Short intro, when i first started learning tinker 4 months ago my winrate was only 32%. 120 games later, I manged to increase it to 44%. I can say that my grasp of tinker is just average, quite ok i guess but not at the level of 5.8k and above players. So here's my take on Boot of Travels.

First of all for pub games, to be a good tinker player do not depend on your supports. People pick tinker because they have the selfish mentality "i have to carry the other 4 idiots on my team". This is a legit hero to carry you to 6k. Do not go into the game expecting anything from your teammates. If you get good teammates, that's a bonus.

Your goal every game is to get BoT as soon as possible. Why? the main reason is not because BoT will give you the ability to farm the entire map, but because you need that BoT to defend your towers. Forget those Tinker godlike streak montage you see on youtube, this hero is a fvking counter-pushing monster. You goal is to get BoT at least before your T2 towers get taken down.

It doesn't matter at what time you get your BoT, if none of your towers got taken down by the time you get BoT, you basically won the game. Ok, so why 6mins, 8mins, 10mins or 15mins BoT make a huge difference? Like i said, you must come into the game without any expectation from your teammates. The faster you rush your BoT, you increase your chance of getting it before one of your towers get taken down.

My Tinker.
You can see for yourself, click on any games that i've won on the first page. See my team's tower count. When i get my BoT don't even dream of touching my towers.

So here's my formula for BoT farming:

I didn't do the exact calculation for my timing, just a rough estimation.
(Keep in mind that the margin of error in my estimation is 30 sec).

Technically if your last hit rate is above 95% you you will get your BoT at 8min mark, without even touching a single natural creep.

-Getting first blood kill will reduce your farming time by 1 and a half min.
-Every kill you get will reduce your farming time by 1 min.
-Likewise if you get killed, it will increase your farming time by the same formula as above.

Example, assuming you have near perfect last hit:
1.You get 1 kill, 8min - 1min = BoT at 7min mark.
2.You get first blood and a second kill 8min - 1.5 min - 1min = Bot at 5.5 min mark.
3.You get 2 kills and get killed once, 8min - 2min + 1min = BoT at 7 min mark.

Of course most of the time you will get pressured, and you wont get that last hit. That is why people stack ancients. Practice to stack the ancient by yourself. Try to be independent of your support. Still, by knowing the formula above you will have a grasp on how to improve your game. My advice, do not depend so much on guide, because i seldom do. I watched a bit of replay here and there, but most of the stuff i know i learned from my awesome opponent and my own mistakes. Try everything, if your teammates do not agree MUTE THEM. I'm sorry i have to say this, 95% of player base don't have a clue about the game, but they will make so much noise that it will affect how you view and understand the game. Trust me mute every single of them. Trust your own ability to learn from your own mistakes and failure.

That's all on BoT. If i want to explain about the next item, Blink Dagger, it will require me to post another wall of text like this.