage boost.

 

As a super squishy caster with no escape mechanism, you'll need at least one of these for those times where you accidentally stray too far from the team, get pulled or ganked. I like Phantom Menace personally, because you're not usually attacking with your AA by the time you get it or being attacked, the 20% movespeed passive is always on, which is very useful both offensively and defensively, and also increases your map presence, without a cooldown! the spell resist is a nice counter to other longrange casters that might be giving you trouble as well. Impact dial is also very cheap and effective once you master it, although it takes some practice.

 

Suggested Build Order (Just a starting point/general idea, build reactive after Gravity Edge):

 

Sell Lightning Rod

 

Other Good items:

 

If you're having problems with Physical Damage:

 

If you're having problems with Spell Damage:

 

For more damage up closer:

 

For a little more Health and INT, the stacks are also useful:

 

Strategy:

 

Early Game: LANE. Buy Lost Treasure first, great starting item on Raynor as it gives you heaps of Health regen to stay in lane, and also Energy regen to harass the enemies consistently with spells. If your lane partner takes the jungle neutrals you can go with him, but don't go alone as Raynor cannot farm them alone at the start. With your huge attack range, clean animation and spells, mid lane or short lane is where you shine. Last hitting with Raynor is very important, but also easy, especially with the Might talent, and your auto attack is quite strong at the start, don't be afraid to abuse your range (longest ranged auto attack in the game) to harass the enemy and deny their creeps. Raynor combos very well with heroes that have stuns and slows too, as they allow you to land more ( E )'s. A very underused but very useful part of Raynor is Warding, if you don't know where to put them, don't worry! There's a guide here: http://www.aeonofsto...ide-to-warding/ it's a bit old, but the locations are still the same. Wards are important because you're super squishy and they prevent you from being ganked, also they allow you to abuse the range of your spells more, shooting over cliffs and taking enemies by surprise etc, all this for only 75 minerals each!

 

Mid Game: LANE/TEAMFIGHT/GANK WITH TEAM. After level 6 is where you get really useful, as your ( R ) is what allows you to get most of your kills and reach heroes that are very far, which is incredibly useful for breaking turtles and killing tower huggers. Stay in lane if you need to, or go and help your teammates if there's a big teamfight or you're needed elsewhere, but don't wander about alone, especially on or past the river, as a lone Raynor with no tower can be killed by just about any hero. In a teamfight, mark a priority target (usually the enemy carry, or another caster, try to avoid marking tanks until everyone else is dead) if the hero you've marked is squishy, sometimes you can kill them with a ( Q ), ( E ), ( R ) combo, but don't try this with everyone as Raynor is a team oriented hero and you will do much better silencing the heroes with spells that will cause problems for your team with ( E ), then using your ( R ) on the runners or to finish someone off ( ( R ) is much more effective on enemies with less than 45% hp, as it does an additional 50% damage), also, stay with your teammates and don't be greedy or go to the front of the fight, as you're a glass cannon and despite your damage output you will die very fast, usually before your ( R ) can even fire. Don't forget to keep Warding, use ( W ) to help with this.

 

Late Game: TEAMFIGHT/GANK WITH TEAM/BREAK TURTLES WITH TEAM/TURTLE BEHIND TOWERS. Late game Raynor is quite similar to Mid game, with the important difference of either turtling or having to cover more distance and leave cannons. Raynor is a good turtle hero, with your range if you need to turtle near one of your base cannons you can almost stand at the artifact and fire off spells at the enemies attacking your cannon, the AOE of your ( E ) also makes it much more effective on the ramp and can be moderately effective at killing spawn waves if you really need to. On the other hand, if you're on the team that's pushed up to the enemy base, there's a lot of distance between you and your towers, so it's extra important to stick with the team, but once you get to their base, you will be a real asset to breaking a turtle as you can sit back below the ramp and behind your team and fire spells up constantly at the enemies trying to hold the cannon, which will usually result in either their deaths or having to heal, which usually means your team will take the cannon, rinse and repeat that and you win the game!

 

NOTES:

 

- Raynor is excellent for breaking turtles.

 

- Do not try to 1v1 heroes after Mid game unless you know you can get your ( Q ), ( E ), ( R ) off in time and you know it will kill them.

 

- WARD. Don't be lazy as this is a very good habit and it will help you and your team get a lot of kills and save a lot of lives, it's really, really cheap for the benefits.

 

- Play carefully, remember you're very fragile and can't rambo like some other heroes.

 

- Don't neglect Health and Movespeed items for pure INT.

 

- Sunflare Gun might seem like a good idea on Raynor, but it's not, Raynor is long range and getting close enough to use it will usually result in your death first.

 

- Even though you might seem like a solo hero at first glance, you're very team oriented, especially with your passive (+10% weapon damage to nearby allies).

 

- Stick near cannons.

 

- Raynor is great to bait with, people love to chase him into cannons, use this to your advantage, especially early game, if someone tower dives you, mark them then run around the cannon, usually the cannon will kill them, and if it doesn't they will be heavily damaged, in which case you can just follow up with a quick ( E ) and ( R ) if needed, easy kill.

 

- STAY WITH TEAMMATES!

 

 

 

Thanks for reading, good luck out there, sniper! :)

[atomheartman]

IMO

First skill - rauders ftw.

weeqer for the start.

 

 

and i prefer to wait a bit (this is ridiculous as hell) and buy pendant (if no wealth). or buy health for 475 and 2*6 int for 150 and go miners googles and 925mins int item into lightning rod.

