Strength Heroes
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[Armadon] .armadon .bristleback .pig (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Snot Storm2 - Spine Burst3 - Spine Burst
4 - Armordillo
5 - Spine Burst
6 - Restless
7 - Spine Burst
8 - Armordillo
9 - Armordillo
10 - Armordillo
11 - Restless
12 - Snot Storm
13 - Snot Storm
14 - Snot Storm
15 - Stats
16 - Restless
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Pretty standard build. Spine burst is his trademark skill, one level of snot storm for ganks and escaping but maxing armadillo first for survival.
Staring Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, Iron Buckler, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Steam Boots >> Shaman's Headdress
A fast Hotbl will ensure safe farming. Headdress for more tanking and finally mock to bring some damage into team fights. Also synergizes well with Spine Burst.
After core:
Mock of Brilliance >> Behemoth's Heart >> Barrier Idol
Alternative Items:
Nome's Wisdom: Solves a lot of your mana problems. Allows you to spam Spine Burst and provides you with some defensive stats as well (Armor). Get this for sure if you plan to jungle a lot. Otherwise its a matter of taste and playstyle. Get it somewhere after boots and Hotbl i would suggest.
Information:
Roles: Tank, Hard-Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 5 - Very Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Somewhat annoying harass)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak (Needs good farm)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Best tank if well farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- The best counter for you is Power Supply (and Manabattery). Every half-decent opponet will get one against you; but there is little you can do about it. Just keep in mid that the enemy has additional 120/180 HP when you are chasing him down.
- Armadon can be a Jungler due to his Quill Spray being able to tripple stack creep camps from level 1 on without boots. Read Blockk's Guide to Armadon for more details on this.
Counters:
- Power Supply! Get at least mana battery asap from the outpost when laning against him. He spams his spells a LOT.
- Try not to use your most damaging/expensive spells when his back is turned towards you. Move around or wait until he turns to you. Otherwise a significant amount of the damage will be absorbed.
- If you see armadon stacking armor, consider a Harkons Blade on someone on your team.
- Don't focus him in team battles!_________________________________________________
[Behemoth] .behemoth .es .earthshaker (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Fissure2 - Heavyweight3 - Fissure
4 - Enrage
5 - Fissure
6 - Shockwave
7 - Fissure
8 - Heavyweight
9 - Heavyweight
10 - Heavyweight
11 - Shockwave
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Shockwave
17 - Stats+
23 - Enrage+
Justification / Modifications:
Enrage can be delayed to level 8, getting another early level of Heavyweight since a 0.3 seconds stun won't do much (but a bit more damage on a close range fissure comes to effect rarely too). Either way it has almost zero impact.
Staring Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem (OR Logger's Hatchet instead of Pretender's + Totem)
Core:
Marchers >> Ring of Sorcery >> Portal Key >> 2x Fortified Bracelet
Get a Logger's Hatchet if you can farm the lane (no use in getting one if you are forced to stay back and tower hug). Then get your Marchers ASAP! Behemoth is one of the very few heroes where even starting Marchers can be considered. The 50 movespeed help you so much in trapping enemies and punishing their mistakes.
After that get Ring of Sorcery or Bottle (matter of taste, i prefer ring). Portal Key is your obvious Goal for being the God of initiation you are. If you went for Ring grab a couple Bracers, otherwise get 2 Talisman of the Exile.
After core:
Ghost Marchers >> Wards of Sight >> Fostfield Plate >> Behemoth's Heart
After your core you don't need any more items. Use your gold to buy wards and to support your team. In case you have Gold left over build Frostfield Plate for additional AoE Rape and survivability.
Alternative Items:
- Puzzlebox: Since you don't really need anything after the core you might as well get those for counter warding. The stats are actually pretty good but don't expect too much synergy with your skills/role.
Information
Roles: Initiator, Nuker, Roamer
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4 - Hard (Feed warning for new players)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (Very Heavy until core, low afterwards)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak (Fissure can net kills if properly used)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Arguably the best initiator)
30-Seconds-Guide:- Ganking WITH Portal Key: Wait for an opportunity, which in this case is if two or more enemy heroes are surrounded by creeps and within 560 distance of each other. Seize the moment by blinking in, and: Shockwave
Autoattack Enrage Autoattack Fissure Autoattack- Ganking WITHOUT Portal Key: It's all about positioning, Portal Key or not. Stay out of your opponent's line of sight and fissure enemy heroes into a corner, or separate them so that your allies can more easily dispatch them. After the Fissure run up and Enrage Autoattack.
- Often times you will have to save your idiot partners from their own stupid mistakes. Generally I have managed to save them with a well-timed enrage, but every once in awhile when they really screw the pooch you've got to put a fissure between the bloodthirsty opponents and your lovable idiot.
Counters:
- When pushing or defending, stay away from your creeps! Otherwise his initiation will be devastating.
- Try to spread out as much as you can so he doesn't hit you all with his Shockwave.
- Closely watch Behemoth's movement in the early game. Be very careful if he is trying to trap you with a fissure. This is very very deadly!
- Finally a Barrier Idol can be helpful counter._________________________________________________
[Hammerstorm] .hammerstorm .sven (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Hammer Throw2 - Galvanize3 - Hammer Throw
4 - Stats
5 - Hammer Throw
6 - Brute Strength
7 - Hammer Throw
8 - Stats
9 - Stats
10 - Stats
11 - Brute Strength
12 - Mighty Swing
13 - Mighty Swing
14 - Mighty Swing
15 - Mighty Swing
16 - Brute Strength
17 - Galvanize
18 - Galvanize
19 - Galvanize
20 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
One level of Galvanize is taken early as it is 14% Movement Speed increase on all levels with instant cast. The other 3 levels provide lower CD and higher armor increase which is secondary and delayed until much later.
Stats are better than Mighty Swing early game to not push your lane and you don't have the damage to support Cleave-Farming yet anyways.
Stats help your last hitting and get you the much needed bigger mana pool.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, Logger's Hatchet, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
Marchers >> Power Supply >> Steamboots >> Fortified Bracelet >> Shrunken Head
Some people like Bottle on him. Nothing wrong with that - if you plan to roam a bit go for it. Pretty much always get shrunken, even if they only have a single disable spell in their whole team.
Now that Galvanize is instant cast there is really no excuse to get Ghost Marchers! The +24 damage are NOT affected by Brute Strength while the +10 damage from Steamboots are and that attack speed does wonders for you!
After core:
(Portal Key >>) Frostburn >> Elder Parasite >> Behemoth's Heart >> Riftshards
Get Portal Key if your team lacks initiation (this is actually very very important). After that or if you have good means of initiation get Frostburn for the speed boost and slow and finally Elder Parasite to make Brute Strength even more brutal. After that Point you can get whatever you like; Heart & Shards are the most common choices.
Runed Axe is useless by the way. Cleave does stack, but why would you enhance it? His built in 50% splash is way enough for any kind of farming.
Information
Roles: Carry, (Initiator)
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 1 - Poor (Cleave kicks in late)
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak (Good Stun)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Decent ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Once he gets his core)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- In the early game when you are forced back to the fountain you should teleport to another lane, walk around the trees and initiate a gank. This will almost always lead to kills for your team as it is not expected and very effective.
- It is imperative to animation cancel Brute Strength. With some practice you can even cast it on the run without stopping at all! (The animation will not play but the hammer glows). A very good demonstration of how effective both these tips can be seen in this replay (chu` playing a perfect 15-0 Hammerstorm): 23370652
Counters:
- Nullfire Blade will make the oh-so-awesome Hammerstorm cry like a little baby. There is no other case in the game where one item completely counters a hero. This might be the reason why we don't see him in competitive play. Regardles, get a Nullfire Blade and use it on him as soon as he pops his ulti._________________________________________________
[Pebbles].pebbles .tiny (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Stalagmites2 - Chuck3 - Stalagmites
4 - Chuck
5 - Stalagmites
6 - Chuck
7 - Stalagmites
8 - Chuck
9 - Enlarge
10 - Slab Skin
11 - Enlarge
12 - Slab Skin
13 - Slab Skin
14 - Slab Skin
15 - Stats
16 - Enlarge
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Not much to say. Never go for another build under any circumstances.
Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Pretender's Crown, Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> Ring of Sorcery >> Portal Key
It is very advised to get those stats items to start or you will not be able to pull off stalagmite+chuck combos before level 5! (It costs 240 Mana).
If you go solo mid you will need a Logger's Hatchet + 3 Minor Totems.
After core:
Wards of Sight >> Steam Boots >> Warpcleft >> Daemonic Breastplate
After your core you are not very item dependent and free to assist in warding/supporting. Finish your boots (not very important which ones) and start working on your breastplate. You can get Steamboots before Portal Key or even turn your Pretender's Crowns into Fortified Bracelets if you find the game to be hard.
Information:
Roles: Nuker, Ganker, (Initiator)
Prefered Lane: Any (Can solo mid)
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Mana intensive)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (needs core)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (high burst damage)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Highest burst damage in the game at level 8+)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak (Drastically loses power once heroes get solid hp pools)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Pebbles is a ganker. There's nothing else he can do with his skillset. He is a poor physical DPSer. He is the ultimate one-hit-wonder, with two spells that can be used singly or together for fantastic results, after which he runs like a sissy girl until his spells are back up. Don't let his main stat fool you: Pebbles is a caster.
- The famous "one-two" combo is accomplished by casting stalagmite on an enemy and then instantly chucking him onto himself. This does abnormal damage and is mostly a one-shot in early and mid game.
- The more advanced "one-two-three" involves manually right-clicking the enemy while he is chucked in the air for an additional ~200 damage before he lands. Try to practice this if you want to improve your pebbles play.
Counters:
- You need to get above a certain Health Treshold to not be oneshottet by him. To be safe buy either Mystic Vestment + 1 Bracelet or 2 Bracelets additional to your Steamboots.
- If you know it's coming you can sometimes dodge his Stalagmite by moving unpredictable.
- Once he has Portal Key never stay on a lane with less than 800 HP unless you know he is all across the map._________________________________________________
[Keeper of the forest] .keeper of the forest .tree (0.3.3)
Skill Build Offensive1 - Tree Sight2 - Camouflage3 - Tree Sight
4 - Nature's Protection
5 - Tree Sight
6 - Root
7 - Tree Sight
8 - Nature's Protection
9 - Nature's Protection
10 - Nature's Protection
11 - Root
12 - Camouflage
13 - Camouflage
14 - Camouflage
15 - Stats
16 - Root
17 - Stats+
Skill Build Devensive1 - Tree Sight2 - Camouflage3 - Nature's Protection
4 - Nature's Protection
5 - Nature's Protection
6 - Root
7 - Nature's Protection
8 - Tree Sight
9 - Tree Sight
10 - Tree Sight
11 - Root
12 - Camouflage
13 - Camouflage
14 - Camouflage
15 - Stats
16 - Root
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Rule of Thumb: Offensive Build if paired with a ranged hero, defensive build if paired with a melee hero. Also chose the defensive build if you get harassed too much even though having a ranged partner.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier, Runes of the Blight, 2x Minor Totem, Guardian Ring
Item Build:
Logger's Hatchet >> Ring of the Teacher >> Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom >> Sustainer >> Restoration Stone >> Portal Key >> Post Haste >> Frostfield Plate
There is no need to split a core or after core build here, the build-up is fluent. Get Logger's and a Scarab from the outpost asap and then bring Marchers plus the rest of Nome's to you via the courier.
Feel free to buy wards if your eyes get destroyed or you can't place them at the places you wish to (altough this is rarely an issue).
After Restoration Stone get a Portal Key for optimal 2xRoot placement and then Post Haste (Luxury). Finally a Frostfield Plate to complement all the Lategame needs Keeper has.
Alternative Items:
- Mock of Brilliance: A popular choice especially in pubs where you can free farm your lane and reach a 20 min Mock. If you can do that - by all means go for it. It synergises well with Keeper.
Information:
Roles: Suporter, Initiator, (Jungler)
Prefered Lane: Long, (Can jungle if absolutely needed, Can go mid versus other melee heroes)
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium (Very good base damage & attack animation)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Good last hitter, hard to kill)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Good initiator)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your first task as Keeper, before the Laning phase even really begins, is to get an Eye onto the top rune ASAP. Usually you will be laning in the long lane (top for Legion, bottom for Hellbourne). This allows you easy access to your opponents jungle from an early level and makes accessing the Outpost easier as well.
- As soon as Tree Sight comes off cooldown ward your opponents pull spot.
- Always leave enough mana for an emergency Camouflage, especially if there is anyone missing, as you never know when you're going to need it.
- Always carry a Homecoming Stone! If a tower is under attack teleport there and cast Nature's Protection on it. This will not only increase its armor but will also heal it back up.
- Read this guide for the most important locations to put your eyes.
Counters:
- If playing a melee hero you should pick up a logger's hatchet and cut down any Tree with an eye floating above it.
- You can put a hatchet on a courier to go kill eyes but do note that the eyes are now invisible unless a hero come within 450 range. So this is really only to save you a slot in your inventory.
- If you want to kill him, bring dust.
- As soon as Teamfights start happening bring along Wards of Revelation, place them down and kill him when he tries to initiate.
- Later in the game a Bound Eye can be considered._________________________________________________
[Legionnaire] .legionnaire .axe (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Whirling Blade2 - Terrifying Charge3 - Whirling Blade
4 - Taunt
5 - Whirling Blade
6 - Decapitate
7 - Whirling Blade
8 - Taunt
9 - Taunt
10 - Taunt
11 - Decapitate
12 - Terrifying Charge
13 - Terrifying Charge
14 - Terrifying Charge
15 - Stats
16 - Decapitate
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
One level of Terrifying Charge is enough for jungling, all that the 3 levels do is increase the duration from 4 to 7 seconds. The initial hit is irrelevant.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, 2x Iron Buckler
Core:
(Helm of the Black Legion >>) Marchers >> Shamans Headdress >> Portal Key
Some like it, some hate it: Helm of the Black Legion is a controversial item not only on Legionnaire. I usually stack up 2-3 creep camps with 3 stacks each while farming the other camps. (The recent change to creep stacking being capped at 3 is a HUGE nerf for legio btw!!) When taking out tripple stacked camps use terrifying charge. Depending on your playstyle and your enemies get EITHER Hotbl OR Shamans Headdress and then get Portal Key. After that you can finish the other of the two tanking items if it makes sense. If you go headdress with no Hotbl you may consider getting Plated Greaves earlier as it helps a lot with jungling.
