Hassle's Succubus Guide

[Hassle]

http://skitza.net/uploads/60b894b4f72c7a7385f018329e087783.jpg


Succubus was a new hero ported in with the new patch, she is the equivalent of Bane Elemental from DoTA. Please keep in mind this is the way I play succubus and she is absolutely devastating if played correctly.

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Skills

Smitten
Succubus causes a target enemy to
become smitten with her beauty. Drastically
reduces base attack damage.

Mana Cost: 125
-30/-60/-90/-120% Base Damage.

Smitten can really throw a wrench in the gears of any DPS hero making them hit like feathers, very useful skill but I normally choose not to level this early game in order to max Heartache and Mesmerize for early game ganking.

Heartache
Succubus breaks the heart of a foe, and feeds of the
despair it causes. Siultaneously damaging the enemy
and healing herself

Mana Cost: 125 / 150 / 175 / 200
75 / 150 / 225 / 300 true damage.
heals for 75 / 150 / 225 / 300

This skill is your bread and butter damage dealing ability it is a massive nuke of true damage meaning unmitigated by magic armor, ouch! I find it is best to cast mesmerize, run in front of your target and then heartache after mesmerize ends. Followed with Succubus Hold if necessary.

Mesmerize
The succubus mesmerizes a target.
The target becomes completely disabled,
and takes some damage over time.
If any unit attacks the mesmerized target, the effects are passed to them.

Mana Cost: 165
Lasts for 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 seconds.
Deals 20 magic damage per second.

This skill is succubus' main crowd control spell, completely disables a target, but a word of caution, try to warn your team before you mesmerize a target, if they accidentally hit the mesmerized target it will cancel off your intended target and apply itself to your ally!

Succubus' Hold
Succubus drains the essence of an enemy,
dealing damage over time and draining mana.
While being drained the target enemy is unable to act.

Mana Cost: 100 / 175 / 250
Deals 100 / 155 / 215 magic damage per second.
5% of maximum mana drained per second.

This skill wrecks kids. When combined with mesmerize, Smitten and heartache you can single handedly disable 3 enemy heroes simultaneously. Not to mention nuke someone down from 100% to dead without them being able to act.


Play Style

Succubus is an amazing 1v1 hero, the only draw back is her ultimate is channeled so therefore one stun and your done. The general idea behind effectively ganking with succubus is open with heartache, chain a mesmerize and wait for it to wear off, just as it wears off Succubus' Hold them. Not only will you do massive damage to said target but your cooldown on Heartache should be almost finished by the time your combo is finished. In team battles to to keep as much CC(Crowd Control) up as possible mesmerizing important heroes, using Smitten on their heavy hitters etc.

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Item Build


Starting Items

3x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/accessories/minortotem.jpg 1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/accessories/crushingclaws.jpg 2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/manapotion.jpg 2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/item12runesofblight.jpg

These starting items will give you important early game stats for last hitting as well as a higher base HP pool, because early game like most int based casters, you are like paper.

Mid Game Items
Mid game shoot for

2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/item6fortifiedbracelet.jpg 1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/enhancedmarchers.jpg 1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Protective/sacraficialstone.jpg 1x-2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/homecomingstone.jpg

This is the core of my succubus build. A lot of people choose to play succubus with items such as puzzle box, I have as well seen a codex or two, but for me the main thing you need to be successful is high HP / MP pools and heavy regen. The bracers and Sac Stone will give you the HP you need mid game, also Sac Stone synergies perfectly with succubus because at the rate you can stack charges on the Sac Stone, you will be more than just a free kill for a tunnel visioning agility hero. Enhanced Marchers of course so you can be Zoom Zoom, and always, always always always, I cannot stress this enough, carry Homecoming stones, they will save your life.

End Game / Vanity Items

1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Combative/staffofthemaster.jpg

Staff of the masters boosts your ultimate ability which to some is valued over sac stone, you will still gain an HP and an MP boost but the constant regen off the Sac Stone makes it superior to Staff of the Masters in my opinion hence why the staff made its way into vanity / late game items.

