General DiscussionHow To Play Terrorblade, by theYerrowFerrow

Terrorblade is new to the many that have only played Dota 2 not DotA, so I'll try to make a guide that explains what to do with this demon. My editing skills are subpar compared to the amazing looking guides out there, but I will try to make it up with good content. I choose Terrorblade as the hero to do a guide on because in pubs, due to Terrorblade's relative newness, people don't know how to CORRECTLY play him. I'm going to include in this guide reasons to pick him, when not to pick him, skill guides, items guides, and most importantly, how and when Terrorblade can be countered. This is particularly important as when playing Terrorblade in Mid to Late game, you tend to overestimate how survivable you are.

[Img]http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2426435-screen+shot+2014-01-28+at+13.22.52.png[/img]

Pros and Cons
[Color=#008000] Great early pushing.
Great early Damage that scales a lot better than many people think.
Snowballs hard given an inch of leeway.
Highest Base Armor in game (as of 6.80 patch)
Excellent BAT
Excellent slow that lasts for FIVE SECONDS AT LEVEL 1 [/color]
[Color=#ff0000] Terrible starting health
Can't carry as hard as others like Alchemist or Faceless Void
A tad bit more mana dependant, while not suffering as many mana issues as, say, Sven. [/color]

ROLES
Terrorblade is a straight forward carry with a large amount of early pushing power stemming from his E and his W. He is not as hard of a carry as say, Anti Mage or Faceless Void, but his carry power comes from getting lots of gold from Tower kills, and interestingly, as a carry, snowballing in mid game. His advantage and his claim to carry potential and gold should be from hero kills, not farming in jungle, as his skills make hero kills a lot easier. But by no means should you avoid jungle. Mid game (after a few towers are down) your illusions can effectively clear camps. Keep in mind that this guide will have the illusions as an important part of Terrorblade's game style.

SKILL GUIDES
I will not make a "Q Q W E E" kind of thing because in each game it can be different. (also because I'm writing this at 1:00 am. :P) That being said, Terrorblade's utility in lane comes from his massive level 1 q, and his also massive damage boost from his Metamorphosis. Level your Q once and take advantage of the massive slow. , max out your W and your E, and then finally, while adding your ult every time it is viable, max out your Q. Only then should you go for stats. But I want to focus on two of Terrorblade's Skills in particular, Sunder (R) and Conjure Image (W)
[Color=#ff0000] Conjure Image [/color]
This skill holds much viability in pushing, distracting, and general DPS. He becomes a good mid with this skill, scouting out runes. Mid game with a pair of illusions (in Metamorph form) you can easily take down a Tier 1 and even a Tier 2.
Terrorblade's illusions are also disgustingly strong in that they deal 60% of your damage and since Metamorph adds base damage, the illusions gain this damage. Add that with the ridiculous base armor of Terrorblade and the fact that the illusions only take 200% damage as compared to the usual 300%, and you have a very, very strong illusion.
[Color=#ff0000] Sunder [/color]
This is why Terrorblade is known to be as hard to gank as Wraith King. While the ingame description can be a bit murky, think of it as switching your health bars with another hero. Not the numerical health amount, but the percentage. Terrorblade can take on two heroes and with proper timing, take both of them out. A scenario: Two people, see Terrorblade farming it up in the jungle. Let's assume one is a carry, one is a support. People tend to send their stun first, and then start autoattacking, and secure kills in the form of a right click. Terrorblade with ult, can kill the squisher support, (with the help of slow and Metamorph), switch health bars with the carry, and right click him/her down too. This is a severe blow to morale for the enemy team, most likely somebody will rage in their team chat, and the team is no longer a team. Many, many people cannot secure a kill on Terrorblade because the way to do it is the exact opposite of what they usually have to do to secure a kill. You can also use this to save a hero, and even, save yourself by casting it on a full HP friendly hero. Granted this will get you a report, but, you are the carry.

What To Do In Each Phase of the Game
[u]Early Game[/u]
Terrorblade has a great BAT and it is relatively easy to last hit, along with your morbidly high armor. However, it is a damn shame to waste your amazing 5 second 60 percent slow, with godlike early game damage from your Metamorphosis. You don't even have to try to get behind the enemy heroes, you can just straight up walk towards them. Keep in mind that Terrorblade has both a very low Health and is susceptible to magic dmg. Also the range on Terrorblade's Q is atrocious. Don't be irrational, but also take advantage of heroes out of position.
*ProTip for Mid Terrorblade: Keeping an illusion in lane and going to gank is viable. But remember that while your armor is high, your health isn't. Magic hurts. Ganking pre level 6 is viable.
[u]Mid Game[/u]
You should focus most on 2 things. Taking down the tower in your lane, and securing kills. Mid game is straight forward (or at least it should be). Along with illusions, clearing camps is also a big factor, as is with any other carry.
[u]Late Game[/u]
Have you ever played Phantom Lancer? Of course you have, he's OP. But you know that with Phantom Lancer, your illusions serve as DPS, pushing, and in general mayhem. While I already went over how to use your illusions before hand, you should keep this in mind: You must have an illusion with you when you try to kill. They provide so much damn DPS, they scale you into the late game. Keeping an illusion by itself seems like the real deal, especially when that illusions is really crazy damage, and is only taking 200% extra damage. Piss people off. Push without even being near their towers. Create general chaos while farming, taking Roshan, or split pushing. With your core items (which I will go over) solo kills on heroes only an inch out of positions is eaaasy.
Sunder in the late game is incredible, as enemies will feel a bit more secure with higher Health values. Taking down that much health in the blink of an eye is what drives Sunder.. However, the key bit that will make you a good Terrorblade is the exact extent to how strong/weak you are. Players tend to feel too cocky late game, and they will feed unnecessary deaths.

