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ChronoSphere Productions 
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v2.8.5g
Version 2.0 [PREVIOUS .ORG CONTEST WINNER]
The Troll Builder (A simple guide for dummies) 
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Introduction: Hiya! What you guys are about to read is a full-set complete guide to the Troll Builder, but this guide also includes many more... such as, how to wall, basic to advanced lumber strategies, how to not get nuked, etc. You want to know why I started making this guide? For the contest of course! Well that too, but I want 'in-experienced players' to learn from this guide so they'll stop being so 'retarded' and play better. Even decent players can learn from this guide as well. So yeah, I hope you like this guide and not get bored!
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Table of Contents 1. Builder Stats/Pros&Cons 2. Buildings/Hunter 3. Starting off 4. Early Game/Lumbering 5. Mid Game 6. Late Game... Gold Penalty! 7. How to base/wall 8. How to NOT DIE! +Special: Just for LAFFS! 9. F.A.Q. 10. Credits? 
[END] Changelog __________________________________________________________________________
Builder StatsDescription: Good beginner builder requiring no gold to start making defenses. Fairly space efficient builder. Average walls all around. Strongest, most expensive towers in game costing 4x as much food.
Difficulty: Easy
Hotkey:
(A)Escape Abilities: Wind Walk
(W) - Turns unit invisible and gives a 15% movement speed bonus for 10 seconds. 80 second cooldown.
HP: 300
Mana: None
Armor: 0
Movement Speed: Average
Attack Damage: 125 - 125
Inventory Space: 1
Range: Melee
Pros• Extremely strong towers
• A very easy builder to use
• Titan Hunter is ranged
• Has an upgrade called "Spiked Structures" that make walls and towers deal damage to an enemy attacker
Cons• Very vulnerable (only has Wind Walk, which is easily countered by a Pearl, but it is supported by the new bonus movement speed)
• Towers are expensive
• Only has one inventory slot
• Tower damage nerfed as of 2.8.5e
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Basic Buildings/HunterShelter200hp, 5 armor.
Costs 10 wood.Fruit Tree300hp, 4 armor, 20-20 damage.
Costs 20 wood.Provides 25 food.Wall250hp, 5 armor.
Costs 50 wood.Upgraded Wall500hp, 15 armor.
Costs 250 wood.Troll Lodge300hp, 5 armor.
Costs 150 wood.Titan Hunter876hp, 600 mana, 10 armor, 100-100 chaos damage, 600 range.
35 Agility, 40 Strength, 40 Intelligence.
Costs 400 wood.Costs 12 food (does not require food the first time you are making it)
Spear Tower250hp, 4 armor, 26-26 damage.
Costs 90 wood.Costs 4 food.Enhanced Spear Tower300hp, 4 armor, 51-51 damage.
Costs 200 wood.Super Spear Tower350hp, 4 armor, 71-71 damage.
Costs 500 wood.Mega Spear Tower400hp, 4 armor, 86-86 damage.
Costs 750 wood. - - Ultimate Towers - -Magic Tower(Amazing damage and range. Burns 125 mana per hit and causes bonus damage equal to the mana destroyed. When being held, the holder drains mana when attacking an enemy.)750hp, 20 armor, 1100 range, 100-100 damage.
Costs 2000 wood.Costs no food. Costs 90 gold.
Statis Totem(A powerful tower with good damage. Has a 25% chance to stun for 2 seconds. When being held, the holder gets a 15% chance to stun.)750hp, 20 armor, 1000 range, 120-120 damage.
Costs 2500 wood.Costs 1 food. Costs 90 gold.
Heavy Cannon Tower(Massive damage with an aura that gives +15 armor to nearby units and structures. When being held, the holder gets an aura that gives +15 armor to nearby units and structures.)750hp, 20 armor, 900 range, 200-200 damage.
Costs 2000 wood.Costs 1 food. Costs 90 gold.
