[Guide] Swiftblade, way of the sword

[Fuji1]

Swiftblade





http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/1987350/640/1987350.jpg





SKILLS : Blade Frenzy, Counter attack, Way of the sword, Swift slashes

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http://www3.picturepush.com/photo/a/1987276/640/1987276.jpg

Activation [Q]
Self
Type: Magic
Radius: 250
Duration: 5 seconds
Mana cost: 110
Cooldown: 30 seconds

Blade frenzy effects
Silenced
Disarm
Immunity

Deals 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 Magic damage per seconds to targeted units in radius. Applies Blade frenzy to self for duration of activation. Lasts 5 seconds.

Comments: This skill is mainly used earlygame for damage, but its easy to forget that this skill also provides magic imunity. If you have had a good game this skill will deal less damage than auto attacks lategame.

http://www3.picturepush.com/photo/a/1987381/640/1987381.jpg

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http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/1987278/640/1987278.jpg

Proc chance
Cooldown: 0.6 seconds

Extensive training in meele combat has given swiftblade the chance to counter attack the enemy whenever an enemy meele attack strikes him.

On Attacked
15/20/25/30% chance to counter attack if the enemy is a meele hero.
This ability is passive

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http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/1987280/640/1987280.jpg


10/18/26/36% chance for 2.0x critical strike.
This ability is passive

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http://www3.picturepush.com/photo/a/1987306/640/1987306.jpg

Activation [R]
Target Unit
Type: Physical
Range: 450
Mana cost: 275
Cooldown: 120 seconds

Swift Slashes Effect
Silenced
Perplexed
Imobilized
invulnerable

Teleports self to random targets 5 times dealing 150 to 250 physical damage to each target. Can be used on the same enemy mutiple times.

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Best hero combos :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNIcons/HeroIcons/Electrician.jpg

Electrician: With his static grip there will be no problem for you to spin and get 100% use of it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNIcons/HeroIcons/Glacius.jpg

Glacius: Ranged stun and slow, + he gives you a mana regen aura.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNIcons/HeroIcons/PuppetMaster.jpg

Puppet master: What more is there to say? he has sick many disables, perfect for your spin.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNIcons/HeroIcons/pollywogpriest.jpg

Pollywog priest: this is probably the best laner for you, he has hex, he has a grip skill thats perfect for your spin and he generally is sex for your lane.

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Worst enemies :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNIcons/HeroIcons/nighthound.jpg

Night hound: Can invis away from your ultimate and go invis when you spin, also has the irritating cloud thats pretty anti you.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNIcons/HeroIcons/Jereziah.jpg

Jereziah: Well, skills that blocks your attacks and they last FOREVER.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNIcons/HeroIcons/Accursed.jpg

Accursed: Shield that blocks your damage and when you ult him you do him the big favour of healing him to full hp.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNIcons/HeroIcons/scout.jpg

scout: Invis heroes in general because of your ultimate

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Starting items :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/accessories/item1pretendercrown.jpg 2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/item12runesofblight.jpg 2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/manapotion.jpg 1x

This is your starting order, you buy 2 Pretenders Crown, 2 Runes of the Blight, and 1 Mana Potion. by doing this you boost your stats so you can survive early in the game and you have some health and mana regen.

Buy order

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Relics/trinketofrestoration.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Secret%20Shop/manatube.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Relics/item11Marchers.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/item2sustainer.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/item6fortifiedbracelet.jpg 2x

This should be your primary buying order for your first items, with this build you will gain hp regen to stay in lane while you use blights to, and you will have enough mana to use skills / go gank around. 2 bracers are needed to survive through the game.

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Endgame build :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Supportive/abyssalskull.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Combative/item10runedaxe.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Combative/item16wingblade.jpg

Theese 3 items should be a must on your hero, you use the Trinket of Restoration to complete yourAbyssal Skull while you use your Sustainer to build your Runed Axe. If you get more farm you go for the Wingbow.

What boots?

