About me

My name is Lightsy, and I'm a high rated (GM#10+) player every season since preseason, with an MMR of over 3800. I also have a lot of amateur and some competitive experience under my belt. I play the melee role most of the time. Butcher is one of my favorite heroes, I have him at lvl 16 and a whole lot of experience in scrims/competitive with it.

Butcher talents are fairly standardized, with little room for variation. I'll tell you why each choice is the best on the tier. Feel free to experiment with all the talents, although after a lot of high-tier games as butcher I have found this to be the most effective build.

Level 1

Abattoir is the standard pick. If you feel like you're going to die a lot or just don't know what to pick, take this

Chop Meat is your waveclear talent. It's extremely undervalued by pickrates, but allows Butcher to be an effective solo laner, beating some of the top lane bullies like thrall and dehaka. I take this map on heavy waveclear maps (tomb of the spider queen) and when winning lane is important (braxis / dragon shire)

Block gives you a decent boost in survivability against heavy autoattackers like valla and greymane

Level 4

Unrelenting Pursuit is the only viable talent on the tier. Reduces the cooldown of your E by a lot, allowing more chase potential and synergizing really well with other talents

Level 7

Meat Shield is your best choice here in most situations. It works well with the lvl 4 talent, and negates butcher's biggest weakness, dying instantly. Most players will throw all their spells on you the moment your charge lands, resulting in massive value from this talent

Insatiable Blade is an okay choice, especially if you are new to butcher. It gives you a bit more healing on your W which allows you to solo bess easily pre-16, and also some movement speed. If the enemy team lacks any significant spell damage then this is the choice.

Level 10

Lamb to the Slaughter is the only viable ultimate. The level 20 upgrade is the reason you draft butcher, and the ult itself is essential to your teamfight usefulness. The other ult doesn't even compare.

Level 13

Savage Charge rounds out the E build, and at this point the hero actually starts to do noticeable damage. This works really well with your initiation combo and allows you to also shred frontline heroes like muradin

Level 16

Enraged is the best talent here. The attack speed boost is nice, not only in teamfights but for soloing bosses. Without insatiable blade on 7, you should wait until 16 (and full stacks) before attempting a boss solo. Simply wait for it to proc, then use your W ability for maximum value and CHOP CHOP CHOP

Level 20

Slaughterhouse is absolutely amazing, and by level 20 butcher becomes a tier 1 hero with insane teamfight ultimate, survivability, and unrivaled damage output. Landing your chain on multiple members is crutial, and with the massive range you should always try to surprise your enemy with it. Lvl 20 chain wins games so easily if used correctly

Bolt of the Storm meanwhile is not a bad choice if the enemy team isn't vulnerable to your chain. For example they have heroes with ice block or a tyreal with sanctification that can negate it. You can also take this if you're dying a lot and want the extra safety button.

Intro

I consider early game to be pre-10. Depending on the map/comp, you will either fill the role of solo laner or 4man rotation. Keep in mind, butcher is EXTREMELY weak in the early game, so avoid fighting as much as possible. I like to ping retreat and avoid the lvl 1 fight at all costs. Dying in the early game can have a huge cost to you.

Solo lane

Butcher is a strong solo laner, and this is the role you should be filling on dragonshire/braxis/tomb maps. There are too many heroes to list, so I'll just quickly go over the matchups that are most common. Keep in mind, if you are on the solo lane you should ALWAYS take chop meat. It makes everything 100% easier.

General tips

Only use W when your E and Q are off CD, because your enemy will immediately run away and you want to get the most value from it. If someone steps up to you, combo them like this: W->auto->E->auto->Q->auto then back off. Do not overcommit to the chase. Be extremely mindful of the minimap. Watch rotations constantly because you are extremely easy to gank, and dying will have a HUGE meat cost to you. A lot of heroes will try and bait you into the tower. I cannot stress how important it is to not overextend. Be patient

Matchups

Thrall One of your easiest lanes. Clear the wave (you do this much faster than him) and W + auto if he steps up. Once you are level 4, you can bait him in and get some damage in with your E. People often underestimate the short cooldown on your E so they will overextend. Do not be afraid of trading when your W is up, you will massively outdamage him. If he has block, the lane is slightly harder, but you still win. Try to eat the block charges before using your W

Dehaka Relatively easy lane unless you make a mistake. DO NOT step up past the middle of the wave, if he pulls you into the towers you will take way too much damage. Clear the wave, autoattack him if he steps up. Never use your W before he burrows because it will cancel the brand. You can try and bait the burrow with your E. Don't be afraid to trade with him on the shrine, although be aware he might try and bait you by getting to low HP then popping his heal


Alarak Same as Dehaka. Don't get pulled into towers. Clear the wave, dodge his abilities, then wait for the next wave. Trade damage into him if he steps up, his lightning zaps won't do enough to poke you if you take all the globes.

Falstad Sort of hard until at least level 4, very skill based matchup. Be super careful when charging him because he will roll last second into the towers, and you will take heavy damage. The best way to beat him is to bait him out then trade damage with your charge + combo. If you're not confident in your butcher i'd recommend just playing it safe and letting him clear the wave.

Arthas You have 0 chance of ever winning this lane, don't even try. Just stand by your towers and collect the meat. Do not waveclear or he will freeze the wave at his towers and you won't be able to get meat.

Leoric Skill matchup, also depends if he has block. If he uses the spooky hand on you then W and force him off. Your waveclear is stronger. Keep in mind that when he dies he comes back with 100% hp/mana, and you will still be low. It's best not to try and kill him just collect the meat and be safe.

Sonya Another lane you don't win until at least lvl 7, even if she didn't take block. The healing is too much for your weak damage. Once you are level 7, you can start trading against her if she's overextending to push towers.