Catapult(The best Troll tower. Has amazing damage and has insane range. Also has critical strike. When being held, the holder gets a 15% chance to do 3x damage.)750hp, 20 armor, 2000 range, 135-135 chaos damage.
Costs 3000 wood.Costs 1 food. Costs 135 gold.
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Starting Off[Part 1:] As soon as the game starts, select the easy tavern to the left. There, you should be able to see the Troll builder icon, and click on it to choose. You can also just press (A) and it will choose the Troll builder for you. But make sure you click on it once it is done the cooldown, because that is the only time the builder is selectable. Also, be sure to pick your builder fast... or else the game will automatically kick you out after about 20 seconds.
[Part 2:] So you have chosen your desired Troll builder. Hotkey your builder as the number 1 (select your builder and hold down Ctrl+1). Now choose a lumber spot you'd like and ping it just to make sure nobody steals your spot. If you don't know how to ping, hold the ALT key down and click your desired spot on the mini-map. There should be a coloured exclamation mark letting the other players know the spot you've selected. Remember, you
never want to stand at the gold mound waiting for Titan to spawn, because you'll probably die.
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Early Game/Lumbering[Part 1:] Never base early. If you do, most likely, you'll be screwed. It is much more efficient if you gather up mass lumber early-mid game and then start basing.
How much lumber you ask? Well, it all depends on the situation of the game. If you are in no danger at all (Titan either has one Minion or none), then you should base around 20k wood (able to upgrade all towers). If you think you are in a bit of danger, then you should base at around 10-15k wood. Blah blah blah.
However... if you are absolutely forced to early base (everybody dying and you have no other option or you lose), make sure you either get someone to wall you, or use shelters as your walls. Why? Because walls cost too much lumber, and is almost equal to a shelter.
So what are you waiting for? Go ping your lumber base!
There are basically 3 ways to lumber.
The first one I'll be explaining to you is the basic "mass-shelter lumbering". This lumbering strategy is basically making a shelter for about 5 workers. You would have about 5-6 shelters in your lumber base. People may ask, why so many shelters? Well does it really matter? I mean, it's just a few more shelters for a faster lumber rate. If you really don't want to feed that many shelters, then just deny them with fruit trees (deny the fruit trees after wards too), your hunter, or even with your own builder as well.
REMEMBER TO WALL THE ENTRANCE WITH A FRUIT TREE SO THE TITAN CAN'T WW UP TO YOU AND GET A FREE KILL!Here is a screenshot of this strategy:
The second strategy is a bit more feed-reducing. It is basically just less shelters placed a bit more away from the trees, so more workers can share the same shelter. Some use 3 or 4, some even use only 1 to reduce feed to the maximum. If you want to reduce feed even more, you might want to deny those shelters as well.
Here is a screenshot of this strategy:
The final strategy is a teeny bit more difficult, and is used so there is more space in your base. This lumbering strategy is... lumbering in slots! People don't like having to make room for shelters in their base for lumber because they want more free space, so they build shelters in slots.
There are however, downsides to this strategy though. If Titans are smart, they can use their Minion to summon smaller critters that fight for them and destroy your shelters. The Titan can also easily nuke your workers to gain free experience points.
I'm going to stress this, I really encourage you NOT to use this lumbering style, as it tends to feed... especially in inhouses.Here is a screenshot of this strategy:
[Part 2:] Okay, now that you know the lumber strategies, get lumbering! After you have around 500 wood, select your shelter and upgrade "Improved Lumber Harvesting", and then "Advanced Lumber Harvesting". This may sound like you're wasting your lumber on a stupid upgrade, but in the long run, it'll get you way more wood then you used on this. Also, once you have enough lumber, be sure to replace your fruit tree blocking the entrances with walls... and upgrade them (upgrading walls requires your Troll Lodge)!
I also advise you to share controls with people you trust. They can help you detonate your workers when needed, and this is very common in inhouses.
Denying FeedYes, there are ways to deny feed. One of the ways is just by denying your lumber base. So you make a few shelters, and have two fruit trees ready. Weaken all the shelters and both fruit trees until you only need one more attack from a fruit tree to kill it.
