Blacksmith

[Padawanabee]

http://www.hondb.com/?item=power-supplyhttp://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/%3Ca%20href=http://img6.imageshack.us/i/steambootsitem.gif/%20target=_blank%3Ehttp://img6.imageshack.us/img6/324/steambootsitem.gifBlacksmith

Stats
Strength: 23 + 3.2
Agility: 14 + 1.55
Intelligence: 19 + 2.1
Range: Melee

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/4121/blacksmith1.jpg (http://img64.imageshack.us/i/blacksmith1.jpg/)

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/686/blacksmith2.jpg (http://img687.imageshack.us/i/blacksmith2.jpg/)

*Base armor -1 base damage -4. Yeah, I'm lazy.



Table of Contents:


Introduction
Pros/Cons
Skills
Skill Build
Starting Items
Core
Luxury Items
Strategy





Introduction

Blacksmith is a rather unique hero in Heroes of Newerth. A melee hero with above average starting armor, strength, strength gain, and base damage, the blacksmith is actually a intelligence-based nuke supporter who keeps his team strong (or at least fast) and the other team weak. His stats and skills started direct ports of the Ogre Magi from DotA, but S2 later balanced him around a bit. As with most heroes of HoN he received a significant aesthetic upgrade with the port.

How we will play blacksmith in this guide is as an early game ganker with late game team support. His excellent starting strength and strength gain, coupled with a spell that allows for a significant speed boost, allows us to focus on intelligence and support related items without having to worry about our survivablity.



Pros and cons


Pros



Ridiculous strength gain, one of the best in the game.
Basic stats and armor cover all survivability needs.
Excellent ganker with 2 nukes, one a slow and the other a stun.
Powerful support ability, adding a significant speed boost to allies.
Scales better mid-late than most intelligence heroes.
Easy to learn and play.

Cons

Only intelligence based hero with a melee attack.
Lackluster farming ability, which doesn't matter because you should be ganking.
Poor intelligence gain coupled with expensive and spammable spells.
Poor lane control due to melee range and low mana pool
The arguably most powerful aspect of PASSIVE ult is UNRELIABLE




Skills


[IMG]http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9636/64pxblacksmithskill1.gif (http://img193.imageshack.us/i/64pxblacksmithskill1.gif/)
Fireball
Hurls a scorching fireball at target opponent, both damaging and stunning them.

Enemy target
Magic damage
Range: 600
Mana cost: 75/85/95/105
Mana cost with level 1 Chaotic Flames: 105/115/125/135
Mana cost with level 2 Chaotic Flames: 155/165/175/185
Mana cost with level 3 Chaotic Flames: 185/195/205/215
Cooldown: 15/12/9/6 ::Important:: cooldown does not go down with the level of Fireball but with the level of Chaotic Flames. ::Important::
Deals 75/125/175/275 damage and stuns for 1.5 seconds.

This is the skill you will rely on more than any other throughout the game. It is your primary source of magic damage, as well as a powerful single target stun. Max it early, as until level 4 it deals sub-par damage. Also, just like in DotA if you get extra casts of Fireball from Chaotic Flames the stun lasts longer.

Early game it serves us well. Until you put levels in Chaotic Flames it retains its low mana cost, which is a necessity considering our mana pool. It is a single target stun, so use it to disable opponents as well as damage them. It allows you to set up a teammates spells as well. Tormentor or Pyromancer can easily hit someone who isn't moving for 1.5 seconds, although a Valkyrie might have more trouble. Or you could be ganking with someone like Pestilence, and stun the enemy at 600 range, allowing Pestilence the chance to run in and use his stun.

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/24/64pxblacksmithskill2.gif (http://img44.imageshack.us/i/64pxblacksmithskill2.gif/)
Flaming Hammer
The Blacksmith throws a flaming hammer at a target enemy, which explodes on impact. The explosion causes the target to burn, taking damage over time and slowing their movement speed.






Enemy target
Magic damage
Range: 700
Radius: target/150/300/450 ::Important:: radius does not go up with the level of Flaming Hammer but with the level of Chaotic Flames ::Important::
Mana cost: 95/110/125/140
Cooldown: 15 seconds
Deals 10/20/30/40 damage a second and slows for 15/20/25/30% for 7.5 seconds. Reduces magic armor by 1/2/3/4 decreasing to 0 over the duration..



If you're too lazy to do the math, it deals 75/150/225/300 magic damage over it's duration. Another nuke, it works differently than fireball. It deals it's damage slower, but for chasing the 7.5 seconds of slow will actually allow more hits than 1.5 seconds of stun. Also, when we level Chaotic Flames, instead of dealing more damage to the target sometimes, it will always deal it's damage, but in a larger radius, allowing for AoE slow and some farming potential.




http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1245/64pxblacksmithskill3.gif (http://img20.imageshack.us/i/64pxblacksmithskill3.gif/)
Frenzy
The Blacksmith uses his control over fire to motivate his ally the best way he knows how: with heat! Starts a non-harmful blaze on a friendly unit that increases attack speed and movement speed.



Target ally
magic effect
Range: 600
Mana cost: 75
Cooldown: 20/15/10/5::Important:: cooldown does not go down with the level of Frenzy but with the level of Chaotic Flames. ::Important::
Applies frenzy to target for 30 seconds, ally gains 6/9/12/15% movement speed and 20/30/40/50 attack speed. Also increases cast speed by 7/14/21/28.



This spell will keep you supporting your team well into mid-late game. For some reference, activating Enhanced Marchers adds 10% move speed for 6 seconds, whereas level 4 frenzy adds 15% move speed in addition to practically giving them a Warpcleft for 30 seconds.

Level 2-3 Chaotic flames allows you to keep this on your whole team. Put it on your carries and they will love it. Keep it on yourself and you run faster than all but the fastest heroes (Blood Hunter with 44% movespeed, for example).


http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/6553/64pxblacksmithskill4.gif (http://img40.imageshack.us/i/64pxblacksmithskill4.gif/)
Chaotic Flames
The Blacksmith is experienced at gambling with fire. increasing the power of his other spells. When casting his other spells, he has a chance to achieve a more powerful result.

Improves other abilities:
Fireball
Level 1: 25% chance to cast 2x.
Level 2: 20% chance to cast 2x. 20% chance to cast 3x.
Level 3: 25% chance to cast 2x. 12.5% chance to cast 3x. 12.5% chance to cast 4x.
Decreases cooldown by 3/6/9 seconds.
Flaming Hammer
Increases radius by 150/300/450.
Frenzy
When cast, has a 25/20/25% chance to impact at least twice, 0/20/12.5% chance to impact at least three times, 0/0/12.5% chance to impact four times. Decreases cooldown by 5/10/15 seconds.


This is really the skill that will make you love or hate this hero. It adds a chance to cast Fireball multiple times, adds an AoE to Flaming Hammer, gives a chance to apply Frenzy on multiple allies, and lowers cooldowns. This ability earns Blacksmith a lot of hate, as people who play him complain of never multicasting (multiple applications of the stun) and people who play against him complain of always getting multicasted. The key to playing this hero is to never rely on multicasted stuns, pretend you don't have the possibility at all and you won't get yourself killed relying on that 25% chance.




Skill Build

1. Flaming Hammer
2. Fireball
3. Flaming Hammer
4. Fireball
5. Flaming Hammer
6. Chaotic Flames
7. Flaming Hammer(max)
8. Fireball
9. Fireball (max)
10. Frenzy
11. Chaotic Flames
12. Frenzy
13. Frenzy
14. Frenzy (max)
15. Stats
16. Chaotic Flames (max)
17-25. Stats


Explanation


Fireball and Flaming Hammer are our nukes and our disables. It is suggested that you max them, flaming hammer first, as quickly as possible. Frenzy is taken afterward, and Chaotic Flames whenever possible.

Flaming hammer is superior to Fireball for a number of reasons. First, it does decen damage at levels 1-3, more than Fireball. Second, the 7.5 seconds of slow will give you more opportunities to chase and auto-attack that 1.5 of stun. The - magic armor goes up with levels, and it's range is longer.

You can delay Chaotic Flames if you need to. Each level increases the mana cost of Fireball by 30/50/30, and sometimes that 30 extra mana and extra level of fireball is more important than a 25% chance to multicast. Generally it won't be, though.





Items

Blacksmith is relatively item-independent. Once he fixes his mana issues he's set. His hp and armor don't need the intervention of items to be good. We don't need to waste money on our health pool, we can move directly to what we need.

And what we need is mana, and mana regen. There are many ways to get those. We quickly fix his mana, getting it on par with other int types by purchasing Talismans of Exile, Int Steamboots, and a Bottle. We then move onto a long-term solution. While you could get items such as a Sacrifical Stone, I prefer to get items with benefits outside of mana regen. The top contenders, then, are Hellflower, Kuldra's Sheepstick, Harkon's, Stormspirit, and Tablet of Command.






Initial purchases





2 runes of the blight - 180
2 mana potions - 100
2 minor totems - 103
Monkey courier/wards of sight - 200
Total - 583

Standard support start, with decent regen for both pools, the minor totems that turn into power supply, and your monkey for the strong lane/wards for the weak lane.

Working on our core

There are several cheap items that work well on Blacksmith before working on a big purchase. I will list them in order of importance and convenience (distance, cost, space) on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the highest.

Mana Battery
Importance: 3 Convenience: 5

A very effective item that can be purchased at the outpost. Good source of burst regen, something Blacksmith can definitely make use of. While more effective when laning against Nymphora/Armadon, it is useful against all lanes and in team fights, even mid game. Convenience rated 5, since you should have the two totems used to make this a Power Supply anyway.

Logger's Hatchet
Importance: 2 Convenience: 4

Blacksmith is a melee hero, and while he doesn't need farm or help farming, it's a useful enough item if you have an extra slot. Can be purchased at the outpost.

Iron Buckler
Importance: 2 Convenience: 4

An effective defensive item that can be purchased at the outpost. At no point would you upgrade this to a HotBL, you only use it for a HUGE damage reduction against creeps. Since Blacksmith often follows up stuns/slows with a right-click attack, he can aggro enemy creeps easily.

Bottle
Importance: 5 Convenience: 2

Blacksmith is in dire need of regen, especially burst regen obtained by items such as bottle and power supply. It is highly recommended you pick one of these up to augment your early game and gank phase. Unless your team bought a courier you're gonna need to run back to base for this, however.

Marchers
Importance: 5 Convenience: 2

Obviously, you'll want to pick up Marchers at some point in the first 10 minutes of gameplay. Blacksmith's role as a ganker and chaser makes this a smart purchase on your first trip back to town.

Power Supply
Importance: 3 Convenience: 4

If you decided to pick up a mana battery, you'll want to purchase this upgrade to open up a few inventory slots.

Boots upgrade
Importance: 5 Convenience: 2



Steamboots or Ghost Marchers are your best choices. Steamboots will help with mana, if that's a problem, while Ghost will help your chasing ability and ganker role.


Core






http://i36.tinypic.com/13yfq5x.jpghttp://i33.tinypic.com/2vxhv9f.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/zu9ts.jpg
http://i34.tinypic.com/sff52q.jpghttp://i38.tinypic.com/5n51zp.jpghttp://i36.tinypic.com/w7mvsi.jpg

Alternatively

http://i35.tinypic.com/256s1g2.jpghttp://i33.tinypic.com/2vxhv9f.jpghttp://i36.tinypic.com/2hydr0o.jpg
http://i38.tinypic.com/5n51zp.jpghttp://i34.tinypic.com/sff52q.jpghttp://i36.tinypic.com/w7mvsi.jpg

Explanation:



You are both melee and a high mana cost nuker with high strength and low intelligence. The talisman, bottle and (maybe) steamboots provide the mana supply you will need to be effective early-mid. Then, Blacksmith can focus on gear that adds mana pool/regen, support, and damage.

Hellflower is easily the best item to get on Blacksmith after the core. It solves your intelligence and mana regen problems, while adding significant damage and attack speed. Why would we want those on Blacksmith? Because he has a stun, a slow, and Frenzy. While an agi carry will get more out of frenzy than you, you can become a respectable DPS source in a fight yourself. On top of solving mana issues and adding damage capabilities, it casts a 5 second silence+perplex and 1.2 damage multiplier on an enemy hero. Perfect for your support role, and deadly if followed up by a 3x or 4x Fireball.

If you don't like Hellflower, there are plenty of similar items (+int, +mana regen, clickable for a support spell). Tablet adds some mobility, and Stormspirit->Harkon's is a good build. Puzzlebox counters invis heroes quite well, while the summons speed up your little dwarf legs, and provide excellent burst, more than dagon, at level 3.


So what next?

Luxuries




http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Totem-Of-Kuldra.png Kuldra's Sheepstick (http://heroes-newerth.com/items/totem-of-kuldra) [Supportive] (5675g)

An obvious choice and a good one. Adds support in the form of an anti-carry active.


Powerful and well-known disable






http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/7499/item12behemothsheart.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/i/item12behemothsheart.jpg/) Behemoth's Heart [Protective] (5500)

With the recent changes to Behemoth's Heart, it's now viable as a luxury item on Blacksmith.