After core:
Plated Greaves OR Post Haste >> Barbed Armor >> Behemoth's Heart
Especially if you didn't build Hotbl you should have the money for Post Haste. But Plated Greaves are very good too.
Barbed Armor is kinda situational but in the majority of the games it is a very solid choice after you got your tanking core and blink. Heart is obvious.
Alternative Items:
- Fostfield Plate: Solves Mana Problems and is pretty good if used in a bulk of enemies. Not to mention it boosts your armor through the roof. So get if if facing a lot of physical damage.
Information:
Roles: Carry, Tank, Initiator
Prefered Lane: Jungle. He can lane now but Jungle is still prefered.
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent (Among the best)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (needs core)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungle, decent lane ganker
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak (Gets stronger after core)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Good Initiator and Tank even if poorly farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you want to jungle successfully with Legionnaire you need to master the art of creep stacking. He kills 5 Creeps faster and with less health loss than 2 Creeps. There are good written and video guides for this. This Premium Guide for example.
- Once you farmed 1 tanking item and Portal Key stop jungling! From now on you need to initiate team fights and ganks.
- Use a courier to send you health potions while jungling. It is always more efficient than running back to the fountain to heal.
- Help your mid to maintian rune control and gank your lane at level 6 for a rather easy kill.
Counters:
- Legionnaire doesn't scale into lategame. Thats why his power will decrease drastically compared to other heroes (carries). This is his biggest weakness and the reason he is rarely seen these days.
- Spread out so Legio can't hit all of you with his taunt.
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[Armadon] .armadon .bristleback .pig (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Snot Storm2 - Spine Burst3 - Spine Burst
4 - Armordillo
5 - Spine Burst
6 - Restless
7 - Spine Burst
8 - Armordillo
9 - Armordillo
10 - Armordillo
11 - Restless
12 - Snot Storm
13 - Snot Storm
14 - Snot Storm
15 - Stats
16 - Restless
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Pretty standard build. Spine burst is his trademark skill, one level of snot storm for ganks and escaping but maxing armadillo first for survival.
Staring Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, Iron Buckler, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Steam Boots >> Shaman's Headdress
A fast Hotbl will ensure safe farming. Headdress for more tanking and finally mock to bring some damage into team fights. Also synergizes well with Spine Burst.
After core:
Mock of Brilliance >> Behemoth's Heart >> Barrier Idol
Alternative Items:
Nome's Wisdom: Solves a lot of your mana problems. Allows you to spam Spine Burst and provides you with some defensive stats as well (Armor). Get this for sure if you plan to jungle a lot. Otherwise its a matter of taste and playstyle. Get it somewhere after boots and Hotbl i would suggest.
Information:
Roles: Tank, Hard-Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 5 - Very Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Somewhat annoying harass)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak (Needs good farm)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Best tank if well farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- The best counter for you is Power Supply (and Manabattery). Every half-decent opponet will get one against you; but there is little you can do about it. Just keep in mid that the enemy has additional 120/180 HP when you are chasing him down.
- Armadon can be a Jungler due to his Quill Spray being able to tripple stack creep camps from level 1 on without boots. Read Blockk's Guide to Armadon for more details on this.
Counters:
- Power Supply! Get at least mana battery asap from the outpost when laning against him. He spams his spells a LOT.
- Try not to use your most damaging/expensive spells when his back is turned towards you. Move around or wait until he turns to you. Otherwise a significant amount of the damage will be absorbed.
- If you see armadon stacking armor, consider a Harkons Blade on someone on your team.
- Don't focus him in team battles!_________________________________________________
[Behemoth] .behemoth .es .earthshaker (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Fissure2 - Heavyweight3 - Fissure
4 - Enrage
5 - Fissure
6 - Shockwave
7 - Fissure
8 - Heavyweight
9 - Heavyweight
10 - Heavyweight
11 - Shockwave
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Shockwave
17 - Stats+
23 - Enrage+
Justification / Modifications:
Enrage can be delayed to level 8, getting another early level of Heavyweight since a 0.3 seconds stun won't do much (but a bit more damage on a close range fissure comes to effect rarely too). Either way it has almost zero impact.
Staring Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem (OR Logger's Hatchet instead of Pretender's + Totem)
Core:
Marchers >> Ring of Sorcery >> Portal Key >> 2x Fortified Bracelet
Get a Logger's Hatchet if you can farm the lane (no use in getting one if you are forced to stay back and tower hug). Then get your Marchers ASAP! Behemoth is one of the very few heroes where even starting Marchers can be considered. The 50 movespeed help you so much in trapping enemies and punishing their mistakes.
After that get Ring of Sorcery or Bottle (matter of taste, i prefer ring). Portal Key is your obvious Goal for being the God of initiation you are. If you went for Ring grab a couple Bracers, otherwise get 2 Talisman of the Exile.
After core:
Ghost Marchers >> Wards of Sight >> Fostfield Plate >> Behemoth's Heart
After your core you don't need any more items. Use your gold to buy wards and to support your team. In case you have Gold left over build Frostfield Plate for additional AoE Rape and survivability.
Alternative Items:
- Puzzlebox: Since you don't really need anything after the core you might as well get those for counter warding. The stats are actually pretty good but don't expect too much synergy with your skills/role.
Information
Roles: Initiator, Nuker, Roamer
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4 - Hard (Feed warning for new players)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (Very Heavy until core, low afterwards)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak (Fissure can net kills if properly used)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Arguably the best initiator)
30-Seconds-Guide:- Ganking WITH Portal Key: Wait for an opportunity, which in this case is if two or more enemy heroes are surrounded by creeps and within 560 distance of each other. Seize the moment by blinking in, and: Shockwave
Autoattack Enrage Autoattack Fissure Autoattack- Ganking WITHOUT Portal Key: It's all about positioning, Portal Key or not. Stay out of your opponent's line of sight and fissure enemy heroes into a corner, or separate them so that your allies can more easily dispatch them. After the Fissure run up and Enrage Autoattack.- Often times you will have to save your idiot partners from their own stupid mistakes. Generally I have managed to save them with a well-timed enrage, but every once in awhile when they really screw the pooch you've got to put a fissure between the bloodthirsty opponents and your lovable idiot.
Counters:
- When pushing or defending, stay away from your creeps! Otherwise his initiation will be devastating.
- Try to spread out as much as you can so he doesn't hit you all with his Shockwave.
- Closely watch Behemoth's movement in the early game. Be very careful if he is trying to trap you with a fissure. This is very very deadly!
- Finally a Barrier Idol can be helpful counter._________________________________________________
[Hammerstorm] .hammerstorm .sven (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Hammer Throw2 - Galvanize3 - Hammer Throw
4 - Stats
5 - Hammer Throw
6 - Brute Strength
7 - Hammer Throw
8 - Stats
9 - Stats
10 - Stats
11 - Brute Strength
12 - Mighty Swing
13 - Mighty Swing
14 - Mighty Swing
15 - Mighty Swing
16 - Brute Strength
17 - Galvanize
18 - Galvanize
19 - Galvanize
20 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
One level of Galvanize is taken early as it is 14% Movement Speed increase on all levels with instant cast. The other 3 levels provide lower CD and higher armor increase which is secondary and delayed until much later.
Stats are better than Mighty Swing early game to not push your lane and you don't have the damage to support Cleave-Farming yet anyways.
Stats help your last hitting and get you the much needed bigger mana pool.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, Logger's Hatchet, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
Marchers >> Power Supply >> Steamboots >> Fortified Bracelet >> Shrunken Head
Some people like Bottle on him. Nothing wrong with that - if you plan to roam a bit go for it. Pretty much always get shrunken, even if they only have a single disable spell in their whole team.
Now that Galvanize is instant cast there is really no excuse to get Ghost Marchers! The +24 damage are NOT affected by Brute Strength while the +10 damage from Steamboots are and that attack speed does wonders for you!
After core:
(Portal Key >>) Frostburn >> Elder Parasite >> Behemoth's Heart >> Riftshards
Get Portal Key if your team lacks initiation (this is actually very very important). After that or if you have good means of initiation get Frostburn for the speed boost and slow and finally Elder Parasite to make Brute Strength even more brutal. After that Point you can get whatever you like; Heart & Shards are the most common choices.
Runed Axe is useless by the way. Cleave does stack, but why would you enhance it? His built in 50% splash is way enough for any kind of farming.
Information
Roles: Carry, (Initiator)
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 1 - Poor (Cleave kicks in late)
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak (Good Stun)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Decent ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Once he gets his core)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- In the early game when you are forced back to the fountain you should teleport to another lane, walk around the trees and initiate a gank. This will almost always lead to kills for your team as it is not expected and very effective.
- It is imperative to animation cancel Brute Strength. With some practice you can even cast it on the run without stopping at all! (The animation will not play but the hammer glows). A very good demonstration of how effective both these tips can be seen in this replay (chu` playing a perfect 15-0 Hammerstorm): 23370652
Counters:
- Nullfire Blade will make the oh-so-awesome Hammerstorm cry like a little baby. There is no other case in the game where one item completely counters a hero. This might be the reason why we don't see him in competitive play. Regardles, get a Nullfire Blade and use it on him as soon as he pops his ulti._________________________________________________
[Pebbles].pebbles .tiny (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Stalagmites2 - Chuck3 - Stalagmites
4 - Chuck
5 - Stalagmites
6 - Chuck
7 - Stalagmites
8 - Chuck
9 - Enlarge
10 - Slab Skin
11 - Enlarge
12 - Slab Skin
13 - Slab Skin
14 - Slab Skin
15 - Stats
16 - Enlarge
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Not much to say. Never go for another build under any circumstances.
Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Pretender's Crown, Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> Ring of Sorcery >> Portal Key
It is very advised to get those stats items to start or you will not be able to pull off stalagmite+chuck combos before level 5! (It costs 240 Mana).
If you go solo mid you will need a Logger's Hatchet + 3 Minor Totems.
After core:
Wards of Sight >> Steam Boots >> Warpcleft >> Daemonic Breastplate
After your core you are not very item dependent and free to assist in warding/supporting. Finish your boots (not very important which ones) and start working on your breastplate. You can get Steamboots before Portal Key or even turn your Pretender's Crowns into Fortified Bracelets if you find the game to be hard.
Information:
Roles: Nuker, Ganker, (Initiator)
Prefered Lane: Any (Can solo mid)
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Mana intensive)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (needs core)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (high burst damage)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Highest burst damage in the game at level 8+)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak (Drastically loses power once heroes get solid hp pools)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Pebbles is a ganker. There's nothing else he can do with his skillset. He is a poor physical DPSer. He is the ultimate one-hit-wonder, with two spells that can be used singly or together for fantastic results, after which he runs like a sissy girl until his spells are back up. Don't let his main stat fool you: Pebbles is a caster.
- The famous "one-two" combo is accomplished by casting stalagmite on an enemy and then instantly chucking him onto himself. This does abnormal damage and is mostly a one-shot in early and mid game.
- The more advanced "one-two-three" involves manually right-clicking the enemy while he is chucked in the air for an additional ~200 damage before he lands. Try to practice this if you want to improve your pebbles play.
Counters:
- You need to get above a certain Health Treshold to not be oneshottet by him. To be safe buy either Mystic Vestment + 1 Bracelet or 2 Bracelets additional to your Steamboots.
- If you know it's coming you can sometimes dodge his Stalagmite by moving unpredictable.
- Once he has Portal Key never stay on a lane with less than 800 HP unless you know he is all across the map._________________________________________________
[Keeper of the forest] .keeper of the forest .tree (0.3.3)
Skill Build Offensive1 - Tree Sight2 - Camouflage3 - Tree Sight4 - Nature's Protection
5 - Tree Sight
6 - Root
7 - Tree Sight
8 - Nature's Protection
9 - Nature's Protection
10 - Nature's Protection
11 - Root
12 - Camouflage
13 - Camouflage
14 - Camouflage
15 - Stats
16 - Root
17 - Stats+
Skill Build Devensive1 - Tree Sight2 - Camouflage3 - Nature's Protection
4 - Nature's Protection
5 - Nature's Protection
6 - Root
7 - Nature's Protection
8 - Tree Sight
9 - Tree Sight
10 - Tree Sight
11 - Root
12 - Camouflage
13 - Camouflage
14 - Camouflage
15 - Stats
16 - Root
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Rule of Thumb: Offensive Build if paired with a ranged hero, defensive build if paired with a melee hero. Also chose the defensive build if you get harassed too much even though having a ranged partner.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier, Runes of the Blight, 2x Minor Totem, Guardian Ring
Item Build:
Logger's Hatchet >> Ring of the Teacher >> Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom >> Sustainer >> Restoration Stone >> Portal Key >> Post Haste >> Frostfield Plate
There is no need to split a core or after core build here, the build-up is fluent. Get Logger's and a Scarab from the outpost asap and then bring Marchers plus the rest of Nome's to you via the courier.
Feel free to buy wards if your eyes get destroyed or you can't place them at the places you wish to (altough this is rarely an issue).
After Restoration Stone get a Portal Key for optimal 2xRoot placement and then Post Haste (Luxury). Finally a Frostfield Plate to complement all the Lategame needs Keeper has.
Alternative Items:
- Mock of Brilliance: A popular choice especially in pubs where you can free farm your lane and reach a 20 min Mock. If you can do that - by all means go for it. It synergises well with Keeper.
Information:
Roles: Suporter, Initiator, (Jungler)
Prefered Lane: Long, (Can jungle if absolutely needed, Can go mid versus other melee heroes)
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium (Very good base damage & attack animation)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Good last hitter, hard to kill)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Good initiator)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your first task as Keeper, before the Laning phase even really begins, is to get an Eye onto the top rune ASAP. Usually you will be laning in the long lane (top for Legion, bottom for Hellbourne). This allows you easy access to your opponents jungle from an early level and makes accessing the Outpost easier as well.
- As soon as Tree Sight comes off cooldown ward your opponents pull spot.
- Always leave enough mana for an emergency Camouflage, especially if there is anyone missing, as you never know when you're going to need it.
