Intelligence Heroes
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[Blacksmith] .blacksmith .bs .ogre magi (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Fireball
2 - Flaming Hammer
3 - Fireball
4 - Flaming Hammer
5 - Fireball
6 - Chaotic Flames
7 - Fireball
8 - Flaming Hammer
9 - Flaming Hammer
10 - Frenzy
11 - Chaotic Flames
12 - Frenzy
13 - Frenzy
14 - Frenzy
15 - Stats
16 - Chaotic Flames
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Your staple build for all situations.
Lane Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem, Guardian Ring
Solo Mid Starting Items:
Logger's Hatchet, Iron Buckler, Healing Potion
Core:
(Bottle >>) Logger's Hatchet >> Ring of the Teacher >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom OR Storm Spirit
Get a Bottle Asap if you are mid, otherwise skip it. Ring of the Teacher can be completed at the outpost. Then get quick Ghost Marchers to be able to chase and escape.
Now you need one big mana reg item: Get either Nome's Wisdom or Storm Spirit. Basically go Nome's if no one else plans to and Storm Spirit otherwise.
After Core:Sacrificial Stone >> Harkon's Blade >> Hellflower >> Kuldra's Sheepstick
These four items can be gotten in any order. If you plan to rush Hellflower you can cut the Nome's Wisdom/Storm Spirit as Hellflower provides enough mana regen on its own. I prefer to go the order listed here. Sac Stone make you able to actually initiate team fights and tank a lot of damage. Harkon's makes you a force to be reckoned even in late game, and you easily have the mana to support it.
Alternative Items include Behemoth's Heart and Frostfield Plate.
Information:
Roles: Nuker, Supporter, Ganker, Roamer
Prefered Lane: Any (can solo mid)
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Good (Stun and slow, but high cost and cooldown)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Good (Somewhat reliant on Multicast but still a great ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (More of a supporter with frenzy... and mushrooms!)
30-Seconds-Guide:- Gank a lot with Blacksmith, thats what he is best at!
- Try to use Flaming Hammer before you stun. This will reduce their Magic Armor and greatly increase the damage they take from Fireball. If you have Harkon's try to hit them once for an additional -5 Magic armor and insta-gib fireballs!
- Blacksmith does scale better into late game than almost any other int hero! This gives him a carry-like touch especially with Harkon's Blade and Frenzy.
- Keep Frenzy up on all relevant targets. The cooldown is only 5 seconds while the duration is 30.
- Looking for more hints? TOO BAD ITS ME BLACKSMITH!
Counters:
- Magic Amor. Shamans Headdress or even a Mystic vestments greatly reduces incoming damage.
- NullStone absorbs one spell, and thats pretty much what blacksmith is... one spell on a stick.
- Make sure you get some HP so he can't oneshot you.
Replays:
Match 27719643
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[Nymphora] .nymphora (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Nymphora's Zeal
2 - Volatile Pod
3 - Volatile Pod
4 - Grace of the Nymph
5 - Volatile Pod
6 - Grace of the Nymph
7 - Volatile Pod
8 - Teleport
9 - Grace of the Nymph
10 - Grace of the Nymph
11 - Teleport
12 - Nymphora's Zeal
13 - Nymphora's Zeal
14 - Nymphora's Zeal
15 - Stats
16 - Teleport
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
One level of stun is taken early for escaping and stunning the enemy near your pods. This can be skipped in favor of Grace of the Nymph if you lane with a heavily mana reliant stunner (Pebbles, Hammer, ...).
Teleport can be taken as early as level 6 if you want to actively gank/counter-gank or level 10 if you prefer not to do so. Taking it at level 8 is something in between and should work nicely. (In a higher level game you should consider taking it earlier to assist in counter ganks as these will happen a lot more often and also earlier).
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, Mana Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, Minor Totem
Core:
(Power Supply >>) Marchers >> 2x Fortified Bracelet >> Wards of Sight
Nymphora doesn't need primary stats for starting as she will babysit and not lasthit. More important for her is staying alive. With this starting build you get 133 extra HP and you can directly build into Bracelets.
Get Power Supply depending on your lane, I don't consider it core on her.
After Core:Wards of Sight >> Plated Greaves or Steam Boots
- Astrolabe (Full Support Route)
- Staff of the Master (If your game is coordinated enough to make use of it)
- Kuldra's Sheepstick (Otherwise, or after one of the above)
- Charged Hammer (For all those Carry-Nymph players :>)
Get Plated Greaves only if no one else on your team does or if they have heavy armor reduction. Otherwise take Steam Boots on Strength. Keep buying wards as your Number 1 priority!
Then chose one of the three listed items, depending on your/their lineup.
(Example: If they have better carries go Astrolabe since you need to push early, otherwise prepare Sheepstick for the late game.)
Information:
Roles: Supporter, Babysitter, Pusher
Prefered Lane: Short/Long
Difficulty: 3 - Medium (Keep a good overview in hectic battle situations)
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 1 - Very low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Heal and Mana Restoration + Stun)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Incredible Pushing- and Team-Staying Power)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak (Heals lose effectiveness, squishy hero)
Noteable +/- and synergies:
Works best with a mana reliant carry (e.g. Madman) or heavy nuker (e.g. Pebbles)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Start using Volatile Pod on level 3. Place it offensive to increase your lane dominance. Place it with your creeps at full hp or out of your creeps' range to not push the lane too much.
- If not laning with a stunner use Volatile Pod right behind an enemy, then stun him as he is running away to ensure he takes the delayed damage.
- ALWAYS keep Grace of the Nymph on cooldown! If no one else needs mana use it on yourself. Even at level 1 it restores more mana than it costs!
- Use your Teleport Skill at level 2 to countergank with an ally. This is very effective if played right!
Counters:
- Carry Nymphs are easily outcarried and they are very very squishy.
- Always keep your ears open. If you hear the sound of some sparkling fearies, then Nymphora is trying to port near you (most likely behind you) and might bring some friends. React early!
- Don't Forget not to stand in her Violate Pods (The green "flowers" that appear)._________________________________________________
[Glacius] .glacius .crystal maiden .rylai crestfall (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Ice Imprisonment
2 - Chilling Presence
3 - Chilling Presence
4 - Tundra Blast
5 - Chilling Presence
6 - Ice Imprisonment
7 - Chilling Presence
8 - Ice Imprisonment
9 - Ice Imprisonment
10 - Glacial Downpour
11 - Glacial Downpour
12 - Tundra Blast
13 - Tundra Blast
14 - Tundra Blast
15 - Stats
16 - Glacial Downpour
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Depending on who you lane with, you can swap the first levels of Tundra Blast and Ice Imprisonment, but always max Ice Imprisonment first as the Slow of Tundra Blast is the same across all levels. In some situations you maybe even want to take Ice Imprisonment & Tundra Blast at level 1 and 2, then Chilling Presence from 3-5 (For example when laning with Swiftblade).
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, Runes of the Blight, 2x Healing Potion, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Power Supply >> Marchers >> 2x Fortified Bracelet >> Wards of Sight
Don't be afraid to use a Healing Potion on your ally, that's why you got two in the first place (to save him the money). Power Supply is good on Glacius, also make sure you keep buying Wards as you probably have the lowest item dependency of all heroes!
After Core:Wards of Sight >> Plated Greaves or Steam Boots >> Shrunken Head >> Portal Key
Get Plated Greaves only if no one else on your team does or if they have heavy armor reduction. Otherwise take Steam Boots on Strength. Keep buying wards as your Number 1 priority!
You don't need any more items than this. However, if you can farm up some gold while keeping up the wards then start working on your Shrunken Head and Portal Key for better Glacial Downpours.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Supporter, Disabler
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium (Very Squishy)
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 0 - None
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Slow and Disable, Global Mana reg)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Loses effectiveness fast, not very good ult)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 1 - Poor (even with items a pushover)
3-Seconds-Guide:
- Buy Wards
- Place Wards
- Buy new Wards
Counter:
- Wards of Revelation_________________________________________________
[Thunderbringer] .thunderbringer .tb .zeus (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Chain Lightning
2 - Lightning Rod
3 - Blast of Lightning
4 - Blast of Lightning
5 - Blast of Lightning
6 - Lightning Storm
7 - Blast of Lightning
8 - Lightning Rod
9 - Lightning Rod
10 - Lightning Rod
11 - Lightning Storm
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Lightning Storm
17 - Stats+
22 - Chain Lightning+
Justification / Modifications:
Get one level of Chain Lightning early but don't use it to last hit unless you are getting outdenied heavily (for example versus a soul stealer)! You don't have the Mana to use it for last hitting. Use it to have a second way to proc Lightning Rod instead.
I don't bother with maxing Chain Lightning, but you can if you like to. By the time you get level 14 (lvl 4 CL) its kinda ineffective for farming already.
Lane Starting Items:
Upgraded Flying Courier, Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion
Core:
Bottle >> (Power Supply >>) Marchers >> 2x Talisman of the Exile >> Wards of Sight
You don't need stats to start of as your lasthitting is pretty terrible anyways. Eiter drive the enemy back so you have free reign over the creeps or use level 1 Chain Lightning for Last Hitting as explained above. You can start with a naked bottle but imo it is a lot better to get the flying courier who can bring you mana potions and who can easily refill you bottle at the founain.
After Core:Ghost Marchers >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Sacrificial Stone
Why Ghost Marchers? His Movespeed of 295 is among the slowest in the game. To gank he needs to come into range for his Blast. Also Blast has a very short cooldown and the boots allow you to effectively chase someone for that last cast. And finally the +damage helps your farming a lot more than attack speed.
Keep Buying Wards or at least help buying them.
Then get Kuldra's Sheepstick to stay viable in late game. Don't get SotM, ever.
Information:
Roles: Nuker
Prefered Lane: Mid
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (chain lightning)
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Heavy Nukes)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Decent Ganker, Brings his damage to team fights)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak ("Scales" somewhat into the later game but is much less effective)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Start nuking with Blast of Lightning at level 3. If you run low on mana bring more Mana Potions with your flying courier.
- Get a bottle asap, use the flying courier to check runes and send the courier to refill the bottle if you don't get enough runes.
- Last hitting and denying is secondary with Thunderbringer. Play aggressive and keep up high pressure.
- As soon as you have ghost Marchers get ready to gank other lanes.
- If there's an invisible hero that's in the area, use Lightning Blast on a random creep to reveal the area. If the invis player is bad, chances are he won't even notice.
- Blast of Lightning has a Ministun.
- Use Lightning Storm before you die, even if it doesn't kill! Better even, use it at the start of teamfights to prevent Portal Key surprises and to give you an early advantage.
Counters:
- If you lane against Thunderbringer get a Mystic Vestment ASAP! Upgrade it later if you can/need to.
- Use your courier to bing a lot of regen items to your lane. If you need to go back to heal more than once early game he will outlevel you and you will have even more problems.
- Consider skilling stats if you can with your hero._________________________________________________
[Pollywog Priest] .pollywog priest .rhasta (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Tongue Tied
2 - Electric Jolt
3 - Electric Jolt
4 - Tongue Tied
5 - Electric Jolt
6 - Voodoo Wards
7 - Electric Jolt
8 - Tongue Tied
9 - Morph
10 - Morph
11 - Voodoo Wards
12 - Morph
13 - Morph
14 - Tongue Tied
15 - Stats
16 - Voodoo Wards
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
If playing against a double stunner lane, start getting morph at level 8 or even 4 as they will interrupt your Bindings. I recommend on always maxxing Jolt first for lane dominance and farming.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, 2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem
Mid Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mark of Novice, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> 1-2x Fortified Bracelet/Talsiman of the Exile >> Wards of Sight
Ghost Marchers to be able to get in range for a hex or binding and to chase with Jolt. Polly is very mana hungry and squishy so you should get some stats to increase your Mana and Health pool.
Also keep warding if no one else is.
After Core:Staff of the Master >> Restoration Stone >> Kuldra's Sheepstick
After Core is luxury, wards are priority!
The Staff will give you decent stats while further increasing your pushing and defending power. Restoration stone does the same. Don't get Restoration Stone before SotM as you wont have the Mana to cast wards twice.
As a final Luxury Item Sheepstick is never a bad choice.
Alternatives:
- Storm Spirit: Eul's was good back in DotA when you could upgrade it to Guinsoo's. Now it's very lackluster. If you want to Ward-Trap simply use Morph; there is no need for Storm Spirit in most of the cases!
- Puzzle Box: Becomes viable in high level play when the opposing team is (counter-) warding. Also nice synergy with your CCs (cast minions and shackle the enemy while they beat him up).
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Disabler, Pusher, Wardhoe
Prefered Lane: Any, Mid Prefered
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Nuke and disables)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Good pusing power with ult)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Maybe medium if you manage to stay alive to CC, still decent pushing)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you are facing a double stun lane ask for a switch. It greatly reduces your effectiveness.
- Ward-Trapping: Cast Morph on an enemy, Place Voodoo Wards around him by targeting him with the Spell, if he is not completely surrounded use Magical Bindings to prevent him from escaping and finish with Jolt.
- You can Gank with Ward-Trapping from level 8 or 9 on (as soon as you get Morph). Don't go gank alone, its much less effective. You are a strong counter-ganker.
- Always target their stunners/disablers with your magical binding. Otherwise they will interrupt it.
Counters:
- You can't really counter his Wards, and that's what makes Pollywog.
- He usually is pretty squishy so he should be a primary target in team fights.
- Null Stone or Shrunken Head could help if you keep getting CCd by him._________________________________________________
[Tempest] .tempest .enigma (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Elemental
2 - Glacial Blasts
3 - Elemental
4 - Glacial Blasts
5 - Elemental
6 - Elemental Void
7 - Glacial Blasts
8 - Glacial Blasts
9 - Elemental
10 - Meteor
11 - Elemental Void
12 - Meteor
13 - Meteor
14 - Meteor
15 - Stats
16 - Elemental Void
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Tempest will always jungle. This is a law of nature and cannot be questioned. Thus you get Elementals up to level 3. Level 4 is overkill for jungling, better max Glacial Blasts first to gank more effective.
Lane Starting Items:
1. Ring of the Teacher, 2x Mana Potion
2. Bottle
3. Monkey Courier, Wards, 4x Mana Potion
I recommend the first build for pubs, the 2nd for for Inhouse/CW when someone else gets a courier and the 3rd build otherwise.
Core:
Portal Key >> Marchers >> 2x Fortified Bracelets
Preferably Portal Key is the first item you buy after around 6 Minutes into the game. Then get Boots and some HP.