Combined with innate str gain and Frenzy's movespeed, Blacksmith can be extremely difficult to kill
Reduces cooldown's further, Fireball goes all the way from initial 15s to 5s, with Heart and 3 levels of ult



http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Frostfield-Plate.png Frostfield-Plate (http://heroes-newerth.com/item/Frostfield-Plate) [Protective] (4700g)

This choice is respectable, though probably not as powerful in the hands of blacksmith as Hellflower or Totem of Kuldra. A support int item like the rest, this one also allows us to farm to a certain extent when combined with Flaming Hammer.


Aura and activatable amplifies support role
Amazing armor supplied. Combined with Blacksmith's hp he can be quite tanky.

[Padawanabee]

Strategy



When should I pick Blacksmith, and why?


You should pick Blacksmith if your team needs a ganker early, or support late. He does both.

While Blacksmith is not a carry, he has a lot to do with them. He is an allied carries best friend, with frenzy and 2 disables. He also has the ability to keep enemy carries weak with consistent ganking.
When your team needs int support, but the enemy have many heroes that can easily drop a squishier int, like Magmus and Night Hound.
Blacksmith is good for most lineups, as he has his nukes early and, due to his ultimate and skillset in general, scales better than most int support/gankers. His weakest point is in the laning phase.


When shouldn't I pick Blacksmith?



You have a melee-heavy lineup and poor lanes.
Enemies have large amounts of mana burn or silence.


A big part of whether to pick a hero is, of course, lane synergy. Blacksmith does very well with any nuker in a kill lane. Hellbringer and Blacksmith is one of my favorite lanes, and BS+pyro/slither is very, very scary. Even semi-carries like Forsaken Archer and Valkyrie do well with him. But don't pick him to lane with a melee hero, or in a safe/farm lane. He is best in an aggressive nuke lane. Also, you can solo mid with him to an okay degree, but there are many better choices for mid solo.

Laning

Blacksmith's weakest time is in the laning phase. His melee attack range makes free farming much easier, especially if you pick up a Hatchet, but puts him at a disadvantage when laning against an enemy hero. Since most Blacksmith's will build him with Fireball+Flaming Hammer, he has a nuke and a disable. His nuke is weaker than most until level 7, however, and his mana pool is worse than other int types.

Blacksmith should always lane with an ally. He can easily dominate a lane with a fellow nuker/disabler, such as Torturer. But if he gets laned against Magmus+Pyromancer with a tDL at his side, you're probably going to be tower hugging until 7.

Notes:


If you are going to go after the enemy heroes, try to make sure you have an advantage somehow. If you can get 3 creeps attacking him while he's stunned, or you and your teammate will be able to pound on one of your enemies while the other is out of range.

Follow up stuns and slows with auto attack unless it would place you in a position to be killed. Such as if they have the creep advantage and a stun or two, or you'd be chasing too far while mid is mia.
Pushing is not always bad in a lane. If you have pushed bot lane to the enemies tower, your entire lane is fogged. You can use this opportunity to pull, or check rune, or even gank. Enemies are far less likely to call mia in time if they believe you are just waiting outside of the tower's range for the next creep wave.
Blacksmith can easily get shut down if you have a bad laning partner. If all else fails, stay back at the tower and keep up in levels, you'll catch up on cash in the ganking phase, hopefully.


Mana Conservation

At least until you get a Bottle and 2 Great Arcana's, mana will be a constant problem with Blacksmith. Blacksmith's play-style basically amounts to spamming his spells constantly and following up with auto attacks. You keep Frenzy on as many people as you can, and you cast Fireball and Flaming Hammer as soon as they're off cooldown. However, before you buy mana and mana regen this strategy will last for about 4 spells before you're oom (out of mana) and down to auto attacking.

Tips



If Flaming Hammer is level 4, and Fireball is level 2, it may be smarter to only use Flaming Hammer on enemies, since it will be much more mana efficient. During a gank you should probably use Fireball, though.

It is not mana efficiant to keep Frenzy on your entire team until you have high amounts of mana regen. Keep it on an auto-attacking carry and maybe yourself.
Make the most of stuns and slows. You can auto attack a stunned enemy at least once before the stun wears off and you need to Flaming Hammer to slow him down.



Fireball

Fireball is one of the simplest abilities in the game. You cast it on a target, you lose mana, and the target is damaged and stunned. It requires no skill to use or aim, you simply click on bad guys and they explode.

Chaotic Flames makes this one of the sickest abilities in the game. Even at 7, Blacksmith has a 25% chance to turn this simple nuke into 550 damage, more than Pyromancer's ultimate, and stunning for about 2 seconds. At level 3 Chaotic Flames, you can deal 1100 damage and stun for about 3 seconds with a x4 multicast.

With 3 levels in Chaotic Flames, it has a 50% chance for 1x, 25% for 2x, 12.5% chance for 3x, and 12.5% chance for 4x.

It starts with a fairly long cooldown, but eventually gets dropped to 6 seconds. It's mana cost also become incredibly high, but by this point you should have enough mana items that it shouldn't be a problem.

Notes:


Simple to aim and use
With levels in Chaotic Flames, it effectively becomes a Pyromancer ultimate with a stun included every 6 seconds. This is partially offset by it's significantly higher mana cost.




Flaming Hammer

Flaming Hammer starts as a 75/150/225/300 damage over 7.5 seconds, with a 10/15/20/25% slow. Levels in Chaotic Flames make this an AoE ability, giving it more utility. 25% slow is actually quite a lot, it would bring an average ms hero with Steamboots (360) back down to 270.

At early levels, it will be your most useful spell. It deals good damage at good range, while slowing and debuffing enemies. Oftentimes you will want to take care while chasing, however, as you can easily overextend yourself and get counter-killed while chasing fleeing enemies, slowed or not.

Keep in mind that Flaming Hammer has a slightly longer range than Fireball, so it can be used to slow down a fleeing enemy for Blacksmith or an ally to catch up.

Notes:


Not as powerful as a stun in an actual fight, but the slow will allow you more hits against a fleeing enemy than the stun would have.
Has a higher range than Fireball. This, in addition to it's removing magic armor, suggests that you cast this spell and follow it up with Fireball in most situations.

Gains an AoE effect with levels in Chaotic Flames, rather than increased damage against a single enemy.



Frenzy

Frenzy is a carries' best friend. The speed bonuses are significant, provided you can keep casting it. Since Blacksmith has such major mana problems early, points in Frenzy are practically wasted early game. However, once you get some mana items it becomes an essential spell to keep on all allies within range.

The movespeed boost is helpful at all stages of the game especially during ganks. The attack speed boost becomes more important later, when auto-attacks gain power and spells become relatively less powerful.

Notes:


Levels in Frenzy should be taken as mana items are obtained. It is a powerful skill, if you can maintain it without running out of mana for stuns
Place on carries first, yourself second, and other allies third




Laning and Early Phase.


Your buddies are fellow stunners/disablers. Always lane with a teammate, and try to lane with a teammate with good magic damage, such as Pyromancer, Hellbringer, or Tormented. Keep as much coordination between your ally and yourself going as possible, as Blacksmith can burst pretty damn hard early to mid game.

Keep good map awareness, as all the strength in the world won't help against an Swiftblade+Electrician gank if you aren't near your tower. If you do decide to go bottle, think about buying wards to watch the runes and for ganks. Blacksmith isn't classified as pure support, but he ranks pretty high on the scale of item independency, making you a prime purchaser of wards and courier upgrades.


Ganking phase.;)


This is where you will shine, so enjoy it while you can. Hopefully by now (probably 10-15 minutes in) you will have Marchers (maybe upgraded), bottle, and a level in Chaotic Flames. Look for any hero who's pushed too far, look for enemy heroes your allies are having troubles with, and gank your enemies jungle. Rune whore if you got bottle, and keep up the coordination with your teammates. If you keep the enemy low during this phase you've already won.

Once you reach level 11 you can hit for (275x3 multicast +300 AoE with slow and stun) and supply at least level 1 frenzy to your allies.


Your skill-set peaks in between mid and late, so do whatever you can to give your allies the edge.


Mid-Late game


Hopefully you ganked well and helped your carries become stronger than theirs, because you start losing power at this point. DON'T BE ALARMED. If you got a Hellflower or Sheepstick, you can still decide fights for your team. Blacksmith scales exceedingly well late game for an int hero. Slow, silence and stun their carries and frenzy your own. Work with your teammates and don't go in alone unless you wish to die.

Even supposing your carries did poorly and the enemy carries are big, don't panic. If you played significantly better than others, you can decide fights yourself. A Blacksmith with Hellflower and Totem of Kuldra has:


A stun on a 6 second cooldown that can do up to 1100 magic damage
An AoE 25% slow
A 3 second hex
A 5 second Silence and 20% damage amplification
A team-wide +15% ms and +50 attack speed buff
Upwards of 2.5k hp and 200 a swing.

There's enough disable there to hold not only your weight, but another teammate's as well. Blacksmith scales MUCH better this late in the game than heroes such as Pyromancer and Demented Shaman.


How to pull your weight in a fight.


Flaming Hammer as many people as possible to apply slow, damage, and -armor.
Follow that up with a Fireball on the highest threat target. This will normally be a DPS carry or a Behemoth who hasn't ulted yet.
Frenzy has cd of 5 seconds when Chaotic Flames is maxed, and lasts 30 seconds. That means its possible to keep all allied heroes Frenzied at the same time. You should be casting Frenzy before fights, and worrying about stuns and slows during them.


Never stop casting if you have mana.

Ultimately, this is the only thing you need to remember while playing Blacksmith. If you have mana to cast a spell, do so. Your item builds, skill builds, and gameplay all revolve around the simple fact that Blacksmith has powerful spells, so long as he can keep casting them without running out of mana.

[Thooom]

First of all - great guide. I just wanted to make a suggestion. After I buy the Arcane Ring I usually get the item with Intelligence, Damage and +20 Movement Speed that can cast Cyclone. It's got a short cooldown and have both saved my life and secured ganks for me lots of times. The extra intelligence and movement speed is a good bonus too. And a well timed Cyclone often opens an opportunity to cast that second 4x Multicast ;)

[MrSoada]

I hardly ever played Ogre Magi in DotA, but amongst top players I noticed that they would hold out on upgrading their stun and just save the skill point til a gank opportunity arose. This way they could last hit creeps with a 75 mana cost fireblast.

[Karacis]

I like Black Smith and this is a good guide, thanks man!

[Dare]

Personally I find his attack animation great, almost instant when you attack.

[Geo]

This is my favorite Hero. I searched for Blacksmith Guide and this didn't come up. Thanks for the bump!

[CB_Laen]

Great guide! Following this guide and quickly turned the blacksmith into my favorite hero! People fear his dots in the begining, are terrified of him in mid game, and the flower, and frenzy are amazing late game!

I'm not very good with last hitting, though I am getting better, so I usually skip the arc ring and after EM I start building my Flower.

I buy the items in this order, Scarab, Shirt, then the orb.

I've found the mana regen is of upmost importance.. and since you are running from lane to lane and not constantly getting farm xp the extra mana regen helps loads.

I've also found that sometimes, after the first or second orb when building the flower, I rarely need mana.. Also.. if your careful the smith almost never takes damage ^_^ ohh and I usually skip the bottle as well.. but I am aware that it can help A LOT if your opposing team is refusing to leave their lanes, thus giving you more time to gank ^_^

anyway.. I've played about 6 games with him so far and have lost 1 out of those 6. HoooRA! (btw, the loss was because we had 1 person leave at the begining of the game and we chose not to remake... for some reason.. we didn't have a tank.. and I was getting man handled... it was the first game with blacksmith :P )

[Ajay]

Well written guide. I like the silence stick option a lot. Also nice use of colors and pics.

thx bud.

[Tapioka]

Nice guide. Its the way i like to play him. Nothings better than hellflower and a sacrifical stone after. Really like to see, that you recommend to cast frenzy on allies. I told that 100times and glad that a guide says it too.
I think a bottle isnt necessary, because the manaregen/-pool should be high enough thanks to the hellflowers parts.
I think its a good idea to buy a courier, since you cannot get the hellflower from the outpost (like in "late" dota). You really need those items to keep your enemies busy.
The only thing i dont like is the sentence about blacksmith beeing a carry. He isnt a carry. You have 2 casts and 1 buff. The buff could make you strong in lategame, but you better want to be a caster and if you dont get a 3/4x multicast with hellflower, they just ignore you. I saw some guys buing hack%slash, abyssal scull and such things. It was ridiculus.
Hellflower and bloodstone are the best items in my opinion, because you can support with your frenzy and hellflower and can do massive damage if you stay alive long enough to cast fireball multiple times.

[dlordtemplar]

In the DOTA days, I liked BF/Runed Axe. Plenty of regen, farming ability, and heavy damage to accompany bloodlust/frenzy. I guess I'm more of a farmer than a ganker, though :P

[Lappi1]

** added images, links and costs as well as the category where to find the items in
** updated old dota names, e.g. frostfield plate

As mentioned previously, all our strength and armor needs are taken care of already. We don't need to waste money on our health pool, we can move directly to what we need.


