Techies

When to Pick Techies?

Tips & common mistakes

• Reactive Taser can now be cast on allied heroes from level one—most pub Techies players still treat it as a self-defensive tool only, casting it on themselves when threatened. The correct support use is casting Taser on your carry the moment an enemy support or offlaner initiates onto them—the disarm on attackers prevents the burst, the movement speed lets the carry escape or chase, and the AOE disarm explosion when detonated catches every enemy who tried to fight the tased carry simultaneously. Use a Taser on allies proactively, not reactively on yourself.
• Blast Off's self-damage is now applied BEFORE dealing enemy damage, which means Techies can deny himself with Blast Off if his HP is low enough, preventing the enemy from getting a kill and the gold. Most Pub Techies players never use this intentionally, dying to enemies when a Blast Off self-deny would have denied the enemy the kill entirely. If you are at critically low HP and the enemy is about to secure the kill—Blast Off directly, take the self-damage first, and deny yourself, and the enemy gets nothing.
• Proximity Mines are now sourced to Techies as the caster, which means spell amplification items like Aether Lens and Bloodstone now increase mine damage. Most pub Techies players build pure mana items and treat mines as fixed damage. Every point of spell amp from items increases every mine explosion proportionally, and spell lifesteal from Bloodstone returns HP to Techies from mine detonations. Build spell amp items intentionally, and your mines hit harder than any listed number suggests.
• Minefield Sign is now only available with Aghanim's Scepter—most pub Techies players still look for it in their ability list at level one. This is gone without a scepter. The mine warning sign's zone damage when an enemy hero enters was an important area denial tool in previous patches. Without a scepter, you do not have it. Adjust my placement strategy accordingly—mines without Sign need to be placed in locations where enemies will trigger them by standing in them for the activation delay rather than relying on Sign's zoning effect.
• Techies' death barrel from M.A.D. explodes 1.5 seconds after death and deals damage based on max mana—most pub enemies stand directly on the death location collecting the bounty and then wonder why they simultaneously took a burst of magic damage. As a techie PLAYER, be aware that dying in a clustered location where multiple enemies will be standing increases the barrel's value dramatically. As a Techies PLAYER'S ENEMIES, scatter immediately from the death location when Techies dies. Collect the bounty from the range.
• Proximity mines are invisible to true sight but become VISIBLE to enemies when they are within the 500-unit active trigger radius—most pub Techies players misunderstand this and think mines are completely invisible at all times. An enemy hero who approaches a mine location slowly and carefully at walking speed can see the mine reveal itself before the 1-second activation timer begins. Place mines in locations where enemies are moving at normal or high speed and will not be approaching cautiously—high-traffic run corridors, escape paths during a chase, and choke points heroes must pass through quickly.
• Techies is terrible when the game ends before the mine map control becomes relevant — most pub Techies players try to force long games by playing defensively regardless of whether their team has the tools to survive long games. If your draft has a Night Stalker carry and a Spirit Breaker soft support—both of which love ending games early—do not pick Techies as the pos 4. The draft is sending two conflicting messages about the game plan. Pick techies specifically when the rest of the draft is built around controlling space and going long: Spectre carry, tanky offlaner, defensive hard support.