After Core:Plated Greaves >> Shrunken Head >> Wards of Sight
Plated Greaves add some EHP and combined with your elementals add a lot of pushing power! Shrunken Head is to get your ult of uninterrupted.
After that you are done, just buy wards and other supportive items as you see fit.
Information:
Roles: Initiator, Pusher, Ganker, Wardhoe
Prefered Lane: Jungle
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (Heavy until core, low afterwards)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungle
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Game changing ultimate and good pushing power)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong
30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you want to learn how to Jungle the most effective, watch the video at the bottom of this page: http://www.gamereplays.org/heroesofn...jungling-guide
- Short Version: Double stack the easy and a medium camp at 0.49, use Elementals right after double stack. Clear the easy camp, kill as many as you can from the medium camp until Elementals run out (don't recast). Lane Pull creeps at the 1.45 mark. Wait until the 2.49 and repeat double stacking. This uses very few Mana and gives you maximum xp and gold/min if done correctly.- Stop Jungeling once you have Portal Key and Marchers!!
- Gank your lane often, especially at level 6 when you get your ult! (Use courier to send you more Mana Potions for ganks).
Counters:
- Heroes: Vindicator, Hellbringer (can stop him from very far away)
- Items: Tablet of Command, Hellflower
- What you basically need to do is interrupt his Elemental Void. This is what makes Tempest. All the methods mentioned above short of Hellflower work through a shrunken Head.
- Any Hero with disables can stop him but they usually need to get pretty close without getting sucked in.
- Tablet of Command is AMAZING against him. Get it if you are not carrying.
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[Blacksmith] .blacksmith .bs .ogre magi (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Fireball
2 - Flaming Hammer
3 - Fireball
4 - Flaming Hammer
5 - Fireball
6 - Chaotic Flames
7 - Fireball
8 - Flaming Hammer
9 - Flaming Hammer
10 - Frenzy
11 - Chaotic Flames
12 - Frenzy
13 - Frenzy
14 - Frenzy
15 - Stats
16 - Chaotic Flames
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Your staple build for all situations.
Lane Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem, Guardian Ring
Solo Mid Starting Items:
Logger's Hatchet, Iron Buckler, Healing Potion
Core:
(Bottle >>) Logger's Hatchet >> Ring of the Teacher >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom OR Storm Spirit
Get a Bottle Asap if you are mid, otherwise skip it. Ring of the Teacher can be completed at the outpost. Then get quick Ghost Marchers to be able to chase and escape.
Now you need one big mana reg item: Get either Nome's Wisdom or Storm Spirit. Basically go Nome's if no one else plans to and Storm Spirit otherwise.
After Core:Sacrificial Stone >> Harkon's Blade >> Hellflower >> Kuldra's Sheepstick
These four items can be gotten in any order. If you plan to rush Hellflower you can cut the Nome's Wisdom/Storm Spirit as Hellflower provides enough mana regen on its own. I prefer to go the order listed here. Sac Stone make you able to actually initiate team fights and tank a lot of damage. Harkon's makes you a force to be reckoned even in late game, and you easily have the mana to support it.
Alternative Items include Behemoth's Heart and Frostfield Plate.
Information:
Roles: Nuker, Supporter, Ganker, Roamer
Prefered Lane: Any (can solo mid)
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Good (Stun and slow, but high cost and cooldown)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Good (Somewhat reliant on Multicast but still a great ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (More of a supporter with frenzy... and mushrooms!)
30-Seconds-Guide:- Gank a lot with Blacksmith, thats what he is best at!
- Try to use Flaming Hammer before you stun. This will reduce their Magic Armor and greatly increase the damage they take from Fireball. If you have Harkon's try to hit them once for an additional -5 Magic armor and insta-gib fireballs!
- Blacksmith does scale better into late game than almost any other int hero! This gives him a carry-like touch especially with Harkon's Blade and Frenzy.
- Keep Frenzy up on all relevant targets. The cooldown is only 5 seconds while the duration is 30.
- Looking for more hints? TOO BAD ITS ME BLACKSMITH!
Counters:
- Magic Amor. Shamans Headdress or even a Mystic vestments greatly reduces incoming damage.
- NullStone absorbs one spell, and thats pretty much what blacksmith is... one spell on a stick.
- Make sure you get some HP so he can't oneshot you.
Replays:
Match 27719643
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[Nymphora] .nymphora (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Nymphora's Zeal
2 - Volatile Pod
3 - Volatile Pod
4 - Grace of the Nymph
5 - Volatile Pod
6 - Grace of the Nymph
7 - Volatile Pod
8 - Teleport
9 - Grace of the Nymph
10 - Grace of the Nymph
11 - Teleport
12 - Nymphora's Zeal
13 - Nymphora's Zeal
14 - Nymphora's Zeal
15 - Stats
16 - Teleport
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
One level of stun is taken early for escaping and stunning the enemy near your pods. This can be skipped in favor of Grace of the Nymph if you lane with a heavily mana reliant stunner (Pebbles, Hammer, ...).
Teleport can be taken as early as level 6 if you want to actively gank/counter-gank or level 10 if you prefer not to do so. Taking it at level 8 is something in between and should work nicely. (In a higher level game you should consider taking it earlier to assist in counter ganks as these will happen a lot more often and also earlier).
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, Mana Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, Minor Totem
Core:
(Power Supply >>) Marchers >> 2x Fortified Bracelet >> Wards of Sight
Nymphora doesn't need primary stats for starting as she will babysit and not lasthit. More important for her is staying alive. With this starting build you get 133 extra HP and you can directly build into Bracelets.
Get Power Supply depending on your lane, I don't consider it core on her.
After Core:Wards of Sight >> Plated Greaves or Steam Boots
- Astrolabe (Full Support Route)
- Staff of the Master (If your game is coordinated enough to make use of it)
- Kuldra's Sheepstick (Otherwise, or after one of the above)
- Charged Hammer (For all those Carry-Nymph players :>)
Get Plated Greaves only if no one else on your team does or if they have heavy armor reduction. Otherwise take Steam Boots on Strength. Keep buying wards as your Number 1 priority!
Then chose one of the three listed items, depending on your/their lineup.
(Example: If they have better carries go Astrolabe since you need to push early, otherwise prepare Sheepstick for the late game.)
Information:
Roles: Supporter, Babysitter, Pusher
Prefered Lane: Short/Long
Difficulty: 3 - Medium (Keep a good overview in hectic battle situations)
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 1 - Very low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Heal and Mana Restoration + Stun)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Incredible Pushing- and Team-Staying Power)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak (Heals lose effectiveness, squishy hero)
Noteable +/- and synergies:
Works best with a mana reliant carry (e.g. Madman) or heavy nuker (e.g. Pebbles)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Start using Volatile Pod on level 3. Place it offensive to increase your lane dominance. Place it with your creeps at full hp or out of your creeps' range to not push the lane too much.
- If not laning with a stunner use Volatile Pod right behind an enemy, then stun him as he is running away to ensure he takes the delayed damage.
- ALWAYS keep Grace of the Nymph on cooldown! If no one else needs mana use it on yourself. Even at level 1 it restores more mana than it costs!
- Use your Teleport Skill at level 2 to countergank with an ally. This is very effective if played right!
Counters:
- Carry Nymphs are easily outcarried and they are very very squishy.
- Always keep your ears open. If you hear the sound of some sparkling fearies, then Nymphora is trying to port near you (most likely behind you) and might bring some friends. React early!
- Don't Forget not to stand in her Violate Pods (The green "flowers" that appear)._________________________________________________
[Glacius] .glacius .crystal maiden .rylai crestfall (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Ice Imprisonment
2 - Chilling Presence
3 - Chilling Presence
4 - Tundra Blast
5 - Chilling Presence
6 - Ice Imprisonment
7 - Chilling Presence
8 - Ice Imprisonment
9 - Ice Imprisonment
10 - Glacial Downpour
11 - Glacial Downpour
12 - Tundra Blast
13 - Tundra Blast
14 - Tundra Blast
15 - Stats
16 - Glacial Downpour
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Depending on who you lane with, you can swap the first levels of Tundra Blast and Ice Imprisonment, but always max Ice Imprisonment first as the Slow of Tundra Blast is the same across all levels. In some situations you maybe even want to take Ice Imprisonment & Tundra Blast at level 1 and 2, then Chilling Presence from 3-5 (For example when laning with Swiftblade).
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, Runes of the Blight, 2x Healing Potion, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Power Supply >> Marchers >> 2x Fortified Bracelet >> Wards of Sight
Don't be afraid to use a Healing Potion on your ally, that's why you got two in the first place (to save him the money). Power Supply is good on Glacius, also make sure you keep buying Wards as you probably have the lowest item dependency of all heroes!
After Core:Wards of Sight >> Plated Greaves or Steam Boots >> Shrunken Head >> Portal Key
Get Plated Greaves only if no one else on your team does or if they have heavy armor reduction. Otherwise take Steam Boots on Strength. Keep buying wards as your Number 1 priority!
You don't need any more items than this. However, if you can farm up some gold while keeping up the wards then start working on your Shrunken Head and Portal Key for better Glacial Downpours.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Supporter, Disabler
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium (Very Squishy)
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 0 - None
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Slow and Disable, Global Mana reg)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Loses effectiveness fast, not very good ult)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 1 - Poor (even with items a pushover)
3-Seconds-Guide:
- Buy Wards
- Place Wards
- Buy new Wards
Counter:
- Wards of Revelation_________________________________________________
[Thunderbringer] .thunderbringer .tb .zeus (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Chain Lightning
2 - Lightning Rod
3 - Blast of Lightning
4 - Blast of Lightning
5 - Blast of Lightning
6 - Lightning Storm
7 - Blast of Lightning
8 - Lightning Rod
9 - Lightning Rod
10 - Lightning Rod
11 - Lightning Storm
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Lightning Storm
17 - Stats+
22 - Chain Lightning+
Justification / Modifications:
Get one level of Chain Lightning early but don't use it to last hit unless you are getting outdenied heavily (for example versus a soul stealer)! You don't have the Mana to use it for last hitting. Use it to have a second way to proc Lightning Rod instead.
I don't bother with maxing Chain Lightning, but you can if you like to. By the time you get level 14 (lvl 4 CL) its kinda ineffective for farming already.
Lane Starting Items:
Upgraded Flying Courier, Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion
Core:
Bottle >> (Power Supply >>) Marchers >> 2x Talisman of the Exile >> Wards of Sight
You don't need stats to start of as your lasthitting is pretty terrible anyways. Eiter drive the enemy back so you have free reign over the creeps or use level 1 Chain Lightning for Last Hitting as explained above. You can start with a naked bottle but imo it is a lot better to get the flying courier who can bring you mana potions and who can easily refill you bottle at the founain.
After Core:Ghost Marchers >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Sacrificial Stone
Why Ghost Marchers? His Movespeed of 295 is among the slowest in the game. To gank he needs to come into range for his Blast. Also Blast has a very short cooldown and the boots allow you to effectively chase someone for that last cast. And finally the +damage helps your farming a lot more than attack speed.
Keep Buying Wards or at least help buying them.
Then get Kuldra's Sheepstick to stay viable in late game. Don't get SotM, ever.
Information:
Roles: Nuker
Prefered Lane: Mid
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (chain lightning)
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Heavy Nukes)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Decent Ganker, Brings his damage to team fights)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak ("Scales" somewhat into the later game but is much less effective)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Start nuking with Blast of Lightning at level 3. If you run low on mana bring more Mana Potions with your flying courier.
- Get a bottle asap, use the flying courier to check runes and send the courier to refill the bottle if you don't get enough runes.
- Last hitting and denying is secondary with Thunderbringer. Play aggressive and keep up high pressure.
- As soon as you have ghost Marchers get ready to gank other lanes.
- If there's an invisible hero that's in the area, use Lightning Blast on a random creep to reveal the area. If the invis player is bad, chances are he won't even notice.
- Blast of Lightning has a Ministun.
- Use Lightning Storm before you die, even if it doesn't kill! Better even, use it at the start of teamfights to prevent Portal Key surprises and to give you an early advantage.
Counters:
- If you lane against Thunderbringer get a Mystic Vestment ASAP! Upgrade it later if you can/need to.
- Use your courier to bing a lot of regen items to your lane. If you need to go back to heal more than once early game he will outlevel you and you will have even more problems.
- Consider skilling stats if you can with your hero._________________________________________________
[Pollywog Priest] .pollywog priest .rhasta (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Tongue Tied
2 - Electric Jolt
3 - Electric Jolt
4 - Tongue Tied
5 - Electric Jolt
6 - Voodoo Wards
7 - Electric Jolt
8 - Tongue Tied
9 - Morph
10 - Morph
11 - Voodoo Wards
12 - Morph
13 - Morph
14 - Tongue Tied
15 - Stats
16 - Voodoo Wards
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
If playing against a double stunner lane, start getting morph at level 8 or even 4 as they will interrupt your Bindings. I recommend on always maxxing Jolt first for lane dominance and farming.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, 2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem
Mid Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mark of Novice, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> 1-2x Fortified Bracelet/Talsiman of the Exile >> Wards of Sight
Ghost Marchers to be able to get in range for a hex or binding and to chase with Jolt. Polly is very mana hungry and squishy so you should get some stats to increase your Mana and Health pool.
Also keep warding if no one else is.
After Core:Staff of the Master >> Restoration Stone >> Kuldra's Sheepstick
After Core is luxury, wards are priority!
The Staff will give you decent stats while further increasing your pushing and defending power. Restoration stone does the same. Don't get Restoration Stone before SotM as you wont have the Mana to cast wards twice.
As a final Luxury Item Sheepstick is never a bad choice.
Alternatives:
- Storm Spirit: Eul's was good back in DotA when you could upgrade it to Guinsoo's. Now it's very lackluster. If you want to Ward-Trap simply use Morph; there is no need for Storm Spirit in most of the cases!
- Puzzle Box: Becomes viable in high level play when the opposing team is (counter-) warding. Also nice synergy with your CCs (cast minions and shackle the enemy while they beat him up).
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Disabler, Pusher, Wardhoe
Prefered Lane: Any, Mid Prefered
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Nuke and disables)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Good pusing power with ult)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Maybe medium if you manage to stay alive to CC, still decent pushing)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you are facing a double stun lane ask for a switch. It greatly reduces your effectiveness.
- Ward-Trapping: Cast Morph on an enemy, Place Voodoo Wards around him by targeting him with the Spell, if he is not completely surrounded use Magical Bindings to prevent him from escaping and finish with Jolt.
