Tauren Chieftain (Cairne Bloodhoof)

(Cairne Bloodhoof)
Strength 24 + 2.3        Agility 14 + 1.5                Intelligence23 + 1.6

Echo Stomp

Calls upon the spirit of his ancestors to join him in an earth-shattering echo, rendering nearby foes unconscious. The spirit and Tauren Chieftain both deal 80 damage in the area, the Spirit dealing magical damage and the physical form dealing physical damage. Unconscious enemies will wake if they get hit. If the spirit is separated from you, it will still perform its part of the spell. 1.4 second cast time.

Ancestral Spirit

The Tauren Chieftain sends forth his guardian ancestor to bring ruin upon his foes. While separate from the Chieftain, the spirit will mimic his movement and damage any unit it passes through. When it rejoins the Chieftain, it grants him bonus damage and movement speed for each enemy it has struck.

Natural Order

The Tauren Chieftain uses wisdom gathered throughout the ages to reduce everything to its most basic level. Removes base Magic and Physical resistance.

Earth Splitter

Using his mighty axe, the Tauren Chieften rends the very earth itself, sending a jagged crack under the feet of his enemies. After several seconds the earth implodes, sending his foes tumbling inwards. Any unit caught in the implosion will take damage based on their maximum life and have their speed slowed for a short time. Implodes after 3 seconds. Deals 35% of a unit's maximum HP.

Skill builds and justifications

Tauren Chieftain skillbuilds are not really flexible: Ancestral Spirit should always be maxed first (Direct damage increase, and the damage and ms are always useful), and you must get at least two levels of Echo Stomp to be able to use your powerful ultimate. The main question is: Should I max Stomp at level 9, or get aura first? This really depends on the game. You usually want Stomp maxed, because 5 second sleep is no joke when it comes to teamfights, but in some cases (especially in public games), you can afford to skip the last two levels of Stomp.
The cookie cutter:
Level 1: Echo Stomp
Level 2: Ancestral Spirit
Level 3: Ancestral Spirit
Level 4: Echo Stomp
Level 5: Ancestral Spirit
Level 6: Earth Splitter
Level 7: Ancestral Spirit
Level 8: Echo Stomp
Level 9: Echo Stomp
Level 10: Natural Order
Level 11: Earth Splitter
Level 12: Natural Order
Level 13: Natural Order
Level 14: Natural Order
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Earth Splitter

Explanation: This is the most common Tauren Chieftain build. You get Echo Stomp first because the 2 seconds disable is way more useful than the 120 damage to score a first blood/escape a first blood attempt. Ancestral Spirit is maxed first because it is your main damage source early game (direct damage+ms and damage bonus). This build allows you to dominate teambattles from level 9, and the 5 second sleep is great to help your team during early/mid game ganks.
The aura rush
Level 1: Echo Stomp
Level 2: Ancestral Spirit
Level 3: Ancestral Spirit
Level 4: Echo Stomp
Level 5: Ancestral Spirit
Level 6: Earth Splitter
Level 7: Ancestral Spirit
Level 8: Natural Order
Level 9: Natural Order
Level 10: Natural Order
Level 11: Earth Splitter
Level 12: Natural Order
Level 13: Echo Stomp
Level 14: Echo Stomp
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Earth Splitter

Item builds

Starting item builds

My personnal favorite. Gives you very helpful damage, a good bunch of hitpoints with regeneration to backup, and you can use the branches to make wand and the gauntlets to get an Urn of shadows. Very solid overall.

Sometimes (i.e in public games), noone will get a chicken (or even worse, they buy it but they don't share). In decent games, you shouldn't be the one getting the courier, but to tell the truth 170 gold is not the end of the world and it is just great to have one.



If you expect heavy amounts of physical harass, stout shield can be a very valuable asset. Considering Vanguard is very viable on TC, the stout shield is not wasted, and it'll make your laning phase easier.