1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Protective/shrunkenhead.jpg

Shrunken Head is always good for throwing on if your having trouble getting your ult off for the full duration.

1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Supportive/totemofkuldra.jpg

Totem is always nice it will give you 4 disables instead of the 3 you already have.

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Skill Build
1. Heartache
2. Mesmerize
3. Heartache
4. Mesmerize
5. Heartache
6. Succubus' Hold
7. Heartache
8. Mesmerize
9. Mesmerize
10. Smitten
11. Succubus' Hold
12-15. Smitten
15. Stats
16. Succubus' Hold
17-25. Stats

This is the skill build I use, it really plays to succubus' early game ganker roll and works well with getting smitten toward early-mid game when heroes really start hitting harder. The logic behind taking mesmerize over stats early game is the extra damage from mesmerize just adds that little bit extra as well as gives you the couple extra seconds you need in team battles and the bracer's give me enough HP to avoid ganks early game.

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Thanks for reading, and please remember this is the way I play succubus and as such is more or less meant for PUB games, I am sure there are other ways out there, other skill builds / Item routes. But for those of you still learning the awesomeness that is succubus' I hope it helped!

Hassle.

[Hassle]

Yes but the HP Gained from using heartache can help you with hairy first blood situations as well.

[THE_SPOOKY]

If you don't have a good solo mid(i.e. pubgame), Succubus is a great one with a bottle. Squishier midders like Arachna will cry at level 2 Heartache and run home to mommy, and you're pretty much 100% guaranteed a kill at 6/7 with Ache->Mesmerize->Hold.

[SunshinePony]

Nice Guide
OMG ITS BANE! :D :D :D

[Travakh]

Bloodstone over necbook is a pub build.

[Hassle]

please remember this is the way I play succubus and as such is more or less meant for PUB games

Sorry I will specify in a different color font as to better ease your reading that this guide is meant for general pub stomping...Oh wait...

[Tyrando]

I ususally, heck ive always Solo'ed mid with this chick, a Bottle + rune whoring comes in very handy due to her massive mana costs on spells, the extra exp is a very welcome bonus to.

Getting Mesmerise at lvl 1 is more important because a 4 second disable is hilarious to use when you steal a rune right from under someone's nose.

Great Hero :)

[Xion1]

Yeah I dont agree with your Skillbuild, especially if you take Mesmerize only for the bit extra damage which resembles 1 auto attack in difference between level 1 and level 4. If you'd drop that and get stats instead you would not have the need for that extra HP/MP cus your stats provide that allready. Sac Stone is not needed since you barely can spam your skills due to cooldown anyways, most of the time you're not even able to cast em twice in a teamfight - Totem of Kuldra alone provides enough manaregen. Staff of the Master over a Puzzlebox is a waste as Puzzlebox level 2 provides more dps and much more usefull stats then a Staff of the Master and is roughly the same cost.

[Llama]

are the stats mean to be like that? 18-18-18 and 2.1-2.1-2.1 seems like someone left them at the defualts by accident >.<

[Xion1]

No they're supposed to be like this.

[oSoM]

Good guide, but a few remarks.

probably mesmerize is in most cases the better choice at level 1. Its your only escape mechanism if things go wrong, and a 75hp heal/dmg is not much. If you want to pull off a gank, on mesmerize you get 4*20*0.65=52 dmg, as well as the possibility for yourself and a teammate to get into position, this allows you for roughly 3 extra attacks worth ~50 dmg. If youre with a mate, thats ~300+52+his ability dmg potential compared to 75 dmg.

1 level of mesmerize is usually enough until midgame, rather get 2 levels of stats at lvl4 and lvl8, after that you can upgrade mesmerize.

