Shendelazare Silkwood, the Vengeful Spirit
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Vengeful Spirit is gifted with horrifically low range, horrendous stats, slow speed, and no real escape spell. Fortunately, none of these things serve to detract from her main purpose: ganking!
In spite of abilities like Command Aura and Terror which would seem to push her toward the realm of dealing physical damage, Shendelazare's sole job is to use Magic Missile and Nether Swap to take out heroes. Her crappy stats make her unable to do anything else, but the unstoppable ganking potential of Nether Swap and the raw nuking strength of Magic Missile more than makes up for this.
In summation, find an ally who's sitting around and team up with him, find an unsuspecting enemy hero, and use Swap, Missile, and your ally's abilities in conjunction with these to kill said hero. Repeat for the rest of the game. In large battles use Swap to isolate and destroy single enemies.
Early game, lane with a strong ally and take advantage of the power of your stun. Later Swap will be added to your hero-killing strength, and with the proper combination of spells enemy heroes will fall in seconds. As the game reaches the middle stages, begin roaming the map with allies, using Swap to put enemy heroes into the welcoming arms of your allies. Repeat this as the game goes on, using BoT to teleport around and chasing for highly efficient ganking. Late in the game, use Swap to isolate enemy heroes from their teammates to turn battles into 4v5's.
Skill Build:
1. Magic Missile
2. Stats
3. Magic Missile
4. Stats
5. Magic Missile
6. Nether Swap
7. Magic Missile
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Nether Swap
12. Stats
13. etc.
Stats helps you survive, use Missile, and last hit. Command Aura only can do one of these things, hence it sucks until late in the game. The rest should be self-explanatory.
Item Build:
3x Bracer
Boots of Travel
Bracers help you survive and are very easy to obtain, Boots of Travel are great for ganking because of Teleport. After Boots of Travel, buy whatever you're somehow able to farm (tank items like Heart of Tarresque Aegis or BKB being ideal) Remember that you should be ganking with Swap constantly, so your gold intake will be very limited. You don't need items though!
Zeus, the Lord of Olympia
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Zeus is one of the most one-dimensional heroes in the entire game. His sole purpose is to cast direct-damage spells like Lightning Bolt, Arc Lightning, and his mapwide, 5 target Thundergod's Wrath. Although his ability to nuke targets into the ground is virtually uncontested, he is also slow, fragile and lacking in the physical damage department. All of his potential is vested into his spells. He is, however, gifted with the passive ability Static Field, which by working with % HP rather than hard numbers can actually do damage to Strength heroes late in the game.
Basically, Zeus nukes things. Arc Lightning, with its 2 second cooldown can also be used to last hit creeps early along with harassing heroes. Arc is also your primary way of using Static Field, as Field is cast whenever any of your spells are. Lightning Bolt is a very powerful, although basic nuke and Thundergod's Wrath hits every hero on the map, no matter where they are. Neat! Useful for picking off surviving enemies and to deal a buttload of damage instantly in a large battle, if the spell has been buffed up enough.
Early on, spam Arc to last hit and harrass; the low mana cost and cooldown allows you to use these this spell basically as your physical attack. As Bolt is leveled, you can begin using it in conjunction with allied spells to severely damage the heroes in your lane. Zeus has a great deal of lane control if put with a competent partner. During the middle game, roam about and chain Arc, Bolt and Wrath (if necessary) along with allied spells to quickly take down enemy heroes. Later on, simply hold back and try to cast your spells without being taken down, and use Wrath to crank out a good deal of instant, easily-used AoE damage.
Skill Build:
1. Arc Lightning
2. Lightning Bolt
3. Lightning Bolt
4. Stats
5. Lightning Bolt
6. Wrath
7. Lightning Bolt
8. Static
9. Static
10. Static
11. Wrath
12. Static
One point in Arc for last-hitting and for harassment early. Lightning Bolt is maxed for the nuking power. Wrath is maxed, Static Field is taken mid game when the damage it deals is more notable.
Item Build:
Arcane Ring
Aghamin's Scepter
Refresher Orb
Arcane Ring is a lovely item for the Lord of Olympia, as it allows him to more easily manage his mana as well as aid the mana pools of his alllies while he runs around ganking. Afterward, getting Agh's + Refresher pumps up your ultimate for large battles.
Aiusthua, the Enchantress
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Enchantress is a terrifyingly powerful hero. Impetus, her primary skill, does obscene amounts of damage when maxed. One cast of Impetus has the potential to do over 200 damage, and the spell can be used repeatedly. It's based off of distance, so if the enemy hero is stupid enough to try to run away from you the damage he'll take is huge. This happens a lot, sadly, and the power of Impetus allows Enchantress to totally dominate a lane early. Whatever damage she takes can be negated by Nature's Attendants, which heals virtually all of the hero's HP in seconds.
Enchant and Untouchable are nifty, but don't really make up the core of the hero. Impetus makes the Enchantress. It lets her deal gargantuan amounts of damage with almost no effort.
Enchantress tends to solo a lane, using her range and extremely powerful Orb Effect to dominate. Early on, simply hurl Impetuses periodically to deal a buttload of damage to the enemy in your lane. If you take damage, use Attendants to boost your HP right back up to full. The enemy (or enemies, even!) in your lane should be incapacitated by the power of Impetus. As the game progresses, your role as a hero changes little. Simply run around, hurl Impetuses in ganks and deal huge amounts of damage.
Skill Build:
1. Impetus
2. Nature's Attendants (NA)
3. Impetus
4. NA
5. Impetus
6. NA
7. Impetus
8. NA
Get Untouchable at levels 9, 11 and 16 and Enchant whenever you feel like having a slow at your disposal; it helps for ganking enemy heroes.
Item Build:
Bracers/Nulls
Boots of Travel
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
Bracers beef out your HP pool, or Nulls, alternatively, for higher base damage and therefore more Impetuses, better last hitting and higher harrass damage. Boots of Travel gives a needed boost to your mobility, and Guinsoo's makes sure you can use Impetus repeatedly, gives a disable and adds raw damage.
Morphling, the Morphling
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Morphling is a very powerful hero, with high, manipulable stats and an extremely powerful AoE telenuke. The early game strength of Waveform and the late game power of Morph and, to a lesser extent, Adaptive Strike and Replicate are what the Morphling revolves around.
As said before, the Morphling's early game is Waveform, Waveform, and more Waveform. Later in the game you can use Morph to make your hero able to deal obscene amounts of physical damage, although with some difficulty due to your low range. That, of course, is helped by the Blinking aspect of Waveform. Although not THE most powerful physical damage dealer in the game, the Morphling makes up for this with the early game power of his AoE nuke.
Early in the game you have Waveform at your disposal. Particularly, in conjunction with an allied nuke this is a devastating ability. Use it to garner early game kills as well as in ganks as the game progresses. Waveform also functions as an escape spell if you choose to sit in the lane and farm for a long amount of time. Later in the game, your low range and lack of a disable are offset by your potentially huge damage output, as with Morph you can manipulate your Agility to extremely high amounts. Also, Adaptive Strike is one of the few nukes that only become stronger as the game progresses, so this will contribute as well to your power late game. Finally, Replicate is a nifty ability particularly if cast on a hero with high stats, Radiance, or some form of Feedback.
Skill Build:
1. Waveform
2. Stats
3. Waveform
4. Stats
5. Waveform
6. Stats
7. Waveform
8. Stats
9. Stats
Take one point in Morph and Replicate at any time, then max Adaptive Strike.
Item Build:
3x Wraith Band
Boots of Travel
The Butterfly
There are a good deal of Morphling builds but this happens to be one that I'm most partial to. Wraith Bands give needed Stat boosts, and are the best item of the three to get due to their low cost and the fact that you can manipulate your stats with Morph. Boots of Travel helps with your poor movespeed and the Teleport is infinitely useful for ganking and farming, allowing you to get the most out of your Waveform.
The Butterfly is one of many possible core Morphling items. The recent buff it was given makes it obscenely powerful, particularly on a hero like the Morphling. Afterwards, items like Linken's Sphere, Eye of Skadi, Sange and Yasha, Buriza, or Manta Style (which allows you to Replicate yourself, hooray for 4 Morphlings!) are all viable choices.
Rylai Crestfall, the Crystal Maiden
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Crystal Maiden uses her powerful nukes to hold down her lane and gank, and her ultimate Freezing Field to destroy the enemy team in large battles. However, her firepower is offset by incredibly poor stats: slow speed, fragility, and a painfully bad attack animation. In spite of this, the combination of Frost Bite, Frost Nova, and an allied nuke completely shuts down an enemy hero early, and these two spells serve as powerful ganking tools during the mid game. Although Freezing Field has a high failure rate due to it being channeling it has the potential of being absolutely devastating.
Frost Bite and Nova are your early game, allowing you to deal huge amounts of burst damage and being able to instantly kill heroes if chained with allied nukes and attacks. Ganking is easily later on for the CM, as both Bite and Nova are strong disables either through immobilizing or slowing, as well as still dealing large amounts of damage. Late in the game you still have these spells available to you, but they lose power. Freezing Field serves as a powerful skill even when the game hits the later stages, provided it is channeled for the full 3 seconds. Get into the fray, cast Field, and watch everything die.
Skill Build:
1. Frost Bite
2. Frost Nova
3. Frost Bite
4. Frost Nova
5. Frost Bite
6. Frost Nova
7. Frost Bite
8. Frost Nova
9. Stats
10. Freezing Field
11. Freezing Field
Stats the rest of the way, Freezing Field at 16.
Item Build:
Blink Dagger
Black King Bar
Blink Dagger isn't necessarily required for the Crystal Maiden, but allows you to gank with greater ease as well as position Freezing Field. Black King Bar keeps you from being disabled during Freezing Field. Due to the CM's complete reliance on spells investing money into keeping Freezing Field going is the best possible one.
Sven, the Rogueknight
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Sven is a tank, damage dealer, and ganker. With his primary Strength attribute he is very difficult to bring down, and Storm Bolt lets him kill heroes during the early and mid game. Finally, his ultimate God's Strength lets him deal immense amounts of physical damage provided he can get close enough to start hitting. Unfortunately, Sven suffers from being a bit too well-rounded, really lacking the ability to truely excel in any area. Still, he is a relatively strong and easy-to-use hero. If anything, Storm Bolt is a nifty ability.
Early in the game Sven's high HP and nifty disable/nuke will serve well in a lane. Simply Bolt, run up with an ally behind, and proceed to pound on your target. As the game progresses this process stays the same, although as time goes on Bolt will become weaker and your pounding stronger. Once you have BKB, God's Strength becomes available as a powerful damage amplification spell even if you're only able to hit a few times, making you useful late in the game as a damage dealer and tank.
Skill Build:
1. Storm Bolt
2. Stats
3. Storm Bolt
4. Stats
5. Storm Bolt
6. Stats
7. Storm Bolt
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. God's Strength
11. God's Strength
Storm Bolt is your primary skill, Stats make you stronger and let you use Storm Bolt more. Cleave and Toughness Aura aren't taken until late in the game because Cleave is only useful when you can deal a lot of damage and Toughness just isn't very good. God's Strength is taken at levels 10, 11 and 16.
Item Build:
Black King Bar
Heart of Tarresque
BKB is an important item for Sven, as it allows him to attack with God's Strength on without fear of disable. Afterward, HoT, serves to augment the damage of GS and give bonus HP.
Slithice, the Naga Siren
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Slithice uses her powerful, ever-ready Images to slaughter her enemies in seconds. She has low HP and suffers from melee range, but if she can farm up even one high-level item she becomes a nigh-unstoppable force. Early game she has one useful ability in the form of Ensnare, which is infinitely helpful in ganking, keeping blood-thirsty enemies away from you and allowing you to surround with Images later in the game.
Early on, Ensnare is a powerful disable if used in conjunction with a strong ally. It lasts a long time and is useful in ganks. Mirror Image can be used to dodge disables, throw off chasing enemies and simply as a nuisance early on. Later, Mirror Image will make you a powerful damage dealer on top of your Criticals, and Ensnare can be used for keeping a target down while you beat on them, rather than you needing an ally like before. Slithice does a huge amount of damage late in the game provided her Images aren't destroyed and she has farmed the appropriate equipment.
Skill Build:
1. Ensnare
2. Mirror Image
3. Ensnare
4. Stats
5. Ensnare
6. Stats
7. Ensnare
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Song of the Siren
11-13. Mirror Image
Ensnare is an extremely powerful disable. Mirror Image is taken during the mid game when it can actually be used, although one point is taken early because it can be used to dispel buffs like Shadow Strike (and to dodge oncoming spells if you're Spiderman). Take Critical Strike after Mirror Image.
Item Build:
Manta Style
Heart of Tarresque
Manta Style allows you to run around with 6 mana-burning Images at once, completely tearing through your enemies. The Diffusal Blade that it's made from is useful for ganking enemies because of Purge, which combined with Ensnare means nothing can get away from you and your allies. After Manta, stat items like Heart of Tarresque or the Butterfly will prove useful in making you even more powerful.
