INTRODUCTION
Welcome to my guide on Rattletrap. I noticed that there are not very many guides dedicated to this hero on playdota.com so I decided to write this guide. This is my first guide that I have written so please bear with it. This guide is also not meant for competitive use as I do not play competitive dota, however some if its concepts might apply to competitive play and strategies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Hero Information
II. Hero Introduction
III. Skills
IV. Skill Builds
V. Item Build
VI. Gameplay
VII. In-Depth Skill Usage Guide
VIII. Best Allies and Worst Enemies
IX. Alt-Tab Mini Guide
X. Conclusion
XI. FAQ
XII. Fun Facts
XIII. Replays
XIV. Credits
Background Story
The by-product of Goblin technological weapon research during the old War, Rattletrap the Clockwerk Goblin was shut away into storage for countless decades until the Sentinel found and reactivated him. Combat-wise, this goblin's capabilities know few bounds; his body is stocked with a huge array of armaments that destroy targets both near and far with ease. His trademark wrench can even extend itself like a grappling hook, allowing him to pick off individual targets with pin-point accuracy.
I. Hero Information
Lvl 1 Stats
Health 606
Mana 221
Damage 55-57
Armor 2
STR 24+2.4
AGI 13+1.2
INT 17+1.3
Lvl 25 Stats (with stats, no items)
Health 2041
Mana 884
Damage 112-114+20
Armor 6+2.8
STR 81+20
AGI 41+20
INT 48+20
ADVANCED STATISTICS
Affiliation: Neutral
Attack Animation: 0.33 / 0.64
Damage: 55 - 57
Casting Animation: 0.3 / 0.51
Armor: 1.82
Base Attack Time: 1.7
Movespeed: 310
Missile Speed: Instant
Attack Range: 125 (melee)
Sight Range: 1800 / 800
II. Hero Introduction
When i first played DotA and I first used Rattletrap he quickly became one of my favorite heroes. His skills syenergize incredibly well and he is the ideal ganker, for picking of lone heroes who are trying to farm. Even after all those nerfs he has endured, he still is a very powerful hero especially with the addition of scepter to him. He may seem tough to play, and he can be, to play him well but once you get a hang of him you will be a killing machine. He will soon become a quick favorite of yours too, and this guide will "guide" you on how to play clockwerk.
Playstyle
As I have said before clockwerk is a pure ganker. Hook in, cog, and then battery assualt the enemy hero. Try to gank lone heroes mostly, remember you are a poor tank, do not go kamikaze and hook into 5 enemy heroes and excpect to kill them all...
PROS
[+] Excellent ganker, if not the best in the game
[+] Scepter buff is actually extremely useful for him
[+] Excellent attack animation, which provides easy last hitting
[+] Imba map and rune control
[+] To an extent item dependent to be effective
[+] Very hard to kill late-mid game
[+] Skills have very low mana cost
[+] Can gank and kill heroes by himself
[+] 2 escape mechanisms
CONS
[-] Poor stats and stat growth
[-] Skills are hard to learn and use
[-] May or may not need quite a bit of survivability
[-] Poor farmer (rocket is better used for scouting and map control)
[-] Poor mana pool
III. Skills
A more in-depth guide of using Rattletrap's skills can be found in the In-Depth Skill Usage section. Also more information on skills can be found at: Skills
Battery Assualt
Discharges high-powered shrapnel from openings in Rattletrap's clockwork upon a random nearby target dealing minor magical damage and ministun every 0.75 seconds. Lasts 10 seconds.
Level 1 - Periodically deals 10 damage and ministuns
Level 2 - Periodically deals 30 damage and ministuns
Level 3 - Periodically deals 50 damage and ministuns
Level 4 - Periodically deals 70 damage and ministuns
Mana cost of 75, Cooldown of 32/28/24/20.
Skill Explanation: This is Rattletraps bread and butter skill. This skill is what will get you the kills in your ganks. It works like Leshrac's diabolict edict with a smaller aoe. Once the enemy is trapped in your cogs they cannot escape and the damage from this skill is huge. The skill works as a ministun so it's great for interrupting channeled spells or tps.
Power Cogs
The Clockwerk Goblin ejects pieces of inner core to form a circular barrier around himself, trapping nearby units with him. These cogs require 3 attacks from an enemy to be destroyed before their expiration time. If an enemy unit with mana goes near an element from the outside it gets shocked for some HP and mana and is knocked back. An element powers down if it shocks a unit.
