Credit to Nome
The guide is divided into sections. Use the find function in your browser (probably CTRL+F) to jump to the section you're interested in.
Introduction
- From Greek God to Giant Gorilla
- Skill Overlook
- Skill Build
- Starting Items
- Core Item Build
- Late Game Item Build
- Optional Items
- Items You Should Avoid
- Complete Playguide: Laning
- Complete Playguide: Ganking
- Complete Playguide: Teamfights
- In-Depth: Runes
- In-Depth: Blast of Lightning
- In-Depth: Lightning Storm
- In-Depth: Synergy
- Positioning: Line of Sight
- Positioning: Movement Blockers
- Positioning: Psychology
- Positioning: Range
- Specific Countering: Soulstealer
- Specific Countering: Moon Queen
- Specific Countering: Defiler
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From Greek God to Giant Gorilla
The Thunderbringer, aka Zeus from DotA, is one of the oldest and most-feared heroes amongst the entire lineup. Throughout DotA history, he's been nerfed continuously until he's reached his current form. At some point, he had 600 range (now he has 350, the lowest of any ranged INT), 300 movespeed (considered normal, but now he has 295), and his ultimate did a lot more damage. Even so, and despite the fact that he lacks any true AoE, and the fact that he scales horrendously in terms of attack and item-based growth, he's still a top-tier pick in competitive games and is considered to be one of the best solo heroes in both DotA and HoN. Let's see why all of these nerfs are justified.__________________________________________________
Skill Overlook
Despite being in slot 1, this is TB's secondary nuke. It does nearly negligible damage to the target, scales horrendously (adds a few bounces and a tiny amount of damage), reveals your position, and drains mana from your primary nuke. For our build, this skill is largely useless. Some players like to get this at LVL1, because it offers similar damage to Blast of Lighting--85 vs 100 damage, at a lesser cost--65 vs 75 mana, and at a lower cooldown--2 vs 7 seconds. Don't fall for this. We will be only leveling this a single time, as its effectiveness is largely for the bonus we get from Lightning Rod.
This is, without question, the most dangerous nuke in the game. It costs very little mana at all levels, does insane damage LVL2 and onward, has a big cast range of 700, and has a short cooldown of 7 seconds. You will without doubt be leveling this as your primary skill. Oh wait, it also ministuns and reveals invisible heroes within a large area for 3 seconds. WAT.
Possibly one of the best passives in the game, Lighting Rod will be our secondary skill in terms of leveling priority. This is what makes TB incredibly dangerous from beginning to end, and is what makes his already insane nuking ability absolutely stupid.
Yo, it hits and reveals every enemy hero on the entire map.
Despite being in slot 1, this is TB's secondary nuke. It does nearly negligible damage to the target, scales horrendously (adds a few bounces and a tiny amount of damage), reveals your position, and drains mana from your primary nuke. For our build, this skill is largely useless. Some players like to get this at LVL1, because it offers similar damage to Blast of Lighting--85 vs 100 damage, at a lesser cost--65 vs 75 mana, and at a lower cooldown--2 vs 7 seconds. Don't fall for this. We will be only leveling this a single time, as its effectiveness is largely for the bonus we get from Lightning Rod.
This is, without question, the most dangerous nuke in the game. It costs very little mana at all levels, does insane damage LVL2 and onward, has a big cast range of 700, and has a short cooldown of 7 seconds. You will without doubt be leveling this as your primary skill. Oh wait, it also ministuns and reveals invisible heroes within a large area for 3 seconds. WAT.
Possibly one of the best passives in the game, Lighting Rod will be our secondary skill in terms of leveling priority. This is what makes TB incredibly dangerous from beginning to end, and is what makes his already insane nuking ability absolutely stupid.
Yo, it hits and reveals every enemy hero on the entire map.
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Skill Build
2 Lightning Rod 1 / Blast of Lightning 1 / Lightning Rod 1
3 Blast of Lightning 2 / Blast of Lightning 1
4 Chain Lightning 1 / Lightning Rod 1 / Blast of Lightning 2
5 Blast of Lightning 3
6 Lightning Storm 1
7 Blast of Lightning 4
8 Lightning Rod 2
9 Lightning Rod 3
10 Lightning Rod 4
11 Lightning Storm 2
12 Stats 1 / Chain Lightning 2
13 Stats 2 / Chain Lightning 3
14 Stats 3 / Chain Lightning 4
15 Stats 4 / Stats 1
16 Lightning Storm 3
17 Chain Lightning 2 / Stats 2
18 Chain Lightning 3 / Stats 3
19 Chain Lightning 4 / Stats 4
Preferred Build
Safe Build
Rich Man's Build
Merlini Build
You should always wait and see who you're matched up against before you decide on a build. I go by the general rule of "if my enemy has 1+ deny per wave" then I go safe build.