Shelters = S - Fruit Trees = F
S S S S S
F F
Select both fruit trees and (HOLDING SHIFT) attack all your shelters and THEN attack both fruit trees. This way, your two fruit trees will kill everything and themselves.
If you just want to simply deny all 6 of your fruit trees without having to use your builder to attack, do this:
1 2 3
4 5 6
Select all 6 of your fruit trees, and kill 4, 5, and 6. Now that you only have 1, 2, and 3 left, ONLY select 1 and 2 and then (HOLDING SHIFT) attack 3 and THEN attack both 1 and 2.
Still thirsty to annoy the Titan more by denying feed? Another source of food for the Titan are walls: they may not seem to feed, but they do... trust me. Titans in inhouses LOVE walls. While you're golding and you see the Titan is attacking your wall, put your DotA skills to the test. When Titan has damaged the wall he's attacking to the point where it only needs one more attack, DENY IT! Yes you heard me, deny the wall right when the Titan's about to kill it. Not only does it reduce exp and gold feed, it also annoys the Titan. Of course, this doesn't have to be only used at mound, you can do this anywhere else as well.
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Mid Game[Part 1:] Well, there's not much to do mid game except loot for gold, or construct a base.
If it is safe to go golding, right-click the coin icon to autocast it (if you don't, you won't be able to gold) then do so. But remember, your only escape ability is Wind Walk! An easy counter to Wind Walk is a pearl, or a reveal ability. This means the first 6 gold you get, you should use it to buy a Staff of Teleportation in case you get trapped or something. Titans can be really devious. While you're looting you
MUST make sure you know where the Titan is at ALL times. You have to also beware of the Teleport the Titan is able to use. One tiny mistake, and POW! You're a goner.
Here is what a Staff of Teleportation looks like:
[Part 2:] The other thing you can do is base. Before you go basing, you have to make sure you know where the Titan is, because you just might bump into him. I will explain more in Section 7 (How to base/wall).
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Late Game... Gold Penalty![Part 1:] OMGOMGOMG! It's finally Gold Penalty time! This means you finally get Mega towers! But that's not it, you also get to build your Advanced Research Center for Haste (increases tower attack speed by 20%), Spiked Structures (makes walls and towers deal damage to enemy attackers), Hunter/Gatherer Survival Training (increases hunter and worker hp by 300), and upgrade your lumbering to the fullest.
An awesome full-proof technique you can use is called "Worker Blocking". This technique is most effective when the Worker Upgrade is complete and your workers have 400hp. It's simple. Just build two shelters as walls at the back (hotkey them) and spam them when the Titan comes. Why? To trap the Titan of course.
REMEMBER to set a rally point to where you want your workers to block! And remember, if you have a waller, warn them not to go near your shelters, as they may be trapped in your workers.
You can even use the workers to act as human walls and annoy the crap out of the Titan. If he starts nuking your workers, just detonate them and start spamming them again!
Here is how you should place your shelters:
Also, remember to always have a Gnoll Tracker bought and ready, to suddenly screw the Titan over when he Wind Walks.
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How to base/wall[Part 1:] OK, now that you're ready to start raping, select your base! Don't know which one to pick? Here are some choices for you.
Red = Good | Yellow = Average
Some of you may be wondering, why did I make some of the usual bases 'average'? It's simply because it doesn't have enough concentration on all sides, and you can get nuked easier. The ones that I circled red are the bases that have mass tower concentration, harder to nuke, etc.
[Part 2:] The question when basing is:
How many towers do I need? Well, it all depends on the situation.
Say you're basing early and only have around 5-8k wood, you should have around 8 towers.
You have a decent amount of lumber (around 12k), you should have around 12 towers.
You've gathered up an amazing amount of lumber (around 20k), you should probably have 15+ towers.
And instead of building more and more towers if you have extra wood, you might want to consider saving it up for Mega Towers, so you can dominate even more late-game.
