Guide: Pyromancer - Flame On!

[SupFresh]

THIS GUIDE IS OPTIMIZED FOR NORMAL MODE


Pyromancer
Definition: One who practices pyromancy

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/finalpic11.jpg This is what a call a quick flick pic (qfp for short). Basically you can easily flick to it while your in game and see what you need to skill up or buy, have fun.

The yellow square around the portal key means its optional, some people don't like it or don't know how to use it. Thats understandable but I still highly suggested if attainable.


Pros

Great laner
High damage
AoE spells
Strong Early-Mid game
Low item dependence
FUN!


Cons

can be tough to land stuns vs good players
Weaker Late game
Low strength gain
Ward hoe
Easily killed and mostly first target


Skill Build
: As Shown In picture above

This skill build gives you the most mana to damage efficiency possible. Some people will say stats over Fervor at level 5 or just another level on Dragonfire or Phoenix wave but I believe that the passive that Fervor has is invaluable.

Personal build: ------------------ Standard(cookie cutter) build:
1 - Dragonfire------------------ 1 - Dragonfire
2 - Phoenix Wave ------------------ 2 - Phoenix Wave
3 - Phoenix Wave ------------------ 3 - Phoenix Wave
4 - Dragonfire ------------------4 - Dragonfire
5 - Fervor ------------------ 5 - Phoenix Wave
6 - Blazing Strike ------------------ 6 - Blazing Strike
7 - Dragonfire ------------------ 7 - Dragonfire
8 - Dragonfire ------------------ 8 - Dragonfire
9 - Phoenix Wave ------------------ 9 - Fervor
10 - Phoenix Wave ------------------10 - Phoenix Wave
11 - Blazing Strike ------------------ 11 - Blazing Strike
12 - Fervor ------------------ 12 - Fervor
13 - Fervor ------------------ 13 - Fervor
14 - Fervor ------------------ 14 - Fervor
15- Stats ------------------ 15- Stats
16 - Blazing Strike ------------------ 16 - Blazing Strike
17-25 - Stats ------------------ 17-25 - Stats



Basics


http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/vectors.jpg - -


Your role


Pyromancer is a great laning partner and should never go mid. You should never go mid because you're not a carry and are fragile when soloing a lane. Building your pyromancer as a support/ganker is your best bet. Warding, courier, sheepstick all support your team immensely.

Yes you can go mid, yes you can do it well vs'ing certain hero's but I guarantee that laning is putting your hero to better use. AoE stuns and damage make using pyromancer to his maximum effectiveness only possible while against 2+ players.


Why cant I build pyromancer as a:

Carry - Putting your teams eggs into a pyromancer carry basket is not a good option. If you're banking on Pyro being a late game carry then think again his moves scale ridiculously bad into mid - late game. This leaves early game, Most likely there will be a more viable mid hero in every situation, If not then you need to re-evaluated your team picks. This is because your abilities are AoE and are able to hit multiple targets maximizing his use.

Tank - no just no.

What can I build pyromancer as:

Support - This is what you should build your pyro as and this guide show how to do it effectivly.

nuker/roamer - once you hit 6 you can shift to other lane's to help get ganks with 3 on 2's. The cool down on your ulti will limit your solo nuking abilities, but will turn your 3 v 2's into 3 v 1's fairly quick. Your best strategy is to jump from your side lane into mid to get a gank and keep there carry down. Then return to your lane.


Ward guide http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=4839


Items

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/startitems.jpg
Starting items:
Courier or wards (200g)
3x minor totems (159g)
1x mana potion (50g)
1x hp potion (100g)
1x runes of blight (90g)
Total = 599g

These items will give your team the support it needs early game and give you the stats and Regen longevity to be a strong force well into the laning process. The totems also build into a power supply later on. A mana battery (210g) can be picked up from the outpost and the recipe can be brought via courier.

Avg. Usage Statistics: Gold per min: 179 As you can see you wont be getting that much gold intake during your time as pyromancer. Honestly most games you wont even make it past the manatube in your sheepstick build but this is what makes the pyromancer such good support. You'll notice that beyond this phase of the game you wont really need anything else and keeping up wards should be your main focus.


