ondar is a Ganker; in fact, one of the best. He has Critical Strike and Evasion squeezed into a Single Ability, a Windwalk with solid back-stab damage, a deadly 325 damage nuke with a ministun; and Track - granting Armor Reduction, MS bonus to you and nearby allies, vision of the enemy, invisibility detection, and a fancy bonus to gold when killing the target: an ability you will learn to absolutely love.
If you like popping out of nowhere with your team close by and devastating enemies, earning yourself some fat cash even if you miss the kill, then Gondar is for you. If you're pussy who likes to mindlessly slap creeps out on a lane or you like to farm in the jungle for hours on end instead of ganking -- then find yourself a different hero. I cannot say this enough: you're not a farmer, you're a Ganker. You will roam around the map with allies picking off enemies. Prepare to make crying babby Rikimaru and Clinkz players ragequit.
PROS:
[+] Shuriken is a beautiful nuke with a mini-stun.
[+] Windwalk allows you to escape a lot of situations.
[+] You counter invisibility heroes with Track.
[+] You can get gold almost entirely from teamfights, even if you never land a kill.
[+] AGI Gain and Jinada Passive allows you to be a DPS semi-carry lategame. (21 + 3.0)
[+] Extremely high MS (315)
CONS:
[--] You're ugly as shit.
[--] Mana problems.
[--] Fragile.
[--] No inherent farming abilities.
:Skills:
Shuriken Toss
The Bounty Hunter throws a shuriken at a target unit, dealing damage.
[Level 1] - 100 Damage
[Level 2] - 200 Damage (Increases by 100)
[Level 3] - 250 Damage (Increases by 50)
[Level 4] - 325 Damage (Increases by 75)
Cooldown: 10 Seconds.
Mana Cost: 90/115/135/155
Casting Range: 650
Shuriken Toss is a powerful nuke, and is unique in that it's greatest effectiveness arrives when you have two points into it. It's not rare for you to finish weakened heroes with this amazing ability once Gondar reaches Level 3. When with a competent laning partner, as I should expect you to be, Windwalk+Shuriken out of nowhere devastates most heroes.
---
[Damage Calculations - Don't Waste Mana!]
To finish off an enemy hero with Shuriken, they must be below: 75, 150, 188, 244 life.
We'll call those your Magic Numbers.
When playing Gondar it's essential that you do not waste mana. Do not attempt to track and combo a hero that has 1000+ life with no ally around; you'll only exhaust your abilities and end up getting hurt in the process - meaning you get no kill and have to go back to the fountain to heal. The reason I included such a precise chart is so that you have an idea of how much damage you can deal; so you know which prey to go after. If you see a hero pushing with under 400 life, feel free to tear through him like paper.
Remember your "Magic Numbers". When enemies are running to their tower or otherwise you are unable to catch up, NEVER Shuriken unless they are under the bracket! Don't forget your magic numbers: 75, 150, 188, 244. If you can't finish an enemy, don't bother wasting your precious mana as Shuriken is a very expensive nuke; especially for an Agility Hero. Often times I see players using Gondar waste their precious mana only to get an enemy down to 20 life when they are heading back to heal anyways. The only exception is if you think an ally can finish with a long-range nuke after you use your Shuriken; just don't be foolish with such an unforgiving mana pool.
[Late-game Shuriken]
When Late-game rolls around, you'll no longer be using Shuriken as a nuke - but instead as a means to cancel dangerous Channeling abilities like Shackles, Freezing Field, Epicenter, or someone's BoT/Scroll of TP. This means instead of opening up with your nuke, you may often want to hang onto it and use it when the time is right.
Wind Walk
Turns invisible for a period of time. Deals bonus backstab damage.
[Level 1] - 30 backstab damage, lasts 15 seconds. 1 second fade.
[Level 2] - 60 backstab damage, lasts 20 seconds. 0.75 second fade.
[Level 3] - 90 backstab damage, lasts 25 seconds. 0.5 second fade.
[Level 4] - 120 backstab damage, lasts 30 seconds. 0.25 second fade.
Cooldown: 15 Seconds.
Mana Cost: 50
Windwalk is what makes you a true assassin and a dangerous ganker. Don't feel as if you invincible because you can invis-away at the last second, though. Wards, Dust, Gem, and other anti-invisibility abilities can be easily obtained to destroy you. The main purpose of this ability is to get in close and dodge thrown-spells like Stormbolt. Windwalk is often considered, like I said above, an escape-mechanism. True, it's quite an amazing ability for doing so, but it's other uses are too commonly neglected.
---
[Initiating with Windwalk]
A common mistake for Initiating with invisibility is to simply "right-click" on the enemy hero then cast a spell immediately after. It's not necessarily terrible, but there are much better ways to open with it. First off, try to wait around invisible until your allies are ready. Have your teammates rush out to attack the enemy(s) and backstab and track when the time is right. When coming out of invisibility, you want to make sure you're "blocking" the enemy. Be at an awkward angle so the enemy will either have to fumble around you or go the other way -- running into your team.
When Initiating against 2 or more heroes, things are a bit different. You often want to place yourself so that you can tap one hero while being remotely far away from the second enemy. Wait until the enemies move apart a bit, or until one gets distracted by something else. Once again, wait until your team comes up before you reveal yourself that way you don't get focused immediately -- you'll be torn apart with even basic nukes. And, of course, NEVER try to initiate when you don't have a confident team that will gank with you. It's not too rare, especially in public games, for your team to back away like pussies when you try to set up a gank.
[Dodging Spells]
There are many heroes that have point and click spells that can easily be dodged. Make these heroes cry when they waste their precious mana only for you to dodge it with an ability that only costs 50! It's even better than dodging with Blink because you can also move up to them and backstab them too. Hooray. Let's take a look at some abilities you can disjoint avoid with Wind-Walk:
Stuns
Vengeful Spirit's Magic Missile.
Sven's Storm Bolt.
Skeleton King's Hellfire Blast.
Witch Doctor's Paralyzing Cask.
Alchemist's Unstable Concoction.
Nukes
Broodmother's Spawn Spiderlings.
Queen of Pain's Shadow Strike & Scream of Pain.
Tinker's Heat Seeking Missile.
Mirana's Starfall
Ultimate Skills
Juggernaut's Omnislash.
Luna's Eclipse.
Furion's Wrath of Nature.
Pugna's Life Drain.
Netherdrake's Viper Strike.
Yo I'm Lich's Chain Frost
It's Worth Noting that Sniper's Assassinate, Tidehunter's Gush, Ogre Magi's Ignite, Phantom Lancer's Spirit Lance, and other spells specifically cannot be dodged; and certain abilities that are stormbolt-based move too quickly to be dodged. Just keep in mind that dodging spells with WW provides as an extremely handy tool for making enemies waste mana. Always remember which heroes have abilities that you can dodge and be prepared to tap W as soon as you see them try to throw a nuke at you. It may take a bit of practice when timing it, but it can be amazing when you pull it off correctly.