Level 1 - Drains 55 life and mana and traps for 3 seconds.
Level 2 - Drains 55 life and mana and traps for 4 seconds.
Level 3 - Drains 55 life and mana and traps for 5 seconds.
Level 4 - Drains 55 life and mana and traps for 6 seconds.
Mana cost of 50/60/70/80, Cooldown of 15.
Skill Explanation: A hard skill to use to its full effectiveness. If you dont master how to use this skill you will not be able to play clockwerk effectively. It is mostly used for ganking and trapping your opponents so they recieve as much damage from battery assualt and are helpless, but it can also be used for juking as well. More info on this skill in the In-Depth Skill Usage section.
Rocket Flare
Fires a fast moving missile at a target area on the map, revealing the targeted area. Upon impact it damages enemy units at a 600 AoE explosion.
Level 1 - Deals 80 damage. Reveals for 10 seconds.
Level 2 - Deals 120 damage. Reveals for 10 seconds.
Level 3 - Deals 160 damage. Reveals for 10 seconds.
Level 4 - Deals 200 damage. Reveals for 10 seconds.
Mana cost of 50, Cooldown of 30/25/20/15.
Skill Explanation: The damage from this skill is pretty pathetic, it can hardly be called a nuke. Instead it can be used for rune scouting, preventing monster camps from spawning, providing vision so that you can hook the enemy hero, etc. It can also be used to finish fleeing heroes which is very tricky to do but it just requires some calculation.
Hookshot (Ultimate)
Fires a grappling, piston-like attachment at a unit or location. It will latch on the first, non-neutral enemy target it encounters, pulling you to it. Any enemies whom you collide with while being reeled toward the target will take damage and will be stunned.
Level 1 - 100 damage and 1 sec stun on collision, 2000 range
Level 2 - 200 damage and 1.5 sec stun on collision, 2500 range
Level 3 - 300 damage and 2 sec stun on collision, 3000 range
Mana cost of 150, Cooldown of 80/60/40, with scepter becomes cooldown of 20 and allows hooking to allies.
Skill Explanation: At first this may seem as a weak version of Pudges hook, but actually it is a lot better. First of all I have to note the range on this skill is huge. It is 3 times the max range of Pudge's hook and actually requires little practice to use and land (it launches and hit hits very fast). The damage is fine and the stun allows you to get up close to the enemy hero, trap them in your cogs and kill him. With scepter this skill is incredibly powerful, and with the addition that you will be able to hook to allies, it will be incredibly hard for the enemy to pull off a successful gank and kill you. Also note that this skill has an AOE of 150 where it lands. So you could hook a creep thats close to a hero and still deliver the damage and stun.
IV. Skill Builds
A. Regular Mid Game Ganking Build
This build is pretty effective and you will want to go for it most of the time as it maximizes ganking potential mid game. It also gives maximum map control and tries to utilize clockwerk's strengths in the best way possible.
1. Rocket Flare
2. Battery Assualt
3. Battery Assualt
4. Power Cogs
5. Battery Assault
6. Hookshot
7. Battery Assualt
8. Rocket Flare
9. Rocket Flare
10. Rocket Flare
11. Hookshot
12. Power Cogs
13. Power Cogs
14. Power Cogs
15. Stats
16. Hookshot
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats
Reasoning: One level of rocket flare is taken early for harassing and rune control. Then take as many points in battery assault as you can as it is your main damage skill. Get one level of power cogs early for possible juking, ganking or first blood. Take your ultimate whenever possible as you will need it to obtain kills. Then max rocket flare for maximum map control, and after that cogs. Finish everything with stats.
B. First Blood/Early Ganking Build
This is the build that you want to go for if you think there is a good chance to get first blood. For example if you are laned with a stunner or Rhasta, then it might be a good idea to go for this build. This is also a good idea if your team will be ganking a lot early on. Also note that this build will rely on a lot of cog usage so you have to be good at trapping heroes, otherwise this build is pretty ineffective.