Raigor Stormhoof, the Earthshaker
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Raigor is yet another lovely 100% pure Sentinel caster. Although he makes an attempt at being a tank with his STR primary attribute, his poor stat gains make him somewhat mediocre in the damage-taking department. He compensates for this, of course, with his incredibly powerful spells. Aside from being useful as a basic stun/nuke, Fissure can be devastating as a blocking spell when used correctly. Aside from Fissure is Echo Slam, which does a huge amount of damage and requires virtually no effort to use. Wait for a big mob of heroes and creeps to appear, then get in there and use your ultimate.
Fissure is Raigor's primary ability throughout the game. It can be used early as a basic stunning skill, but if used skillfully it also functions to block the hero you're aiming for. By casting it behind the hero in a diagonal direction you can block their path, allowing your ally to hand out punishment without fear of your prey escaping. The versatility of Fissure makes it a highly useful ganking skill in the later stages of the game, and in large battles Echo Slam is a powerful, easily-used AoE ability.
Skill Build:
1. Fissure
2. Stats
3. Fissure
4. Stats
5. Fissure
6. Echo Slam
7. Fissure
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Echo Slam
Although Aftershock and Enchant Totem are not bad abilities, per say, they're incredibly clumsy and unwieldy compared to Fissure. Stats allow you to use your primary ability more freely, and help fill out your poor stats. Get Enchant and Aftershock during the mid/late game, only one point in Enchant for Aftershock until late. Echo Slam should, of course, be maxed as soon as possible.
Item Build:
Null Talismans/Bracers
Blink Dagger
Heart of Tarresque.
Null Talismans tend to get outclassed by Bracers in almost every case, but the strict mana needs of the Earthshaker may call for them. Blink Dagger allows you to get in there and use Echo Slam at the best possible moment, and is nice in general because it's Blink. Heart of Tarresque increases your survivability, although caster items like Necrobook and Guinsoo's are viable as well.
Syllabear, the Lone Druid
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Virtually all of Syllabear's power is vested into his summonable Spirit Bear. Packing 2,700 HP, high damage, and a disabling Orb Effect at level 4 the Spirit Bear is a terrifying presence. Most players stick a couple of HP buffering items on Syllabear then proceed to turn their pet into a monster.
Syllabear's talents are many. Since he's essentially two heroes getting last hits is an easy task, and having a big fuzzy nuisance bearing down on your enemy at all times isn't anything to scoff at. This allows Sillybear a good deal of early game lane control. Later when he's farmed a Radiance your Spirit Bear will decimate the enemy team with his sparkling beefiness.
The Spirit Bear, as said, defines Sylla. Early in the game your bear is useful for obtaining creep kills and harrassing. At level 7 the Bear obtains Entangle, and becomes a powerful ganking tool for the disabling aspect of this passive. Provided Syllabear does not get nuked to the death the Spirit Bear is a terrifying force, and is nearly impossible to escape with Rabid cast on it. Late in the game, a Spirit Bear equipped with Treads and Radiance is like a normal hero, only better! By the time his power diminishes, Sylla himself will have farmed enough gear to offset the waning strength of the bear.
Skill Build:
1. Spirit Bear
2. Synergy
3. Spirit Bear
4. Synergy
5. Spirit Bear
6. Synergy
7. Spirit Bear
8. Synergy
9. Rabid
10. Rabid
11. Rabid
12. Rabid
Get True Form late in the game and keep it on for the bonus HP. Having not one big tanking bear but two is very, very neat.
Item Build:
Headdress of Rejuvenation for Syllabear
Bracers or Gauntlets for Syllabear
Treads for Spirit Bear
Radiance for Spirit Bear
Sange and Yasha for Syllabear
A Headdress will give rejuvenation for both of your lovely little heroes. Bracers/Gauntlets will buff Syllabear's HP so he can take whatever punishment manages to get by his Bear. Treads allow your Spirit Bear to run down targets with ease, as well as get off more Entangles. Radiance is Syllabear's primary item, allowing his Bear to tear through enemies like they're made of paper. Finally, Sange and Yasha will give Sylla some added HP and damage as well as a nifty Maim effect.
Lina Inverse, the Slayer
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Lina Inverse is a nuking machine with a little bit of physical DPS hidden in the backseat somewhere. The combination of Dragon Slave, Light Strike Array and Laguna Blade means lots and lots of damage instantly, which means ghahahaganking! Lina uses her easily-chained nukes during the early game to totally shut down a lane and later to ambush and kill heroes over and over and over again.
Ultimate is an interesting ability for a hero like Lina, and although by no means a hero-defining skill (although it certainly can be if you want it to!) can prove to be useful with a bit of damage behind it. However, regardless of this skill it's Lina's nukes that define her, nothing else.
Use Light Strike Array and Dragon Slave early to establish lane dominance in conjunction with allied spells, then when Laguna Blade appears use that as well. During the middle game, simply walk about the map and kill heroes through spell chaining, utilizing allied assistance where appropriate. Lina's power diminishes as the HP of her enemies increase, as virtually she has at her disposal is direct damage. As such, you should get the most out of your nukes early before they suck. Ultimate is nice late in the game, but it's pretty difficult to deal physical damage even with it.
Skill Build:
1. Light Strike Array
2. Dragon Slave
3. Dragon Slave
4. Light Strike Array
5. Dragon Slave
6. Laguna Blade
7. Dragon Slave
8. Light Strike Array
9. Light Strike Array
10. Stats
11. Laguna Blade
Ultimate is taken late in the game when you can use IAS. Don't get it too early; Stats are more useful for ganking and surviving during the mid game.
Item Build:
Bracers
Blink Dagger
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
Bracers will help with your survival problems, Blink is bought for the powerful ganking it allows you to do. Guinsoo's Scythe will assist in mana management, give you a lovely disable, and tack on some damage which may prove to be useful in conjunction with Ultimate (although likely not).
Yurnero, the Juggernaut
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Juggernaut uses the power of Bladefury and Omnislash to gank and kill enemy heroes thoughout most of the game. Bladefury does gigantic amounts of damage early - especially if done in conjunction with an allied disable - and is augmented by the power of Omnislash. Although the Juggernaut has some difficulty doing damage later in the game (being slow and melee sucks) he can have some luck if he really dominated earlier, and can always fall back on Radiance sparklies to help him contribute in the worst of situations.
Bladefury defines the Juggernaut's early game, as provided you can stay near your target it does more damage than any other non-ultimate skill in the game. Allied disables make this an easy task, as does being risky and buying Boots first. During the middle game, roam the map looking for heroes to kill with Omnislash (do so by scaring the target away from his creeps with Fury, or simply waiting for the target to unwittingly leave his creeps), and repeat. Later in the game Omnislash is still useful, but not that strong in pushes. Getting Radiance off your gank money will make you useful later on.
Skill Build:
1. Bladefury
2. Stats
3. Bladefury
4. Stats
5. Bladefury
6. Omnislash
7. Bladefury
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Omnislash
Get your Critical whenever you're actually hitting enemy heroes to damage them. Get Healing Ward late in the game when your mana can support it.
Item Build:
Bracers
Boots of Travel
Radiance
Bracers help buff your horrendously low HP; you need some health if you want to survive charging in with Bladefury on in ugly situations. Boots of Travel allow you to chase with Bladefury or keep with the target to Omnislash and teleport around the map ganking the pants off of everyone, among other things. Radiance is a lovely damage item for a hero that hardly ever gets to hit things with his physical attack.
Nortrom, the Silencer
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Silencer is a lane controller, damage dealer and support hero all rolled into one cute Spell Breaker package. Glaives of Wisdom is your primary ability, allowing you to walk around throwing Glaives everytime your enemy comes near and letting you deal huge amounts of damage later in the game. In conjunction with Glaives you have buttloads of Silence in the form of Last Word (frustrating enemies without you having to do anything!) and Global Silence, whose use is somewhat self-explanatory.
Skill Build:
1. Glaives of Wisdom
2. Stats
3. Glaives of Wisdom
4. Stats
5. Glaives of Wisdom
6. Stats
7. Glaives of Wisdom
8. Stats
9. Last Word
10. Global Silence
11. Global Silence
12. Last Word, etc.
Finish up Last Word and Global Silence, get more Stats.
Item Build:
3x Null Talisman
Boots of Travel
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
Nulls are a strong early game damage and stat booster, Boots of Travel do all of the fun stuff that Boots of Travel do, and Guinsoo's gives you a huge damage boost aaaand Hex! Afterward, purchase items that will increase your survivability like Linken's Sphere or HoT.
Rooftrellen, the Treant Protector
Hero Concept and Strategy
OVERGROWTH. Rooftrellen has gotten screwed recently with the buff to Ancient Tangoes, and now his Eyes in the Forest have been reduced to more-or-less garbage. He still comes equipped with some mediocre support skills and a potentially devastating ultimate, OVERGROWTH. Rooftrellen in a nutshell: cast Overgrowth on the enemy team, wait for your allies to come in and kill the enemy team. Not a recommended hero for people who like flashing explosions or big kill scores, or really any person who wants to play a strong or fun hero. Rooftrellen has been forgotten by time, I'm afraid.
Skill Build:
1. Living Armor
2. Eyes in the Forest
3. Living Armor
4. Nature's Guise
5. Living Armor
6. Overgrowth
7. Living Armor
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Overgrowth
Honestly, you don't even need to get one point in Eyes but you might want to hide one somewhere and hope it doesn't get eaten. A point in Guise helps you or your ally survive in case all hell breaks loose, and Living Armor is a nice way to gain some regen and armor for no cost.
Item Build:
Refresher Orb
Null Talismans
Necronomicon
Aegis of the Immortal
Refresher Orb lets you use Overgrowth twice in a row, hooray! Nulls are good items to boost your horrid mana pool and Necronomicon is a nice item to get for this hero, since he really doesn't need any other items. Aegis makes you harder to kill and... stuff.
Darchow, the Enigma
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Enigma is a heavy support hero with a bit of ganking in between. Black Hole and Midnight Pulse really are only most effective in large battles with a lot of enemy heroes around to be damaged and a lot of allied heroes around to deal damage, and Malefice really isn't a spell that does much without an ally or two to hand out a beating while it's going. Conversion is also a free deny spell; cast it on an allied creep whenever it cools.
Skill Build:
1. Conversion
2. Malefice
3. Malefice
4. Stats
5. Malefice
6. Black Hole
7. Malefice
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Black Hole
12-14. Midnight Pulse
One point in Conversion to deny, max out Malefice for stunning goodness. With the buffs to Black Hole it now should be maxed, take Pulse midgame when it starts doing more damage and you can chain it with Black Hole against a large group of enemies.
Item Build:
Blink Dagger
Black King Bar
A Blink Dagger is useful for ganking with Malefice and positioning with Black Hole. Your core item is Black King Bar, which allows you to channel Black Hole without being disabled. Items after can include Refresher Orb, Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse, or Necronomicon.
Ezalor, the Keeper of the Light
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Ezalor is a full-on, 100% support hero. Chakra Magic allows his lanemate to unleash the full fury of his or her spellcasting power, while the KOTL uses Illuminate in conjunction to destroy what can survive his ally's onslaught of spells. It's crucial for a KotL to have a competent lanemate who is using a hero that can make use of Chakra. Some notables are the Earthskaker, Zeus, and the Tinker. Mana Leak also serves as a powerful disable, completely robbing an enemy hero of mana if he dares cast a spell.
Skill Build:
1. Illuminate
2. Chakra
3. Illuminate
4. Chakra
5. Chakra
6. Illuminate
7. Mana Leak
8. Mana Leak
9. Mana Leak
10. Mana Leak
Only 3 points in Chakra and Illuminate, as you need to max out Leak as soon as possible and because the power of these abilities diminish at an incredible rate.
Item Build:
Mekansm
Boots of Travel
Items for the KotL are rather trivial, although Mekansm is a nice item for a support hero who can keep up infinite mana and Boots of Travel are useful in general. Items later can include Necronomicon, Guinsoo's Scythe, or a survival item like Linken's Sphere.
Ulfsaar, the Ursa Warrior
Hero Concept and Strategy
The Ursa Warrior is one of the most gank-oriented heroes in the entire game. All of his abilities are geared toward killing a single target, and as such it's important to be running around the map all game killing unsuspecting heroes. Using allied disables to your advantage will allow you to hit with all 5 strikes of Overpower and chase to administer the killing hits.
Skill Build:
1. Fury Swipes
2. Overpower
3. Fury Swipes
4. Overpower
5. Fury Swipes
6. Overpower
7. Fury Swipes
8. Overpower
9. Earthshock/Stats
10. Enrage
11. Enrage
Max out Swipes and Overpower, as they are your primary skills. Earthshock is a nifty ability, but not necessary for what the Ursa Warrior does. Max it if you want a neat little AoE slow.
Item Build:
Bracers
Boots of Travel
Heart of Tarresque
Bracers are nice, cheap items that buff up your HP. Boots of Travel allow you to keep up with and kill your target. Hearts are the best way to really buff up your damage, as they give both a lot of HP and augment Enrage. Hooray!
Linken's is a viable option instead of Heart, and Yasha is a potentially useful item early-on to obtain as much movespeed as possible. Blink is also an option.