- Always carry a Homecoming Stone! If a tower is under attack teleport there and cast Nature's Protection on it. This will not only increase its armor but will also heal it back up.
- Read this guide for the most important locations to put your eyes.
Counters:
- If playing a melee hero you should pick up a logger's hatchet and cut down any Tree with an eye floating above it.
- You can put a hatchet on a courier to go kill eyes but do note that the eyes are now invisible unless a hero come within 450 range. So this is really only to save you a slot in your inventory.
- If you want to kill him, bring dust.
- As soon as Teamfights start happening bring along Wards of Revelation, place them down and kill him when he tries to initiate.
- Later in the game a Bound Eye can be considered._________________________________________________
[Legionnaire] .legionnaire .axe (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Whirling Blade2 - Terrifying Charge3 - Whirling Blade
4 - Taunt
5 - Whirling Blade
6 - Decapitate
7 - Whirling Blade
8 - Taunt
9 - Taunt
10 - Taunt
11 - Decapitate
12 - Terrifying Charge
13 - Terrifying Charge
14 - Terrifying Charge
15 - Stats
16 - Decapitate
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
One level of Terrifying Charge is enough for jungling, all that the 3 levels do is increase the duration from 4 to 7 seconds. The initial hit is irrelevant.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, 2x Iron Buckler
Core:
(Helm of the Black Legion >>) Marchers >> Shamans Headdress >> Portal Key
Some like it, some hate it: Helm of the Black Legion is a controversial item not only on Legionnaire. I usually stack up 2-3 creep camps with 3 stacks each while farming the other camps. (The recent change to creep stacking being capped at 3 is a HUGE nerf for legio btw!!) When taking out tripple stacked camps use terrifying charge. Depending on your playstyle and your enemies get EITHER Hotbl OR Shamans Headdress and then get Portal Key. After that you can finish the other of the two tanking items if it makes sense. If you go headdress with no Hotbl you may consider getting Plated Greaves earlier as it helps a lot with jungling.
After core:
Plated Greaves OR Post Haste >> Barbed Armor >> Behemoth's Heart
Especially if you didn't build Hotbl you should have the money for Post Haste. But Plated Greaves are very good too.
Barbed Armor is kinda situational but in the majority of the games it is a very solid choice after you got your tanking core and blink. Heart is obvious.
Alternative Items:
- Fostfield Plate: Solves Mana Problems and is pretty good if used in a bulk of enemies. Not to mention it boosts your armor through the roof. So get if if facing a lot of physical damage.
Information:
Roles: Carry, Tank, Initiator
Prefered Lane: Jungle. He can lane now but Jungle is still prefered.
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent (Among the best)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (needs core)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungle, decent lane ganker
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak (Gets stronger after core)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Good Initiator and Tank even if poorly farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you want to jungle successfully with Legionnaire you need to master the art of creep stacking. He kills 5 Creeps faster and with less health loss than 2 Creeps. There are good written and video guides for this. This Premium Guide for example.
- Once you farmed 1 tanking item and Portal Key stop jungling! From now on you need to initiate team fights and ganks.
- Use a courier to send you health potions while jungling. It is always more efficient than running back to the fountain to heal.
- Help your mid to maintian rune control and gank your lane at level 6 for a rather easy kill.
Counters:
- Legionnaire doesn't scale into lategame. Thats why his power will decrease drastically compared to other heroes (carries). This is his biggest weakness and the reason he is rarely seen these days.
- Spread out so Legio can't hit all of you with his taunt.
[Predator] .predator .naix (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Venomous Leap
2 - Stone Hide
3 - Venomous Leap
4 - Carnivorous
5 - Venomous Leap
6 - Terror
7 - Venomous Leap
8 -Carnivorous
9 - Carnivorous
10 - Carnivorous
11 - Terror
12 - Stone Hide
13 - Stone Hide
14 - Stone Hide
15 - Stats16 - Terror
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Standard build for most situations. If you jungle, max Carnivorous first obviously.
It is possible to delay Terror to levels 10 and 11 but I prefer to get it at 6.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Steam Boots >> Shield Breaker
One of the biggest advantages Predator has over other strengths carries is, that he does not need a Shrunken Head for his core. This allows him to go directly for damage items and making him become effective much earlier. If your farm is slacking a bit and you have troubles saving up for Shield Breaker you can build Insanitarious instead. It also a very solid choice but has a better buildup.
After Core:
Warpcleft >> Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart >> Riftshards
Daemonic Breastplate gives you all the stats you need. Riftshards is pure luxury.
Alternative Items:
- Insanitarious: As mentioned
- Elder Parasite: It is good since carnivorous scales very well with attack speed and the additional life leech with the Parasite and Carnivorous somewhat make up for the damage taken (IF you can attack). That being said either get it early (before sheildbreaker) or just get Warpcleft (I prefer the latter).
- Shrunken Head: Is an option in very magic heavy matchups. It's by no means useless but very situational. The stats it provides are however sub par. You want attack speed and -Armor.
Information:
Roles: Hard-Carry
Prefered Lane: Short, (Jungle)
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Very high base damage, built-in life leech)
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak (Dangerous with capable babysitter)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak (Needs farm)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong
30-Seconds-Guide:- You have a very good Base damage and attack animation, last hitting should be pretty easy.
- Don't simply activate Stone hide right after you leap. Only activate it if you need it. It requires some practice and anticipation to use it correctly.
- You can block spells mid-air with Stone hide. For example even when Hammerstorm's Hammer is already flying it will not stun you and do no damage to you if you manage to activate Stone Hide before the hammer hits.
Counters:
- Predator is one of those carries that start to hit like a truck with just one big item (shieldbreaker usually). Unlike other Hardcarries he doesn't require a ton of farm to be very effective. The more important it is to deny him any early farm on his lane.
- 2 things make you get destroyed by pred: If you have a lot of HP pred will leech an insane amount of life with each hit. If you have low armor and he can reduce it to around 0 or even below he tears through you like butter.
- So don't stack HP, but armor instead. Ulti + Shieldbreaker reduces 11 armor. So you want to have a LEAST 15 Armor, better 20+. Anything below 15 Armor will make you get crushed. -> Plague Rider is actually a soild counter as pred heavily relies on armor reduction.
- Plated Greaves and Nome's Wisdom are a must for someone on your Team (6 Armor Aura)._________________________________________________
[Jeraziah] .jeraziah .omniknight (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Protective Charm
2 - Inner Light
3 - Inner Light
4 - Righteous Strike
5 -Inner Light
6 - Sol's Blessing
7 - Inner Light
8 -Righteous Strike
9 - Righteous Strike
10 - Righteous Strike
11 - Sol's Blessing
12 - Protective Charm
13 - Protective Charm
14 - Protective Charm
15 - Stats16 - Sol's Blessing
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
The "pub" build. One level of charm is enough for early game, maxxing it early will actually be counter productive as you can't heal yourself when charm is on. You can get charm up a bit earlier tho at the cost of Righteous Strike.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier OR Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 4x Mana Potion
Core:
Ring of Sorcery >> Marchers >> Astrolabe >> Ghost Marchers
You can also get a Guardian Ring to start with if you dont have to buy a Monkey or Wards. Ghost Marchers are gotten to rush in and apply the slow. You can get plated greaves if your team needs them.
Also you are responsible for Wards of Sight!
After Core:
- Nome's Wisdom: I don't like it on him. Only get it if absolutely needed in your team.
- Tablet of Command: Works well with Jeraziah. *Recommended*
- Puzzlebox: To counterward and for the stats.
- Behemoth's Heart: If you have nothing else to buy.
Information:
Roles: Supporter, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Long
Difficulty: 5 - Very hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Incredible heal/nuke)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Best Carry-Supporter and game-changing ult)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- What makes Jeraziah one of the best heroes in the current meta game is his usefulness from the first minute to the last minute of the match. Unlike for other supporters his spells (except for the heal) do not diminish over time. They actually grow in power!
- On the other hand you need perfect timing on both of your lategame skills to make the most of them. This is why Jeraziah is one of the hardest heroes to play.
- You are countered by Electrician's purge and Nullfire blade. Every decent team will build one to remove your Charm but there is little you can do to prevent this. It also removes Sol's Blessing.
- If laning versus melee heroes you can use the heal on a creep they are about to last hit for some nice damage.
- Do not understimate your farming power. Once you got the ring you are able to spam the heal for gold.
Counters:
- Electrician's and Nullfire Blade's Purge can remove Jeraziah's Protective Charm as well as Sol's Blessing. If a Unit has both charm and blessing on him, one application of purge will remove both (and slow the enemy). You always want someone to make a Nullfire when facing Jera unless you have Elec in your team.
- His Heal is pure damage, it cannot be mitigated by Magic Armor but you can precisely calculate the damage it will do._________________________________________________
[Pandamonium] .pandamonium (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Flick
2 - Cannonball
3 - Cannonball
4 - Flurry
5 -Cannonball
6 - Face Smash
7 -Cannonball
8 -Flurry
9 - Flurry
10 - Flurry
11 - Flick
12 - Flick
13 - Flick
14 - Face Smash
15 - Stats16 - Face Smash
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
The reason you don't get Face Smash level 2 on level 11 is, that the duration doesn't increase, while the mana cost does. Face Smash is a disable not a nuke, so same duration for less Mana is to be prefered especially since you are pretty starved on mana anyways.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, Logger's Hatchet, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
(Bottle >>) Ghost Marchers >> Power Supply >> Shrunken Head
I usually get a bottle but it is not always needed. Make sure you get Ghost Marchers asap, the earlier the better. Once you have them it will be very hard for your enemies to dodge your flicks and kills start happening. Power Supply is core. In most of the games you will then work for a Shrunken Head. If you don't need one get Insanitatious.
Insanitarious allows you to kill any creep wave with 3 flurries and it makes your ulti so much stronger.
After Core:
(Insanitarious >>) Behemoth's Heart >> Portal Key >> Riftshards
If your farm doesn't go well get Insanitarious. The buildup is superb! If your farm is going decent you can skip Insanitarious and go for Heart directly. Behemoth's Heart will give you a big damage boost for your skills as it greatly increases your base damage. Portal Key for initiation or for blink-ult on their carry. Riftshard crits do happen during Face Smash. If you lack initiation get Key before Heart.
Alternative Items:- Barbed Armor: Depending on your role this is the first item after your core.
NEVER GET RUNED AXE ON PANDAMONIUM!I see so many pub players do this but please don't! Runed axe gives you a cleave but with insanitarious you will instagib creep waves with your flurry, you do absolutely not need Cleave! The flat damage bonus on Runed Axe does not further increase the damage of your skills eihter because it does not increase base damage (again, insanitarious does increase base damage) and if you only want it for the manareg simply get a Bottle and Power Supply.
Always get Insanitarious over Runed Axe for damage and farming!
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Semi-Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Flurry)
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy (Abilities scale with items)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Very strong midgame ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium
30-Seconds-Guide:
- With the slow of level one flick you are not guaranteed to land your cannonball. Try to anticipate where the enemy is running or wait a second for him to start running before you cannonball.
- With level 3+ flick you are pretty much guaranteed to land cannonball if queued after flick.
- When ganking a lane use flick/cannonball on one hero then switch to the other hero and face smash him while your team mates finish off both heroes.
- Cannonball can be used as an escape skill. But don't use it to just "blink" away as you will be stunned after you land. Use it to jump up/down cliffs or into the forest where the enemy can't reach you.
Counters:
- Stack Armor. ALL his damage is physical and thus subject to mitigation by Armor. Nome's Wisdom, Plated Greaves, etc work fine.
- If he is rushing A Shrunken Head consider building a Tablet of Command to interrupt his Face Smash. This is critical if he can disable your carry with it._________________________________________________
[Rampage] .rampage .spiritbreaker .barathrum (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Stampede
2 - Might of the Herd
3 - Might of the Herd
4 - Horned Strike
5 - Might of the Herd
6 - Favor of Sol
7 - Might of the Herd
8 - Horned Strike
9 - Horned Strike
10 - Horned Strike
11 - Favor of Sol
12 - Stampede
13 - Stampede
14 - Stampede
15 - Stats16 - Favor of Sol
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
My Skillbuild for Rampage, but i don't play him often. One level of Stampede for transport and stun. Maxxing Might of the Herd first for movespeed and most important last hitting.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Steam Boots >> Shrunken Head
Very generic Str carry build. Rampage is not very dependant on Shrunken Head but it's still a very very good item for him. If you face few disables feel free to skip it.
Don't get ghost marchers, they suck on him. Post haste are an alternative if you farm fast.
After Core:
Icebrand >> Frostburn >> Warpcleft >>Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart
Not much to say really. Frostburn kicks ass!
At some point you might want lifesteal. Elder Parasite, Abyssal Skull and Whispering Helm all are good options depending on your situation. Use your Judgement.
Alternative Items:
- Insanitarious: You can get it after Frostburn if you really struggle with your farm. But I don't recommend this item on him.
- Elder Parasite: Horned Strike has an internal CD so this might look good on paper but it really isn't all that great. You can get it after/before Frostburn if you like the item.
Information:
Roles: Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (Good base damage)
Item dependancy: 5 - Very Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 1 - Poor
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Can carry if farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Rampage is - in my humble opinion - one of the worst heroes. He has almost no utility, a very confusing last hitting animation (horned striked screwing it up) and no escape mechanism short of his speed. Also his Horned Strike is too random to be reliable.
- You can't do much early game. Stay in your lane and farm. Don't charge on enemies, it is very dangerous to do early game! Your priority is to stay a live.
- Use stampede to save you the TP gold if you want to move back to your lane (charge a creep from the fountain/from another lane).
Counters:
- Not much to say. You can't do more than stack some Armor and HP and hope he doesnt stunlock you to death.
- Always carry a TP. If you see him charging you and you are alone, INSTANLTY TP away!_________________________________________________
[Devourer] .devourer .pudge (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Decay
2 - Guttling Hook
3 - Decay
4 -Guttling Hook
5 - Decay
6 - Devour
7 - Decay
8 - Guttling Hook
9 - Guttling Hook
10 - Cadaver Armor
11 - Devour
12 - Cadaver Armor
13 - Cadaver Armor
14 - Cadaver Armor
15 - Stats16 - Devour
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
I prefer to go Decay over Hook since the range of the hook is the same at all levels. Going for Hook over Decay is fine too tough. Mostly a matter of who you are laning with (with a stunner go decay for sure).