TIP: When you level up Windwalk, your "fade time" (the time it takes for you to become fully invisible) is reduced, allowing a safer escape!
[Invisibility Detectors!]
Warning! If you are near a tower, or they have some other form of invisibility-detection, dodging spells will NOT work! To ensure that there are no wards around, wander around invisible first to see if they attack you, and check everyone's inventories for Gems and Dust.
[Dodging Spells Part II: "Baiting"]
There's nothing more satisfying than baiting an enemy into wasting a spell only to Dodge it. Get into a position where your enemy will want to try and throw an ability at you then immediately wind-walk away from it. This works especially well if you act like a moron; making them believe they can get an easy kill by stunning you. Although this is not necessarily recommended against all types of players, because this little trick can be foiled with invis-detection or the enemy having allies coming to gank you while you're messing around. If you open up a gank by running out and dodging a spell; things are already far into your favor as the enemy will rarely have enough time to let his ability's cooldown refresh. You can also bait heroes like Pudge and PotM into using Meathook / Elune's Arrow by standing still and waiting for them to use their ability, then instantly moving out of the way.
[Windwalk as an Escape Mechanism]
Windwalk is also a great escape mechanism, but like I've said before -- you're not invincible because you can turn invisible. Not only can they get invisibility, they can use abilities on the ground like Shockwave, Fissure, Light-Strike Array, etc. to finish you off. Never wait until the last second to Windwalk and always make sure they have no true-sight. It's important to juke in an unexpected way when using Windwalk. If you Windwalk and move in the direction you were already running as you transitioned, they will aim a spell in that same direction about 95% of the time. Windwalk, then about a second later, randomly turn sharply and head a new direction to throw them off. If they see you turning during transition time, they may notice what you're trying to do, so be careful -- especially against intelligent players.
TIP: If you have a Scroll of Town Portal or Boots of Travel, you can teleport while invisible!
Jinada
Passively adds a critical strike and maim to Bounty Hunter's next attack, has a cooldown. Slows for 25% attack and movement speed at all levels.
[Level 1] - 1.4x critical multiplier. 12 second cooldown.
[Level 2] - 1.6x critical multiplier. 10 second cooldown.
[Level 3] - 1.8x critical multiplier. 8 second cooldown.
[Level 4] - 2.0x critical multiplier. 6 second cooldown.
Passive Ability
Sweet and Simple. This ability is what allows you to remain a solid hero as the game progresses into its later stages. The crippling effect allows you to chase down enemies without fail and the Critical Strike means you will not be subjected to Crystalis or Buriza so you can focus on the big-boy DPS items like Monkey King Bar and Stygian.
It's important to note that unlike other critical strike abilities, this one is based on a cooldown and not a %-chance, which means attack speed does not really benefit you compared to raw damage.
TIP: Did you know Critical hits also work with Lifesteal from items like Vladmir's offering?
---
[Maximizing Potential]
The best effects to accompany critical damage are Lifesteal, Cleaving Attack, and of course: Pure Damage. Since you won't be farming, grabbing a Battlefury is extremely foolish -- it will give you way too much incentive to farm instead of gank. Lifesteal is powerful and can allow you to recover from near-death situations, so that's definitely something we will look into. Finally comes pure, unrefined damage. The best items for pure damage are Stygian Desolator and Monkey King Bar; so we'll have to decide which one is the best for your particular situation. Item discussion will be later; but for the most part, Jinada has no vital tactics to learn -- so that's about it for this ability.
Track (Ultimate)
Tracks an enemy hero for 30 seconds or until it dies. Allied units near the tracked target gain 20% movement speed increase. If the target dies, Bounty Hunter gets bonus gold.
[Level 1] - 75 bonus gold, reduces target's armor by 1.
[Level 2] - 150 bonus gold, reduces target's armor by 3.
[Level 3] - 225 bonus gold, reduces target's armor by 5.
Cooldown: 10/7/5 Seconds.
Manacost: 70/60/50
Casting Range: 750/950/1150
Aura Range: 900 (Allies within this range of the tracked target get the movement speed bonus and bonus gold within 925 range)
Track is a wonderful ability, and is why Gondar remains a commonly picked hero for countering invisibility heroes such as Rikimaru. Track gives you wicked movement speed so you can chase down enemies with ease and gives you a hefty amount of bonus gold when the hero dies. Remember that you don't have to be the one who last-hits the hero to get your bonus -- as long as it dies you can claim your reward.
---
[Tagging with Track]
Make sure you Track early and often! It's rather cheap, gives a nice MS bonus, and allows you to see the enemy. Even if you're too low life or out of mana to help your team gank, a Track can make things much easier for your allies as they won't be outran or lose sight of the enemy in fog of war. Tagging every enemy with Track also lands you that delicious bonus to gold when the target dies -- and if you're good, virtually every single kill on the enemy team for the entire game will give you bonus gold due to Track. Tagging with Track early also ensures that heroes like Treant Protector, Rikimaru, Clinkz, etc. won't be able to go invisible and ruin your gank. Make sure you're always with your team against enemy invisibility heroes so your never has to waste money on wards or dust!
[Slingshot-Chasing]
Whenever an enemy can outrun you and you can't get close enough to use Track or get within Track's MS Aura, you can always count on another nearby enemy to help you out. Use Track on the other enemy so you get the MS bonus from them, then charge up to the much weaker target you were initially chasing. Although this is a rare tactic, it's helped me numerous times when chasing down low-life heroes that need only a single Shuriken Toss to kill. Sometimes its better to go out of your way to Track a different enemy just to get the MS boost. Don't forget the range of the Aura is 925 -- just a little farther than the range of a tower -- and lasts 1 additional second after leaving that range.
TIP: If a tracked target dies, you'll recieve bonus gold no matter where you are or how they died. Only your allies need to be within the 925 range to receive bonus gold.
:Ability Order:
Why not max Shuriken? - Because the mana-cost is too high consider the damage goes up in such small increments compared to the first jump from level 1 to 2. Not to mention you get lot more damage out of Windwalk considering the damage and duration increase while the mana cost stats the same. It's a common mistake to think "Oh max out Shuriken for maximum burst" but for an extra 40 mana per cast and two more levels you're only getting 125 extra magic damage. Also since Windwalk is physical, it's a lot more dangerous early into the game.
:Notable Threats:
Who they are, and how to deal with them.
Slardar
Gondar's Arch-Nemesis. His ultimate is essentially identical to yours - a single target debuff that reduces armor and reveals the target. The primary difference is his reduces armor further instead of granting movement speed and gold bounty bonus. The problem is - Slardar is not an invisibility hero, and you are.