Magic stick as a starting item is viable if you expect to lane against some spell spammer (Bristleback, Batrider). Note that Wand can be purchased in the side shops: considering the item is quite cheap, it's usually better to buy it as soon as you get 200 gold.

Even if it was recently nerfed, Ring of Basilius is still great to have, especially if you are trilaning. Start with a Ring of Protection, ang buy a Sobi Mask as soon as possible in a side shop. This will grant you armor against harassers and the nifty brilliance aura.

Core itemsOR

Your core is not very costly (the items come in small and cheap pieces), but it grants you survivability and enhances your offensive abilities.
Power treads are just great for Tauren Chieftain, because they can give him both cheap early hitpoints and some mana pool. The IAS is not bad either, considering the damage you can get with Ancestral Spirit. Arcane boots are another viable choice, especially since Treads (and Phase) were nerfed: They give you a very extended mana pool and a way to replenish it, but no survivability.
Wand, even after the 6.69 nerf, is still an amazing item, especially for those STR casters (including TC). It is cheap, it gives some early stats, and the mana/HP burst is just too good to pass up. Urn is another amazing cheap item: HP, damage, mana regen and the amazing active that can be used to heal you and to help during ganks: You just love this item.
Vanguard is very good after treads, and totally needed after Arcane boots. It comes in cheap and useful pieces (stout shield and Ring of Health are great laning items), it makes you very tanky during those crucial mid game fights.

Viable luxuries

In many games, you won't be able to buy these items. But if you are owning/the game is lasting/you are playing -em, then buy these: =>
Hood of Defiance is a good item on Cairne, increasing your durability quite a bit against nukers. But in my opinion, you should aim for Hood only to get its awesome upgrade: Pipe of Insight. Pipe is almost never wasted is organized games, and it totally rapes some heroes (Lich, QoP, SK).

Perhaps the best luxury you can get, for three reasons:
- The synergy with the -armor aura and your skillset is just insane. Paired with Natural Order, you rip into any opponent (assuming he doesn't have Shiva or AC) like a knife into butter, and icing on the cake it also increases Earth Splitter damage.
- The armor bonus is very valuable: you had raw hitpoints with Urn/Vanguard/Treads, now you have the physical damage reduction.
- Cuirass is one of those item you can afford not to finish: Hyperstone or Platemail are great on their own.

Epic boost to your hitpoints, cool regen, and some damage. A good item, but when it comes to survival, you are usually better with a Pipe or an armor item like Shiva or AC. Still a decent luxury.

Black King Bar should be considered when angry people in the opposing team are trying to prevent you from casting Echo Stomp (and Stomp is almost always necessary to get a good Earth Splitter). It also gives some nice stats (+34 damage, +190 HP).

Shiva's Guard is another great item for Tauren Chieftain. It gives your more than enough mana, a nifty +15 armor, and the blast is devastating after your ultimate. A good (and cheaper) alternative to Assault Cuirass.

Some mana, some damage, some armor. The bonuses alone are nice to have, and the active is great against some heroes (Crixalis, physical DPSers, and unfortunately, against you, but this is another story).

Infinite mana, +10 AGI/STR, and the hex is just invaluable to have. A superb item on many heroes, and Tauren Chieftain is no exception.

Stygian Desolator is actually a good item on Cairne, considering the obvious synergy between Natural Order and corruption. But compared to AC, Deso is clearly inferior (on TC), because you need to hit your targets: this prevents Deso from working with your ultimate, unlike AC aura.

Debatable choices

Linken's Sphere on Tauren Chieftain is not really bad, but BKB is just superior, because you need a complete magic invulnerability during crucial teamfights, and the spell block is just not enough (Exceptions: Doombringer and Vengeful Spirit).

The item and the stats it gives are decent, the active is fun to use, but it is way too difficult to actually have results, like pushing opponents inside your ultimate or using it on yourself to hit people with your spirit. Still a nice way to get an escape mechanism.