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, 2x Healing Potion, 1x Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Shaman's Headdress
Get Bottle asap (or after Mana Battery depending on the lane). Then work through Marchers and Power Supply to eventually get your headdress. The reason for that is, that Shaman's Headdress considerably reduces the damage you take from Decay. ALWAYS get it even if the other team has no magic damage.
After Core:
Post Haste OR Ghost Marchers >> Barrier Idol >> Staff of the Master >> Behemoth's Heart
Post Haste are very good due to the nature of Decay but Ghost Marchers will do if you don't get the farm going. After that most of the time you will build a barrier idol for the team; skip this as you see fit. Staff of the Master lets you regen HP when casting your ulti and thus counteracts the damage from Decay.
Alternative Items:
- Portal Key: For Blink-Ult and Hook positioning. This is situational but can be good to counter either invis or blinking heroes.
Information:
Roles: Anti-Carry, Initiator, Tank
Prefered Lane: Any (Can solo mid in pubs)
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Very strong 1vs1 and ganking hero)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (depending on how well he is farmed he can be a good tank)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Getting the Hooks off can be very hard and requires a lot of practice. If you have problems hitting them, try running up to the enemy, activating decay and hooking them as they try to flee. It works pretty good.
- You can activate decay even when you are casting your Ultimate. It will not interrupt the channeling.
- You can chop down certain trees to create a nieche in the forest where you can hook and block the enemy hero so they can't escape even without you using devour.
Counters:
- Magic Armor reduces the damage from rot (as well as hook and devour).
- Try to stand behind, right next to your own creeps so he can't hook you. If you can't do that then keep moving, don't stand still._________________________________________________
[Electrician] .electrician (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Static Grip
2 - Energy Absorption
3 - Energy Absorption
4 - Electric Shield
5 - Energy Absorption
6 - Cleansing Shock
7 - Energy Absorption
8 - Electric Shield
9 - Static Grip
10 - Static Grip
11 - Cleansing Shock
12 - Static Grip
13 - Electric Shield
14 - Electric Shield
15 - Stats16 - Cleansing Shock
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
This is what I came up with after testing the new Electrician. Energy Absorption is your main nuking and farming ability and is maxed first. Get one early level in Static Grip for obvious reasons. I then level Electric Shield to 2, this allows you to farm whole creep waves and neutral stacks by just standing next to them for a couple of seconds and then hitting Energy Absorption. Level 2 however is enough for that and we max out Grip first.
If the enemies have no notebale buffs/debuffs that you can cleanse, consider delaying Cleansing Shock until you really need it. It is rarely worth it for just the speed boost over his other skills.
Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem, Mana Battery
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Power Supply >> Marchers >> Sacrificial Stone >> Plated Greaves
I recommend Logger's as you will need quite a bit of farm early game to become effective. Power Supply does a lot for you and should be built (depending on the lane you can delay it). Sacrificial Stone is one of the most effective items on Electrician and you should rush for that even before you upgrade the marchers. Plated Greaves will then give you a LOT of EHP through their high armor.
After Core:
Frostfield Plate >> Barrier Idol >> Behemoth's Heart
If the enemy team is very magic heavy you can build the Idol before Frostfield. Once you get Frostfield however you will be insanely hard to take down.
Alternative Items:
- Helm of the Black Legion: I do not like this item at all on Electrician, yet I see many people get it. It has no synergy with his abilities and is in general a poor choice for him in my opinion. Do not get this.
- Nullstone: After the buffs to Nullstone you can get it instead of Sac Stone if they have a lot of targeted, annoying abilities.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Roamer, Tank, Semi-Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Good ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (A true beast if well farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Electric Shield + Energy Absorption allows you to farm creep waves very quickly. Use this to get your SacStone asap!
- You can remove a variety of buffs and debuffs with Cleansing Shock. At the start of a match take a couple of second to think about which different spells you are able to cleanse considering your current opponents.
- The most important Buffs/Debuffs to remove include: Protective Charm (Jeraziah), Sol's Blessing (Jeraziah), Corrupted Conduit (Corrupted Disciple), Poison Spray (Slither), Flaming Hammer (Blacksmith), Ice Imprisonment/Tundra Blast (Glacius), Glacial Blasts (Tempest), Entangle (Demented Shaman), Death Boil/Unholy Shackles/Life Void (Hellbringer), Haunt (Hag), Contagion (Plague Rider), Snot (Armadon), Roots (Keeper), Swarm (Pesti), Rotten Grasp (Deadwood), Brute Strength (Hammerstorm).
Also note that Cleansing Shock will deal 600 damage to Malphas (and other summoned units) at all levels.
- Looking at this list you see that you are an excellent counter to Jereziah, Hellbringer and Hammerstorm. Strongly consider picking Electrician when playing against one of those heroes.
Counters:
- Ignore him for the most part. Kill everyone of his team mates first
.
- If he is roaming, make sure you get wards up.
Skill Build1 - Venomous Leap
2 - Stone Hide
3 - Venomous Leap
4 - Carnivorous
5 - Venomous Leap
6 - Terror
7 - Venomous Leap
8 -Carnivorous
9 - Carnivorous
10 - Carnivorous
11 - Terror
12 - Stone Hide
13 - Stone Hide
14 - Stone Hide
15 - Stats16 - Terror
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Standard build for most situations. If you jungle, max Carnivorous first obviously.
It is possible to delay Terror to levels 10 and 11 but I prefer to get it at 6.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Steam Boots >> Shield Breaker
One of the biggest advantages Predator has over other strengths carries is, that he does not need a Shrunken Head for his core. This allows him to go directly for damage items and making him become effective much earlier. If your farm is slacking a bit and you have troubles saving up for Shield Breaker you can build Insanitarious instead. It also a very solid choice but has a better buildup.
After Core:
Warpcleft >> Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart >> Riftshards
Daemonic Breastplate gives you all the stats you need. Riftshards is pure luxury.
Alternative Items:
- Insanitarious: As mentioned
- Elder Parasite: It is good since carnivorous scales very well with attack speed and the additional life leech with the Parasite and Carnivorous somewhat make up for the damage taken (IF you can attack). That being said either get it early (before sheildbreaker) or just get Warpcleft (I prefer the latter).
- Shrunken Head: Is an option in very magic heavy matchups. It's by no means useless but very situational. The stats it provides are however sub par. You want attack speed and -Armor.
Information:
Roles: Hard-Carry
Prefered Lane: Short, (Jungle)
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Very high base damage, built-in life leech)
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak (Dangerous with capable babysitter)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak (Needs farm)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong
30-Seconds-Guide:- You have a very good Base damage and attack animation, last hitting should be pretty easy.
- Don't simply activate Stone hide right after you leap. Only activate it if you need it. It requires some practice and anticipation to use it correctly.
- You can block spells mid-air with Stone hide. For example even when Hammerstorm's Hammer is already flying it will not stun you and do no damage to you if you manage to activate Stone Hide before the hammer hits.
Counters:
- Predator is one of those carries that start to hit like a truck with just one big item (shieldbreaker usually). Unlike other Hardcarries he doesn't require a ton of farm to be very effective. The more important it is to deny him any early farm on his lane.
- 2 things make you get destroyed by pred: If you have a lot of HP pred will leech an insane amount of life with each hit. If you have low armor and he can reduce it to around 0 or even below he tears through you like butter.
- So don't stack HP, but armor instead. Ulti + Shieldbreaker reduces 11 armor. So you want to have a LEAST 15 Armor, better 20+. Anything below 15 Armor will make you get crushed. -> Plague Rider is actually a soild counter as pred heavily relies on armor reduction.
- Plated Greaves and Nome's Wisdom are a must for someone on your Team (6 Armor Aura)._________________________________________________
[Jeraziah] .jeraziah .omniknight (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Protective Charm
2 - Inner Light
3 - Inner Light
4 - Righteous Strike
5 -Inner Light
6 - Sol's Blessing
7 - Inner Light
8 -Righteous Strike
9 - Righteous Strike
10 - Righteous Strike
11 - Sol's Blessing
12 - Protective Charm
13 - Protective Charm
14 - Protective Charm
15 - Stats16 - Sol's Blessing
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
The "pub" build. One level of charm is enough for early game, maxxing it early will actually be counter productive as you can't heal yourself when charm is on. You can get charm up a bit earlier tho at the cost of Righteous Strike.
Starting Items:
Monkey Courier OR Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 4x Mana Potion
Core:
Ring of Sorcery >> Marchers >> Astrolabe >> Ghost Marchers
You can also get a Guardian Ring to start with if you dont have to buy a Monkey or Wards. Ghost Marchers are gotten to rush in and apply the slow. You can get plated greaves if your team needs them.
Also you are responsible for Wards of Sight!
After Core:
- Nome's Wisdom: I don't like it on him. Only get it if absolutely needed in your team.
- Tablet of Command: Works well with Jeraziah. *Recommended*
- Puzzlebox: To counterward and for the stats.
- Behemoth's Heart: If you have nothing else to buy.
Information:
Roles: Supporter, Ward Hoe
Prefered Lane: Long
Difficulty: 5 - Very hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Incredible heal/nuke)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Best Carry-Supporter and game-changing ult)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- What makes Jeraziah one of the best heroes in the current meta game is his usefulness from the first minute to the last minute of the match. Unlike for other supporters his spells (except for the heal) do not diminish over time. They actually grow in power!
- On the other hand you need perfect timing on both of your lategame skills to make the most of them. This is why Jeraziah is one of the hardest heroes to play.
- You are countered by Electrician's purge and Nullfire blade. Every decent team will build one to remove your Charm but there is little you can do to prevent this. It also removes Sol's Blessing.
- If laning versus melee heroes you can use the heal on a creep they are about to last hit for some nice damage.
- Do not understimate your farming power. Once you got the ring you are able to spam the heal for gold.
Counters:
- Electrician's and Nullfire Blade's Purge can remove Jeraziah's Protective Charm as well as Sol's Blessing. If a Unit has both charm and blessing on him, one application of purge will remove both (and slow the enemy). You always want someone to make a Nullfire when facing Jera unless you have Elec in your team.
- His Heal is pure damage, it cannot be mitigated by Magic Armor but you can precisely calculate the damage it will do._________________________________________________
[Pandamonium] .pandamonium (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Flick
2 - Cannonball
3 - Cannonball
4 - Flurry
5 -Cannonball
6 - Face Smash
7 -Cannonball
8 -Flurry
9 - Flurry
10 - Flurry
11 - Flick
12 - Flick
13 - Flick
14 - Face Smash
15 - Stats16 - Face Smash
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
The reason you don't get Face Smash level 2 on level 11 is, that the duration doesn't increase, while the mana cost does. Face Smash is a disable not a nuke, so same duration for less Mana is to be prefered especially since you are pretty starved on mana anyways.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, Logger's Hatchet, 3x Minor Totem
Core:
(Bottle >>) Ghost Marchers >> Power Supply >> Shrunken Head
I usually get a bottle but it is not always needed. Make sure you get Ghost Marchers asap, the earlier the better. Once you have them it will be very hard for your enemies to dodge your flicks and kills start happening. Power Supply is core. In most of the games you will then work for a Shrunken Head. If you don't need one get Insanitatious.
Insanitarious allows you to kill any creep wave with 3 flurries and it makes your ulti so much stronger.
After Core:
(Insanitarious >>) Behemoth's Heart >> Portal Key >> Riftshards
If your farm doesn't go well get Insanitarious. The buildup is superb! If your farm is going decent you can skip Insanitarious and go for Heart directly. Behemoth's Heart will give you a big damage boost for your skills as it greatly increases your base damage. Portal Key for initiation or for blink-ult on their carry. Riftshard crits do happen during Face Smash. If you lack initiation get Key before Heart.
Alternative Items:- Barbed Armor: Depending on your role this is the first item after your core.
NEVER GET RUNED AXE ON PANDAMONIUM!I see so many pub players do this but please don't! Runed axe gives you a cleave but with insanitarious you will instagib creep waves with your flurry, you do absolutely not need Cleave! The flat damage bonus on Runed Axe does not further increase the damage of your skills eihter because it does not increase base damage (again, insanitarious does increase base damage) and if you only want it for the manareg simply get a Bottle and Power Supply.
Always get Insanitarious over Runed Axe for damage and farming!
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Semi-Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Flurry)
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy (Abilities scale with items)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Very strong midgame ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium
30-Seconds-Guide:
- With the slow of level one flick you are not guaranteed to land your cannonball. Try to anticipate where the enemy is running or wait a second for him to start running before you cannonball.
- With level 3+ flick you are pretty much guaranteed to land cannonball if queued after flick.
- When ganking a lane use flick/cannonball on one hero then switch to the other hero and face smash him while your team mates finish off both heroes.
- Cannonball can be used as an escape skill. But don't use it to just "blink" away as you will be stunned after you land. Use it to jump up/down cliffs or into the forest where the enemy can't reach you.
Counters:
- Stack Armor. ALL his damage is physical and thus subject to mitigation by Armor. Nome's Wisdom, Plated Greaves, etc work fine.
- If he is rushing A Shrunken Head consider building a Tablet of Command to interrupt his Face Smash. This is critical if he can disable your carry with it._________________________________________________
[Rampage] .rampage .spiritbreaker .barathrum (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Stampede
2 - Might of the Herd
3 - Might of the Herd
4 - Horned Strike
5 - Might of the Herd
6 - Favor of Sol
7 - Might of the Herd
8 - Horned Strike
9 - Horned Strike
10 - Horned Strike
11 - Favor of Sol
12 - Stampede
13 - Stampede
14 - Stampede
15 - Stats16 - Favor of Sol
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
My Skillbuild for Rampage, but i don't play him often. One level of Stampede for transport and stun. Maxxing Might of the Herd first for movespeed and most important last hitting.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Steam Boots >> Shrunken Head
Very generic Str carry build. Rampage is not very dependant on Shrunken Head but it's still a very very good item for him. If you face few disables feel free to skip it.
Don't get ghost marchers, they suck on him. Post haste are an alternative if you farm fast.
After Core:
Icebrand >> Frostburn >> Warpcleft >>Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart
Not much to say really. Frostburn kicks ass!