If Slardar is getting to be a real problem, you can buy a diffusal to counter his. With enemies knowing your position even while invisible, it's really hard to escape from fights or initiate them. Also, his stuns wreck your shit and he's one of the few heroes that is going to not only keep up with your mobility but actually outrun you with his Sprint. Scary as hell, I recommend you stay away from this guy.
Lion
Let's see your weaknesses... low mana pool, low hit points, and vulnerable to disables. Oh hey, Lion has the exploit to all three of those things! With over 5 solid seconds of disable, mana drain, and his powerful single-target nuke - Lion is a total pain. It's obvious that disables/nukes are painful for all heroes - but Lion is worthy of mention simply because all 4 of his abilities screw you over and you should try to kill him as soon as possible every fight. Luckily for you, Lion is also squishy and if you catch him at low life you can destroy him with your combo.
Drow Ranger
With her long silence and slow, she can kite you (attacking then running out melee attack range, repeating this process until you're dead) and she can prevent you from running away. Without access to your invisibility, she's very dangerous to deal with. On the flipside, most Drow Rangers buy Lothar's (invisibility) early into the game and you can make sure she never escapes with it. The real issue is, even if you get the jump on Drow, by the time late-game rolls around you're gonna have a real hard time actually fighting her unless you've got way better farm and a BKB to counter her slow.
Tiny
There are a lot of burst-damage heroes out there, unless you're a total retard you're already well aware that nukes kill soft heroes - I don't have to list off every nuker in existence. However, Tiny is one of the few gankers that is able to kill you before you even have a chance to react. Blinking out of Fog and slapping down his 1000 damage combo can make you constantly hide in fear which is never fun for a Hunter. Your best bet is to have really good vision on the map with wards, and constantly be aware of Tiny's position. If he's missing from your minimap, don't be in plain sight. Even if you have invisibility, a good tiny will bring dust or just combo you faster than you can hit your Windwalk hotkey. If he is constantly slapping your shit, buy Bracers and/or Hood until you can survive his combo then run away. It's always best to track THEN invis so you get the movement speed.
:Item Build:
STARTING ITEMS
This is my usual starting-build. Ogre Gauntlets, Circlet, GG Branch, and 6x Tangos.
I suggest finding a lane with an ally that has a Basilius as it will indefinitely help you with early on mana problems. If you are unable to lane with a RoB-user, then I suggest you get a few Clarities instead of the Ogre Gauntlets. You want to quickly get Boots, as your primary purpose is to move around quickly and gank. While out on your lane, you can also buy a Magic Stick from your shop (then later upgrade it). It's an amazing item in almost any line-up since you can recover quite a lot of mana from teamfights and ganks -- which you will be constantly apart of.
In addition to magic wand, you might want another mana-solver to tie you over until you've completed your core items. Once you've purchased your second DPS items (Like Monkey King Bar, Sange and Yasha, etc.) you can sell one of your mana-solvers since you'll have high enough int to sustain your mana costs throughout a teamfight.
I want to make a quick mention of Quelling Blade and Stout Shield. Both are good, but neither are necessary. Take that with a grain of salt. If you're getting out-harassed/out-last hit you may want to buy one or the other.
MANA-SOLVERS
+
OR 
OR 
OR 
OR 
Shuriken is an expensive nuke and if you want to be able to use it, Windwalk and Track consistently, I recommend getting some mana-regen items. Magic Stick is essential, then you can chose from of the following items.
Bottle: Good if you go Solo Mid, or if you're roaming a lot. If you can manage to control the runes effectively, Bottle is the best value. Typically speaking, you could get Bottle + Soul Ring and skip the wand altogether, since they make a nice little combo.
Soul Ring: Like a mini-perseverance but you can also activate it to trade life for mana. Although it makes a fragile ganker even more soft, it allows you to Guarantee you can Shuriken even if you're out of mana which can be very important on a hero like Gondar. This is typically what I build if I don't get a Bottle.
Ring of Basilius: This item is awesome on almost any hero, but don't get it if someone else on your team already got one or plans on getting one. You can also turn it into Vladimir's Offering towards late-game if you see fit.
Urn of Shadows: Not so much a mana-regen item as it is a life-regen and ganking item. It still gives you +50% Mana Regen which is nice, but ultimately you're going to grab one of these if nobody else did and you're able to get a lot of ganks in.
Bracer: If all else fails, build a bracer. The extra HP-padding can be important.
---
CORE BUILD
Stygian is an obvious choice. You need pure damage and there's none better than good old Stygian for that. A single bracer should be fine, but if you're starting to die or need to go back to base a lot, you might want to build another one.
Medallion of Courage can be considered situational, but god damn this item is strong. I cannot think of any situations where it's not worth purchasing unless you are getting insane farm and want to just flat-out rush huge DPS items. It also gives you +50% mana regen which really helps ease the pain of that 155 mana cost on your Shuriken.
TIP: Always keep around a Scroll of Town Portal on hand unless you have Boots of Travel. They can help you escape from nasty situations, move around for ganks, and instantly defend towers!
Your next major item is usually going to be Monkey King Bar. It grants amazing damage output and works well with Critical Strike for that reason alone. After MKB you might want to consider Assault for even more negative armor and attack speed, or Black King Bar to become invulnerable to nukes for several seconds so you can unleash your full damage potential. Here's a list of all the items you might consider.
[Additional Item Breakdown]
MONKEY KING BAR (5400 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
FANTASTIC item to get after Stygian -- in fact it's, in my opinion, the perfect next option. There are even situations where I'd recommend SKIPPING Stygian for this beautiful halberd. It gives you massive +80 damage and 15% IAS, giving you some fierce DPS in addition to the ministun, and it COMPLETELY counters dodge heroes.
BLACK KING BAR (3900 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
Black King Bar allows you unleash hell on your enemies without the risk of being disabled, but is setting you back 3,800 gold for only a small amount of damage and life otherwise. I do not recommend building this until you have at least 2 to 3 solid (4000+ gold) DPS items; otherwise you're just distracting from your main purpose as DPS. Never forget your main role as Gondar -- a DPS-heavy ganker.
ASSAULT CUIRASS (5350 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
Despite the attack speed not being your primary focus, Assault is an ideal choice against a primarily physical enemy line-up. The auras can help out your team significantly and the minus armor, combined with Desolator, Track, and Medallion brings your grand total of negative armor to 22. Holy smokes!
SANGE & YASHA (4300 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
SnY is no longer an orb, and therefore is an excellent item to grab after your Desolator. It gives you amazing mobility, good balance of DPS/Survivability, and lets you bring all enemies to a cripple with Jinada+Greater Maim. When you're being outran by opponents (which is quite rare due to Track - but it happens), Sange and Yasha is awesome. If the enemies have lots of blinks, however, you should probably stick to pure DPS.