Core Build





http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Runes-of-Blight.png 1-2x Runes of blight (http://heroes-newerth.com/item/Runes-of-the-Blight) [Supplies] (90g); 2 if you can afford it.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Mana-Potion.png 1-2x Mana potion (http://heroes-newerth.com/item/Mana-Potion) [Supplies] (50g); 2 if you can afford it.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Talisman-of-Exile.png 1-2x Talisman of Exile (http://heroes-newerth.com/items/Talisman-of-Exile) [Initiation] (485), 1 if you farm badly.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Bottle.png 1x Bottle (http://heroes-newerth.com/item/Bottle) [Supplies] (600g)
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Enhanced-Marchers.png 1x Enhanced Marchers (http://heroes-newerth.com/items/Enhanced-Marchers) [Initiation] (1550g)

You are both melee and a high mana cost nuker with high strength and low intelligence. You need regen when you first go to the lane. Spend at least 140 on runes and a mana potion. It's your decision whether you spend the extra starting cash on more regen or starting your Talisman of Exiles. By the time you're done laning, you will have 1-2 Talismans of Exile, a bottle, and Enhanced Marchers.

Enhanced marchers is an obvious choice, they're cheap and make you go fast. The bottle is more arguable. If 2-3 people on your team or the other have bottles, don't bother with it. But being a MELEE NUKER who GANKS, you are the perfect candidate to rune whore if noone else is.

Later items
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Ring-Of-Sorcery.png Ring of Sorcery (http://heroes-newerth.com/items/Ring-of-Sorcery) [Supportive] (1700g)

if you have mana problems, solves your mana problem for a short while and helps support your team. However, if you want a more long term solution to your mana woes you should build a....
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Hellflower.png Hellflower (http://heroes-newerth.com/items/hellflower) [Combative] (5025g)

probably the best item to get on Blacksmith after the core. It helps your intelligence and mana regen problems, while adding significant damage and attack speed. Why would we want those on Blacksmith? Because he has a stun, a slow, and FRENZY. While an agi carry will get more out of frenzy than you, you can become a respectable DPS source in a fight yourself. On top of solving mana issues and adding damage capabilities, it activates for a 5 second silence and 20% pure damage addition on an enemy hero. Perfect for your support role, and DEADLY IF FOLLOWED UP BY A CHAOTIC FLAMES PROC.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Totem-Of-Kuldra.png Totem of Kuldra (http://heroes-newerth.com/items/totem-of-kuldra) [Supportive] (5675g)

An obvious choice and a good one. Addresses mana issues, while adding to your support role in a team fight or a gank.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Sacrificial-Stone.png Sacrificial Stone (http://heroes-newerth.com/item/Sacrificial-Stone) [Protective] (5050g)

While you play a support role, a blacksmith played well will definately get his share of the kills. Why not solve those mana issues for good by getting some charges on a sacrificial stone and making sure our health and mana pools are both enhanced and always full?
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll176/Laptantidel/KrakenGuide/Frostfield-Plate.png Frostfield-Plate (http://heroes-newerth.com/item/Frostfield-Plate) [Protective] (4700g)

The final item of my suggested items, this one is respectable, though probably not as powerful in the hands of blacksmith as Hellflower or Totem of Kuldra. A support int item like the rest, this one also allows us to farm to a certain extent when combined with Flaming Hammer.

[contra]

Good guide! I think you should always use HoN and not DotA names for consistancy though.

For some reference, activating phase boots adds 10% move speed, where at level 4 frenzy adds 15% move speed in addition to practically giving them a hyperstone. change it to warpcleft.

[`aNarchy]

decent guide, but far more effective hero if you take frenzy over flaming hammer and here's why:

Blacksmith is a melee hero that has slow attack speed. This means it is tough to farm a lot of your items by the time you need them. Frenzy enables blacksmith to farm like a beast, chase down heroes, and buff your dps/carry to rape face on someone.

Some good items for him are frostfield plate/totem/orchid/etc. This hero also has possible carrying potential if you go frenzy first for a lot of dps. Don't be scared to stand and fight with him either because he's no squishy hero.

edit: don't get sac stone with this hero, it's a waste of your money. Blacksmith has a decent amount of strength, and if you plan on getting frostfield(which you should for massive slow) you don't need the sac stone which gives you 0 stat bonuses. This hero was made melee so he could fight as well as cast spells, not just sit back and spam fireball/flaming hammer and run away.

[Padawanabee]

Thanks for the editting help, Lappy, and I put your prettier version in the guide itself with thanks above it.

@ Bennet. Thanks for catching that hyperstone error, I'd come right outta dota when I wrote this. The origional draft had multicast, ignite, and all sorts of dota terms all over it and as you can see I missed more than a few.

And Koen, I've rarely seen an ogre/blacksmith go anything but Fireball/Ignite, And I've never seen one do well. That doesn't mean it's not a good build, it just means I'm not gonna suggest it and would have no idea how to do well with it! I might just go and try it now and see how I do.

Just updating the guide following the feedback, hope it's better. It's prettier thanks to Lappy, at least!

[Mellow]

decent guide, but far more effective hero if you take frenzy over flaming hammer and here's why:

Flaming hammer is very useful as a slow, and it can help you and your laning partner to get kills. Even at lower levels of the skill Flaming hammer is useful, and to be honest, Frenzy is **** until 3-4. Furthermore, at that point no attack speed boost is needed.

[Lappi1]

One note in general: I tend to only buy 1 Talisman of the Exile and head directly for hellflower. If you've got the first Scarab, you will really get into the game and rule mid-game with the first staff completed. If you stick with a hero that uber-profits of Frenzy, e.g. Arachna, you will quickly get the remaining three staffs for hellflower.

@Padawanabee: Thx for the credits (though my name ends on i like in India)
@Mellow: It depends on your lane buddy. With a weak one I go for flaming hammer to annoy the squishy enemies, with a strong buddy, I really like to buff Frenzy, and then stun and try to hurt em.

[Padawanabee]

Latest edit: Added the ability to replace a Talisman of Exile with a Power Supply for those enlightened enough to use the item under the Core. Also replaced Enhanced Marchers with Steamboots in the Core following the changes made to boots in the last patch.

@ Lappi: Sorry about messing up your name in the acknowledgment, I coulda sworn it was Lappy when I read your comments. *Shrug

Also, I agree on the faster you start making those Great Arcana's the better. However, the ganking power allowed with bottle+steamboots really let's you pick up speed in late early/early mid game.

[Ruscour]

Thanks for this guide!

One question: I never get kills! I'm ending games with 2 kills, 1 death, and 20 assists. I never get the damn killing blow! I know that the amount I'm contributing to the team overrules this, but still, it's not helping my KDR. Suggestions?

As a thank you for this guide, I sized down the steamboots icon for you.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/324/steambootsitem.gif

EDIT: On second thought, I have another question.

This is how my items tend to go...
Bottle > Marchers > Steamboots > Talisman of Exile x2 > Hellflower > Totem of Kuldra

Should I be getting Talismans of Exile earlier than I am? Because I really like my Bottle.

[Padawanabee]

Thanks for the resized image, Ruscour.

To answer your question, Blacksmith is a support hero and should NOT be getting kills in a normal game. You should be giving them to your allies. 2-1-20 is quite possibly the perfect Blacksmith record.

That said, if you REALLY want kills the best way to do it would be to build damage items like Hellflower and save your stun for finishing enemies. Saving your stun like this is DEFINATELY not a winning strategy, but if you sneak a kill in like that every once in a while I'm sure noone will mind.

Edited for your edit: Most people would say don't go to your lane with bottle unless you were going to be grabbing the runes at 2-4-6 minutes in. The simplest answer would be this; if bottle works for you, go for it. If it doesn't, go to the lane with something else.

[Ruscour]

Thanks for your quick response.

The main reason I care about getting kills is because when I first picked up HoN it would have been a fairly long time since I played DotA and I fed like CRAZY playing Tempest. Blacksmith is definitely my favourite hero.

Nothing better than getting a kill 5s after an enemy has run out of sight past a tower because they've had a slow and painful death.

[Akavir]

The way i build this guy is:
-2x talismans of exile
-scarab
-boots
-build stormspirit
-build steamboots (INT)
dominating?
-Codex for hilarious kills
otherwise
-great arcanas/hellflower

I'm not the best but I've had quite a few games with him and so far it's been successful. Steamboots+Stormspirit's 25% speed+frenzy make me think i'm playing pestilence for a second, imho you don't need the speed boost from enhanced marchers.

Good guide though. BS is really the least item-dependent hero so i guess people might just find different ways to make him work for them.

[Clyne]

The way i build this guy is:
-2x talismans of exile
-scarab
-boots
-build stormspirit
-build steamboots (INT)
dominating?
-Codex for hilarious kills
otherwise
-great arcanas/hellflower

I'm not the best but I've had quite a few games with him and so far it's been successful. Steamboots+Stormspirit's 25% speed+frenzy make me think i'm playing pestilence for a second, imho you don't need the speed boost from enhanced marchers.

Good guide though. BS is really the least item-dependent hero so i guess people might just find different ways to make him work for them.

Seem also like a stable item build. cheers


thanks Padawanabee for the guide. cleared things up

[Endweaver]

I really liked the items suggestions and relieved to find out that i wasnt the only one using those items, less of the Sac Stone. As noted on previous posts he already got good STR/ HP Boost so we can just lay the expense on other items like Hellflower, etc...

[Slardarxt1]

Nice guide, I do believe Stormspirit(Euls) should get a mention in the item's section. Solves his mana regen early on gives him bonus MS and a handy disable.

[Padawanabee]

I, myself, don't care for Stormspirit. The ms is negligible once you get Steamboots and Frenzy, and the mana regen is just as easily solved by a Great Arcana or two.

However, the disable is very nice for how much it costs, and the stats are great early game, before you get frenzy and Hellflower.

So I'm adding this under items:

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/804/stormspirititem.gif (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/stormspirititem.gif/)Stormspirit-2800-A good item early-mid game and an alternative to rushing hellflower. It provides intelligence, mana regen, movespeed, and a powerful disable.

Edit: I also dropped Sacrifical stone from the recommended list, as it's become less and less useful on Blacksmith, even if assists are counted.

[Emeriel]

What do you think about getting Staff of the Master? Is it improving the ulti as in DotA? I think that the extra hp would be good.

edit: Btw, I tried to play accoring to the guide and it went quite well.

[Dordanov]

What do you think about getting Staff of the Master? Is it improving the ulti as in DotA? I think that the extra hp would be good.

Staff of the Master doesn't improve his ulti. (at least not last time I played him)
In DotA it was also removed in 6.60 or 6.61 or so if I remember correctly, together with a slight boost to the ultimate. It's not a totally useless item, but there are way better items to spent the gold on.



As far as the guide: Excellent guide, good item choices, will surely keep some of your pointers in mind while playing him. I like the fact that you pointed out to buff your allies with Frenzy. Lot's of newish players seem to forget it.

One minor point: Just under the skill builds, in the explanation, the paragraph starts with "Fireblast and Ignite are our nukes and our disables.".
You might want to change those to Fireball and Flaming Hammer. ;)

[Emeriel]

Didn't know that. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Doubles]

I haven't played this hero much and this guide was really useful. I have seen 1 guy who was owning with BS stack a riftshard or 2 along with his hellflower steamboots and rings. Are rifts any good on him? The extra dmg would be nice and the crit since he attacks fast with frenzy and they aren't that expensive. Also does the crit from rift stack if u have more than 1? Thanks!

[Padawanabee]

Riftshards is a rather cheap and effective source of extra damage. However, buffing Blacksmith's damage and attack speed is more a side effect of building Hellflower and using Frenzy for support, rather than us actually focusing on damage.

That said, the crit is nice if you're doing good damage already. Crit can stack, at least in DotA, but with diminishing returns. It's almost always better to only have one source of crit and move on to other items, whether they be for damage or support.

[Doubles]

Cool thanks for the info. It shouldn't be hard to fit one in. Does the dmg count for each multicast? Or is it just your multi cast + the extra 35 dmg?

[Dyn4miX]

I am an avid blacksmith player and I'll tell you the most effective way to play this hero is
Fireball
Stats
fireball
stats
then continue as normal.
The extra stats seriously boost his spammability for fireball early game, and give him some extra mana pool to cast a few fireballs on creeps to farm a little.
I've never been dissapointed by this strategy and even against a hard lane you can almost guarantee yourself a sustainer by 10 minutes.
Granted I almost completely ignore the fact that you are supposed to be "ganking" early game. Blacksmith carries, no question. Farm him a fast Sacrificial Stone then* go ganking. I may sound like a nub, but seriously I've never been disappointed by this strategy.

[Lolololage]

I am an avid blacksmith player and I'll tell you the most effective way to play this hero is
Fireball
Stats
fireball
stats
then continue as normal.
The extra stats seriously boost his spammability for fireball early game, and give him some extra mana pool to cast a few fireballs on creeps to farm a little.
I've never been dissapointed by this strategy and even against a hard lane you can almost guarantee yourself a sustainer by 10 minutes.
Granted I almost completely ignore the fact that you are supposed to be "ganking" early game. Blacksmith carries, no question. Farm him a fast Sacrificial Stone then* go ganking. I may sound like a nub, but seriously I've never been disappointed by this strategy.

While i can see this working, i rarely have mana problems with blacksmith, because i use a bottle, 2x talismans and steam boots. This allows me plenty of mana throughout and not getting stats lets me gank as well as creep kill. This to me (while making him slightly worse than your build solo) allows me to help my team infinately more.

Ever tried going with a swiftblade and watching your stun+slow destroy someone? ITs really funny.

You shouldnt really need fireball to creep kill anyway, his attack animation is really good.

[Fiesta]

http://i36.tinypic.com/29gk12e.jpg

For Justice.