Aggron Stonebreaker, the Ogre Magi
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Ogre Magi can probably be summed up with the word Fireblast. Combined with his passive Multicast Fireblast is a terrifying and devastating ability. Bloodlust is moderately useful for buffing up the speed of yourself and allies in ganks, and Ignite provides some mediocre damage and a slow. The Ogre's abilities focus on administering and supporting ganks.
Skill Build:
1. Fireblast
2. Ignite
3. Fireblast
4. Ignite
5. Fireblast
6. Multicast
7. Fireblast
8. Ignite
9. Ignite
10. Bloodlust
11. Multicast
Ignite isn't an incredible ability, but its best to get it early when you can chain it with Fireblast for SOME notable damage. Max out Multicast as fast as possible in hopes of scoring a super Fireblast of doom.
Item Build:
Aghamin's Scepter
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
Aghamin's increases the power of your multicasts, which makes up the core of your hero. Hex is always a great asset to have, and is really the best way to invest your money after Aghamin's.
Boush, the Tinker
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Tinker uses his incredibly powerful nukes to destroy heroes throughout the early and mid game. The huge amount of damage that Laser does and the manueverability of Missile means that you can rip apart everything that moves early on. Later in the game, Rearm can be exploited with the right items to turn the Tinker into an unstoppable force.
Skill Build:
1. Laser
2. Missile
3. Laser
4. Missile
5. Laser
6. Missile
7. Laser
8. Missile
9. Rearm
10. Stats
11. Stats
Max out Rearm once your mana stops being strained. Take March if you want, but Stats may prove to be more useful. March is nice for wiping out a creepwave in-between ganking, but the Tinker's primary objective is to keep killing heroes.
Item Build
Boots of Travel
Dagon
Linken's Sphere
Boots of Travel is the Tinker's core item, allowing him to Teleport around the map freely with Rearm and gank like the wind. Dagon means that everything that moves will die instantly to Laser + Missile + Dagon. Repeat until the enemy team is terrified of you. Linken's helps you survive, boosts your mana pool, and gives you a Rearmable Spell Block.
Furion, the Prophet
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Furion uses the power of Sprout and Teleport early to gank the pants off his enemies, then Wrath of Nature and Teleport to farm up insanely powerful items. Ping an enemy hero about 50 times, then Teleport behind and cast Sprout. Beat the hero up with your ally until he dies, rinse and repeat.
Skill Build:
1. Sprout
2. Teleport
3. Stats
4. Stats
5. Stats
6. Wrath
Only one level in Sprout and Tele are needed for basic ganking, max them out midgame for more versatility. Max Wrath as quickly as possible.
Item Build:
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
Power Treads
Guinsoo's Scythe kicks up your damage and gives you an added Hex for ganking loveliness. Wrath of Nature will allow you to quickly farm up extremely powerful items, although I've neglected to list any specific ones here. Eye of Skadi + Manta Style is one possible choice, or massing damage items like Buriza, Desolator or MKB.
An alternative build is rushing Aghamin's Scepter, then farming up to huge items.
Azwraith, the Phantom Lancer
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Phantom Lancer uses Spirit Lance and Doppelwalk to gank heroes early, then Juxtapose later to create a buttload of images and run down a lane. He's a very difficult hero to play due to being fragile, having horrid mana management issues and suffering through a point in the game where he is virtually useless if not built properly.
Skill Build:
1. Doppelwalk
2. Spirit Lance
3. Spirit Lance
4. Stats
5. Spirit Lance
6. Stats
7. Spirit Lance
8. Stats
9. Stats
Max out Doppelwalk whenever you please, max out Juxtapose and Phantom Edge mid/late game when your images can start dealing damage. Only one point in Walk is taken in favor of Stats, as you should only be using the spell if all hell breaks loose and you need to escape. If you want to be like Spiderman then simply max out Doppelwalk, I won't find you and kill you for it.
Item Build:
Perseverence
Radiance
Linken's Sphere
Perseverence will help you stay in your lane with some Bracers sprinked on top; you're going to want the Void Stone so you can use Spirit Lance freely. Your mana pool blows, hard.
Radiance seems like a strange choice since the +damage doesn't stack onto images, but having little clones of you running around with sparklies is a huge pain to the enemy team. Radiance is an item that I'm partial to for this hero because it eliminates the point in the game that your hero sucks - the point when Spirit Lance weakens but your Images still aren't dealing notable damage. If you can get Radiance fast enough this period of the game won't be impossible for you.
An alternative build is getting Manta first, which will give your Images the power to destroy heroes with Mana Burn. Diffusal will help you gank on the way to it.
Tiny, the Stone Giant
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Tiny uses his powerful AoE nukes to rip through the enemy team. The raw power of Avalanche and the AoE destruction and versatility of Toss are what make Tiny. People tend to get somewhat overexcited over Tiny's ultimate, Grow, which although indeed allowing him to do a buttload of damage fails to compensate for Tiny's slow speed, lack of disable and melee range. Basically, he sucks at dealing physical damage in spite of Grow.
Skill Build:
1. Avalanche
2. Toss
3. Avalanche
4. Toss
5. Avalanche
6. Toss
7. Avalanche
8. Toss
9. Grow
Grow increases the power of Toss and Avalanche, so even though it makes you big and stupid it's worth leveling. Stats are better than Craggy Exterior in almost every situation unless you're against 5 Lycanthropes or something.
Item Build:
Blink Dagger
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Assault Cuirass
Blink lets you get in there to blow everything apart with your AoE nukes. Eul's gives you the mana you need to use your costly spells and Cyclone is a powerful asset to you. Assault Cuirass is likely to be nerfed at some point, but as long as it isn't slaughtered it will serve to be a useful item on Tiny, fixing his armor problems and giving him IAS as well as the item being horrifically powerful on any hero.
Rikimaru, the Stealth Assassin
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The SA uses the power of Smoke Screen to incapacitate his foes. Yes, he has other skills too, but Smoke Screen rules. When not silencing/slowing/pwning everything in a large area Rikimaru also has some limited capacity as a chaser/damage dealer, making use of Backstab and Blink Strike to take down his foes. Oh, and he’s permanently invisible. Overall though, Smoke Screen is this hero’s most powerful ability. Even if you can’t farm shit for items you’ll still have your Silence/Slow/Miss ability to disable your foes.
Skill Build
1. Smokescreen
2. Blink Strike
3. Blink Strike
4. Backstab
5. Blink Strike
6. Permanent Invisibility
7. Blink Strike
8. Backstab
9. Backstab
10. Backstab
11. Permanent Invisibility
12-14. Smokescreen
As much as I prattle on about Smokescreen kicking ass, it’s really only worth maxing during the midgame. One point will suffice early on while you just try to farm.
Item Build:
Sange and Yasha
Sange and Yasha is easily farmed and its benefits are all very useful to the SA, giving him bonus HP, Agility, and chasing ability. Items afterward can include the Butterfly or survival shiz. An alternative build is going Manta Style for ganking with Diffusal and having neato Invisible Images or Eye of Skadi.
Squee and Spleen, the Goblin Techies
Hero Concept and Strategy
It's somewhat difficult to pin a "concept" down on the Techies. Mines allow you to kill heroes without even being there or to kill creep waves instantly. Suicide is a neat little first blood tool, and Stasis Trap is a powerful disable.
It's notable that True Sight hurts the Techies badly, as 3 of his 4 abilities involve invisibility. It's also notable that a good Techies player can drag a game out for hours and hours and hours by mining up a base.
Skill Build:
1. Suicide
2. Land Mines
3. Land Mines
4. Stats
5. Land Mines
6. Remote Mines
7. Land Mines
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stasis Trap
11. Remote Mines
Or something like that. Get Stasis Trap during the mid game.
Item Build:
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
Boots of Travel
Guinsoo's beefs up your mana pool so you can use Mines, BoT lets you teleport around and fortify lanes with explosives. It really doesn't matter what the hell you get with Techies afterward, buy some Crows and put Necrobooks on them.
Razzil Darkbrew, the Alchemist
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Alchemist farms a buttload of items with Spray and Greed, then uses said buttload of items in conjunction with his ultimate to mow through the enemy team.
Skill Build:
1. Acid Spray
2. Goblin's Greed
3. Acid Spray
4. Goblin's Greed
5. Acid Spray
6. Chemical Rage
7. Acid Spray
8. Goblin's Greed
9. Goblin's Greed
10. Unstable Concoction
11. Chemical Rage
Acid Spray and Goblin's Greed allow you to tear apart creep waves and make lots and lots of money quickly. Concoction is a nifty stun to get after these abilities.
Item Build:
Radiance
Boots of Travel
Heart of Tarresque
Get Hands of Midas if you can farm it quickly, before 14 minutes or so. Radiance allows you to turbofarm and is a strong damage item in general. BoT is also a useful farming tool because of Teleport, and you need the increased speed so you can hit things. Hot kicks up your stats a good amount and helps you you survive long enough to slaughter everything in front of you.
Mirana Nightshade, the Priestess of the Moon
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Priestess of the Moon comes equipped with powerful ganking skills, and has some potential to deal physical damage later on due to her high range and primary AGI stat. Starfall is a very powerful, no-brainer AoE spell. Elune's Arrow takes a lot of skill to get the most use out of it (particularly the stun), but even the most uncoordinated players can get into point blank range and take advantage of its high damage. Leap is like Blink, only with a lot of expensive frills (I SAID IT) and her ultimate may serve to help an ally escape a gank or something like that, although it's honestly a pretty poopy skill in every regard.
Skill Build:
1. Leap
2. Elune's Arrow
3. Starfall
4. Starfall
5. Starfall
6. Elune's Arrow
7. Starfall
8. Elune's Arrow
9. Elune's Arrow
10. Moonlight Shadow
11. Moonlight Shadow
This skill build isn't perfect, but the basic idea is to max out your two nukes as quickly as possible, taking a possible point in Leap for escape and things of that sort. One point in Arrow is incredibly silly, max it!
Item Build:
Arcane Ring
Boots of Travel
Eye of Skadi
I'm attempting to incorporate Arcane Ring into some builds and this hero is more than made to make use of it. Solves any form of mana management issue and is basically hawt. BoT is used for the Teleport for jumping around and ganking; Eye of Skadi is a powerful item on the PotM as it gives her a balance of augmentations rather than leaving her lacking in one area which tends to happen.
Luna Moonfang, the Moon Rider
Hero Concept and Strategy
Luna Moonfang is a hero who probably should have been remade about 20-30 versions ago but never was. She relies upon the nuking power of Lucent Beam and Eclipse to destroy her enemies.
Due to her crappy range, damage, and lack of disable it's very difficult to make Luna deal physical damage efficiently. It's possible with a Radiance (as it is with virtually every hero) and if you can obtain it it's possible to rip through bases and foes alike with damage stacked on top of your bouncing Glaives, but massing Eclipse is cooler.
Skill Build:
1. Lucent Beam
2. Stats
3. Lucent Beam
4. Stats
5. Lucent Beam
6. Eclipse
7. Lucent Beam
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Lucent Beam
Get Moon Glaive during the mid game, it's useful. Lunar Blessing blows pretty hard, I wouldn't put points into it until levels 21-25.
Item Build:
Blink Dagger
Aghamin's Scepter
Refresher Orb
Use Blink to position your hero with Eclipse in ganks or to fire it off in a large battle. A Soul Booster will solve your mana and HP issues to some extent, then complete Refresher for double Eclipse. Finish Aghamin's after Refresher.
An alternative build is heading for Radiance after some minor HP items and playing Luna as a DPS hero. Glaive allows you to utilize damage relatively well in spite of your statistical problems.
Kardel Sharpeye, the Dwarven Sniper
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Dwarven Sniper uses his range to kill enemies from a safe distance. Although he lacks somewhat in the physical damage department he makes up for it by being able to hit from almost 800 distance away. Joy! Also, his ultimate ability Assassinate is a very powerful skill, having virtually no cooldown at level 3.
Kardel is also gifted with an attack animation that reaches his target instantly. This means that if you can get over his horrid base damage you can kill creeps before your enemy can think to deny them.
Skill Build:
1. Headshot
2. Take Aim
3. Take Aim
4. Headshot
5. Take Aim
6. Assassinate
7. Take Aim
8. Headshot
9. Headshot
10. Stats
11. Assassinate
Get Scattershot mid/late game to kill creep waves faster if you want. I usually don't.
Item Build:
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
Boots of Travel
Eye of Skadi
If you don't like Guinsoo's on the Sniper then fooey on you because I do. The added disable is a great bonus to you and the infinite mana means you can use Assassinate repeatedly, basically taking out an enemy hero (or two, even) before they can even reach your base. An Eye of Skadi afterwards helps fill out your crappy HP and lets you pelt a target with icy bullets of doom.
The more common build for this hero is buying damage items like MKB to carry or to get Sange and Yasha first, then going for damage items. This is a hero where my bias will cause YOUR INEVITABLE DESTRUCTION, but although Guinsoo's isn't the typical build I know it works.
Jah'rakal, the Troll Warlord
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Troll Warlord can pump out more physical damage than almost any other hero in the game, provided he can farm enough items up. During the early game he relies upon decent hit points, a decent attack animation and Blind to keep his lane under control, and he farms to his heart's content until he reaches a strong damage item.
