Looking for a proper Soulreaper guide

[thrustalex]

Title says all. There are some guides out there, but they all tell different builds with Soulreaper.

Some say he is a soft-carry, others say he is a support.

Some say you should completely ignore Inhuman Nature (mana regain on death), some say you should take one one lvl in it while others say it should be maxed after Judgement to support its heavy mana cost.

I am also not truly convinced by the purpose of the aura. Sure the fact that it removes enemies regeneration and slowly deals damage is nice, but I find the range on the aura not large enough (well, at lvl 4 it's excellent, but seeing as you max Judgment first, you'll get it at lvl 9. At that moment, the laning phase is over anyway).\

So if someone can enlighten me on how to play Soulreaper properly (or knows a nice guide) then please let me know.



Thanks in advance.

[Manifesto]

SR is a semi-carry/heavy mid game pusher.

Your skill build depends entirely on whether or not you're going to be getting last hits or not. If you're mid, or in a lane with a hard-support, max judgement whilst maxing inhuman. However, if you're drafted with SR and are forced to play support, (keep in mind, don't pick him with the intention of supporting, he's ridiculously item dependent and other heroes can do the job better) max judgement and the aura.

[thrustalex]

Ok thanks :D

I was looking for a new support hero to try, but I guess soul reaper isn't the best choice then.

[Epidemilk]

Ok thanks :D

I was looking for a new support hero to try, but I guess soul reaper isn't the best choice then.

Think of him as a carrysupport :P stay alive, keep spamming that Q in the middle of action, keep that aura rolling, go ahead and KS with your ult cause THATS WHAT IT ****ING DOES...

Plated, Nome's, maybe a Shaman's or Barrier, some people like Astrolabe, eventually you'll want a Null or Sacrificial Stone... don't get SotM, you're not Torturer...

I bet Tablet is a great pickup for him too, doesn't really provide tankiness but it'll get you out of some bad spots, his movespeed sucks (whose ****in idea was it to put his alt on a horse?! makes no sense)

[Farosarg]

Anything that increases survivability and probably some early-game manapool/manaregen for items. Learn to effectively farm jungle at lvl 7+

[etspaceman]

He's a horrid hero if played as a pure support. Play him very similar as to how you'd play Hag/Defiler.

Coming from a support player, some cool supports to try out:

:glac: :myrm: :vood: :andr::plag: :jera:

:jera: is probably the most satisfying support hero if played properly. Your can literally win team fights.

[Galaxy]

I agree with the others. As a hard support he is a terrible hero, no disable, and after a few heals he cant afford to heal anymore, not to mention the animation time for the heal to reach your ally is so slow its often too late.

IMO SR should be played solo mid, or in a lane with another healer e.g. dsham, jere, accursed. This was popular a few months ago, once SR gets some farm then they switch to 5 man team pushes, with soo much heal the opposing team cant pick your team off.

The other way to play SR is semi carry. The items you build just depend on the opposing team, if you need armour, stack armour. If you need magic armour, get a Shamans and hp. IMO, never get spellshards unless its your 6th item. What you need to think about is survivability and disables. Sheepstick, SOTM etc.

Hellflower doesnt bring any survivability so unless its really a direct counter to their line up (DR, vindi) then i wouldnt bother with it.

[Epidemilk]

The other way to play SR is semi carry. The items you build just depend on the opposing team, if you need armour, stack armour. If you need magic armour, get a Shamans and hp. IMO, never get spellshards unless its your 6th item. What you need to think about is survivability and disables. Sheepstick, SOTM etc.


SOTM my ass, he's not ****ing Torturer! Get your health somewhere else, it's not worth the 4300.

Also Nome's is core for SR regardless, it's a nice boost to self-healing. Especially now that mana regen has been buffed for the hero holding it, get that **** early early early.

[etspaceman]

SOTM only adds about 200 damage, even on a 3000K hero.

[Yoda``]

You build him as a tank / regen whore.
You play him as a tank / carry.
If you did well, you supported your team during battle.

[Okuu]

don't get SotM, you're not Torturer...


If the ennemy hard carry is STR or Sandwraith, you WILL get Staff of the Master

:hamm: :pred: :mali: :pest: :warb: :pand: :sand:

1.2 instead of 0.9 is a huge difference in teamfights, believe me

[TheS4ndm4n]

max heal first, inhumane nature 2nd, ult when you can.

The aura's range is to small in the laning phase to be usefull, having enough MP to use your heal is alot more usefull.

you should play him as a semi-carry, but if you are stuck laning with a better carry, let him have the farm. You dont need items to farm, just levels. lvl 8-9 you can farm real easy and make up for it.