ITEM BUILD
Again, as this is a guide to focus on higher level gameplay. As a result, I will only tell what you should be trying to make.
Buy items for stats early on. Low health MUST be increased.
Now here I want to get specific.
Notice how the first choice is easier to get than the second.
[Color=ffff00] Power Treads [/color]
Since you have a very reliable slow, you can use the extra DPS from Treads to the very maximum.

[Color=ffff00] Ring of Aquila Vs. Drums of Endurance [/color]
If your early game is not as good, if you're facing a Kunkka in lane, go ahead and get Ring, the armor and mana regen will be helpful to you and the armor for your illusions. Drums in my opinion is the better choice, so unless you are getting DESTROYED in lane, try for Drums.

[Color=ffff00] Diffusal Blade Vs. Manta Style [/color]
Diffusal blade is great for DPS assuming you have your illusions with you. Purges those pesky silences from you. Manta Style ups your pushing power. Really only personal preference here.
Update: Saw that Diffusal Blade mana burn doesn't apply to his illusions, thought it did. Sorry. Then Manta Style is really the only option then.

[Color=ffff00] Heart of Tarrasque Vs. Eye of Skadi. [/color]
I personally go for Eye of Skadi for Terrorblade; the slow allows you and your illusions to easily keep up with a hero running away. Heart however is a tad bit better in that it adds tankiness in your illusions. Really, I would go for Eye of Skadi, but just telling you that Heart exists as a supplement. Eye of Skadi is also the second best health giving item.

[Color=ffff00] Assault Cuirass Vs. Butterfly [/color]
Assault Cuirass's armor buff adds to your illusions, and your own armor becomes freakishly high, also raises your own DPS by an extensive amount. On the other hand, Butterfly also increases survivability with stat gain in illusions and adds hella DPS. Butterfly is clearly the more aggresive choice.

Situational:
[Color=ffff00] Black King Bar.. [/color]
..for obvious reasons.

[Color=ffff00] Dagon [/color]
For those 12:30 Friday night games.

Friends and Enemies
Friends:
Juggernaut : Q goes well with your Q to gain an easy first blood.
Dazzle : Healing Wave is more effective, because you can make illusions that add to it's helpfulness. Has a slow that you can stack on top of your already IMBA Q. And of course, Shallow Grave, has got to be the best spell combination with Sunder.
Crystal Maiden : Q and E stacks well with your Q, also mana regen is really helpful.
Really anybody can benefit from the amazing Q. Terrorblade does well with nearly everyone. Great guy, he is.

Enemies
Really anybody with HEAVY MAGICAL damage early on. Lina and Lion stand out. They nuke you down from a range, and they have a stun which denies you from reacting. Silences are also devastating, because they deny you most of your utility.

Thank you for reading, please leave constructive criticisms on this post regarding layout, or hero hints that I should have added.
Please keep in mind that this is supposed to be an Advanced guide. More general things will not be answered. Please add anything that you believe should be a part of this guide in comments.

*Update 2/24/14
Thank you for help, I added many of the corrections in the guide. However, I don't agree with the idea that he is a very hard carry. I think the reason that people think that Terrorblade is a hard carry right now is because his game style is straightforward, he is a great pusher with his high mid game right clicks, and a great hero hunter. I would also like to add that ganking him is very difficult without coordination, which in pubs, is rare. He only seems like "best carry" because whenever you see him get played, he is easy to feed in lane, and he always gets an advantage after an early Yasha/Drums. This is why I referred to him as a 'snowballing' hero. Finally, his ult seems to combat any hero. Goes straight through BKB, (not Linken's) and seems to turn a situation against even the most farmed of heroes into an easy kill. I think a lot of people see him as a hard carry from two things. Remember that definition of hard carry is mostly terrible lane presence, and high late game presence. He does the seemingly god like DPS after only a few items, but does face off against Faceless Void farmed, or Medusa? Take away the ult, and no. He doesn't. The notion that he is a hard carry, comes from his overpowering snowballing and early game DPS. This is where the mentality of being "unstoppable" comes, as a person using Terrorblade. Does this mean he is not a good choice? Of course not, I agree with the fact that he's pretty OP. I think once people get used to him in the Meta, it'll be different. Again, thanks for your criticisms.