[Padawanabee]

Cool thanks for the info. It shouldn't be hard to fit one in. Does the dmg count for each multicast? Or is it just your multi cast + the extra 35 dmg?

Damage from items I.E. Riftshards don't affect your spells. Neither does the crit. The 35 damage and chance of 1.75 crit given from Riftshards, and all items that add damage or crit, only affects your auto attack.

@ll4mma- I prefer it to be for GREAT justice.

@lolololage- Anyone with a stun/slow does well with Swiftblade, and Blacksmith has two. :)

@Dyn4miX- You have my respect for doing well after getting stats at 2 and 4. I'm certain I would feed like it was my first game if I rolled with a build like that.:p A power supply and bottle is usually enough to cover my mana needs until I get my Hellflower.

Edti: put 1.2 as the crit damage instead of 1.75 for some reason.

[Fantajim]

Great guide really!

I ll try to learn Farmhammer sooner... till now i neglected it and took
fireball, stats or fireball frenzy first ;D

Thanks for the guide!

Greetz
Fantajim

[Johnson]

(Sac Stone) I don't think anyone else mentioned this:

With the 6.63 changes to Sacrificial Stone, it is a very good item on Blacksmith. Getting a charge after every kill your team makes (that you are around for, which you should be) gives you more mana regen than you could ever want (using the 2-1-20 example, you might have 18 charges which means a constantly full mana pool).

I typically get the stone before the 30th minute, with a ring of the teacher in lane for early mana regen (+tango). Also, this solves issues with an enemy magebane because with chrages>10-15 he will have a hard time using you as an ult target.

[Dordanov]

Also, this solves issues with an enemy magebane because with chrages>10-15 he will have a hard time using you as an ult target.

Although it indeed makes it harder for him to hit you with his ulti for maximum damage: keep in mind it also gives him more mana to burn from you. That's 64 extra damage each hit, on a fast hitting melee hero.
I'm not sure wichever is more lethal, but Magebane is a hero I'd rather not see anyway when playing Blacksmith ;)

[Doomhammar]

Obvious troll thread, lock and ban.

[Ruscour]

Padawanabee, grats on getting this into Premium Guides! It most certainly deserves it.

[Johnson]

Although it indeed makes it harder for him to hit you with his ulti for maximum damage: keep in mind it also gives him more mana to burn from you. That's 64 extra damage each hit, on a fast hitting melee hero.
I'm not sure wichever is more lethal, but Magebane is a hero I'd rather not see anyway when playing Blacksmith ;)

I would respond to this by saying:
Magebane kills by ulting you after draining your mana, or by pure physical damage. However, why blacksmith would ever allow someone to relentlessly hit him is beyond me considering your stun. Therefore, all the mana regen does is allow you to keep spamming a stun while he is draining your mana and keep him from nuking you with his ult.

Practically though, after frenzying yourself slowing him and stunning him, you can probably get away from just magebane. If he keeps following, you are going to proc a higher damage hit eventually and he will have to let you go or die.

[Testknight]

I think that you should add a mention of Blacksmith's viability as a ward *****/chick buyer, since he's item independant. Otherwise, this guide is very good.

tks for this guide
=D

[Lolololage]

Can i ask what fellow blacksmith players use for hp regen? I know he doesnt need much because of his play style, but late game i find he never runs out of mana with a hellflower, but is often low on hp.

I started getting a sustainer (and EVENTUALLY a blood stone) but that seems a bit of a waste on him.

Recently ive been buying a +2 regen gem after my boots/steamboots depending on how much hp im losing, then after the hellflower i grab a shammans headress.

Is there a better option? Ive been toying with astrolab to support the team more also.

[ElementUser]

Use a Bottle!

But Shaman's Headdress -> Barrier Idol is your next bet after

[Lolololage]

Use a Bottle!

But Shaman's Headdress -> Barrier Idol is your next bet after

When would you buy the bottle during this build:

2x talismen
steamboots
hellflower/headress

[theqat]

When would you buy the bottle during this build:

2x talismen
steamboots
hellflower/headress

After your starting items, but before the Talismans

[`M`ao]

I have seen a rather controversial battle smith.
Rushing battlefury, using the meagre regen from perserverance for the first 20 minutes.
Skill leveling averageing out between the three and getting chaotic whenever possible.
Not a bad way in certain circumstances if your team lacks dps.
ending with kuldra, fury, flayer, demonic, phase.
Just showing another side of the smith, it is only because of the skill frenzy that allows for this variation.

[Padawanabee]

Edited with the new patch. Havn't tried him with the new behemoth's heart, gonna try that a couple games.

[ElementUser]

When would you buy the bottle during this build:

2x talismen
steamboots
hellflower/headress

When I don't go for a Hellflower with Blacksmith (which is probably 99% of the time)

I think Behemoth's Heart is the "new Aghanim's" for Blacksmith :P

[xKyox]

why not get codex?...i have get it in like 3 matches and it work great for me. i jsut go talismanx1 steamboots then lvl 2 codex as mid game is bery powerful altho. hellfower is nice but for some reason i prefer codex for a ganking solo, call me dumb or w/e but it work for me =)

[Thorbinator]

Play duplicate heroes, all pick blacksmith, and everyone build an arcane ring, then codex. pretty hilarious.

Nice guide though. didn't think about picking up sheepstick on him.

[evotech]

NO NEED FOR BOTTLE! talismans + intboots + hellflower components is all you need, bottle is a waste imo

last game i went that and then stormspirit and behemoths was cool :) never played blacksmith before so tahts for guide, i went 16-2

[Elapid]

What does the more exp blacksmith players think of Harkon's Blade with maxed out Frenzy ? and how much more mana regen would you need in this build?

[Daera]

I think I have to agree that sacrifical heart is pretty much wasted on this hero.
Let's split up the benefits and stats.
If we compare to the hypothetical gain of 2 sacri hearts to 1 hellflower and 1 behemoths heart (since you both want survivability and mana to cast spells.

2x sacri heart 900 health, 800 mana, 300% mana regen, 12 HP regen
Hellflower + behemoths heart: almost 1k health, some health regen from strength, 40 damage, 20 intellect, 225% mana regeneration, 30 attack speed.

Effects:
Sacri heart: Tons of mana regen and less penalty from dying.
Behemoth's heart -0,15% CD on spells and faster cast speed.
Hellflower: Silence + 20% extra damasge taken.

Obviously, the effect isn't 2x for 2 sacrificial hearts and no sane people would ever get 2 hearts, so a comparison like this sucks a bit.

One of the things i like most about blacksmith is that he can take quite a beating, while tossing out stuns, slows and buffs. So, when I run blacksmith, I would like both the survivability + mana regen needed to cast my spells. But after reading your guide, I'm thinking of going hellflower instead for more damage. But then, my surviability drops down quite a bit.
So, with the recent changes to behemoths heart, it might be more worth it.

So, would a combination of hellflower and behemoths heart be beneficial? It brings the main spell down to 5 second cooldown.
Also, if you have nome's wisdom, you'll cover a bit more regen.

So,
Hellflower
Behemoth's heart
Nome's
is it workable?
It does provide less disabling for the team, like kuldra, stormspirit and frostfield plate, but more survivability, but far more survivability coupled with the good damage from autoattacking + spells makes you both powerful and not their first target

[cute]

Where you expecting an AoE disable?

Well too bad, it's me, Blacksmith!

[Padawanabee]

After a couple games and general common sense this is what I've discovered with the new items:

Behemoth's Heart is decent on Blacksmith. It brings his already short Fireball cooldown to about 5 seconds, the cast speed is hardly noticeable but still there, and the 875 hp is nice. He already has short cooldowns and great hp, though, so it isn't core, just a good luxury item.

Harkan's blade isn't the best on Blacksmith. A 5k item, it's only purpose is to drop magic armor by 5 for us, whereupon we hit them with a hopefully multicasted Fireball. However, it's a lot of money for that effect, and easily countered by shaman's headress. It's luxury, but far enough down the luxury items list you'll probably never want to get it unless it recieves some significant upgrades.

Nome's Wisom is very nice, but you only need one on the team. If there's a better candidate let them grab it, but if you're the best candidate to pick it up it's only 2500 gold out of our way for an item that gives us good stats and a great aura.

@evotech: Bottle is short term solution to our early game mana problem. Until you get at least 2 Great Arcana's for the initial Hellflower you'll be needing quality mana regen. And since Blacksmith is primarily a ganker, you'll be checking the runes often, anyway.

@xKyox: There's many, many, better items for Blacksmith than Codex. Without other mana items you don't have enough mana and mana regen to afford the ridiculously high mana cost on level 1 codex. And the money you use to give it a manageable mana cost and cooldown could be much better spent on a Hellflower and part of Totem of Kuldra. Besides, a 2x multicast is basically a codex shot, and you'll have Fireball on a 5 second cooldown with Behemoth's Heart and level 3 ult.

@Daera Ever since the hp regen left Sac Stone I havn't suggested it on Blacksmith. Because you're right, it's a waste, when after a Hellflower and bottle mana regen really isn't a problem anymore. Your build of Hellflower+Nome's+Behemoth's Heart is pretty close to what I'd suggest you have by the end of a game. Maybe throw in a Kuldra between Nome's and Heart.

And finally, Desperation, I'm not really sure what you were hoping to achieve with your post. *shrug

[cute]

After a couple games and general common sense this is what I've discovered with the new items:

Behemoth's Heart is decent on Blacksmith. It brings his already short Fireball cooldown to about 5 seconds, the cast speed is hardly noticeable but still there, and the 875 hp is nice. He already has short cooldowns and great hp, though, so it isn't core, just a good luxury item.

Harkan's blade isn't the best on Blacksmith. A 5k item, it's only purpose is to drop magic armor by 5 for us, whereupon we hit them with a hopefully multicasted Fireball. However, it's a lot of money for that effect, and easily countered by shaman's headress. It's luxury, but far enough down the luxury items list you'll probably never want to get it unless it recieves some significant upgrades.

Nome's Wisom is very nice, but you only need one on the team. If there's a better candidate let them grab it, but if you're the best candidate to pick it up it's only 2500 gold out of our way for an item that gives us good stats and a great aura.

@evotech: Bottle is short term solution to our early game mana problem. Until you get at least 2 Great Arcana's for the initial Hellflower you'll be needing quality mana regen. And since Blacksmith is primarily a ganker, you'll be checking the runes often, anyway.

@xKyox: There's many, many, better items for Blacksmith than Codex. Without other mana items you don't have enough mana and mana regen to afford the ridiculously high mana cost on level 1 codex. And the money you use to give it a manageable mana cost and cooldown could be much better spent on a Hellflower and part of Totem of Kuldra. Besides, a 2x multicast is basically a codex shot, and you'll have Fireball on a 5 second cooldown with Behemoth's Heart and level 3 ult.

@Daera Ever since the hp regen left Sac Stone I havn't suggested it on Blacksmith. Because you're right, it's a waste, when after a Hellflower and bottle mana regen really isn't a problem anymore. Your build of Hellflower+Nome's+Behemoth's Heart is pretty close to what I'd suggest you have by the end of a game. Maybe throw in a Kuldra between Nome's and Heart.

And finally, Desperation, I'm not really sure what you were hoping to achieve with your post. *shrug
I'm sorry where you expecting useful feedback?

Well too bad, it's me, BLACKSMITH!!!

[Clyne]

thanks for the guide. used in some battles now. The sad thing is that he is a gambler =P ive had hilarious games with this hero but I also had less lucky games with few multicasts on enemy heroes.

Since BS has Frenzy, wich is a great for your team and your self. How Do I build a powerfull melee BS? I am able to produce a decent intel-melee hero I wouldnt have to rely on multicasts all the time. That would make me even more powerfull.

[Padawanabee]

Well, once you hit level 16 the chance of stunning multiple times is more likely than only getting one, and half the power of the hero is that Fireball and Flaming Hammer disable enemies for your team to hit.

As far as building a powerful auto-attack Blacksmith goes, that's really what my guide does. Hellflower adds 60 damage and 30 attack speed, in addition to it's other effects. With Frenzy and Hellflower, a 2x stun gives you 3 hits of about 200 damage. Blacksmith has 3.2 Strength gain, allowing you to rush Hellflower, something that would just get you killed if you did it on a more fragile int type without building hp items, first.

Occasionally, when I'm doing significantly better than my teammates, I'll build him as a carry. After Hellflower I would get Kuldra, Behemoth's Heart, Portal Key, and Rifthards level 4. The ability to disable your enemies and then deal the auto attack damage works pretty well if you get fed early.

[Hybar]

I tried this out last night with some moderate success-

Instead of going for the ring of sorcery, how about getting Nome's Wisdom?- (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Nome%27s_Wisdom)I know it's about 900 gold more expensive, but it seems to have quite a bit of utility for the Blacksmith.

Namely- it gives him a free heal. Whenever he multicasts, he's spends a lot of mana on the spell- Nome's wisdom heals for a quarter of all mana spent, meaning that you can 'trick' people by running away at low health, pop a few spells and suddenly have a few hundred hit points more (if those chaotic flames ever proc).

Admittedly it is a gamble, but what about this character isn't?