At some point you might want lifesteal. Elder Parasite, Abyssal Skull and Whispering Helm all are good options depending on your situation. Use your Judgement.
Alternative Items:
- Insanitarious: You can get it after Frostburn if you really struggle with your farm. But I don't recommend this item on him.
- Elder Parasite: Horned Strike has an internal CD so this might look good on paper but it really isn't all that great. You can get it after/before Frostburn if you like the item.
Information:
Roles: Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (Good base damage)
Item dependancy: 5 - Very Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 1 - Poor
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Can carry if farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Rampage is - in my humble opinion - one of the worst heroes. He has almost no utility, a very confusing last hitting animation (horned striked screwing it up) and no escape mechanism short of his speed. Also his Horned Strike is too random to be reliable.
- You can't do much early game. Stay in your lane and farm. Don't charge on enemies, it is very dangerous to do early game! Your priority is to stay a live.
- Use stampede to save you the TP gold if you want to move back to your lane (charge a creep from the fountain/from another lane).
Counters:
- Not much to say. You can't do more than stack some Armor and HP and hope he doesnt stunlock you to death.
- Always carry a TP. If you see him charging you and you are alone, INSTANLTY TP away!_________________________________________________
[Devourer] .devourer .pudge (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Decay
2 - Guttling Hook
3 - Decay
4 -Guttling Hook
5 - Decay
6 - Devour
7 - Decay
8 - Guttling Hook
9 - Guttling Hook
10 - Cadaver Armor
11 - Devour
12 - Cadaver Armor
13 - Cadaver Armor
14 - Cadaver Armor
15 - Stats16 - Devour
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
I prefer to go Decay over Hook since the range of the hook is the same at all levels. Going for Hook over Decay is fine too tough. Mostly a matter of who you are laning with (with a stunner go decay for sure).
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, 2x Healing Potion, 1x Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Shaman's Headdress
Get Bottle asap (or after Mana Battery depending on the lane). Then work through Marchers and Power Supply to eventually get your headdress. The reason for that is, that Shaman's Headdress considerably reduces the damage you take from Decay. ALWAYS get it even if the other team has no magic damage.
After Core:
Post Haste OR Ghost Marchers >> Barrier Idol >> Staff of the Master >> Behemoth's Heart
Post Haste are very good due to the nature of Decay but Ghost Marchers will do if you don't get the farm going. After that most of the time you will build a barrier idol for the team; skip this as you see fit. Staff of the Master lets you regen HP when casting your ulti and thus counteracts the damage from Decay.
Alternative Items:
- Portal Key: For Blink-Ult and Hook positioning. This is situational but can be good to counter either invis or blinking heroes.
Information:
Roles: Anti-Carry, Initiator, Tank
Prefered Lane: Any (Can solo mid in pubs)
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Very strong 1vs1 and ganking hero)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (depending on how well he is farmed he can be a good tank)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Getting the Hooks off can be very hard and requires a lot of practice. If you have problems hitting them, try running up to the enemy, activating decay and hooking them as they try to flee. It works pretty good.
- You can activate decay even when you are casting your Ultimate. It will not interrupt the channeling.
- You can chop down certain trees to create a nieche in the forest where you can hook and block the enemy hero so they can't escape even without you using devour.
Counters:
- Magic Armor reduces the damage from rot (as well as hook and devour).
- Try to stand behind, right next to your own creeps so he can't hook you. If you can't do that then keep moving, don't stand still._________________________________________________
[Electrician] .electrician (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Static Grip
2 - Energy Absorption
3 - Energy Absorption
4 - Electric Shield
5 - Energy Absorption
6 - Cleansing Shock
7 - Energy Absorption
8 - Electric Shield
9 - Static Grip
10 - Static Grip
11 - Cleansing Shock
12 - Static Grip
13 - Electric Shield
14 - Electric Shield
15 - Stats16 - Cleansing Shock
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
This is what I came up with after testing the new Electrician. Energy Absorption is your main nuking and farming ability and is maxed first. Get one early level in Static Grip for obvious reasons. I then level Electric Shield to 2, this allows you to farm whole creep waves and neutral stacks by just standing next to them for a couple of seconds and then hitting Energy Absorption. Level 2 however is enough for that and we max out Grip first.
If the enemies have no notebale buffs/debuffs that you can cleanse, consider delaying Cleansing Shock until you really need it. It is rarely worth it for just the speed boost over his other skills.
Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem, Mana Battery
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Power Supply >> Marchers >> Sacrificial Stone >> Plated Greaves
I recommend Logger's as you will need quite a bit of farm early game to become effective. Power Supply does a lot for you and should be built (depending on the lane you can delay it). Sacrificial Stone is one of the most effective items on Electrician and you should rush for that even before you upgrade the marchers. Plated Greaves will then give you a LOT of EHP through their high armor.
After Core:
Frostfield Plate >> Barrier Idol >> Behemoth's Heart
If the enemy team is very magic heavy you can build the Idol before Frostfield. Once you get Frostfield however you will be insanely hard to take down.
Alternative Items:
- Helm of the Black Legion: I do not like this item at all on Electrician, yet I see many people get it. It has no synergy with his abilities and is in general a poor choice for him in my opinion. Do not get this.
- Nullstone: After the buffs to Nullstone you can get it instead of Sac Stone if they have a lot of targeted, annoying abilities.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Roamer, Tank, Semi-Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 5 - Excellent
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Good ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (A true beast if well farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Electric Shield + Energy Absorption allows you to farm creep waves very quickly. Use this to get your SacStone asap!
- You can remove a variety of buffs and debuffs with Cleansing Shock. At the start of a match take a couple of second to think about which different spells you are able to cleanse considering your current opponents.
- The most important Buffs/Debuffs to remove include: Protective Charm (Jeraziah), Sol's Blessing (Jeraziah), Corrupted Conduit (Corrupted Disciple), Poison Spray (Slither), Flaming Hammer (Blacksmith), Ice Imprisonment/Tundra Blast (Glacius), Glacial Blasts (Tempest), Entangle (Demented Shaman), Death Boil/Unholy Shackles/Life Void (Hellbringer), Haunt (Hag), Contagion (Plague Rider), Snot (Armadon), Roots (Keeper), Swarm (Pesti), Rotten Grasp (Deadwood), Brute Strength (Hammerstorm).
Also note that Cleansing Shock will deal 600 damage to Malphas (and other summoned units) at all levels.
- Looking at this list you see that you are an excellent counter to Jereziah, Hellbringer and Hammerstorm. Strongly consider picking Electrician when playing against one of those heroes.
Counters:
- Ignore him for the most part. Kill everyone of his team mates first
.- If he is roaming, make sure you get wards up.
[Kraken] .kraken (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Splash
2 - Tsunami Charge
3 - Splash
4 - Tsunami Charge
5 - Tsunami Charge
6 - Whirlpool
7 - Tsunami Charge
8 - Tidal Pull
9 - Tidal Pull
10 - Tidal Pull
11 - Whirlpool
12 - Tidal Pull
13 - Splash
14 - Splash
15 - Stats
16 - Whirlpool
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Level 2 Splash is all you need to get those last-hits. After getting that switch priority to Tsunami Charge and max it out asap for increased Range and Damage. Whirlpool is taken at 6 for a chance on early kills (Pull them behind your tower). But you can delay it depending on the situation.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Steamboots >> Portal Key >> Fortified Bracelet
Simple as that. Pick up Steamboots ON INT first to have the mana to support Whirlpool, Charge and Portal Key. If you still have your Pretender's Crown upgrade it to a bracer.
Power Supply is situational on Kraken. Get it in appropriate lanes, skip it otherwise. I don't recommend to get it before Portal Key.
After Core:
- Helm of the Black Legion: DO NOT GET THIS ITEM! I see every other pub kraken run around with a helm. You are NOT a tank. You are support. There are 278 better items for you.
- Wards of Sight: Once you got your Core buy wards. Always remember, you are support.
- Nome's Wisdom: My next item of choice if no one else has it already.
- Barrier Idol: Great support Item in most matchups. Can even be gotten before Nome's.
- Astrolabe: If barrier Idol is not needed. Don't get both (it's too late to be useful after Barrier).
- Puzzlebox: After barrier Idol or Astrolabe.
Information:
Roles: Initiator, Anti-Pusher, (Anti-Carry)
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (Splash)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (Needs core)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Game changing ult)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Kraken is a very strong last hitter with annoying splash and he starts with decent strenghts as well as solid 3.1 Armor. It's not easy to harass him off the creeps.
- You are defined by your ultimate. Missing it makes you virtually useless for the next two Minutes!
- The first thing you need to look at before you use your ulti is your mana pool. At lvl 6-10 you need to have at least 275 mana to pull off a ult+portal key combo. At lvl 11-15 you need 325 mana, and at lvl 16+ you need 375 mana. Remember to always have sufficient mana before placing an ult.
- Always remember: You are Support. Do not play carry. Get supportive items, plant wards, let the least pushed lanes for your carries to farm.
- The next thing to note is that it isn't always optimal to get all their heroes with your ulti. The goal is simply to assassinate their most important heroes before the teamfight even begins. That's how Kraken wins games. Get 2-3 heroes, then continue to push to get an easy tower kill. Back off when they respawn and wait until the ulti is off cooldown!
- Sometimes, mostly early-mid game (around lvl 6-10) it is often worth to ult just to grab a single hero for an easy kill. Ganking their Sand Wraith right when he has saved up 2500g farming for Mock can be gamebreaking!
- Whirlpool has a quite decent cast range, so remember that you don't always have to cast it on your feet. Use this to your advantage, and try to position the whirlpool exit on a dangerous spot that's hard to get out of. Pling the map on where you place your ult right before you use it. This way your teammates knows what'll be happening.
Counters:
- Stuns and disables are good if you either have very good reactions or if the Kraken is not very good. If you disable him while his ult is running it will go off after the stun ends. So you have enough time to walk away. Good Krakens however will blink in and instantly hit R, giving you no outs.
- Mock of Brilliance can be good against him as it prevents him from blinking on your team once he gets too close.
- Be prepared for his ulti. Either spread out or stand close and get all sucked in. Most of the time you can anticipate when he will be using it and if you move back fast enough you can escape him._________________________________________________
[Warbeast] .warbeast .lycan (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Summon Hellhounds
2 - Primal Rage
3 - Summon Hellhounds
4 - Primal Rage
5 - Summon Hellhounds
6 - Metamorphosis
7 - Summon Hellhounds
8 - Primal Rage
9 - Primal Rage
10 - Battle Cry
11 - Metamorphosis
12 - Battle Cry
13 - Battle Cry
14 - Battle Cry
15 - Stats
16 - Metamorphosis
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Get your Ultimate at level 6 even if you keep jungling. It is too good to be delayed! Battle Cry is taken last since you wont have the mana to support it along with Hellhounds early.
Disclaimer: I will showcase my very own build here. I know that most people play Warbeast different, rushing abyssal skull. I however find Warbeast one of the weakest heroes already due to the fact that he needs 30+ minutes of jungling to become effective. This is an attempt to make him useful much earlier.
Starting Items:
Ring of the Teacher, 2x Mana Potion
Core:
Whispering Helm >> Steamboots >> Shrunken Head
This might look very weird to you. Why would you want whispering helm when you can get Abyssal skull which is so much better? Or is it?
The main reason for this lies in the nature of your skills. Let's examine:
Battle Cry applies Rallied to all allied player controlled units for 16 seconds. Rallied increases their damage by 16. Metamorphosis increases movement speed of self and all owned units to 522 and gives them Unitwalking.
In case you have never seen a Minotaur move at 522 MS with unit walking I can tell you this: You will die.
As soon as you have Whispering Helm dominate a Minotaur (or Skeleton King if you can't find one). Now press R and rightclick an enemy. Manually control the Minotaur to get in front of him and stun. 90% of the time this will get you a kill.
What benefit does Abysal Skukull provide? Jungling is easier, yay! Making you more USELESS rather than useful. With a Whispering Helm you can tank anything you want anyways, no need for your Dogs to have lifesteal.
Ok, that being said get Steamboots (you are at max speed with ulti anyways) and Shrunken Head.
After Core:
Insanitarious/Shieldbreaker >> Behemoth's Heart >> Brutalizer >> Daemonic Breastplate
I recommend you get one damage item after Shrunken Head. Shieldbreaker if your farm goes good, Insanitarious if it is slacking (better buildup). Then get Heart and Brutalizer to compete with other carries and for chasing.
Alternative Build:Another viable build on Warbeast is the Puzzlebox Backdoor build:
Get the same starting items but then dont buy ANYTHING else but Mana Potions and a Puzzlebox level 3. Not even basic Marchers.
As soon as you have Box3 and level 4 wolves just spawn those 4 minions, and rightclick a tower (you can stay back if you want and do some neutrals). Once they get close to the tower hit R and the tower WLL DIE even with no creeps around unless they port in. This way you can push all the outer towers and maybe even some base towers around 25 mins into the game. Its also very Strong to kill heroes and you can easily do Kongor even with just a level 2 Box.
After Box 3 proceed with Steamboots >> Shrunken Head >> Behemoth's Heart >> etc.
Information:
Roles: Carry, Jungler
Prefered Lane: Jungle
Difficulty: 1 - Very Easy
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungler
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Good chaser)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Capable carry if farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Read the Section for Core items to understand the use of Whispering Helm. This makes Warbeast actually useful before he spent 30 minutes in the jungle.
- After obtaining Whispering Helm don't stick to the jungle. Go gank and help out. In the downtimes you can still farm the jungle of course.
- In case you were wondering, you can still solo Kongor at around level 9-10 even without Abyssal Skull. Just get 2 Health Potions and use them while your Dogs tank.
- Remeber to dominate an additional creep whenever your helm is ready. A Skeleton King along with 2 Minotaurs around the 25 Minute mark will make you pretty much auto-win every 1vs1 fight._________________________________________________
[Pharao] .pharao .clockwerk (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Tormented Soul
2 - Hellfire
3 - Tormented Soul
4 - Hellfire
5 - Tormented Soul
6 - Wrath of the Pharaoh
7 - Tormented Soul
8 -Hellfire
9 - Hellfire
10 - Wall of Mummies
11 - Wrath of the Pharaoh
12 - Wall of Mummies
13 - Wall of Mummies
14 - Wall of Mummies
15 - Stats
16 - Wrath of the Pharaoh
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Tormented Soul is taken at start in order to scout out the opponent's lanes (who's laning where) and for last-hitting purposes. In most lanes (especially solo mid) you want to max Tormented Soul first for lane control. If you are paired with a slower/stunner however you can max Hellfire over Tormented Soul and try to get some early kills. The damage from a full duration Hellfire is almost in the 4 digits!