- You can Gank with Ward-Trapping from level 8 or 9 on (as soon as you get Morph). Don't go gank alone, its much less effective. You are a strong counter-ganker.
- Always target their stunners/disablers with your magical binding. Otherwise they will interrupt it.
Counters:
- You can't really counter his Wards, and that's what makes Pollywog.
- He usually is pretty squishy so he should be a primary target in team fights.
- Null Stone or Shrunken Head could help if you keep getting CCd by him._________________________________________________
[Tempest] .tempest .enigma (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Elemental
2 - Glacial Blasts
3 - Elemental
4 - Glacial Blasts
5 - Elemental
6 - Elemental Void
7 - Glacial Blasts
8 - Glacial Blasts
9 - Elemental
10 - Meteor
11 - Elemental Void
12 - Meteor
13 - Meteor
14 - Meteor
15 - Stats
16 - Elemental Void
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Tempest will always jungle. This is a law of nature and cannot be questioned. Thus you get Elementals up to level 3. Level 4 is overkill for jungling, better max Glacial Blasts first to gank more effective.
Lane Starting Items:
1. Ring of the Teacher, 2x Mana Potion
2. Bottle
3. Monkey Courier, Wards, 4x Mana Potion
I recommend the first build for pubs, the 2nd for for Inhouse/CW when someone else gets a courier and the 3rd build otherwise.
Core:
Portal Key >> Marchers >> 2x Fortified Bracelets
Preferably Portal Key is the first item you buy after around 6 Minutes into the game. Then get Boots and some HP.
After Core:Plated Greaves >> Shrunken Head >> Wards of Sight
Plated Greaves add some EHP and combined with your elementals add a lot of pushing power! Shrunken Head is to get your ult of uninterrupted.
After that you are done, just buy wards and other supportive items as you see fit.
Information:
Roles: Initiator, Pusher, Ganker, Wardhoe
Prefered Lane: Jungle
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (Heavy until core, low afterwards)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungle
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Game changing ultimate and good pushing power)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong
30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you want to learn how to Jungle the most effective, watch the video at the bottom of this page: http://www.gamereplays.org/heroesofn...jungling-guide
- Short Version: Double stack the easy and a medium camp at 0.49, use Elementals right after double stack. Clear the easy camp, kill as many as you can from the medium camp until Elementals run out (don't recast). Lane Pull creeps at the 1.45 mark. Wait until the 2.49 and repeat double stacking. This uses very few Mana and gives you maximum xp and gold/min if done correctly.- Stop Jungeling once you have Portal Key and Marchers!!
- Gank your lane often, especially at level 6 when you get your ult! (Use courier to send you more Mana Potions for ganks).
Counters:
- Heroes: Vindicator, Hellbringer (can stop him from very far away)
- Items: Tablet of Command, Hellflower
- What you basically need to do is interrupt his Elemental Void. This is what makes Tempest. All the methods mentioned above short of Hellflower work through a shrunken Head.
- Any Hero with disables can stop him but they usually need to get pretty close without getting sucked in.
- Tablet of Command is AMAZING against him. Get it if you are not carrying.
[Ophelia] .ophelia .chen (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Command
2 - Nature's Wrath
3 - Command
4 - Nature's Wrath
5 - Command
6 - Ophelia's Touch
7 - Command
8 - Nature's Wrath
9 - Nature's Wrath
10 - Ophelia's Judgement
11 - Ophelia's Touch
12 - Ophelia's Judgement
13 - Ophelia's Judgement
14 - Ophelia's Judgement
15 - Stats
16 - Ophelia's Touch
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Ophelia will always jungle. Period.
This is the standard jungle/ganker build, there are no modifications needed.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier, Wards of Sight, Wards of Revelation
In a higher level game you will need the Wards of Revelation to counter-ward the neutrals as well as the Wards of Sight to jungle in safety. When playing low level pubs you can cut the Wards of Revelation in favor of a flying courier.
"Dominater" Build Core:
Whispering Helm >> Plated Greaves >> Bracelet of Fortitude
Rush a whispering helm to control one additional creep. The bonus from Command applies as well! Then get Plated for Support and to keep your creeps alive as well as a Bracelet. Make sure you buy wards all the time!
"Codex" Build Core: *RECOMMENDED*
Ring of the Teacher >> Marchers >> Codex level 1 >> Plated Greaves
An early ring helps if you delay Plated Greaves; you can skip it though. The codex stays at level one; it is simply to have like an additional spell that does 400+130 damage (Wrath). If you chose this route you can consider skilling judgement before wrath for excellent nuking power.Make sure you buy wards all the time!
"Classic" Build Core:Plated Greaves
After Greaves go directly to the after core support items. Usually Nome's first, then Astro or Puzzle.
After either Core:- Nome's Wisdom if no one has it yet and your team beneftis from it.
- Astrolabe Nice Synergy with creeps, good support.
- Staff of the Master can be good instead of astrolabe depending on the situation.
- Puzzlebox can be considered in a high level game (counter warding). But note that this means controlling 5-6 Minions...
Information:
Roles: Jungler, Ganker, Pusher, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Jungle
Difficulty: 5 - Very Hard (Hardest Hero to play by far)
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 0 - None
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungle, Good early ganks on short lane
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Insane Ganking and Pushing Power)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 0 - Poor (Minions are useless, she's a pushover)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Ophelia is very hard to learn and master. Controlling 3-4 additional creeps is very micro intensive.
- Useful Creeps are (in the following order): Minotaur, Catman Champion, Vagabond Leader, Vulture Lord, Skeleton King. The best combination is 1 Skeleton King and 2-3 Minotaurs.
- Note that Vagabond Leader is giving your creeps a health regen aura. This is useful for farming in the jungle (but useless for ganking).
- Start ganking your Lane from level 1.
- Late game the Priority for Creeps shifts: Wolf Commander (30% dmg aura), Ice Ogre (Armor Buff), Snotter Boss (Movespeed Aura), Minotaur (Attackspeed Aura) are Priority now.
- At level 7 you can solo Kongor with 3 strong creeps and your ultimate. Don't bring any of the weaker creeps or a Skeleton King (He hits like a girl). Check the replays for an example.
Counter:
- Behemoth with his block and ulti is the only hard counter hero.
- Wards of Sight in the forest prevent her from ganking you resp. give you time to react.
- If you play carry you can get an Alchemist Bones to instantly kill one of her creeps.
- Never underestimate her!!!
- Check and/or Ward Kongor once she hits level 7.
Replays:
- Match 31379333 (Codex build, 24-0 Ophelia 320 apm, me playing her)
- Match 28099380 (Dominator build, not me playing her)_________________________________________________
[Pyromancer] .pyromancer .lina inverse .slayer (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Dragonfire
2 - Phoenix Wave
3 - Phoenix Wave
4 - Fervor
5 - Phoenix Wave
6 - Blazing Strike
7 - Phoenix Wave
8 - Fervor
9 - Fervor
10 - Fervor
11 - Blazing Strike
12 - Dragonfire
13 - Dragonfire
14 - Dragonfire
15 - Stats
16 - Blazing Strike
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
My preffered Skill Build is to get very early Fervor and leave Dragonfire at level 1. Its excellent for putting early pressure on towers and harassing enemy heroes. If you go for pure ganking you can level Dragonfire over Fervor.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, Mana Potion, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
(Bottle >>) Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> Wards of Sight
Get Bottle if you lane mid, otherwise don't. Always get Power Supply and then Steam Boots. Keep Wards up all the time!
After Core:Manatube >> Portal Key >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Behemoth's Heart
Manatube for better regen, will build into Kuldra's later. Portal Key can be a very good item on Pyromancer if you know how to use it! (Otherwise don't get it). In a normal game you will probably not even finish Kuldra's since you need to continuously buy Wards. In case you do finish Kuldra's however, start working on a Heart.
Information:
Roles: Chain-Nuker, Ganker, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak
30-Seconds-Guide:
- When possible avoid solo mid, you are much more useful with a partner (if that partner also stuns, the better!)
- You are not a carry. You are a Ganker and Supporter. Play accordingly.
- Gank mid whenever your ult is up.
- Never get Codex or Staff of the Master
Counters:
- Get Mystic Vestments early and upgrade it later if needed.
- Try to evade his stun by moving unpredictable.
- If you are < 800 hp and their Pyro has a Portal Key you are marked for Death. _________________________________________________
[Vindicatior] .vindicator .silencer (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Master's Incantation
2 - Sage's Lore
3 - Sage's Lore
4 - Master's Incantation
5 - Sage's Lore
6 - Final Chapter
7 - Sage's Lore
8 - Master's Incantation
9 - Master's Incantation
10 - Glyph of Silence
11 - Final Chapter
12 - Glyph of Silence
13 - Glyph of Silence
14 - Glyph of Silence
15 - Stats
16 - Final Chapter
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Sage's Lore and Master's Incantation is maxxed for the optimum of harassment. You can get one level of Glyph at 4 for the int steal but in my opinion its not game breaking while Incantation offers solid harassment and Last Hitting.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, 2xRunes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> Bracelet of Fortification >> Astrolabe
Steam Boots on Int while laning or farming, on str while in team fights or ganks. Astrolabe for survivability and support. You are party responsible for setting up wards. Help buying them!
After Core:Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Frostfield Plate
More int and disable/utility spells. Remember about the Wards...
Information:
Roles: Babysitter
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 5 - Very Hard (Ult requires perfect timing and great awareness, you are very squishy)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Most annoying harasser)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Ult can be game changing in big clashes)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Using Final Chapter at the right moment is easily one of the hardest moves in the game at the moment and depends on the type if Initiation you have. For example: Tempest requires an early silence to cast his Ult or with Shrunken Head directly after his Elemental Void ends. Behemoth is better off if the silence is ~1 second after his Shockwave, etc.
- Cast Sage's Lore right after your opponent uses a cheap spell so he can't easily get rid of it.
- Keep harassing with Sage's Lore. If you go out of Mana let the courier bring you Mana Potions.
- Use Master's Incantation mainly for harassing and let your carry get the lasthits.
Counters:
- Sage's Lore is the most annoying harass in the game. For some heroes it is unbearable while other shrugg it off (Armadon, Slither, Demented, etc). Swap Lanes to put those heroes up against him that can handle it best.
- If you get wrecked by Vindi early game you can do a bit of jungling/lanepulling.
- Or just keep flying in those Healing Potions to deal with it.
- Late Game vindi is no big deal. If he goes mass Int for damage he is very squishy._________________________________________________
[Witch Slayer] .witch slayer .lion (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Graveyard
2 - Power Drain
3 - Power Drain
4 - Graveyard
5 - Power Drain
6 - Silver Bullet
7 - Miniaturize
8 - Graveyard
9 - Graveyard
10 - Miniaturize
11 - Silver Bullet
12 - Miniaturize
13 - Miniaturize
14 - Power Drain
15 - Stats
16 - Silver Bullet
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Witch Slayer allows for a couple of different builds. This one is my favorite tho. Get Power Drain to level 3 fast for very good harassment and utility.
Other builds include maxxing Graveyard at level 7 (Power Drain and Miniaturize each 1 Point) or even pure Graveyard and Miniaturize. With the listed build however you are never wrong.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, 2x Runes of the Blight, 4x Minor Totem
Core:
Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> 1-2x Fortified Bracelet
Make sure to keep the Wards up.
After Core:Astrolabe >> Portal Key >> Kuldra's Sheepstick
Witchslayer is a good carrier for Astrolabe due to his unlimited Mana pool. Portal Key for positioning or disable + escape is good on him.
And finally Sheepstick, the classic on every int hero.
Alternative Items:
Puzzlebox is of course an option if the enemy team has invis or is warding.
Staff of the Master is an option too if someone else is doing astrolabe.
Void Talisman when dealing with a lot of Shrunken Heads or Predators
.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Nuker, Disabler
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (due to Manadrain)
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Good disable/harass, strong ult)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Always somewhat useful with 2 disables)
30-Seconds-Guide:- Don't KS with Silver Bullet. You are a support hero / babysitter.
- Don't overwrite your disables. Don't cast miniaturize right after Graveyard, use them after eachother.
- Don't KS with Silver Bullet.
- Use Graveyard + Power Drain on heroes with a low mana pool in teamfights (for example Pestilence or Hammerstorm). It will almost empty their Manapool with one cast!
- Never KS with Silver Bullet, use it either early to get a fast kill or when the enemy is escaping. (Or of course when you are alone, duh.)
Counters:
- He is completely Magic Damage based, get Mystic Vestments early and later upgrade if needed.
- Get some HP so he can't insta-gib you with Graveyard -> Silverbullet.
- Shrunken Head works good, get one especially if they have more disables.
- Be extra careful if you rely on mana to escape (any form of blink or vanish). He drains it very quick while you are stunned and then you can only run._________________________________________________
[Defiler] .defiler .krobelus .banshee (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Wave of Death
2 - Grave Silence
3 - Wave of Death
4 - Power in Death
5 - Wave of Death
6 - Unholy Expulsion
7 - Wave of Death
8 - Power in Death
9 - Power in Death
10 - Power in Death
11 - Unholy Expulsion
12 - Grave Silence
13 - Grave Silence
14 - Grave Silence
15 - Stats
16 - Unholy Expulsion
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Grave Silence is taken at level two as it is very useful both defensive and offensive. For example to kill evasive heroes like Scout or Magebane.
The rest is straightforward.
Lane Starting Items:
1x Runes of the Blight, 1x Healing Potion, 1x Mana Potion, 1x Minor Totem, 2x Mark of the Novice
Core:
Bottle >> Ghost Marchers >> Power Supply >> Sacrificial Stone
I consider Sacrificial Stone core on Defiler as this is what lets her scale into lategame. She is such a nice farmer and if properly played can get her Sac Stone relatively early. If no one on your team gets Plated Greaves or if you are facing massive armor reduction heroes, consider Plated Greaves instead of Ghost Marchers.
Ghost Marchers make her the fastest thing on Newerth!
After Core:Here the Choices branch out. Following a List of possible items and when to use them:
The Semi-Carry route:
Frostfield Plate >> Behemoth's Heart >> Null Stone
Follow this path if you only have 1 or 1.5 carries. Nullstone can be gotten as early as directly after Power Supply if they have heroes like Swiftblade, Rampage, Pyro, etc.
The Supporter route:
(Astrolabe >> ) Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Puzzle Box
This is for when you have enough carrying power. Decide for yourself if it is early enough in the game to get an Astrolabe (usually you will skip it though). Sheepstick and Puzzlebox provide good support but not much survivability.
