Blood Hunter

Skill Build:

1 - Feast
2 - Blood Crazy
3 - Feast
4 - Blood Sense
5 - Feast
6 - Hemorrhage
7 - Blood Sense
8 - Blood Sense
9 - Blood Sense
10 - Blood Crazy
11 - Hemorrhage
12 - Blood Crazy
13 - Blood Crazy
14 - Feast
15 - Stats
16 - Hemorrhage
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

This build is for solo mid.
If you start on a side lane swap the first two skills to get/prevent an early kill. The build is adaptable; usually Feast 3 is enough, get Feast 2 or 4 before you max out Blood Sense and Blood Crazy if it feels right.

Starting Items:

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Core:

(Iron Shield >>) Chalice >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Steamboots

If the game feels hard you maybe wanna get Iron Shield and/or Steamboots before Chalice or even 1-2 Fortified Bracelets.
An early Helm makes Blood Hunter become an incredibly powerful (almost) unstoppable force. Tower diving with impunity with Blood Sense and Feast makes him a real threat no matter where on the map he is, as soon as someone is low enough to chase down.

After core:

(Mock of Brilliance >>) Frostburn >> Shrunken Head >> Savage Mace >> Frostwolf Skull/Geometer's Bane split

Blood Hunter is a good hero to rush Mock. It synergizes well with Feast and to a lesser extent with Blood Sense (chase down invis heroes). If you are unable to really rush the Sword of the High before even Helm, then it's probably better to leave it and move onto other items.

Frostburn is pretty much the best choice for him next, giving decent midgame stats for an affordable price. Shrunken Head is next as it stops you from being chain stunned to death, and unable to get the Feast debuff on someone to keep your survivability up.

Alternative Items:

Codex: A popular choice in pubs. It works fairly well in midgame as a ganking tool but severely hurts your lategame carry potential.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Solo mid
Difficulty: 2/5 (last hitting and denying to get Feast makes or breaks you in lane)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (Feast helps somewhat)
Item dependent? - Yes, but can function well on his core and either Frostburn or Mock.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Weak harassing, but excellent staying power and superior last hitting except against a few heroes)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (Good ganker, better if opponent is braindead or you cause a situation where the target is damned if he does run and damned if he doesn't)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Not a true hard carry, but capable of extreme longetivity in teamfights when Feast procs off a hero.)

Tips and Tricks:

- You have to gank with Blood Hunter. If you play mid, its the only reason you are there. Gank whenever your ult is up.
- You can take out the ancient creeps very early with Blood Crazy and you can generally go jungling pretty well from level 5 on.
- When ganking always decide wheter to use Blood Crazy as a damage amplifier or as a silence; depending on the heroes you are ganking.
- When taking out a tower or a barracks, it is always a great idea to use Blood Crazy on yourself. The increase in damage is essential in maximizing potential tower kills.
- Oh and please go gank with Blood Hunter!

Counters:

- Facing BH solo mid is one of the toughest things in HoN. Chances are you will not be able to out-cs him and fall behind quickly. Harassing won't solve the problem. There are 2 solutions:
1. Put two players mid. This will shut him down for good.
2. Call for ganks.
- Heroes that can compete with BH in mid (mostly melee heroes): Pebbles, Blacksmith, Zephyr, Legio, Predator, Chronos, Deadwood and Soulstealer (Burst Nukes).
- If he is not overfed his power will decline after the midgame.
- Don't always stand still when he ults you. Sometimes you have to run to survive! Level 1 ult is fairly weak in particular.
- Carrying a TP for when he ults you can save you. He has no way to disrupt a TP channel himself without outside help.