Also, I used to play atropos with 2 talismans of exile rather than 2 fortified bracelets. Your mana pool is very low compared to the manacost of your earlygame spells, and having mana is more important than HP since you got your heal-nuke.
I usually rush totem of kuldra instead of staff of the master. your role to a team will be to disable as many guys as you can for as long as possible.
smitten on the dps, mesmerize on the tank, your ulti on the initiator, hex on someone else = 4 enemies disabled. Having that many disables will also make you a target very hard to gang. The extra HP you get from staff of the master are nice, but I wouldn't count on it as life insurance when you get ganked - rather having more disables at your disposal will give you more time to escape, thus more time for your allies to come to help you.

[Dominated1]

I like nec + bkb on her.

[Happyleaf]

how do I use mesmerize? I was playing with her on a 2x1 situation and the other hero didn't have a stun or disable, so I spammed mesmerize to get a kill, but my ally attacked the mesmerized target everytime :(

how should I use it effectively?

and should I be killing or only assisting?

can I pick only lvl 1 mesmerize and go for smitten to reduce the early game harass?

[NotDan]

First game I played her, was 1v1 against swiftblade. Poor yunero was useless. I killed lots. Second game was 1v1 against predator. Holy ****. Predator is a born and raised anti-succubus. he jumps in, stoneskins, and I've got nothing to do. I did manage to survive once in a while by sleeping him, but later when he maxed skin I was gone for.

[Damage]

Getting Mesmerise at lvl 1 is more important because a 4 second disable is hilarious to use when you steal a rune right from under someone's nose.

Hmm... I almost want to be slow on heading toward runes just to do this lol

[Forsak3n1]

LOL BLOODSTONE, nuff said. That's about as useful as a dagon 5 Bane.

[nface]

If you don't have a good solo mid(i.e. pubgame), Succubus is a great one with a bottle. Squishier midders like Arachna will cry at level 2 Heartache and run home to mommy, and you're pretty much 100% guaranteed a kill at 6/7 with Ache->Mesmerize->Hold.

Actually mesmerize, then hold because you drain mana, you will always have enough mana to use heartache and get a kill.

[ChukNorris]

nice?

[YourMumRang]

Really like this class. Starting to praccy with it. Can I ask for a little bit of gameplay info with her? I find that I stay at the back and support but cannot do much on my own in a poor team.

How do you play her? What is her role?

[Kietharr]

how do I use mesmerize? I was playing with her on a 2x1 situation and the other hero didn't have a stun or disable, so I spammed mesmerize to get a kill, but my ally attacked the mesmerized target everytime :(

how should I use it effectively?

and should I be killing or only assisting?

can I pick only lvl 1 mesmerize and go for smitten to reduce the early game harass?

Smitten is mediocre early, you want your nuke maxed by lv7 so you can pull off a nearly surefire gank with ult+nuke. As for mez, you use it on enemies who are on the edge of a fight, then surround them and kill them when it wears off, also good if you can use it on someone before a teamfight. Also use it on enemies who are chasing you, and if arachna casts her ulti on you use it on yourself and the spider will get mezzed.

This guide's item build is ass by the way, on bane you go:

x2 bracelet
enhanced marcher
bottle/ring of sorcery (bottle is usually the better option)

Luxury:
Necrobook
Kuldra
Frostfield Plate

You'll seldom get more than one luxury item even in a long game because she's shitty at farming.

[tootsie2]

My way...

Early Game
2 pieces of +3int (forgot the name)
1 pretenders crown
2 mana pots / 2 minor totems (depends on your position on the field)

Nuke max
Ulti max
Mesmerize leftover points
maybe 1 point into stats
Smitten 0

Manapool is large enough to fire off a devastating combo at lvl 6/7, stats are ok for survivability, last hit and harass.
Last hitting is important as you have hard times farming later.

After that laning phase ended for you.

Restock at base, get/upgrade your items:
Marchers
2 talisman of exile
manatube

Go gank.