Well there arent really any boots that doesent suit swiftblade. It really does depend on the situation. If you get amazing farm and feel like you have a team you should gank alot with you would go for Post Haste. But otherwise i would choose Steam Boots with STRENGHT options on, mainly because you will need some extra HP. If the opponent team has many heroes with speed abilities like leap, pestilences speed spell, then ench marchers would be a good choise.

Other items

Depending on the situation you should either carry a bag of dust or a teleport scroll on you at all times. if they have picked heroes that has a massive amount of magic damage then a SHRUNKEN HEAD would be a great item for your hero since you may have to carry your team to victory lategame.

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Skill order :

1. Blade frenzy
2. Stats
3. Blade frenzy
4. Stats
5. Blade frenzy
6. Swift slashes
7. Blade frenzy
8. Way of the sword
9. Counter attack
10. Way of the sword
11. Swift slashes
12. Stats
13. Way of the sword
14. Way of the sword
15. Stats
16. Swift slashes
17-20. Counter attack
21-25. Stats

Yeah well really it depends on how many meele heroes the other team has, but this is mainly what i go for each game. Stats pregame to get some more hp and mana while i max out Blade frenzy. Then by levling both crit and meele dodge one level, you have a chance to both dodge and crit. Levling crit to early can ruin your lasthitting so there is no real point in levling it before the stats early on in the game.

Sorry for the crappy english ^^ .!.

[Fuji1]

updated

[Fuji1]

updated

[Rukk]

Great format and was helpful.
Could use some tips/strats, for example chasing people down into an SS.

I usually start with boots so I can BF spam.

[Rojer]

it's a pretty simple to play this hero. most people are dumb enough to run from whirl wind. so you just click it chase them past the creeps then omni slash them and they die every time.

early game farm with your blade spin every time you have a full creep wave to get the mana soon you will be cleaving creep waves faster then spinning so you wont need that anymore except to get out of a gank

[Kietharr]

For best allies glacius also deserves a mention, he has a slow, a root, and an aura that helps you regen mana more for more early spinning.

[Darkshine1]

Keeper of the Forest or whatever that tree's name is also deserves a mention. His AoE root is amazing for Swiftblade.

And, after playing with Puppet Master in my lane last night, yeah, he's AMAZING with Swiftblade.

[RuffRyders]

So does swiftblade get extra attacks inbetween slashes on his ult if you have enough attack speed?

[akitoes]

Yeah but as i recall you need an absurd amount.
Anyway runed axe is fun but there are better items on swiftblade, like deso (-armor thingy)

[WizEye]

I thought the guide was pretty good. I'm curious about why you prefer to put points into stats early on instead of advancing the remaining skills. Are those skills meaningless until late game?

[Tryptophan]

I thought the guide was pretty good. I'm curious about why you prefer to put points into stats early on instead of advancing the remaining skills. Are those skills meaningless until late game?

More stats = more health, bigger mana pool, more Blade Frenzies, and the ability to Swift Slash after a Blade Frenzy at level 6. You need the extra stats more than you need the Way of the Sword. More Blade Frenzy/Swift Slash = more kills.

You don't need your normal attack early game because you don't do that much damage. Way of the Sword only helps when you deal enough damage and you have enough HP and movement speed to chase. Early game you don't have that.

You might argue that Way of the Sword has good synergy with Swift Slashes. I'm pretty sure that Way of the Sword doesn't proc on regular Swift Slashes. They onl'y proc on the in-between hits when your attack speed is high enough. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

As for the guide, this just looks like an item and skill build. There's no real gameplay here.

[Rhaegor]

Gameplay is easy with Swiftblade imo. Wait for a disable then spin attack on their ass. You can even try to spin them once they are down to 3/4 life if they come up to the creep row to last hit. If they run away so that they are by themselves, use your ultimate and finish them off.

[rhodric1]

pretty good guide. you spelled melee wrong tho

[EnragedCamel]

This is probably the easiest hero to get first blood / bloodlust with, especially if you have some sort of disabler laning with you.