Alternative Items:
- Storm Spirit: Can be gotten directly after core or even earlier. Use it on yourself while your ultimate is running for maximum effect.
- Void Talisman: Lategame against melee carries. Use when your ult is on.
Information:
Roles: Pusher, Nuker, Tank, (Semi-Carry)
Prefered Lane: Mid
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy (For Semi-Carrying at least)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Dominant Nukes)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Insane Pushing Power)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (can tank with ult up)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your Ultimate is the single best pushing spell in the game. Use it to take down towers starting as early as possible. (You will need your teams support for this tho).
- Wave of Death is a spammable farming nuke, use it to harass and farm up.
- Silence is very very important in teamfights. Never forget to use it!
- If fighting evasive heroes with blinks/vanish/etc you maybe wanna save your silence for when they go low HP to ensure a kill.
- With your ultimate up you are almost untouchable in the mid game. You can take most 1vs1 and even 1vs2 battles. Just make sure you use it before you are at 20% hp.
Counters:
- Her Ultimate is Physical damage while her Wave of Death is Magical. This means Magic Armor is not as effective against her as you might think. Don't bother getting it just for her.
- When she has her ultimate up and you are alone: RUN!
- Deny her Rune Control in Mid, this will make the harass much more bearable.
Replays:
Match 27887609
_________________________________________________
[Demented Shaman] .demented shaman .ds .dazzle .shadow priest (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Entangle
2 - Healing Wave
3 - Entangle
4 - Healing Wave
5 - Entangle
6 - Healing Wave
7 - Healing Wave
8 - Storm Could
9 - Arcane Hide
10 - Arcane Hide
11 - Storm Could
12 - Arcane Hide
13 - Arcane Hide
14 - Entangle
15 - Stats
16 - Storm Could
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
The two core things that are being rushed here are Entangle Rank 3 and Healing Wave Rank 4. Entangle Rank 3 is gotten ASAP as it will provide you with both the 66% movement slow and the 1 second stun; Rank 4 is a non-priority (+15 manacost, +48 physical damage on the DoT, -2 second cooldown) and should be taken only after you've finished the rest of your skills. Healing Wave Rank 4 is next as it will give you the maximum of 5 jumps, as well as the 140 damage per wave, greatly increasing it's damage output; it also brings it to a sweet 6 second cooldown. Storm Cloud can be delayed if you feel Arcane Hide is more important; generally it isn't tho.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem, 2x Runes of the Blight OR Guardian Ring (for a faster Ring of the Teacher)
Core:
2x Scarab from the Outpost >> Power Supply >> Ring of the Teacher >> Marchers >> Wards of Sight >> Nome's Wisdom
Demented Shaman relies a lot on Mana Regen. This is why we get 2 Scarabs asap from the Outpost for 100% increased regen. One will build into Ring of the Teacher and later Nome's wisdom, the other will remain in your inventory providing constant 50% mana regen for very little cost. If you started with a Guardian Ring you will upgrade to a Ring of the Teacher asap. I consider Nome's Wisdom core for Demented Shaman as he is the only real "spell-spammer" in HoN. All his abilities have low cooldowns and need to be spammed in teamfights. Besides, Nome's has the perfect stats for us. Keeping Wards up is priority one, even if it delays your core!
After Core:Plated Greaves >> Astrolabe >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Nullstone
You almost always want Plated Greaves unless someone else in your team profits more from them (Tempest for example). After that go the full support route with Astrolabe and Kuldra's. Healing Wave allows you to farm gold insanely fast, so you should be able to complete at least Astrolabe in every game.
Alternative Items:
- Hellflower: I see a lot of demented Shamans go Hellflower. Certainly not a bad choice as it is providing a bunch of regen and good stats in general. I however conisder it inferioir to Nome's + Astrolabe unless there is a specific use for the 5 second silence such as: The enemy team has an evasive carry (Magebane, Scout, Madman,..) who can be prevented to get away with Hellflower or the enemy has a very ultimate reliant hero such as Plague Rider or Tempest and you are able to focus him down in 5 seconds.
If you plan to go Hellflower, start with 3 Scarabs for even better regen.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Supporter, Pusher, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Short/Long
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (One of the strongest Babysitters in the current Metagame)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Heals decrease in power, ult remains powerful)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Demented Shaman is the best farmer of all the Babysitter/Supporter. Make use of this!
- Position yourself so that the enemy creep wave is between you and your creep wave; then cast healing wave on yourself -> +200 Gold in one click!
- Take this 200 Gold and buy Wards of Sight. Mapcontrol for one simply click is pretty awesome isn't it?
- Use Storm Cloud a lot, it has a very low cooldown. You can use it on your own team before initiation or on the enemy team before a gank/initiation. It has a long cast range, but be aware as not to warn your enemies of an incoming gank and scaring them away!
- This can also be used to your advantage. You can often make the enemy fall back by just casting Storm Could on them.
Counters:
- All his damage is Physical. So the logic counter is Armor, especially since his ultimate tends to reduce your armor quite significantly.
- Don't stand in your enemies creep wave. If he throws a heal, it will HURT!
- If he ults you play passive until it wars off and be prepared for their initiation!
Skill Build1 - Command
2 - Nature's Wrath
3 - Command
4 - Nature's Wrath
5 - Command
6 - Ophelia's Touch
7 - Command
8 - Nature's Wrath
9 - Nature's Wrath
10 - Ophelia's Judgement
11 - Ophelia's Touch
12 - Ophelia's Judgement
13 - Ophelia's Judgement
14 - Ophelia's Judgement
15 - Stats
16 - Ophelia's Touch
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Ophelia will always jungle. Period.
This is the standard jungle/ganker build, there are no modifications needed.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier, Wards of Sight, Wards of Revelation
In a higher level game you will need the Wards of Revelation to counter-ward the neutrals as well as the Wards of Sight to jungle in safety. When playing low level pubs you can cut the Wards of Revelation in favor of a flying courier.
"Dominater" Build Core:
Whispering Helm >> Plated Greaves >> Bracelet of Fortitude
Rush a whispering helm to control one additional creep. The bonus from Command applies as well! Then get Plated for Support and to keep your creeps alive as well as a Bracelet. Make sure you buy wards all the time!
"Codex" Build Core: *RECOMMENDED*
Ring of the Teacher >> Marchers >> Codex level 1 >> Plated Greaves
An early ring helps if you delay Plated Greaves; you can skip it though. The codex stays at level one; it is simply to have like an additional spell that does 400+130 damage (Wrath). If you chose this route you can consider skilling judgement before wrath for excellent nuking power.Make sure you buy wards all the time!
"Classic" Build Core:Plated Greaves
After Greaves go directly to the after core support items. Usually Nome's first, then Astro or Puzzle.
After either Core:- Nome's Wisdom if no one has it yet and your team beneftis from it.
- Astrolabe Nice Synergy with creeps, good support.
- Staff of the Master can be good instead of astrolabe depending on the situation.
- Puzzlebox can be considered in a high level game (counter warding). But note that this means controlling 5-6 Minions...
Information:
Roles: Jungler, Ganker, Pusher, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Jungle
Difficulty: 5 - Very Hard (Hardest Hero to play by far)
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 0 - None
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungle, Good early ganks on short lane
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Insane Ganking and Pushing Power)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 0 - Poor (Minions are useless, she's a pushover)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Ophelia is very hard to learn and master. Controlling 3-4 additional creeps is very micro intensive.
- Useful Creeps are (in the following order): Minotaur, Catman Champion, Vagabond Leader, Vulture Lord, Skeleton King. The best combination is 1 Skeleton King and 2-3 Minotaurs.
- Note that Vagabond Leader is giving your creeps a health regen aura. This is useful for farming in the jungle (but useless for ganking).
- Start ganking your Lane from level 1.
- Late game the Priority for Creeps shifts: Wolf Commander (30% dmg aura), Ice Ogre (Armor Buff), Snotter Boss (Movespeed Aura), Minotaur (Attackspeed Aura) are Priority now.
- At level 7 you can solo Kongor with 3 strong creeps and your ultimate. Don't bring any of the weaker creeps or a Skeleton King (He hits like a girl). Check the replays for an example.
Counter:
- Behemoth with his block and ulti is the only hard counter hero.
- Wards of Sight in the forest prevent her from ganking you resp. give you time to react.
- If you play carry you can get an Alchemist Bones to instantly kill one of her creeps.
- Never underestimate her!!!
- Check and/or Ward Kongor once she hits level 7.
Replays:
- Match 31379333 (Codex build, 24-0 Ophelia 320 apm, me playing her)
- Match 28099380 (Dominator build, not me playing her)_________________________________________________
[Pyromancer] .pyromancer .lina inverse .slayer (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Dragonfire
2 - Phoenix Wave
3 - Phoenix Wave
4 - Fervor
5 - Phoenix Wave
6 - Blazing Strike
7 - Phoenix Wave
8 - Fervor
9 - Fervor
10 - Fervor
11 - Blazing Strike
12 - Dragonfire
13 - Dragonfire
14 - Dragonfire
15 - Stats
16 - Blazing Strike
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
My preffered Skill Build is to get very early Fervor and leave Dragonfire at level 1. Its excellent for putting early pressure on towers and harassing enemy heroes. If you go for pure ganking you can level Dragonfire over Fervor.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, Mana Potion, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
(Bottle >>) Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> Wards of Sight
Get Bottle if you lane mid, otherwise don't. Always get Power Supply and then Steam Boots. Keep Wards up all the time!
After Core:Manatube >> Portal Key >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Behemoth's Heart
Manatube for better regen, will build into Kuldra's later. Portal Key can be a very good item on Pyromancer if you know how to use it! (Otherwise don't get it). In a normal game you will probably not even finish Kuldra's since you need to continuously buy Wards. In case you do finish Kuldra's however, start working on a Heart.
Information:
Roles: Chain-Nuker, Ganker, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak
30-Seconds-Guide:
- When possible avoid solo mid, you are much more useful with a partner (if that partner also stuns, the better!)
- You are not a carry. You are a Ganker and Supporter. Play accordingly.
- Gank mid whenever your ult is up.
- Never get Codex or Staff of the Master
Counters:
- Get Mystic Vestments early and upgrade it later if needed.
- Try to evade his stun by moving unpredictable.
- If you are < 800 hp and their Pyro has a Portal Key you are marked for Death. _________________________________________________
[Vindicatior] .vindicator .silencer (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Master's Incantation
2 - Sage's Lore
3 - Sage's Lore
4 - Master's Incantation
5 - Sage's Lore
6 - Final Chapter
7 - Sage's Lore
8 - Master's Incantation
9 - Master's Incantation
10 - Glyph of Silence
11 - Final Chapter
12 - Glyph of Silence
13 - Glyph of Silence
14 - Glyph of Silence
15 - Stats
16 - Final Chapter
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Sage's Lore and Master's Incantation is maxxed for the optimum of harassment. You can get one level of Glyph at 4 for the int steal but in my opinion its not game breaking while Incantation offers solid harassment and Last Hitting.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, 2xRunes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> Bracelet of Fortification >> Astrolabe
Steam Boots on Int while laning or farming, on str while in team fights or ganks. Astrolabe for survivability and support. You are party responsible for setting up wards. Help buying them!
After Core:Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Frostfield Plate
More int and disable/utility spells. Remember about the Wards...
Information:
Roles: Babysitter
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 5 - Very Hard (Ult requires perfect timing and great awareness, you are very squishy)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Most annoying harasser)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Ult can be game changing in big clashes)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Using Final Chapter at the right moment is easily one of the hardest moves in the game at the moment and depends on the type if Initiation you have. For example: Tempest requires an early silence to cast his Ult or with Shrunken Head directly after his Elemental Void ends. Behemoth is better off if the silence is ~1 second after his Shockwave, etc.
- Cast Sage's Lore right after your opponent uses a cheap spell so he can't easily get rid of it.
- Keep harassing with Sage's Lore. If you go out of Mana let the courier bring you Mana Potions.
- Use Master's Incantation mainly for harassing and let your carry get the lasthits.
Counters:
- Sage's Lore is the most annoying harass in the game. For some heroes it is unbearable while other shrugg it off (Armadon, Slither, Demented, etc). Swap Lanes to put those heroes up against him that can handle it best.
- If you get wrecked by Vindi early game you can do a bit of jungling/lanepulling.
- Or just keep flying in those Healing Potions to deal with it.
- Late Game vindi is no big deal. If he goes mass Int for damage he is very squishy._________________________________________________
[Witch Slayer] .witch slayer .lion (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Graveyard
2 - Power Drain
3 - Power Drain
4 - Graveyard
5 - Power Drain
6 - Silver Bullet
7 - Miniaturize
8 - Graveyard
9 - Graveyard
10 - Miniaturize
11 - Silver Bullet
12 - Miniaturize
13 - Miniaturize
14 - Power Drain
15 - Stats
16 - Silver Bullet
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Witch Slayer allows for a couple of different builds. This one is my favorite tho. Get Power Drain to level 3 fast for very good harassment and utility.
Other builds include maxxing Graveyard at level 7 (Power Drain and Miniaturize each 1 Point) or even pure Graveyard and Miniaturize. With the listed build however you are never wrong.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, 2x Runes of the Blight, 4x Minor Totem
Core:
Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> 1-2x Fortified Bracelet
Make sure to keep the Wards up.
After Core:Astrolabe >> Portal Key >> Kuldra's Sheepstick
Witchslayer is a good carrier for Astrolabe due to his unlimited Mana pool. Portal Key for positioning or disable + escape is good on him.
And finally Sheepstick, the classic on every int hero.
Alternative Items:
Puzzlebox is of course an option if the enemy team has invis or is warding.
Staff of the Master is an option too if someone else is doing astrolabe.
Void Talisman when dealing with a lot of Shrunken Heads or Predators
.Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Nuker, Disabler
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (due to Manadrain)
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Good disable/harass, strong ult)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Always somewhat useful with 2 disables)
30-Seconds-Guide:- Don't KS with Silver Bullet. You are a support hero / babysitter.
- Don't overwrite your disables. Don't cast miniaturize right after Graveyard, use them after eachother.
- Don't KS with Silver Bullet.
- Use Graveyard + Power Drain on heroes with a low mana pool in teamfights (for example Pestilence or Hammerstorm). It will almost empty their Manapool with one cast!
- Never KS with Silver Bullet, use it either early to get a fast kill or when the enemy is escaping. (Or of course when you are alone, duh.)
Counters:
- He is completely Magic Damage based, get Mystic Vestments early and later upgrade if needed.