Mid Game

If you succeeded at farming early/ganking mid you will be focussed by every disabler later. Get a shrunken head then.
If there aren't that many enemy disablers, go puzzlebox instead.
Try to play semi-carry-like that time, get a few kills, you won't farm later and need a bit more cash for your key items.

Items to aim for mid game:
Boots: Enhanced marchers+homecoming/post haste (depends on cash flow)
Disable: Totem of Kuldra/cyclone stick (ms is nice to have as you see yourself chasing a lot)
Safety: Shrunken Head
Damage: Puzzlebox

Stop getting kills at this point, you won't scale very much from now on.
Everything else you buy is luxury.

Late Game
E.Marchers/PostHaste
Totem/cyclone
Shrunken Head
Puzzlebox

Frostfield
Portal Key
Staff of the Master
Nullstone
Frostwulf Skull
(basically every kind of HP/Armor/Defence; you hardly get the cash for those though)

[Whitebushid1]

No puzzebox? It's one of the best items possible for bane/succubus.

[tootsie2]

though puzzlebox is not bad, i'd give shrunken head + totem higher priority..

after that, you won't farm that much to buy any expensive items, better play the ward b**** then..

[Marcusino]

What for items in the pictures? They dont show up anymore as the picture from the game and they are not written out what they are for something.

[jYue]

What for items in the pictures? They dont show up anymore as the picture from the game and they are not written out what they are for something.


this^

can we get new links or at least type the names out?

[Skyve]

I'd go for Mesmerize on lvl1 and don't upgrade it untill you are lvl12. At lvl7 you max out nuke and ofc you get Ulti everytime you can.

More than 4 seconds of Mesmerize is not really necessary early game since you don't need more than 4 seconds to position yourself or get out of range.

[FnyBones]

It wont show me what items to get it just says upgrade to photo bucket today? why cant i see items

[FnyBones]

Can someone else make a guide for this
This guide is bad

[Xastin]

upgrade the photobucket

[xal]

Can someone please repost the item build?

[Darktronik]

can you update all itens images?

[lunchstolen]

Proper skill build would be
Heartache
Mesmerize
Heartache
Stats
Heartache
Ult
Anything else.

Justification: Usually if your laning in pubs, your solo where people are noob and you can basally spam heartache till he dies. Stats for more dmg and more mana do spam heartache and mesmerize when needed. 5 sec disable of mesmerize is good enough. Ult: use it liberally. Enough said.

[Sylphic]

Um.. your item pictures are broken

[TakinBacon]

If you right click and hit properties on the picture it'll tell you the item name at the end of the string.

The starter items are 3 minor totems, 1 crushing claws, 2 mana potions, 2 runes of the blight.

I personally go 2 pretenders crown and 4 mana pots(overkill, but it guarantees maximum lane time).

Max out Nuke over Mez, then right @ level 6 gank the other solo mid:
Mez, run in front of them, Ult, Nuke when they get low. If you wait for the ult to expire they'll have a chance to escape. You can't give them that.

If you can manage 2 kills off of their mid solo and avoid ganks, you'll be fed for the rest of the match.

I just went 12-0 with this strategy.

I built a Sac Stone, Post Haste (Amazing for avoiding ganks, because it outruns Enhanced Marchers in the long run), and a Staff of the Master.

I got lucky enough for one of the heroes on my team to DC and leave me a nice second Sustainer, too.

I had like 30 health and mana regen near the end of the game, and I could just gnaw on enemy heroes.

[Lim_Dul]

I used Tootsie's, lunchstolen's and TakinBacon's advice on building Succubus over the original post - first time I ever picked her, went mid vs Arachna, stats: 6:1 + 3 kills stolen by Demented Shaman while I had mu Ult on, 3 kills on Arachna from level 6 onwards - then the whole enemy team ragequit, which was like less than half an hour into the game. ;-)

Of course my other team mates played their part as well - especially with dealing correctly with Mesmerize later.