Skill Build:
1. Blind
2. Stats
3. Blind
4. Stats
5. Blind
6. Rampage
7. Blind
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Rampage
12-15. Fervor
Take Stats over Blind if against a nuker/nukers. Put a point into Berserker Rage at some point or another so you can switch to a run-away mode Troll in case all hell breaks loose.
Item Build:
Stygian Desolator
Boots of Travel
Buriza Do Kyanon
Black King Bar
Stygian Desolator is easy to farm, coming in nice fat parts and being a low-cost item in general. Boots of Travel are bought for the movespeed, Teleport and because they're hawt, and Buriza is for more damage. BKB helps you lock onto a target without getting disabled. Order of items after Desolator can be changed.
Rhasta, the Shadow Shaman
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Rhasta uses his extremely powerful disables and destructive ultimate to destroy his enemies. Shackles is one of the longest disables in the game, allowing your ally or allies to beat a target into the ground without repercussion. Coupled with Hex no hero will be able to escape a gank before he's been taken down.
Serpent Wards can tear both through bases and enemy teams, or be cleverly used to take out a hero 1v1. Forked Lightning rounds out the Shadow Shaman with a moderately powerful AoE nuke.
Skill Build:
1. Shackles
2. Forked Lightning
2. Forked Lightning
4. Shackles
5. Forked Lightning
6. Mass Serpent Ward
7. Forked Lightning
8. Shackles
9. Shackles
10. Voodoo
11. Mass Serpent Ward
12-14. Voodoo
Item Build:
Aghamin's Scepter
Refresher Orb
Black King Bar
Rhasta is fairly item-independent, so your money is best spent on augmenting the power of his ultimate. Two casts of Wards rips apart everything in the area. BKB will allow you to channel Shackles freely, as well as survive onslaughts of nukes with your low HP. Items afterward can include Necronomicon and Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse.
Rigwarl, the Bristleback
Hero Concept and Strategy
Rigwarl is a rather novel hero, capable of dealing fairly notable physical damage, tanking the full brunt of his enemies' attacks and throwing out AoE nukes every three seconds.
Bristleback requires you to keep casting your spells repeatedly to maximize your physical damage with Warpath and to actually see some real potential out of Quill Spray. Provided you keep casting Spray in battles, you'll find this hero to be one that can crank out a lot of damage fast with little effort.
Skill Build:
1. Nasal Goo
2. Quill Spray
3. Quill Spray
4. Bristleback
5. Quill Spray
6. Warpath
7. Quill Spray
8. Bristleback
9. Bristleback
10. Bristleback
11. Warpath
Get Goo later.
Item Build:
Perseverence
Vanguard
Heart of Tarresque
Perseverence gives you the mana and HP regeneration necessary to run around firing off Quill Sprays all the time. Break up the Perse and use the Ring of Health to create Vanguard, which will make you incredibly hard to kill. Heart of Tarresque will serve to make you even more difficult to take down.
Mangix, the Pandaren Battlemaster
Hero Concept and Strategy:
In spite of the rather dubious nature of his abilities (all of which are lifted from Ladder) Mangix is a powerful and nifty hero. Able to tank, gank, and with a limited capacity to deal physical damage, the Panda is a strong, underrated fighter.
Thunder Clap does a buttload of damage and is great for slowing enemies in ganks and large battles; Primal Split is a great 1v1 killing tool if used correctly, or can simply be used to hightail it out of a bad situation when all else fails.
Skill Build:
1. Thunder Clap
2. Stats
3.Thunder Clap
4. Stats
5. Thunder Clap
6. Primal Split
7. Thunder Clap
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
Get Brawler during the midgame, max out Split at levels 15 and 16 when you can handle the mana cost. The slow from Haze is weaksauce and although the miss % is okay, it's not that great, take it during the late game or last.
Item Build:
Boots of Travel
Radiance
Heart of Tarresque
BoT allows you to teleport around the map ganking with Clap and Split, and helps you position Clap. Radiance is a powerful damage item and works well with the Panda's tenency to run into the fray and hit things. Heart, well, gives you more HP.
Blink Dagger is a possible option for positioning with Clap, but I find that BoT is enough.
Bradwarden, the Centaur
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Centaur uses his Stomp and single-target nuke Double Edge to gank enemy heroes. His ultimate is pretty weaksauce compared to others but does give the Centaur above-average HP for a tank. Blink + Stomp + Edge will be your primary tool for much of the game, and later you'll use your beefiness to jump into the fray and cause havoc.
Skill Build:
1. Hoof Stomp
2. Double Edge
3. Hoof Stomp
4. Double Edge
5. Hoof Stomp
6. Great Fortitude
7. Hoof Stomp
8. Double Edge
9. Double Edge
10. Stats
11. Great Fortitude
Return kind of sucks; Stats are better. You can swap the order of Stomp and Edge if you wish.
Item Build:
2x Null Talismans
Blink Dagger
Radiance
Heart of Tarresque
Null Talismans are important to the Centaur as he has two (three counting Blink) spells to chain in order to be effective. Nulls are the most efficient way to fix your mana pool and do this. Blink allows you to position your Stomp for ganking and initiating battle, and Radiance is a nice item for a tank such as yourself. HoT will (surprise) make you harder to kill.
Gondar, the Bounty Hunter
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Bounty Hunter attempts to kill heroes early with a combination of instant-damage spells, then uses his supposedly farmed-up items to deal physical damage late. Theoretically you use Track + Windwalk + Shruiken to bring down heroes, then use the bounty to buy damage items. This doesn't tend to be that easy to do, and the Bounty Hunter is a pretty low-tier hero. On top of this he suffers from the typical low HP melee hero syndrome, which only makes him harder to use effectively.
Skill Build:
1. Windwalk
2. Shruiken Toss
3. Shruiken Toss
4. Windwalk
5. Shruiken Toss
6. Windwalk
7. Shruiken Toss
8. Windwalk
9. Track
10. Stats
11. Track
Get Jinada at some point during the mid/late game when you start hitting things physically. You can get Track at level 6 instead of 9 if you wish.
Item Build:
Dagon
Stygian Desolator
Use Dagon in conjunction with Toss and Windwalk to wipe out heroes early/mid game. Use the cash you earn from easy hero-killing to buy the Stygian Desolator; Radiance probably is a viable damage item to get after Dagon as well, but the Desolator is what I've used effectively.
As this is a hero that really is only viable in low-level play, I choose Dagon to augment his ability to chain instant damage spells for massive ganking prowess.
Knight Davion, the Dragon Knight
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Dragon Knight's abilities are somewhat all over the place, but he's a relatively strong hero all the same. Breathe Fire gives you some early game strength as does Dragon Tail in limited ganking, and Elder Dragon Form is an extremely powerful ability at level 3. I play Davion as a leetfarmer until level 16 and the obtainment of a high level item, then I ransack the enemy team with a passive slow, high speed, a huge HP pool, and basic unstoppable...ness.
Skill Build:
1. Dragon Tail
2. Breathe Fire
3. Breathe Fire
4. Stats
5. Breathe Fire
6. Stats
7. Breathe Fire
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Elder Dragon Form
11. Elder Dragon Form
I prefer maxing Dragon Tail after level 11. Get Dragon Form again at level 16. Dragon Blood is useful early if against a strong nuking lane.
Item Build:
Boots of Travel
Sange and Yasha
Radiance
Black King Bar
Yes, Sange and Yasha. Combined with the bonuses of Elder Dragon Form nothing can ever, ever get away from you and nothing can ever, ever catch you. In theory it sounds stupid but it works horrifically well, go find some nc.dude replays if they still exist or try to summon him from hell (try etching a pentagram in blood) so he can show you. I'm pretty sure you've gotten the idea of Radiance by now, and a Black King Bar willl allow you to keep hitting without being disabled.
Magina, the Anti-Mage
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Anti-Mage uses Blink, Break and Void to gank and destroy caster heroes throughout the game. Although he suffers from weakmeleesyndrome he actually does pretty well if played properly, using the power of Mana Break to incapacitate casters then using Void to destroy them. Later in the game he has the potential to crank out a huge amount of physical damage due to his innately high attack speed.
Skill Build:
1. Blink
2. Mana Break
3. Mana Break
4. Stats
5. Mana Break
6. Mana Void
7. Mana Break
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Blink
11. Mana Void
I advocate maxing Blink, but I've set aside bias to list the more common build. Only one point is needed in Blink early to position yourself or to run away; Stats are more useful in survival and other such things. Max out Blink during the mid game along with Spell Shield.
Item Build:
Mekansm
Linken's Sphere
Butterfly
Mekansm and Linken's help with your survivability, furthermore helping you kill things. Butterfly is a great damage item, allowing you to deal physical damage along with your mana burning damage.
Traxex, the Drow Ranger
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Drow Ranger uses Frost Arrows and Silence to gank unsuspecting heroes during the early and mid game, then her damage to slaughter heroes later on. Although some players advocate putting only one point in Frost Arrows and sitting in lane and farming all game, I feel that this is wasting a good deal of the Drow's potential. The slow from Arrows along with Silence is powerful in conjunction with allied attacks.
Skill Build:
1. Frost Arrows
2. Silence
3. Frost Arrows
4. Stats
5. Frost Arrows
6. Stats
7. Frost Arrows
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11-13. Silence
Silence can be taken at level 1 instead of 2. Get Trueshot during the late game. Marksmanship is a garbage skill, in my opinion, but putting points into it won’t kill you by any means.
Item Build:
Boots of Travel
The Butterfly
Black King Bar
BoT is for running around farming and ganking, the Butterfly is a powerful damage item on top of Trueshot. BKB is to combat disables thrown at you.
Further Info:
No guides that I like just yet.
Purist Thunderwrath, the Omniknight
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Omniknight uses his arsenal of support spells to help his team ransack his enemies. Repel is an awesome ability, allowing Rambo allies to get in the fray without getting slaughtered or just helping you escape from certain death. Purification functions both as a heal and a powerful nuke, although it takes some coordination to damage heroes with it. Degen Aura helps your allies keep up with fleeing enemies and Guardian Angel renders DPS enemies impotent in large battles.
Skill Build:
1. Purification
2. Repel
3. Purification
4. Degen Aura
5. Purification
6. Guardian Angel
7. Purification
8. Degen Aura
9. Degen Aura
10. Degen Aura
11. Guardian Angel
Put points into Repel wisely; remember that while a hero is Magic Immune you CAN NOT cast Purification on them.
Item Build:
Necronomicon
Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse
What items the Omniknight gets is rather trivial as long as his mana pool is satiated. Necronomicon does this job as well as giving you some ganking capacity with your little Summoned dudes. Alternatively, Guinsoo’s will also fix your mana issues. Items after can include Heart of Tarresque or Radiance.
Scourge
Terrorblade, the Soulkeeper
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Terrorblade is a heavily late game-oriented hero. His primary mode of damage is through his images, which only become powerful late in the game. The power of Metamorphosis + Conjure Image creates three ranged Agility heroes with exceptionally high stats, capable of ripping through the enemy team and then their base afterward. Sunder, although perhaps lacking the raw power of ultimates like Reaper’s Scythe of Echo Slam, makes up for it by being an interesting and versatile ability. Provided you can get to low HP and then get close enough to an enemy hero to actually use it, it is a very nasty skill.
Terrorblade suffers from a hideously poor early/mid game, and really only is able to deal damage with his physical attack while he has Metamorphosis ready (the cooldown is ridiculously long). His saving grace early is a lane-staying skill in the form of Soul Steal, which can allow him to tank some of the nastiest of onslaughts with ease.
Skill Build:
1. Soul Steal
2. Stats
3. Soul Steal
4. Stats
5. Soul Steal
6. Sunder/Stats
7. Soul Steal
8. Metamorphosis
8. Conjure Image
9. Conjure Image
10. Sunder/Stats
11. Sunder
12-13. Conjure Image
14-15. Metamorposis
16. Sunder
17. Metamorphosis
Maxins Soul Steal helps greatly in keeping yourself in your lane, as it not only allows you to quickly regain your health but even tank the attacks of your foes while doing so. Stats are taking in conjunction to help with farming and lane stayability. Meta and Conjure are taken during the mid/late game when you have more use for them.
Item Build:
Radiance
Eye of Skadi
The idea of Radiance is, as with the Phantom Lancer, to alleviate your crappy mid game and the fact that it’s a strong item in general. The moment you get it you can start running your Images into your enemies to burn them with sparklies while you calmly creep neutrals. After Radiance, Eye of Skadi helps buff up your hero and images and gives you a slow, which will help you keep your prey in place. Get Boots of Travel at some point or another as well.
Leshrac, the Tormented Soul
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Leshrac is a power-nuker who suffers from severe survivability and mobility issues. All of his abilities are designed to do direct damage to his targets; Lightning and Split Earth are easily spammable nukes that if chained rip apart an enemy hero, and Edict and Pulse Nova function well in large battles with you running around blowing everything to bits. Provided you can get close enough to your enemy or enemies to hit with Pulse and Edict and aim Split Earth well enough nothing will be able to stand before you… provided you don’t get killed in three seconds.