Items are built piece by piece in the picture above save for recipes. They are built in the most efficient and effective way for maximum potential. Pyromancer is not an item dependant hero and therefore you should be buying WARDS for your team throughout the game. The item build is not strict; you can feel free to throw in a bracer or portal key if you are farming well.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/8/8d/Homecoming_Stoneitem.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/b/b1/Ward_of_Sightitem.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/6/67/Fortified_Braceletitem.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/8/88/Steambootsitem.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/6/66/Bottleitem.gif
135g--------------------200g--------------------510g --------------------1450g--------------------600g

With the Nerf to power supply its value has dropped dramatically and its best to just pick up the mana battery for you're early lanning phase or not at all. however if you think you need a bracer and don't have this already, then this item is always better.
Always carry a Homecoming stone and always refresh your wards. Steamboots are set on INT until you get mana tube then they turn to STR, this stage in the game you will need more survivability and your regen will now allow you to use abilities almost every creep wave. Kuldra's sheepstick gives you excellent control can help set up ganks and stuns for yourself as well as stopping channelling spells instantly. Fortified bracer's are a good way to gain some extra survivability if you are farming well. Getting portal key will also add a good amount of survivability and extra ganking power but its probably best to get a manatube and then go for portal key so you can sustain your mana in long fights and while roaming.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/6/6e/Portal_Keyitem.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/0/09/Kuldra's_Sheepstickitem.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/4/47/Behemoth's_Heartitem.gif
-2150g------------------- 5675g -------------------- 5500g
Build you behemoths hearth next, it drastically improves your survivability and lets you keep up with the pace of the game. Anything that gives you more time to support your team and less time between cooldowns at the same time makes it an extremely good item.

Cool downs with Behemoths Heart:
Phoenix Wave : 7.65sec
Dragonfire : 8.5sec
Blazing Strike : 46.75sec

http://honwiki.net/w/images/3/3a/Frostwolf's_Skullitem.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/1/19/Harkon's_Bladeitem.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/f/fa/Stormspirititem.gif
- 6100g -------------------- 5100g -------------------- 2800g
Harkons blade reduces opponents magic armour by 5 making your attacks that more potent. Frostwolf skull gives you even more survivability and a 30% slow. However if you are in a close/really late game somehow you may want to pick up stormspirit for even more control through cyclone etc.


Alternative build
http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/harkbuild.jpg


Items to Avoid

http://honwiki.net/w/images/8/8a/Codexitem.gif
Getting codex in my opinion is not a good option.

-Firstly it cost a lot when you consider all the upgrades you will have to do. If you dont plan on upgrading it then there's no point in getting it anyway.

-Second, It has a high mana cost on top of you already high mana ulti. codex is really only effective in the really early game and on top of harassing in your lane you don't have the mana.

- Your ulti does more damage. (yes codex has a lower cooldown but again YOU DONT HAVE THE MANA).

-2850 for a kill MAYBE every 3 mins isn't worth it on top of your essential build order.

-Total cost 8250g

For more info/ the stats on codex : http://honwiki.net/wiki/Codex

http://honwiki.net/w/images/8/88/Staff_of_the_Masteritem.gif

Staff of The Master: an example of what it does.

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/SoTMexp.jpg

These numbers dont even count in and magic armor that an opponent may have. eg. shaman's headdress.

It results in a extra 150 hp dmg for 4300gold. you'd get better survivability from a portal key for half the price.




Skills

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/PW.jpg
Phoenix Wave Pyromancer sends forth a phoenix that damages enemies in a line.
ActionTarget Position
TypeEnemy Units
Type: Magic
Range: 700 Cast
Time: 1.4 Seconds
Mana Cost: 90 / 105 / 125 / 140
Cooldown: 9.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7 Activation Deals 100 / 170 / 230 / 280 Magic damage to each target in a line.

Sending this bad boy flying towards your opponents can deal a ton of damage on multiple targets. The range is 100 units more than your auto attack range so it's sometimes better to fire off your Phoenix wave when an enemy is one auto attack away from death than it is to chase him down. Use your judgement to determine when to hold em and when to fold em.

Scaling: early laning phase its probably best to wait till level 3 (lvl 2 phoenix wave) to start harassing with it. That extra bit of dmg all counts and the time between level 2 and 3 is relatively small. By level 10 (lvl 4 phoenix wave) you will have no problem tackling most creeps with a dragonfire/phoenix wave combo in several seconds so look to head out and pick up some extra farm in your jungle if your carry is busy else where.

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/PWR.jpg

Notice the 'V' Shaped damage zone show in the picture above. The damage vector will spread from around 50 units starting at you hero and finish off at a width of 200 units before it reaches its max. range of 700 units.

Tip: If you get an opponent low and they go into stealth you may be able kill him.

[SupFresh]

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/DF.jpg
Dragonfire Pyromancer conjures a mighty elemental fire dragon at a target location, damaging and stunning enemies in an area.
ActionTarget Position
TypeEnemy Units And Trees
Type: Magic
Range: 600
Radius: 200
Cast Time: 1.4 Seconds
Mana Cost: 90 / 100 / 110 / 125
Cooldown: 10.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation Deals 90 / 150 / 210 / 280 Magic damage and stuns each target in the radius for 1.6 seconds.