1. Battery Assualt
2. Power Cogs
3. Battery Assualt
4. Rocket Flare
5. Battery Assault
6. Hookshot
7. Battery Assualt
8. Power Cogs
9. Power Cogs
10. Power Cogs
11. Hookshot
12. Rocket Flare
13. Rocket Flare
14. Rocket Flare
15. Stats
16. Hookshot
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats
Reasoning: This time we take battery assault and cogs early on. One level of rocket flare will help us with scouting and finishing people off. Then max battery assault and cogs to get maximum disabling power. Finish with rocket flare and then stats. Take you ultimate whenever possible, of course.
V. Item Build
and maybe 
Start of Game: Go with a couple of gauntlets/branches and some tangoes and clarities. If you know you will be facing a strong lane it is wise to get a ring of regen so you can stay in your lane longer. Turn the gauntlets into bracers and branches into a magic wand is it is a great item on any hero, especially for clockwerk. Make sure that you complete your wand first rather than the bracers. You can also consider getting a courier, if your team did not get one, as you might need the extra item space.
and later 
Mid Game: Focus on getting your bracers, wand, boots, and bottle. Now you can start ganking. This will get you the money for those phase boots, and you can start working on your scepter. You should have your scepter completed sometime during this time of the game.
Late game: Now that your basic core build is finished you should start looking towards one of the luxury items. Choose one that will benefit your team most.
Optional Core Items
Hood of defiance is a good option for clock if you are dying a lot because of burst damage. It helps a lot with survivability and gives some regen which is always useful. Get this if you team is up against a lot of nukers. If your team or you really require it, it is viable to upgrade to pipe, but most of the time hood will be good enough and then we can start working right away on that scepter.
BoT are nice for better map control, but phase is a much better choice in general, it makes it much easier to chase down heroes and therefore ganking is easier.
Vlads is a decent option for clock if no one else on your team is getting it. The benefits are always nice for your team and since clock doesnt have a very expensive core, he can afford to get it.
I really dont think clock needs this item, as he is not a tank, but if you MUST need more survivability for some reason, then this item is still a viable choice. Otherwise it is just a waste of money.
Luxury Items
Almost any strength hero benefits from heart, especially clock, as it beefs him up quite a bit and gives him the hp that he needs badly.
Radiance synergizes very well with battery assualt and the extra DPS is of course a welcome bonus.
Guinsoo is actually not that bad of an idea on Rattletrap. It gives him one more disable, fixes his mana problems, and gives him some nice mana regen which we want, of course.
Black King Bar adds to his survivability in team battles. He often gets focused on, so this is a great item to have.
Shiva is a great item for clock as it improves his mana pool and gives him a nice slow which synergizes well with battery assault. It also gives him some much needed armor for extra survivability.
Necrobook is nice to have for a couple of reasons. It gives us some nice health and mana and helps with ganking invisible units. Also the other buffs are nice and help us kill the enemy hero faster. Make sure that if you are getting this that you take it up to level 3.
Blademail is great for killing those hard carries. Since they cannot escape your cogs they will most likely try to kill you, and blademail is perfect for countering their dps.
Items Not to Get
Any DPS item that does not synergize with Clockwerk, and is a waste of time and money, because of his poor agility.
As much as it seems as a good item for Clock, he simply cannot afford it, because items such as Radiance or Heart are much more useful for him.
Hes not a farmer nor a DPS so this item is stupid to get for him. Battlefury doesn't help us at all for ganking, other then the mana regen, but there are better items to get for regen.
VI. Gameplay
Laning: Clock does not have very good armor so stay back and last hit to the best of your ability. Harass occasionally with your rocket, it is excellent for dispelling salves and clarities. Also use your rocket for rune control. Battery Assault gives you a decent shot at first blood if laned with the correct hero.
Ganking: Lets say for example sniper (food for us) is farming bot lane. he is alone and none of your teammates are close by. The best thing to do now would be to gank him, it is your responsibility to gank him. Hook in, use cogs and battery assault. He dies easily with no resistance, an easy kill for you. Make sure that when you gank you first have: 1) enough mana for the hook/cog/battery combo, 2) can actually kill the enemy hero(s). To not go into the middle of a centaur, rhasta combo, as you will be disabled and raped and we don't want that to happen. We want to maximize the profit by getting as much kills as possible without feeding.
Team Battles: Your responsibility in team battles is too look for an open shot at their disabler, nuker, carry as they are the easiest to kill most of the time. Once you pick of one of their heroes your team has the upper hand, and you will most likely win the battle. Remember you are NOT an initiator, leave that role to centaur, raigor, or magnus. Just try to pick off the weakest enemy heroes in battle and you should do fine.