Skill Build:
1. Split Earth
2. Lightning Storm
3. Lightning Storm
4. Split Earth
5. Lightning Storm
6. Split Earth
7. Split Earth
8. Lightning Storm
9. Diabolic Edict
10. Pulse Nova
11. Pulse Nova
12-14. Diabolic Edict
Split Earth and Lightning are both powerful abilities early; neither should be replaced with Stats. Edict is taken during the mid game rather than early because it’s too hard to get close with it without getting blown to bits. It can be put off until even later if desired, but note that the damage it deals is going to be less effective as the game progresses other than against towers.
Item Build:
Bracers
Boots of Travel
Blink Dagger?
Aghamin’s Scepter
4 Bracers, and no less than 4. They’re cheap and they help you survive, something that Leshrac has a lot of issues with. Boots of Travel help you run into the fray with Edict and Pulse on, as well as doing all of the other things that Boots of Travel do. Blink is an option (particularly if you’re fielding a Faceless Void on your team) for getting into the battle with Pulse and Edict on before you get nuked to death. Also, you can Blink into Chronosphere with Pulse activated and it will stay on, hence why I recommend it if with Faceless Void. Aghamin’s Scepter boosts your mana, allowing you to keep Pulse on for longer. It also helps with your HP problem (again) AND kicks your ultimate up a notch, albeit a somewhat small one.
Kel’Thuzad, the Lich
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Lich uses the power of Frost Nova and Dark Ritual to establish complete dominance early in the game, later using Nova in ganks. He also comes equipped with a powerful ultimate in the form of Chain Frost, making it folly to gank him with two heroes without proper timing and just generally being a powerful skill to fire off in a large battle for all of the huge damage it does. The Lich is an easy hero to play, but requires a great deal of practice and skill to master. A great Lich player is like watching poetry in motion.
Skill Build:
1. Dark Ritual
2. Frost Nova
3. Frost Nova
4. Dark Ritual
5. Frost Nova
6. Chain Frost
7. Frost Nova
8. Dark Ritual
9. Dark Ritual
10. Stats
11. Chain Frost
Some people think Frost Armor is a useful ability for the +armor and to keep nasty melee heroes off of them; I think it blows ass. Try it out, and if you like it then level it after Nova and Ritual are maxed. Note that if against a hero like the Silencer early, getting Nova for the slow may prove to be more useful than the free deny early from Ritual.
Item Build:
Mekansm
Boots of Travel
Items after should be to counter whatever the enemy team is fielding (e.g. get Diffusal Blade against the Omniknight to kill off Repel) or to help fill out your team (Guinsoo’s if you need another disable, Aghamin’s if you need more raw direct damage, etc.). You probably won’t be able to farm anything after BoT, though.
Note that the Lich should be buying and using Observer Wards throughout the game. I made a note that I wasn’t going to specify this for any hero but it really is important with the Lich. Use them to see up the hill if you’re in the mid lane or just to reveal in-between lanes for ganking and avoiding ganks.
Krobelus, the Death Prophet
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Death Prophet is equipped with a powerful AoE nuke that is useful until the very, very late part of the game, Silence (good Silence!) which if properly aimed can take out the spellcasting capacity of 3-5 heroes at once and finally an ultimate that just beats the hell out of everything. The Death Prophet functions as an early/mid-game powerhouse rounding off into a late-game supporter.
Skill Build:
1. Silence
2. Carrion Swarm
3. Carrion Swarm
4. Stats
5. Carrion Swarm
6. Stats
7. Carrion Swarm
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Exorcism
11. Exorcism
OH GOD, WHERE IS THE WITCHCRAFT?! The cooldown decrease that Witchcraft gives to Silence and Carrion Swarm is somewhat negligible, since it’s highly unlikely you’re going to need to spam them early in the game (nor are you able to even if you wanted to). Really, the only notable early-game benefit that Witchcraft gives you is the decrease in mana cost to Swarm, which does not compare to the +mana, +HP, and +damage that Stats give.
Max out Silence and take Witchcraft at some point or another after level 11. Silence can be maxed earlier if needed against a lane of powerful casters.
Item Build:
Vanguard
Boots of Travel
Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse
Heart of Tarresque
Vanguard helps you survive, something that the DP has problems with.. Get Eul’s after, then complete Boots of Travel for teleporting around and farming/ganking with Swarm and Silence. Guinsoo’s is a natural choice once your Cyclones are used up, and HoT will serve to make you more difficult to kill.
An alternative build is getting Eye of Skadi in place of Guinsoo’s.
Lion, the Demon Witch
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Lion uses his single-target disables and nukes to gank his enemies into the ground. The combination of Impale and Finger of Death does simply a buttload of easily-administered damage to a single hero, and allows the Demon Witch to run around killing things for a large portion of the game.
In large battles the Demon Witch falters somewhat, lacking in the AoE damage department or the ability to really do much once he’s expended his nukes. His saving grace is Voodoo, since everyone loves Hex.
Skill Build:
1. Impale
2. Stats/Voodoo
3. Impale
4. Stats/Voodoo
5. Impale
6. Finger of Death
7. Impale
8. Stats/Voodoo
9. Stats/Voodoo
10. Stats
11. Finger of Death
12-15. Voodoo/Stats
Get Voodoo early if and only if you really actually absolutely positively need it to get kills during the early game. If chaining it with allied nukes/attacks/disables allows you to destroy the heroes that oppose you then yes, get it early. Will it normally be necessary or incredibly useful for getting early kills? No, it levels poorly and usually either your ally is strong enough for you not to need Hex or too weak for you to do anything with Hex anyway. Mana Drain sucks, don’t level it.
Item Build:
Necronomicon
Boots of Travel
Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse
Necrobook solves your mana and HP problems in one fell swoop, and greatly increases your capacity to gank through the addition of two little summons that can take advantage of your arsenal of single-target disables. They take some skill to micro along with Lion’s many abilities, but they work incredibly well. Guinsoo’s is bought afterward to add another disable to your repertoire.
If you’re horribly opposed to Necrobook, then be sure to get 3ish Bracers before moving to Guinsoo’s Scythe.
Lesale Deathbringer, the Venomancer
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Venomancer has the ability to establish early lane control with Shadow Strike and Poison Sting, gank enemies with Nova + Strike, and deal significant damage in large battles with Poison Nova. He suffers, however, from a hideously poor late game for an Agility hero as well as low range, which is never a good thing.
Skill Build:
1. Shadow Strike
2. Poison Sting
3. Shadow Strike
4. Poison Sting
5. Shadow Strike
6. Poison Nova
7. Shadow Strike
8. Poison Sting
9. Poison Sting
10. Stats
11. Poison Nova
Don’t level up Wards, as they kind of blow other than for soloing Roshan and... stuff. Venomancer is probably the only hero worth leveling up Shadow Strike with as the damage over time functions well with Poison Nova.
Item Build:
Perseverance
Boots of Travel
Blink Dagger?
Linken’s Sphere
Perseverance is a useful item for the Venomancer, as the high regen helps with running around the map ganking and taking damage while harassing. Boots of Travel is also bought for ganking, letting you teleport around killing heroes and doing everything else that BoT allows you to do. Blink Dagger is an option, helping you get into the fray and hitting with Poison Nova. It also helps further in ganking. Linken’s, finally, is a nifty item to form your Perse into.
Magnus, the Magnataur
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Magnus relies upon his damage amplification skill Empower and his AoE stunning ultimate Reverse Polarity to make short work of his foes. These abilities - when used correctly - make him a powerful support tank. Empower is both useful on Magnus himself, helping you to last hit farm or to deal AoE damage with Cleave after using Polarity, or by being cast on an ally so THEY can farm or deal more damage. Reverse Polarity's cooldown and mana cost are both enormous, making it a somewhat unwieldy skill. However, in spite of this it's still a powerful ability.
Skill Build:
1. Empower
2. Stats
3. Empower
4. Stats
5. Empower
6. Reverse Polarity
7. Empower
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Mighty Swing
11. Reverse Polarity
12-14. Mighty Swing
An alternative skill build is Shockwave + Stats, but this build will require some mana support. Cleave can be leveled later than it is shown here, also.
Item Build:
Blink Dagger
Heart of Tarresque
Assault Cuirass
Blink helps you position your ultimate. Heart tanks you out and allows you to deal a great deal of damage when you've got Empower active on you. Cuirass looks promising provided it doesn't get too horribly nerfed. Remember, however, that the main job of Magnus (as far as I'm concerned) is support. As long as you cast Empower and score with Polarity your job is done.
Visage, the Necro'lic
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Necro'lic is able to farm massively with his Arrow effect, range and summons, then pretty much slaughter everything that moves with an arsenal of high-level items amplified by Grave Chill, his IAS ability and Gravekeeper's Cloak, which causes the enemy team to destroy itself by merely attacking Visage. All a good Visage player has to do is farm diligently to Heart + Radiance; from there it's a simple matter of sitting there and slaughtering the enemy.
Skill Build:
1. Soul Assumption
2. Stats
3. Soul Assumption
4. Stats
5. Soul Assumption
6. Raise Revenants
7. Soul Assumption
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Raise Revenants
Soul Assumption is used to last hit and to harass the enemy in your lane. As Grave Chill and Cloak are % based skills they aren't very strong early, so Stats take prevalence. Cloak is, however, an early game option as is Chill, the later case being if the hero you're against absolutely sucks. Get both of these abilities after level 11 regardless.
Item Build:
Radiance
Heart
Aegis/Rapier
How fast you farm a Relic early will determine your success in the game. After you get your Relic, either build up to Heart to make you harder to kill or finish Radiance, then complete Heart. You should be able to complete these items earlier than any other hero can because of your farming power with Revenants. After Radiance and Heart, move to Aegis + Rapier.
Nessaj, the Chaos Knight
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Chaos Knight uses his high HP and damage coupled with Blink Strike and Chaos Bolt to gank heroes throughout the early/mid game, then the raw power of Phantasm images to rip his enemies apart later on. Conceptually, the Chaos Knight revolves around randomness. His critical is high but the % is low, his base damage is unnaturally irregular, his stun can either be extremely powerful or painfully mediocre, and as a hero in general he relies a lot upon luck in order to be successful. A good cast of Phantasm often depends upon luck more than anything else.
Skill Build:
1. Chaos Bolt
2. Blink Strike
3. Blink Strike
4. Chaos Bolt
5. Blink Strike
6. Chaos Bolt
7. Blink Strike
8. Chaos Bolt
9. Phantasm
10. Stats
11. Phantasm
12.-15. Critical Strike
Use Chaos Bolt and Blink Strike together to deal instant damage to and disable an enemy. Get your crit during the midgame, as always.
Item Build:
Bracers
Boots of Travel
Heart
Massing Bracers is an effective item choice for a hero who will be spending much of his time ganking with Blink Strike and Chaos Bolt. BoT, again, is for ganking. Heart of Tarresque functions well as a late game item, both making the Chaos Knight harder to kill and adding damage and survivability to his powerful images.
Banehallow, the Lycanthrope
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Early-on, the Lycanthrope uses his summoned wolves to wreak havoc in his lane, abusing their spammability and natural Bash and Critical. However, the Lycanthrope suffers terribly from being a melee hero who relies almost entirely upon his physical attack, and he is heavily prone to being disabled so that he can’t deal damage later in the game.
Skill Build:
1. Summon Wolves
2. Feral Heart
3. Summon Wolves
4. Feral Heart
5. Summon Wolves
6. Shapeshift
7. Summon Wolves
8. Feral Heart
9. Feral Heart
10. Stats
11. Shapeshift
Howl is useful during the late, late game, level it then.
Item Build:
Ring of Basillus or Sobi Mask
Black King Bar
Radiance/Monkey King Bar
I specifically notate mana regeneration for this hero because he needs it to keep casting his Wolves, and I know that some people won’t get it because he’s a Strength hero with no nukes. BKB is needed so that you don’t get disabled into the ground while in Wolf Form, it can be gotten after your major damage item. Radiance is your typical damage item for a hero like this, although MKB is a possible choice also because of the ministun (keeps heroes from Teleporting away from you).
Black Arachnia, the Broodmother
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Broodmother uses her passive slow and Invisibility for limited ganking capacity during the mid game, and slaughters everything later on provided she doesn’t get disabled. Her ultimate is a versatile one, allowing you not only to beat down heroes with unnaturally high damage but also to run into the forest and neutral creep to regain health due to its low cooldown.
Skill Build:
1. Spin Web
2. Incapacitating Bite
3. Incapacitating Bite
4 Stats
5. Incapacitating Bite
6. Insatiable Hunger
7. Incapacitating Bite
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Insatiable Hunger
12.-14. Spin Web
You can max out Spin Web early if you want to for more regeneration and to fill up the lane with them, but I find that one level is enough. I know that there’s going to be some rage due to not having Spawn Spiderlings here, but I think it’s a mediocre skill that’s not worth the points.
Item Build:
The Butterfly/Radiance
Black King Bar
OH MY GOD HE DIDN’T SUGGEST RADIANCE… SORT OF. The Butterfly is more beneficial for you in dealing outright damage, as the increased attack speed helps you utilize the huge damage boost from your ultimate and the Evasion stacks with Bite, totaling at over 40% Evasion. However, Radiance’s sparklies and its strength in general makes it a viable choice. Come on, this is just about the only hero you can get the Butterfly on as a core item, go for it! BKB is bought to defend against inevitable disables.