However I should say that around mid-game blade frenzy stops being a useful killing tool, as people get more magic armor and hp. At that point you start using it as an escape tool, or for the panic effect ("omg spinning blades run run run"), rather than to score kills.

[ton]

Can also be used for magic immunity.

[Evilbits]

Best hero ever. Gone 20-0 with him :)
He can be a little tricky to play but once you learn how to effectivly use him, you can easy go 10-0 in a match.

[Hippie]

IMO the item build you suggest is mostly only useful if you aren't getting enough hero kills early game and need the creep farming power. If you have a disabler in your lane, you can easily have 2-4 hero kills before 6, and the Runed Axe becomes unnecessary. I personally grab Slash after my Steamboots for the move speed, then move on to a Nullfire for the purge/damage/mana burn. If the game lasts, pick up a Wingbow. If it's still going... well, I personally like Savage Mace if you haven't used all your purges yet, otherwise upgrade to Geometer's Bane.

[NadeD]

The item build sucks, why would you not get a post haste (boots of travels)

[Tryptophan]

The item build sucks, why would you not get a post haste (boots of travels)

How about reading a little instead of looking at the pictures. They're even bolded and colored for you.

[Mulgen]

The skill/item build was really helpful, just played two games with it, I'm loving Swiftblade <3

[Terobial]

Thanks for this, my friend plays Swiftblade some and I wanted to find something to compliment him when we laned together, turns out I'm pretty kick ass with Puppet Master, I get at least 10 assists each game with him XD

[WizEye]

Isn't runed blade coming in a bit too late? Seems like unless you're very successful, you're gonna get it very late in the game.

Also, I'd be interested to know when you suggest to get some sort of boots since it's not clear from the build order.

[FuzzyWuzzy]

Noob guide writer Detected.

Item Build is wrong, so are your lane partners (except for Pollywog). Best lane partner is Glacius by far. Never lane two melee heroes in lane either.

Abbysal skull is a terrible item, let a supporter take it if you need the leach that badly. Take Whispering Helm and take a Wolf for 30% damage aura.

Enchanted Marchers can be casted after Blade Fury, making them the best choice, after that comes Post Haste, especially if you are going for a Runed Axe.

Nullfire Blade can also be casted while spinning, making you a lot more useful in teamfights (and negating the Accursed/Jereziah problems)

You should be aiming at cheap DPS in Shieldbreaker / Nullfire Blade / Runed Axe, depending on what you need.

P.S. There are already very good guides on Yurnero on the Internet, why don't you make a little bit of research before screwing some of the new players' gameplay?

[Supersheep1]

Swiftblade can sometimes use his normal attacks when ultimating like in Dota?

Wanna know because this game is a little confusing, even thought I have played Dota...

[Fuji1]

Noob guide writer Detected.

Item Build is wrong, so are your lane partners (except for Pollywog). Best lane partner is Glacius by far. Never lane two melee heroes in lane either.

Abbysal skull is a terrible item, let a supporter take it if you need the leach that badly. Take Whispering Helm and take a Wolf for 30% damage aura.

Enchanted Marchers can be casted after Blade Fury, making them the best choice, after that comes Post Haste, especially if you are going for a Runed Axe.

Nullfire Blade can also be casted while spinning, making you a lot more useful in teamfights (and negating the Accursed/Jereziah problems)

You should be aiming at cheap DPS in Shieldbreaker / Nullfire Blade / Runed Axe, depending on what you need.

P.S. There are already very good guides on Yurnero on the Internet, why don't you make a little bit of research before screwing some of the new players' gameplay?

P.S this aint dota, first of all saying that swiftblade aint good with either puppet master or electrician makes me realise either you havent played the game yet, or you just fail at life.

Abbysal skull is a terrible item, let a supporter take it if you need the leach that badly. Take Whispering Helm and take a Wolf for 30% damage aura.

not so hard to see that you are talking about competetive games since in pub this will never happend, and if your talking about competetive games taking over a wolf for the aura would be fail, he wouldent manage to stay alive even for 10 seconds, and the cd on whispering helm is huge.

enchanced marchers aint a bad choise but swiftblade is in general a low hp hero so steamboots is not a bad choise for him, allthought i often buy post haste myself. If you look at competetive play its far more often players go for treads and always carry a TP with them.