For items
:GuardianRing::MarkOfTheNovice::RunesOfTheBlight: :RunesOfTheBlight: (or get one of those later if no1 got a monkey and a ward)
:RingOfTheTeacher::ScarabRing::MarkOfTheNovice::Ma rchers: build to this while in lane @ least. finish :chal:
get whatever boots you think needed. :PlatedGreaves: if no1 in your team has them.
then get :NomesWisdom:.

Rest is completely situational. You want to aim for max regen (sac stone) and surviving as long as possible.

[Anakha]

If the ennemy hard carry is STR or Sandwraith, you WILL get Staff of the Master

:hamm: :pred: :mali: :pest: :warb: :pand: :sand:

1.2 instead of 0.9 is a huge difference in teamfights, believe me

About 200 damage on one target better! Yay!


...not

[Okuu]

About 200 damage on one target better! Yay!


...not

How can you even say a number like that, without a situation?
A farmed Predator has near 3000 HP, if you can ult him when he's a 60% hp instead of 40%, it's basically 600 HP that you ignore from him

[wietepiet]

I think SotM is great on SR
1.2 means that you can ult kill a hero with slightly over half hp!

Anyways, he needs survivability much like defiler.

I do not play him that much but he's no hard support as others have said (sadly in MM people WILL expect you to ward 24/7)

[etspaceman]

How can you even say a number like that, without a situation?
A farmed Predator has near 3000 HP, if you can ult him when he's a 60% hp instead of 40%, it's basically 600 HP that you ignore from him

You aren't doing any math here.

SR's Ult-Damage on a 3000 HP hero without staff:

HP remaining = 1400; (1600 HP Missing * .9) = 1440 Damage = Death.

SR's Ult-Damage on a 3000 HP hero with staff:

HP remaining = 1600; (1400 HP Missing * 1.2) = 1680 Damage = Death


200 HP difference, meaning 200 damage difference (1 auto-attack late game, or less than 1 Heal's damage from you).

[OrehRuoy]

If going carry/tank heres what I do..

get your heal first of course when possible, I get inhuman nature next helps with mana somewhat, ult when possible and the aura last since its not a lot of damage really.

I get steamboots first and then you can decide to either work on a SOTM especially if your facing beefy chars will make it a lot easier to kill them, you can also work on a sac stone which will handle your mana issues really well as well as give you life which is what you need. You can get both if you choose after those I will go for a beh heart of games still going on by that point your tankier than hell and should be dominating.

[FreestyleZ]

Brilliance + Maxed aura puts out some awesome passive AoE dmg

[etspaceman]

Brilliance + Maxed aura puts out some awesome passive AoE dmg

Yeah, but you won't really be alive much to use it.

You want AOE damage? Might as well go for a Frostfield Plate; gives you just about everything you need (armor, mana, nuke, slow, anti-carry properties, etc.).

[Anti]

I recently took a relook at SR with his new changes to evaluate a good way to play him. He's always been one of my favorite heroes but I was never sure how to get the most out of him. I've decided on this.

Skill build for levels 1-7

1-3-1-3-1-4-1 From there it is normally best to just max inhuman nature. You get the mana back from last hits and denies so keeping a decent level of mana shouldn't be hard. A lot of people will argue for auru but the damage is really insignificant compared to being able to cast another heal which could turn a gank around or let you go on the offensive.

Items.

As its been said SR is not an effective hard support. You shouldn't be picking up Courier at start. Maybe 1 ward but if you are expected to provide vision all game you picked the wrong hero.

Starting: 2x .:RunesOfTheBlight: /1 HP :HealthPotion:/. 2x :ManaPotion:(or :WardOfSight:)/ :GuardianRing: OR sub the Manapot/ward for 2x:MinorTotem:. I typically just get the 2 Mana pots because ether my lanemate or I can use them. Grab a manabattery and Scarab from sideshop.

I've seen people get :HelmOfTheBlackLegio into :SacrificialStone: but this really isnt ideal. The helm isn't going to give you what SR needs most early game and that is mana. Instead a :NomesWisdom: followed by :Astrolabe: will work out much better. I can find the math I ran but having nomes+labe is equivilant to or better than Sac stone honestly. The team benefit of the two item combo is wonderful. This gives SR early stats and mana regen. The extra armor will scale better into late game than the flat HP bonus of Sac stone. And the build up is much more reasonable so if things go south for a bit you arent stuck with an incomplete Sac Stone.

For boots I would say :PlatedGreaves:or :EnhancedMarchers:. The extra stats and armor on Plated Greaves are nice but the metagame is so fast now I prefer Ghost Marchers. They allow you to get in position to make the most out of your nuke and make it much easier to land an ult.

Situational Items
1.:VoidTalisman: If there lineup is very DPS focused I would consider a void. It can buy you that time to TP out or get off a heal or quick ult.

