Manastrider
06-01-2010, 05:17 PM
The Hero-Counter guide
Introduction
As many of you surely know, a very large aspect of Heroes of Newerth is making the right choices. The first and most obvious one being your hero choice. Your hero will be with you throughout the match, so you must be sure to pick one that you can play well. However, it is also very important that you pick a hero that will not be easy prey for your enemies - quite the opposite in fact! Your hero choice needs to be very potent against the very heroes your enemies have chosen, and that will nearly always provide you with a clear road to victory, as long as you have the skill to guide you. That said, I won't take much more of your time, so let's move on directly to what you're here for.
Timing
The time at which you select your hero is quite crucial in fact. While you may want to pick your hero first, so that the enemy team cannot, it is often a wiser choice to wait for the enemy team to choose a few heroes, so that you may pick someone to effectively defeat them. Usually teams have at least 1 (often 2, and sometimes up to 3 or 4) picks by the 20 second mark (ie 20 seconds left), which should be more than enough time for you to take your counterheroes.
Hero-Specific Counters
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/avernus.png
Accursed
Counters:
:soulr: Soul Reaper - Soul Reaper's Demonic Execution is one of few spells that can instantly assassinate a hero, and that also goes for Accursed if his health is around the 40% threshold. Reaper also has the luxury of constantly casting Judgement, which compared to both Accursed's heal and barrier will make quick work of him.
:balp: Balphagore - Balphagore's Demonic Pathogen assures that Accursed cannot use his barrier, nor his shield. Additionally, with the help of his minions, Balphagore can quickly take out Accursed's health, and can use Hell on Newerth to instantly kill him, should he come near the activation threshold of Flame Consumption.
:witc: Witch Slayer - As it should be obvious, Witch Slayer's Silver Bullet deals quite a large (even massive) amount of damage to a single target. But if that was the case, then we would have to add Pyromancer as well, right? Well, it just so happens Witch Slayer has more disables than Pyromancer which is crucial in preventing Accursed from placing Fire Shield on himself, and even has Siphon Mana which prevents future uses of self-support.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/andro.png
Andromeda
Counters:
:succ: Succubus - The other thing Andromeda has going for her, apart from her swap and stun, is her massive physical damage output, provided she has leveled Dimensional Link and has placed Aurora on her target. Succubus' Smitten is a direct counter to any hero who is based on physical damage, but she is also a very good counter because she can disable Andromeda much faster than Andromeda can disable her; why you ask? Well, first of all, Andromeda's Comet has a smaller range than Succubus' Mesmerize, but also has a projectile, meaning it takes time to reach its target. Therefore, if they both use the spells on each other, and Andromeda manages to launch the Comet, Succubus will last through the stun, but her sleep lasts much longer.
:jera: Jeraziah - As I have mentioned, Andromeda has the upper hand by having one of the highest physical damage outputs. However, Jeraziah effectively repels both her physical damage with Sol's Blessing, and her Comet with Charm.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/arachna.png
Arachna
Counters:
:dead: DeadWood - It's log, it's log... Deadwood is a very effective counter to Arachna, because Clearcutting grants him snare immunity, which is on some level Arachna's only strength. He also has his own disables: Rotten Grasp, as well as his Son of a Birch, which can easily outweigh Arachna's.
:HomecomingStone: Homecoming Stone - Though not technically a Hero-Counter to Arachna, having a Homecoming stone with you at all times is almost crucial. The only reason being she has no way to interrupt you (unless she for some reason takes Hellflower or Brutalizer), so it is extremely easy to avoid her Spiderling as well as her snares.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/bristle.png
Armadon
Counters:
:legi: Legionnaire - Legionnaire is a true nightmare to any Armadon player. His taunt will force you to engage him from the front, and also prevents you from using your spells to trigger Restless. What's more, his Decapitate is not reduced by your Armordillo, since it issues a kill command (if you're below the threshold). If you think it's not much, a level 25 Armadon takes about ~1,300 spell damage taken from the back to kill, if he's at 600 health. Compare that to one hit from Decapitate. And if that wasn't annoying enough, Legionnaire is a massive pain to chase, since Armadon can't moonwalk, and his Whirling Blade always strikes you from the front.
:soulr: Soul Reaper - Though not the most obvious, Soul Reaper takes damage in %, and his Judgement allows him to stay at a high health level at all times. What's more, it will also significantly drop Armadon's health, and once it goes below 40%, his Demonic Execution will instantly slaughter him (providing you cast it from the front that is). Though a smart Armadon will always have his back turn when you use Judgement, it's often very hard since he will try to melee you.