- Get some HP so he can't insta-gib you with Graveyard -> Silverbullet.
- Shrunken Head works good, get one especially if they have more disables.
- Be extra careful if you rely on mana to escape (any form of blink or vanish). He drains it very quick while you are stunned and then you can only run._________________________________________________
[Defiler] .defiler .krobelus .banshee (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Wave of Death
2 - Grave Silence
3 - Wave of Death
4 - Power in Death
5 - Wave of Death
6 - Unholy Expulsion
7 - Wave of Death
8 - Power in Death
9 - Power in Death
10 - Power in Death
11 - Unholy Expulsion
12 - Grave Silence
13 - Grave Silence
14 - Grave Silence
15 - Stats
16 - Unholy Expulsion
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Grave Silence is taken at level two as it is very useful both defensive and offensive. For example to kill evasive heroes like Scout or Magebane.
The rest is straightforward.
Lane Starting Items:
1x Runes of the Blight, 1x Healing Potion, 1x Mana Potion, 1x Minor Totem, 2x Mark of the Novice
Core:
Bottle >> Ghost Marchers >> Power Supply >> Sacrificial Stone
I consider Sacrificial Stone core on Defiler as this is what lets her scale into lategame. She is such a nice farmer and if properly played can get her Sac Stone relatively early. If no one on your team gets Plated Greaves or if you are facing massive armor reduction heroes, consider Plated Greaves instead of Ghost Marchers.
Ghost Marchers make her the fastest thing on Newerth!
After Core:Here the Choices branch out. Following a List of possible items and when to use them:
The Semi-Carry route:
Frostfield Plate >> Behemoth's Heart >> Null Stone
Follow this path if you only have 1 or 1.5 carries. Nullstone can be gotten as early as directly after Power Supply if they have heroes like Swiftblade, Rampage, Pyro, etc.
The Supporter route:
(Astrolabe >> ) Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Puzzle Box
This is for when you have enough carrying power. Decide for yourself if it is early enough in the game to get an Astrolabe (usually you will skip it though). Sheepstick and Puzzlebox provide good support but not much survivability.
Alternative Items:
- Storm Spirit: Can be gotten directly after core or even earlier. Use it on yourself while your ultimate is running for maximum effect.
- Void Talisman: Lategame against melee carries. Use when your ult is on.
Information:
Roles: Pusher, Nuker, Tank, (Semi-Carry)
Prefered Lane: Mid
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy (For Semi-Carrying at least)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Dominant Nukes)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Insane Pushing Power)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (can tank with ult up)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your Ultimate is the single best pushing spell in the game. Use it to take down towers starting as early as possible. (You will need your teams support for this tho).
- Wave of Death is a spammable farming nuke, use it to harass and farm up.
- Silence is very very important in teamfights. Never forget to use it!
- If fighting evasive heroes with blinks/vanish/etc you maybe wanna save your silence for when they go low HP to ensure a kill.
- With your ultimate up you are almost untouchable in the mid game. You can take most 1vs1 and even 1vs2 battles. Just make sure you use it before you are at 20% hp.
Counters:
- Her Ultimate is Physical damage while her Wave of Death is Magical. This means Magic Armor is not as effective against her as you might think. Don't bother getting it just for her.
- When she has her ultimate up and you are alone: RUN!
- Deny her Rune Control in Mid, this will make the harass much more bearable.
Replays:
Match 27887609
_________________________________________________
[Demented Shaman] .demented shaman .ds .dazzle .shadow priest (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Entangle
2 - Healing Wave
3 - Entangle
4 - Healing Wave
5 - Entangle
6 - Healing Wave
7 - Healing Wave
8 - Storm Could
9 - Arcane Hide
10 - Arcane Hide
11 - Storm Could
12 - Arcane Hide
13 - Arcane Hide
14 - Entangle
15 - Stats
16 - Storm Could
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
The two core things that are being rushed here are Entangle Rank 3 and Healing Wave Rank 4. Entangle Rank 3 is gotten ASAP as it will provide you with both the 66% movement slow and the 1 second stun; Rank 4 is a non-priority (+15 manacost, +48 physical damage on the DoT, -2 second cooldown) and should be taken only after you've finished the rest of your skills. Healing Wave Rank 4 is next as it will give you the maximum of 5 jumps, as well as the 140 damage per wave, greatly increasing it's damage output; it also brings it to a sweet 6 second cooldown. Storm Cloud can be delayed if you feel Arcane Hide is more important; generally it isn't tho.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem, 2x Runes of the Blight OR Guardian Ring (for a faster Ring of the Teacher)
Core:
2x Scarab from the Outpost >> Power Supply >> Ring of the Teacher >> Marchers >> Wards of Sight >> Nome's Wisdom
Demented Shaman relies a lot on Mana Regen. This is why we get 2 Scarabs asap from the Outpost for 100% increased regen. One will build into Ring of the Teacher and later Nome's wisdom, the other will remain in your inventory providing constant 50% mana regen for very little cost. If you started with a Guardian Ring you will upgrade to a Ring of the Teacher asap. I consider Nome's Wisdom core for Demented Shaman as he is the only real "spell-spammer" in HoN. All his abilities have low cooldowns and need to be spammed in teamfights. Besides, Nome's has the perfect stats for us. Keeping Wards up is priority one, even if it delays your core!
After Core:Plated Greaves >> Astrolabe >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Nullstone
You almost always want Plated Greaves unless someone else in your team profits more from them (Tempest for example). After that go the full support route with Astrolabe and Kuldra's. Healing Wave allows you to farm gold insanely fast, so you should be able to complete at least Astrolabe in every game.
Alternative Items:
- Hellflower: I see a lot of demented Shamans go Hellflower. Certainly not a bad choice as it is providing a bunch of regen and good stats in general. I however conisder it inferioir to Nome's + Astrolabe unless there is a specific use for the 5 second silence such as: The enemy team has an evasive carry (Magebane, Scout, Madman,..) who can be prevented to get away with Hellflower or the enemy has a very ultimate reliant hero such as Plague Rider or Tempest and you are able to focus him down in 5 seconds.
If you plan to go Hellflower, start with 3 Scarabs for even better regen.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Supporter, Pusher, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Short/Long
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (One of the strongest Babysitters in the current Metagame)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Heals decrease in power, ult remains powerful)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Demented Shaman is the best farmer of all the Babysitter/Supporter. Make use of this!
- Position yourself so that the enemy creep wave is between you and your creep wave; then cast healing wave on yourself -> +200 Gold in one click!
- Take this 200 Gold and buy Wards of Sight. Mapcontrol for one simply click is pretty awesome isn't it?
- Use Storm Cloud a lot, it has a very low cooldown. You can use it on your own team before initiation or on the enemy team before a gank/initiation. It has a long cast range, but be aware as not to warn your enemies of an incoming gank and scaring them away!
- This can also be used to your advantage. You can often make the enemy fall back by just casting Storm Could on them.
Counters:
- All his damage is Physical. So the logic counter is Armor, especially since his ultimate tends to reduce your armor quite significantly.
- Don't stand in your enemies creep wave. If he throws a heal, it will HURT!
- If he ults you play passive until it wars off and be prepared for their initiation!
[Voodoo Jester] .voodoo jester .witch doctor .vol'jin (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Acid Cocktail
2 - Cursed Ground
3 - Cursed Ground
4 - Acid Cocktail
5 - Cursed Ground
6 - Spirit Ward
7 - Cursed Ground
8 - Acid Cocktail
9 - Acid Cocktail
10 - Mojo
11 - Spirit Ward
12 - Mojo
13 - Mojo
14 - Mojo
15 - Stats
16 - Spirit Ward
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Cursed Ground takes priority as the strongest non-ult nuke in the game, and Acid Cocktail is taken secondary due to it's incredibly strong uses as both a crowd control skill and as a farming tool. Mojo is taken last, as it helps sustain pushes, but it is worth taking over stats.
If you play as a pure babysitter you should take only take 1 level of cocktail, max mojo first, cursed ground second and take ulti at 10+11. This guide focuses on a more ganky style of play tho.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, 2x Runes of the Blight, Mana Potion, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Power Supply >> Marchers >> 1-2x Fortified Bracelet >> Steam Boots
I consider Bottle core, even if not playing mid. The main reason being that invis or haste will offer you an almost guaranteed kill when ganking due to the nature of cursed ground. Power Supply is needed, as your "combo" takes up a lot of burst mana. Bracelets and Steam Boots to compensate for his lack of vitality. If you get Bracelets before Steam Boots consider leaving Steam Boots on Int to be able to get your combo off more reliably. Switch to str later when your Mana Pool is big enough.
After Core:Staff of the Master >> Shrunken Head >> Portal Key >> Kulrda's Sheepstick
Staff of the Master has a good stats gain while building it (more Mana allows you to farm faster with Coccktail) and almost doubles your total damage output on a well placed curse + ward! After that get Shrunken head to be able to cast Spirit Ward uninterrupted. I advise to get SotM first as this route is usually faster and offers more direct benefits (exceptions versus very heavy disabler teams obviously). If the game still goes on after this get Portal Key for perfect positioning and eventually the All-Star Kuldra's.
Note that Voodoo Jester can be an excellt Babysitter but he also is a Ganker and maybe even Semi-Carry in some way. Usually there will be a hero in the game who is suited better for buying wards. However if no one else does so you should at least help buying wards.
Alternative Items:
- Assassin's Shroud: Some people swear by it on Voodoo jester; I think SotM and Shrunken Head have a much higher Priority and after that Portal Key gets the job done better. But the choice is yours.
- Codex: Interesting Synergy with Curse, but the same problem as with assassin's shroud: Your other Items are better and more important! And a lategame codex is weak.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Roamer, Babysitter
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (Pretty Heavy for an Int hero)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak (Medium with the right gear, ult loses power as enemies stack armor)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Always Curse first when possible. Then Mojo, Stun and finally place the Ward. If your enemy is running away you can stun first and follow up with a curse.
- Voodoo Jester is a decent solo mid, as he can use the runes to great potential and is a very vital ganker from level 6 on!
- Acid Cocktail is very effective in the jungle and on crepe waves and must be used to farm neutrals/creeps a lot in order to get your items.
- You are not a particularly good babysitter and giving up last hits early game will hurt you a lot. Try to either go to an aggressive long lane or solo mid.
Counters:
- Contrary to popular belief, his ultimate does physical damage not magical, while the damage from cursed ground is magic. This makes it though to counter as you can't simply stack armor or magic armor.
- Barbed Armor should work well. Activate it when standing in his ultimate should kill him pretty quick (Note: I did not test that yet)
- You can't drink from your bottle or apply a healing potion while cursed ground is on you. The only item-wise way to heal yourself is power supply and astrolabe. So get at least a power supply and use it after cursed ground is on you, this will reduce the dot damage you take.
- Shrunken Head does not remove the curse but stops its damage while the magic immunity runs.
- Jereziah is an excellt counter to voodoo as he can heal through/protective charm cursed ground, preventing it from doing any damage and his ultimate completely stops Voodoo Jester's ward from doing any damage._________________________________________________
[Puppet Master] .puppet master (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Puppeteer's Hold
2 - Puppet Show
3 - Whiplash
4 - Whiplash
5 - Whiplash
6 - Voodoo Puppet
7 - Whiplash
8 - Puppet Show
9 - Puppet Show
10 - Puppet Show
11 - Voodoo Puppet
12 - Puppeteer's Hold
13 - Puppeteer's Hold
14 - Puppeteer's Hold
15 - Stats
16 - Voodoo Puppet
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Get one level of Puppeteer's Hold and Puppet Show early to have some pseudo disables just in case (they hold pretty long for one level). Then Max Whiplash to farm up. Puppet Show is better than Hold in almost every aspect (except maybe the cooldown) and has to be maxxed first.
Lane Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Pretenders Crown, Minor Totem
Core:
Whispering Helm (>> Fortified Bracelet) >> Steam Boots
Whispering Helm can be gotten asap from the outpost and is needed to start stacking ancient creeps. If you don't know how to do that, I recommend you read up on it as it is essential to play a good Puppet Master. Steam Boots are easily better than Ghost Marchers due to the survivability they provide. Get 0-2 Bracelets if the game goes rough.
After Core:Shrunken Head >> Harkon's Blade >> Charged Hammer
The new build for puppet. Shrunken Head and Harkon's Blade are insanely powerful and will boost your survivability and damage through the roof.
Alternative Items:
- Assassin's Shroud: Situational Item, can be gotten even in higher team games if your farm is good.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick: This item becomes very interesting if you are not taking the carry role. If you have at least one very capable Hard Carry in your team you probably wanna pick up this item right after the core and lay low on the pure damage items.
- Puzzlebox: Same as Sheepstick, but this item is seen more often in competitive play due to its counter-warding potential probably.
- Hellflower: Not often seen but can be a solid first choice after the core if you need to deal with an evasive opponent carry like Madman, Magebane, Scout, etc. Don't get this if you are the only carry though.
Information:
Roles: Hard-Carry, Disabler
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent (Whiplash is amazing)
Item dependancy: 5 - Very Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Pesudo disables)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (If well farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Don't forget the ancient creep stacking. Every minute at x.50 to x.56 you have to aggro the ancient creeps with your minion and draw them out of their spawning area for an additional set of creeps to spawn.
- Farm the ancients once you reach 4-5 stacks. Then continue stacking.
- Focus on last hitting over harassing, because harassing is not a good idea when you have pseudo-disables and no nukes.
- If the enemy is slow to retreat from a creep wave, cast puppeteer's hold or puppet show.
- Your bread and butter: Open with puppet show if there is someone for the target to attack, and then chain with puppeteer's hold. Ult if needed (before puppeteer's hold but after puppet show) and auto-attack till dead.
Counters:
- Most Puppet Master will eventually go for Harkon's, shifting their damage from physical to magic. Also with shrunken they are not squishy at all. It is a very balanced hero that has no obvious hard counter.
- Once he has Harkons, a Shrunken Head will force him to use his normal attack instead of the magic attack, this does still horrendous amounts of damage though. At least Shrunken will remove the disables and is a start to countering him.
- A lot of PMs also stack ancients with an early whispering helm. Ward their ancient spot and go steal it or gank him when he is doing them._________________________________________________
[Hellbringer] .hellbringer (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Life Void
2 - Death Boil
3 - Death Boil
4 - Unholy Shackles
5 - Death Boil
6 - Summon Malphas
7 - Death Boil
8 - Life Void
9 - Life Void
10 - Life Void
11 - Summon Malphas
12 - Unholy Shackles
13 - Unholy Shackles
14 - Unholy Shackles
15 - Stats
16 - Summon Malphas
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Usually one level of Life Void is enough for the start. With a well placed Death Boil and auto attacks it heals you quite a bit. Leave Shackles at 1 as 30% slow is quite enough.