2.:Nullstone: Nullstone gives SR a lot of what he needs and has better buildup than Sac Stone but the effect can still be wasted. Be smart though. Dont just buy one cause a Blood hunter or arachna is in the game. A Homecoming stone is much more cost effective

3.:AbyssalSkull: LOlz SR dont get life leech!11!!// This is true but those two melee carries on your team would plus it gives nice passive bonuses to the rest of the team.

4.:TabletOfCommand: If there are key channeling ults that need to be stopped and your team is low on stun grab one

5.:MysticVestments: Vestments can be good early game to withstand strong nuke power. SR shouldnt be the person going for then full Barrier Idol. That is too large a gold investment for what he is getting in return.

Those are the main ones I can think of. If you dont need them I'd look for getting that sheepstick ASAP.

[DrJWilson]

I actually get the aura first, with judgement in second priority. Who wants to lane with 1% of your health ticking away every second?

[etspaceman]

Level 1 of Aura does about 2 damage per second in a crap range.

[Anti]

I actually get the aura first, with judgement in second priority. Who wants to lane with 1% of your health ticking away every second?

The occasional autoattack from SR is enough to outpace the aura damage for the entire duration of the laning period. 1% is only reached at level 7 at the earliest and is not advised. lvl 4 Judgement vs level 4 Nuke is really no comparison early game.

[TRYTROUSERS]

early mp steal is good. problem with this hero is most pubs see int and expect you to slave over them while they get one creep a minute on cronos. he isn't meant to be played like that, and people who expect it are bad. late game a sr with 3000 hp and 20 armor is one of the most dominant team fight heros.

good builds:
typical game: nomes, mek, phase, nullstone
good farm/snowball: rush sheep or shivas, or get a bloodstone if its cm because you will get stacked with charges fast and become a god. add armor and behemoth heart, hit button win.

[liq3]

You aren't doing any math here.

SR's Ult-Damage on a 3000 HP hero without staff:

HP remaining = 1400; (1600 HP Missing * .9) = 1440 Damage = Death.

SR's Ult-Damage on a 3000 HP hero with staff:

HP remaining = 1600; (1400 HP Missing * 1.2) = 1680 Damage = Death


200 HP difference, meaning 200 damage difference (1 auto-attack late game, or less than 1 Heal's damage from you).

For fun, some exact values (also, you forgot magic armour). For a 3000hp hero, without staff, the lowest hp you can instagibb is 1213. With staff it's 1426. Which 213hp. So yeh, you're pretty much spot on.

Personally I think sotm is good anyway on him. He needs hp and mana, and that's about it. And sotm gives lots of both.

[Anakha]

The occasional autoattack from SR is enough to outpace the aura damage for the entire duration of the laning period. 1% is only reached at level 7 at the earliest and is not advised. lvl 4 Judgement vs level 4 Nuke is really no comparison early game.

Why not have both? You're not going to use level 1 Judgment in lane, ever. You're going to gain level 4 Judgment by 7 anyway. You miss out on 1 level of Inhuman Nature while LANING where you aren't using Judgment much anyway. 2 damage/second = 120 damage a minute. Being conservative, even if you're only in range of the aura for a third of the time while in lane (40 damage a minute), in 5 minutes, you've gained 200 free damage per hero in your lane instead of like an extra 50-60 mana at best from level 4 onwards.

Take the damn first point in Aura, kids.

[etspaceman]

Why not have both? You're not going to use level 1 Judgment in lane, ever. You're going to gain level 4 Judgment by 7 anyway. You miss out on 1 level of Inhuman Nature while LANING where you aren't using Judgment much anyway. 2 damage/second = 120 damage a minute. Being conservative, even if you're only in range of the aura for a third of the time while in lane (40 damage a minute), in 5 minutes, you've gained 200 free damage per hero in your lane instead of like an extra 50-60 mana at best from level 4 onwards.

Take the damn first point in Aura, kids.


You actually miss out on 2 levels of Inhuman Nature, as Aura is simply that weak early on. 2 damage a second in a crap range meaning that it is VERY easy to avoid, and your opponents will barely feel it when they are in its range.

The Inhuman Nature isn't necesarrily for the laning phase (though it does help); rather, you are preparing yourself for the massive amounts of farming you will be doing after the laning phase. Maxing Aura first actually hurts your farming capabilities, putting you further behind in GPM.

[Anti]

Why not have both? You're not going to use level 1 Judgment in lane, ever. You're going to gain level 4 Judgment by 7 anyway. You miss out on 1 level of Inhuman Nature while LANING where you aren't using Judgment much anyway. 2 damage/second = 120 damage a minute. Being conservative, even if you're only in range of the aura for a third of the time while in lane (40 damage a minute), in 5 minutes, you've gained 200 free damage per hero in your lane instead of like an extra 50-60 mana at best from level 4 onwards.

Take the damn first point in Aura, kids.

I used to take both.

