The Monkey Courier is a familiar little creature which provides the well known benefit of shopping without returning to the fountain. Usually shared with the team, this furry little friend gives you the opportunity to continue to farm while spending the gold you have earned already. This amounts to higher gold per minute which leads to more heavily farmed heroes as the game progresses. But the monkey courier is slow and has, for the most part, only that one use. There is one ability the Monkey Courier has that makes him much more useful, and that is the upgrade to the Winged Courier.
The Winged Courier, as the name suggests, flies over any and all obstacles in his way. This means that he is, by default, faster at getting items to or from wherever he is delivering them to. All of that is obvious though, and you may be wondering why the Winged Courier is even worth discussing beyond this point. So why don't we get better acquainted with this creature and, as a wise Cuban-American once said, "say hello to my little friend!"
Winged Couriers have 150 health, 300 move speed, 350 sight range, Magic and Splash immunity, an unlimited lifetime, and fly over obstacles.
Winged Couriers also have an ability to increase their movement speed and an ability to grant immunity from damage temporarily.
Controlling Runes
A fairly common, although pub-gimmicky, thing to do with a winged courier is scouting the runes. It's fairly easy to hide the courier above a cliff in pub games where wards are uncommon. From the cliff you can see a small amount of the river to possibly see enemy movement as well as seeing the rune if it spawned there. This lets you know where the rune is for better rune control. It is bad practice to leave a courier in a spot where it can see the rune though, because enemy wards will often reveal your courier to allow enemies to kill it. if you want your Courier to live, hide it in the trees nearby and move it out only to scout the rune then hide again.
THIS IS A PUB GIMMICK! But if you move the courier to just Northeast of the tree it won't be seen by anyone walking through the river. All the common Ward spots around the rune will see the courier here though.
Again THIS IS A PUB GIMMICK! Almost anywhere on the cliffs surrounding the rune can see the rune, but any common ward placement in this area will see the courier if it is idle here.The real reason you would want to scout runes with the courier in a higher level game is to be able to steal the rune with the courier. Even though couriers cannot bottle the runes, they can still grab them. This can be useful to keep the enemy from grabbing them before your team gets a chance to bottle it for yourselves.
Help Refilling Your Bottle
A courier can take your bottle to the fountain to refill it if you are unable to do so with rune control.
Blocking Spawns
The Winged Courier can also block neutral spawns for long periods of time by hiding above the trees nearby. This can be very useful for stopping an enemy team from stacking ancients. Because the ancient spawns are so close to the runes on Forests of Caldavar, you can also quickly scout a rune spawn from the location where the courier is blocking the spawn. It is risky though, because although your courier can be immune to damage for the trip to the rune and back if the enemy team sees the courier they will know how the ancient spawn is being disabled.
Be sure to put the courier just north of the lowest trees here. Too far North and it won't block the spawn, too far South and the Neutrals will attack the courier.
This one's a little easier to block. Just be sure to not put the courier too far south, or enemies on the other side of the river will see it and allow their allies to kill it.Stacking Ancients
Because the Winged Courier is so fast it is also possible to stack the ancients without killing the courier. It can be a little difficult because it takes about 3 seconds before neutrals attack the courier, but with the speed of the courier you should be able to get out of attack range quickly enough to not take much damage. In the case of the Predesaurs, you can actually get out of range and avoid all damage.
Don't Get Your Winged Courier Killed!
If the neutrals do too much damage to your courier before you get it out of range, you can use the Courier Shield to make it immune to damage and save it's life.
Scouting Kongor
The Winged Courier gives a great, safe way to scout Kongor. You can either fly over the area, or leave the Courier perched at certain spots around Kongor where it will not be seen by normal units.
This courier can safely sit here and watch Kongor until it is needed elsewhere, and as an extra bonus is very close to a secret shop in the event that an ally needs to buy something from there.Eating Trees
A Winged Courier can be equipped with Runes of the Blight or a Logger's Hatchet in order to remove Keeper of the Forests (KotF) Eyes in the Forest gadgets. This is very useful because a good KotF will hide his eyes deeper in the trees than you can see by walking around. the Winged Courier however, can fly above the trees to quickly eat anything with an eye floating above it.
Bound Eye
Bound Eyes aren't seen very often in competitive play because they can be quite game breaking in terms of map control and losing one can turn the game in favor of your enemy. Because you don't want to lose it, the Bound Eye can be moved from place to place with a Winged Courier in an effort to keep it safe while still using it to destroy enemy Wards.