Lane Starting Items:
3x Mana Potion, 3x Mark of the Novice
Core:
Great Arcana >> Marchers >> 1-2x Talisman of Exile
The Arcana will help you with early Manareg and later build into Restoration Stone. The Talisman are needed to support the Mana for 2x Malphas.
After Core:Steam Boots >> Restoration Stone
Steam Boots can be set to Int once you get the Stone so you have enough mana. If no one on the team has Plated Greaves yet you can also consider getting those.
Alternative Items:
- Puzzle Box: As on most Int heroes a solid choice.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Nuker, Semi-Initiator
Prefered Lane: Any (Good 1vs2 soloer)
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Very Good Staying Power)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Decent Ganker, powerful ult)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Reduced to his ult and some utility)
30-Seconds-Guide:- Life Void got nerfed but is still very powerful especially early game. If you are low HP and need to regen cast it as soon as the enemy creeps are in your tower range, add Death Boil on top of it and auto attack.
- Malphas is optimally not used as an initiation. Let other initiators like Behemoth, Pharao, Kraken, etc. do their job first! Get as many heroes as possible with your life void and then after a couple seconds unleash Malphas.
- If you lack any form of initiation, Summon Malphas can serve this purpose and should be used that way.
- If ganking, try following this pattern: Life Void > Death Boil > Summon Malphas > Unholy Shackles > Malphas' Fire Breath.
Counters:
- Electrician can purge all of Hellbringer's Debuffs as well as deal significant damage to Malphas.- Nullfire Blade's purge instantly kills Malphas! You get the full 100-150 Gold Bounty! Get a Nullfire if you play an agi hero.
- Nullfire Blade's purge can also remove all his other debuffs on one person.
- Shrunken Head / Magic Armor is the obvious counter to his spells but you should not be worried about them too much. His ulti is mostly for initiation purposes and not for the damage it does.
_________________________________________________
[Torturer].torturer .leshrac (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Chain Reaction
2 - Agonizing Bondsl
3 - Agonizing Bonds
4 - Chain Reaction
5 - Agonizing Bonds
6 - Chain Reaction
7 - Agonizing Bonds
8 - Chain Reaction
9 - Impalement
10 - Impalement
11 - Impalement
12 - Impalement
13 -Torment
14 - Torment
15 - Stats
16 - Torment
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
This is the most effective harasser / killer build. The ulti is gotten late as your other skills are more important and you won't have the Mana to support Torment yet. If you prefer to build a more pushy build or are fighting invisible heroes or if you are not very good at aiming the stun then leave Chain Reaction on 1 and max Impalement along with Bonds first.
Lane Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 4x Mana Potion, 4x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> 2x Fortified Bracelet >> Marchers >> Glow Stone >> Post Haste >> Icon of Goddess
Bottle if Mid. Bracers for Survivability, Post Haste to make good use of your ultimate and to be able to farm/push all the lanes quickly.
After Core:Sacrificial Stone >> Staff of the Master >> Frostfield Plate >> Behemoth's Heart
Sacrificial Stone turns you into the tank you need to be in order to get full use of your Ultimate. You can't cast from the second row, you need to be in the middle of the action. SotM provides a fair boost to the ultimate and is your next items; after that keep workin on your EHP.
Alternative Items:- Nullstone: Very solid choice in place of Sac Stone if they have heroes with targetet silence or brutal ults. - Kuldra's Sheepstick: Provides a lot of mana regen but no survivability and I therefore do not recommend it.
- Portal Key: If you have troubles chasing enemy heroes. Or as initiation once you got the tank gear.
Information:
Roles: Nuker, Pusher, (Semi-Carry
)
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Mana intensive)
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Very strong nukes/stuns)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Nukes decrease in efficiency fast)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Stronger if farmed well)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- You are considered a Semi-Carry. That means you should not be babysitting and optimally not giving up the last hits to a carry.
- You have one of the lowest starting HP pools and one of the highest starting mana pools. Thus you are very squishy and should get the Bracelets asap.
- As a proper Semi-Carry you should be farming a lot, don't be afraid to use your mana to get some extra gold.
Counters:
- Magic Armor all the way. Torturer is a semi carry who deals a LOT LOT of magic damage, especially with his ultimate later on. Barrier Idol is the way to go.
- Shrunken Head also helps and can be considered if they have more disablers._________________________________________________
[Wretched Hag] .wretched hag .hag .qop .queen of pain (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Flash of Darkness
2 - Sonar Scream
3 - Sonar Scream
4 - Haunt
5 - Sonar Scream
6 - Bat Blast
7 - Sonar Scream
8 - Flash of Darkness
9 - Flash of Darkness
10 - Flash of Darkness
11 - Bat Blast
12 - Haunt
13 - Haunt
14 - Haunt
15 - Stats
16 - Bat Blast
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Sonar Scream is your main skill for farming, harassing and ganking. One level in haunt is taken for the slow but Flash is maxed before it.
Lane Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Mark of the Novice
Core:
Bottle >> 2x Talisman of the Exile >> Steam Boots
You have a low mana pool to support the needed spells to kill someone. Fix this by getting a bottle and a couple Int items. You should leave Steam Boots on int for now.
After Core:Staff of the Master >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Frostfield Plate
Sheepstick is teh ****! And Staff of the Master does a lot for Hag. Frostfield Plate is another nuke with similar range to Sonar Scream.
Alternative Items:- Puzzle Box: If fighting versus invisible Heroes or if you are sure the enemy is warding get this item directly after the core. Its very very good on her!
Information:
Roles: Nuker
Prefered Lane: Any (Good 1vs2 soloer)
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Mana intensive)
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Nukes decrease in power over time)
Noteable +/- and synergies:
Good synergy with Hellbringer's Life Void
30-Seconds-Guide:- Chasing too far with blink is very dangerous because the opposing team is likely to TP near your target and kill you. You have to be very careful and keep an eye on the minimap at all times.
- Try to be aggressive, but never underestimate your opponent. Try to kill creeps when you use Scream on him. This will push the lane, giving you time to go to the runes and refill your bottle.
- When chasing a hero he will most likely try to juke your blink by running in the other direction as soon as he hears the animation. The best way to counter this is to cancel your blink immediately by pressing "S" (this will play the sound and half the animation but not use the spell) then wait for him to juke and instantly blink on him. This requires practice and has to be executed fast to be effective.
Counters:
- Magic Armor. Barrier Idol preferably. Activate it after her ultimate (or right before if you can).
- Astrolabe. Heal your team up right after her ultimate. Excellent Counter item!
- Any hero with silence or disable prevents her from blinking away and makes her an easy kill. Notably Puppet Master and Blood Hunter for their very long disables._________________________________________________
[Succubus] .succubus .bane elemental (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Mesmerize
2 -Heartache
3 - Heartache
4 - Stats
5 - Heartache
6 - Succubus' Hold
7 - Heartache
8 - Stats
9 - Stats
10 - Stats
11 - Succubus' Hold
12 - Smitten
13 - Smitten
14 - Smitten
15 - Smitten
16 - Succubus' Hold
17 - Mesmerize
18 - Mesmerize
19 - Mesmerize
20 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Mesmerize is taken at level 1 because you need the skill in your arsenal throughout the game, and Heartache costs so much, and does such little damage at rank 1, that it is virtually never worth using at that stage. Heartache is then taken at every available level, as it is your main way to stay in your lane and deal damage to your opponent. Smitten is not taken till the 12-15 range, because it's not until later on that Physical Carries become relevant, and shutting them down becomes important.
Because Mesmerize is not really being used to shut down at this point, it is more important (and even preferential) to have it at Rank 1 (4 Seconds) at this stage in the game, so maxing it out is not a priority. Also 1 extra second is not really worth giving up +2 Strength, +2 Agility and +2 Intelligence at this point in the game. It is maxed out later when it reaches the point where you want the target locked out for absolutely as long as possible; but this can be earlier than level 17 depending on your game.
As mentioned before, your skill build can vary as much as necessary. Smitten can be skipped entirely, Mesmerize can be maxed out sooner if you need some serious disables in the team, etc.
Lane Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Mark of the Novice, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> 2x Talisman of the Exile >> Ghost Marchers >> Portal Key
Yes you are reading correctly, I don't only recommend Portal Key on Succubus; I consider it core. You need to have played her with Portal Key to realize the full spectrum of usefulness of this item on her. Her ability to jump in and completely take out two enemies make her a decent initiator even for teamfights and probably one of the best initiators for ganks. Portal Key also makes her an even more amazing chaser hero. She can blink after fleeing enemies and mesmerize them until her allies arrive.
After Core:Wards of Sight >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Puzzle Box >> Shrunken Head >> Null Stone
Keep Warding, it's your number one priority. In most games Sheepstick will be the next item for an additional disable. Puzzle Box has good synergy with your Skills (Mesmerize, get out minions, Hold, Manaburn, beat down with minions and finish with Heartache brings down most enemies 1on1). Shrunken to make sure you get your CC's off.
DO NOT GET STAFF OF THE MASTER ON SUCCUBUS. EVER. PLEASE!If you really want more damage during your ulti get Puzzle Box, it does WAY more damage and has so many other uses too.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Babysitter, Nuker, Disabler, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very strong (Very potent ult)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very strong (High ganking power with her disables, nukes do good damage)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Disables still useful, if she survives)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Early on with Succubus, you are a ganker, that is your role. After level 6 use Homecoming Stones and move around behind the trees to setup kills.
- Not all Heroes (even not all physical carries) suffer the same from smitten. Its mostly the heroes that go for stats instead of pure damage. Here a list of heroes that suffer greatly from the spell and are your number one priority: The Dark Lady, The Madman, Arachna, Puppet Master, Hammerstorm, Maliken, Pestilence, Pandamonium, Nighthound.
- Silence is really strong versus you. If they have silencers use your Portal Key to blink into fights and mesmerize the silencer as your first action to allow you to get your other CC's off at the start.
- Remember to keep wards up.
Counters:
- If you lane mid against her either get a Mystic Vestment or a bunch of HP before she hits level 6. Otherwise she kills you with Ult + Heartache.
- If she keeps sleeping/smittening you in Teamfights you should consider a Shrunken Head.
- She likes to gank a lot from behind the trees. Putting up some wards there helps greatly during the laning phase.
Skill Build1 - Acid Cocktail
2 - Cursed Ground
3 - Cursed Ground
4 - Acid Cocktail
5 - Cursed Ground
6 - Spirit Ward
7 - Cursed Ground
8 - Acid Cocktail
9 - Acid Cocktail
10 - Mojo
11 - Spirit Ward
12 - Mojo
13 - Mojo
14 - Mojo
15 - Stats
16 - Spirit Ward
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Cursed Ground takes priority as the strongest non-ult nuke in the game, and Acid Cocktail is taken secondary due to it's incredibly strong uses as both a crowd control skill and as a farming tool. Mojo is taken last, as it helps sustain pushes, but it is worth taking over stats.
If you play as a pure babysitter you should take only take 1 level of cocktail, max mojo first, cursed ground second and take ulti at 10+11. This guide focuses on a more ganky style of play tho.
Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards, 2x Runes of the Blight, Mana Potion, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Power Supply >> Marchers >> 1-2x Fortified Bracelet >> Steam Boots
I consider Bottle core, even if not playing mid. The main reason being that invis or haste will offer you an almost guaranteed kill when ganking due to the nature of cursed ground. Power Supply is needed, as your "combo" takes up a lot of burst mana. Bracelets and Steam Boots to compensate for his lack of vitality. If you get Bracelets before Steam Boots consider leaving Steam Boots on Int to be able to get your combo off more reliably. Switch to str later when your Mana Pool is big enough.
After Core:Staff of the Master >> Shrunken Head >> Portal Key >> Kulrda's Sheepstick
Staff of the Master has a good stats gain while building it (more Mana allows you to farm faster with Coccktail) and almost doubles your total damage output on a well placed curse + ward! After that get Shrunken head to be able to cast Spirit Ward uninterrupted. I advise to get SotM first as this route is usually faster and offers more direct benefits (exceptions versus very heavy disabler teams obviously). If the game still goes on after this get Portal Key for perfect positioning and eventually the All-Star Kuldra's.
Note that Voodoo Jester can be an excellt Babysitter but he also is a Ganker and maybe even Semi-Carry in some way. Usually there will be a hero in the game who is suited better for buying wards. However if no one else does so you should at least help buying wards.
Alternative Items:
- Assassin's Shroud: Some people swear by it on Voodoo jester; I think SotM and Shrunken Head have a much higher Priority and after that Portal Key gets the job done better. But the choice is yours.
- Codex: Interesting Synergy with Curse, but the same problem as with assassin's shroud: Your other Items are better and more important! And a lategame codex is weak.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Roamer, Babysitter
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (Pretty Heavy for an Int hero)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak (Medium with the right gear, ult loses power as enemies stack armor)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Always Curse first when possible. Then Mojo, Stun and finally place the Ward. If your enemy is running away you can stun first and follow up with a curse.
- Voodoo Jester is a decent solo mid, as he can use the runes to great potential and is a very vital ganker from level 6 on!
- Acid Cocktail is very effective in the jungle and on crepe waves and must be used to farm neutrals/creeps a lot in order to get your items.
- You are not a particularly good babysitter and giving up last hits early game will hurt you a lot. Try to either go to an aggressive long lane or solo mid.
Counters:
- Contrary to popular belief, his ultimate does physical damage not magical, while the damage from cursed ground is magic. This makes it though to counter as you can't simply stack armor or magic armor.
- Barbed Armor should work well. Activate it when standing in his ultimate should kill him pretty quick (Note: I did not test that yet)
- You can't drink from your bottle or apply a healing potion while cursed ground is on you. The only item-wise way to heal yourself is power supply and astrolabe. So get at least a power supply and use it after cursed ground is on you, this will reduce the dot damage you take.
- Shrunken Head does not remove the curse but stops its damage while the magic immunity runs.