Late Game: Later in the game it is our job to disable the carry/disabler while our own carries rip them apart. Hook has a nice stun, and cogs effectively removes one of the enemy heroes from battle.
Remember use rocket flare to scout ALL THE TIME. It is vital that you do this as without it you are wasting a lot of clock's potential in ganking, preventing ganks, and just plain map control.
VII. In-Depth Skill Usage Guide
Mini-Guide to Using Battery Assault
Maximizing Damage With Battery Assault: Whenever we gank, we want to maximize the damage output of Battery Assault to the enemy hero without getting interfered with creeps. This just requires to be smart and stay out of range of the creeps. However if hero you are trying to gank is smart, then he try to use the creeps around him to take the damage for him. You will have to then clear the creeps with your rocket, and once you have done that you can chase him.
Here is an example of how to use Battery Assault properply to get maximum damage:
Mini-Guide to Using Power Cogs
There are two main purposes for cogs. One is for trapping the enemy, and one is for juking and blocking. Both are hard to do first, but with some practice it becomes very easy. I will explain how to use cogs for both in this section.
Juking: There are really two ways that you can juke effectively with cogs. One way is to block a passage/ramp and escape the other way, and the other way is to simply use cogs and tp away. The second one only works if the other team has no long range stun. The first one is pretty easy to do, it's sort of like fissure blocking but easier and less effective at the same time. The easiest way to block with cogs is to use it on a narrow ramp (the ones by the river work great) or a big clump of trees (by the each side shop is a good example). Since the enemy cannot get past the cogs, all you have to do is destroy the one on that will let you out the other way.
Here is an example of how to do this:
Here are some good examples of places that you can cog, block off, and escape:
There are many places that you can do this, just make sure that you dont block yourself, or block other teammates.
Trapping: At first, this seems easy to do and aim, however it requires some practice and even sometimes luck to trap enemy heroes. The range is the most important thing to take in consideration when trapping heroes. Pretty much the easiest way and the only way to trap someone in your cogs is to have them in 0-55 range around you when you do it. Anymore range will just knock back the hero instead of trapping him. Thats why disables help so much, because we can get up close to the hero for an easy cogs.
Here is a picture illustrating the range of cogs:
Here is an in-game example of trapping heroes:
Mini-Guide to Using Rocket Flare
Rune Control: Every know and then you will want to check for the rune with your rocket. The best way to do this is to launch your rocket so it passes over both rune spots. There is only two places that you can do this from, one from top lane, and one from bot lane.
How to scout from bottom lane:
How to scout from top lane:
Remember to concentrate on the rocket because you dont have much time to see what rune is on the rune spot as it passes over.
Getting Vision For Hook: Your rocket can be used very effectively to gain vision for you hook when you gank. This is much better to do rather than just guess where the hero is.
Here is an example of using this strategy:
Finishing Heroes of With Your Rocket: This is very hard to do. You have to guess where the person will be by the time your rocket hits the spot. You need to take into consideration the speed of the rocket and of the hero.
Here is an example of this, and how to calculate where to launch the rocket to:
Mini-Guide to Using Hookshot
Aiming Hookshot: Aiming your hook is actually really easy to do once you learn the speed of it based on the distance you are from the hero you are trying to hook.The farther you are from the hero, the farther you have to aim from him. Hookshot releases and lands about 3 times faster than Meat Hook. This can make it both tricky and easy to aim it.
Here is a diagram showing how to aim your hook depending on distance:
Here is an example of aiming your hook in-game:
Using Hookshot To Escape: Note that this only works with scepter. If you are still and danger after blocking with cogs (or if it is on cooldown), you can use your hook to hook onto nearby allies and escape. You still have to aim your hookshot and everything but if done correctly you will be 2000+ range away from the enemy. Also if you have the opportunity to do it then hook over impassible terrain such as cliffs and trees to make the juke more effective.
VIII. Best Allies and Worst Enemies
Best Allies
Disablers/Stunners
These heroes allow you to get up close to the enemy hero and easily trap them in your cogs. They also make your hooking a lot easier. Besides, who doesn't love these guys?
Carries/DPS
Your cogs and even your hook allow your carries and dps heroes to get free shots at your enemy. Battery Assault works well as a slow too. Carries that don't have a slow or some sort of debuff/disable, such as Clinkz work well. Kunkka also works very well with clock because cogs make it much easier for his torrent and ship to land.
