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The predecessor of Dota 2, the original Warcraft 3 mod, was an entirely community-driven effort. Thus many of the items from the original Dota are better known by their community terms, the biggest example being GG branch.
Its official nomenclature in both Dota 1 and Dota 2 is Ironwood Branch; however, it is still called GG branch because, as the tooltip in the first game read, "wearing one of these ensures a good game".
Here's more on how to make the most of the GG branch in Dota 2.
GG branch has many uses in Dota 2, most of all in the midlane
The tree planting ability of the GG branch is apparently an homage to Bob Ross, who liked to plant "happy little trees" - reflected on the modern Dota 2 tooltip of the item. On the other hand, it also reflects the item's cost-effective nature.
GG branches have remained untouched throughout all of Dota and Dota 2 patch cycles - in both Dota 2 and Dota, GG branches cost 50 gold and grant +1 to all three attributes. As such, filling all six slots with GG branches is as economic as min-maxing stats get. However, its bigger field of application yet is the active effect: Plant Tree.
Back before 7.28, when the shared Tangos in Dota 2 lasted forever, it was a time-honored tradition for midlaners to start with a combination of only shared tangoes, GG branches and a combination of other stat items and bulk regen like Mangos and Faerie Fires.
This is because GG branch doubles the regen on one unit of Tango. Normally, a Tango lasts for 16 seconds once a tree is consumed with it. However, if it is a GG branch tree, this extends to 32 seconds. This is more useful for midlaners to gain ready access to a tree without needing to back off from the creep-scoring contest. Unlike the sidelanes, the trees are located far away from the normal creep equilibrium in the midlane.
Blocking vision
The other big usage of GG branches is that planted trees act as actual trees, blocking vision behind it for the opponent team. In effect, this means an escaping player can plant a tree to momentarily create a cone of blind spot. This can be the difference between life and death, where one right-click or point-targeted nuke would have done the deed.
On the other hand, it also grants some slight ground vision. This means planted trees can be used to deward cliffs in Dota 2 without using observers or flying couriers.
Forced movement
Planted trees in Dota 2 have a collision model. When placed in very precise and specific spots, this can be abused to force oneself out of peril - such as getting out of a Kinetic Field, or clipping through the terrain to get on or off a cliff.
Niche uses
Trees interact with the ability of many heroes, most importantly with Monkey King, Hoodwink and Windranger. Although by no means a reliable way to use the spells, planting a GG branch to land Bushwhack or Shackleshot can make for some very spectacular plays. A much more practical niche use is as a counter against Timbersaw. If placed at the right time, one can intercept the path of Timber Chain, thus slowing Timbersaw down.