Remember, you want to save up lumber for your walls as well, not just upgrading your towers.
A GOOD DEFENSE, IS A GOOD OFFENSE!
[Part 3:] If you don't have enough towers, you're screwed. If you don't have enough walls, you're screwed too. In order to make a good base, you must know how to wall! The best and easiest way to wall is the "Reverse Arrow". It basically increases concentration to the maximum, and harder for the Titan to break in.
Here is a screenshot of "Reverse Arrow" walling:
Be sure you don't make it too deep, or else the Titan can just siege through one side while the other side is useless.
[Part 4:] Wait... there's another way to "Reverse Arrow"
Yes, there is. It is basically just a half a space difference. Some people prefer using this style, while some others use the normal way. Heads up though, this walling style is actually more effective, as you have more towering capabilities, etc etc.
Here is a screenshot of "Reverse Arrow 2" walling:
[Part 5:] Now that you've learned how to wall, let's start towering! Remember, Troll towers each cost 4 food, so you shouldn't make THAT many... unless you have enough wood. It is best if you make both sides symmetrical, so both sides have even firepower.
Done towering? Upgrade them so the Titan can't break through! Once you're done that, select your Troll Lodge, and start making your Hunter for a cost of 400 wood. After your Titan Hunter is complete, destroy a wall inside and blink your Titan Hunter in. It is very useful because unlike some other Hunters, yours is ranged, therefore it is able to destroy "Healing Wards" and also act as a tower, dealing damage to the Titan.
If Minions start nuking your Titan Hunter, make sure you blink it back inside where it's safe immediately. If you don't, POW! +15 gold, anyone?
Here is a screenshot of where you should blink your Hunter:
If you have a Merchant, stock up all the summons on your Hunter, and when the Titan is sieging your base, blink out and summon everything on him! But ONLY do that when you're sure you'll kill him, or else the Titan will just feed off your Titan Hunter for a +15g.
HOWEVER... in the worst case scenario, Titan may spot your base while in construction, and you know you cannot tower quick enough. There is no way to hold off the Titan in this situation, BUT what you can do is try to deny your feed. Select all your towers that you've built, and use them to start attacking each other.
In situations where you DO NOT want to feed, I suggest the best possible way is to suicide. Just simply continuously attack the Titan using your builder, and sooner or later (hopefully), he'll kill you. People do this often in inhouses too!
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How to NOT DIE![Part 2:] One wrong move, and you can say bye-bye to your builder. There are many, many ways to die: Nuking, Wind Walk, Teleport, etc. But the one I'll be explaining to you right now is "Nuking". Smart Titans will siege a few walls, wait for you to re-wall, and when you do, the Titan and his Minions will nuke you to death. In case you didn't know, "nukes" are skills that both Titans and Minions have (Tainted Blood, Crushing Wave, etc.) that deal damage to units at a range.
Wanna know how to counter this? There is no way to counter nuking, but there are ways to avoid it. First of all, if it is just one useless wall that is destroyed, then don't bother re-walling. Another way is to have workers act as walls (after worker upgrade) so you don't have to go out and rewall.
Remember, always stay at the back where you cannot get nuked, and don't get near another unit, because it may bounce the nuke to you. Only go out to rewall when you know the Titan and Minions are at a safe distance.
[Part 3:] Another way to not die is by "Juking". This technique is basically placing a building at a chokepoint, forcing the enemy to stop in its tracks. This technique allows a space for you to walk through, but not for the enemy. Juking is also going where the enemy does not think you'll go.
Okay, pretend the Titan has landed a blow on you. You activate Wind Walk, and run BACKWARDS. Since most players run forward, the Titan will think you've did the same, but little does he know, you've predicted his movements!
Here are a few screenshots of how you juke at a chokepoint:
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Notice how I didn't complete the Fruit Tree and Troll Lodge. That is because you cannot waste ANY time when juking. If the Titan/Minion tries to destroy your building, then just simply cancel it to deny the feed.
