Rampage is my favorite hero. Period.
If I’m not mistaken, 44% of my used hero is Rampage. I’m not really sure why I like using that dwarf-legged, club-wielding, rhino-riding samurai (who summersaults in his saddle and not hurt his 'manhood'). Let’s carry on. According to popular belief, Rampage is a hero for noobs and is not good for high tiered gaming (psr 1700+). The part where it says that it’s for noobs may be true since he’s pretty much straightforward to use – use Stampede on someone anywhere on the map and use your ultimate to drag him back for 3.5 seconds, and keep on hitting him until he dies… if he dies. The part where it also says that he’s a low tier hero may be true since I’m just a 1600+ psr player, but I beg to differ. Rampage is a strong hero, even in late game. I’ll explain further below.
Primary Role: Ganker
Secondary Role: Tank, Initiator
Hero Strategy:
Yes, Rampage shines in ganking. But he is not the middle lane type of hero, he ganks the enemy in middle lane (Just be sure to signal your mid-lane ally to help you kill). It’s best to gank mid at levels 3 or 4. At higher levels, where you leave the laning phase, your responsibility is to keep on ganking unsuspecting enemy heroes, especially at their jungles – that’s why warding enemy jungle is critical. Once you find your target, quickly ping the map to alert your allies to help you and even spam them messages that you’re charging, like ‘Charging scout! Charging scout! Help kill!’. Then lastly, especially in late game, your main role changes to tanker and semi-initiator. I’ll explain further below.
Skills:
Stampede
Rampage: The Rhino will attack the target, charging at them and also applying Stampede to self, gaining 1 charge/second.
Stampede adds 15/20/25/30 MS per charge and gives magic immunity at charges beyond 4+, and unitwalking.
Rampage's rhino pounces on the target when it is 450 distance near from it, stunning and knocking them back 140/180/220/260 units in 1.55 seconds, also dealing 100/140/180/220 physical damage, revealing them for 4 quick seconds.
This is Rampage’s bread and butter, his signature skill, and the reason why you play him. I already explained before that you will be using this skill to gank mid at laning phase. In this case, it’s best to pick the long lanes (bottom for Hellbourne and top for Legion). I’ll explain in the map below.
The yellow lines are the preferred ‘charging’ route since you will be coming out from the mid enemy’s rearview, thereby flanking him with your mid ally and giving your enemy player a split second psychological stun from the surprise you just pulled.
The best level to pick up this skill, in my opinion and in my thousandth Rampage experience, is at level 2. It’s because you will be using Horned Strike at level 1 to farm your gold. Also, it’s best if you keep this skill to level 1 only. You can upgrade this skill once you’re Might of the Herd and Horned Strike is maxed out.
Synergy: This skill synergizes well with Might of the Herd since said skill will give a 12% bonus to attack damage based on your move speed. Not only that, Stampede increments your move speed for every second you are charging to a speed max of 522. That means if you were charging from your fountain until the river, which roughly brings your move speed to 522, you will deal an extra 63 bonus damage when you hit.
Warning: This skill also gave Rampage the nickname, Rambo (in other words, tower diving). In whatever circumstances, DO NOT RAMBO IF YOU ARE NOT SURE YOUR TARGET WILL BE KILLED. This warning is according to personal experience.
Might of the Herd
A passive that gives 4/6/8/10 extra MS and +1 extra damage per charge, you will also gain 3/6/9/12 percent of your MS as attack damage.
Activate the skill and the rhino will slow down enemies in a 300 aoe for -35/-50/-65/-80 MS for 4 seconds.
This is the skill you SHOULD be maxing out first. A -80 penalty to enemies’ move speed in a 300 radius is not a joke. Did I mention that it lasts for a whopping 4 seconds? But wait, there’s more! This skill is not only a move speed debuff, it also gives you a passive 10% move speed bonus. It means that it gives you a 34.5 bonus to move speed – assuming you are only wearing a normal, un-upgraded Marchers. That number alone is good enough to chase or run away from your enemies. Also, as I’ve mentioned in the synergy section in Stampede, Might of the Herd gives you a passive 12% bonus to attack damage based on your move speed. To conclude, this skill is actually 3 skills in 1.
Horned Strike
Bashes your enemy with your rhino's horns, stunning and knocking them back over 140/180/220/260 unit distance in 1.55 seconds, dealing 60/80/100/120 extra physical damage. Also grants a bonus 15% MS to Rampage for 1.5 seconds. It has a 10/9/8/7 sec cooldown, but moving a thousand unit distance reduces the cd by 1 sec.
Ah, this is your farming ability. A +60 bonus to attack damage at level 1 is not something to laugh at. This is the reason why last-hitting creeps becomes a breeze. This skill is passive and has a 7 second cooldown at level 4. The good news is that the cooldown can be cut down shorter per 1,000 units you travel. That means, you can bash a red-life creep for gold, pull away and run around, and repeat the process for farming. I forgot to mention that this skill also stuns your target while knocking them back at the same time which is always and will ever be a plus.
This one can also be your free escape tactics since this will give you a 15% move speed boost for 1.5 seconds after you bash someone. So when someone’s chasing you, just bash them and run. Repeat steps when needed.