:slit: Slither - Slither is a very dangerous enemy, mostly because his poisons will deal immense damage to you, since you have no other protection apart from Armordillo. He can also drop wards at a large distance, which are immune to your spells, so not only will you have to melee them, but odds are they'll get 3-4 hits on you before you can kill one of them.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/behemoth.png
Behemoth
Counters:
:vind: Vindicator - Vindicator is probably the best counter to Behemoth (as well as any other chaincasters). His Glyph will absolutely destroy you by disabling you from casting your spells; and as well all know, Behemoth's only role is to Blink in, and cast his ass off. A good Vindicator will most likely pop Final Chapter just as you blink in, completely ruining you.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/smith.png
Blacksmith
Counters:
:fayd: Fayde - Blacksmith is easy pray for an assassin like Fayde. She has the best mana burn in the game, and will take you down in a matter of seconds if you do not stun her on time. What's more, if you cast your stun on her illusion, rest assured that you're as good as dead. Furthermore, her Stance acts as a free "-1 multicast" shield.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/strygwyr.png
Bloodhunter
Counters:
:dark: The Dark Lady - The Dark Lady is one of the most effective counters to Bloodhunter for several reasons: Placing Blood Craze simply means one less spell for her to cast; Not placing Blood Craze on her means that she can silence and slow you. If that wasn't enough, her Taint Soul has massive range (I cannot stress enough how huge it is, practically twice as large as Blood Craze), and her Charging Strikes do not cause damage even if under the effects of Hemorrhage. Oh, and guess what, she does more damage than you.
:arma: Armadon - You guessed it. Hemorrhage does less damage if cast from behind (and, according to Murphy's law, you will cast it from behind). His Snotstorm also slows by a large amount if applied enough, and he can even chase a Bloodhunter with Bloodsense activated if he manages to stack his slow enough times.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/turtlehug.png
Bubbles
Counters:
:vind: Vindicator - Same as on Behemoth, really. His Glyph prevents you from using your initiation combo, therefore rendering you somewhat useless. He has great lane presence as well, and prevents you from ganking him due to being unable to chain-cast. All-in-all, a terrible hero to play against. I suggest you repick if you end up playing versus Vindicator.
:WardOfSight: Wards of Sight - Though technically not a hero counter, Wards of Sight can potentially ruin your rune control, and what's more, enemies will/should have clear vision of you, making initiation that much harder. As a fragile hero, Bubbles can easily get ganked should he be seen, therefore it's very important that you counterward effectively.
More coming soon!
Introduction
As many of you surely know, a very large aspect of Heroes of Newerth is making the right choices. The first and most obvious one being your hero choice. Your hero will be with you throughout the match, so you must be sure to pick one that you can play well. However, it is also very important that you pick a hero that will not be easy prey for your enemies - quite the opposite in fact! Your hero choice needs to be very potent against the very heroes your enemies have chosen, and that will nearly always provide you with a clear road to victory, as long as you have the skill to guide you. That said, I won't take much more of your time, so let's move on directly to what you're here for.
Timing
The time at which you select your hero is quite crucial in fact. While you may want to pick your hero first, so that the enemy team cannot, it is often a wiser choice to wait for the enemy team to choose a few heroes, so that you may pick someone to effectively defeat them. Usually teams have at least 1 (often 2, and sometimes up to 3 or 4) picks by the 20 second mark (ie 20 seconds left), which should be more than enough time for you to take your counterheroes.
Hero-Specific Counters
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/avernus.png
Accursed
Counters:
:soulr: Soul Reaper - Soul Reaper's Demonic Execution is one of few spells that can instantly assassinate a hero, and that also goes for Accursed if his health is around the 40% threshold. Reaper also has the luxury of constantly casting Judgement, which compared to both Accursed's heal and barrier will make quick work of him.
:balp: Balphagore - Balphagore's Demonic Pathogen assures that Accursed cannot use his barrier, nor his shield. Additionally, with the help of his minions, Balphagore can quickly take out Accursed's health, and can use Hell on Newerth to instantly kill him, should he come near the activation threshold of Flame Consumption.
:witc: Witch Slayer - As it should be obvious, Witch Slayer's Silver Bullet deals quite a large (even massive) amount of damage to a single target. But if that was the case, then we would have to add Pyromancer as well, right? Well, it just so happens Witch Slayer has more disables than Pyromancer which is crucial in preventing Accursed from placing Fire Shield on himself, and even has Siphon Mana which prevents future uses of self-support.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/andro.png
Andromeda
Counters:
:succ: Succubus - The other thing Andromeda has going for her, apart from her swap and stun, is her massive physical damage output, provided she has leveled Dimensional Link and has placed Aurora on her target. Succubus' Smitten is a direct counter to any hero who is based on physical damage, but she is also a very good counter because she can disable Andromeda much faster than Andromeda can disable her; why you ask? Well, first of all, Andromeda's Comet has a smaller range than Succubus' Mesmerize, but also has a projectile, meaning it takes time to reach its target. Therefore, if they both use the spells on each other, and Andromeda manages to launch the Comet, Succubus will last through the stun, but her sleep lasts much longer.