Mortred, the Phantom Assassin
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Mortred uses her extremely powerful Critical Strike to kill enemies in seconds. As cool as that sounds, she first has to actually make her Critical strong, which generally doesn’t happen for a horrifyingly long time. Provided you can farm up a strong damage item you’ll probably slaughter whatever game you’re in (assuming it’s of a low level), but attaining that item is no easy task. Using Blink Strike to farm and buying the correct defensive items early makes this a more feasible procedure.
Skill Build:
1. Shadow Strike
2. Blink Strike
3. Blink Strik
4. Stats
5. Blink Strike
6. Coup De Grace
7. Blink Strike
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Coup De Grace
I don’t care if I spelled her ultimate wrong, do not dare bother me about it. Get Blur during the mid game when the Evasion and sneakiness are more useful to you.
Item Build:
Bracers
Helm of the Dominator
Monkey King Bar/Radiance
I specifically mention Bracers because they’re important. Get 2-3. Helm of the Dominator is bought for the armor, lifesteal, and creep buddy. The lifesteal helps you neutral creep and fight in battles; when you score a 600 damage crit you gain A LOT of life back. Radiance is bought if you can farm to the Relic, if not then aim for MKB.
Medusa, the Gorgon
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Medusa is a tank, damage dealer, ganker and a little bit of an early-game lane controller if you build her that way. Split Shot allows Medusa to farm at WARP SPEED and lets her deal ?170%? damage in large battles. Mana Shield is an incredibly powerful ability, making Medusa horrifyingly difficult to kill. Purge is a versatile, strong ultimate, useful for ganking, removing enemy buffs or removing allied negative buffs. It lacks the pizzazz of some ultimates but makes up for it by being a great utility spell.
Skill Build:
1. Chain Lightning
2. Stats
3. Chain Lightning
4. Stats
5. Chain Lightning
6. Purge
7. Chain Lightning
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11-14. Split Shot
15-18. Mana Shield
Chain Lightning gives you some semblance of lane control early on and is a nice little nuke in general. Mana Shield/Stats is another viable choice.
Item Build:
Radiance
Eye of Skadi/i]
Radiance is the best method of boosting your raw damage, hence being the best augmentation for Split Shot. Afterward, Eye of Skadi gives you a nifty slow as well as enormous stat boosts.
Balanar, the Night Stalker
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Balanar uses his fast speed and nuke during the night to kill everything that strays too far away from their tower; he attempts to use his early domination so that he can remain a powerful force during the late game. This hero suffers from only being useful during the night, first of all, and also having to rely on his physical attack later in the game while at the same time being a clumsy melee hero. Not good.
Skill Build:
1. Void
2. Hunter in the Night
3. Void
4. Hunter in the Night
5. Void
6. Hunter in the Night
7. Void
8. Hunter in the Night
9. Darkness
10. Crippling Fear
11. Darkness
Get Fear during the mid/late game.
Item Build:
Consumables (Flasks and Clarities)/?Bottle?
Radiance
Black King Bar
It’s important to note that the Night Stalker should be charging around with Flasks and Clarities during the night, so that he can kill a hero in one lane, recharge his lost HP and mana with his potions, then go kill a hero in another lane. I have not tried the Bottle with this hero before and do not know how well it might work, but theoretically it seems like a winner, go try it. If you really kick enough ass early then you should get Radiance pretty quickly, then use that to dominate your enemies. BKB will help you in actually hitting things before you get disabled and killed.
Leoric, the Skeleton King
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Leoric uses Storm Bolt and his nigh-unkillability to run around ganking for most of the game, then reverting to a tanking role later on when Storm Bolt starts to suck. Reincarnate helps him fulfill this role, allowing him an EZ pass in case he botches up a gank and dies or gets taken out during a large battle. It doesn’t make you invincible if you let yourself get caught in a 4v1 gank, but if you happen to be the one who gets focused in a big fight and die Reincarnate will serve as your savior.
Skill Build:
1. Storm Bolt
2. Stats
3. Storm Bolt
4. Stats
5. Storm Bolt
6. Reincarnate
7. Storm Bolt
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Reincarnate
Get Critical Strike and Vampiric Aura during the mid/late game. Yes, you are nothing but a Storm Bolt machine, occasional attacker and damage sponge for a large portion of the game. If you don’t like it then play a different hero.
Item Build:
Circlets
Boots of Travel
Radiance
Heart of Tarresque
I mention Circlets specifically because just massing up 4 of them has always been the most effective method of filling out Leoric’s stats for me. BoT is necessary for running around ganking with your Storm Bolt and beefiness, and Radiance has been listed so damned many times that you should know why we’re getting it by now.
Lucifer, the Doom Bringer
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Doom Bringer has the power of farm, tanking and nukage at his disposal. Devour lets him get big tasty items fast and LVL? Death makes him a mediocre lane controller. Doom is (surprise) the Doom Bringer’s most powerful skill, virtually taking a hero out of a battle when used. On top of this Lucifer has a huge Strength gain, making him very difficult to kill.
Skill Build:
1. Devour
2. LVL? Death
3. Devour
4. LVL? Death
5. Devour
6. Doom
7. Devour
How you level up LVL? Death should depend on what level your enemy is, as the damage of the skill depends upon that. For example, level up the skill to level 2 as fast as possible and wait until your enemy hits level 5 to use it, then wait until he levels up to 8 before leveling up the skill again. What’s important with Lucifer is maxing Doom and Devour quickly, getting Scorched Earth later rather than sooner (during the mid/late game) and leveling up LVL? Death intelligently.
Item Build:
Necronomicon
Radiance
Heart of Tarresque
Necronomicon can be farmed extremely quickly on Doom and is useful to him in all aspects; other caster items like Guinsoo's or Aghamin's are viable as well. Afterward, Radiance + HoT is the way to go. Assault Cuirass?! Probably works as well.
Anub’arak, the Nerubian Assassin
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Nerubian Assassin - or NA - relies entirely upon his single-target nukes to destroy his enemies throughout the early and mid game. He suffers from several problems: somewhat low INT and AGI gain, melee range, and his most powerful ability being absolutely and horribly shut down by True Sight. If the enemy hero can see you coming toward him as you’re invisible you’re probably going to die in about five more seconds. Later in the game the NA loses much if not all of his potential, lacking any way of dealing physical damage (melee, crappy AGI gain) and being left with nothing but crappy nukes to make an attempt to deal damage with.
Skill Build:
1. Mana Burn
2. Impale
3. Mana Burn
4. Impale
5. Impale
6. Vendetta
7. Mana Burn
8. Impale
9. Impale
10. Stats
11. Vendetta
Spiked Carapace blows until the mid/late game, Stats are more useful between the levels 10 and 15 to boost your mana and HP.
Item Build:
Dagon
Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse/Radiance
The logic behind Dagon is much the same as with Tinker: use it in conjunction with your other spells to blow an enemy hero apart instantaneously. Since the NA has virtually no capacity to deal physical damage later on Guinsoo’s will give him some viability later in the game with Hex. Radiance is also an option if you actually think you’ll be able to utilize it well.
Again, if you don’t like Dagon then go to hell.
Slardar, the Slithereen Guard
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Slardar uses his ability to gank with Stomp (called Crush in order to piss me off) and Amplify Damage (actually Faerie Fire but called Amplify Damage – again - to piss me off) to be a relatively powerful force during the mid game. Early he’s horrible but then what do you expect from a hero with nothing but a Stomp. Later in the game Slardar can utilize a plethora of items in conjunction with his Bash and Amp Damage skills in order to dominate his enemies. If you’re unable to farm anything throughout the whole game, you’ll still have Crush to initiate large battles and Amplify Damage as a support skill.
Skill Build:
1. Slithereen Crush
2. Stats
3. Slithereen Crush
4. Stats
5. Slithereen Crush
6. Stats
7. Slithereen Crush
8. Stats
9. Bash
10. Amplify Damage
11. Amplify Damage
12-14. Bash
Get Sprint during the mid/late game; please use it wisely or it will end up with you getting killed in horrible ways. Bash is taken during the middle game bacause its use is minimal early on, especially in comparison to added HP and mana.
Item Build:
Blink Dagger
Assault Cuirass
Heart of Tarresque
Blink is to me the core item for Slardar, allowing him to initiate ganks during the mid game with Stomp and Amplify Damage. No, you can’t kill a INT hero by yourself with Blink, Stomp and Amplify Damage, but you can sure as hell make it so he can’t get away so your allies can destroy him. Cuirass, again, provided it's not nerfed into oblivion, is a viable choice.
Akasha, the Queen of Pain
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Akasha is an incredibly powerful hero, sporting an arsenal of AoE nukes useful in ganking and just ripping things apart in general, a moderately useful slow in the form of Shadow Strike, and to top it off Blink on a ranged hero. That last part is very important, because it means that Akasha can solo a lane without fear of dying (usually) because of Blink. She requires little skill to play well and really only needs some HP and mana so that she can throw herself into the battle and unleash her AoE abilities.
Skill Build:
1. Blink
2. Shadow Strike
3. Scream of Pain
4. Scream of Pain
5. Scream of Pain
6. Sonic Wave
7. Scream of Pain
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Sonic Wave
12-14. Blink
Only one point in Blink early for running away from CERTAIN DEATH; Shadow Strike is gotten for the slow which is especially useful if with an ally. Blink is maxed later in the game when the mobility can be better-used.
Item Build:
Linken’s Sphere
Eye of Skadi
Linken’s Sphere solves your mana and survivability issues and starts off with Perseverance, an item that works extremely well for this hero by giving her lane stayability and allowing her to throw off Screams easily. Eye of Skadi goes further in boosting your HP and augments your attack with a lovely slow.
An alternate build is going straight to Necronomicon.
Bone Clinkz, the Bone Fletcher
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Nerf the bon clanks. Clinkz uses his powerful Searing Arrows ability to last hit and harass throughout much of the game along with Windwalk and Death Pact to keep him in his lane as long as possible while he proceeds to farm to (gasp!) Aegis + Rapier. After this gauntlet is passed, Clinkz carries his team to victory with his high damage augmented by Strafe.
Skill Build:
1. Searing Arrows
2. Windwalk
3. Searing Arrows
4. Stats
5. Searing Arrows
6. Death Pact
7. Searing Arrows
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11-13. Windwalk
Finish maxing Death Pact when you think you can handle the mana cost increase. Get Strafe relatively late in the game, around levels 16-19.
Item Build:
Monkey King Bar
Heart of Tarresque/Black King Bar
Aegis/Rapier no longer exists, so long live MKBBKB! MKB is a powerful, easily-farmed damage item. Either Heart or BKB will serve to increase your survivability; BKB if against a lot of disables, HoT if not.
Darkterror, the Faceless Void
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Faceless Void uses the power of Chronosphere to destroy the enemy team. And that’s it. For about 9/10 of the game your job as this hero will be using Timewalk to position yourself, then casting Chronosphere perfectly so that the enemy team is caught, but your allies can still unleash their wrath upon them. Practice!
Late, late in the game, with the proper items, this hero does have the potential to stomp everything into the ground in spite of being melee. The problem is that in a realistic game he will never be able to farm those items.
Skill Build:
1. Timewalk
2. Backtrack
3. Timewalk
4. Backtrack
5. Timewalk
6. Chronosphere
7.Timewalk
8. Backtrack
9. Backtrack
10. Bash
11. Chronosphere
12-14. Bash
Backtrack increases your survivability early, it’s cool when you dodge Frost Bite or something like that. Bash is gotten during the mid game when you’re actually hitting enemy heroes (sort of).
Item Build:
Manta Style
I’m a personal fan of Diffusal Blade on this hero, as it’s relatively easily-farmed and gives great benefits the moment you get it, namely Purge. Purge helps in ganking and, well, Purging things and is a great support/combat ability. Completing Manta will give you Images to use on trapped enemies once you get them into your Chronosphere, huzzah!
Another notable build is going for Sange and Yasha as it is easily farmed, fills out your HP and is just a nifty item in general.
Viper, the Netherdrake
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Viper uses his Poison Attack and high base damage to establish UTTER LANE DOMINANCE, probably only rivaled by the Enchantress (who I hate even more). The moment you reach level 6 and obtain Viper Strike the hero in your lane is almost guaranteed to be dead in the next 10 seconds. Later in the game the Netherdrake dominates his enemies by farming up powerful items, taking advantage of his early/mid game strength that he gets without virtually any investment whatsoever.
Skill Build:
1. Poison Attack
2. Stats
3. Poison Attack
4. Stats
5. Poison Attack
6. Viper Strike
7. Poison Attack
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Viper Strike
12-15. Corrosive Skin
Get Frenzy during the late game, it’s not a great skill but once you’re farmed up a huge amount of stuff it might be useful to you. Just be careful with it.
Item Build:
Boots of Travel
Radiance
Heart of Tarresque
BoT is necessary for farming and ganking with Poison + Strike. Radiance + Heart is your typical hawtsauce item combination for a hero like this.
Razor, the Lightning Revenant
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Lightning Revenant attempts to farm up powerful items so that he can kill everything later in the game. Sadly, he lacks base damage or any semblance of lane control, and really can’t crank out damage any faster than your typical carry hero. A typical, boring DPS hero, who I think earns the honor of having the shortest concept/strategy section.