- Jereziah is an excellt counter to voodoo as he can heal through/protective charm cursed ground, preventing it from doing any damage and his ultimate completely stops Voodoo Jester's ward from doing any damage._________________________________________________
[Puppet Master] .puppet master (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Puppeteer's Hold
2 - Puppet Show
3 - Whiplash
4 - Whiplash
5 - Whiplash
6 - Voodoo Puppet
7 - Whiplash
8 - Puppet Show
9 - Puppet Show
10 - Puppet Show
11 - Voodoo Puppet
12 - Puppeteer's Hold
13 - Puppeteer's Hold
14 - Puppeteer's Hold
15 - Stats
16 - Voodoo Puppet
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Get one level of Puppeteer's Hold and Puppet Show early to have some pseudo disables just in case (they hold pretty long for one level). Then Max Whiplash to farm up. Puppet Show is better than Hold in almost every aspect (except maybe the cooldown) and has to be maxxed first.
Lane Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Pretenders Crown, Minor Totem
Core:
Whispering Helm (>> Fortified Bracelet) >> Steam Boots
Whispering Helm can be gotten asap from the outpost and is needed to start stacking ancient creeps. If you don't know how to do that, I recommend you read up on it as it is essential to play a good Puppet Master. Steam Boots are easily better than Ghost Marchers due to the survivability they provide. Get 0-2 Bracelets if the game goes rough.
After Core:Shrunken Head >> Harkon's Blade >> Charged Hammer
The new build for puppet. Shrunken Head and Harkon's Blade are insanely powerful and will boost your survivability and damage through the roof.
Alternative Items:
- Assassin's Shroud: Situational Item, can be gotten even in higher team games if your farm is good.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick: This item becomes very interesting if you are not taking the carry role. If you have at least one very capable Hard Carry in your team you probably wanna pick up this item right after the core and lay low on the pure damage items.
- Puzzlebox: Same as Sheepstick, but this item is seen more often in competitive play due to its counter-warding potential probably.
- Hellflower: Not often seen but can be a solid first choice after the core if you need to deal with an evasive opponent carry like Madman, Magebane, Scout, etc. Don't get this if you are the only carry though.
Information:
Roles: Hard-Carry, Disabler
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent (Whiplash is amazing)
Item dependancy: 5 - Very Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Pesudo disables)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (If well farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Don't forget the ancient creep stacking. Every minute at x.50 to x.56 you have to aggro the ancient creeps with your minion and draw them out of their spawning area for an additional set of creeps to spawn.
- Farm the ancients once you reach 4-5 stacks. Then continue stacking.
- Focus on last hitting over harassing, because harassing is not a good idea when you have pseudo-disables and no nukes.
- If the enemy is slow to retreat from a creep wave, cast puppeteer's hold or puppet show.
- Your bread and butter: Open with puppet show if there is someone for the target to attack, and then chain with puppeteer's hold. Ult if needed (before puppeteer's hold but after puppet show) and auto-attack till dead.
Counters:
- Most Puppet Master will eventually go for Harkon's, shifting their damage from physical to magic. Also with shrunken they are not squishy at all. It is a very balanced hero that has no obvious hard counter.
- Once he has Harkons, a Shrunken Head will force him to use his normal attack instead of the magic attack, this does still horrendous amounts of damage though. At least Shrunken will remove the disables and is a start to countering him.
- A lot of PMs also stack ancients with an early whispering helm. Ward their ancient spot and go steal it or gank him when he is doing them._________________________________________________
[Hellbringer] .hellbringer (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Life Void
2 - Death Boil
3 - Death Boil
4 - Unholy Shackles
5 - Death Boil
6 - Summon Malphas
7 - Death Boil
8 - Life Void
9 - Life Void
10 - Life Void
11 - Summon Malphas
12 - Unholy Shackles
13 - Unholy Shackles
14 - Unholy Shackles
15 - Stats
16 - Summon Malphas
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Usually one level of Life Void is enough for the start. With a well placed Death Boil and auto attacks it heals you quite a bit. Leave Shackles at 1 as 30% slow is quite enough.
Lane Starting Items:
3x Mana Potion, 3x Mark of the Novice
Core:
Great Arcana >> Marchers >> 1-2x Talisman of Exile
The Arcana will help you with early Manareg and later build into Restoration Stone. The Talisman are needed to support the Mana for 2x Malphas.
After Core:Steam Boots >> Restoration Stone
Steam Boots can be set to Int once you get the Stone so you have enough mana. If no one on the team has Plated Greaves yet you can also consider getting those.
Alternative Items:
- Puzzle Box: As on most Int heroes a solid choice.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Nuker, Semi-Initiator
Prefered Lane: Any (Good 1vs2 soloer)
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Very Good Staying Power)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Decent Ganker, powerful ult)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Reduced to his ult and some utility)
30-Seconds-Guide:- Life Void got nerfed but is still very powerful especially early game. If you are low HP and need to regen cast it as soon as the enemy creeps are in your tower range, add Death Boil on top of it and auto attack.
- Malphas is optimally not used as an initiation. Let other initiators like Behemoth, Pharao, Kraken, etc. do their job first! Get as many heroes as possible with your life void and then after a couple seconds unleash Malphas.
- If you lack any form of initiation, Summon Malphas can serve this purpose and should be used that way.
- If ganking, try following this pattern: Life Void > Death Boil > Summon Malphas > Unholy Shackles > Malphas' Fire Breath.
Counters:
- Electrician can purge all of Hellbringer's Debuffs as well as deal significant damage to Malphas.- Nullfire Blade's purge instantly kills Malphas! You get the full 100-150 Gold Bounty! Get a Nullfire if you play an agi hero.
- Nullfire Blade's purge can also remove all his other debuffs on one person.
- Shrunken Head / Magic Armor is the obvious counter to his spells but you should not be worried about them too much. His ulti is mostly for initiation purposes and not for the damage it does.
_________________________________________________
[Torturer].torturer .leshrac (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Chain Reaction
2 - Agonizing Bondsl
3 - Agonizing Bonds
4 - Chain Reaction
5 - Agonizing Bonds
6 - Chain Reaction
7 - Agonizing Bonds
8 - Chain Reaction
9 - Impalement
10 - Impalement
11 - Impalement
12 - Impalement
13 -Torment
14 - Torment
15 - Stats
16 - Torment
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
This is the most effective harasser / killer build. The ulti is gotten late as your other skills are more important and you won't have the Mana to support Torment yet. If you prefer to build a more pushy build or are fighting invisible heroes or if you are not very good at aiming the stun then leave Chain Reaction on 1 and max Impalement along with Bonds first.
Lane Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 4x Mana Potion, 4x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> 2x Fortified Bracelet >> Marchers >> Glow Stone >> Post Haste >> Icon of Goddess
Bottle if Mid. Bracers for Survivability, Post Haste to make good use of your ultimate and to be able to farm/push all the lanes quickly.
After Core:Sacrificial Stone >> Staff of the Master >> Frostfield Plate >> Behemoth's Heart
Sacrificial Stone turns you into the tank you need to be in order to get full use of your Ultimate. You can't cast from the second row, you need to be in the middle of the action. SotM provides a fair boost to the ultimate and is your next items; after that keep workin on your EHP.
Alternative Items:- Nullstone: Very solid choice in place of Sac Stone if they have heroes with targetet silence or brutal ults. - Kuldra's Sheepstick: Provides a lot of mana regen but no survivability and I therefore do not recommend it.
- Portal Key: If you have troubles chasing enemy heroes. Or as initiation once you got the tank gear.
Information:
Roles: Nuker, Pusher, (Semi-Carry
)Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Mana intensive)
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Very strong nukes/stuns)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Nukes decrease in efficiency fast)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Stronger if farmed well)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- You are considered a Semi-Carry. That means you should not be babysitting and optimally not giving up the last hits to a carry.
- You have one of the lowest starting HP pools and one of the highest starting mana pools. Thus you are very squishy and should get the Bracelets asap.
- As a proper Semi-Carry you should be farming a lot, don't be afraid to use your mana to get some extra gold.
Counters:
- Magic Armor all the way. Torturer is a semi carry who deals a LOT LOT of magic damage, especially with his ultimate later on. Barrier Idol is the way to go.
- Shrunken Head also helps and can be considered if they have more disablers._________________________________________________
[Wretched Hag] .wretched hag .hag .qop .queen of pain (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Flash of Darkness
2 - Sonar Scream
3 - Sonar Scream
4 - Haunt
5 - Sonar Scream
6 - Bat Blast
7 - Sonar Scream
8 - Flash of Darkness
9 - Flash of Darkness
10 - Flash of Darkness
11 - Bat Blast
12 - Haunt
13 - Haunt
14 - Haunt
15 - Stats
16 - Bat Blast
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Sonar Scream is your main skill for farming, harassing and ganking. One level in haunt is taken for the slow but Flash is maxed before it.
Lane Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Mark of the Novice
Core:
Bottle >> 2x Talisman of the Exile >> Steam Boots
You have a low mana pool to support the needed spells to kill someone. Fix this by getting a bottle and a couple Int items. You should leave Steam Boots on int for now.
After Core:Staff of the Master >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Frostfield Plate
Sheepstick is teh ****! And Staff of the Master does a lot for Hag. Frostfield Plate is another nuke with similar range to Sonar Scream.
Alternative Items:- Puzzle Box: If fighting versus invisible Heroes or if you are sure the enemy is warding get this item directly after the core. Its very very good on her!
Information:
Roles: Nuker
Prefered Lane: Any (Good 1vs2 soloer)
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Mana intensive)
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Nukes decrease in power over time)
Noteable +/- and synergies:
Good synergy with Hellbringer's Life Void
30-Seconds-Guide:- Chasing too far with blink is very dangerous because the opposing team is likely to TP near your target and kill you. You have to be very careful and keep an eye on the minimap at all times.
- Try to be aggressive, but never underestimate your opponent. Try to kill creeps when you use Scream on him. This will push the lane, giving you time to go to the runes and refill your bottle.
- When chasing a hero he will most likely try to juke your blink by running in the other direction as soon as he hears the animation. The best way to counter this is to cancel your blink immediately by pressing "S" (this will play the sound and half the animation but not use the spell) then wait for him to juke and instantly blink on him. This requires practice and has to be executed fast to be effective.
Counters:
- Magic Armor. Barrier Idol preferably. Activate it after her ultimate (or right before if you can).
- Astrolabe. Heal your team up right after her ultimate. Excellent Counter item!
- Any hero with silence or disable prevents her from blinking away and makes her an easy kill. Notably Puppet Master and Blood Hunter for their very long disables._________________________________________________
[Succubus] .succubus .bane elemental (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Mesmerize
2 -Heartache
3 - Heartache
4 - Stats
5 - Heartache
6 - Succubus' Hold
7 - Heartache
8 - Stats
9 - Stats
10 - Stats
11 - Succubus' Hold
12 - Smitten
13 - Smitten
14 - Smitten
15 - Smitten
16 - Succubus' Hold
17 - Mesmerize
18 - Mesmerize
19 - Mesmerize
20 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Mesmerize is taken at level 1 because you need the skill in your arsenal throughout the game, and Heartache costs so much, and does such little damage at rank 1, that it is virtually never worth using at that stage. Heartache is then taken at every available level, as it is your main way to stay in your lane and deal damage to your opponent. Smitten is not taken till the 12-15 range, because it's not until later on that Physical Carries become relevant, and shutting them down becomes important.
Because Mesmerize is not really being used to shut down at this point, it is more important (and even preferential) to have it at Rank 1 (4 Seconds) at this stage in the game, so maxing it out is not a priority. Also 1 extra second is not really worth giving up +2 Strength, +2 Agility and +2 Intelligence at this point in the game. It is maxed out later when it reaches the point where you want the target locked out for absolutely as long as possible; but this can be earlier than level 17 depending on your game.
As mentioned before, your skill build can vary as much as necessary. Smitten can be skipped entirely, Mesmerize can be maxed out sooner if you need some serious disables in the team, etc.
Lane Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Mark of the Novice, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> 2x Talisman of the Exile >> Ghost Marchers >> Portal Key
Yes you are reading correctly, I don't only recommend Portal Key on Succubus; I consider it core. You need to have played her with Portal Key to realize the full spectrum of usefulness of this item on her. Her ability to jump in and completely take out two enemies make her a decent initiator even for teamfights and probably one of the best initiators for ganks. Portal Key also makes her an even more amazing chaser hero. She can blink after fleeing enemies and mesmerize them until her allies arrive.
After Core:Wards of Sight >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Puzzle Box >> Shrunken Head >> Null Stone
Keep Warding, it's your number one priority. In most games Sheepstick will be the next item for an additional disable. Puzzle Box has good synergy with your Skills (Mesmerize, get out minions, Hold, Manaburn, beat down with minions and finish with Heartache brings down most enemies 1on1). Shrunken to make sure you get your CC's off.
DO NOT GET STAFF OF THE MASTER ON SUCCUBUS. EVER. PLEASE!If you really want more damage during your ulti get Puzzle Box, it does WAY more damage and has so many other uses too.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Babysitter, Nuker, Disabler, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very strong (Very potent ult)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very strong (High ganking power with her disables, nukes do good damage)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Disables still useful, if she survives)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Early on with Succubus, you are a ganker, that is your role. After level 6 use Homecoming Stones and move around behind the trees to setup kills.
- Not all Heroes (even not all physical carries) suffer the same from smitten. Its mostly the heroes that go for stats instead of pure damage. Here a list of heroes that suffer greatly from the spell and are your number one priority: The Dark Lady, The Madman, Arachna, Puppet Master, Hammerstorm, Maliken, Pestilence, Pandamonium, Nighthound.
- Silence is really strong versus you. If they have silencers use your Portal Key to blink into fights and mesmerize the silencer as your first action to allow you to get your other CC's off at the start.
- Remember to keep wards up.
Counters:
- If you lane mid against her either get a Mystic Vestment or a bunch of HP before she hits level 6. Otherwise she kills you with Ult + Heartache.
- If she keeps sleeping/smittening you in Teamfights you should consider a Shrunken Head.
- She likes to gank a lot from behind the trees. Putting up some wards there helps greatly during the laning phase.
[Plague Rider] .plague rider .lich (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Extinguish
2 - Contagion
3 - Contagion
4 - Extinguish
5 - Contagion
6 - Plague Carrier
7 - Contagion
8 - Extinguish
9 - Cursed Shield
10 - Cursed Shield
11 - Plague Carrier
12 - Cursed Shield
13 - Cursed Shield
14 - Extinguish
15 - Stats
16 - Plague Carrier
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Getting Extinguish at level 1 allows you to deny the ranged creep in the first creep wave. This will deny the enemy XP (he will reach level 2 significantly later than you if you lane middle) and it will push the wave to your tower. If paired with a very agressive hero (mostly stunners) you can take Contagion at level 1.