[ginosaji]

You shouldn't need marauders until you start wandering away from your lane. Q is preferable as first skill because of the amazing harrass Raynor has with his range and damage.

[Indo]

raiders give easy farm at start since you can clear neutrals and waves better( lasthit with them and denie while at shop and walking back lmo) :D

[ginosaji]

Raynor has the highest starting damage in the game. There's no need to get marauders to last hit. Leveling Q or E depending on the hero you're facing are much more useful to harass the enemy.

 

Yes, rauders are better if you are trying to clear neutrals. Why would you want to clear neutrals when Raynor has some of the strongest laning presence in the game? You can easily farm faster in lane than trying to go for neutrals.

[Indo]

Yes, rauders are better if you are trying to clear neutrals. Why would you want to clear neutrals when Raynor has some of the strongest laning presence in the game? You can easily farm faster in lane than trying to go for neutrals.

you can farm mid thor from your lane between the lanes with a ward and even more simple with marauders lmo

[atomheartman]

you can farm mid thor from your lane between the lanes with a ward and even more simple with marauders lmo

 

Yeah, go with rauders solo mid Thor fast enough to come to first creep wave - no exp missed.

[Moo]

In an inhouse your jungler needs the Thor for xp and money, and in pubs it is nigh impossible to convince your teammates to go anywhere else than where they started to go, so you won't get as much xp and you will be tied with the enemy laner since almost everyone takes the mid Thor, and then you don't have as much harass because you skipped mark.

[Indo]

if you go for mid thor with 2 people and raynor is going mid, he can stay at the lower part and attack the creeps from down there, the jungler will then go to tank while raynor doesn't miss a single creep of his wave

[Moo]

if you go for mid thor with 2 people and raynor is going mid, he can stay at the lower part and attack the creeps from down there, the jungler will then go to tank while raynor doesn't miss a single creep of his wave

You don't have to start raiders to not miss a creep though, and I feel it is better to max your mark and shot ASAP instead of raiders which are mainly useful just for taking jungle in the early game, since they will just get killed when being used as wards and it would be better to get wards for more assured vision.

[ginosaji]

You don't have to start raiders to not miss a creep though, and I feel it is better to max your mark and shot ASAP instead of raiders which are mainly useful just for taking jungle in the early game, since they will just get killed when being used as wards and it would be better to get wards for more assured vision.

 

This is true.

[ANARCHY]

This is true.

lies you miss 1 creep in the 1st creep wave + rauders = lots of dmg for minor if not 0 mana cost as you cast them at base, provides gank protection & they dont aggro creeps if you abuse the enemy hero

[atomheartman]

I'm just saying to pick 1lvl on rauders, all others will be put on Q and E. we are speaking about 1st lvl. without rauders all you can do is stay near tower because ganks with drake, micro, boros will kill you without info.

yeah, lets buy 2 wards for 150minerals instead of having it for free...

This is my pub experience. Inh is different for sure and i hope i will play it soon.

[Mus]

I'm just saying to pick 1lvl on rauders, all others will be put on Q and E. we are speaking about 1st lvl. without rauders all you can do is stay near tower because ganks with drake, micro, boros will kill you without info.

yeah, lets buy 2 wards for 150minerals instead of having it for free...

This is my pub experience. Inh is different for sure and i hope i will play it soon.

 

Good luck playing inh with Skydie.

[Moo]

I'm just saying to pick 1lvl on rauders, all others will be put on Q and E. we are speaking about 1st lvl. without rauders all you can do is stay near tower because ganks with drake, micro, boros will kill you without info.

yeah, lets buy 2 wards for 150minerals instead of having it for free...

This is my pub experience. Inh is different for sure and i hope i will play it soon.

I realize that you mean only 1level in raiders. Raiders can be seen and killed, then you are stuck in the same spot you just described, wards are invisible, so the enemy would have to guess you have a ward and where you put it, then buy a ts ward to kill it.

[atomheartman]

Good luck playing inh with Skydie.

 

Interesting post...

[PsyOps]

I agree with gino and moo. Even in pubs there's usually someone else at the creep camp to tank if you really feel like you've got to farm them.

 

But as there are usually very few to zero ganks before you can buy wards (first time you go back to shop) and even if there is a gank attempted, as a level 2-5 raynor with both mark and silencing shot, near a tower, with the highest starting weapon damage and AA range, chances are that early gank will just mean kills for you if they attempt it without being scared off by raiders.

[TaxHaven]

Moo in IH you take the mid thor camp

[ginosaji]

You want marauders before you start roaming the map with raynor certainly, they are an amazing map awarness and positioning tool. You really shouldn't be wondering around the map prior to level 6 anyway, but if you do, go for it, get Rauders early.

[Indo]

if you don't face shadow or rancor, raiders on upper terrain in mid give you "gank immunity" and make it extremly hard to get pusher back unless they go 3n1.. they also dominate against melee heroes once you have pendant since they slow by 30% on lvl 1 and you can micromanage them so the melee hero never reaches them when they are lvl 2 while you leech his energy >:D

[ginosaji]

if you don't face shadow or rancor, raiders on upper terrain in mid give you "gank immunity" and make it extremly hard to get pusher back unless they go 3n1.. they also dominate against melee heroes once you have pendant since they slow by 30% on lvl 1 and you can micromanage them so the melee hero never reaches them when they are lvl 2 while you leech his energy >:D

 

If you're facing a melee hero mid as Raynor you don't even have to worry about talent builds.

[Moo]

Moo in IH you take the mid thor camp

I meant that you shouldn't take it after the first round of neutrals, my bad on the wording.