And this is how i play swiftblade, if you dont like it dont use it. couldent really care more about what you think anyways, why dont you go hide in a corner instead of failing on the internett

[kingcomrade]

Shrunken Head is also a good investment, as a physical DPS hero in the late game.
Whatever Shadow Priest's new name is, he's also a good lanemate. In normal DotA it's pretty neat, Jugger spins and priest poisons, when spin runs off you heal Jugger and it nukes the enemy who is probably already low.

Battlefury is kind of a noobish build. When I play Juggs I normally go Wraith Poor Man's Shield Phase Boots Diffu then either butterfly or bkb depending on what I need.

[WizEye]

I read that abyssal might be a very bad idea since it doesn't really help you survive due to how squishy you are until late game and how little damage you do until then. What's a good alternative?

[MadCarthos]

Great guide, well thought out item build, works really well for me in pubs,
unless I'm up against the worst enemies!

I'd like to add arachnia and valk to that list btw, though I guess with magic immune from bf I should be able to get away from the spider.
But I don't seem to be able to do it.

Cheers,
MC

[PapaMalle]

Weird, I always build up the Swiftblade into a pseudo tank-carry. Since his base damage is really low, I just rely on his skills for taking heroes out and the first items to increase his survivability.

What I start with is: 2 Pretenders, Potion of Health, 2 Mana potions

Then go Lifetube + Shield (order depending on the situation) + Beast Heart to complete the Helm of the Black Legion. This will give amazing survivability early to mid game, where you can just dash into the middle of the action, spin, and then finish of heroes with swift slashes. After this I go Steamboots (STR) and then either Assassins Cape for an escape or start working on the base DPS with Shieldbreaker/HacknSlash.

Thoughts?

[MarlboroMa2]

Anybody can play Yunero. All you need is Atk Spd and DMG bonuses.

You get the BF to farm, then pick up S&Y, MKB, Eagle, Stygian, Shieldbreaker, any 2 or 3 of those and you're fine.

Jugg is all Attack Speed & Damage. 36% crit is huge, 1 of ever 3 attacks is a crit, so the more dmg, and attack speed, the better you are.

P.S. Get marchers. Don't piss away 2.2k on BoT's..

And yes, Whirlwind is an escape route after lvl 10.

[Betatest_]

A little weird item build, but very helpfull guide, thanks for it

[Vesper25]

Counter attack is trash, don't get it.

[LionCock]

I laned with Pebbles as Swiftblade, I got 3 early game kills. Ended up with 8/1/11. He would throw me behind the enemy hero, I would hit spin and spin towards them. They would have to go around me which means I didn't have to chase at all. And Pebbles' stun was pretty good.

Great writeup, I used most of it. My 8k/1d/11a was my first time playing Swiftblade.

[ma5]

Poor guide overall. Item choices are out of whack and lack of the little more advanced tactics for using Blade Frenzy.

[Memphis_Doom]

good guide. thanks Fuji

[Solcry]

Noob guide writer Detected.

Item Build is wrong, so are your lane partners (except for Pollywog). Best lane partner is Glacius by far. Never lane two melee heroes in lane either.

Abbysal skull is a terrible item, let a supporter take it if you need the leach that badly. Take Whispering Helm and take a Wolf for 30% damage aura.

Enchanted Marchers can be casted after Blade Fury, making them the best choice, after that comes Post Haste, especially if you are going for a Runed Axe.

Nullfire Blade can also be casted while spinning, making you a lot more useful in teamfights (and negating the Accursed/Jereziah problems)

You should be aiming at cheap DPS in Shieldbreaker / Nullfire Blade / Runed Axe, depending on what you need.

P.S. There are already very good guides on Yurnero on the Internet, why don't you make a little bit of research before screwing some of the new players' gameplay?