The preferred build deviates from most popular Thunderbringer builds in how it treats Chain Lightning. The reason you want to go BL/LR/BL instead of CL/BL/BL is because two levels of BL boosted by a single level of LR at level 3 is ridiculously potent harassment. While LR doesn't add much damage to BL, there's absolutely no reason you should be using CL at this point--not even for last hits, as it just pushes the lane. Besides, at only 95 mana, you need all the mana you can get for BL harassment. CL, at 65 mana, is a complete waste, and should never be used unless you're going to miss a kill. Moreover, we leave CL at LVL1--this is because the damage scaling on it is horrendous--for 20 mana more, all you add is an additional 50 damage, which, while it may make a small difference in large head-on teamfights, is not ideal as you should not really even be spamming it in teamfights (more on this later). However, there is an alternative Safe Build and Rich Man's Build.
The Safe Build lets you Chain Lightning so you can use it to prevent denies--it's suggested that instead of getting your first skill point in base, wait until you see who you're fighting to select the build.
The Rich Man's Build acknowledges that at some point, +2 all stats becomes trivial. This point comes at different times in each game--if you're rich, and have a lot of stat boosters already, +2 stats a level isn't going to make a difference--so pump that Chain Lightning early. But if all you have is Enhanced Marchers, a Bottle, and two Talismans of Exile, then you're much better off getting stats and waiting to get that Chain Lightning upgrade later.
Finally, the ultraconservative Merlini build will get you the most CS, keep you the safest, but will also severely nerf your ability to kill an opposing player early on. This is the preferred build if playing against a high-skilled player.
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Starting Items
(590), then later 
(600)
or
(600)
TB is a hero that heavily depends on rune control in order to dominate his lane. If you feel confident about your ability to grab runes, then go ahead and get a Bottle first, but otherwise, I suggest you get a Winged Courier, some consumables, and then get a Bottle. More information about why we do this in the Complete Playguide. If you're playing with friends, it would be beneficial for an ally to share the cost of buying the Winged Courier, though as a strong solo, you should at least buy one component.
Enhanced Marchers (1550)
This is one of the first items you'll want to get. It increases your movespeed and armor for a fairly low price, which is absolutely necessary for playing like a monkey ninja.
x 2
Talisman of Exile (485 x 2)
I highly recommend buying two of these, as they will increase your mana pool by a lot, as well as give you pretty decent HP. Of course, they're ridiculously cheap. Some players like to get Fortified Bracelets--I'd caution against that, because if you're getting hit, either you, or your team, is failing. You should be invisible, and therefore, maximum mana is more important than maximum HP.
Homecoming Stone (135)
Every hero should have one of these at all times, no exceptions. This is from early game to end. As a below-average speed hero, this is especially important.
Totem of Kuldra (5675)
Expensive, but gives you a guaranteed disable. If you have the money, you should get this. If you are getting a lot of kills, chances are you should be able to farm this relatively fast compared to other heroes--holding this will not only give you HP and mana, but will keep you relevant to the end of the game.
Sacrificial Stone (5050)
This is an excellent item if you're absolutely dominating, and is of course one of the most popular items to get on Thunderbringer due to the amount of kills he tends to get. However, you should be able to conceptualize as to why this isn't a strong competitive choice compared to Totem of Kuldra, especially if you're not in hero-farm mode already. As usual, you should get the Glow Stone first if you plan to get this item--it adds a lot of HP and mana.
(590), then later (600)or
(600)TB is a hero that heavily depends on rune control in order to dominate his lane. If you feel confident about your ability to grab runes, then go ahead and get a Bottle first, but otherwise, I suggest you get a Winged Courier, some consumables, and then get a Bottle. More information about why we do this in the Complete Playguide. If you're playing with friends, it would be beneficial for an ally to share the cost of buying the Winged Courier, though as a strong solo, you should at least buy one component.