P.S. Use this ability to harass your lane enemies, especially the soft ones. Tactic used here is to use Horned Strike on an enemy, such as Pyromancer who is very soft. Do this often until he runs out of consumable healing items. Then repeat until his life becomes red (Don’t be aggressive yet). Once his life is red where a Stampede, a Horned Strike, and one or two normal hits from you can kill it, then become aggressive and charge at him. The charge can be utilized best if you start it without your target seeing you, so better hide at the Outpost jungle or at Fog-of-war areas.
The Chains That Bind
Binds the target with chains, stunning them for 2.5/3/3.5 seconds. You can also drag the target behind you dealing 25/35/45% of the distance traveled as physical damage.
When Rampage gets more than 500 unit distance away from his target, the chains are broken.
This is actually Rampage’s remake ultimate skill. His original ultimate was DotA’s Barathrum’s Netherstrike, but was later changed to a pseudo DotA’s Batrider’s ultimate.
This skill is what makes Rampage an initiator (although not a good one at it since it’s pretty much a 3.5 second stun where you can freely drag your target around). But this skill also makes him an anti-carry – just be sure to let your team kill it within the time period. The good thing is that the skill deals damage based on the total distance you managed to drag your enemy, but this good thing also can do a really bad thing if you dragged your target far away from your allies where they were supposed to help you kill it. Think of it this way, dragging them far can deal big damage, but dragging them to your allies can grant you a kill and gold.
P.S. It’s best you level this up to 1 only since another level only gives you a .5 bonus to stun duration. Although the damage scales up, you will be using this skill to gank anyway so the damage can come from your allies instead.
I tried having a Ghost Marchers and Assassin’s Shroud for that super move speed boost when I use my ultimate (To maximize the drag distance damage), but that was just for fun.
Skill Build:
1. Horned Strike (For easier last hitting)
2. Stampede (For that first blood opportunity if your red-life enemy tries to run away)
3. Might of the Herd (So you can slow your enemies for 4 seconds for that kill or escape)
4. Might of the Herd (To boost your normal attack damage and your last hitting)
5. Horned Strike (For a more hurtful harass and easier last-hitting)
6. The Chains That Bind (Best if you only level this up once)
7. Might of the Herd
8. Might of the Herd
9. Stampede
10. Horned Strike / Stampede
11. Stampede / Horned Strike
12. Stampede / Horned Strike
13. Horned Strike / Stampede
14. The Chains That Bind
15. Bonus
16. The Chains That Bind
Item Build:
Starter pack:
1 Iron Buckler
2 or 3 Runes of the Blight
(Don’t buy a Logger’s Hatchet since you already have your Horned Strike)
Core:

1 Helm of the Black Legion
1 Steamboots (Strength)
1 Scarab (For mana regeneration purposes)
The reason I got Steamboots instead of Ghost Marchers is that a +10 Strength is more important for me for the purpose of tanking and durability instead of the extra move speed granted by Ghost Marchers when activated.
Luxury:
Frostburn – Best used early if your enemies don’t have lots of magic spells.
Shrunken Head – Get this early if you are against a magic-heavy team.
Shaman’s Headress – Get this in tandem with your HotBL against a magic-heavy team and can be further upgraded to Barrier Idol when needed.
Sol’s Bulwark/Demonic Breastplate – Get this to really boost your tanking capability.
Abyssal Skull – You can upgrade your Scarab into this. Who doesn’t like Lifesteal?
Blood Chalice - For that emergency mana regeneration.
Portal Key – If you want a WTF reaction from your enemies when you are dragging them to their deaths (Best used for The Chains That Bind).
Assassin’s Shroud – If you want to go ninja and let your enemies experience another WTF reaction when you use your ultimate on them.

Behemoth’s Heart – the quintessential tanker item.
STRATEGY
Rampage is best used at sidelanes, especially the long lane since it has easy access to the Outpost, but Rampage is also a strong mid hero.
Early Game
Just buy a Buckler and 6 Runes of Blight. These items should be enough for you to farm your Lifetube. As I've stated earlier, pick the lane that has the easiest access to the Outpost. When the creeps are spawned, focus on last hitting and farming your Lifetube. If your lane partner has a good harassing skill, pair it by Horned Striking the harassed target. It will surely be painful and deplete their healing items early.
If you are in a sidelane and your mid hero ally has a good nuke or disable, like pyromancer or deadwood, plan a gank. It's best that you gank mid at level 4. Why gank mid? You will really help your mid ally level gap the enemy mid hero. Keep doing this as much as possible, and don't forget to use Stampede where your sidelane enemies cannot see you, or they can warn their own mid from your ambush.
If you are in mid, only gank when you have your Chains That Bind, to ensure a kill, unless your sidelane allies have good disbales, like Witch Slayer or Pollywog. Plus when you plan to charge the sidelanes, be sure to charge behind your tower where the mid enemy cannot see you, or he can warn his sidelane allies.
Mid Game
By this time, you must have your core items already and is building your luxuries. I can't stress this enough, keep on ganking. A good Rampage must have an overview of the whole map, so buy wards and place them at keypoints. If there are no supports to buy wards, buy them yourself. A blind rampage is a useless rampage. Rape your enemies as much as possible. You need to lower your enemies self-esteem by dominating them with your planned and successful ganks. The Mid Game is your spotlight.
End Game
Pretty much you will become a tank/semi carry in this phase of the game. You are also your team's ANTI-CARRY. In clashes, your key targets are the carries, like Chronos, Scout, Madman, etc. Use your ultimate at them and let your whole team focus fire at the Chained target. Once their key carry is dead, they're pretty much crippled.
You can find out more about Heroes of Newerth
here.