By taking Inhuman Nature instead I set myself up better for the post laning phase than with aura (I believe this has been stated above). What you say about that point in aura is true but in the grandscheme the extra damage is not worth the point. How can I word this... by not taking Aura early the SR player doesnt really "lose" anything because SR can still autoattack to make up for the damage not being dealt through IH.

[Theburned]

You aren't doing any math here.

SR's Ult-Damage on a 3000 HP hero without staff:

HP remaining = 1400; (1600 HP Missing * .9) = 1440 Damage = Death.

SR's Ult-Damage on a 3000 HP hero with staff:

HP remaining = 1600; (1400 HP Missing * 1.2) = 1680 Damage = Death


200 HP difference, meaning 200 damage difference (1 auto-attack late game, or less than 1 Heal's damage from you).

well even though it is true you are doing something really wrong rather do the math at 1500 hp for both

hp remaining 1500 and hp missing 1500

1500x .9 = 1350 damage x 1 = 1350 (spellshards)
1500x 1.2 = 1800 damage x 0.75 = 1350

450 damage difference

also you get some hp from staff it is minor
this is against a
also this is why shouldnt get spellshards either it won't help you that much
maybe as a late game item after you are tanky enough.
but well spellshards make your heal better too.

[Anakha]

I used to take both.

By taking Inhuman Nature instead I set myself up better for the post laning phase than with aura (I believe this has been stated above). What you say about that point in aura is true but in the grandscheme the extra damage is not worth the point. How can I word this... by not taking Aura early the SR player doesnt really "lose" anything because SR can still autoattack to make up for the damage not being dealt through IH.
In the laning phase, the HP of the heroes against you is always a critical factor, especially if they are a kill lane. Their HP determines their relative safety if they decide to try and kill you. Soul Reaper is a skinny hero in lane with no disable or escape mechanism of any kind and a weak heal at best. His only saving grace in lane is the low-ish cd on Judgment, and his 600 range. Aura complements his only real survival method by constantly picking away at that safe level of HP a kill lane needs to be able to try and kill someone like a Soul Reaper. It is reasonable to expect 2 Judgments to come out over the course of a gank in lane on him unless he is out of position. This means that on top of any autoattack harass he can put in, he is constantly ensuring that every passing minute makes it that little bit harder to dive onto him.

The second point I want to make is that to make up the damage you lose from Aura, you need to harass. In the interests of actually CK'ing or CD'ing (the reason why you're in the lane, and levelling IH), disturbing creep equilibrium constantly (and ultimately pushing the lane since the enemy creeps stop attacking your creeps) is the worst thing you can do. It also means you're potentially missing out on creeps, and SR isn't exactly known for his awesome attack point or projectile speed. Aura gives him a safer way to focus on the important one, and still gain a small benefit while doing so.

Aura also helps get creep kills if you slightly overestimate your damage by 1-2 :D

I personally believe that point is worth taking for those benefits. A whole lot of one-percenters (or .4%ers ;p) for taking the single point in the skill is always worth consideration, imo.


You actually miss out on 2 levels of Inhuman Nature, as Aura is simply that weak early on.
I'd love to stay and chat as to how you think taking 1 point in Aura makes you miss out on 2 levels of IH (logic fail), or even how at an absolute worst case scenario the ability is still good (reading fail) but from the other thread you play SR as a hard farming carry when he simply isn't and thus are not worth addressing seriously.

[Farosarg]

nvm.

[Nubcaeks]

He's a horrid hero if played as a pure support. Play him very similar as to how you'd play Hag/Defiler.

Coming from a support player, some cool supports to try out:

:glac: :myrm: :vood: :andr::plag: :jera:

:jera: is probably the most satisfying support hero if played properly. Your can literally win team fights.

What? Everyone knows Myrm is a carry


:blac:


In the laning phase, the HP of the heroes against you is always a critical factor, especially if they are a kill lane. Their HP determines their relative safety if they decide to try and kill you. Soul Reaper is a skinny hero in lane with no disable or escape mechanism of any kind and a weak heal at best. His only saving grace in lane is the low-ish cd on Judgment, and his 600 range. Aura complements his only real survival method by constantly picking away at that safe level of HP a kill lane needs to be able to try and kill someone like a Soul Reaper.

TSRH!! I think alot of people (at least in my bracket) really don't realize how much more HP levels is than just "Alive/Dead". The level of HP an enemy has will seriously dictate their playstyle in a lane. If you really punished him tryingto get last hits and he's sitting with lower health, he's not going to try for them as hard. If he doesn't have the consumables to keep his health back you can really slowdown someones playstyle. Not only does them attempting less last hits, make it easier for you to last hit and deny, it slows the entire lane down. The protection you gain from keeping enemies health low is invaluable, it protects you from ganks, and makes them slow down their farm.

This games isn't just about getting kills and not getting kills. Every little thing counts, you can control a lane by controlling an enemies regen / health.