Ehhh, the item build is alright. I wouldn't go Shieldbreaker though. Item build for me would be Wraith/Wraith (until the get Poor Man's Shield in here), Runed Axe, Post Haste, Hack And Slash - late game get Shrunken Head against disablers and then perhaps a Wingbow at the end.

Hmm, well, so I suppose thats a entirely different build. *shrug* Wop, guess my end point is I just agree with the Runed Axe decision.

[Finalwish]

This worked nice. Gave me enough hp to harras early and late game I ended up with doombringers galore. Could even kill Roshan in like 10 seconds. Was up against a Scout, was a pain early game but late game he couldnt touch me.

[Gibbens]

This worked well in the early game, but it left me way behind on gear mid-late, and I'm a decent last hitter and ganker.



Starting items :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/accessories/item1pretendercrown.jpg 2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/item12runesofblight.jpg 2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/manapotion.jpg 1x

This is your starting order, you buy 2 Pretenders Crown, 2 Runes of the Blight, and 1 Mana Potion. by doing this you boost your stats so you can survive early in the game and you have some health and mana regen.

Buy order

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Relics/trinketofrestoration.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Secret%20Shop/manatube.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Relics/item11Marchers.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/item2sustainer.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/item6fortifiedbracelet.jpg 2x

This should be your primary buying order for your first items, with this build you will gain hp regen to stay in lane while you use blights to, and you will have enough mana to use skills / go gank around. 2 bracers are needed to survive through the game.

[Kirbyski]

i found an interesting build was to replace battlefury with thunderclaw then upgrade it (forget the name sorry) you should give that a try and see if it works for you.

It gave me additional attack speed which really helped when i came up against people i was life stealing to keep up with

[gubbkoett]

Shouldnt shieldbreaker be a good item for swift?, i mean the -armor would be a combo with his spinattack

[Chookz1]

2x Soulscream are probably better than 2x Bracers due to the cost, by the way. also the fact you gain more stats/gold.

[tanis1]

Shouldnt shieldbreaker be a good item for swift?, i mean the -armor would be a combo with his spinattack
Whirlwind does magic damage, not physical.

[Tango]

Seriously? boots first so u can kill with bladestorm, then buy susteainer and get phase boots and run around endlessly ganking.

[Dorana]

I would like to add Demented Shaman as a good grouper with this, he has slow, heal and he can shield him from incomming attacks

[Dorana]

Does anyone know if the Crit ability can proc with WotS?

[brt1]

crit abilities stack

no, you shouldn't buy it on swiftblade

[Dorana]

I reread my post and noticed how I wrote it wrong

I meant to ask if WotS procs on Swift Slashes, or if the SS has an uncrittable attack

[lLOlBO]

can u update the links to the item pictures? i tried with 2 different browsers and cant be displayed... thx in advance. (have seen the same dead links on other guides too)

[ZoFu]

Nice guide

[Kralnor]

Photobucket fails for images here. Also, you get 5 levels of Counter Attack :p

Otherwise, decent guide. There isn't any real strategy in it, which is a shame, but both the item and skill builds are ok. Should mention you can skill Counter Attack earlier if facing a heavy melee team. While obvious, it IS a guide ;)

[Money75]

I can not see your pictures of items please fixxxx

good guide though

[gipp2]

whispering helm (or helm of dom) is usually a better choice over abyssal skull because it is cheaper and gives better stats for you.
without ward, the mana regen from abyssal isnt really needed. runed axe should be more than enough.
you can get skull if nobody else on your team has it and you have other carries that would benefit but that is pretty rare nowadays.

imo, lifesteal is just overrated and delays the real core-damage items. swift blade has a good early-mid game, so he really doesnt need to jungle. and by the time you would consider jungling, your damage should be high enough to where it is efficient to jungle without lifesteal.

also, if im not mistaken, shieldbreaker procs and benefits your ult. shieldbreaker is never a bad choice on a hero but it procs swiftblade more.
you should include a list of other items that synergize swift better. sometimes wingbow isnt always the best choice.