3 Levels of Extinguish are usually enough and this build allows you to get the Cursed Shield one level earlier.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, 4x Minor Totem
Core:
Marchers >> Astrolabe >> Plated Greaves
Plague Rider is a pure support hero and should be played as such. Thus your main job will be warding! The gold that is left over will be invested in support items as listed above.
After Core:
Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Portal Key
Always keep buying wards, you don't need more items than your core. Instead of Kuldra's you can also go for a Puzzle Box or Nome's Wisdomdepending on your teams needs.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Nuker
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium (Ult not trivial to use)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (One of the best harasser)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Devastating ultimate, strong ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Ult and Armor still strong)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you are laning mid your reason-to-be is to gank. As soon as you hit level 6 head to the top or bottom lane and try to grab that double tap.
- If you are laning with a partner your job is to babysit. Focus on harassing over denying over lasthitting as with any babysitter except for that your harass actually is more than an annoyance.
- When to cast your ultimate (Plague Carrier): In the Woods with 2-3 Enemies, When ganking and you chase them back towards the tower away from the creeps, When one hero and 2 Creeps are standing very close (solo mid for example), you are about to die and might as well do some damage before you go.
Counters:
- Barrier Idol. Absorbs the major damage of his ultimate.
- Magic Armor in general really helps._________________________________________________
[Soul Reaper] .soul reaper .necrolyte (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Judgement
2 - Withering Presence
3 - Judgement
4 - Withering Presence
5 - Judgement
6 - Demonic Execution
7 - Judgement
8 - Withering Presence
9 - Withering Presence
10 - Stats
11 - Demonic Execution
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Demonic Execution
17 - Stats+
22 - Inhuman Nature+
Justification / Modifications:
This may look counter-intuitive but when you think about it, this is the best Skill Build in most cases. Inhuman Nature does help you lane early on, but it provides far little use beyond that (and thus we either take it very early or not at all). To use it properly you have to constantly push the lane, or simply not take advantage of the mana you get back. The aura harasses a bit in the lane, especially against people who completely rely on bottle or tangos, since they have absolutely nothing to counter-act the degen the aura provides. While it isn't game breaking, it does make a difference if they decide to tower dive or chase you. Stats can be taken just about any time over aura, as they provide a hitpoint boost and mana boost, in addition to regen.
Another Point is, that if you are babysitting someone you should let your carry get the last hits and thus Inhuman Nature is completely useless.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem, Mana Battery
Core:
Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> Fortified Bracelet
Survivability and Mana Regen is what you need to be effective in Team fights. When laning leave the boots on int, later switch em to str for fights.
After Core:
Sacrificial Stone >> Frostfield Plate >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Post Haste >> Behemoth's Heart
I am listing that many items because Soul Reaper can actually be played very carry-heavy and he is a decent farmer. If you get some gear you will be a real threat to the opposing team and way more than just a good supporter. After the buff to Sac Stone it is easily the best first item if you choose the carry route.
Alternative Items:
- Nullstone: While being very good now it will stay situational. Get it to counter kill ultimates or targetet silence. (Swift, Pyro, BH, etc)
- Astrolabe: Can be gotten instead of Sac Stone if you go the full support or early push route.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Supporter, Pusher, (Semi-Carry)
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Aura + Judgement is very dominant)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Can semi-carry if very well farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Soul Reaper moves very slow, having a base movespeed of 290(10 under average), as such most of his ganks will be done via counter ganks by utilizing the TP scrolls
- Either offensive or defensive, you should be at every team fight. You're far too useful at this stage in the game (~7-11) to not be in team fights, as you can literally be a 2k swing in damage with a single spell.
- In mid game, with strength treads on you should be tilting around 1.1-1.2k hitpoints, making you one of the highest health heroes (especially int heroes) in the game.
Counters:
- Magic Armor is solid against him.
- Don't try to counter him too much, better focus on you / your team getting stronger than him._________________________________________________
[The Chipper] .chipper .the chipper .chiprel (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Rocket Barrage
2 - Tar Toss
3 - Rocket Barrage
4 - Tar Toss
5 - Rocket Barrage
6 - Sawblade Showdown
7 - Rocket Barrage
8 - Tar Toss
9 - Tar Toss
10 - Focus Buffer
11 - Sawblade Showdown
12 - Focus Buffer
13 - Focus Buffer
14 - Focus Buffer
15 - Stats
16 - Sawblade Showdown
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
The build is of course still experimental, but i find it to be the most effective so far.
If you max Rockets over Tar Toss or the other way depends on your lane mate and possible combos.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, 3x Minor Totem, Mana Potion
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom
The Chipper is very mana intensive; thats why I prefer to get Bottle and Power Supply, as well as Ghost Marchers. The boots don't matter much, you can also get Plated Greaves or Steamboots it is no big deal. I just find the ganking aspect of Ghost Marchers to be the most compelling.
Nome's Wisdom give you a lot of Mana Reg for the Midgame. If someone else already builds a Nome's get a Manatube and start working on your After Core.
After Core:
Sacrificial Stone >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Frostfiel Plate
You should assist your team in buying wards if possible.
Instead of Sacrificial Stone you can also chose to get a Nullstone. There is not too much difference between the two and if you find yourself targetet a lot by big spells Nullstone is very effective.
Alternative Items:
- Portal Key: Positioning can be key for this hero. I say can because it not always is. If they for example have a tempest you want to have direct LOS on him all the time so you can stop his ult with a rocket. This is a prime example of where PK is a good choice.
- Nullstone: As explained above.
- Storm Spirit: You can set up some nasty Sawblades into a perfect Tar Toss with this, but only get this over Nome's if your really have troubles hitting your Spells.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, (Roamer?), Nuker
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 4 - Hard (3 "Skillshot" Abilities)
Farming capabilities: 2 - Low
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Strong Ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Focus Buffer is pretty damn good)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- The Chipper is a good pick against teams that rely on Magic Damage reduction (Blacksmith, Hellbringer) or Heroes with good single target nukes (Pyromancer, Witchslayer, Thunderbringer, Succubus, etc).
- You can fire all your rockets in very quick sucession so that if the first one hits, all three will hit.
- Don't fire your rockets when there is less space than one hero between you and your enemy.
- Rockets grant you vision. They are one of THE most amazing scouting Skills in the game! (Shoot them at the runespots for example)
- The slow from Tar Toss is applied when the target is hit. If someone moves into the effect after the tar has been tossed, he will NOT get slowed. Also if your enemy moves out of the tar he still has the same slow.
- Due to cooldown and duration you can keep focus buffer up on two heroes. This important when going into teamfights!
- The Sawblades use Vector Targeting: Hold down the mouse and drag it in the direction you want the sawblades to spawn. You can cut off chokes or mow down forest like that.
Counters:
- An early Mystic Vestments should help against the harassment.
- Chipper has very low hp and can relatively easy be focused down.
- Chipper is a ganking hero, so wards do a good job at seeing him coming and thus preventing you from getting ganked.
- Power Supply is very good vs him as each individual rocket will add one charge. And he will spam them a LOT.
Skill Build1 - Extinguish
2 - Contagion
3 - Contagion
4 - Extinguish
5 - Contagion
6 - Plague Carrier
7 - Contagion
8 - Extinguish
9 - Cursed Shield
10 - Cursed Shield
11 - Plague Carrier
12 - Cursed Shield
13 - Cursed Shield
14 - Extinguish
15 - Stats
16 - Plague Carrier
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Getting Extinguish at level 1 allows you to deny the ranged creep in the first creep wave. This will deny the enemy XP (he will reach level 2 significantly later than you if you lane middle) and it will push the wave to your tower. If paired with a very agressive hero (mostly stunners) you can take Contagion at level 1.
3 Levels of Extinguish are usually enough and this build allows you to get the Cursed Shield one level earlier.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, 4x Minor Totem
Core:
Marchers >> Astrolabe >> Plated Greaves
Plague Rider is a pure support hero and should be played as such. Thus your main job will be warding! The gold that is left over will be invested in support items as listed above.
After Core:
Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Portal Key
Always keep buying wards, you don't need more items than your core. Instead of Kuldra's you can also go for a Puzzle Box or Nome's Wisdomdepending on your teams needs.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Nuker
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium (Ult not trivial to use)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (One of the best harasser)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Devastating ultimate, strong ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Ult and Armor still strong)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you are laning mid your reason-to-be is to gank. As soon as you hit level 6 head to the top or bottom lane and try to grab that double tap.
- If you are laning with a partner your job is to babysit. Focus on harassing over denying over lasthitting as with any babysitter except for that your harass actually is more than an annoyance.
- When to cast your ultimate (Plague Carrier): In the Woods with 2-3 Enemies, When ganking and you chase them back towards the tower away from the creeps, When one hero and 2 Creeps are standing very close (solo mid for example), you are about to die and might as well do some damage before you go.
Counters:
- Barrier Idol. Absorbs the major damage of his ultimate.
- Magic Armor in general really helps._________________________________________________
[Soul Reaper] .soul reaper .necrolyte (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Judgement
2 - Withering Presence
3 - Judgement
4 - Withering Presence
5 - Judgement
6 - Demonic Execution
7 - Judgement
8 - Withering Presence
9 - Withering Presence
10 - Stats
11 - Demonic Execution
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Demonic Execution
17 - Stats+
22 - Inhuman Nature+
Justification / Modifications:
This may look counter-intuitive but when you think about it, this is the best Skill Build in most cases. Inhuman Nature does help you lane early on, but it provides far little use beyond that (and thus we either take it very early or not at all). To use it properly you have to constantly push the lane, or simply not take advantage of the mana you get back. The aura harasses a bit in the lane, especially against people who completely rely on bottle or tangos, since they have absolutely nothing to counter-act the degen the aura provides. While it isn't game breaking, it does make a difference if they decide to tower dive or chase you. Stats can be taken just about any time over aura, as they provide a hitpoint boost and mana boost, in addition to regen.
Another Point is, that if you are babysitting someone you should let your carry get the last hits and thus Inhuman Nature is completely useless.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem, Mana Battery
Core:
Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> Fortified Bracelet
Survivability and Mana Regen is what you need to be effective in Team fights. When laning leave the boots on int, later switch em to str for fights.
After Core:
Sacrificial Stone >> Frostfield Plate >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Post Haste >> Behemoth's Heart
I am listing that many items because Soul Reaper can actually be played very carry-heavy and he is a decent farmer. If you get some gear you will be a real threat to the opposing team and way more than just a good supporter. After the buff to Sac Stone it is easily the best first item if you choose the carry route.
Alternative Items:
- Nullstone: While being very good now it will stay situational. Get it to counter kill ultimates or targetet silence. (Swift, Pyro, BH, etc)
- Astrolabe: Can be gotten instead of Sac Stone if you go the full support or early push route.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Supporter, Pusher, (Semi-Carry)
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Aura + Judgement is very dominant)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Can semi-carry if very well farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Soul Reaper moves very slow, having a base movespeed of 290(10 under average), as such most of his ganks will be done via counter ganks by utilizing the TP scrolls
- Either offensive or defensive, you should be at every team fight. You're far too useful at this stage in the game (~7-11) to not be in team fights, as you can literally be a 2k swing in damage with a single spell.
- In mid game, with strength treads on you should be tilting around 1.1-1.2k hitpoints, making you one of the highest health heroes (especially int heroes) in the game.
Counters:
- Magic Armor is solid against him.
- Don't try to counter him too much, better focus on you / your team getting stronger than him._________________________________________________
[The Chipper] .chipper .the chipper .chiprel (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Rocket Barrage
2 - Tar Toss
3 - Rocket Barrage
4 - Tar Toss
5 - Rocket Barrage
6 - Sawblade Showdown
7 - Rocket Barrage
8 - Tar Toss
9 - Tar Toss
10 - Focus Buffer
11 - Sawblade Showdown
12 - Focus Buffer
13 - Focus Buffer
14 - Focus Buffer
15 - Stats
16 - Sawblade Showdown
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
The build is of course still experimental, but i find it to be the most effective so far.
If you max Rockets over Tar Toss or the other way depends on your lane mate and possible combos.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, 3x Minor Totem, Mana Potion
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom
The Chipper is very mana intensive; thats why I prefer to get Bottle and Power Supply, as well as Ghost Marchers. The boots don't matter much, you can also get Plated Greaves or Steamboots it is no big deal. I just find the ganking aspect of Ghost Marchers to be the most compelling.
Nome's Wisdom give you a lot of Mana Reg for the Midgame. If someone else already builds a Nome's get a Manatube and start working on your After Core.
After Core:
Sacrificial Stone >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Frostfiel Plate
You should assist your team in buying wards if possible.
Instead of Sacrificial Stone you can also chose to get a Nullstone. There is not too much difference between the two and if you find yourself targetet a lot by big spells Nullstone is very effective.
Alternative Items:
- Portal Key: Positioning can be key for this hero. I say can because it not always is. If they for example have a tempest you want to have direct LOS on him all the time so you can stop his ult with a rocket. This is a prime example of where PK is a good choice.
- Nullstone: As explained above.
- Storm Spirit: You can set up some nasty Sawblades into a perfect Tar Toss with this, but only get this over Nome's if your really have troubles hitting your Spells.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, (Roamer?), Nuker
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 4 - Hard (3 "Skillshot" Abilities)
Farming capabilities: 2 - Low
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Strong Ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Focus Buffer is pretty damn good)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- The Chipper is a good pick against teams that rely on Magic Damage reduction (Blacksmith, Hellbringer) or Heroes with good single target nukes (Pyromancer, Witchslayer, Thunderbringer, Succubus, etc).
- You can fire all your rockets in very quick sucession so that if the first one hits, all three will hit.
- Don't fire your rockets when there is less space than one hero between you and your enemy.
- Rockets grant you vision. They are one of THE most amazing scouting Skills in the game! (Shoot them at the runespots for example)
- The slow from Tar Toss is applied when the target is hit. If someone moves into the effect after the tar has been tossed, he will NOT get slowed. Also if your enemy moves out of the tar he still has the same slow.
- Due to cooldown and duration you can keep focus buffer up on two heroes. This important when going into teamfights!
- The Sawblades use Vector Targeting: Hold down the mouse and drag it in the direction you want the sawblades to spawn. You can cut off chokes or mow down forest like that.
Counters:
- An early Mystic Vestments should help against the harassment.
- Chipper has very low hp and can relatively easy be focused down.
- Chipper is a ganking hero, so wards do a good job at seeing him coming and thus preventing you from getting ganked.
- Power Supply is very good vs him as each individual rocket will add one charge. And he will spam them a LOT.
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