Right off the bat, I just want to say that I am no badass Dota player. I am mediocre at best. I only recently reached level 34, after about 4 months of playing Dota 2, and I have a win rate of 40.06%. So this is my humble build for Sniper. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Some (mediocre) stats concerning me and Sniper:
Matches: 60
Wins: 31
Ave Kills: 7.47
Ave Deaths: 9.13
Ave Assists: 14.47
Ave GPM: 371
Ave XPM: 444
Now I know my Average Kills does not seem that good, but since I have started using this build, it has started creeping up. My Average Kills for the past 10 games have been 9.3, with the highest being 25 kills and lowest being 2 kills.
So, without further ado, here is my build for Sniper:
Early Game
Boots of Speed
Tango
Town Portal(or 2)
Think this one is pretty self-explanatory. These are just good starting items for most heroes. The reason I tend to buy 2 TP scrolls is just because I like to have a spare on me at all times.
Early Mid
Power Treads
Shadow Blade
Power Treads are vital for the extra damage and attack speed it gives Sniper. This will stack well with later items. Shadow Blade because Sniper is a bit squishy and sometimes need to escape quickly. Even if they have Dust or Sentry Wards, Shadow Blade can still give Sniper a temporary boost in movement speed.
Mid
Maelstrom
Maelstrom predominantly for the extra attack speed and damage. Also a very useful item for farming.
Late Mid
Mask of Madness
Mjollnir
I first go for Mask of Madness simply because it is cheaper. This is nevertheless the most vital item of this build. When activated, Mask of Madness gives you a temporary attack speed boost of 110 plus a movement speed bonus of 17%. On top of that it also gives you permanent lifesteal of 15%. The amount of havoc Sniper can wreak in a team fight, and even on his own against multiple squishier heroes, with a Mask of Madness, is insane.
It does come with a warning, though, but you will have to read to the end to learn about it ;)
As for Mjollnir, I predominantly get it for the extra attack speed, making Mask of Madness even more potent.
Late
Moon Shard
The extra attack speed of course. Sniper is now getting to a point where he can take out towers in a matter of seconds when activating Mask of Madness.
Luxury
Daedalus
The crit damage when used with Mask of Madness is insane. At this point Sniper can take on 2 tanks on his own. You will have to get rid of one of the other items, though, as you will already have 6 items in your inventory plus a TP scroll in your backpack. It is difficult to choose what item to let go. I usually drop the Power Treads but then Sniper is INSANELY slow. I don’t know, it’s for you to decide.
The Small Print
As I have made abundantly clear, Mask of Madness is central to this build. Now you can do A LOT of damage with it, but it does have its cons. The first one would be that, when activated, it reduces your armour by 5 as well as silences you for 8 seconds. That would mean you cannot use your ult for those 8 seconds, which means an enemy or two might get away at times.
Also, with Power Treads, Mjollnir and Moon Shard, you are going to have ridiculous attack speed when you activate your Mask of Madness. If an enemy then activates their Blade Mail, you might be dead before you even notice because Sniper is just going fire off his gun that quickly.
But there you have it. This is my mostly successful Sniper build. I would love to hear your thoughts on it down below in the comments.
Thank you.