I also appreciate the aura effect (other local casters will like you as well: pyromancer, defiler- heck, anyone who spams spells most of the game)

I personally build this first after going for the ring of the teacher to start. It is expensive, but it's basically just adding another 'Great Arcana' to the three you already need for his hellflower *shrug*.
Kind of silly- but you really only need to build a crap ton of Great Arcana's to make him effective :D

[ElementUser]

I tried this out last night with some moderate success-

Instead of going for the ring of sorcery, how about getting Nome's Wisdom?- (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Nome%27s_Wisdom)I know it's about 900 gold more expensive, but it seems to have quite a bit of utility for the Blacksmith.

Namely- it gives him a free heal. Whenever he multicasts, he's spends a lot of mana on the spell- Nome's wisdom heals for a quarter of all mana spent, meaning that you can 'trick' people by running away at low health, pop a few spells and suddenly have a few hundred hit points more (if those chaotic flames ever proc).

Admittedly it is a gamble, but what about this character isn't?

I also appreciate the aura effect (other local casters will like you as well: pyromancer, defiler- heck, anyone who spams spells most of the game)

I personally build this first after going for the ring of the teacher to start. It is expensive, but it's basically just adding another 'Great Arcana' to the three you already need for his hellflower *shrug*.
Kind of silly- but you really only need to build a crap ton of Great Arcana's to make him effective :D

Pretty decent idea, but I would advise getting sufficient mana regeneration (Bottle + Power Supply and maybe 1 Talisman of Exile should be enough for early-mid game) before getting Nome's Wisdom. Great Arcana + Ring of the Teacher don't really cut it from my experiences, as I find that burst mana>constant mana early

[Padawanabee]

I agree with pretty much everything you've said, Hybar, simply because you agreed with everything in my guide. I don't really advocate Ring of Sorcery, because of my unnatural affection towards Hellflower. In fact, if I don't mention how great Hellflower is on Blacksmith at least once in a post, it's really been a waste of my time.

After reading your post, I added this to the Guide:

Nome's Wisdom is a great choice on Blacksmith. I would advocate asking if anyone on your team is going to get one before you buy it, as aura's do not stack. However, if noone on your team is getting Nome's Wisdom it is recommended that you do.

The reason I don't have a picture for this item yet is that Nome, ironically, did not put it up on his Item Pictures resource, yet.

I wouldn't recommend starting with Ring of the Teacher, however. We already have stellar starting armor, and the mana regen it supplies isn't as good as runes/mana pots/stats.

[Ruscour]

What's your opinion on the following argument:

I've been playing 3v3s with some friends. One of them is brand spanking new and playing Blacksmith (I linked him to this guide, of course).

I play Pestilence and my other friend plays Andromeda. The Blacksmith player argues that Frenzy on him is more important than Frenzy on the carries because he does less damage and he needs it more than we do.

I promptly told him to shut up and accept that he's a support hero. Anywho, is there any merit to his nooby argument? Could Frenzy on Blacksmith be better than Frenzy on a carry?

It only matters because he forgets to put it on us himself.

[Padawanabee]

Frenzy is always most useful on the greatest damage dealer. In this case, Pestilence. However, with levels in Chaotic Flames it gains a very low cooldown, so the only excuse not to have it on all three players is low mana or general laziness.

[Liryan]

I tried this out last night with some moderate success-

Instead of going for the ring of sorcery, how about getting [URL="http://honwiki.net/wiki/Nome%27s_Wisdom"]
Namely- it gives him a free heal. Whenever he multicasts, he's spends a lot of mana on the spell- Nome's wisdom heals for a quarter of all mana spent


aside from th fact i use i too,since you can turn a 1vs1 to our advantage plus late game you can use your spells almost anytime

one thing though, you say when multicasting it heals you for a huge amount
but, it says it heals for 1/4 of the mana spent, wich is the one from a single cast, not 2-3-4...
so, unless i'm really missing something it isn't that great,but worth it anyway i think
i'm happy to know that the first build i experimented with (steamboots, then arcana till helflower) was a good one, even if i couldn't really play well ;)

[sil]

What's your opinion on the following argument:

I've been playing 3v3s with some friends. One of them is brand spanking new and playing Blacksmith (I linked him to this guide, of course).

I play Pestilence and my other friend plays Andromeda. The Blacksmith player argues that Frenzy on him is more important than Frenzy on the carries because he does less damage and he needs it more than we do.

I promptly told him to shut up and accept that he's a support hero. Anywho, is there any merit to his nooby argument? Could Frenzy on Blacksmith be better than Frenzy on a carry?

It only matters because he forgets to put it on us himself.
he should be keeping it up on everyone. if he cant, put it on highest dmg dealer.

[Hybar]

one thing though, you say when multicasting it heals you for a huge amount
but, it says it heals for 1/4 of the mana spent, wich is the one from a single cast, not 2-3-4...
so, unless i'm really missing something it isn't that great,but worth it anyway

Please correct me if I'm wrong- but does multicast cost the extra amount of mana (as if you had in fact cast it twice?) when it procs?

I was almost sure it did-

[ElementUser]

Please correct me if I'm wrong- but does multicast cost the extra amount of mana (as if you had in fact cast it twice?) when it procs?

I was almost sure it did-

It doesn't cost extra mana, just the cost of casting his first skill goes up each time you level up Chaotic Flames

[Padawanabee]

Please correct me if I'm wrong- but does multicast cost the extra amount of mana (as if you had in fact cast it twice?) when it procs?

I was almost sure it did-

No, but putting extra levels in Chaotic Flames adds to the mana cost of Fireball. It doesn't say so in the tooltip, but every time you level chaotic flames the mana cost goes up by 30, then 50, then another 30. So you're spending 110 more mana by level 16.

[Distort3d]

Is staff worth getting on this guy??

how does staff affect your multicast?

[LegoPirate]

it doesnt at all.

[PUB5TAR]

lul Staff of the Masters does not affect **** on Blacksmith. Fail fool.

[Padawanabee]

Is staff worth getting on this guy??

how does staff affect your multicast?

To answer your question nicely:

In DotA, Ogre Magi used to have like a 30% chance of casting 5x with Aghanims. They got rid of it's effect on him, and evened out the percentages.

HoN has not, and I hope never will, included Blacksmith in the list of heroes affected by SotM.

[Dederd]

To answer your question nicely:

In DotA, Ogre Magi used to have like a 30% chance of casting 5x with Aghanims. They got rid of it's effect on him, and evened out the percentages.

HoN has not, and I hope never will, included Blacksmith in the list of heroes affected by SotM.

it did affect him in earlier versions of HoN.

[Distort3d]

Yeah, thanks for giving me a nice answer and not being an ass like built.

I heard rumors of a 5x multicast and i just wanted confirmation that it's false :p

[Geo]

I just ran 5/4/17 in a 20 minute game. I laned with Behemoth and the Hellflower made Thunder, Predator, and Nighthound itty bitty babies for my team to step on. :D

Thanks for the great item guide. I bought Steamboots right after my Talisman and it helped considerably to be able to switch between STR and INT depending on the situation. I admit I bought a sustainer because the game was going so quick and I desperately needed some HP regen. It was quick and easy to get.

[Jucc]

sweet guide, definitive a guide worth to be called a Premium one ;)

[dumblydore]

I've been using this build lately and it's been working pretty well:

Enhanced Marchers
Logger's Hatchet
Brutalizer
Behemoth's Heart
Riftshards (upgrade slowly)

Hellflower or Frostfield Plate (if the game even lasts this long, unlikely)

With the first 5 items (not including hellflower or frostfield) Blacksmith has around these stats at lvl 20-25 with buff on yourself:
1.7 attacks per second <= very fast, along with the stun from brutalizer / crit from riftshards, you can put out some fast damage without taking too much
3.4k hp <= even if you take some damage, your hp and armor are pretty high
1k mp <= decent but not quite enough to spam unlimited

Fireball and flaming hammer for extra damage + stun.

[Angerflst]

tell me what u think about this
the first items i get are 4 minor totem and 2 runes and 4 mana potion. with this i cna spam about 10 fireballs and a couple flaming hammer with in about 5-7 mins. if i get half decent stunner/diabler partner, i can normally get first blood every game.

but today i did encount a smart hero(zypher) who would swoop and hit me to stop my mana regen.(and had a horrible partner didnt do much to take advantage)

[Liryan]

I've been using this build lately and it's been working pretty well:

Enhanced Marchers
Logger's Hatchet
Brutalizer
Behemoth's Heart
Riftshards (upgrade slowly)

Hellflower or Frostfield Plate (if the game even lasts this long, unlikely)

With the first 5 items (not including hellflower or frostfield) Blacksmith has around these stats at lvl 20-25 with buff on yourself:
1.7 attacks per second <= very fast, along with the stun from brutalizer / crit from riftshards, you can put out some fast damage without taking too much
3.4k hp <= even if you take some damage, your hp and armor are pretty high
1k mp <= decent but not quite enough to spam unlimited

Fireball and flaming hammer for extra damage + stun.



i don't like this build for a simple reason: even if you are a melee hero, you will hardly ever autoattack after the laning phase, you'll be mostly throwing fireballs around and killing low health enemies or helping a carry to gank by slowing-stunning enemies
plus you shouldn't use frenzy on you unless every anyone who relies on attack speed has it
and late game you will really be able to spam your nukes anytime if you instead build int items like archana and what requires it, so no use of brutalizer

[Padawanabee]

tell me what u think about this
the first items i get are 4 minor totem and 2 runes and 4 mana potion. with this i cna spam about 10 fireballs and a couple flaming hammer with in about 5-7 mins. if i get half decent stunner/diabler partner, i can normally get first blood every game.

but today i did encount a smart hero(zypher) who would swoop and hit me to stop my mana regen.(and had a horrible partner didnt do much to take advantage)

I normally grab 2 minor totems, 2 runes, 2 mana pots, and a pretender's crown (+2 to all stats). It has a bit less mana regen than yours, but the totems become a power supply and the crown becomes a Talisman of Exile, so you don't have to sell 2 minor totem's back. If zephyr swoops to stop your regen, he's wasted more mana than you've lost, and if it becomes a problem you can just back up while you're regenerating mana back.

Blacksmith can easily get shut down if you have a bad laning partner. If all else fails, stay back at the tower and keep up in levels, you'll catch up on cash in the ganking phase, hopefully.

@Dumblydore- Your build, while heavy on damage, has no mana regen in it. Blacksmith should be played support/disable first and dps second. While grabbing Behemoth's Heart and a Riftshards after bottle/steamboots/hellflower allows you to run into the middle of a fight and lay some smack, a smart Blacksmith would be casting fireball's, fire hammer's, and frenzies as well. A build like yours would be oom after 3 spells.

@Liryan- Hellflower solves your mana issues and gives you killer damage. That, combined with 2 disables and a buff that can be cast on self (after you've buffed the real dpser's) allows Blacksmith some sick damage. Granted, in a team fight you don't run in and eat the AoE damage, but in ganks and such you can easily get 3-4 hits on an enemy after you fireball+flaming hammer. And if you're hitting for 150 a swing after Hellflower, it can make a difference.

[Testknight]

Great guide and all, but you might want to add a mention in synergies about using Hammer first to intiate ganks (as it has a longer range than Fireball).

[Liryan]

@Liryan- Hellflower solves your mana issues and gives you killer damage. That, combined with 2 disables and a buff that can be cast on self (after you've buffed the real dpser's) allows Blacksmith some sick damage. Granted, in a team fight you don't run in and eat the AoE damage, but in ganks and such you can easily get 3-4 hits on an enemy after you fireball+flaming hammer. And if you're hitting for 150 a swing after Hellflower, it can make a difference.

fact is if you really try get those you'll never ever get to hellflower...
Enhanced Marchers
Logger's Hatchet
Brutalizer
Behemoth's Heart
Riftshards (upgrade slowly)

really even if you happen to be the only one really around (like once i won a game all by myself, with enemies conceding at around 20-25m just cause they feared me - i was 8/0, almost if not all kill during 1vs1) you'll never get enough gold for all this, and let's say you do, it's better spent on totem/cyclone for just another diasble to keep spamming them

oh, and while heart cd reduction may seem good, 15% for such already low cd is nothing, really

[Padawanabee]

i don't like this build for a simple reason: even if you are a melee hero, you will hardly ever autoattack after the laning phase, you'll be mostly throwing fireballs around and killing low health enemies or helping a carry to gank by slowing-stunning enemies


Since you misunderstood why I quoted you, I'll say it again. Hellflower gives you sick damage, and you have two disables, so you WILL be using auto attack. I don't build

Enhanced Marchers
Logger's Hatchet
Brutalizer
Behemoth's Heart
Riftshards (upgrade slowly)

Except the occasional Behemoth's Heart and Riftshards as luxuries. You build Hellflower right after bottle/Steamboots.

[ib_Casual]

Logger's Hatchet is win.

[Liryan]

Since you misunderstood why I quoted you, I'll say it again. Hellflower gives you sick damage, and you have two disables, so you WILL be using auto attack. I don't build

Enhanced Marchers
Logger's Hatchet
Brutalizer
Behemoth's Heart
Riftshards (upgrade slowly)

Except the occasional Behemoth's Heart and Riftshards as luxuries. You build Hellflower right after bottle/Steamboots.

actually you misunderstood me...you don't build that i'm sure of it, but the one i quoted in my post does, and at him i was talking when you said that with silence and all you will autoattack... but you won't have any silence in that case since you spent everything in luxuries and other not worth items
clear ? ;)

[MazkenKnight]

i've been doing the same build for every time i play blacksmith and i love it thanks for making a guide so i don't have too. :D

[Padawanabee]

Revamped the Skills/Items half. Working on the strategy half.