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Enhanced Marchers (1550)
This is one of the first items you'll want to get. It increases your movespeed and armor for a fairly low price, which is absolutely necessary for playing like a monkey ninja.
x 2Talisman of Exile (485 x 2)
I highly recommend buying two of these, as they will increase your mana pool by a lot, as well as give you pretty decent HP. Of course, they're ridiculously cheap. Some players like to get Fortified Bracelets--I'd caution against that, because if you're getting hit, either you, or your team, is failing. You should be invisible, and therefore, maximum mana is more important than maximum HP.
Homecoming Stone (135)
Every hero should have one of these at all times, no exceptions. This is from early game to end. As a below-average speed hero, this is especially important.
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Late Game Item Build
Totem of Kuldra (5675)
Expensive, but gives you a guaranteed disable. If you have the money, you should get this. If you are getting a lot of kills, chances are you should be able to farm this relatively fast compared to other heroes--holding this will not only give you HP and mana, but will keep you relevant to the end of the game.
Sacrificial Stone (5050)
This is an excellent item if you're absolutely dominating, and is of course one of the most popular items to get on Thunderbringer due to the amount of kills he tends to get. However, you should be able to conceptualize as to why this isn't a strong competitive choice compared to Totem of Kuldra, especially if you're not in hero-farm mode already. As usual, you should get the Glow Stone first if you plan to get this item--it adds a lot of HP and mana.
Frostfield Plate (4700)
If you are TRULY rich, you can get this item, as it will make you unkillable. However, you shouldn't be in heat of battle in the first place...
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Optional Items
Portal Key (2150)
Believe it or not, this is a good item even on heroes without AoE disables. Rich players who enjoy ganking may wish to get this after they have a fairly decent mana pool. It makes him very, very difficult to catch.
Astrolabe (2364)
While your high mana pool might make you a great candidate for Astrolabe, your positioning during team battles doesn't place you in a good spot for healing. It's usually not worth running in to heal, either, as your poor survivability tends to mean you can't get out. However, it's still Astrolabe--it's a good item.
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Items You Should Avoid
Staff of the Master (6000)
For it's price, it's a horrendous item that barely does anything for your ult.
Restoration Stone (5300)
Same as above--a lot of TB players think they can own with Staff of the Master and Restoration Stone, but the amount of gold required to pull that off is ridiculous and absolutely not worth it. The fact is, pulling off a double Lightning Storm costs ridiculous amounts of mana--mana you're not going to have in any extended teamfight.
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Complete Playguide: Laning
Do not get a skill at LVL1--wait until you've reached the lane. Start off by blocking your creeps as they spawn--this is more important than grabbing that 0:00 rune, unless that 0:00 rune is regen. Rather, tell an ally from each lane to camp the runes. An idea block has the creeps fighting around your ramp. This way, you can stay on high ground, while your opponent must get on high ground to obtain sight of you. Gauge your opponent's aggressiveness in denies--if it's a strong denier, spend your saved skill point on Chain Lightning to last-hit. Otherwise, get Blast of Lightning. If you are facing a weak hero, you may attempt to last-hit or deny. However, if you're facing a stronger laner, like Arachna (who can orbwalk you to death if you're not careful) or Defiler (spammable nuke that good players use to prevent denies and harass), hang back out of sight and just chill until you reach LVL3. Once you hit LVL3, you can start playing extremely aggressively. Maneuver yourself to an advantageous positions and hit with Blast of Lighting, then immediately pull back--don't attack any units, don't attack the hero. Keep back and out of sight until the 7 second cooldown is up, then repeat. You want to minimize damage to yourself--whether or not you, or your opponent, is getting creep kills doesn't matter much, as you'll be doing a ton of damage very early on like this. Chances are, your opponent will be spamming his regeneration consumables. Use your mana pots as you hang back, and use your Flying Courier to bring you more if absolutely needed. Otherwise, buy a Bottle. Once you have Bottle, use your Flying Courier to scout runes before grabbing them, or, if someone else is getting the runes, use your Flying Courier to ferry your Bottle from the fountain back to you. Once you hit LVL5, you are more or less an unstoppable nuking beast. Combined with a ferried Bottle, very few heroes can stop you from the constant damage. Once you have a Bottle and Marchers, you are ready to move on to ganking. However, it's best to have Enhanced Marchers first.
My more general guide on laning can be found here--most of the tips given in that guide apply here as well.