[adrift]

I usually take smitten at rank one if I''m soloing mid. Completely ****s over the other heroes last hitting - if its a soulstealer or something even better.

I don't understand tank items on her. You shouldn't ever be tanking damage. You don't solo push anything or initiate. Get 1-2 bracers for HP and then get more useful items like hex. If you are having trouble channeling your ult you can go BKB but honestly with the range its pretty easy to channel it from the fog in team fights and not get disabled.

If your having a bad game cyclone is a fine first item too. Run speed helps catching people to land that sleep or cyclone on a runner so your team can catch up. After that get whatever your team needs - frostified plate if you are against a lot of agi, WARDS, necro book if you need stealth detection. necro book is actually always good but a lot of people either can't or don't want to micro it.

Staff of the masters is definitely not worth the gold. The only good part about the item is the HP but you can get better items with HP. It doesn't lshorten the CD or anything so its not worth getting.

[Enreign]

Soloing mid as Succubus:

Start with courier, stat items
Farm winged and bottle by level 4
Runewhore with bottle and winged courier

Sleep
Sap
Sap
Stats
Sap
Ulti

Sleep --> Ulti --> Sap = guaranteed kill at Level 6, save it for 7 and Level 4 Sap if you've been outleveled or you're against a tanky opponent.

Two minutes later, either repeat on the solo mid if he's still trying to lane, or gank, preferably their carry.

Should be grabbing Puzzlebox by this point, working on higher levels.

Depending on how the game is proceeding, either go Guinsoo to cripple their team with Smitten/Sleep/Morph/Ulti in teamfights or Staff of the Master to keep anyone on their team from farming on their own.

Bloodstone is a terrible item on her, she doesn't need it whatsoever.
BKB if you find yourself being tossed out of ulti a lot.
Boots of Travel are great, but don't farm to get it. If you can grab it off hero kills, great.
Steamboots are otherwise acceptable for the movespeed. Consider Blink on top for escape and initiation.
Codex 1/2 if you're in a pub and you just want to faceroll everything in sight.

Actually dual laning is very similar:
Leave the runewhoring to the solo mid
Consider more levels of Sleep early - you don't need the lasthits anyways if you're babysitting a carry
Level 6, Sleep one and Ulti the other

[shadowtemari]

Sorry for being a noob but what does the succucus gain from puzzlebox?

[crazysheep]

Sorry for being a noob but what does the succucus gain from puzzlebox?

The minions get to bash on the Held hero for some long duration [5 seconds]. Basically just pop the minions out of the Puzzlebox, Hold your target hero and then let the minions bash the hero. The +Int and +Str from Puzzlebox never hurt, and the truesight at level 3 Puzzlebox helps as well.

[shadowtemari]

Thanks for the info.

[Queens1]

Changed my mind about sharing my secret lol

What happens if a tower hits a mesmerized target?

[blue_light]

Nothing, creeps, neutrals, and towers will never attack sleeping units.

[GudoXIII]

Yeah, nice guide.

Just a quick suggestion for just a support type Succubus:
It's nice if you get Talisman of Exile and Mana Potion at the beginning of the game. Say, you're in a 5v5 game, you can immediately buy 1 Talisman of Exile and 2 Mana Potions at the start of the round. Although you don't have Bottle, you can just suck some life out of the enemy hero with Heartache. And mana is pretty much self-explanatory with Mana Potion.

Skills would be like:
Heartache
Stat
Heartache
Stat
Heartache
S. Hold
Heartache
Stat
*...

(*That's pretty much up to you. Although I do like to max out Mesmerize to do a little supporting. But I definitely get Smitten last because, for me, I don't see the true potential of it.)

Then, for items, just build up Enchanted Marchers and a Staff of the Master. The rest are, well, situational for me. I just usually look for nice items that would either help in supporting or destroy in hero killings.


But, that's just me. Either way, nice guide!