Mostly I just took the comments and made the smarter ones official.

[SHJordan]

Best Blacksmith guide out. =] Generally i go for attack build and win! =D

[SupFresh]

dont really understand the lack loggers hatchet, blacksmith cant really babysit so i assume he wont be and that means you wont be giving your last hits to anyone.I feel that blacksmith is pretty item Dependant because he needs to be rolling frenzy to everyone on his team meaning he needs good Regen and hatchet helps a great deal with farm.

[Padawanabee]

Logger's Hatchet
Importance: 2 Convenience: 4

Blacksmith is a melee hero, and while he doesn't need too much farm or help farming, it's a useful enough item if you have an extra slot. Can be purchased at the outpost.

It's in between starter and core, I don't put it into the core because if you grab all the items there you won't have enough room, it's up to the user to pick and choose. I usually don't get it myself, feeling he hits hard enough that it isn't really as necessary as it is on some heroes, and unlike those heroes he has an issue with inventory space whenever I play him.

[Hi]

Good build. love it

[Blazeinferno]

Biggest prob I had using Blacksmith was throwing out fireball early in team fights to try to get its cd up again quick and watching magmus slowly channel his ult and feel terribad about it getting off. Repeated fail on my part.

[Damage]

I hardly ever played Ogre Magi in DotA, but amongst top players I noticed that they would hold out on upgrading their stun and just save the skill point til a gank opportunity arose. This way they could last hit creeps with a 75 mana cost fireblast.

Never seen that... although sounds viable.



Great guide. Excellent knowledge of the game and more-so Blacksmith's role.

[Supa]

what about helm of the black legion??? Instead of power supply.. since really power supply doesn't regain you any if at all health. then go straight hellflower and INT items.

[Magil]

what about helm of the black legion??? Instead of power supply.. since really power supply doesn't regain you any if at all health. then go straight hellflower and INT items.

Helm of the Black Legion costs 1100 gold for health Blacksmith does not need, and bottle will serve you a lot better than a tube.

[tromb2ch2]

Okay here is all that I have to say because I play rampage. IF RAMPAGE IS ON YOUR TEAM, LANE WITH HIM AND HAVE FRENZY ON HIM ALWAYS. I would go fireball frenzy frenzy then w/e cause rampage gets +ms +DAMAGE + aspd from frenzy. Basically it's pro strats imo.

[ImmaYeti]

I am wondering why Codex isnt in the build list. I get it rite after nomes and it works wonders for letting me level into late game. Its kinda like fireball where it takes absolutely no skill to aim, and u can level it up to do 800 dmg. I Dunno how many times i have gotten a 4x or even a 3x and followed up with codex, and destroyed their carry late game. its pretty much 2k dmg if u get a 4x, and its damn near instant cast. Against hellflower it wont have the mana Regen but i don't find that i need it after about level 17 too much. I have Regen from codex and Regen from nomes, keeps me pretty well up. So try out the codex and add it to ur guide :D

[zobra]

as someone mentioned above, you can hold your skill points.
this is really good if you are getting dominated early lane and want to get at least some creep kills.

also holding out on skilling your ulti until level 10 and 11.
i never feel that one level of his ulti is worth it early game as it incres the mana cost badly. i rather be able to out an extra fireball then the small chanse for the ult to proc.

[Thageek]

don't know if this has been posted but you say
This spell will keep you supporting your team well into mid-late game. For some reference, activating Enhanced Marchers adds 10% move speed for 6 seconds, whereas level 4 frenzy adds 15% move speed in addition to practically giving them a Warpcleft for 30 seconds.

That can't be right since warpcleft give AS and Ghost marchers give MS

[Padawanabee]

And Frenzy gives both. It gives 5% more ms than ghost marchers' activated speed boost without the unitwalking, and it gives almost the same attack speed boost as a Warpcleft, and it lasts for 30 seconds.

[Thageek]

And Frenzy gives both. It gives 5% more ms than ghost marchers' activated speed boost without the unitwalking, and it gives almost the same attack speed boost as a Warpcleft, and it lasts for 30 seconds.

ah ye sry did read wrong :'(

[ShiftyWaffle]

I've tried this hero a number of times with little success. I'm around 1600 PSR and play non-ems.

I do follow your build (but getting a courier first). If I'm in a lane with enemy heroes with spells->mana battery. I then try to get one null talisman (sorry for dota termanology). I then go bottle then boots. Then steam boots.

If no enemies in my lane a casting anything, then I go two nulls and then bottle and wards. Then I get power supply if I think it will help. Then steam boots. At the end of both these builds I go for hellflower.

The problem with both these builds is I get boots very late, I think its the major weakness of your guide. Thus, although I grab quite a few assits in all the games with the blacksmith, I die often to early ganks, sometimes by a lvl 6 or so solo mid enemy.

My question I guess is how can I die less? Bracers possibly (sorry again for dota terms)? Earlier steam boots of strength? Rather than talismans, grab a few mana pots? Go Nome's?

[Monkeyninja]

^^^
I go Stun, Stats, Stun/stats, Stun/stats(only 2 stats take your pick), Stun, Stun, ulti, stun, then max frenzy, and decide if you need stats or aoe slow more. Start with 3 minor totems, 1 ground monkey, a mana pot, a hp pot, a set of tree eaters, then just be good with your last hitting or if under heavy harrassment just dont lvl your stun till you need it for killing people and use it to last hit.

Power supply--->bottle---> enhanced marchers---Whatever you need depending on the situation. Then just have frenzy on more or less the rest of the game whenever your outside your base ( negligable mana cost and effectivly a warcleft and yasha on all the time) Dont be afraid to hit stuff too you should have a fairly decent auto attaack with frenzy and your stat+marchers.

Just dont play like a total retard and you should survive thanks to being faster than everyone and possibly having the most hp too. Works almost everytime for me.

[CoolCly]

With 3 levels in Chaotic Flames, it has a 50% chance for 1x, 25% for 2x, 12.5% chance for 3x, and 12.5% chance for 4x.

Uhh, I don't think this is correct.

[CoolCly]

Anyway, I love Blacksmith, probably my favourite and best hero.

My build order is:

Start with: Pretenders Crown, 2 Minor Totems, Runes of Blight, 2 Mana potions.

Buy a Mana Battery at the Outpost as soon as possible. The effect is absolutely amazing and is critical at pulling out another fire ball when you're low on mana.

Next time at base, upgrade to Power Supply, Marchers, and upgrade Pretenders Crown to Fortified Bracelet to give me some extra staying power. This is the only health I get for quite some time (or maybe ever), so I think it's quite useful. Others might prefer a Talisman of Exile, but mana will not be an issue. Power Supply will keep mana levels at a fine level until my next purchase.

Which will be a Scarab and an Apprentice Robe for +6 int to start my Hellflower. This will be excellent mana for the early game. After this, I'll upgrade my Marchers to Ghost Marchers. Steamboots are unnecessary, I do not need the health, and I do not need mana. The int and attack speed would be useful for auto attacking, but Frenzy will be providing plenty of attack speed, so I find the damage of Ghost Marchers to synergize well with the already great attack speed from keeping Frenzy up.

Next, depending on my needs, I'll either finish my first Great Arcana, or perhaps purchase the Apprentice Robes for my second Great Arcana immediately for the intelligence boost. Either way, I work my way towards Hellflower.

At this point my mana is almost inexhaustible, I have a silence, I'm highly mobile, and my auto attack damage is around 150-200.

That's my core item build on Blacksmith nearly every game I play.

After that, you can do pretty well anything you like. A behemoths heart for lots of survivability and lower cooldowns. A Codex for an extra nuke. Frostfield Plate for survivability and the aoe nuke. Or more support stuff like Nome's Wisdom or Astrolabe. I think Codex, Frostfield, and Nome's are all great choices because they will increase your auto attack damage quite a bit too.

Blacksmith isn't a carry, but it's great being an int hero late game that can hold his own in an auto attacking battle if it ever comes down to it, though that's surely not what his role is.

[Padawanabee]

With 3 levels in Chaotic Flames, it has a 50% chance for 1x, 25% for 2x, 12.5% chance for 3x, and 12.5% chance for 4x.

Uhh, I don't think this is correct.

I'm pretty sure it is.

[CoolCly]

The tooltip for level 3 Chaotic Flames says 50% chance for 2x, 25% chance to 3x, 12.5% chance to 4x...



I guess it depends on how the system checks for what the multi cast is. I'd imagine it's set up so that it does the check for the 4x, if it succeeds, then its a 4x, if it fails, then it goes to a check for 3x, if that fails, it goes to a check for a 2x, if that fails, it goes to a 1x.


It's impossible for 1x to have a 50% total chance to happen.


From what I see, 4x has 12.5% chance, 3x has around a 21.5% chance of happening, and 2x and 1x each have around 32.5% chance of happening. Give or take some change.


I suppose it could work the other way, first doing a 50% check to see if its a 1x or a 2x, then doing a 3x check, which would make the 3x then 12.5%..... but then the chances of a 4x would be astronomically low.

[nednull]

Why would the check work like that? I'm guessing the skill is programmed like this:

Generate random number between 0.0 and 1.0
0.000 - 0.500: 1x
0.500 - 0.750: 2x
0.750 - 0.875: 3x
0.875 - 1.000: 4x

..meaning the tooltip is correct and you will get normal casts on 50 % of the total casts with level 3 ulti. There's no reason to assume that it's programmed "your way" when the tooltip says what it says.

(I assumed the above tooltip was correct, but it wasn't - I've corrected the numbers now according to Pada's guide.)

[CoolCly]

If its directly as it is in the tooltip and it adds up to 100% with the missing 12.5% going towards 1x...

Then the guide is even further from accurate.


I think 1x's happen a little too often at level 3 Chaotic Flames than it should if it was really 12.5% though.

[ShiftyWaffle]

ever consider tablet of command before hellflower? It provides blacksmith with another stop channeling effect, and can be used after hitting a multicast on someone to place them where teamates can reach them and rip that low hp hero to shreds, or it can be used to put someone in reach of your stun, or your teamates' stuns. Also, can be used to help yourself or an ally escape. Plus, it offers plain stats, something blacksmith can make use of, unlike the mana regeneration of scarabs by the 18th minute of the game. Also, you could possibly wait to get enhanced marchers, since I'm still not convinced they help that much by mid game. By mid game, teambattles are happening and you will just be sitting on the outskirts trying to hit stuns whilst not being stunned yourself. Extra movespeed helps a little but, a 25 mana and 25 second cd cost push would help more.

[Padawanabee]

It is actually 50%, 25%, 12.5%, 12.5%. Please stop saying it isn't, because you're wrong and I have to post every time you do so people reading comments don't get the wrong idea.

And while I personally get Tablet on some heroes, it's not a common enough item to suggest in a guide. Blacksmith hardly needs it since he has a stun for inturrupts and frenzy for escaping. You can get it, but I won't suggest it over Hellflower, Nome's, or Stormspirit, as it gives no mana regen.

[CoolCly]

You aren't making any sense. You didn't clarify anything in your post just now, just promoting confusion.

If it IS 50%, 25%, 12.5%, 12,5%, then it would be 50% 2x, 25% 3x, 12.5% 4x, and 12.5% 1x.

That ISN'T what you have in your guide.

[Padawanabee]

For you visual learners. Snagged this from the Blacksmith discussion page under balance.
http://i49.tinypic.com/2guing9.jpg

[ShiftyWaffle]

hrrrm I still a bit confused, even wit the chart. So in the first calc, there is a 50% chance for 1x, or 50% to go up in casts, I get that. The second calcultation, there is a 50% chance for it to be 2x, or a 50% chance to move to the 3rd calculation, meaning oveall, there is a 25% chance for a 2x? Is that correct, before I move on to talk about the 3rd calc?

ps, thanks for your comment on tablet, that makes sense, agreed. And do you think that instead of a talisman of exile, it maybe be better to get a single mark of the novice and a mana pot, since I find buy the recipe just delays bottle a little too much, and besides I get stats from power supply.

[Padawanabee]

Yes, it repeatedly checks 50/50 whether it goes up or stays the same. So it's 50% chance to hit once. There's 50% chance remaining, and half of that goes to x2, making it a 25% chance. Half of the remaining 25% chance is split between the last two calculations, making it 12.5% for each.

And you don't need to build a Talisman of Exile every game, but if you're going back to your base with 1100, it is smarter to grab Marchers and a Bottle, whereas with 800 gold you could get your bottle, or Marchers and finishing the Talisman. It isn't essential, simply useful to buff up your mana total until you start working on your Hellflower.

[Padawanabee]

Updated with the new changes. Cleaned up the items section and added an alternative core replacing Hellflower with Nome's Wisdom and Harkon's.

[Wonderfail]

Sac stone got buffed making it a nice item again.

What do you think about gettings support items such as Puzzlebox?
Or is it just generally better to play it with damage?

[Padawanabee]

I would advocate it, but there are two main reasons I don't have it listed.

It has str instead of the mana regen most of my suggested items has. BS doesn't need str, but he does need around 200% mana regen from items to do well. So if you didn't get it it would be after at least Nome's

Second, while it's not a bad item it's an underused one. So only 1 out of 10 people would bother with it anyway.

If you have mana under control, by all means go for it because Puzzlebox is a very effective item for its price.