:jera: Jeraziah - As I have mentioned, Andromeda has the upper hand by having one of the highest physical damage outputs. However, Jeraziah effectively repels both her physical damage with Sol's Blessing, and her Comet with Charm.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/arachna.png
Arachna
Counters:
:dead: DeadWood - It's log, it's log... Deadwood is a very effective counter to Arachna, because Clearcutting grants him snare immunity, which is on some level Arachna's only strength. He also has his own disables: Rotten Grasp, as well as his Son of a Birch, which can easily outweigh Arachna's.
:HomecomingStone: Homecoming Stone - Though not technically a Hero-Counter to Arachna, having a Homecoming stone with you at all times is almost crucial. The only reason being she has no way to interrupt you (unless she for some reason takes Hellflower or Brutalizer), so it is extremely easy to avoid her Spiderling as well as her snares.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/bristle.png
Armadon
Counters:
:legi: Legionnaire - Legionnaire is a true nightmare to any Armadon player. His taunt will force you to engage him from the front, and also prevents you from using your spells to trigger Restless. What's more, his Decapitate is not reduced by your Armordillo, since it issues a kill command (if you're below the threshold). If you think it's not much, a level 25 Armadon takes about ~1,300 spell damage taken from the back to kill, if he's at 600 health. Compare that to one hit from Decapitate. And if that wasn't annoying enough, Legionnaire is a massive pain to chase, since Armadon can't moonwalk, and his Whirling Blade always strikes you from the front.
:soulr: Soul Reaper - Though not the most obvious, Soul Reaper takes damage in %, and his Judgement allows him to stay at a high health level at all times. What's more, it will also significantly drop Armadon's health, and once it goes below 40%, his Demonic Execution will instantly slaughter him (providing you cast it from the front that is). Though a smart Armadon will always have his back turn when you use Judgement, it's often very hard since he will try to melee you.
:slit: Slither - Slither is a very dangerous enemy, mostly because his poisons will deal immense damage to you, since you have no other protection apart from Armordillo. He can also drop wards at a large distance, which are immune to your spells, so not only will you have to melee them, but odds are they'll get 3-4 hits on you before you can kill one of them.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/behemoth.png
Behemoth
Counters:
:vind: Vindicator - Vindicator is probably the best counter to Behemoth (as well as any other chaincasters). His Glyph will absolutely destroy you by disabling you from casting your spells; and as well all know, Behemoth's only role is to Blink in, and cast his ass off. A good Vindicator will most likely pop Final Chapter just as you blink in, completely ruining you.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/smith.png
Blacksmith
Counters:
:fayd: Fayde - Blacksmith is easy pray for an assassin like Fayde. She has the best mana burn in the game, and will take you down in a matter of seconds if you do not stun her on time. What's more, if you cast your stun on her illusion, rest assured that you're as good as dead. Furthermore, her Stance acts as a free "-1 multicast" shield.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/strygwyr.png
Bloodhunter
Counters:
:dark: The Dark Lady - The Dark Lady is one of the most effective counters to Bloodhunter for several reasons: Placing Blood Craze simply means one less spell for her to cast; Not placing Blood Craze on her means that she can silence and slow you. If that wasn't enough, her Taint Soul has massive range (I cannot stress enough how huge it is, practically twice as large as Blood Craze), and her Charging Strikes do not cause damage even if under the effects of Hemorrhage. Oh, and guess what, she does more damage than you.
:arma: Armadon - You guessed it. Hemorrhage does less damage if cast from behind (and, according to Murphy's law, you will cast it from behind). His Snotstorm also slows by a large amount if applied enough, and he can even chase a Bloodhunter with Bloodsense activated if he manages to stack his slow enough times.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab290/Manastrider/HoN/turtlehug.png
Bubbles
Counters:
:vind: Vindicator - Same as on Behemoth, really. His Glyph prevents you from using your initiation combo, therefore rendering you somewhat useless. He has great lane presence as well, and prevents you from ganking him due to being unable to chain-cast. All-in-all, a terrible hero to play against. I suggest you repick if you end up playing versus Vindicator.
:WardOfSight: Wards of Sight - Though technically not a hero counter, Wards of Sight can potentially ruin your rune control, and what's more, enemies will/should have clear vision of you, making initiation that much harder. As a fragile hero, Bubbles can easily get ganked should he be seen, therefore it's very important that you counterward effectively.
More coming soon!