[EvilPenguin]

lvl 1 you should get mesmerize, it does just as much damage as heartache with the much better ability of ccing your target for 4s instead of healing you for 75

lvl 4 you should get a point in stats, another lvl of mesmerize is only 1s sleep and an extra 50 range, you may even choose to get another stat at 8 but you need mesmerize lvled up soon.

you may also choose to get some stats before you start leveling smitten as sometimes you'll never even get to cast smitten, the other 3 spells take precedence, one of them is channeled.

The item build is quite bad especially considering those were the old enhanced marchers. Succubus is not an auto attack hero the old marchers were terrible for her. Much better boots would be plated greaves or preferably post haste. Next you should always get power supply over a bracer. Succubus is also not a hero that requires a lot of mana regen and high mana pool, moderate regen is sufficient, her spells have long cd's her ult replenishes her mana. Puzzlebox is a great item on her for a number of reasons if there is anything to detect stealthed it becomes the best item hands down. One of the suggested secondary items is a staff of the master which is horrible on her, late game 500 damage dot which might not be full duration is terrible for that item cost.

There is also no real guide on how to use her. Nothing about cast ranges, even says to use heartache before ult which is just asking to be stunned/blink/something that allows your enemy to get away while you use heartache, normally you should be ulting first then using heartache when it will kill your hero before your ult finishes so that like before he cannot cast before heartaches animation takes effect. There is a lot of other stuff that could and should be in here like you can use a spell to remove mesmerize, if all the heroes are mia and u and your 5 man gank squad find a hero you should not 7s sleep him while his 4 teammates have a chance to come help(i see this a lot), you can remove mesmerize on an ally by attacking them if you already blew ur load and are now just an auto attacking succubus.

[fortyfingers]

nice build, cept i find that your role as late game comes around is more of a support
for your carries (who are hopefully farmed) thus getting sheep stick or perhaps hellflower will benefit more as the game continues
although i do recall getting the occasional codex here and there if your lacking efficient nukers for PEW PEW

[kankerganker]

4x +3 int items yo

best way to go imo. 12 dmg for lasthits (NOONE will outdeny you), more mana, no need for tangoes with heartache then have courier ferry bottle at 600

[RiddyDee]

mesmerize should always be taken over heartache level 1....always

[etspaceman]

Completely disagree with the skill and item build. Leveling up Mesmarize early on isn't the way to go, as the couple extra seconds of sleep aren't all that great early game. You are right in maxing out Heartache first, but after you get one level of Mesmarize, you should focus on getting a few levels in Smitten, as this skill completely takes carries out of team fights.

Your item list is very questionable. I agree with the two Bracers, but you need to have Shrunken Head as a core mid-game item, as she is going to be channeling for 5 seconds in a team fight, and is very vulnerable to stunners/silencers. Plus, it gives you a nice chunk of HP and Damage. So, replace Sac Stone (considering it's mainly mana-regen) with this, so you can make your presence known in every ganking situation. Sac Stone is better late-game (though, I think I would focus Beheomoth's Heart instead, as Succubus has a pretty solid int-gain, and you need the cooldown reduction on her ult).

Also, this is a minor complaint, but all boots are pretty much good on this hero. I usually focus on rushing a poste-haste, as you'll want to be roaming the map, ganking like hell. Still, if that's not attainable (hard time farming), Steamboots are nice for the attack-speed and, obviously the health, Plated Greaves makes you a solid pusher, and gives you a much needed armor boost, and Enhanced Marchers are great for a roaming choice outside of poste-haste. I'd make a mention to these, especially Poste-Haste.

Your play-style is backwards as well. Yes, Succubus is a great 1v1 hero, but where she shines is as a Crowd Controller! In a team fight, she can take out 3 heroes in 3 seconds. Smitten makes the carry useless, you can use Mesmarize to get rid of the stunner, and then you Hold their next most-important person. Normally, you shouldn't be focusing all of your skills on one hero.