Goblin Tinker (Warcraft III)

The Goblin Tinker is a Neutral Hero in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and was added in patch 1.15.

Goblins are known for their mechanical expertise and clever, though sometimes peculiar, inventions, and the Tinker is certainly no exception. With his Claw-Pack/Hammer-Tank combo, the Tinker's ingenuity is undeniable. Though his parts may sometimes fail and the occasional explosion does occur, the spirit and enthusiasm of this Hero are never diminished. There truly is more to the Goblin Tinker than meets the eye!

April Fools’ joke
On April 1, 2004 Blizzard Entertainment announced the goblin tinker as a new neutral hero, that would be available in the next patch. A day later, Blizzard revealed that the tinker was merely an April Fools’ joke. However, the tinker became subject to many forum posts and petitions that wanted the tinker to be a playable hero. On April 14, Blizzard announced the tinker to be added in patch 1.15.

Hero names
Gazz Stripbolt, Riket Contraption, Mekka Gobb, Tek Piecetinker, Plug Rattletrap, Ratso Steamwheedle.

Information
The Tinker is a melee hero, and the only melee one with Intelligence as the primary attribute (Draenei Elder Sages are also melee and Intelligence-based, but the only one is only present in the campaign levels). While able to create great damage, the Tinker's potential lies in disrupting enemy forces with stuns, unsuspected damage, and guerrilla warfare. He is usually considered a good Hero versus ranged-based armies, such as against Night Elves.

A suggested strategy is either choosing Pocket Factory or the Cluster Rockets, and improve it. The Factory provides some defense (especially against creeps, because they'll get more than one target to focus on) and good damage while the Rockets provide some AoE-damage and a small stun, which is good for preventing hostile spells and attacks. Pocket Factory is often considered a better spell than the Cluster Rockets. The Engineering Upgrade will boost whatever other skill you've chosen, along with boosting the Tinker's damage and movement speed. This speed is very nifty for chasing and escaping, and gives you a great hit-and-run strategy on enemy bases when combined with Robo-Goblin.
 * Spending Points

While able to make a lot of trouble and distractions, the Tinker is somewhat fragile (at least before he transforms into a Robo-Goblin). Your best shot of downing him is to ignore his clockwerk goblins (or crush the factory, if you have enough time) and all-out nuke him with whatever you got. You are likely to suffer casualities, but at least the Tinker bites the dust as well.
 * Tinker Counters

Pocket F actory

 * Creates a factory which automatically constructs Clockwerk Goblins. Clockwerk Goblins explode upon death, causing damage to nearby enemy units.

This spell is very nifty because of its high damage potential. Not only do the Clockwerk Goblins explode, they will also use small wrenches to first bash away at their opponents with. At high levels, damage done by Clockwerk Goblins is great. Their Kaboom-ability deals full damage to buildings (80 hp every goblin) and they are created every 2 seconds. A Goblin Tinker in Robo-Goblin form using Pocket Factories destroys enemy buildings really fast.

When you summon a factory among creeps, the first goblin is finished a few seconds later. When you are facing really strong creeps (some orange and red camps), factory could be destroyed before goblins appears. To solve this, problem, attack at night or divert enemy's attention to the Goblin Tinker or other units. Remember that factory is not a fighting unit, so it's a secondary target and will be only autoattacked if there are not other harmfull threats nearby.

Factory placement: Clockwerk Goblins leave the factory by the door. It might be useful to focus Goblins on one monster and force other creeps to make long walks round the building to reach those small and innocent-like Goblins.

The Engineering upgrade is a great help for Pocket Factory. Clockwerk Goblins are created much faster and allows Goblin Tinker to beat orange and red creep camps alone, only using pocket factories.

The Pocket Factory could be used to block paths. A clever Goblin Tinker could use that to circle or protect units.

Another good tactical use of Pocket Factory is to disrupt ranged enemy lines. Summon a factory among enemy units, and low life Archers, Headhunters, Mortar Team, Shaman will be ripped off. Remember, Goblins blow up on death so no matter if they are killed instantly when appear, nearby foes receive damage. Factory will not be attacked (it's not a primary target) and Goblins will do more and more damage. This strategy is also good on workers.

Another important thing about the Pocket Factory is that goblins don't give experience at all (and the building itself gives very little).

As with all buildings, simply destroying it will prevent any more damage.
 * Pocket Factory Counters

Cluster R ockets

 * Bombards an area with rockets, stunning enemy land units for 1 second and damaging nearby enemy units.

Rockets have a big area of effect, bigger than Blizzard or Flame Strike. That area further increases with the Engineering upgrade. Damage is low, especially at first level (35 hp really seem a joke) but there isn't any limit to the number of units affected. At level 3, 100 damage is more respectable and with it's low cooldown and cost, can be repeatedly used.