Worst Enemies
Illusions/Multiple Units
These heroes are the perfect counter to Clockwerk. They wreak his Battery Assault and even make it hard for you to hook the real hero. Broodmother, Phantom Lancer, and Chen are good examples of heroes that clock doesn't do so well against.
Disablers/Stunners
As much as we love them, we must hate them as well, because they can screw us over real hard.
Terrorblade
We hate, hate, hate this guy. We have him trapped in our cogs and he is almost dead... when he sunders and kill you easily. And he is an image hero which is like a double counter to clockwerk. Terrorblade is probably the best counter to clockwerk that there is around.
IX. Alt-Tab Mini Guide
Don't have the time to read the whole guide but you have to check something quickly? This is the part for you as it shows, the basic core build, skill build, and how to play Rattletrap. You can just quickly check this while you are playing a game.
X. Conclusion
I hope that this guide will or has already helped you on how to play Clockwerk well. He is an excellent hero with lots of potential but requires some practice to get proficient at him.
XI. FAQ
1.OMG WTF?!?!? Where is the Buriza and Battlefury in your item build?
As I have said before Clockwerk is a very poor carry, because of his awful agility growth. He requires quite a bit of items to actually become a fearful carry. Clock does not have this farming ability, and the game is much better spent ganking those who are trying to farm, rather than farming yourself. Sure I hear you say, but Battlefury allows Clockwerk to farm fast. Clockwerk is a ganker hero, and nothing else, and Battlefury does not suit him. It is a much better choice to go straight for scepter which would increase your ganking capabilities.
2. Why not get some stats early game because of Clock's horrible stats?
It really is situational whether you would need stats or not. Most of the time you don't and skill points are better spent for Battery Assault. It might not be such a bad idea, but Clock really needs more damage for ganking rather than stats.
3. Why is it that when I gank that I always get myself killed?
You have to play smart and use rocket flare to its maximum effectiveness, and you will see that your death count will gradually decrease. Make sure to scout for incoming heroes and try not to go for heroes that you know have a good chance on killing you (Juggernaut, Cent, heck even Dark Seer).
4. Why didn't you list invisible heroes as a counter to clockwerk?
Sure Battery Assault and Hookshot do not work on invisible units (rocket still does), however there are things called wards, dust, and truesight gem. So just counter the invisibility, and invisible units are no longer a problem.
5. I hate your guide and the way you play Clock, it sux, mines better.
Why read this guide then in the first place? Anyways you can always give me suggestions. Or just go write your own guide..... If you think your play style is better. If not then just stfu
.XII. Fun Facts
-Tinker is sort of Rattletraps father as in Warcraft 3 ladder, one of the neutral heroes from the tavern was a Goblin Tinker which had the ability to spawn factories which would then produce Clockwerk Goblins that would suicide into nearby enemies.
-Ever since the introduction of Clockwerk to DotA, he hasn't seen a single buff only nerfs (other than the scepter addition and a slight good change for cogs that didnt really matter).
-Clockwerk is an excellent hero to trashtalk with as it leads to interesting mindgames, especially if you own and keep outwitting the enemy until they start complaining that clockwerk needs another nerf. (thx to Milk for this one)
-For advertising purposes: DotA Theme Manager is excellent for spicing up your DotA games, you should go check it out.
XIII. Replays
Here is a good showing of clock's potential. This time he opts for a build of Hood, BoT and then Scepter. Overall a pretty good game.
Date: 24/10/2009 07:18
Patch version: 1.24
Map: DotA Allstars 6.63b
Game mode: Normal mode
Game length: 45:16
Sentinel:
cD.insence.YY, level 13
cD.ZippO.YY, level 17
cd.SanSheng.YY, level 20
cD.zhou.YY, level 19
cD.diqiuchaoren, level 18Scourge:
mski.net|BG01!, level 18
mski.neT|vigass, level 17
HK_Host, level 15
mski.neT|Yukz, level 12
Mski.net|rhom, level 12Download Here
XIV. Credits
Thanks to all that have helped me with this guide. I appreciate your suggestions and they have helped shape this guide to be the best that it can be. Also thanks for the great replay Eumellein. And not to forget... a big thanks to you for reading this guide!