One point in Wall of Mummies can be taken early if it synergizes with your lane-partner or you need means to escape. Else leave it for later and keep your mana for Hellfire/Tormented Soul.
Lane Starting Items:
1x Runes of the Blight, 1x Healing Potion, 1x Logger's Hatchet, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Iron Buckler >> Bottle >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers
Remember, you are a ganker/initiator who is very reliant on having enough mana to pull off his moves/ganks.
After Core:
Puzzle Box >> Shaman's Headdress (>> Barrior Idol) >> Behemoth's Heart
Puzzle Box adds a lot of DPS when the enemy can't run from your minions but the real power is to reveal heroes like scout, night hound, mandman, etc. once you catch them in your mummies.
Shaman's Headdress and eventually Barrior Idol will help you absorb much more magic damage and tank/chase longer.
Alternative Items:
Staff of the Master: Staff of the Master will reduce the cooldown on your ultimate down to 20 seconds and enables to target allies - transforming it to a stunning Portal Key!
Frostfield Plate: Raw armor and a slowing AoE nuke after your ultimate will seal the deal in team-fights.
Helm of the Black Legion: Old school Pharao. You can get this before/after Ghost Marchers. It can help when you are having a bad laning phase on a side lane where you need the HP/Reg to be less vulnerable to harass. It is also solid because you will often be the first target in teamfights simply because you initiate.
Information:
Roles: Initiator, Ganker, Tank
Prefered Lane: Middle, Short
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium (You can farm other lanes and stack creep camps from afar with Tormented Soul)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Strong harassment)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Hellfire > Ulti > Wall of Mummies > Auto-Attack = Kill)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Good (Decent tank, Ulti still shines, Auto-attack damage decreases though)
Noteable +/- and synergies:
+ Hellfire's mini-stuns denies a lot of casters to pull off their spells
- Requires other players to roam with you
30-Seconds-Guide:
- You're alway the first hero to go in!
- Hellfire > Ulti > Wall of Mummies preferably on casters to take them out asap and prevent them from pulling off any channeled abilites or spells with casting time.
- Keep map and rune control (Wards!) to keep your bottle filled and ensures you to roam/gank even longer. This means you have to buy Wards from time to time in pub-games.
Counters:
- Tablet of Command. Seriously, if you are not carrying and playing against a Pharao get this item. It's ridiculous how much this will screw him. You can save allies by pushing them outside his mummies, you can push himself out of the mummies or you can frogleap the mummies when he tries to use them to escape. You can also escape should he catch you will hellfire.
- Power Supply as he will spam his Tormented Soul like there is no tomorrow.
- Standing behind your creeps will most of the time save you from being initiated on.
- If you are a squishy carry hero (Like FA, Arachna, Madman, etc) pharao will most likely try to initiate on you. Stay back and be prepared for it._________________________________________________
[Accursed] .accursed .abbadon (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Fire Shield
2 - Cauterize
3 - Fire Shield
4 - Cauterize
5 - Fire Shield
6 - Flame Consumption
7 - Fire Shield
8 - Cauterize
9 - Cauterize
10 - Sear
11 - Flame Consumption
12 - Sear
13 - Sear
14 - Sear
15 - Stats
16 - Flame Consumption
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Standard build for all situations. I don't think it is ever worth to delay your ultimate or to get an early level of sear.
Lane Starting Items:
2x Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Guardian Ring, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Ring of the Teacher >> (Power Supply >>) Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom OR Ring of Sorcery
Ring of the Teacher can be completed at the outpost. Then get either Nome's or Ring of Sorcery depending on your team. I prefer Nome's if no one else plans to get it. Power Supply is situational and can be skipped.
If you don't get Power Supply i recommend you get a Fortified Bracelet instead.
After Core:
Ghost Marchers OR Plated Greaves >> Astrolabe >> Barrier Idol >> Behemoth's Heart
The full support route.
Alternative Items:
- Abyssal Skull: Great item if you have other heroes on your team to profit from it. Get it after Astrolabe or Barrier Idol.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Supporter, Tank
Prefered Lane: Short/Long
Difficulty: 4 - Hard (Easy to learn, hard to master)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Carry-Support, Tanking)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your Bread and Butter in the early game is to apply Fire Shield to yourself and then cast Cauterize on your enemies. This will blow up your Fire Shield and deal very high burst damage to your opponent.
- As long as you have enough mana, keep your lane partner's health topped.
- But try to always have mana for at least one Fire Shield.
- Remember that Fire Shield removes a range of debuffs, most importantly slow effects.
- Accursed is a pretty effective tower diver. Diving into tower range with a Fire Shield while right clicking your enemy will make sure the shield blows up and your enemy takes the damage. Using this can easily net you some early game kills.
- In team fights use your skills DEFENSIVELY!! Don't nuke spam cauterize, use it to keep your most fragile carry up!! You have the best burst heal in the game.
Counters:
- There are heroes that can kill accursed without triggering his ultimate. This is achieved by dealing more damage than his remaining HP with one single spell while his ultimate is not yet activated. The following heroes can do this relatively easy: Legionnaire (Decapitate is instant kill even while his ulti is ON), Witchslayer, Pyromancer, Deadwood.
- The vast majority of Accursed you will meet will go this or a similar support route. You can't really counter that. He has no obvious weakness. Simply ignore him and kill his team mates first. He is a P.I.T.A. to kill as you need to do it twice._________________________________________________
[Pestilence] .pestilence .slardar (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Impale
2 - Flight
3 - Impale
4 - Flight
5 - Impale
6 - Swarm
7 - Impale
8 - Flight
9 - Gore
10 - Gore
11 - Swarm
12 - Gore
13 - Gore
14 - Flight
15 - Stats
16 - Swarm
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Usually Rank 3 Flight is enough and you can go for Gore before getting the last level of Flight. However there is nothing wrong with maxxing Flight at 9. You can also get an early point into Gore at level 2 or 4. The chance for the first level is much better than the increase in chance from the following levels.
Lane Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Steamboots >> (Power Supply >>) Shrunken Head
Directly aim for Steamboots, a great item for Pestilence (you don't need more movespeed thanks to flight). Then complete Power Supply if appropriate and work on your shrunken head. Most of the times you will build Shrunken Head but don't be afraid to skip it if there is really few Disables on the opposing team.
After Core:
Shieldbreaker/Insanitarious >> Behemoth's Heart >> Portal Key >> Daemonic Breastplate
Shieldbreaker is your item of choice. If you don't manage to farm it, get the easier-to-obtain Insanitarious. Then Heart and Portal Key for awesome initiation. Breastplate is Luxury and can be replaced by other items.
Important: If your team lacks initiation get Portal Key directly after your core! The time where you want to get Portal Key varies from game to game. After Heart is rather late, often times you will get it earlier; use your judgment of how your team fights are going and if more initiation would help.
Alternative Items:
- Abyssal Skull: The best choice if you desperately need Lifesteal.
- Helm of the Black Legion: I am not a fan of this but I see it being built in competitive games for the fact that he takes a lot of damage often being the first to go in. If you like this item, get it BEFORE Shrunken head.
Information:
Roles: Carry, (Initiator)
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Excellent TP- and Counterganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Arguably one of the strongest and most versatile carries)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Flight makes you one of the best TP- and Counter-Gankers. Always carry a Homecoming stone and be ready to teleport-gank the other lanes.
- Focus on your farm during midgame. Your usefulness will skyrocket once you get Shrunken Head.
- Try to have a stunning/slowing babysitter with you (Demented or Witchslayer for example). This will create enormous lane domination for a carry/babysit lane!
- Always remember that your ultimate will reveal the position of the unit; also on otherwise invisible heroes. Use it on fleeing enemies to prevent them from juking you.
Counters:
- Remember that Pestilence takes an additional 10% damage when his flight is on. So it is a good idea to burn your spells on him when he comes charging in.
- Void Talisman might be a good idea as he hits like a TRUCK on squishies.
- If you want to counter him, stack armor. You need to get to at least 20 Armor. There is a huge difference between 15 and 20 Armor (0% vs 20%+ dmg reduction). Get Plated Greaves and Nome's wisdom for that if you are support /get good use of it. Then throw a Platemail on top and you will be fine._________________________________________________
[Maliken] .maliken .mali klause (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Sword Throw
2 - Sword of the Damned
3 - Sword Throw
4 - Sword of the Damned
5 - Sword Throw
6 - Possession
7 - Sword Throw
8 - Sword of the Damned
9 - Sword of the Damned
10 - Hellbourne Zeal
11 - Possession
12 - Hellbourne Zeal
13 - Hellbourne Zeal
14 - Hellbourne Zeal
15 - Stats
16 - Possession
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Standard build for all situations.
Lane Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, Mana Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Whispering Helm>> Steam Boots >> Shrunken Head
Logger's Hatchet is needed to compensate for his weak base damage. Get Whispering Helm asap (before marchers) and start stacking ancients! Remember that you can only stack 3 times now, so go take em out every ~3-4 mins.
Steam Boots are the boots of choice since you can escape (and to an extent chase) with blink. Shrunken head is the Core Item on Malkien, being a rather squishy initiator. If you eat only one stun after initiation, chances are high you will die before you do your damage.
After Core:
Shieldbreaker/Insanitarious >> Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart >> Riftshards
Shieldbreaker is your item of choice. If you don't manage to farm it, get the easier-to-obtain Insanitarious. Then Breastplate for nice attackspeed and tanky-ish stats. If you farm really good you can directly skip to Heart + Riftshards which will put your damage through the roof.
Information:
Roles: Tank, Initiator, Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy (Used to be much lower, but since the nerf he needs quite some farm to be effective)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Sword Throw is very powerful, has some staying power)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Needs farm)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your job is to initiate battles with Sword Throw and Possession and let your team follow.
- When farming your ancient stacks use Sword Throw on cooldown and also don't be afraid to use your Ultimate. It has low cooldown and the splash helps a great deal, especially if you happen to get 3 dragon camps.
- Keep Enchanted Flames active as soon as you get Whispering Helm. The lifesteal counteracts the damage you take. Whenever you drop below 25% hp in team fights, switch to Life Essence and machine-gun you life back up. You are very, very hard to kill in Possession form with Hellbourne Zeal maxxed out.
- Remember you can use Sword Throw to escape ganks. Throw the Sword into the Forest, blink and TP out.
Counters:
- Vindicator. Not only does he WRECK Maliken in the laning phase but he completely prevents Maliken from initiating with Sword Throw. Once he casts Sword he will be silenced by the Vindicator's Aura preventing him from blinking in. The silence is just long enough for him not being able to use blink.
- Keep an Eye on his Ancient Creep spot to see if he is stacking. If so gank him / steal it.
- Save your stuns for when he drops low. Otherwise he is very hard to kill with Hellbourne Zeal and Life Essence.
Skill Build1 - Splash
2 - Tsunami Charge
3 - Splash
4 - Tsunami Charge
5 - Tsunami Charge
6 - Whirlpool
7 - Tsunami Charge
8 - Tidal Pull
9 - Tidal Pull
10 - Tidal Pull
11 - Whirlpool
12 - Tidal Pull
13 - Splash
14 - Splash
15 - Stats
16 - Whirlpool
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Level 2 Splash is all you need to get those last-hits. After getting that switch priority to Tsunami Charge and max it out asap for increased Range and Damage. Whirlpool is taken at 6 for a chance on early kills (Pull them behind your tower). But you can delay it depending on the situation.
Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Steamboots >> Portal Key >> Fortified Bracelet
Simple as that. Pick up Steamboots ON INT first to have the mana to support Whirlpool, Charge and Portal Key. If you still have your Pretender's Crown upgrade it to a bracer.
Power Supply is situational on Kraken. Get it in appropriate lanes, skip it otherwise. I don't recommend to get it before Portal Key.
After Core:
- Helm of the Black Legion: DO NOT GET THIS ITEM! I see every other pub kraken run around with a helm. You are NOT a tank. You are support. There are 278 better items for you.
- Wards of Sight: Once you got your Core buy wards. Always remember, you are support.
- Nome's Wisdom: My next item of choice if no one else has it already.
- Barrier Idol: Great support Item in most matchups. Can even be gotten before Nome's.
- Astrolabe: If barrier Idol is not needed. Don't get both (it's too late to be useful after Barrier).
- Puzzlebox: After barrier Idol or Astrolabe.
Information:
Roles: Initiator, Anti-Pusher, (Anti-Carry)
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (Splash)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (Needs core)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Game changing ult)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Kraken is a very strong last hitter with annoying splash and he starts with decent strenghts as well as solid 3.1 Armor. It's not easy to harass him off the creeps.
- You are defined by your ultimate. Missing it makes you virtually useless for the next two Minutes!
- The first thing you need to look at before you use your ulti is your mana pool. At lvl 6-10 you need to have at least 275 mana to pull off a ult+portal key combo. At lvl 11-15 you need 325 mana, and at lvl 16+ you need 375 mana. Remember to always have sufficient mana before placing an ult.
- Always remember: You are Support. Do not play carry. Get supportive items, plant wards, let the least pushed lanes for your carries to farm.
- The next thing to note is that it isn't always optimal to get all their heroes with your ulti. The goal is simply to assassinate their most important heroes before the teamfight even begins. That's how Kraken wins games. Get 2-3 heroes, then continue to push to get an easy tower kill. Back off when they respawn and wait until the ulti is off cooldown!
- Sometimes, mostly early-mid game (around lvl 6-10) it is often worth to ult just to grab a single hero for an easy kill. Ganking their Sand Wraith right when he has saved up 2500g farming for Mock can be gamebreaking!
- Whirlpool has a quite decent cast range, so remember that you don't always have to cast it on your feet. Use this to your advantage, and try to position the whirlpool exit on a dangerous spot that's hard to get out of. Pling the map on where you place your ult right before you use it. This way your teammates knows what'll be happening.
