Hammerstorm

Skill Build
1 – Hammer Throw
2 – Galvanize
3 – Hammer Throw
4 – Stats
5 – Hammer Throw
6 – Brute Strength
7 – Hammer Throw
8 – Stats
9 – Stats
10 – Stats
11 – Brute Strength
12 – Mighty Swing
13 – Mighty Swing
14 – Mighty Swing
15 – Mighty Swing
16 – Brute Strength
17 – Galvanize
18 – Galvanize
19 – Galvanize
20 – Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
One level of Galvanize is taken early as it is 14% Movement Speed increase on all levels with instant cast. The other 3 levels provide lower CD and higher armor increase which is secondary and delayed until much later.
Stats are better than Mighty Swing early game to not push your lane and you don’t have the damage to support Cleave-Farming yet anyways.
Stats help your last hitting and get you the much needed bigger mana pool.

Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, Logger’s Hatchet, 3x Minor Totem

Core:
Marchers >> Power Supply >> Steamboots >> Fortified Bracelet >> Shrunken Head

Some people like Bottle on him. Nothing wrong with that – if you plan to roam a bit go for it. Pretty much always get shrunken, even if they only have a single disable spell in their whole team.
Now that Galvanize is instant cast there is really no excuse to get Ghost Marchers! The +24 damage are NOT affected by Brute Strength while the +10 damage from Steamboots are and that attack speed does wonders for you!

After core:
(Portal Key >>) Frostburn >> Elder Parasite >> Behemoth’s Heart >> Riftshards

Get Portal Key if your team lacks initiation (this is actually very very important). After that or if you have good means of initiation get Frostburn for the speed boost and slow and finally Elder Parasite to make Brute Strength even more brutal. After that Point you can get whatever you like; Heart & Shards are the most common choices.
Runed Axe is useless by the way. Cleave does stack, but why would you enhance it? His built in 50% splash is way enough for any kind of farming.

Information
Roles: Carry, (Initiator)
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 3 – Medium
Farming capabilities: 1 – Poor (Cleave kicks in late)
Item dependancy: 4 – Heavy
Power:
– Early Game / Lane Control: 2 – Weak (Good Stun)
– Mid Game / Ganks: 3 – Medium (Decent ganker)
– Late Game / Team Fights: 4 – Strong (Once he gets his core)

30-Seconds-Guide:
– In the early game when you are forced back to the fountain you should teleport to another lane, walk around the trees and initiate a gank. This will almost always lead to kills for your team as it is not expected and very effective.
– It is imperative to animation cancel Brute Strength. With some practice you can even cast it on the run without stopping at all! (The animation will not play but the hammer glows). A very good demonstration of how effective both these tips can be seen in this replay (chu` playing a perfect 15-0 Hammerstorm): 23370652

Counters:
– Nullfire Blade will make the oh-so-awesome Hammerstorm cry like a little baby. There is no other case in the game where one item completely counters a hero. This might be the reason why we don’t see him in competitive play. Regardles, get a Nullfire Blade and use it on him as soon as he pops his ulti.