FOR MORE JUKING, JUMPING STRATEGIES AND MORE, PLEASE REFER TO STRIKER'S GUIDE ON HOW TO ANNOY THE TITAN:
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Just for LAFFS!Zzz... are YOU getting bored of playing the same old Island Defense OVER and OVER again? Do you want to have some more fun?! If you do, then try some of these!
(Note, some of these may make you lose the game, but it's the fun that matters, right?) [Part 1:] Strategy Numero 1: TRY SOMETHING NEW! What exactly can you try out?
For once, try basing somewhere that you think is totally unreasonable. Somewhere that other players would laugh at you for basing, and call you a "noob". Ignore them, because this wacky base of yours will possibly and probably turn out far better than theirs.
Example = Bottom Left base of Gold Mound, where players usually go when they're Radioactive or Nature.This may sound crazy, but you can even base wide out in the open (will only work on Titans up to level 6 or so), just make sure you've upgraded all your towers. From personal experience, yes I have succeeded many times with this technique, and a lot of other decent players have too.
[Part 2:] Speaking of basing wide in the open... another sweet fun thing you can do is leave mass factories / power plants / factories out in the open (works better at the beginning). Make sure you have some walls ready though. The low level Titan (hopefully he's 2-5) will come to your "feed" and will realize he is being damaged a lot, and that's where your walls come in. Wall the Titan in, and if you're lucky, there will be builders nearby to help poke the Titan, and you will be able to slay the Titan.
Now, that technique doesn't always work and may result in feeding, but if you want a free Minion kill, you can use that to lure him in. This works better with Nature, as you can use your harvesters to trap the Minion in using Fruit Trees.
[Part 3:] (This technique requires extreme micro) Detonation can help a lot by debuffing spells, such as Wand of the Wind, Eye of the Ocean, and even a stun. That's where your workers come in and your
craaazy micro-management. Send about 3-5 workers to the middle at the beginning (I suggest using Nature, since you can always remake your workers and do not need lumber as much) and now you wait. When you find that Titan has used WotW on you or another builder, quickly detonate one of your workers onto him, and HOPEFULLY this will save the player.
Now here comes the tricky part: Remember, you do not want to constantly keep feeding the Titan your workers. Whenever you think the Titan is about to nuke your workers or kill them, DETONATE THEM QUICK! This will annoy the Titan severely and you can remake your workers afterwards. Think about it this way, you may be wasting your time by saving other players, but in return, nobody dies and you get more gold!
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F.A.Q.Q. "WTF I WAS WIND WALK'D, HOW DID U ATK ME??"
A. Obvious answer. The Titan either used an ability to reveal you, or he used Pearl of Vision. Remember, even if the Titan maphacks, he cannot attack you unless he has sight of you.
Q. "Why'd they make the Tower's food cost more than others?"
A. Troll towers are way stronger than other towers, therefore they have to increase the food cost.
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Credits?Thanks to...
Single Player Mode
Single Player Mode... again.
Murs for teaching me everything I know about ID!
Kama for encouraging me to make this guide by creating a contest on .org.
Striker's guide.
etc etc.
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Changelogv1.1
-updated guide from 2.8.5c to 2.8.5e with various changes such as tower damage
-added in Wind Walk description
-changed some typos and wording
-modified the 'where you should put your shelter' screen-shot
v1.2
-added different ways of denying feed
-added a link to Striker's guide on how to annoy the Titan
v1.3
-a "Just for LAFFS!" section is added
v1.4
-added in a part in "How to base/wall" that tells you the amount of towers you should have (thanks garthummn)
-changed some spacing a bit
-added an extra con
-put in advice on sharing controls
-added in that you should blink Hunter out when nuked
v1.5
-changed some spacing in the ultimate towers section
-fixed something that was missing in the buildings section
v1.6
-updated the wind walk description as of 2.8.5g
v2.0
-fixed the anchoring that aflacduck failed to do (LOL JK).
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The End Thanks for reading!