Counters:
- Stuns and disables are good if you either have very good reactions or if the Kraken is not very good. If you disable him while his ult is running it will go off after the stun ends. So you have enough time to walk away. Good Krakens however will blink in and instantly hit R, giving you no outs.
- Mock of Brilliance can be good against him as it prevents him from blinking on your team once he gets too close.
- Be prepared for his ulti. Either spread out or stand close and get all sucked in. Most of the time you can anticipate when he will be using it and if you move back fast enough you can escape him._________________________________________________
[Warbeast] .warbeast .lycan (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Summon Hellhounds
2 - Primal Rage
3 - Summon Hellhounds
4 - Primal Rage
5 - Summon Hellhounds
6 - Metamorphosis
7 - Summon Hellhounds
8 - Primal Rage
9 - Primal Rage
10 - Battle Cry
11 - Metamorphosis
12 - Battle Cry
13 - Battle Cry
14 - Battle Cry
15 - Stats
16 - Metamorphosis
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Get your Ultimate at level 6 even if you keep jungling. It is too good to be delayed! Battle Cry is taken last since you wont have the mana to support it along with Hellhounds early.
Disclaimer: I will showcase my very own build here. I know that most people play Warbeast different, rushing abyssal skull. I however find Warbeast one of the weakest heroes already due to the fact that he needs 30+ minutes of jungling to become effective. This is an attempt to make him useful much earlier.
Starting Items:
Ring of the Teacher, 2x Mana Potion
Core:
Whispering Helm >> Steamboots >> Shrunken Head
This might look very weird to you. Why would you want whispering helm when you can get Abyssal skull which is so much better? Or is it?
The main reason for this lies in the nature of your skills. Let's examine:
Battle Cry applies Rallied to all allied player controlled units for 16 seconds. Rallied increases their damage by 16. Metamorphosis increases movement speed of self and all owned units to 522 and gives them Unitwalking.
In case you have never seen a Minotaur move at 522 MS with unit walking I can tell you this: You will die.
As soon as you have Whispering Helm dominate a Minotaur (or Skeleton King if you can't find one). Now press R and rightclick an enemy. Manually control the Minotaur to get in front of him and stun. 90% of the time this will get you a kill.
What benefit does Abysal Skukull provide? Jungling is easier, yay! Making you more USELESS rather than useful. With a Whispering Helm you can tank anything you want anyways, no need for your Dogs to have lifesteal.
Ok, that being said get Steamboots (you are at max speed with ulti anyways) and Shrunken Head.
After Core:
Insanitarious/Shieldbreaker >> Behemoth's Heart >> Brutalizer >> Daemonic Breastplate
I recommend you get one damage item after Shrunken Head. Shieldbreaker if your farm goes good, Insanitarious if it is slacking (better buildup). Then get Heart and Brutalizer to compete with other carries and for chasing.
Alternative Build:Another viable build on Warbeast is the Puzzlebox Backdoor build:
Get the same starting items but then dont buy ANYTHING else but Mana Potions and a Puzzlebox level 3. Not even basic Marchers.
As soon as you have Box3 and level 4 wolves just spawn those 4 minions, and rightclick a tower (you can stay back if you want and do some neutrals). Once they get close to the tower hit R and the tower WLL DIE even with no creeps around unless they port in. This way you can push all the outer towers and maybe even some base towers around 25 mins into the game. Its also very Strong to kill heroes and you can easily do Kongor even with just a level 2 Box.
After Box 3 proceed with Steamboots >> Shrunken Head >> Behemoth's Heart >> etc.
Information:
Roles: Carry, Jungler
Prefered Lane: Jungle
Difficulty: 1 - Very Easy
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungler
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Good chaser)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Capable carry if farmed)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Read the Section for Core items to understand the use of Whispering Helm. This makes Warbeast actually useful before he spent 30 minutes in the jungle.
- After obtaining Whispering Helm don't stick to the jungle. Go gank and help out. In the downtimes you can still farm the jungle of course.
- In case you were wondering, you can still solo Kongor at around level 9-10 even without Abyssal Skull. Just get 2 Health Potions and use them while your Dogs tank.
- Remeber to dominate an additional creep whenever your helm is ready. A Skeleton King along with 2 Minotaurs around the 25 Minute mark will make you pretty much auto-win every 1vs1 fight._________________________________________________
[Pharao] .pharao .clockwerk (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Tormented Soul
2 - Hellfire
3 - Tormented Soul
4 - Hellfire
5 - Tormented Soul
6 - Wrath of the Pharaoh
7 - Tormented Soul
8 -Hellfire
9 - Hellfire
10 - Wall of Mummies
11 - Wrath of the Pharaoh
12 - Wall of Mummies
13 - Wall of Mummies
14 - Wall of Mummies
15 - Stats
16 - Wrath of the Pharaoh
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Tormented Soul is taken at start in order to scout out the opponent's lanes (who's laning where) and for last-hitting purposes. In most lanes (especially solo mid) you want to max Tormented Soul first for lane control. If you are paired with a slower/stunner however you can max Hellfire over Tormented Soul and try to get some early kills. The damage from a full duration Hellfire is almost in the 4 digits!
One point in Wall of Mummies can be taken early if it synergizes with your lane-partner or you need means to escape. Else leave it for later and keep your mana for Hellfire/Tormented Soul.
Lane Starting Items:
1x Runes of the Blight, 1x Healing Potion, 1x Logger's Hatchet, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Iron Buckler >> Bottle >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers
Remember, you are a ganker/initiator who is very reliant on having enough mana to pull off his moves/ganks.
After Core:
Puzzle Box >> Shaman's Headdress (>> Barrior Idol) >> Behemoth's Heart
Puzzle Box adds a lot of DPS when the enemy can't run from your minions but the real power is to reveal heroes like scout, night hound, mandman, etc. once you catch them in your mummies.
Shaman's Headdress and eventually Barrior Idol will help you absorb much more magic damage and tank/chase longer.
Alternative Items:
Staff of the Master: Staff of the Master will reduce the cooldown on your ultimate down to 20 seconds and enables to target allies - transforming it to a stunning Portal Key!
Frostfield Plate: Raw armor and a slowing AoE nuke after your ultimate will seal the deal in team-fights.
Helm of the Black Legion: Old school Pharao. You can get this before/after Ghost Marchers. It can help when you are having a bad laning phase on a side lane where you need the HP/Reg to be less vulnerable to harass. It is also solid because you will often be the first target in teamfights simply because you initiate.
Information:
Roles: Initiator, Ganker, Tank
Prefered Lane: Middle, Short
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium (You can farm other lanes and stack creep camps from afar with Tormented Soul)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Strong harassment)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Hellfire > Ulti > Wall of Mummies > Auto-Attack = Kill)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Good (Decent tank, Ulti still shines, Auto-attack damage decreases though)
Noteable +/- and synergies:
+ Hellfire's mini-stuns denies a lot of casters to pull off their spells
- Requires other players to roam with you
30-Seconds-Guide:
- You're alway the first hero to go in!
- Hellfire > Ulti > Wall of Mummies preferably on casters to take them out asap and prevent them from pulling off any channeled abilites or spells with casting time.
- Keep map and rune control (Wards!) to keep your bottle filled and ensures you to roam/gank even longer. This means you have to buy Wards from time to time in pub-games.
Counters:
- Tablet of Command. Seriously, if you are not carrying and playing against a Pharao get this item. It's ridiculous how much this will screw him. You can save allies by pushing them outside his mummies, you can push himself out of the mummies or you can frogleap the mummies when he tries to use them to escape. You can also escape should he catch you will hellfire.
- Power Supply as he will spam his Tormented Soul like there is no tomorrow.
- Standing behind your creeps will most of the time save you from being initiated on.
- If you are a squishy carry hero (Like FA, Arachna, Madman, etc) pharao will most likely try to initiate on you. Stay back and be prepared for it._________________________________________________
[Accursed] .accursed .abbadon (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Fire Shield
2 - Cauterize
3 - Fire Shield
4 - Cauterize
5 - Fire Shield
6 - Flame Consumption
7 - Fire Shield
8 - Cauterize
9 - Cauterize
10 - Sear
11 - Flame Consumption
12 - Sear
13 - Sear
14 - Sear
15 - Stats
16 - Flame Consumption
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Standard build for all situations. I don't think it is ever worth to delay your ultimate or to get an early level of sear.
Lane Starting Items:
2x Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Guardian Ring, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Ring of the Teacher >> (Power Supply >>) Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom OR Ring of Sorcery
Ring of the Teacher can be completed at the outpost. Then get either Nome's or Ring of Sorcery depending on your team. I prefer Nome's if no one else plans to get it. Power Supply is situational and can be skipped.
If you don't get Power Supply i recommend you get a Fortified Bracelet instead.
After Core:
Ghost Marchers OR Plated Greaves >> Astrolabe >> Barrier Idol >> Behemoth's Heart
The full support route.
Alternative Items:
- Abyssal Skull: Great item if you have other heroes on your team to profit from it. Get it after Astrolabe or Barrier Idol.
Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Supporter, Tank
Prefered Lane: Short/Long
Difficulty: 4 - Hard (Easy to learn, hard to master)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Carry-Support, Tanking)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your Bread and Butter in the early game is to apply Fire Shield to yourself and then cast Cauterize on your enemies. This will blow up your Fire Shield and deal very high burst damage to your opponent.
- As long as you have enough mana, keep your lane partner's health topped.
- But try to always have mana for at least one Fire Shield.
- Remember that Fire Shield removes a range of debuffs, most importantly slow effects.
- Accursed is a pretty effective tower diver. Diving into tower range with a Fire Shield while right clicking your enemy will make sure the shield blows up and your enemy takes the damage. Using this can easily net you some early game kills.
- In team fights use your skills DEFENSIVELY!! Don't nuke spam cauterize, use it to keep your most fragile carry up!! You have the best burst heal in the game.
Counters:
- There are heroes that can kill accursed without triggering his ultimate. This is achieved by dealing more damage than his remaining HP with one single spell while his ultimate is not yet activated. The following heroes can do this relatively easy: Legionnaire (Decapitate is instant kill even while his ulti is ON), Witchslayer, Pyromancer, Deadwood.
- The vast majority of Accursed you will meet will go this or a similar support route. You can't really counter that. He has no obvious weakness. Simply ignore him and kill his team mates first. He is a P.I.T.A. to kill as you need to do it twice._________________________________________________
[Pestilence] .pestilence .slardar (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Impale
2 - Flight
3 - Impale
4 - Flight
5 - Impale
6 - Swarm
7 - Impale
8 - Flight
9 - Gore
10 - Gore
11 - Swarm
12 - Gore
13 - Gore
14 - Flight
15 - Stats
16 - Swarm
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Usually Rank 3 Flight is enough and you can go for Gore before getting the last level of Flight. However there is nothing wrong with maxxing Flight at 9. You can also get an early point into Gore at level 2 or 4. The chance for the first level is much better than the increase in chance from the following levels.
Lane Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Steamboots >> (Power Supply >>) Shrunken Head
Directly aim for Steamboots, a great item for Pestilence (you don't need more movespeed thanks to flight). Then complete Power Supply if appropriate and work on your shrunken head. Most of the times you will build Shrunken Head but don't be afraid to skip it if there is really few Disables on the opposing team.
After Core:
Shieldbreaker/Insanitarious >> Behemoth's Heart >> Portal Key >> Daemonic Breastplate
Shieldbreaker is your item of choice. If you don't manage to farm it, get the easier-to-obtain Insanitarious. Then Heart and Portal Key for awesome initiation. Breastplate is Luxury and can be replaced by other items.
Important: If your team lacks initiation get Portal Key directly after your core! The time where you want to get Portal Key varies from game to game. After Heart is rather late, often times you will get it earlier; use your judgment of how your team fights are going and if more initiation would help.
Alternative Items:
- Abyssal Skull: The best choice if you desperately need Lifesteal.
- Helm of the Black Legion: I am not a fan of this but I see it being built in competitive games for the fact that he takes a lot of damage often being the first to go in. If you like this item, get it BEFORE Shrunken head.
Information:
Roles: Carry, (Initiator)
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Excellent TP- and Counterganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Arguably one of the strongest and most versatile carries)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Flight makes you one of the best TP- and Counter-Gankers. Always carry a Homecoming stone and be ready to teleport-gank the other lanes.
- Focus on your farm during midgame. Your usefulness will skyrocket once you get Shrunken Head.
- Try to have a stunning/slowing babysitter with you (Demented or Witchslayer for example). This will create enormous lane domination for a carry/babysit lane!
- Always remember that your ultimate will reveal the position of the unit; also on otherwise invisible heroes. Use it on fleeing enemies to prevent them from juking you.
Counters:
- Remember that Pestilence takes an additional 10% damage when his flight is on. So it is a good idea to burn your spells on him when he comes charging in.
- Void Talisman might be a good idea as he hits like a TRUCK on squishies.
- If you want to counter him, stack armor. You need to get to at least 20 Armor. There is a huge difference between 15 and 20 Armor (0% vs 20%+ dmg reduction). Get Plated Greaves and Nome's wisdom for that if you are support /get good use of it. Then throw a Platemail on top and you will be fine._________________________________________________
[Maliken] .maliken .mali klause (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Sword Throw
2 - Sword of the Damned
3 - Sword Throw
4 - Sword of the Damned
5 - Sword Throw
6 - Possession
7 - Sword Throw
8 - Sword of the Damned
9 - Sword of the Damned
10 - Hellbourne Zeal
11 - Possession
12 - Hellbourne Zeal
13 - Hellbourne Zeal
14 - Hellbourne Zeal
15 - Stats
16 - Possession
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
Standard build for all situations.
Lane Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, Mana Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, Minor Totem
Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Whispering Helm>> Steam Boots >> Shrunken Head
Logger's Hatchet is needed to compensate for his weak base damage. Get Whispering Helm asap (before marchers) and start stacking ancients! Remember that you can only stack 3 times now, so go take em out every ~3-4 mins.
Steam Boots are the boots of choice since you can escape (and to an extent chase) with blink. Shrunken head is the Core Item on Malkien, being a rather squishy initiator. If you eat only one stun after initiation, chances are high you will die before you do your damage.