Dagger is kind of countersynergistic with TC: unlike the other initiators you don't want to jump inside the fights (it would make it easier for the opponents). You'll still get the defensive side of the item and the ability to chase/surprise opponents, but Dagger is clearly not that great.

A very popular item among pub players using Cairne, Lothar isn't completely rejected, since it gives you an escape mechanism (even if quite unreliable), and the 125 damage backstab hurts. But you are not really a DPSer, and the invisibility isn't going to help against any decent team. Still very good in low level games, obviously.

Quoting my previous Clockwerk guide: "If the game turns into a push/backdoor fest, get Boots of Travels. Simple as that.". Not needed in a vast majority of the games.

You have two main problems: Mana pool and durability. Phase boots won't solve any of those problems. Phase ability is nice and the damage is good to have during early game, but you already get plenty of damage and movespeed from Ancestral Spirit.

The necrowarriors have their uses (pushing, counterwarding, giving you the pretty nice auras), and the stats Necrobook gives are quite handy, but you have to micro your summons constantly to avoid interrupting Echo Stomp too early, and you don't really have any long lasting disables that goes well with the summons.

Rejected items

Getting Dagon on TC can only mean one thing: you want to ks people. Your job is not to steal solo targets.

Let your supports get these: this is not your job.

You are not a DPS machine: You get items like Desolator or Cuirass because they give you -armor.

Doesn't work with your ultimate.

Sparkles will interrupt Echo Stomp, and make it way harder for you to land a good ultimate. Try to convince your teammates that Radiance is not a cool item, and eventually flame them.

Gameplay walkthrough

Unless you are playing against complete retards, TC is not a good enough soloer to take the mid lane (unless you are dual laning mid, obviously). A melee solo mid needs to have either (or both) a cheap lane control spell (Rocket Flare for Clock, Axe+Pig for BM, Tidebringer for Admiral) / good rune control (and the ability to abuse these runes). Ancestral Spirit is not spammable, and you are not a runewhoring monster like Rattletrap or Rexxar.

Trilanes (even after the 6.69 XP nerf) are, in my opinion, still viable (but only if your supports know what they are doing. I've seen many trilanes fail horribly because of the lack of coordination.), and Tauren Chieftain is a decent trilaner, even if you may have problems scoring a fast first blood.

Note that you should always be the one scoring last hits (Supports should be pullling or pressuring opponents if possible, but never competing for creep gold.). Try to deny as much as possible if you are facing a single hero, and get Urn as soon as possible. 

If you are facing another trilane or a dual lane, note that Echo stomp is just great to bring down an opponent while his allies are stunned. Let your allies initiate with their disables, cast Ancestral Spirit in a way that will affect as much enemies as possible, and use Echo Stomp.

I've listed the best trilane partners (note that many of them are decent dual lane allies):

Mid game

This is the time for the first teamfights, and you should have at least Treads and Urn.

Mana management is the key

Your mana pool is not large enough to sustain a careless use of your spells. You must use your spells only when you can have a real impact: Don't harass with spirit, and avoid overkill (don't use Stomp when you are ganking a low HP hero with VS and Sven...).

Do not underestimate the damage from Spirit

Ancestral Spirit can give you insane amounts of damage, and hits from a buffed Tauren will hurt really, really hard. If you manage to hit 5 creeps (a creepwave) and 2 heroes with a level 4 Spirit, you'll get an amazing +140 damage.

Abuse Urn of Shadows

Urn of Shadows is an amazing item. Make sure you are the only one buying it in your team (common problem in public games), and try to get it as soon as possible. It gives you a 200 damage nuke during ganks, a nifty heal after sucessful teamfights, and the stats are just great. Try to use your charges; a 10 charges urn may be cool looking, but you get no bonuses at all, and you waste precious heals/nukes.