Well true he doesn't exactly NEED strenght, but more hp has never killed anyone.

But yeah, I can see his need for regen.

What about Sacrificial Stone to make him a bit tanky? It gives good regen, and the new buff is quite nice too. Although it doesn't really give anything to his damage.

[Wonderfail]

Having sac stone gives the mana pool/regen you need and the hp/hp regen allows you to initiate team fights by just harassing with hammer/fireball untill A. you get a lot of multicast procs and almost drop someone instantly or B. they initiate on you in which case with frenzy + 2-3kHP you wont die.

Oh btw, on Chaotic flames you write "Level 3: 25% chance to cast 2x. 12.5% chance to cast 3x. 12.5% chance to cast 4x." when it's actually 50%, 25% and 12.5% (you did write it correctly on the Fireball skill, though)

[ElementUser]

Oh btw, on Chaotic flames you write "Level 3: 25% chance to cast 2x. 12.5% chance to cast 3x. 12.5% chance to cast 4x." when it's actually 50%, 25% and 12.5% (you did write it correctly on the Fireball skill, though)

The guide writer isn't mistaken.

I'll use Malle's explanation for this:


It's because the probabilities are consecutive in the code.

Whenever you cast fireball, you get fireball #1 (since you always get a fireball)
Half of the time you cast fireball #1, you get fireball #2.
Half of the times you get fireball #2, you also get fireball #3.
Half of the times you get fireball #3, you also get fireball #4.

Thus,
There's a 12.5% chance to get fireball #4 for exactly 4x multicast.
There's a 25% chance to get fireball #3, for at least 3x multicast, but 12.5% is actually a 4x multicast, so the probability for exactly 3x multicast is 12.5%.
There's a 50% chance to get fireball #2, for at least 2x multicast, but 25% is actually 3x multicast or more, so the probability for exactly 2x multicast is 25%

Or, if we put it in a table:
Cast number: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Fireball #1 (1=yes) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Fireball #2 (1=yes) 1 1 1 1
Fireball #3 (1=yes) 1 1
Fireball #4 (1=yes) 1
Total fireballs 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 4

[Padawanabee]

Oh btw, on Chaotic flames you write "Level 3: 25% chance to cast 2x. 12.5% chance to cast 3x. 12.5% chance to cast 4x." when it's actually 50%, 25% and 12.5% (you did write it correctly on the Fireball skill, though)

Thanks for catching that I never fixed it under the skill itself. Forgot I had put it in the guide twice.

[Daether]

Hi,
I just wanted to ask if you might have a good replay of a Blacksmith game.
Would like to see one :).

Best regards
Daether

[Bowlslaw]

I'm not sure if this has been adressed already, but I noticed in the guide it says that you will likely be using fireball, and then flaming hammer. With the recent changed to flaming hammer reducing the target's magic armor, and the good range on flaming hammer, I would advise combo-ing flaming hammer, and then fireball.

One example of a situation where you would fireball first would be against a blink hero.

[Simo66]

Very nice guide, I used this, went into a couple low level pub noob games and just ganked like a beast :P

(First time playing blacksmith, went 25/3/5)

Of course, the scores don't say much because again, no stats noob game, but still, I think I'll try playing this hero in some games for keeps, cuz he's fun :)

Simo

[Padawanabee]

I'm not sure if this has been adressed already, but I noticed in the guide it says that you will likely be using fireball, and then flaming hammer. With the recent changed to flaming hammer reducing the target's magic armor, and the good range on flaming hammer, I would advise combo-ing flaming hammer, and then fireball.

One example of a situation where you would fireball first would be against a blink hero.

Flaming Hammer-> Fireball gives you 25% more damage on the Fireball. However, stunning and then slowing after it wears off gives you another second or two of auto attack time, so in many situations, especially early in the game before you can depend on multicasts, you will get more damage done that way.

Also, like you said, there are enemies such as Hag, or Scout, on whom opening with the stun would be more effective since it gives you a bit more time before they escape.

I have it written down both ways in the guide, since there are benefits either way. And I might have just missed a paragraph when I quickly skimmed it earlier this week.

[CallofDuty5]

ive personally found ring of teacher to be an excellent starting item, not only does it upkeep my mana a little bit and add a little survivability, but it helps the person im laning with too

ring of sorcery isnt worth it, because it doesnt help you as much as rushing some of your hellflower/cyclone stick in the longer run

other than that, great guide

[Padawanabee]

I agree that ring of sorcery isn't worth it, which is why it isn't in my guide anywhere. I prefer regen consumables and hatchet/shield to an early RotT myself, but everyone has their own preferences when it comes to initiation.

[Wonderfail]

fail

[Padawanabee]

Flaming Hammer does 300, not 400. And the fact that Fireball goes from 175->275 at level 4 makes leveling that first the smarter option.

[zangief2000]

fist off, this is a great guide. very informative and the builds are awesome. i have, however, another build that isn't mentioned in this thread that works wonders for me so far.

from the start i ask for mid solo (crazy, but it works for me) and only buy one item for the 603 starting gold, bottle. also, instead of going fireball (pardon the DotA spell references) at lvls 1, 3, 5 and 7, then going for multicast at lvl 6, i actually level flaming hammer first at 1,3,5,7 then fireball at 2,4,6,8.

flaming hammer for me is much much better than fireball early on where you have limited mana. coupled with the fact that it boosts fireball damage, its perfect to max both first than multicast, which is very unreliable early on. multicast not only increases fireball's manacost, it also is unreliable wherein you get to have a 2x multicasting fireball 1 out of 4 tries, and IMO smith just doesnt have the mana to hope for a lucky multicast.

anyway, once i get to level 3, i cast flaming hammer on my enemy, and see their hp go down. before they know it, you're ready to combo the fireball with it and bloodlust him. you now have level advantage, not to mention psychological advantage wherein your opponent would hesitate in doing anything other than survive because your combo is that good.

even though i only tried this twice, those were 1600+ games so you can't say the opponent is a beginner. anyway, the first time we won with me going 12-1, then the other i finished the first 20 minutes with a score of 8-0 before we lost the game. i also get to earn at least 2700 gold having only a bottle in my inventory before i went back to base to buy... ahem.. post haste boots (i just realized how bad it was for blacksmith xD). Most importantly, whoever lanes with me at mid (most likely a psudo-carry or a good early laner) gets dominated and did nothing the entire game.

i dunno if you can recommend my skill and item build to Blacksmith users, so criticize it any way you guys want. but for me, it works quite well and im going to stick to it for now.

p.s. i've been thinking about doing the same thing (starting with bottle), but next time i got boatloads of gold, im gonna buy steamboots. after that, is it better if i go straight to Harkon's for the quick win or is it better if i go for nome's first for the cheap mana regen and attack speed? thanks for the advice.

[Liryan]

i don't think you'd have the mana to both spam your spells AND use harkons when you can't even do the first very well without some mana regen items

[zobra]

fist off, this is a great guide. very informative and the builds are awesome. i have, however, another build that isn't mentioned in this thread that works wonders for me so far.

from the start i ask for mid solo (crazy, but it works for me) and only buy one item for the 603 starting gold, bottle. also, instead of going fireball (pardon the DotA spell references) at lvls 1, 3, 5 and 7, then going for multicast at lvl 6, i actually level flaming hammer first at 1,3,5,7 then fireball at 2,4,6,8.

flaming hammer for me is much much better than fireball early on where you have limited mana. coupled with the fact that it boosts fireball damage, its perfect to max both first than multicast, which is very unreliable early on. multicast not only increases fireball's manacost, it also is unreliable wherein you get to have a 2x multicasting fireball 1 out of 4 tries, and IMO smith just doesnt have the mana to hope for a lucky multicast.

anyway, once i get to level 3, i cast flaming hammer on my enemy, and see their hp go down. before they know it, you're ready to combo the fireball with it and bloodlust him. you now have level advantage, not to mention psychological advantage wherein your opponent would hesitate in doing anything other than survive because your combo is that good.

even though i only tried this twice, those were 1600+ games so you can't say the opponent is a beginner. anyway, the first time we won with me going 12-1, then the other i finished the first 20 minutes with a score of 8-0 before we lost the game. i also get to earn at least 2700 gold having only a bottle in my inventory before i went back to base to buy... ahem.. post haste boots (i just realized how bad it was for blacksmith xD). Most importantly, whoever lanes with me at mid (most likely a psudo-carry or a good early laner) gets dominated and did nothing the entire game.

i dunno if you can recommend my skill and item build to Blacksmith users, so criticize it any way you guys want. but for me, it works quite well and im going to stick to it for now.

p.s. i've been thinking about doing the same thing (starting with bottle), but next time i got boatloads of gold, im gonna buy steamboots. after that, is it better if i go straight to Harkon's for the quick win or is it better if i go for nome's first for the cheap mana regen and attack speed? thanks for the advice.

blacksmith got shitload of armor hence he can take range harassing.
add excellent last-hit

[Padawanabee]

i don't think you'd have the mana to both spam your spells AND use harkons when you can't even do the first very well without some mana regen items

Harkon's is a mana regen item.

[Albane]

I have been playing HoN for about 5 months now, and for the first time got Blacksmith in a AR game. My team got shafted on our randoms, and I figured this was a good time to play a new hero.

I was pleasantly surprised when I reached about level 4 and figured out how most of his abilities works and how fast his attack animation was. I could easily last hit and deny every creep in range, with a hatchet. I also had never noticed that he was a Int hero, since i had just assumed he was agility because of the melee.

Hell Flower was made for this character, but because of my teams problems with CC, i grabbed a stormspirit and used it every chance I had to interrupt or lock down one of the enemy teams players.

After reading your guide, I am looking forward to playing Blacksmith again, and hopefully raping face with a couple 4x multicast.

[MiloM]

It seems Frenzy does bounce to allies, but what is the max range?

[Lasheron]

I reallly LOVE to buy:PostHaste: if im farmed well because with :PostHaste: + Frenzy + :Stormspirit: you are running around like crazy and the only counter to that is a quick trigger finger from a stun ganker or Hemorrhage from :bloo:.


So if someone slows you down you just use :Stormspirit: on them and run away. Or for ganks you can run in, fireball run out of any counterattack, come back when fireballl is ready.. pretty much do that until you get a quad cast.

[LoveFoolf]

Just got a Quad kill after getting Harkons + Hellflowers, combined with Behemoth and Zephyr.

Wouldn't say hes a carry but the damage is astronomical - really great guide and great hero.

KT

[Madhawx]

Hmm did some games last night, the way i build BS:

- Start:
Runes of Blight
2x Minor totems
monkey/ward

- Mid:
Mana battery
Phase Boots

- End:
Stormspirit

Codex


Some great matches that was :P

Stormspirit is great for my survivablity + mana reg. While Fireball + Codex makes my kills.

Also

Fireball -> Stormspirit -> Fireball is a great combo :) *with flaming hammer between it somewhere*

[SHJordan]

Hmm did some games last night, the way i build BS:

- Start:
Runes of Blight
2x Minor totems
monkey/ward

- Mid:
Mana battery
Phase Boots

- End:
Stormspirit

Codex


Some great matches that was :P

Stormspirit is great for my survivablity + mana reg. While Fireball + Codex makes my kills.

Also

Fireball -> Stormspirit -> Fireball is a great combo :) *with flaming hammer between it somewhere*

Interesting... I'll test it... could you post an ID match for comparison???:blac::blac::blac::blac::blac:

[Madhawx]

Interesting... I'll test it... could you post an ID match for comparison???:blac::blac::blac::blac::blac:


25957139

This is me playing on my brothers account, but he is Really low psr (had to lvl his psr a bit) So its noobs i am dealing with, but you will get an idea of how it could work.

[SHJordan]

25957139

This is me playing on my brothers account, but he is Really low psr (had to lvl his psr a bit) So its noobs i am dealing with, but you will get an idea of how it could work.

Thank you! I'll be watching it ASAP!!!;)

[Pinilla1]

http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=26640939

pretty good bs game, feel free to ban the dg on my team

1650+

[pmang]

has anyone tried portal key on him? I tried it a few times in 1700+ ban drafts and it worked like a gem. I was wondering if it can be used in higher level games.:blac:

[SHJordan]

has anyone tried portal key on him? I tried it a few times in 1700+ ban drafts and it worked like a gem. I was wondering if it can be used in higher level games.:blac:

game id pls!!!

[xporkbuns]

Dude, I really suck at leveling. Any tips? I'm like level 13, & its already 40 minutes into the game.

[SHJordan]

Dude, I really suck at leveling. Any tips? I'm like level 13, & its already 40 minutes into the game.

1 - TRY TO LANE WITH A RANGED HERO
2 - TRY TO DENY MORE THAN LAST HITTING
3 - START WITH A HATCHET AND A BUCKLER
4 - ALWAYS GANK WHENEVER IS POSSIBLE

I think you can do a good game with these tips....

[TriPoison]

surely bs should get ghost marchers cus he doesnt need the stat gain from steam cus his str gain is so high:?

he doesnt need the stat gain from steam cus his str gain is so high:?
Click your Steamboots twice.

Seems to me like Blacksmith & TB would be a very strong lane? At level 3: lvl2 Hammer/lvl2 Blast/Chain/Blast/Fireball should be enough to basically instagib any AGI guy who comes up to last hit a creep?