Ragnaros Similar to thrall. He can't step up on you, but you will lose if you get poked too much. Keep in mind how his slam works. Do not stand on the minion wave, wait for him to use it then step up and clear. Do not get hit by his meatballs and you should be fine. Your early game clear is stronger than his and he cannot trade against you unless you are poked out.

Tyrael Anub'arak Diablo Muradin and pretty much the rest of the tanks you are unlikely to lane against. Although none of them pose any threat to you. Don't be afraid to force them off the wave and hit them whenever they get close

Lunara Valla Greymane and other ranged assassins can be sort of hard if you let them poke you. The key is to force them to overextend, then get a favorable trade with your combo. If they step past the halfway point, then charge and pump some damage into them, but back off quickly to avoid being kited. Ranged rarely have sustain so they will quickly have to tap the well / back

Early rotation

If you are in rotation, keep in mind that you are extremely easy to kill at this stage. Never be in range if their initiator, since any random stun will be your death. Stay behind even your ranged assassins, clear the wave and collect meat. Only charge if you are going to GUARANTEE a kill with it (and if it's not going to result in your death) It's okay for you to just stay in a solo mid/bot lane and let the 3 man push if they have a strong push comp (zarya/valla). Overall, gather meat, be safe, don't feed

Intro

I consider mid game to be levels 10-20. This is when teamfights start to become more common and the pace of the game changes with ultimates. At this point, you should be around 70-90 meat in an ideal game, but if you are behind it's not bad to have around 60 meat. You want to avoid fighting as much as possible until you are fully stacked, but don't let that stop you from taking a fight if it's necessary. Do not abandon your team to soak if they need you.

At level 13 you are really starting to hurt once you get savage charge. I usually try to look for fights post-13 because it feels like a big power spike for me. Catching people out of position is what butcher does best, but don't charge in like a mongoloid unless you are watching the minimap and are sure of where the enemies are. Don't be afraid to use your E on tanks, you get extra value from savage charge that way, and you can shred tanks extremely fast. A lot of teamfights are poke-oriented, and you can just E the frontline to put some damage on them without committing to a full teamfight.

When you are ready to fully commit to the fight, your job is fairly simple: kill the enemy healer. The reason why we do this is because you can only use your chain on healers until 20, because they will cleanse it if used on anyone else. We can afford to do this because butcher is extremely tanky if played well, and can withstand focus fire from the enemy team for quite a while before dying. This allows your entire team to followup while you are in the spotlight. Meat shield + your high hp pool + healing works miracles when utilized properly.

Killing healers is easy, and can be accomplished by simply pressing E on them, and using your ultimate once the stun lands. This way there is no room for counterplay and they are stuck there while you bash them to death. Obviously this is oversimplified, but it is the gist of what you want to do as the butcher. The best way to determine if butcher is a good pick is by the enemy healer. He does really well versus some of them, and poorly versus others.

Healer matchup

Rehgar your easiest matchup. If the enemy has a rehgar I love to pick butcher, because he just can't do anything against you. Just rip your combo on him and he's a sitting duck.

Malfurion probably the hardest healer to play against, but not impossible. He has ice block at 13, so you can't simply charge + chain him. You need to hit the chain from range, then charge afterwards. Be mindful of the twilight dream and the roots, both of which can destroy you. He's relatively weak once you get on him though, and lacks effective escape if you dodge the CC

Auriel She can crystal your charge, so be careful not to get baited. She can also crystal the chain if she's paying attention, but odds are she won't see it in time. Very easy to kill if you land the chain. No cleanse though, so if the crystal is on CD you can use the chain on anyone.

Li Li blinds are obnoxious, and if she plays it right she'll pre-blind you as you charge in, rendering you useless. The best thing to do versus blinds in general is to bait them out before you engage. Don't be afraid to cancel your charge if you bait a lot of abilities its worth it

Uther cleanse + Dshield make it impossible to use the chain on anything other than him. He's fairly tanky, but has no escape. With a little bit of followup you can oneshot him easily.

Lúcio Skill matchup, depends on how much he expects your engage. A lot of lucio players go super ham in the frontline thinking they're invincible with that speed. Your charge is faster than him though, and unless he is far away when you. Even if he drops the beat before you hit him, just chop him up. His HP is low and he will drop easily.

Intro

I consider late game to be level 20+. At this point, you have your full stacks, and insane ultimate upgrade at 20. This is where you are an absolute monster, capable of killing any backliner in about 3 hits and most tanks in around 7-10 hits. Any teamfight can end the game, and any pick could mean death for you team. I cannot stress how important it is to learn your limits on butcher. You will probably feed a lot when you start out, but its necessary to learn what you can get away with and what you can't. I will sometimes dive into a keep at 30% HP because I KNOW I can get the kill and survive. I've even dived behind the keeps onto the core to get kills. It looks insane when you pull it off, but keep in mind your poor mobility when trying to make plays as butcher. You have no blink or void prison to save yourself. It's all or nothing.

The God-Chain

Slaughterhouse

This is how you win games. This is why you picked butcher. Make it count. It has a HUGE range, so at this point you don't want to be charging in. Just stand back, wait for the enemies to group up then hit them with that big chain. You have the element of surprise here, because your enemies won't be scared of you when you are standing so far back.

You want to be targetting backliners rather than healers at this point. Heroes like valla and li-ming are your best targets. Hit the chain on as many people as possible (preferably also the healer), then anihillate the backline. You probably wont kill them in a single combo, so just back out a bit and wait for your next E before finishing the job

God I love this hero. There's so much to say, so many specific situations I can go over. Honestly I could spend hours writing this guide but I'm trying to keep it as concise as possible. Nobody wants a wall of text.

If you want to watch how I play butcher, ask questions, or contact me directly, visit my stream at twitch.tv/lightningww

Thanks for reading.