VLADIMIR'S OFFERING (2050 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
If nobody else bought it, and you got an early basilius, it's only 1500g for fantastic item. This really shines in teamfights when your entire team is benefiting from the effects, but most importantly it gives you lifesteal without giving up that precious Desolator orb. It's definitely a good option after your Desolator.
DIFFUSAL BLADE (3300 GOLD)(+850 to upgrade)
[Verdict: Situational]
As an alternate to Stygian altogether, Diffusal is actually a great item. It provides Agility (which you need) intelligence (which helps) mana burn, and most importantly Purge. If you don't think you're very farmed or that you don't want to attempt to Carry your team this is a nice supportive item for Purging enemies; especially dangerous steroid ultimates or nasty buffs like Repel. The fact that this item can be upgraded to restock charges is what truly makes Diffusal viable. However, do NOT get Diffusal if you plan on Stygian -- orbs don't stack and you'd be wasting a perfectly good effect.
Buy Purge against heroes such as these:
Warning: Using Purge will remove Track's buff! Make sure to purge the enemy first before using Track, or be able to cast track again immediately after purging.
ORCHID MALEVOLENCE (5025 GOLD)
[Verdict: Situational]
Orchid provides excellent DPS and you can silence enemies, meaning that you pretty much rule 1v1 fights and you can completely shut down one of their casters. In many ways Orchid fulfills the role of Guinsoo's Scythe as a powerful single-target disable; the difference being that Orchid also gives really good damage output for the money and is much less expensive.
Buy Orchid against heroes such as these:
LINKEN'S SPHERE (5175 GOLD)
[Verdict: Situational]
I personally feel Black King Bar is better in the majority of situations, but there are some circumstances where blocking a specific spell, such as Doom, can be far more beneficial considering BKB doesn't stop a lot of spells from affecting you. Just keep in mind that people can buy urn, medallion, force staff, etc. to get rid of your Linken's effect so they can cast their abilities properly.
Buy Linken's against heroes such as these:
POWER TREADS (1450 GOLD)
[Verdict: Situational]
The big benefit to buying Power Treads is being able to have psudeo +8 to all stats. (Switch to intelligence when casting shuriken, switch to agility when attacking, switch to strength when you're about to take lots of damage) However considering Jinada is based on a cooldown and not a %-chance like most critical strikes, Phase Boots are much better. Also, Phase Boots gives you amazing mobility. Gondar's Wind Walk does not give you movement speed, so Phase Boots REALLY help. However, given the circumstances, you may want the extra HP and attack speed for pushing down towers and keeping sustained DPS throughout a fight. Honestly this one is more situational than anything else.
BUTTERFLY
[Verdict: Luxury]
After at least 2 other core DPS items, Butterfly is a powerful asset to your arsenal, but this item is strictly a luxury and should never be rushed as your first item even if you have insane gold per minute from ganks.
BOOTS OF TRAVEL (2700 GOLD)
[Verdict: Luxury]
Gives great mobility and free teleportation for the rest of the game, but it's a huge investment for something that gives you no DPS. I usually sell off my boots and buy BoT if the game goes on long enough to where that extra slot is really important to have, because not carrying some form of teleportation is a crime against humanity.
DIVINE RAPIER
[Verdict: Luxury]
If you're really cocky and you just want to end a game, Divine Rapier is always an option after your core items are done. It gives ridiculous damage for the amount of cash spent and pretty much turns you into a DPS-Machine. Make sure you take down Roshan and grab an Aegis if you decide to buy a DR. I'd say your team should be winning by at least a set of rax before considering Divine Rapier.
CRANIUM BASHER (2950 GOLD)
[Verdict: No]
This honestly seems like a good choice on Gondar at a first glance; the main problem is that it doesn't grant any real good DPS for an offensive item, setting you back over 3000 gold for an item that has a chance to stun. If you have tried bash and like it, then you might want to give it a shot -- but in my opinion it distracts from your core items and Gondar simply doesn't have enough attack speed to pull it off effectively. Unless you think you know better than I do, stay away from this item.
ORB LIFESTEAL ITEMS
[Verdict: No]
Vlad's is better, to be frank about it. Orb effect lifesteal items simply aren't worth purchasing when you consider how much better.
MANTA STYLE (4900 GOLD)
[Verdict: No]
I feel that Stygian is core on Gondar and Illusions do not benefit from raw bonus damage which makes Manta seem less appealing right away. Furthermore your low hit-points is problematic, which is why most Manta users buy Vanguard beforehand, and your mana-pool is too low to consistently have illusions ready.
DAGON & NECRONOMICON
[Verdict: No]
Items like Dagon and Book are pretty nifty for ganking heroes, but I personally think they're a waste. Once you hit Mid-Late game the effectiveness of these items will be significantly reduced, and if you got them you'll have a very hard time dealing physical damage. Neither Necronomicon or Dagon complement Jinada, but book DOES complement your Track somewhat because demons do physical damage. The problem with Book, however, is that it grants a Truesight Aura that you simply don't need -- which is just another effect gone to waste. Not to mention that Dagon requires a LOT of mana at level 1, and you'll find that just sticking to Shuriken would be way better. I'd strongly recommend that you stay away from these items on Gondar; even if they seem awesome at first.
ETHEREAL BLADE (4900 GOLD)
[Verdict: No]
You deal primarily physical damage, and you should be more concerned with flat-damage than agility or attack speed due to how Jinada works.
CRITICAL STRIKE ITEMS
[Verdict: No]
Jinada already gives you Critical Strike, so don't bother with these either.
FARMING ITEMS
[Verdict: No]
Do not bother getting farming items since your main purpose is to GANK. If you honestly need to do a little farming in the jungle during down-times, Stygian's DPS will allow you to take care of neutral creeps pretty fast anyways. If you want to farm, go play a different hero; as Gondar isn't the most effective farmer anyways. Keep in mind that, late-game, Battlefury can be used as a means to anti-push if you fail to carry your team.
Note: Anything else not mentioned should be obvious or too situational not to mention. For example, Vanguard seems nice but you won't deal shit for damage, most caster items are pointless, Janggo is good situationally, Lothar's is full-retard, Heart might be good as one of your last items (after Deso, MKB, BKB, Butterfly, etc.), Skadi doesn't give enough DPS to justify the huge cost and you already Maim people with your attack, and Hood should be purchased against heavy magic damage teams.
:Closing Comments:
At first I felt Gondar was a terribly awkward hero, but when ganking with competent allies; you can be a fatal asset to your team. I've seen many Gondar players get Battlefury and farm it up then devastate late-game; but only in pub-games where they feed off of morons the whole game and get free-farm. If you're ready for a serious match, don't let Gondar's amazing ganking capabilities go to waste because you are farming. Play a hero like Soul Keeper if you want to farm; but not Gondar.