Try to use your spells from the fog or out of disables range

Contrary to Nevermore, if you get interrupted when you cast Echo Stomp, you'll loose the mana and the spell will go on cd. To avoid that, and to increase the chances of a successful gang/teamfight, you should always try to surprise the enemies, so they can't stun you. Use trees, hills, or wait for the opponents to use their disables/be disabled.

Cast spirit behind the opponents during a gank

Basic rule: when ganking a lonely hero and assuming you don't have disablers with you, try to cast spirit in his escape route. This will greatly increase your chances to stun him.

Late game

You should have some survavibility items, and your spells are now maxed. This is the era of 5v5 teamfights!

Be careful when trying to initiate a teamfight

After the nerf on Ancestral Spirit cast range (1500 to 1000), Tauren Chieftain is no longer able to use his mighty combo safely. You'll probably have problems to initiate alone: TC benefits greatly from other initiators (Enigma, ES, Tide), and long range disablers (Kunkka, Clockwerk). Black King Bar is also an amazing item against those pesky heroes trying to interrupt Echo Stomp. Note that with some long lasting AOE disables in your team (Kunkka, Enigma, ES), you may want to cast Earth Splitter before using Echo Stomp.

If you feel you'll get initiated first, stay behind

Since you need the enemies to group to be really efficient, you may want to stay behind, waiting for the opponent mistake (assuming your allies are not retards). A good counter-initiation can be absolutely devastating, considering most enemies will forget to spread when they smell blood.

Ancestral Spirit gives sight

This is especially useful when you want to check Roshan without taking risks.

Teamplay is the key

Like many teamfights heroes, you rely very much on proper teamplay and coordination to be efficient. Ask your allies to avoid buying Radiance, and tell them to wait for Earth Splitter before waking the heroes under the effect of Echo Stomp..

Noticeable synergies

Besides the strong lane partners listed in the Gameplay section, several heroes can wreck havoc when paired with Tauren Chieftain.

Heroes with armor reducing skills

TC, as a hero with his armor reducing aura, can reduce opponents armor to nothing when paired with others armor shredders.

Dark Seer

You just love Dark Seer, because, when it comes to teamfihts, he can easily make sure you stomp a good bunch of heroes. Surge and IonShell are both great spells on Cairne.

Silencer

You start casting Echo stomp in a teamfight, he uses his ultimate: you can't be interrupted. A supportive Silencer is also a decent lane partner.

Ancient Apparition

Even if Cold Feet can be quite problematic to use along with Echo stomp, you just love AA skillset: A vortex that slows and reduces magic resistance (With this and Natural Order, you can bring opponents down to 0% magic resistance), a damage buff that synergises with your aura, and his ultimate+Earth Splitter equals rape.

Heroes with high AOE damage

You have your almighty combo, and they have other devastating spells.

Initiators

They jump first, making sure you can safely follow with your own combo. Life is just much easier with them, especially Enigma.

Nukes with a good casting range

When you are applying your -magic resistance aura on someone, it's rapetime for those guys: they can dish insane amounts of magical damage.

Annoying opponents

Long range interrupters

They can make your life a hell: with their long range spells, they prevent you from using Echo Stomp properly, and without Echo Stomp you are in serious trouble for Earth Splitter

Heroes with +armor skills/Armor items


Natural order doesn't reduce the armor from those skills/items. They effectively reduce the damage from your physical attacks and from your ultimate.

Silencer

He may be one of your most valuable allies, but he is also a very gay opponent. Curse of the Silence destroys you during the laning phase, and Last Word/Global Silence are just devastating anti-Cairne skills in teamfights.

Clockwerk Goblin

Amazing hero =). He prevents you from staying hidden in teamfights, he can interrupt you when casting Echo Sstomp even when you are behind your allies, he rapes you early/mid game and you can't channel anything when Battery Assault is on. Forcestaff is actually amazing against this pesky goblin.

Magic immunity/Hood of Defiance


Let your carries fight the heroes with magic immunity. Hood of Defiance reduces your effectiveness against a single hero, Pipe of Insight is even worse because it reduces your overall impact.