Advice on general gameplay Nature's Prophet

Play with friends who know the game, and use Teamspeak if at all possible

Not only is it fun to do, but your friends will mentor you in a way you won't get in public matchmaking. And Teamspeak will allow you to communicate with the game in the event of a client crash.

Before you go on Public Matchmaking with a new hero, play at least one bot match and level up to at least level 16

If for no other reason, bot matches will let you learn the mechanics of the hero. Last hitting is different for each hero, as are skills. Animation times and such are not things you want to be trying to figure out on a public game.

When starting out, try a few heroes to see who you like

Then, Select one that you want to specialize in. This hero will be someone you focus exclusively on as you learn more important skills. The Reason to do this: You can learn strategies, communication, and tactics without having to worry about learning new hero mechanics.

For me, this hero was the Nature's Prophet. He is easy to learn Micro, Map Control, and Jungling with. And because he is a Jungle Carry, you can be useful to the team late game without having to participate in the Teamfight

Starting out

Level up Nature's Call, and summon your first pair of trees at 48 seconds before the first spawn. Send the trees to scout runes, and stay at the Fountain. Buy a Ring of Basilius for the Mana regen and armor aura. At your first opportunity (around 12 seconds), summon a 2nd batch of trees, and send them near (but not into) the Jungle

Keep your hero in the fountain for now, and turn your attention to the runes: As the game starts, one of the rune sites will spawn a rune. Announce the rune to the team by holding alt and left clicking on it. If one of your teammates makes their way there, good. If not, have your Treant attack the rune ("a" plus left click), denying it for the opposing team

Now, focus on you hero, and send your trees into the nearest jungle camp so that it comes into vision after 30 seconds into the match. Also, have you Nature's Prophet spawn a new batch of trees, jump into the fountain for a quick second to grab mana, and then go out to join the other group of trees in the first jungle camp. You are now in the Jungling Phase.

Jungling

First, why jungle?

Well, generally jungling is a benefit to the team. While you won't make as much gold as a strong laning carry, you will be able to grab decent farm and items, and at the same time you are getting experience from a different pool. Your allies will therefore level faster, as will you

How to Jungle Effectively

The name of the game is Micromanagement. You want to cut down enemies as quickly as possible, and that means keeping as many trees alive as you can. This is easiest with Melee creeps. If a pack of Bird-Beasts is focusing on one of your Trees, let them do so and focus all your firepower on one of them. Then, monitor the health of the tree being attacked. As it drops down to the point it is about to die, pull it back. The melee creeps will then begin attacking the next nearest tree, and you can safely have your damaged tree return to the fight to keep attacking. This will help maximize your DPS and keep you jungling longer, meaning more gold and EXP. Move from Camp to Camp doing so, summoning trees as needed. Never engage a jungle camp without trees

As you level, put points into Nature's Call and Teleportation

Maxing Teleportation is a priority over Nature's Call level 2. Grab your Wrath of Nature at level 6. For beginning, i recommend spamming your ult whenever possible, but as you build skills you will learn strategy of when to cast

Items: Build a Hand of Midas, and cast it on the biggest creep nearby every chance you get

Hand of Midas is a great item: It gives you 190 gold, kills the target creep, and 2.5 experience for the creep: So the bigger the creep the more experience you will get! Next, build Power Treads. Once you get Hand of Midas, Power Treads comes quickly-- And then it's time to help Gank. You should be about level 7, and it will likely be around minute 8 or 9 of the game. Put a point into "Sprout," and it's now time to enter the...

Ganking Phase

If you are inexperienced, this may be best to avoid-- Or at least practice on Bots. Often, allies gank will fail because the enemy hero will run away as quickly as they can, but will have very little health left. If they are squishy, you can teleport to where they are going to be (half the lane back from current position, but stay clear of towers), Sprout them, and kill them. Yay! Easy kills

But be careful: You will be out of position, so the first thing you want to do when attempting this risky strategy is know when to run. In short: If it doesn't work immediately, run through the jungle or lane and get to a safe place. As you do this, keep last hitting and casting Hand of Midas. This stage is intermixable with the most valuable stage of the Nature's Prophet: Ratting.

Ratting is also known as Split Pushing

Because you are such a teleport badass, and your trees can push a lane without you being there, you can push two or three lanes simultaneously ON YOUR OWN!* To do so: Warp in slightly behind or parallel to your current creep wave, summon trees, and give them a rally order to attack-move to the corner of the map and then into the enemy base. They will now auto-attack anything in their path, and push like hell. Stick around the creepwave and focus on getting last hits, and don't forget to cast your Hand of Midas! Cast it on Melee creeps, as they are worth more experience than ranged creeps. If enemies show up, teleport away to the far lane, and repeat

Think like a Rat: When a bigger animal comes, you run

You can use Sprout on yourself (double tap the skill) and use that as cover to cast Teleport, but some enemies like Spirit Breaker or Tusk can break through your trees, stun you, and own you. Beware. In fact, if  Spirit Breaker is on the other team, you shouldn't even be last hitting: Just use your trees and Necronomicon to summon, push, then run to the jungle. At this point, you should be able to farm the small jungle camps without treeants if you are careful.

Once you level your Necronomicon up to Level 3, build a Maelstrom, Desolator, and then sell your Midas to get a Hyperstone for turning your Maelstrom into a Mjollnir. If you can get these items, you've probably won! Keep Ratting, staying out of teamfights if possible, and push into the enemy base.

Or, if you are a farm leader, time to use it to your advantage

Some games you might have a 2-3 level advantage and a huge item advantage on even the enemies most tankiest heros, and you might be able to solo them. I've even won a few duels with Legion Commander with this strategy if our team is far enough ahead!

If so, join the teamfight-- You will be useful, and Sprout is key for limiting enemy movements. But be careful: If you are chasing an enemy, cast it. If an enemy is chasing you or an ally, only cast if you have the range-- Otherwise you risk trapping your allies, and they will get pissed at you for doing so.

Once you take their barracks, it's a slowly tightening noose around their neck

Even the proleague struggles against a good split push, which is why Nature's Prophet is often an early banned hero in professional matches. As you learn with him or any other heroyou choose to specialize in, you will learn tactics and basic skills that will help you tremendously. When to push, when to run, when dive, etc: These are judgements that change little from one hero to another. You will make mistakes along the way, but that's part of the game-- Just realize your mistakes, and try not to make them again.