Stick close to my tactics and play aggressively and you will definitely succeed.
If you like popping out of nowhere with your team close by and devastating enemies, earning yourself some fat cash even if you miss the kill, then Gondar is for you. If you're pussy who likes to mindlessly slap creeps out on a lane or you like to farm in the jungle for hours on end instead of ganking -- then find yourself a different hero. I cannot say this enough: you're not a farmer, you're a Ganker. You will roam around the map with allies picking off enemies. Prepare to make crying babby Rikimaru and Clinkz players ragequit.
PROS:
[+] Shuriken is a beautiful nuke with a mini-stun.
[+] Windwalk allows you to escape a lot of situations.
[+] You counter invisibility heroes with Track.
[+] You can get gold almost entirely from teamfights, even if you never land a kill.
[+] AGI Gain and Jinada Passive allows you to be a DPS semi-carry lategame. (21 + 3.0)
[+] Extremely high MS (315)
CONS:
[--] You're ugly as shit.
[--] Mana problems.
[--] Fragile.
[--] No inherent farming abilities.
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:Skills:
Shuriken Toss
The Bounty Hunter throws a shuriken at a target unit, dealing damage.
[Level 1] - 100 Damage
[Level 2] - 200 Damage (Increases by 100)
[Level 3] - 250 Damage (Increases by 50)
[Level 4] - 325 Damage (Increases by 75)
Cooldown: 10 Seconds.
Mana Cost: 90/115/135/155
Casting Range: 650
Shuriken Toss is a powerful nuke, and is unique in that it's greatest effectiveness arrives when you have two points into it. It's not rare for you to finish weakened heroes with this amazing ability once Gondar reaches Level 3. When with a competent laning partner, as I should expect you to be, Windwalk+Shuriken out of nowhere devastates most heroes.
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[Damage Calculations - Don't Waste Mana!]
To finish off an enemy hero with Shuriken, they must be below: 75, 150, 188, 244 life.
We'll call those your Magic Numbers.
When playing Gondar it's essential that you do not waste mana. Do not attempt to track and combo a hero that has 1000+ life with no ally around; you'll only exhaust your abilities and end up getting hurt in the process - meaning you get no kill and have to go back to the fountain to heal. The reason I included such a precise chart is so that you have an idea of how much damage you can deal; so you know which prey to go after. If you see a hero pushing with under 400 life, feel free to tear through him like paper.
Remember your "Magic Numbers". When enemies are running to their tower or otherwise you are unable to catch up, NEVER Shuriken unless they are under the bracket! Don't forget your magic numbers: 75, 150, 188, 244. If you can't finish an enemy, don't bother wasting your precious mana as Shuriken is a very expensive nuke; especially for an Agility Hero. Often times I see players using Gondar waste their precious mana only to get an enemy down to 20 life when they are heading back to heal anyways. The only exception is if you think an ally can finish with a long-range nuke after you use your Shuriken; just don't be foolish with such an unforgiving mana pool.
[Late-game Shuriken]
When Late-game rolls around, you'll no longer be using Shuriken as a nuke - but instead as a means to cancel dangerous Channeling abilities like Shackles, Freezing Field, Epicenter, or someone's BoT/Scroll of TP. This means instead of opening up with your nuke, you may often want to hang onto it and use it when the time is right.
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Wind Walk
Turns invisible for a period of time. Deals bonus backstab damage.
[Level 1] - 30 backstab damage, lasts 15 seconds. 1 second fade.
[Level 2] - 60 backstab damage, lasts 20 seconds. 0.75 second fade.
[Level 3] - 90 backstab damage, lasts 25 seconds. 0.5 second fade.
[Level 4] - 120 backstab damage, lasts 30 seconds. 0.25 second fade.
Cooldown: 15 Seconds.
Mana Cost: 50
Windwalk is what makes you a true assassin and a dangerous ganker. Don't feel as if you invincible because you can invis-away at the last second, though. Wards, Dust, Gem, and other anti-invisibility abilities can be easily obtained to destroy you. The main purpose of this ability is to get in close and dodge thrown-spells like Stormbolt. Windwalk is often considered, like I said above, an escape-mechanism. True, it's quite an amazing ability for doing so, but it's other uses are too commonly neglected.
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[Initiating with Windwalk]
A common mistake for Initiating with invisibility is to simply "right-click" on the enemy hero then cast a spell immediately after. It's not necessarily terrible, but there are much better ways to open with it. First off, try to wait around invisible until your allies are ready. Have your teammates rush out to attack the enemy(s) and backstab and track when the time is right. When coming out of invisibility, you want to make sure you're "blocking" the enemy. Be at an awkward angle so the enemy will either have to fumble around you or go the other way -- running into your team.
When Initiating against 2 or more heroes, things are a bit different. You often want to place yourself so that you can tap one hero while being remotely far away from the second enemy. Wait until the enemies move apart a bit, or until one gets distracted by something else. Once again, wait until your team comes up before you reveal yourself that way you don't get focused immediately -- you'll be torn apart with even basic nukes. And, of course, NEVER try to initiate when you don't have a confident team that will gank with you. It's not too rare, especially in public games, for your team to back away like pussies when you try to set up a gank.
[Dodging Spells]
There are many heroes that have point and click spells that can easily be dodged. Make these heroes cry when they waste their precious mana only for you to dodge it with an ability that only costs 50! It's even better than dodging with Blink because you can also move up to them and backstab them too. Hooray. Let's take a look at some abilities you can disjoint avoid with Wind-Walk:
Stuns
Vengeful Spirit's Magic Missile.
Sven's Storm Bolt.
Skeleton King's Hellfire Blast.
Witch Doctor's Paralyzing Cask.
Alchemist's Unstable Concoction.
Nukes
Broodmother's Spawn Spiderlings.
Queen of Pain's Shadow Strike & Scream of Pain.
Tinker's Heat Seeking Missile.
Mirana's Starfall
Ultimate Skills
Juggernaut's Omnislash.
Luna's Eclipse.
Furion's Wrath of Nature.
Pugna's Life Drain.
Netherdrake's Viper Strike.
Yo I'm Lich's Chain Frost
It's Worth Noting that Sniper's Assassinate, Tidehunter's Gush, Ogre Magi's Ignite, Phantom Lancer's Spirit Lance, and other spells specifically cannot be dodged; and certain abilities that are stormbolt-based move too quickly to be dodged. Just keep in mind that dodging spells with WW provides as an extremely handy tool for making enemies waste mana. Always remember which heroes have abilities that you can dodge and be prepared to tap W as soon as you see them try to throw a nuke at you. It may take a bit of practice when timing it, but it can be amazing when you pull it off correctly.