Skill Build:
1. Chain Lightning
2. Stats
3. Chain Lightning
4. Stats
5. Chain Lightning
6. Stats
7. Chain Lightning
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Storm Seeker
11. Storm Seeker
Take Unholy Aura and Frenzy during the mid/late game. CL is important early for some semblance of lane control; Stats are taken over Unholy Aura because movespeed and minor regen just aren’t that useful.
Item Build:
Radiance
Boots of Travel
Heart of Tarresque
Yeah, same build as with Viper. Try to farm to Radiance as fast as possible, and then use it in conjunction with Storm Seeker to rip through lanes and farm as quickly as you can.
N’aix, the Lifestealer
Hero Concept and Strategy:
N’aix uses his combination of passive abilities and Avatar to slaughter his enemies during the late game. The problem is, of course, getting to the late game, which is incredibly difficult for a melee hero with a base STR of 15 (Rooftrellen’s base Strength is 27). If you can fix N’aix’s HP problem then you’re good to go from there, but you have to be able to obtain the item or items necessary in order to rectify this issue. N’aix is arguably the worst hero in the game presently, as his early game is just absolutely unbearable.
Skill Build:
1. Feast
2. Anabolic Frenzy
3. Feast
4. Anabolic Frenzy
5. Feast
6. Rage
7. Feast
8. Anabolic Frenzy
9. Anabolic Frenzy
10. Poison Sting
11. Rage
12-14. Poison Sting
Hopefully this is entirely self-explanatory.
Item Build:
Gauntlets of Ogre Strength x4-5
Heart of Tarresque
Damage (Radiance/MKB/Buriza)
Basically, playing N’aix comes down to farming a Reaver. That’s about it. If you can reach 3,200 gold in a reasonable amount of time you might have the chance of slaughtering the game. After Heart you can add some raw damage in hopes of leeching more life and, ah, dealing more damage.
Pugna, the Oblivion
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Pugna uses his powerful early game abilities Nether Blast and Nether Ward to dominate throughout the early/mid game. Blast is one of the most powerful direct damage skills in the game, and Ward functions as a lane control and anti-caster ability, holding claim to being one of the most powerful skills in the entire game outright. In spite of his early game power, Pugna suffers from a lack of strength as the game reaches its later stages, although he attempts to make up for this with Blast’s ability to hit towers. Especially since towers no longer regenerate, Nether Blast can be used to whittle down and destroy the enemy’s base tower with ease.
Skill Build:
1. Nether Blast
2. Nether Ward
3. Nether Blast
4. Nether Ward
5. Nether Blast
6. Life Drain/Nether Ward
7. Nether Blast
8. Nether Ward
9. Life Drain/Nether Ward
10. Decrepify
11. Life Drain
If in a solo lane, Ward can be replaced with Stats. Level up Decrepify wisely, as generally 2 points is enough for what it does. It can often do more harm than good to have an enemy hero in Ethereal form for too long, and Stats may be a better skill investment.
Item Build:
Boots of Travel
Mekansm
Linken’s Sphere
Other than Boots of Travel and Bracers what Pugna gets is really up to preference above all else. Going Mekansm + Linken’s will make you harder to kill and give you the capacity to support your team and destroy your foes with your abilities. Just about every item works well, Pugna, so experiment.
Leviathan, the Tidehunter
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Tidehunter uses his tanking power and utility spells to defeat his enemies. Aside from being really hard to kill with Kraken Shell and his high STR gain, the Tidehunter comes equipped with a nifty ganking spell in the form of Gush, and a devastating AoE ability with Ravage. Ravage is Leviathan’s most powerful ability, cutting a huge swathe all around the Tidehunter and causes utter chaos in a huge area. Provided you can get close enough to the enemy team to hit them with Ravage your job as the Tidehunter is done. Finally, Anchor Smash is a nifty ability in itself, letting you deal a buttload of damage simply by hitting things.
Skill Build:
1. Gush
2. Kraken Shell
3. Gush
4. Anchor Smash
5. Gush
6. Ravage
7. Gush
8. Anchor Smash
9. Anchor Smash
10. Anchor Smash
11. Ravage
Get one point in Kraken Shell early to remove negative buffs like Shadow Strike and Doom. I know some of you are going to say that STATS > ANCHOR SMASH EARLY and you’re probably right, but I’m a newb and am not going to change it. Take Stats over Anchor Smash if you’re of that mind and get the latter skill during the mid game.
Item Build:
Null Talismans
Boots of Travel
Heart of Tarresque
I highly recommend a couple Null Talismans on this hero, as his mana pool sucks, he has spells to use, and his STR gain is obscenely high already. Boots of Travel help with ganking and getting in the fray to use Ravage; Blink Dagger is an option as well, but isn’t necessary to position a spell with such gigantic AoE. HoT helps you survive (surprise) and a nifty thing to have since you’re probably going to get focused and killed everytime you run in to use Ravage.
Atropos, the Bane Elemental
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Bane Elemental uses the raw power of Brain Sap and Fiend’s Grip to devastate his foes, as well as wielding a nifty disable in the form of Nightmare. Brain Sap is an incredibly powerful early-game skill, not being affected by magic resistance and giving the Bane Elemental a great deal of HP back everytime he casts it. It costs a lot of mana, but it’s incredibly powerful. Fiend’s Grip, provided it’s cast wisely and you don’t get disabled, pretty much means the affected hero is dead. It does a huge amount of damage and also serves as a very long disable, allowing your allies (or summons, as the case may be) to beat down your target.
Skill Build:
1. Brain Sap
2. Nightmare
3. Brain Sap
4. Stats
5. Brain Sap
6. Fiend’s Grip
7. Brain Sap
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Fiend’s Grip
Finish up maxing Nightmare whenever you please, put points into Enfeeble (I actually had to look the name of that skill up) during the late, late game.
Item Build:
Necronomicon
Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse
Necrobook is a horribly powerful item on the Bane Elemental, giving him needed HP and mana and two little summoned dudes. Said dudes are devastating when employed in conjunction with Fiend’s Grip, giving them the opportunity to beat down your target without any chance of him getting away. Guinsoo’s is a natural choice afterward, giving you an ever-helpful disable.
Rotund’Jere, the Necrolyte
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Necrolyte uses the power and versatility of his primary ability - Death Pulse - on top of his high stat gains to lay waste to his enemies. Pulse requires little more than a brain stem to use, and functions as both a powerful AoE nuking spell and a moderately useful heal. To add to this, Rotund’Jere comes equipped with one of the most powerful single-target ultimates in the game, Reaper’s Scythe. The ability to kill any hero in the game that reaches a bit less than half HP is no less than devastating, and makes Reaper’s Scythe a potent anti-tank skill.
Skill Build:
1. Death Pulse
2. Stats
3. Death Pulse
4. Stats
5. Death Pulse
6. Reaper’s Scythe
7. Death Pulse
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Reaper’s Scythe
Get Diffusion Aura during the mid/late game. Sadist just isn’t that useful, although if you’re adamant about taking it then take it in place of Stats early.
Item Build:
Mekansm
Eul’s Scepter of Divinity
Boots of Travel
Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse
Mek + Eul’s is the common boring INT hero item combination, and works very nicely for the Necrolyte. Boots of Travel are beginning to become evermore self-explanatory; they’re useful for farming, ganking, etc. Guinsoo’s is a natural choice after you finish up your Eul’s charges. Items afterward can include Radiance, HoT, Linken’s.
Pudge, the Butcher
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Pudge uses the combination of Hook, Dismember and Rot to quickly lay waste to a single hero. He’s one of the most powerful ganking heroes in the game, capable of killing a single target by himself with very little investment provided that he’s played right. Unfortunately, playing Pudge right is no easy feat. Hook requires a great deal of practice, skill, and lack of delay in order to use effectively, and Rot also requires you to show some semblance of coordination or risk having your enemy get away from you. Pudge can deal over one thousand damage without repercussion at level 7, but a whole lot of things can go wrong before that damage appears.
Skill Build:
1. Rot
2. Hook
3. Hook
4. Rot
5. Hook
6. Dismember
7. Hook
8. Rot
9. Rot
10. Flesh Heap
11. Dismember
12-14. Flesh Heap
Everything should be self-explanatory here.
Item Build:
4x Bracer
Boots of Travel
Heart of Tarresque
Massing Bracers is a cheap, efficient way of boosting your stats (Pudge sucks at farming) and BoT helps in getting around the map for ganking and chasing with Rot. HoT is a natural choice afterward, it being useful for... tanking and stuff.
Note that Pudge should be buying lots of Clarities to support his mana needs if using this build (or Bottle!). A good Pudge uses Observer Wards as well.
Barathrum, the Spirit Breaker
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Spirit Breaker is a very heavily gank-oriented hero. All of his skills are meant to focus on a single target, and because of this he’s adept at simply beating the hell out of a hero and keeping him from moving simply from this. He’s also a powerful chaser, sporting great natural MS due to Empowering Haste and the ever-useful Charge of Darkness. The Spirit Breaker suffers from almost total uselessness in large group battles, lacking anyway of really getting into the fray and dealing a lot of damage. All of his power is vested into killing lone enemies.
Skill Build:
1. Greater Bash
2. Empowering Haste
3. Empowering Haste
4. Charge of Darkness
5. Empowering Haste
6. Nether Strike
7. Empowering Haste
8. Charge of Darkness
9. Charge of Darkness
10. Charge of Darkness
11. Nether Strike
12-14. Greater Bash
Only one point of Charge and Bash are taken early as their power is really only seen during the mid game when you start ganking around the map. Haste gives you a huge damage boost without any investment, and it is maxed as quickly as possible.
Item Build:
Boots of Travel
Sange and Yasha
Black King Bar
Boots of Travel are infinitely important for the Spirit Breaker, giving him far better ganking potential through Teleport, more movespeed and even a minor damage boost because of Charge. All of Sange and Yasha’s benefits prove beneficial for the Spirit Breaker, making it a useful core item. Finally, BKB is bought in order to combat disables in hopes of allowing the SB to lock down on a target without getting shut down in a large battle.
Anub’seran, the Nerubian Weaver
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Not to sound cynical or anything but the Nerubian Weaver is the little DPS hero who can’t. Lacking in range, decent stats, or any great method of cranking out damage fast, the Weaver is arguably the most pathetic hero in the game. Ignoring these… minor flaws, the Weaver hopes to use his mobility and the strength of Geminate Attack to defeat his foes. His invisibility skill is frustrating to his foes and potentially devastating, having a nigh-nonexistent cooldown and allowing the Weaver to zip around the screen with relative ease. Geminate allows him to last hit and deal double damage once every 3.5 seconds. Yeah…
Skill Build:
1. Shukuchi
2. Geminate Attack
3. Geminate Attack
4. Shukuchi
5. Geminate Attack
6. Time Lapse
7. Geminate Attack
8. Shukuchi
9. Shukuchi
10. Stats
11. Time Lapse
I know some of you will say that you don’t need to max Geminate or Shukuchi, but not having these skills at their fullest capacity makes the Weaver suck even harder. Shukuchi is maxed so that the Weaver can use it to harass and last hit, and Geminate is maxed for the same reason. They’re both more useful to have than Stats.
Item Build:
Radiance
Heart of Tarresque
Make a valiant attempt to farm to Radiance, and if you can make it then your hero might not suck quite so hard. HoT is bought to deal with the Weaver’s horrifyingly poor HP pool.
Nevermore, the Shadow Fiend
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Nevermore uses his potential to deal a great deal of physical damage throughout the game and the recent addition of his capacity to slaughter heroes early with a series of powerful nukes to defeat his foes. The combination of Necromastery (provided you can accumulate enough souls; learn to last hit!) and Presence of the Dark Lord allow you to crank out a huge amount of physical damage during a very early point in the game, and before you start using that you have Shadowraze to destroy everything that moves… provided you’re able to aim it. Although Nevermore’s late game is somewhat poor, suffering from somewhat static skills in terms of strength as the game progresses and weak stats, he can rectify this issue by dominating earlier.
Skill Build:
1. Necromastery
2. Shadowraze
3. Shadowraze
4. Necromastery
5. Shadowraze
6. Necromastery
7. Shadow Raze
8. Necromastery
9. Stats
10. Requiem of Souls
11. Requiem of Souls
I think everything here is self-explanatory. With the recent buffs to Shadowraze it is now an incredibly powerful skill if used correctly. Simply mash Z, X, and C with an enemy hero in front of you and you’re likely to deal a huge chunk of damage at the cost of very little mana. Take your Aura during the mid/late game.
Item Build:
Perseverance
Lothar's/Blink Dagger
Linken’s Sphere
Assault Cuirass
The large amount of regeneration that Perse provides is important to the Shadow Fiend, as it allows him to more easily use Shadowraze and take punishment, as well as being made into Linken's later. Lothar's or Blink are necessary for positioning for Requiem as well as escaping so that you can retain your Souls- Lothar's is not necessarily 100% better than Blink, Blink is useful as well. Cuirass, again, provided it's not nerfed into the ground will serve to be a powerful damage augmentation for the Shadow Fiend.