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Complete Playguide: Ganking
Your gank attempts should generally go with the direction of your rune grabs. However, as usual, the Hellbourne Bottom and Legion Top lanes are the easiest to gank due to tower positions and neutral creep positions. You should wait until after the most current creep waves clash. This way, when you pop out, you're not greeted by an enemy creep that instantly gives away your position. That is... if you pop out at all. If you are uncertain of a kill, you should pop out from behind--this forces the enemy to either run towards you, or run towards your allies. On the other hand, if you're certain of a kill, abuse the range on Blast of Lightning and use it from behind the trees. Again, this minimizes the ability for your opponent to pinpoint your position and target you. Of course, if there is no chance for you and your allies to kill an escaping enemy, finish him off with Lightning Storm--otherwise, don't use it. After a gank, go for the next rune. You should occasionally return to the mid lane, as you don't want the enemy mid solo to free-farm for too long.__________________________________________________
Complete Playguide: Teamfights
Once the teamfight stage has begun, you truly begin to shine. Read up on the in-depth analyses on Blast of Lightning and Lightning Storm for more information about how to use them in teamfights. In general, you will want to stay hidden--this can mean behind allies, behind trees, or on ledges. You want to avoid physical attacks, but rather, use Blast of Lightning, and if you don't mind giving your position away, Chain Lightning as welll. Basically, stay alive, and just nuke. Against certain teams, you may want to use Lightning Storm to initiate--for example, if they have a blinking Behemoth. This must be extremely well-coordinated, however. If your team doesn't go in after you use Lightning Storm, it's completely wasted. If you're about to die in a team battle, make sure you use it before you die, so you at least do some damage. Usually however, you'll want to save it for the middle or end of the fight.__________________________________________________
In-Depth: Runes
_Archangel_ has an excellent general rune guide here. Rune spawn every 2 minutes, and to keep up your nuking, you will want to make an attempt to grab as many as you can.Regeneration: The granddaddy of laning runes for TB, this lets you spam Blast of Lightning to no end. Make sure you exhaust all your mana doing this before popping the Regeneration--then hang back and spam it some more until it wears off.
Haste: This is the most important rune to obtain for ganking, as it allows you to chase after you nuke--because the cooldown on Blast of Lightning is only 7 seconds, it's perfect for you.
Invisibility: The second most important rune for ganking, it allows you superior positioning, which is quite important. However, most of the time, if you're ganking, you're probably going to be well-positioned anyway. If you're of sufficient level, consider going back mid and killing or at least forcing a fountain trip.
Double Damage: Another lame rune. It'll help you last hit, and that's about it.
Illusion: Fail!
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In-Depth: Blast of Lightning
700 Range: This is a long-range nuke, and you should use it as such. In essence, it makes up for your 350 attack range, and you should use it as if it were your primary attack. The high range means you can deliver it from behind a lot of cover, so as long as you have sight of your opponent.Ministun: If the enemy lineup includes a powerful channeler like Electrician or Tempest, you'll want to save it for when they channel--hit 'em with it and the ministun will stop the channel. The ministun is also useful for disorientling moving enemies slightly. If an enemy charges you, and very briefly enters tower range, cast it on him as he enters so he spends that very extra little time getting smacked by the tower.
True Sight: If there's an invisible hero that's in the area, use it on a random creep to reveal the area. If the invis player is bad, chances are he won't even notice.
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In-Depth: Lightning Storm
Infinite Range: This will hit all heroes on the map, invisible or not. Abuse this fact, because this means that all your enemies effectively have lower max HP at all times your ultimate is up. This also means you can participate in ganks without being there. See Synergy section for more info on heroes this works well with.True Sight: Again, this will hit all heroes, including invisible ones. If you know a Scout is invisible beside you, waiting to pop out, use Lightning Storm, then Blast of Lighting and Chain Lightning. Even better, if you have a disabler on your team like Electrician, Devourer, or Pollywog priest, have them ready to disable--this will catch a lot of stealth players off guard, as they love to position themselves in vulnerables places as they depend on quick fading. You should also use it to check enemy position. Several heroes missing? Use it. Think they're killing Kongor? Use it. Afraid of going up that hill? Use it. Enemy just popped a mana and healing pot? Use it.
Initiating vs Finishing: In ganks, you always want to save it for the finish--this way, they don't run before you actually need it. However, never use it if the hero's going to die anyway--you don't need the gold. In teamfights, only use it to initiate if you need to see where they are, if you need to stop a Portal Key user from blinking, or if you KNOW you're going to get focused and die quickly.