TIP: When you level up Windwalk, your "fade time" (the time it takes for you to become fully invisible) is reduced, allowing a safer escape!
[Invisibility Detectors!]
Warning! If you are near a tower, or they have some other form of invisibility-detection, dodging spells will NOT work! To ensure that there are no wards around, wander around invisible first to see if they attack you, and check everyone's inventories for Gems and Dust.
[Dodging Spells Part II: "Baiting"]
There's nothing more satisfying than baiting an enemy into wasting a spell only to Dodge it. Get into a position where your enemy will want to try and throw an ability at you then immediately wind-walk away from it. This works especially well if you act like a moron; making them believe they can get an easy kill by stunning you. Although this is not necessarily recommended against all types of players, because this little trick can be foiled with invis-detection or the enemy having allies coming to gank you while you're messing around. If you open up a gank by running out and dodging a spell; things are already far into your favor as the enemy will rarely have enough time to let his ability's cooldown refresh. You can also bait heroes like Pudge and PotM into using Meathook / Elune's Arrow by standing still and waiting for them to use their ability, then instantly moving out of the way.
[Windwalk as an Escape Mechanism]
Windwalk is also a great escape mechanism, but like I've said before -- you're not invincible because you can turn invisible. Not only can they get invisibility, they can use abilities on the ground like Shockwave, Fissure, Light-Strike Array, etc. to finish you off. Never wait until the last second to Windwalk and always make sure they have no true-sight. It's important to juke in an unexpected way when using Windwalk. If you Windwalk and move in the direction you were already running as you transitioned, they will aim a spell in that same direction about 95% of the time. Windwalk, then about a second later, randomly turn sharply and head a new direction to throw them off. If they see you turning during transition time, they may notice what you're trying to do, so be careful -- especially against intelligent players.
TIP: If you have a Scroll of Town Portal or Boots of Travel, you can teleport while invisible!
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Jinada
Passively adds a critical strike and maim to Bounty Hunter's next attack, has a cooldown. Slows for 25% attack and movement speed at all levels.
[Level 1] - 1.4x critical multiplier. 12 second cooldown.
[Level 2] - 1.6x critical multiplier. 10 second cooldown.
[Level 3] - 1.8x critical multiplier. 8 second cooldown.
[Level 4] - 2.0x critical multiplier. 6 second cooldown.
Passive Ability
Sweet and Simple. This ability is what allows you to remain a solid hero as the game progresses into its later stages. The crippling effect allows you to chase down enemies without fail and the Critical Strike means you will not be subjected to Crystalis or Buriza so you can focus on the big-boy DPS items like Monkey King Bar and Stygian.
It's important to note that unlike other critical strike abilities, this one is based on a cooldown and not a %-chance, which means attack speed does not really benefit you compared to raw damage.
TIP: Did you know Critical hits also work with Lifesteal from items like Vladmir's offering?
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[Maximizing Potential]
The best effects to accompany critical damage are Lifesteal, Cleaving Attack, and of course: Pure Damage. Since you won't be farming, grabbing a Battlefury is extremely foolish -- it will give you way too much incentive to farm instead of gank. Lifesteal is powerful and can allow you to recover from near-death situations, so that's definitely something we will look into. Finally comes pure, unrefined damage. The best items for pure damage are Stygian Desolator and Monkey King Bar; so we'll have to decide which one is the best for your particular situation. Item discussion will be later; but for the most part, Jinada has no vital tactics to learn -- so that's about it for this ability.
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Track (Ultimate)
Tracks an enemy hero for 30 seconds or until it dies. Allied units near the tracked target gain 20% movement speed increase. If the target dies, Bounty Hunter gets bonus gold.
[Level 1] - 75 bonus gold, reduces target's armor by 1.
[Level 2] - 150 bonus gold, reduces target's armor by 3.
[Level 3] - 225 bonus gold, reduces target's armor by 5.
Cooldown: 10/7/5 Seconds.
Manacost: 70/60/50
Casting Range: 750/950/1150
Aura Range: 900 (Allies within this range of the tracked target get the movement speed bonus and bonus gold within 925 range)
Track is a wonderful ability, and is why Gondar remains a commonly picked hero for countering invisibility heroes such as Rikimaru. Track gives you wicked movement speed so you can chase down enemies with ease and gives you a hefty amount of bonus gold when the hero dies. Remember that you don't have to be the one who last-hits the hero to get your bonus -- as long as it dies you can claim your reward.
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[Tagging with Track]
Make sure you Track early and often! It's rather cheap, gives a nice MS bonus, and allows you to see the enemy. Even if you're too low life or out of mana to help your team gank, a Track can make things much easier for your allies as they won't be outran or lose sight of the enemy in fog of war. Tagging every enemy with Track also lands you that delicious bonus to gold when the target dies -- and if you're good, virtually every single kill on the enemy team for the entire game will give you bonus gold due to Track. Tagging with Track early also ensures that heroes like Treant Protector, Rikimaru, Clinkz, etc. won't be able to go invisible and ruin your gank. Make sure you're always with your team against enemy invisibility heroes so your never has to waste money on wards or dust!
[Slingshot-Chasing]
Whenever an enemy can outrun you and you can't get close enough to use Track or get within Track's MS Aura, you can always count on another nearby enemy to help you out. Use Track on the other enemy so you get the MS bonus from them, then charge up to the much weaker target you were initially chasing. Although this is a rare tactic, it's helped me numerous times when chasing down low-life heroes that need only a single Shuriken Toss to kill. Sometimes its better to go out of your way to Track a different enemy just to get the MS boost. Don't forget the range of the Aura is 925 -- just a little farther than the range of a tower -- and lasts 1 additional second after leaving that range.
TIP: If a tracked target dies, you'll recieve bonus gold no matter where you are or how they died. Only your allies need to be within the 925 range to receive bonus gold.
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:Ability Order:
Why not max Shuriken? - Because the mana-cost is too high consider the damage goes up in such small increments compared to the first jump from level 1 to 2. Not to mention you get lot more damage out of Windwalk considering the damage and duration increase while the mana cost stats the same. It's a common mistake to think "Oh max out Shuriken for maximum burst" but for an extra 40 mana per cast and two more levels you're only getting 125 extra magic damage. Also since Windwalk is physical, it's a lot more dangerous early into the game.
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:Notable Threats:
Who they are, and how to deal with them.
Slardar
Gondar's Arch-Nemesis. His ultimate is essentially identical to yours - a single target debuff that reduces armor and reveals the target. The primary difference is his reduces armor further instead of granting movement speed and gold bounty bonus. The problem is - Slardar is not an invisibility hero, and you are.