Crixalis, the Sand King
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Sand King is gifted with powerful spells alongside a primary attribute of Strength, much like the Earthshaker. This means that he has some (although not much) capacity to tank his foes’ attacks as well as dish out a lot more damage than is expected from a Strength hero. Burrowstrike is an extremely powerful skill, dealing notable damage, aiding the Sand King and his allies with a stun and finally serving as a Blink-like skill. It takes some practice to aim but it’s still an easy spell to use. Epicenter is an exceptionally devastating ability, able to wipe out entire groups of heroes if used correctly.
Skill Build:
1. Burrowstrike
2. Stats
3. Burrowstrike
4. Stats
5. Burrowstrike
6. Epicenter
7. Burrowstrike
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Epicenter
12-15. Caustic Finale
A point of Sandstorm can be taken early for a moderately useful escape spell.
Item Build:
Blink Dagger
Heart of Tarresque
Blink is the core item for the Sand King, allowing him to channel Epicenter out of the sight of his enemies then suddenly Blink into a mob and destroy everything in the spell’s radius. It does all of the other things that Blink allows you to do as well. Heart is a natural choice afterward, making you harder to kill and all of that lovely stuff.
Mogul Kahn, the Axe
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Axe is yet another one of those Strength heroes with an AoE disable. He uses the combination of Berserker’s Call and Counter Helix to crank out huge amounts of damage in seconds, then Culling Blade to finish off a low HP hero. Axe’s primary tool throughout the game is Call, giving him a nifty and versatile AoE disable. It’s possible to Call a hero and pull him in toward a tower, away from a dying ally or simply to hold an enemy hero in place during a gank. Aside from that, Call is necessary to get enemy heroes to hit you so you can score Counter Helixes.
Skill Build:
1. Berserker’s Call
2. Counter Helix
3. Berserker’s Call
4. Counter Helix
5. Berserker’s Call
6. Culling Blade
7. Berserker’s Call
8. Counter Helix
9. Counter Helix
10. Stats
11. Culling Blade
Take Battle Hunger at levels 21-25.
Item Build:
Boots of Travel
Heart of Tarresque
Boots of Travel is necessary to get close enough to use Call as well as teleporting around the map using Helix to rip through creeps. An optional item is Blink for positioning with Call, although it’s not required. A tank item like HoT is next on the menu, as being hard to kill is the most important asset for Axe to have, allowing him to sit in the fray and get as many Helixes off as possible or just to serve as a distraction so that his allies can crank out the damage.
Strygwyr, the Bloodseeker
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Bloodseeker uses his high movespeed, physical damage and Rupture to gank, gank, and gank some more. Rupture serves as this hero’s primary mode of doing virtually anything throughout much of the early game and mid game, then later he becomes able to crank out physical damage with Blood Rage. His ganking potential is augmented by Strygwyr’s Thirst, allowing him to zoom toward his prey before it even knows what’s about to happen. Finally, Blood Bath gives the Bloodseeker some semblance of lane stayability in spite of his melee range and replenishes a huge amount of HP when a hero is killed.
Skill Build:
1. Blood Bath
2. Blood Rage
3. Blood Bath
4. Strygwyr’s Thirst
5. Blood Bath
6. Rupture
7. Blood Bath
8. Strygwyr’s Thirst
9. Strygwyr’s Thirst
10. Strygwyr’s Thirst
11. Rupture
12.-14. Blood Rage
One point in Blood Rage is taken early for the Silence; it may prove useful in surviving a near-death experience against an ugly caster hero.
Item Build:
Hands of Midas
Bracers
Boots of Travel
Radiance
Get Hands of Midas only if you can farm it relatively quickly early, before about 16 minutes. Boots of Travel is a necessary staple for the Bloodseeker, allowing him to get across the map with Teleport in order to run down and kill a low HP hero. The movespeed boost on top of Thirst means that nothing can ever get away from you and it’s a powerful item in general. Radiance is your typical damage item, and also synergizes with Thirst by occasionally killing creeps and giving you life back as a result. Items afterward can range from survival items like Heart or more damage from items like the Butterfly or MKB.
Abaddon, the Lord of Avernus
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Abaddon is a powerful utility hero, using the infinitely useful Aphotic Shield to deal AoE damage, protect himself and allies from harm and to dispel harmful buffs on allies and useful ones on enemies. Shield is what defines the Lord of Avernus. He also comes equipped with a secondary skill in the form of Death Coil, allowing the LoA to heal his allies and damage his foes at the cost of a small amount of life. His ultimate skill Borrowed Time is somewhat lackluster at best, but if anything it keeps the Lord of Avernus from dying if he ends up doing something stupid. It won’t save you from a 5 man rage-gank, however.
Skill Build:
1. Aphotic Shield
2. Death Coil
3. Aphotic Shield
4. Death Coil
5. Aphotic Shield
6. Borrowed Time
7. Aphotic Shield
8. Death Coil
9. Death Coil
10. Frostmourne
11. Borrowed Time
12-14. Frostmourne
An early point in Frostmourne is an option, as the movespeed bonus it grants is the same at level 1 as it is at 4.
Item Build:
Boots of Travel
Bracers
Radiance
Boots of Travel is important to the Lord of Avernus in teleporting around and supporting in ganks with Shield and Coil. Pumping out Bracers is a cheap, efficient way of boosting your stats while you run around using Shield on things. Radiance is a good way of upping your damage so that you can do more than spam Shield later in the game; alternatively you can buy tank items like Heart.
Mercurial, the Spectre
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Mercurial uses the power of Haunt and Spectral Dagger to gank enemies, and her passive skill Dispersion to be a useful combat hero later on. Haunt is a great way of ganking heroes no matter where they are, allowing you to instantly teleport across the map to a low HP hero and killing said hero with Dagger. Dispersion - even after being nerfed hard - is a powerful ability, giving the Spectre useful Evasion (which works on spells) and the ability to kill heroes simply by having the crap get beaten out of her.
Skill Build:
1. Spectral Dagger
2. Stats
3. Spectral Dagger
4. Stats
5. Spectral Dagger
6. Haunt
7. Spectral Dagger
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Haunt
12-15. Dispersion
Desolate sucks. I recommend not putting points into it.
Item Build:
Radiance
Heart of Tarresque
This is a build used in making Mercurial into a late-game powerhouse; using your ganking abilities with Haunt and Dagger coupled with spats of farming to obtain Radiance, then filling out your hero’s HP pool with Heart. Radiance means that Haunt will deal huge amounts of damage due to the sparklies that appear with your Images, and Mercurial herself will be a pain to deal with. An alternative build is this:
Manta Style
The Butterfly
Diffusal -> Manta is a useful ganking tool, as Purge is a powerful disabling skill. Manta also serves to increase the power of Haunt and Mercurial herself, although not to the same extent that Radiance does. This build focuses more on making you a better ganker than it does in turning you into a late-game killing machine.
Vol’jin, the Witch Doctor
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Witch Doctor is a difficult hero to play and one whose strengths do not surpass those of comparable heroes; this is what makes him somewhat low-tier. He’s still a potentially powerful and fun hero to play however, sporting an incredibly powerful skill in the form of Maledict (provided that you land it) and a devastating ultimate in the form of Death Ward. The Witch Doctor takes a great deal of coordination to use correctly, sporting three skills that require some timing and intuition to use well as well as somewhat pitiful stats.
Skill Build:
1. Maledict
2. Paralyzing Casks
3. Maledict
4. Paralyzing Casks
5. Maledict
5. Death Ward
7. Maledict
8. Paralyzing Casks
9. Paralyzing Casks
10. Stats
11. Death Ward
Take Voodoo Restoration late in the game when you have the mana to support it.
Item Build:
Black King Bar
Aghamin’s Scepter
Beasting out your ultimate is the best way to go with the Witch Doctor, as his other abilites function just fine without items to support them. BKB allows you to channel Death Ward so that you don’t get stunned and your ultimate gets wasted, and Aghamin’s boosts the power of the skill to an obscene degree. Both of these items also serve to make you harder to kill, and Agh’s gives you the mana pool to keep Restoration on constantly.
Harbinger, the Obsidian Destroyer
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Harbinger is an interesting hero, sporting what virtually is a free Cyclone, a powerful arrow effect, a useful aura that helps yourself and your spellcasting allies fire off spells without worry, and an ultimate that has the potential to tear apart an enemy team’s HP and mana pool. He suffers, however, from poor stat gains and a demanding primary damage-dealing skill - Arcane Orb costs a HUGE amount of mana and can’t be used effectively till later in the game.
Skill Build:
1. Arcane Orb
2. Astral Imprisonment
3. Astral Imprisonment
4. Essence Aura
5. Astral Imprisonment
6. Sanity’s Eclipse
7. Astral Imprisonment
8. Essence Aura
9. Essence Aura
10. Essence Aura
11. Sanity’s Eclipse
12-14. Arcane Orb
One point in Orb is taken early so you can have an (expensive) Arrow Effect for harassment and last hitting, Imprisonment is maxed because it rules. Spam it on the hero in your lane to kill his Intelligence and furthermore his damage and mana pool if he’s an INT hero, or spam it on a low INT hero and slaughter him with Eclipse. Orb is maxed later in the game when you have some capacity to use it.
Item Build:
Mekansm
Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse
Aghamin’s Scepters
Mekansm helps with your horrid survivability issues and is a useful item in general; Guinsoo’s helps flesh out the Harbinger’s versatility with a disable other than Imprisonment and boosts his mana pool and damage a great deal. After purchasing these items, feel free to grab BoT for teleporting and such then START MASSING THE HELL OUT OF SCEPTERS, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.
Demnok Lannik, the Warlock
Hero Concept and Strategy:
The Warlock comes equipped with an extremely powerful lane control ability in the form of Shadow Word and a gamebreaking ultimate in the form of Rain of Chaos. Word is just an awesome ability, dealing a huge amount of damage to the enemy in your lane or letting you heal yourself if you take damage. Rain of Chaos can win games by itself, simply throw down two Infernals on an enemy base and watch everything die. Bonds and Upheaval are both powerful skills as well, but serve as secondary abilities behind Word and Rain of Chaos.
Skill Build:
1. Shadow Word
2. Stats
3. Shadow Word
4. Stats
5. Shadow Word
6. Rain of Chaos
7. Shadow Word
8. Stats
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Rain of Chaos
12-15. Fatal Bonds
Get Upheaval during the late game; it’s useful at the end of a large battle to keep straggling enemies from running away from you and your allies.
Item Build:
Refresher Orb
The Warlock’s job is simple: get Refresher as fast as possible and mow down an enemy base with dual Infernals. Afterward, feel free to get items like Guinsoo’s, Radiance, Necrobook, or really whatever you want.
Meepo, the Geomancer
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Meepo comes equipped with… 4 Meepos! Probably the ultimate public game hero, Meepo suffers from having to keep alive 4 fragile heroes that can be taken out with one level 3 Ultimate, and if one Meepo dies then the hero itself dies. Provided you can clear this hurdle you’ll find that Meepo is a powerful hero, sporting the ability to deal huge amounts of instant damage with Poof, a permadisable in the form of Earthbind, and just a general capacity to crank out damage by being 4 heroes rather than 1.
Skill Build:
1. Earthbind
2. Geostrike
3. Poof
4. Poof
5. Poof
6. Divided We Stand
7. Poof
8. Earthbind
9. Stats
10. Stats
11. Divided We Stand
12-14. Geostrike
Finish up Earthbind whenever you want it to last longer. We max out Poof early as it allows us to deal a great deal of instant damage. A point is taken in Geostrike to help with last hitting and maxed later for the slow.
Item Build:
Mekansm
Lothar’s Edge
Stygian Desolator
Mekansm helps you and your clones survive, as the Heal is the only way of adding HP onto your clones other than horribly inefficient + Stats. Lothar’s is used for being sneeeeaky, letting you Windwalk, go up alongside a hero, casting Earthbind then Poofing in an army of Meepos that first deal nuke damage from teleing in, then dealing more damage from beating the hell out of their target. The Stygian Desolator is the only item that can add significant damage to your clones through the armor reduction, and as such it is bought after Lothar’s. Afterward, liek, mass HoTs and shiz.
Dazzle, the Shadow Priest
Hero Concept and Strategy:
Dazzle is a powerful support hero, equipped with a nasty slow, a spammable heal and a nifty little ultimate that helps minimize the losses you and your allies take after a death. Poison Touch is a great ganking skill, slowing and even periodically immobilizing your target although the three second wait time before the poison "sets in" is somewhat annoying. Shadow Wave is a great skill to spam, allowing you to heal yourself and allies, nab creep kills and deal some minor damage to enemy heroes.
Skill Build:
1. Poison Touch
2. Shadow Wave
3. Poison Touch
4. Shadow Wave
5. Poison Touch
6. Shallow Grave
7. Shadow Wave
8. Shadow Wave
9. Poison Touch
10. Stats
11. Shallow Grave
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. Touch and Wave are your primary abilities, so max them quickly. Get Weave later in the game as a support damage amplification spell.
Item Build:
Mekansm
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
Boots of Travel
Horribly generic build, but it works pretty well. Mek is a powerful item in general, fixes armor issues, and gives you another heal to spam. Guinsoo's is relatively standard, solving mana management issues and giving you a disable and damage.
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