After Core:
Shieldbreaker/Insanitarious >> Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart >> Riftshards
Shieldbreaker is your item of choice. If you don't manage to farm it, get the easier-to-obtain Insanitarious. Then Breastplate for nice attackspeed and tanky-ish stats. If you farm really good you can directly skip to Heart + Riftshards which will put your damage through the roof.
Information:
Roles: Tank, Initiator, Carry
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy (Used to be much lower, but since the nerf he needs quite some farm to be effective)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Sword Throw is very powerful, has some staying power)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Needs farm)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your job is to initiate battles with Sword Throw and Possession and let your team follow.
- When farming your ancient stacks use Sword Throw on cooldown and also don't be afraid to use your Ultimate. It has low cooldown and the splash helps a great deal, especially if you happen to get 3 dragon camps.
- Keep Enchanted Flames active as soon as you get Whispering Helm. The lifesteal counteracts the damage you take. Whenever you drop below 25% hp in team fights, switch to Life Essence and machine-gun you life back up. You are very, very hard to kill in Possession form with Hellbourne Zeal maxxed out.
- Remember you can use Sword Throw to escape ganks. Throw the Sword into the Forest, blink and TP out.
Counters:
- Vindicator. Not only does he WRECK Maliken in the laning phase but he completely prevents Maliken from initiating with Sword Throw. Once he casts Sword he will be silenced by the Vindicator's Aura preventing him from blinking in. The silence is just long enough for him not being able to use blink.
- Keep an Eye on his Ancient Creep spot to see if he is stacking. If so gank him / steal it.
- Save your stuns for when he drops low. Otherwise he is very hard to kill with Hellbourne Zeal and Life Essence.
[Magmus] .magmus .sandking (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Lava Surge
2 - Steam Bath
3 - Lava Surge
4 - Stats
5 - Lava Surge
6 - Eruption
7 - Lava Surge
8 -Volcanic Touch
9 - Volcanic Touch
10 - Volcanic Touch
11 - Eruption
12 - Volcanic Touch
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Eruption
17 - Stats+
23 - Steam Bath
24 - Steam Bath
25 - Steam Bath
Justification / Modifications:
Lava Surge is your bread an butter. It's maxed first and mainly used for starting stunning in on ganks, for escaping or helping out teammates.
One point in Steam Bath ensures you live when you get ganked or dropping low in your lane. I prefer to max out stats first before Steam Bath to give you that extra HP/MP for longer teamfights.
Volcanic Touch is your mid-game farming ability which will clear out creep waves with some good timed clicks on low HP-creeps. In harder games get Stats instead of Volcanic Touch and delay it until levels 12-15.
Lane Starting Items:
1x Runes of the Blight, 1x Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, 1x Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Power Supply >> Bottle >> Portal Key >> Marchers >> Fortified Bracelet
Portal Key is your most needed-item! Try to farm it during the laning-phase as fast as possible. If you're not able to, get Marchers first and get the Portal Key in the early mid-game with help of Volcainc Touch.
After Core:
Ghost Marchers (Post Haste) >> Staff of the Master >> Behemoth's Heart
Post Haste should be prioritised over Ghost Marchers, due to being able to push/farm lanes quickly and easily with Volcanic Touch. Staff of the Master will improve your ultimate further. Behemoth's Heart to top Magmus off and make him much more durable.
Alternative Items:
(Due to Magmus' relative effectivness with little core-items, you should think about buying supportive items and wards.)
Barrier Idol: Build an Idol if you're opposing strong magic opponents/ultimates.
Wards of Sight/Revelation: If you're team is lacking supporters and you got your core-items together.
Information:
Roles: Initiator, Ganker
Prefered Lane: Long
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Volcanic Touch)
Item dependancy: 2 - Low (Portal Key!)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Higher if paired with another stunner!)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Can't gank alone, Lava Surge ensures a kill most of the time)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Good (Very potent Ulti if timed properly, relatively squishy compared to other Str heroes)
Noteable +/- and synergies:
+ Strong early game when paired with another stunner on the lane
- Can't pull off ganks alone, must be roaming with one or more allies
30-Seconds-Guide:
- You have to hit with your Ultimate in every teamfight!
- With Portal Key: Position yourself outside of the bulk of your team - preferably hiding behind trees or on higher ground - but in range to blink in. Then: Activate Ulti > Wait 2 seconds > Blink in the center of the enemy team > Walk a bit to position yourself perfectly while Eruption continues > Lava Surge to stun/kill/escape (> Steam Bath).
- Without Portal Key: Lava Surge in > Ulti (Opponents will try to stop your channeling though!) OR Ulti > Wait 2 seconds > Lava Surge in (Safer but no guarantee to hit in time in the right place!)
- Once you have Volcanic Hammer level 2+ you can Lava Surge a Creep Wave, hit the ranged creep and then hit one melee creep for a full wave of gold.
Counters:
- A Barrier Idol greatly reduces the damage from his ultimate. Be fast to activate it though.
- Shrunken Head will also negate most of his damage as well as make you immune to the stun.
- Carrying dust or Wards of Revelation on at least one teammate is recommended to kill him when he tries to escape with Steam Bath (He can directly Port Key out of it)._________________________________________________
[Deadwood] .deadwood .dw (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Uproot
2 - Rotten Grasp
3 - Uproot
4 - Rotten Grasp
5 - Clearcutting / Rotting Grasp
6 - Willowmaker
7 - Rotten Grasp
8 - Rotten Grasp / Clearcutting
9 - Uproot
10 - Uproot
11 - Willowmaker
12 - Clearcutting
13 - Clearcutting
14 - Clearcutting
15 - Stats
16 - Willowmaker
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
2x Uproot for last-hitting purposes at start. Max out Rotting Grasp for longer immobilization and magic-damge/-armor. 1x Clearcutting before ultimate to enable unsuspected ganks through the woods. You may take Clearcutting later on if you can do without it and instead maxing Grasp first.
Lane Starting Items:
Logger's Hatchet, 2x Runes of the Blight, 1x Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> Portal Key
Portal Key can be built before Ghost Marchers if you farm well.
After Core:
If you're dominating: Shieldbraker >> Daemonic Breastpate
Safety first: Icebrand >> Frostburn >> Behemoth's Heart
Alternative Items:
Kuldra's Sheepstick: If you want to prevent anyone escaping your ganks! Giving extra mana-regen to roam around endlessly. Also one of the strongest late game items in the game.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Semi-Carry
Prefered Lane: Middle, Long
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Uproot)
Item dependancy: 2 - Low (Mana & Boots)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Good (Uproot & Grasp)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Willowmaker, Grasp)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Good (Willowmaker still pwns heads! Well placed Grasps will net many kills.)
Noteable +/- and synergies:+ Can gank all on his own
- Map & Rune Awareness required
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Try to get middle lane and last-hit and deny with Uproot to finance your Bottle/Power Supply/Marchers.
- Use Rotten Grasp > Auto-Hit > Oakbolt > Auto-Hit to net a bloodlust in the right occasion.
- When you hit level 6 and get Willowmaker, try to rape your opponent on the lane or gank another lane. Fetch runes and fill up your bottle while traveling to your victims.
- Gank Combo: Pick a gank target > Fetch a tree with Uproot > Place a grasp on targets location (2sec delay!) > Clearcut through the woods straight in target's direction > Willowmaker > Auto-Hit > Death! (Oakbolt > Auto-Hit again if necessary)
Counters:
- Deadwood has low base Armor and can be harassed with auto attacks quite effectively.
- If you are laning against him try to get Plated Greaves before he hits level 6. This will most likely make you survive a Deadwood Punch.
- Nome's Wisdom and Armor in General are very good to mitigate Willowmaker damage. Keep in mind that Grasp reduces some armor.
- When he casts Grasp you can notice it in 3 ways: You hear a very unique sound. You see a brief casting animation. You see his mana go down. Whenever you see one of those 3 things immediately change direction and run the most unexpected way. Once you get the hang of this it's very easy to dodge Grasps.
Skill Build1 - Lava Surge
2 - Steam Bath
3 - Lava Surge
4 - Stats
5 - Lava Surge
6 - Eruption
7 - Lava Surge
8 -Volcanic Touch
9 - Volcanic Touch
10 - Volcanic Touch
11 - Eruption
12 - Volcanic Touch
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Eruption
17 - Stats+
23 - Steam Bath
24 - Steam Bath
25 - Steam Bath
Justification / Modifications:
Lava Surge is your bread an butter. It's maxed first and mainly used for starting stunning in on ganks, for escaping or helping out teammates.
One point in Steam Bath ensures you live when you get ganked or dropping low in your lane. I prefer to max out stats first before Steam Bath to give you that extra HP/MP for longer teamfights.
Volcanic Touch is your mid-game farming ability which will clear out creep waves with some good timed clicks on low HP-creeps. In harder games get Stats instead of Volcanic Touch and delay it until levels 12-15.
Lane Starting Items:
1x Runes of the Blight, 1x Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, 1x Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem
Core:
Power Supply >> Bottle >> Portal Key >> Marchers >> Fortified Bracelet
Portal Key is your most needed-item! Try to farm it during the laning-phase as fast as possible. If you're not able to, get Marchers first and get the Portal Key in the early mid-game with help of Volcainc Touch.
After Core:
Ghost Marchers (Post Haste) >> Staff of the Master >> Behemoth's Heart
Post Haste should be prioritised over Ghost Marchers, due to being able to push/farm lanes quickly and easily with Volcanic Touch. Staff of the Master will improve your ultimate further. Behemoth's Heart to top Magmus off and make him much more durable.
Alternative Items:
(Due to Magmus' relative effectivness with little core-items, you should think about buying supportive items and wards.)
Barrier Idol: Build an Idol if you're opposing strong magic opponents/ultimates.
Wards of Sight/Revelation: If you're team is lacking supporters and you got your core-items together.
Information:
Roles: Initiator, Ganker
Prefered Lane: Long
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Volcanic Touch)
Item dependancy: 2 - Low (Portal Key!)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Higher if paired with another stunner!)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Can't gank alone, Lava Surge ensures a kill most of the time)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Good (Very potent Ulti if timed properly, relatively squishy compared to other Str heroes)
Noteable +/- and synergies:
+ Strong early game when paired with another stunner on the lane
- Can't pull off ganks alone, must be roaming with one or more allies
30-Seconds-Guide:
- You have to hit with your Ultimate in every teamfight!
- With Portal Key: Position yourself outside of the bulk of your team - preferably hiding behind trees or on higher ground - but in range to blink in. Then: Activate Ulti > Wait 2 seconds > Blink in the center of the enemy team > Walk a bit to position yourself perfectly while Eruption continues > Lava Surge to stun/kill/escape (> Steam Bath).
- Without Portal Key: Lava Surge in > Ulti (Opponents will try to stop your channeling though!) OR Ulti > Wait 2 seconds > Lava Surge in (Safer but no guarantee to hit in time in the right place!)
- Once you have Volcanic Hammer level 2+ you can Lava Surge a Creep Wave, hit the ranged creep and then hit one melee creep for a full wave of gold.
Counters:
- A Barrier Idol greatly reduces the damage from his ultimate. Be fast to activate it though.
- Shrunken Head will also negate most of his damage as well as make you immune to the stun.
- Carrying dust or Wards of Revelation on at least one teammate is recommended to kill him when he tries to escape with Steam Bath (He can directly Port Key out of it)._________________________________________________
[Deadwood] .deadwood .dw (0.3.3)
Skill Build1 - Uproot
2 - Rotten Grasp
3 - Uproot
4 - Rotten Grasp
5 - Clearcutting / Rotting Grasp
6 - Willowmaker
7 - Rotten Grasp
8 - Rotten Grasp / Clearcutting
9 - Uproot
10 - Uproot
11 - Willowmaker
12 - Clearcutting
13 - Clearcutting
14 - Clearcutting
15 - Stats
16 - Willowmaker
17 - Stats+
Justification / Modifications:
2x Uproot for last-hitting purposes at start. Max out Rotting Grasp for longer immobilization and magic-damge/-armor. 1x Clearcutting before ultimate to enable unsuspected ganks through the woods. You may take Clearcutting later on if you can do without it and instead maxing Grasp first.
Lane Starting Items:
Logger's Hatchet, 2x Runes of the Blight, 1x Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> Portal Key
Portal Key can be built before Ghost Marchers if you farm well.
After Core:
If you're dominating: Shieldbraker >> Daemonic Breastpate
Safety first: Icebrand >> Frostburn >> Behemoth's Heart
Alternative Items:
Kuldra's Sheepstick: If you want to prevent anyone escaping your ganks! Giving extra mana-regen to roam around endlessly. Also one of the strongest late game items in the game.
Information:
Roles: Ganker, Semi-Carry
Prefered Lane: Middle, Long
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Uproot)
Item dependancy: 2 - Low (Mana & Boots)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Good (Uproot & Grasp)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Willowmaker, Grasp)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Good (Willowmaker still pwns heads! Well placed Grasps will net many kills.)
Noteable +/- and synergies:+ Can gank all on his own
- Map & Rune Awareness required
30-Seconds-Guide:
- Try to get middle lane and last-hit and deny with Uproot to finance your Bottle/Power Supply/Marchers.
- Use Rotten Grasp > Auto-Hit > Oakbolt > Auto-Hit to net a bloodlust in the right occasion.
- When you hit level 6 and get Willowmaker, try to rape your opponent on the lane or gank another lane. Fetch runes and fill up your bottle while traveling to your victims.
- Gank Combo: Pick a gank target > Fetch a tree with Uproot > Place a grasp on targets location (2sec delay!) > Clearcut through the woods straight in target's direction > Willowmaker > Auto-Hit > Death! (Oakbolt > Auto-Hit again if necessary)
Counters:
- Deadwood has low base Armor and can be harassed with auto attacks quite effectively.
- If you are laning against him try to get Plated Greaves before he hits level 6. This will most likely make you survive a Deadwood Punch.
- Nome's Wisdom and Armor in General are very good to mitigate Willowmaker damage. Keep in mind that Grasp reduces some armor.
- When he casts Grasp you can notice it in 3 ways: You hear a very unique sound. You see a brief casting animation. You see his mana go down. Whenever you see one of those 3 things immediately change direction and run the most unexpected way. Once you get the hang of this it's very easy to dodge Grasps.
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