[Minushabens]

No mention of counterattack change? The image you linked here states only when melee heroes attack but in game the "melee" in the desctription has been left out. Also been counterattacked quite hard with arachna, not really a melee hero oO.

-edit- Just made a practice game, spawned a lvl 20 swiftblade with 4 levels in counterattack and a level 1 arachna. Let arachna autoattack swiftblade and 4 counterattacks later arachna was dead. Animation seems as if you just redirect the incoming projectile but the counterattack damage is swiftblade's damage. The counterattack can also crit.

[Lim_Dul]

Oooh - Counter Attack works on ranged heroes now? ROFLMAO. This makes Swiftblade the deadliest carry, hands down. 0_o

[Damage]

an early point into counter attack is viable against physical harassers.

[Honbaddie]

I have been playing the swiftblade a lot recently and boy my item lineup is much different than you, mostly being whispering helm early for creeping, i always run with a bottle and a power supply, i like hatchet and stats with a few runes out of the gates, and late game i end up chasing the dream (staff of the master).

I am hesitant to try your ideas mainly because the last few games have been bombshells for me, 20+ kills 5~ deaths on average, but I am interested in your stats build early in the game.

I actually found that last hitting was easier with the crit, as i don't autoattack mobs anyway. I simply go for the last hit expecting to not crit, and if i do, no loss. Also I have on multiple occasions relied on the crit for hero kills, even at level 2. Heroes may have gotten away had I not crit them on multiple occasions.

Thanks for the guide either way, definitely some things to think about as I play him more.

[dumblydore]

Enhanced marchers
Soulscream ring
Runed Axe
Shieldbreaker
...

After these items, what should I get? I am considering:
Demonic Breastplate (Nice IAS + armor gain, as well as -armor to stack with your shieldbreaker)
Charged Hammer (Does the 70 IAS allow him to attack between ult slashes?)
Wingbow (Obviously a good item, but is it better than these alternatives?)

[Lim_Dul]

I would go for Daemonic Breast Plate. The armor reduction will be INSANE coupled with Shieldbreaker and it benefits the whole team. Truth be told I was never a huge fan of the Wingbow - to me it's the typical *dur dur I'm a selfish killstealer* kind of item. :-P
Ah! And let's not forget Shrunken Head if you're in a serious game. All too often I see carries in pubs stacking pure DPS just to get disabled and ROFLowned in a teamfight.
True, you have Blade Frenzy, but at this point in the game it does laughable damage and basically only serves as an escape mechanism - getting INTO a fight spinning is not the way to go, IMHO - it should be with Shurnken Head on.

[RedThunder2]

this build is ok but staff of the master helps alot and i prefer hod over vlads

[Kharg]

carried a team as swiftblade with 19-4 last night thanks to this guide, my first time playing swiftblade to :D

prehaps add behemoth to the best hero combos aswell? level 1 ganks are very much a possibility with a well placed fissure then spin

[ZoFu]

If you know how to use swiftblade correctly I like the idea of assassin shroud in the mix. My end game build with 6 slots was shield breaker, assassin, runed axe, wingbow, abyssal, and post haste. I went for assassin basically to gank anyone farming on their own. You see a guy top I port up there invis get in a few hits they try and run away I spin then ult easy as that. Not many heroes can withstand that unless you're a tank. That's just my opinion =D

[ShadowExile]

I don't mind your guide but I think it's slightly outdated. First of all you barely even get any agility items. Swiftblade is an agility hero, and as we all know, agility heroes are generally the best end game if built correctly. Examples: Chronos, Andromeda, Scout (even if most of the time it's noob ks'ing), Arachna (damn slow needs nerfing...) etc.

So, as we all know, for any points you have for an item that gives + in your main stat, you get a point of damage, (or so I believe). Therefore, getting an item that gives you +30 agility and +30% attack speed will give you both 30 damage, 30 agility, whereas agility as a whole gives you + attack speed and armor, 1% attack speed per point, so an item that gives you 30 agility gives you (an agility hero):

+30 damage
+60% attack speed
+4.2 armor

Hence, as an agility hero, you want to take advantage of late game IAS, so wouldn't your build be focused more around things like Slash, Elder Parasite (for it's IAS bonus and life-steal), Enchanted Marchers (as it gives an attack speed bonus that is preferrable to steamboots late game. However, if you feel like you need the strength early game, you can change your steamboots from strength to agility around level 15 for extra damage, attack speed and armor, which is wholesome good.)