[Prince_Sora]

exellent guide! but ah..i think at lvl 1 u should get flaming hammer because it has slow and damage rather than taking fireball at lvl1 witch has low dmage but stun.slow is better because if u have slow on the enemy u can hit him anytime u want and also blacksmith has high damage right? and core items uh lets see this should be ur final items.
-Enhanced Marchers
-Sacrificial Stone
-Frostfield Plate
-Harkons Blade
if u want other items
-Behemoth's Heart
-Daemonic Breastplate
for tank :D

[Nuegod]

Came from a game. Got steamboots over enhanced marchers. Wasn't really impressed. I find the phase infinitely useful for getting into position.

The way I see it, BS has a choice. A straight hellflower or stormspirit. Then followed by the item that wasn't taken. With enhanced marchers, you have supreme moblity and ganking ability.

Having the extra nuke really helps (codex), I've had a couple of instances where the enemy would get away with a good chunk of health. If i was ranged, I would be able to auto-attack but I ain't so I QQ.

Run in with phase, hellflower, Fiaming hammer, stun, codex, if not dead cyclone rinse and repeat.

Instagib with Fireball and codex is too fun.

[wala]

exellent guide! but ah..i think at lvl 1 u should get flaming hammer because it has slow and damage rather than taking fireball at lvl1 witch has low dmage but stun.slow is better because if u have slow on the enemy u can hit him anytime u want and also blacksmith has high damage right? and core items uh lets see this should be ur final items.
-Enhanced Marchers
-Sacrificial Stone
-Frostfield Plate
-Harkons Blade
if u want other items
-Behemoth's Heart
-Daemonic Breastplate
for tank :D

Sometimes it's better to get the slow, but since bs' stun is 1.5 seconds from level 1, I'd say stun is almost always better. The stun is used against heroes with escape mechanisms like has, magmus, etc, and the stun can give you just enough time for a chain stun from pyro, etc.

[Tboy]

I've had amazing results from my Blacksmith games where my core would consist of Enhanced marchers, Power Supply, Stormspirit and Codex.

I actually tried hellflower, but it takes too long to build to become useful, and it takes up alot of space. I found it only good when countering specific heroes e.g. heroes with stealth etc...

What's interesting is that Codex and Stormspirit both use Neophyte's Book in their recipes. So depending on how the game is going you can go either way. SS for defense. If doing well, Codex to keep the kills coming in. Once armed with both, I can't express how fun it is to run around the map instagibbing people with or without allied help.

Solo Gank:
Step 1: Buff self, Phase, run in
Step 2: Flame Hammer/Fireball (depends on hero)
Step 3: Fireball/Flame Hammer
Step 4: Codex
Step 5: If not dead give chase and beat down. (Cyclone and repeat if still not dead)
Step 6: ???
Step 7: Profit!

If ganking 2 heroes with or without ally it's just a matter of buffing ally and/or self, running in and immediately cyclone 1 hero and instagib. Then mow down other hero.

My 2 blacksmiths. Gosh I'm totally in-love with this hero.

[Nuegod]

Whoops. I've realized that I've posted on a different account.

Tboy~Nuegod.

[Dederd]

i buy bottle and power supply on him pretty much every time. I usually go for plated greaves, but ghost marchers seem to work pretty well too.

I usually go for nome's wisdom or puzzlebox after that.

[Nuegod]

Puzzlebox! I think I'll try that some time!

[Kak300]

i have a better guide just ask me on HoN next time i am on

[Padawanabee]

i buy bottle and power supply on him pretty much every time. I usually go for plated greaves, but ghost marchers seem to work pretty well too.

I usually go for nome's wisdom or puzzlebox after that.

Puzzlebox is a decent luxury item, but you would get much more out of an item with mana regen, first. Going Nome's -> Puzzlebox would be a fine build, though.

[Pyr4te]

Honestly, i didn't like that Guide at all. Here's why...

Firstly HBlade on him ? NO, omg, no ! I do understand the synergy you pointed out there, but seriously, that item just doesn't help you and especially your Team at all, if u can't run up to the enemy fast enough, which makes it basically useless on a melee hero, not mentioning the Mana-Issues BS already has early. Compared to Totem or Storm it just isn't worth it. Better tell Puppet to pick it up asap to synergize with the Flaming Hammer of yours and do amazing magical dmg.
Hellflower is another Topic. The Disable is decent, although Kuldra shines a bit more. But yeah, i have mixed feelings about that one. With a Nuker in the Party it can be totally worth it, but i wouldn't recommend it as the "Core".

Then again, I don't agree with the Skillbuild.
I rarely max out Fireball first. Many people will ask "wtf?" now, easy to understand, as this is the Skill the Damage comes from, right ? Wrong ! Again, i want to point out, that BS is a supporter. I see that you understand that quite perfectly, Padawanabee. So all you want to do is make sure the Carry gets the Kill, and how do we do that ? Set up Ganks, yes, so you'll be like 2 or even 3v1/2 early, depending on if your partner has another disable/stun. So what does another 75/150/225 dmg (which will again be reduced due to magicarmor, unless you lower it prior to that) matter in that scenario ? That's like 2-3 hits from a melee Carry. Considering that the slow will grant u even more than that, i'd say it's a fairly good tradeoff. By the time you'll have the triplecast online, where it would be a rather obvious benefit you'll also have the points to spend in Fireball.

What i suggest is roaming a lot with BS and skilling Flaming Hammer and Frenzy with one point in Fireball (on lvl1 to disturb any channeling or animations) as the Stun is 1.5s at all levels.
So Frenzy or Flaming Hammer first ? That depends imo. Frenzy will help more if your gankpartner is physical dmg or FH if he's magical, as Frenzy scales with physical dmg (attspeed for Chronos for example) while FH scales with magical dmg (for nukes like Pyro's) Also Flaming Hammer does "ignite" more enemies due to the AoE "Chaotic Flames" provides, which makes you even more valuable in Teamfights, than Fireball would, which again is more valuable in the Midgame (imagine Tempest capturing all 5 enemies in his ulti and u cant ignite them, because you want that doublecast fireball and Frenzy, shame on you BS, you just traded 5 Kills to get 1 !!!). That Build is by far more "teamoriented" and not ecommended for pubs though.

Although i'd stand out that there are exceptions on that "Corebuild". Thats if u have a squishy Carry on the other team, that can easily escape and you have no other Disablers to handle him and even no Chasers, let's say Pollywog or again Chronos against Magebane. Basically the only Chance to win that game will be relying on your luck as many people tend to do with BS. Yeah, max out that Fireball first, as that game is lost to being outpicked anyway.

Oh, and another thing i'd want you to point out: People tend to use that Fireball first, then Flaming Hammer to chase them down, which in most of all cases is just the wrong way, at least in a Gank, when you don't need to interupt channeling or anything else, because again, Flaming Hammer decreases the Magicarmor for the Fireball to do more dmg. I just see so many people doing it just wrong.

PS: Didn't mean to offend you as i see, that you understand what playing a supporthero is about, but i guess you should think a bit more "out of the box" to match the requirements for a Premium Guide :D. And seriously, if you have a Magictypeheavy team people will get really pissed, if you don't skill that Flaming Hammer :smile:

Btw, are you planning to add a "Combo-" or "Partner-Section" ? Maybe you should cover at least a bit about that, since BS synergizes with basically every Hero in one way or another (see Flaming Hammer or Frenzy-Discussion).

[NoskillzNils]

What about tablet of command ? i find it extremly good on blacksmith

example: enemy is facing your team, you throw him into your team = free gold for the carry hero :)

[Padawanabee]

While Tablet is a good item, nothing about Blacksmith makes it any better on him than any other hero. He already has a stun/inturrupt, and he needs mana regen to be a force in the game. It's good for escaping, but between his 2 disables, frenzy ms and good str he doesn't really need that, much, either.

It's a good item, yes. But it isn't a good item on Blacksmith.

Flaming hammer is an unbelievably good harrassing tool really. I usually rush some small mana regen items and spam it on the enemy range hero to keep him out of range for harrassing me and my lanemate. If he comes too close I just fireball him away. It's more in the mindgames with this one because the other guy is afraid of the fireball. I suggest you guys to try this because it makes your penis look bigger. It will also let you farm faster for that codex if you happen to be playing easy mode.

[No_skiIlIz]

i?m a NooB getting to know Hon, never played dota.
but i just wanted to say a great guide.. i just started to play B S and i like him very much.. find it weird that the recommended page does not have hellflower which made perfect sense when i read it in this guide.. but i also buy the cyclone thing first like someone mentioned earlier.. i find it helps a lot in a pickle and adds good mana support early .

thx for the guide

[Padawanabee]

Updated. With Nomes being considerably less OP, I put Stormspirit+Harkon's as the alternative build. Although new Hellflower is quite good, and still my favorite Blacksmith item.

[GODLY]

I really like Nullstone on him.

[GregerMoek]

Did this ulti get better with Aghanim's Scepter in DotA earlier?
Dunno why I kept thinking about it, I'm sure I've seen a crazy 5times multicast somewhere.. :rolleyes:

Anyways, the cyclone staff thingy is kinda nice and almost a sure kill on -1500hp heroes if:

Flaming hammer-> Stundamagewtfbbq
Cyclone-> to wait for the stun cooldown
Cyclone ends-> Stundamagewtfbbq
????
Dead hero hopefully.

[BlueWand]

hammer still reduce magic armor right? I've been hearing otherwise lately.

[Drasha]

This guide needs images showing the range of all his abilities and 3 or more replays.

awesome guide please add them so i can move this back to premium!

[Myxfig]

Very nice guide :p not done reading it, but i like your writing-style.
It literally made me smile that you wrote "Dagon 3" and not "Codex 3" when you compared Puzzlebox with dagon :p

[d4bidden]

what you think about rushing sac stone?

Also...Blood chalice anyone?


Ghost Marcher + P Supply + Chlaice + Sac Stone = GG :S

[NaB]

Was this guide written a long time ago?

I would have assumed you want blood chalice and striders...

[yyr_]

Read my incomplete guide, it isnt finished but it has newer material

[K0diak]

I think an un-upgraded codex would work fine on him. If you blast codex and fireball right after flaming hammer connects, you'd out-burst pebbles. Blacksmith also does it from longer range, and he can take more punishment than pebbles.

[ARathleff]

I've played abit around with the Blacksmith recently and a core item (atleast in my eyes) is Spellshards, it got pretty much everything blacksmith needs to make him going from doing good dmg to deal awesome dmg :)
A lvl 3 spellshard decrease targets magicarmor by 6, pair that with flaming hammer which reduce magic armor by 4. so a lvl 4 flaming hammer + lvl 3 SShard = MINUS 10 magic armor, that's alot guys specially since u dont have to hit the target in melee like u have to do with hakon's blade..

Last time i checked the standard magic armor in HoN was 5 +/- 1. = equal to roughly 25% magic reduction.
Now for the ease of this calc we say 5 so a BS with FH4 + SS3 would make the enemy hero have -5 magic and INCREASING ur spell dmg by 25% instead of decreasing, that's an overall spell dmg increase by 66% (from 75% to 125% dmg) from hitting a target with FB without FH4 and SS3.. and u can add the Multicasts in aswell ^^ 4*275+300(FH4) = 1400 dmg*1.25 = 1750(1100 without ss3 and FH4) DMG for 2 casts :) and then u got the reduced cooldown and manaregen aswell from spellshard.
I dunno about u guys but that's Imba in my eyes
p.s for those codex happy ppl u also increase that dmg :D = more burst dmg than 2 Staff'd ulties from Either Pyro og Witchslayer

[_poop_]

I've played abit around with the Blacksmith recently and a core item (atleast in my eyes) is Spellshards, it got pretty much everything blacksmith needs to make him going from doing good dmg to deal awesome dmg :)
A lvl 3 spellshard decrease targets magicarmor by 6, pair that with flaming hammer which reduce magic armor by 4. so a lvl 4 flaming hammer + lvl 3 SShard = MINUS 10 magic armor, that's alot guys specially since u dont have to hit the target in melee like u have to do with hakon's blade..

Last time i checked the standard magic armor in HoN was 5 +/- 1. = equal to roughly 25% magic reduction.
Now for the ease of this calc we say 5 so a BS with FH4 + SS3 would make the enemy hero have -5 magic and INCREASING ur spell dmg by 25% instead of decreasing, that's an overall spell dmg increase by 66% (from 75% to 125% dmg) from hitting a target with FB without FH4 and SS3.. and u can add the Multicasts in aswell ^^ 4*275+300(FH4) = 1400 dmg*1.25 = 1750(1100 without ss3 and FH4) DMG for 2 casts :) and then u got the reduced cooldown and manaregen aswell from spellshard.
I dunno about u guys but that's Imba in my eyes
p.s for those codex happy ppl u also increase that dmg :D = more burst dmg than 2 Staff'd ulties from Either Pyro og Witchslayer

Spellshards doesn't reduce magic armor below 0, which is why many people don't like getting Spellshards on Blacksmith. People see it as a waste of an item when your hero can already lower magic armor. However, I do like Spellshards on him because you have a better chance of reducing their magic armor to 0, especially if the enemies get shaman's headdress. The fact that you can get a multicastx4 and deal a ton of damage while excluding magic armor seems like a huge plus.
However, Blacksmith seems to be able to do a lot of damage without Spellshards and many like to build him as a disabler. This is probably better for your team since they should be able to do the damage you lack without Spellshards.