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In-Depth: Synergy
You are a long range and global ganker, so you synergize well with just about everyone. However, players with magic damage amps are particularly good.Voodoo Jester's Cursed Ground + Blast of Lightning is a surefire kill. And if you're not there, using Lighting Storm is a pretty good chance too. Always use them at the beginning--this way, it deals more damage in the later ticks.
Ophelia's Nature's Wrath is also a good damage amp that benefits from your nukes.
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Positioning: Line of Sight
Line of sight is an extremely important aspect to consider when playing TB. In particular, you want to always have sight of your opponent, but never let him have sight of you. This can mean forgoing creep kills and denies in favor of hiding behind some trees, or sitting on a ledge to the side while an opponent Defiler blindly Wave of Death's some creeps hoping to hit you on higher ground. This extends to team battles--if there's a clump of trees nearby, sit back and take shelter. Avoid damage, and just nuke. Viole has an excellent guide on juking here--many of those areas can be of direct help when following the way of the bigfoot ninja.__________________________________________________
Positioning: Movement Blockers
In addition to using line of sight blocking, you should always position yourself such that there is impeded movement between your opponent and yourself. If he comes after you, he should have to run around some trees, a cliff, or some units. Units are easily one of the best choices, if you have Enhanced Marchers and he doesn't--you can run through them, but he can't. Abuse this fact against melee heroes like Scout that try to double Vanish backstab you--activated your Enhanced Marchers after the double backstab, then run through some creeps while repeatedly nuking--he won't be able to keep up!__________________________________________________
Positioning: Psychology
One of the most important tactics when playing TB is to abuse the way opponents think. You want to avoid your target from drawing any association between him talking damage and you dealing it. For this reason, you should forgo attacking, using Codex, and Chain Lightning--all three will draw a direct line straight from you to your target--when he sees this, his brain will perk up and think "oh, that's what's attacking me". It's pretty much an invitation to attack your position. On the other hand, if you stick with casting Blast of Lightning from afar, you minimize your profile, especially in hectic battles where the opponents may be actively searching for you. If you become a master of positioning and psychology, your opponents will often ask in All Chat: "what just happened?"__________________________________________________
Positioning: Range
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Specific Countering: Soulstealer
A well-played SS is a huge threat to TB. Good SS players understand that the primary strength of SS is his ability to pull off multiple high damage nukes without need for line-of-sight; secondary is his huge physical damage output early on. His weakness of course is his low HP. A good SS will have the following playstyle vs TB: they will hang back at low levels, accepting denies but staying out of nuke range. Once they hit LVL3, they will use Demon Hand to obtain creep kills. Because your nuke requires sight, while his doesn't, you have the disadvantage here. The best way to fight him is to go CL/BL/BL/LR/BL for your first five skills trying to make sure he doesn't outdeny you. Use BL when possible, and try to strafe and keep yourself in constant motion to avoid his nukes. When approaching him to nuke, move quickly and accurately--you will likely walk straight into a double Demon Hand if you are not precise. If needed, buy Wards of Sight so you have vision of him on high ground.
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Specific Countering: Moon Queen
Like the SS, MQ has very low base HP. Unlike the SS, her nukes don't pose much trouble for you early on. However, she has a base movespeed of 320, making it very easy for her to dart in and out, and making her rune control especially powerful, and nearly unstoppable when she hits LVL6. Because you must approach her to nuke, and she is faster, she will move back as you walk forward, and just as you turn, Moon Beam you to cause a mini-stun and run forward and get a hit or two in. Don't fall into this trap--play aggressively early, but avoid getting caught by incoming waves. To avoid her getting runes, use your Flying Courier to scout them out and grab them before she does, or ask your teammates to camp the runes. ALWAYS alert teammates if she's missing, especially at LVL6.
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Specific Countering: Defiler
Defiler is fast, damaging, and there is no way you can outdeny her. You are at a severe disadvantage against a Defiler, because her nuke doesn't require sight, has long range, and has low mana cost. She also has a silence for direct encounters. Your best bet here is to stay on high ground as much as possible, making extra sure to watch out when she uses Wave of Death to kill low HP waves. You'll know when a good Defiler is about to use Wave of Death when she attacks your ranged creep once or twice (depending on level). This is to prevent you from denying it when she Waves. Play defensively, and nuke when you can.
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That's it. Have fun zapping people!
x2 
Mana Battery - 210 
Courier - 200 
Pretender's Crown - 185 
Wards of Sight - 200 
