Here is my guide to the slow Bearer, another completely different way to play Torch Bearer that is also very viable and fun:

The Slow Bearer (AKA Bad Mr. Frosty, but I know that’s from another game hehe)

The slow bearer is a full frost based Torch Bearer that maximizes your frost abilities.  He focuses on creep control, debuffs, and a pretty nice amount of auto attack damage.  The slow bearer does not “blow you up” for the most part, but often can wear you down and make you run or kill you if you aren’t careful.  Most of the time I’d say the enemy is caught off guard when all of a sudden they think they ran early enough but cant get away from from snowballs pelting them in the back of the head and a nice ice shower for the kill shot.  This build is also strong for assisting teammates, freezing enemies/towers, blowing up towers yourself if left unattended, and interrupting enemies as well as of course Slowing them massively J

Here is my typical build order with some comments:

1. Rain of ice 1 – The first level doesn’t auto pop the creeps, but its still nice to use.  I like to get the circle to encase an enemy demigod and the creeps when possible, or a tower and enemy creeps.  In the early game use this, then double switch forms for the mana regen and dmg boost.  Do this as often as possible.  When low on mana and no enemy demigods in your lane just use your auto attack to get more regen back.
2. Permafrost 1 – Start getting the slow aura asap.  Sometimes after I get this at level 2 I’m already able to get players who aren’t as skilled to stick around too long and chase them down with auto attack.
3. Deep Freeze 1 – Mainly for the interrupt, use it to stop a TP, pot, or ability if you are fast enough.
4. Rain of ice 2 – Now we’re talking.  You can now auto pop creep waves in one shot.  This allows for very nice lane control as most the time your enemy will have to deal with all your creeps and you since you can auto blow up all of theres.  Again when no demi is in your lane use this on a tower and the creep wave when possible.
5. Permafrost 2 – Frost Nova is really mana expensive and I don’t need it just yet, I keep beefing up my aura which now slows even more and starts adding mana regen to me and my team.
6. Frost Nova 1 – I don’t go firing this off like crazy but now I do have it.  Very useful for taking down towers, buying time, interrupting, and snaring when in a multiple demigod fight.
7. Rain of ice 3
8. Permafrost 3
9. Stats boost or Save point
10. Rain of ice 4 (if you saved point also get Frost Nova 2)
11. Frost Nova 2 if you didn’t get it at 10

This is the basics of the build.  From here you can start maximizing your shatter damage by getting higher ranks of deep freeze, or keep boosting stats for a nice boost of health/mana and a stronger auto attack with more speed/dmg.  Most of the time I’d say I start increasing the deep freeze but stats to me is almost as good.  Eventually you will get stats and rank 4 deep freeze, the order is up to you.  I really don’t think setting up for a shatter combo is all that worth the massive mana cost unless you are level 15 and have Biting Chill (which should be your level 15 skill immediately).  Even then, unless its getting the kill shot or on a really low enemy I mostly rely on auto attack and rain of ice.

Items are of course dependent on the game, your cash, who you are playing against.  But I’ll list some basics I usually follow and the order I try to get stuff in with this build.

Favor Items

Poison Dagger – I used to get this item with this build mostly.  When it procs and you have a teammate nearby its almost certain death for them.  Or if you are 1v1 with enough time to run them down.  The extra attack speed is also a nice bonus.  However, it sure did seem it was proccing a lot less than 20%, I found out a while back that it has a lower chance to proc for ranged classes.  Its still powerful but it makes it less appealing of a choice.

Swift Anklet – Now this synergizes so well with Slow Bearer, you are able to speed into range for your aura to take effect and also this of course helps you get away from ganks.  I rarely get swift anklet on other demis but for this particular build I love it.  Suprises the crap out of the enemy when at rank 2 all of a sudden they are getting slowed by your aura and you are pelting them with unstoppable snow balls until they get behind towers.

Blood of the Fallen – always nice for surviviability, I find with range, good strategy, and kiting that you don’t need it with this build.