The one second stun is a bit more interesting. Who haven't experienced trying to stun a specific unit, and instead ending up stunning another one next to it, due to it blocking your view or something else? Cluster Rockets will stun everybody in a big area, not just the one you are targeting. This is often the spell's most useful attribute.

Similarly, rockets can be used also to break focuses. Launch them and then move your units when enemy is stunned. This permits the Goblin Tinker to redeploy his troops.

Rockets do full damage to buildings. Some players tend to put burrows or farms together, often in order to make a shield around important buildings. This, like most offensive AoE spells, is perfect to use on such piles. A combination of cluster rockets, Clockwerk Goblins and demolish can wreck an enemy base really fast.

Engineering Upgrade (Passive)

 * Improves other Tinker abilities with each level learned:

Speed increase is probably the most important bonus of Engineering. The Goblin Tinker is small and rarely get struck by other units or buildings. Wearing boots of speed and using engineering speed boost, makes him a very fast and agile hero, capable of chasing damaged enemies and retreating when needed.

Ro b o-Goblin (Ultimate)

 * Transforms the Tinker into a Robo-Goblin, a powerful armored form that has the following traits:
 * -Bonus Strength and armor.
 * -Use of the Demolish ability, which grants bonus damage against buildings.
 * -The Tinker becomes mechanical, rendering him immune to stun, most offensive spells, and several beneficial spells.

Robo-Goblin abilities

 * {| class="darktable"

! Icon ! style="padding: 0px 50px;" | Ability ! Description
 * [[Image:PASBTNDemolish.png]]
 * style="text-align: center;" | Demolish
 * Causes attacks to do up to three and a half times damage to buildings.
 * - class="alt"
 * [[Image:BTNHeroTinker.png]]
 * style="text-align: center;" | Revert to Tinker Form
 * Returns to normal Tinker form, losing the benefits of Robo-Goblin but once again becoming organic.
 * }
 * }

As a mechanical unit, the Robo Goblin is similar to a building. Most spells doesn't work on him, and you can even use workers to repair him. Being immune to spells such as Frost Nova, Death Coil, Storm Bolt, etc, he is good against any nuking-strategies your opponents may be using. One of his specialities is storming enemy bases solo. Towers and other buildings are destroyed fast and when the enemy tries to come back, he can simply run away or use Staff of Teleportation (which is almost impossible to interrupt, as no stuns work on the Goblin Tinker) to return home.

The Tinker can switch between his Robo-Goblin form and tinker form whenever he want, given he has enough mana (25). This is very nifty for when you want to heal him with spells such as Holy Light or Healing Wave.

The Robo-Goblin's weakness is that he cannot be healed by friendly spells. If you focus your attacks on him, you might be able to kill him before he reverts into his organic form so he can be healed.
 * Robo-Goblin Counters

World Editor description

 * Cunning Hero, exceptional at disrupting battles and enduring damage. Can learn Pocket Factory, Cluster Rockets, Engineering Upgrade and Robo-Goblin. Attacks land units.

Quotes
Ready What Yes Attack
 * “All parts accounted for!”
 * “What ya got?”
 * “I’m all geared up.”
 * “Engines runnin’.”
 * “All systems go!”
 * “Let’s roll out.”
 * “I’m on top of it.”
 * “I can handle that.”
 * “Yeah, baby.” (spoken as the Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight from The Tick)
 * “Death!”
 * “You’re terminated!” (Terminator reference)
 * “You have ten seconds to comply!”
 * “HIYAH!”

War cry Pissed Death
 * (fierce gurgling)
 * “I’m more than meets the eye.” (Transformers reference. Also similar to the Battle.net description, see top)
 * (bell rings) “Uh-oh, my Tinker bell.” (Tinker Bell from Peter Pan reference)
 * “Yeah, runs on 2-20, 2-21. Whatever it takes.” (Mr. Mom reference)
 * “She’ll hold together. (quietly) Hear that, baby? Hold together.” (Star Wars reference)
 * (squeaking, then a loud explosion) “Woah! Gonna need a new hamster.”
 * (squeaking) “That noise? That’s a bad noise.” (Galaxy Quest reference)
 * “I’ve got a rocket in my pocket.” (Earthworm Jim reference)
 * “That guy ’s nuts! Grab ’m!” (Reference to the comedian "The Champ")
 * (groaning, either followed by the sound of his backpack falling to the ground (Tinker-form) or machiney breaking apart (Robo-Goblin-form)

Note: Nearly all of his quotes also contain machinery-noise in the background.

Other notes

 * The Tinker, along with the Goblin Alchemist and Firelord, is one of the neutral heroes having no appearance in the official campaigns.