If Slardar is getting to be a real problem, you can buy a diffusal to counter his. With enemies knowing your position even while invisible, it's really hard to escape from fights or initiate them. Also, his stuns wreck your shit and he's one of the few heroes that is going to not only keep up with your mobility but actually outrun you with his Sprint. Scary as hell, I recommend you stay away from this guy.
Lion
Let's see your weaknesses... low mana pool, low hit points, and vulnerable to disables. Oh hey, Lion has the exploit to all three of those things! With over 5 solid seconds of disable, mana drain, and his powerful single-target nuke - Lion is a total pain. It's obvious that disables/nukes are painful for all heroes - but Lion is worthy of mention simply because all 4 of his abilities screw you over and you should try to kill him as soon as possible every fight. Luckily for you, Lion is also squishy and if you catch him at low life you can destroy him with your combo.
Drow Ranger
With her long silence and slow, she can kite you (attacking then running out melee attack range, repeating this process until you're dead) and she can prevent you from running away. Without access to your invisibility, she's very dangerous to deal with. On the flipside, most Drow Rangers buy Lothar's (invisibility) early into the game and you can make sure she never escapes with it. The real issue is, even if you get the jump on Drow, by the time late-game rolls around you're gonna have a real hard time actually fighting her unless you've got way better farm and a BKB to counter her slow.
Tiny
There are a lot of burst-damage heroes out there, unless you're a total retard you're already well aware that nukes kill soft heroes - I don't have to list off every nuker in existence. However, Tiny is one of the few gankers that is able to kill you before you even have a chance to react. Blinking out of Fog and slapping down his 1000 damage combo can make you constantly hide in fear which is never fun for a Hunter. Your best bet is to have really good vision on the map with wards, and constantly be aware of Tiny's position. If he's missing from your minimap, don't be in plain sight. Even if you have invisibility, a good tiny will bring dust or just combo you faster than you can hit your Windwalk hotkey. If he is constantly slapping your shit, buy Bracers and/or Hood until you can survive his combo then run away. It's always best to track THEN invis so you get the movement speed.
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:Item Build:
STARTING ITEMS
This is my usual starting-build. Ogre Gauntlets, Circlet, GG Branch, and 6x Tangos.
I suggest finding a lane with an ally that has a Basilius as it will indefinitely help you with early on mana problems. If you are unable to lane with a RoB-user, then I suggest you get a few Clarities instead of the Ogre Gauntlets. You want to quickly get Boots, as your primary purpose is to move around quickly and gank. While out on your lane, you can also buy a Magic Stick from your shop (then later upgrade it). It's an amazing item in almost any line-up since you can recover quite a lot of mana from teamfights and ganks -- which you will be constantly apart of.
In addition to magic wand, you might want another mana-solver to tie you over until you've completed your core items. Once you've purchased your second DPS items (Like Monkey King Bar, Sange and Yasha, etc.) you can sell one of your mana-solvers since you'll have high enough int to sustain your mana costs throughout a teamfight.
I want to make a quick mention of Quelling Blade and Stout Shield. Both are good, but neither are necessary. Take that with a grain of salt. If you're getting out-harassed/out-last hit you may want to buy one or the other.
MANA-SOLVERS
+ OR OR OR OR Shuriken is an expensive nuke and if you want to be able to use it, Windwalk and Track consistently, I recommend getting some mana-regen items. Magic Stick is essential, then you can chose from of the following items.
Bottle: Good if you go Solo Mid, or if you're roaming a lot. If you can manage to control the runes effectively, Bottle is the best value. Typically speaking, you could get Bottle + Soul Ring and skip the wand altogether, since they make a nice little combo.
Soul Ring: Like a mini-perseverance but you can also activate it to trade life for mana. Although it makes a fragile ganker even more soft, it allows you to Guarantee you can Shuriken even if you're out of mana which can be very important on a hero like Gondar. This is typically what I build if I don't get a Bottle.
Ring of Basilius: This item is awesome on almost any hero, but don't get it if someone else on your team already got one or plans on getting one. You can also turn it into Vladimir's Offering towards late-game if you see fit.
Urn of Shadows: Not so much a mana-regen item as it is a life-regen and ganking item. It still gives you +50% Mana Regen which is nice, but ultimately you're going to grab one of these if nobody else did and you're able to get a lot of ganks in.
Bracer: If all else fails, build a bracer. The extra HP-padding can be important.
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CORE BUILD
Stygian is an obvious choice. You need pure damage and there's none better than good old Stygian for that. A single bracer should be fine, but if you're starting to die or need to go back to base a lot, you might want to build another one.
Medallion of Courage can be considered situational, but god damn this item is strong. I cannot think of any situations where it's not worth purchasing unless you are getting insane farm and want to just flat-out rush huge DPS items. It also gives you +50% mana regen which really helps ease the pain of that 155 mana cost on your Shuriken.
TIP: Always keep around a Scroll of Town Portal on hand unless you have Boots of Travel. They can help you escape from nasty situations, move around for ganks, and instantly defend towers!
Your next major item is usually going to be Monkey King Bar. It grants amazing damage output and works well with Critical Strike for that reason alone. After MKB you might want to consider Assault for even more negative armor and attack speed, or Black King Bar to become invulnerable to nukes for several seconds so you can unleash your full damage potential. Here's a list of all the items you might consider.
[Additional Item Breakdown]
MONKEY KING BAR (5400 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
FANTASTIC item to get after Stygian -- in fact it's, in my opinion, the perfect next option. There are even situations where I'd recommend SKIPPING Stygian for this beautiful halberd. It gives you massive +80 damage and 15% IAS, giving you some fierce DPS in addition to the ministun, and it COMPLETELY counters dodge heroes.
BLACK KING BAR (3900 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
Black King Bar allows you unleash hell on your enemies without the risk of being disabled, but is setting you back 3,800 gold for only a small amount of damage and life otherwise. I do not recommend building this until you have at least 2 to 3 solid (4000+ gold) DPS items; otherwise you're just distracting from your main purpose as DPS. Never forget your main role as Gondar -- a DPS-heavy ganker.
ASSAULT CUIRASS (5350 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
Despite the attack speed not being your primary focus, Assault is an ideal choice against a primarily physical enemy line-up. The auras can help out your team significantly and the minus armor, combined with Desolator, Track, and Medallion brings your grand total of negative armor to 22. Holy smokes!
SANGE & YASHA (4300 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
SnY is no longer an orb, and therefore is an excellent item to grab after your Desolator. It gives you amazing mobility, good balance of DPS/Survivability, and lets you bring all enemies to a cripple with Jinada+Greater Maim. When you're being outran by opponents (which is quite rare due to Track - but it happens), Sange and Yasha is awesome. If the enemies have lots of blinks, however, you should probably stick to pure DPS.