Heavens Wrath – Love it for the creep control, and extra kill shots.  Just don’t think it synergizes with this build much, its not so much burst as it is sustained damage and then following in for the kill.  Auto attack plus rain of ice drop is your killer.

Regular Items (this section is copied from my fire TB build as it’s a general item guide)

Usually out of the gate I get Banded armor and save my money.  Alternatively on big maps I’ll sometimes get Banded + TP + Health pot.  First item I always go for is Unbreakable boots, massive boost to your health and mana pools, yes plz.  After that depends.  I like to get my vlemish if I can by level 7.  If you are going against heavy auto attackers or armor debuffers like (UB, Reg, Ereb, Queen) Nimoth armor is usually the way to go, I mostly get this anyway but sometimes opt for the Hauberk instead.  At some point you’ll want a wand of speed to make sure you can get away from bad situations or chase to hit that kill shot.  These are all basic items and you can have most of this stuff pretty early.  If you’ve got a ton of money to blow you can get a Heart of Life, I’ve actually found that by playing smartly I don’t need it for this build, I’d rather upgrade to a Narmoths ring or something else, mostly after those starter items above I focus on getting upgrades at the cit and saving up for purchasing priests>cats.

Special note for this build:  Wand of speed is very nice, you can chase with lightning speed and run away from virtually anything.  I’d probably move wand of speed higher up for this build, and possibly consider the vlemish before the unbreakable boots depending on the enemy demis and the situation.  Also if you get to artifact level (after getting your creeps upgraded) orb of lightning is a stronger purchase over mageslayer.  It doesn’t take up your equipment slots (which is huge) has a super nice 24 health per second boost, still gets you the 25% attack speed (also nice for this build) and an activate able 500 damage pbaoe.  Try it out, u may just like it J

Tactics

First off KITE!  One of the major strengths of this build is the slow aura, plus your speed, plus rain of ice being ranged allows you to drop it on the enemies head without being in danger range.  Run up and hit with auto attacks, back off if they pursue.  Early on I’m not always able to just run up and take a lane, but I can after they’ve been hit with a few ice waves and my creeps are free to attack them.  Which brings me to the next point.

Try to use Rain of ice when it hits the enemy demi AND something else like creeps or towers.  Or if just hitting creeps try to get it to hit creeps and a tower.  The only time I generally drop ice on an enemy demi by themselves is if I am trying to get a kill shot on them, or it will help another enemy demi who is fighting them.  When you get higher you can use it more, but it has a high mana cost so I like to use it wisely.  Eventually I almost always regain lain control if I use it in this manor.

Switch forms often, the free mana regen boost is huge.  But for this build, so is the auto attack damage!  When you pop back down run up and fire some at enemy demis or towers if protected.  The extra damage is a real nice boost, and if they don’t turn to deal with u it adds up fast.  Just don’t get overextended, still be careful to use positioning.  Good thing is with your aura, the anklet, and a wand you are extremely fast and can get out of a lot of trouble.

Use frost nova when teammates are around mid to late game fighting demis.  The snare and stun can turn the battle sometimes.  Also just might catch them trying to cast something.  Also use nova on enemy towers, freezes them for a long time and you can blast away on them to bring them down.  However don’t just spam it, use it for a purpose.  It also costs a lot of mana.  I usually save it for big confrontations and just auto attack towers with my creep waves to not take damage, but it can be useful.

For killing  enemy demis I typically rain of ice drop on them and their creeps until they are weakened and add in auto attacks by running up and hitting them, dropping back, and doing it again so they can’t get on me.  Obviously if they aren’t coming for you you can keep auto attacking them till they decide to, or till they decide to run.  At some point if you get them low enough you can chase them when they decide to run, your speed plus the aura typically spells doom if they waited too long, watch their health and know how much your ice will drop on them for.  When they get below the ice damage POOF you can pop them with it (unless they are so far from defenses that you have time to auto attack it off).  Most demis will not be able to run from you (or rather they will, but they will be getting hit and running slowly).

That’s it for now on the slow bearer, I find this to be a pretty strong TB build and am having a lot of fun with it.  I think it surprises people when they find they can’t get away and snowballs keep pelting them lol.