So, as a swiftblade, who is an agility and late game carry, let's face it he is, and his only real skill late game has a relatively long cool down, his only real abilities is his passive bonuses he is given and his ability to hit high damage fast, as an agility hero.

So why, oh why, do you not focus on agility based items? I just can't understand this bit. I can agree with the Shieldbreaker and Demonic Plate, (personally I preferr letting other heroes getting this one and sharing the aura as you only really need it for team fights or if you're getting ganked, in which case if your team is competent they should tp in, and if you're so far into their area and you get ganked then it's your fault for not being careful enough and going in so far without allies closeby to intercept.)


If I was a swiftblade, I'd be focusing on Soulscream rings instead of Bracers, Phase boots, Elder Parasite, Wingbow as a LAST ITEM if I have spare gold, Demonic Breastplate, Shieldbreaker, Savage Mace is good IAS too and true strike, which gets through evasion items. Possibly even riftshards for the upgradeable +crit damage, which can then be upgraded into a flayer.

That's how I would build my Swiftblade, so that's he can reach maximum effectiveness late game. Not to mention, as Swiftblade, if you can get your attack speed up to +325, you can get 3/5/8/10 extra attacks in as Swiftblade inbetween your ulti, which, with your attack speed and damage you would have with your passive stacking with things like Shieldbreaker and Elder Parasite (activate before you start swift slashing), you could probably kill 3 or 4 of the entire enemy team's gank and come close to a 5th, if boosted by staff of the master. Of course, you would need to farm a lot for this build, but agility heroes generally as a whole require to farm a lot, as do all heroes really if they want to be effective late game against other heroes such as nukers tankers and carries.

And this has been my 2 cents that actually (in between writing stuff for homework and checking some other stuff) took me around 1 hour to write, 11 bucks plz.

[Melchizedek]

Just a quick response, just because Swift is an agi hero doesn't mean focusing on midgame domination is not a smarter call. For that matter, Andro is an agi hero too, and she sure as hell has no lategame beyond swapstun

[ShadowExile]

True, but in the last game I decided to follow this build anyway. Sure, I got a 10 - 1 - 12 kda, however, he was extremely slow hit and I think people don't always think to realise that agility items = damage, attack speed and armor in one. At level 25 with the items Phase Boots, Elder Parasite, Wingbow, Warpcleft, SotM and Slash, gives insane damage and armor, and your attack speed without even applying Elder Parasite is around 345, when applying becomes 445. Let me just say that I tried to see how fast he attacks with it. I couldn't, it's a blur.

Sure, the cost of farming that stuff equates up to 15,590 gold, however, a good swiftblade in a long game can generally farm that well just by being careful and smart about how he handles his lane, generally he can almost always get firstblood in his lane with a stunner/disabler in his lane, and also he can quickly kill neutrals and own creep waves in seconds thanks to blade frenzy. Within about 3 creep waves you can get a lovely amount of gold and then you can get back before the enemies decide to gank you. Depending on how visible they are you may want to leave at 1 or 2 creep waves. Sure the damage aspect works, but it's like getting more bang for your buck when you get agility and get extra damage with it, simply because that's your main stat attribute.

I myself wouldn't go a full IAS build with Swiftblade, I would do things like Runed Axe and stuff around mid game, but having a lot of attack speed benefits majorly, especially with the ultimate.

[Grimm3r]

Not getting boots is quite frankly throwing away easy early game kills. I can slightly understand why you think stats may help but realistically swift early game is just his first ability. Personally I don't play swift so if they don't think its a good idea to buy boots then that is just better for me.

[masterdudeii]

boots first with rune of blight before any items. those regen items can be bought on secret shops and thats just enough time before your blight runs out.