VLADIMIR'S OFFERING (2050 GOLD)
[Verdict: Yes]
If nobody else bought it, and you got an early basilius, it's only 1500g for fantastic item. This really shines in teamfights when your entire team is benefiting from the effects, but most importantly it gives you lifesteal without giving up that precious Desolator orb. It's definitely a good option after your Desolator.
DIFFUSAL BLADE (3300 GOLD)(+850 to upgrade)
[Verdict: Situational]
As an alternate to Stygian altogether, Diffusal is actually a great item. It provides Agility (which you need) intelligence (which helps) mana burn, and most importantly Purge. If you don't think you're very farmed or that you don't want to attempt to Carry your team this is a nice supportive item for Purging enemies; especially dangerous steroid ultimates or nasty buffs like Repel. The fact that this item can be upgraded to restock charges is what truly makes Diffusal viable. However, do NOT get Diffusal if you plan on Stygian -- orbs don't stack and you'd be wasting a perfectly good effect.
Buy Purge against heroes such as these:
Warning: Using Purge will remove Track's buff! Make sure to purge the enemy first before using Track, or be able to cast track again immediately after purging.
ORCHID MALEVOLENCE (5025 GOLD)
[Verdict: Situational]
Orchid provides excellent DPS and you can silence enemies, meaning that you pretty much rule 1v1 fights and you can completely shut down one of their casters. In many ways Orchid fulfills the role of Guinsoo's Scythe as a powerful single-target disable; the difference being that Orchid also gives really good damage output for the money and is much less expensive.
Buy Orchid against heroes such as these:
LINKEN'S SPHERE (5175 GOLD)
[Verdict: Situational]
I personally feel Black King Bar is better in the majority of situations, but there are some circumstances where blocking a specific spell, such as Doom, can be far more beneficial considering BKB doesn't stop a lot of spells from affecting you. Just keep in mind that people can buy urn, medallion, force staff, etc. to get rid of your Linken's effect so they can cast their abilities properly.
Buy Linken's against heroes such as these:
POWER TREADS (1450 GOLD)
[Verdict: Situational]
The big benefit to buying Power Treads is being able to have psudeo +8 to all stats. (Switch to intelligence when casting shuriken, switch to agility when attacking, switch to strength when you're about to take lots of damage) However considering Jinada is based on a cooldown and not a %-chance like most critical strikes, Phase Boots are much better. Also, Phase Boots gives you amazing mobility. Gondar's Wind Walk does not give you movement speed, so Phase Boots REALLY help. However, given the circumstances, you may want the extra HP and attack speed for pushing down towers and keeping sustained DPS throughout a fight. Honestly this one is more situational than anything else.
BUTTERFLY
[Verdict: Luxury]
After at least 2 other core DPS items, Butterfly is a powerful asset to your arsenal, but this item is strictly a luxury and should never be rushed as your first item even if you have insane gold per minute from ganks.
BOOTS OF TRAVEL (2700 GOLD)
[Verdict: Luxury]
Gives great mobility and free teleportation for the rest of the game, but it's a huge investment for something that gives you no DPS. I usually sell off my boots and buy BoT if the game goes on long enough to where that extra slot is really important to have, because not carrying some form of teleportation is a crime against humanity.
DIVINE RAPIER
[Verdict: Luxury]
If you're really cocky and you just want to end a game, Divine Rapier is always an option after your core items are done. It gives ridiculous damage for the amount of cash spent and pretty much turns you into a DPS-Machine. Make sure you take down Roshan and grab an Aegis if you decide to buy a DR. I'd say your team should be winning by at least a set of rax before considering Divine Rapier.
CRANIUM BASHER (2950 GOLD)
[Verdict: No]
This honestly seems like a good choice on Gondar at a first glance; the main problem is that it doesn't grant any real good DPS for an offensive item, setting you back over 3000 gold for an item that has a chance to stun. If you have tried bash and like it, then you might want to give it a shot -- but in my opinion it distracts from your core items and Gondar simply doesn't have enough attack speed to pull it off effectively. Unless you think you know better than I do, stay away from this item.
ORB LIFESTEAL ITEMS
[Verdict: No]
Vlad's is better, to be frank about it. Orb effect lifesteal items simply aren't worth purchasing when you consider how much better.
MANTA STYLE (4900 GOLD)
[Verdict: No]
I feel that Stygian is core on Gondar and Illusions do not benefit from raw bonus damage which makes Manta seem less appealing right away. Furthermore your low hit-points is problematic, which is why most Manta users buy Vanguard beforehand, and your mana-pool is too low to consistently have illusions ready.
DAGON & NECRONOMICON
[Verdict: No]
Items like Dagon and Book are pretty nifty for ganking heroes, but I personally think they're a waste. Once you hit Mid-Late game the effectiveness of these items will be significantly reduced, and if you got them you'll have a very hard time dealing physical damage. Neither Necronomicon or Dagon complement Jinada, but book DOES complement your Track somewhat because demons do physical damage. The problem with Book, however, is that it grants a Truesight Aura that you simply don't need -- which is just another effect gone to waste. Not to mention that Dagon requires a LOT of mana at level 1, and you'll find that just sticking to Shuriken would be way better. I'd strongly recommend that you stay away from these items on Gondar; even if they seem awesome at first.
ETHEREAL BLADE (4900 GOLD)
[Verdict: No]
You deal primarily physical damage, and you should be more concerned with flat-damage than agility or attack speed due to how Jinada works.
CRITICAL STRIKE ITEMS
[Verdict: No]
Jinada already gives you Critical Strike, so don't bother with these either.
FARMING ITEMS
[Verdict: No]
Do not bother getting farming items since your main purpose is to GANK. If you honestly need to do a little farming in the jungle during down-times, Stygian's DPS will allow you to take care of neutral creeps pretty fast anyways. If you want to farm, go play a different hero; as Gondar isn't the most effective farmer anyways. Keep in mind that, late-game, Battlefury can be used as a means to anti-push if you fail to carry your team.
Note: Anything else not mentioned should be obvious or too situational not to mention. For example, Vanguard seems nice but you won't deal shit for damage, most caster items are pointless, Janggo is good situationally, Lothar's is full-retard, Heart might be good as one of your last items (after Deso, MKB, BKB, Butterfly, etc.), Skadi doesn't give enough DPS to justify the huge cost and you already Maim people with your attack, and Hood should be purchased against heavy magic damage teams.
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:Closing Comments:
At first I felt Gondar was a terribly awkward hero, but when ganking with competent allies; you can be a fatal asset to your team. I've seen many Gondar players get Battlefury and farm it up then devastate late-game; but only in pub-games where they feed off of morons the whole game and get free-farm. If you're ready for a serious match, don't let Gondar's amazing ganking capabilities go to waste because you are farming. Play a hero like Soul Keeper if you want to farm; but not Gondar.
Stick close to my tactics and play aggressively and you will definitely succeed.
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