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/dragonfire.jpg

This is your stun. At first you will be missing a lot of these, the spell is relatively difficult to get off on a smart opponent and they will make you work for it. Some things to remember when trying to place this stun on top of your opponent are:

-Its cast time is 1.4 secs, add around 0.1 - 0.3 secs depending on your ping, factor this in when placing it down. (Fervor will help this problem later on)

-Its range is the same as your auto attack, use this to gauge whether your hero will have to move forward in order to cast the stun and factor this in.

-The best way to apply this stun is to a slowed or previously stunned enemy, this ensure that you will get it off 100% of the time. Kuldra's Sheepstick is an easy way to get your stun off if you happen to be alone or otherwise.

Scaling: Early game its best to keep this at a low level so you can make sure that you always have enough mana to use it. The stun doesn't increase in duration with level's so you gain the same stun for less mana early game. Missing out on the extra dmg is the catch but its made up for with Phoenix wave. At level 6 your combo of stun/wave/ulti is almost a certain kill. If not you've built up 60 IAS to finish the target off.

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/fervor1.jpg
Fervor Pyromancer becomes further attuned to the Flame, increasing his attack speed, cast speed, and movement speed.
ActionPassive 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 Cast Speed
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
On Attack
Applies Fervor to self for 5 seconds and adds one charge.
Fervor Effects
Attack Speed Per Charge: 0.2 / 0.3 / 0.4 / 0.5
Movement Speed Per Charge: 0.02 / 0.03 / 0.04 / 0.05
Adds magic burn Per Charge: 1/2/3/4 Per Second


Note: Many people overlook this but Fervor increases your cast speed passively EVEN when you don't have any charges up.

This is a passive ability that activates when you cast one of your three spells (Phoenix Wave, Dragonfire, Blazing Strike). It stacks on top of itself up to 3 times but the passive only last for 5 seconds after an ability is used and increases attack and movement speed. It can be tricky and impractical but there is a way to keep the passive up for the majority of a fight as shown in this video. With the latest changes to Pyromancer it now adds a low damage burn on targets that you hit with your abilities and attack. It has infinite stacks and is best used on structures to take them down quickly.

Scaling: Fervor is good at all stages of the game. Some other abilities take priority in the first few levels for it to take effect obviously but after that its great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY_SVA1KCuQ




http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/BS.jpg
Blazing Strike Using power granted from Sol, Pyromancer hurls a blazing hot fireball at a target enemy, dealing massive damage.
ActionTarget Entity
TypeEnemy Units
Type: Magic
Range: 600
Cast Time: 1.0 Seconds
Mana Cost: 280 / 420 / 680
Cooldown: 150.0 / 90.0 / 55.0 Seconds
Required Level: 6 / 11 / 16
Activation Deals 450 / 675 / 950 Magic damage to target.
This ability can be boosted by Staff of the Master.

Welcome to your ultimate weapon, your ulti. Blazing Strike is one of the highest damage on demand abilities in the game. Depending on their level, hero and items, this baby can take your opponent from 60 to 0 in 1.0 seconds flat and leave them wondering what you've got under your magicians hood.

Although you maybe dominant early to mid game, heading into late game this ulti drops in power as the enemy team gains Hit points and Items, the ability just can't keep up. This however is slightly compensated by its dramatic drop in cool down to 55 secs and 46.75secs if you pick up your Behemoths heart.

Scaling: Early game (at lvl 6) this is an extremely powerful ability but from that point it begins to drop in effectiveness. Unless you are out leveling your opponents you really want to take advantage of the level 6 to 14 window that you have.

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww282/deathsencore/blazingstrike.jpg

Oh and SotM adds 200dmg, 150hp after magic armour is factored in and is NOT worth it.



Laning and Team fights


Your best partners are ones with stuns/lockdowns and high survivability. These heroes mostly come from the strength category can make landing your stun an easy job. Hammerstorm or magmus paired up with you easily make one of the strongest lanes in the game and bloodlust is a sure thing with well timed stun combo's aswell as many other combo's.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/77/Hammerstormhero.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/8/81/Magmushero.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/5/58/Malikenhero.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/e/e2/Pebbleshero.gif

Other than being STR heroes these heroes also have common spells. All of the stuns/slow are relatively easy to perform and can hit more than one target. This makes a double kill a large possibility if you and your laning partner have good co-ordination .

When laning against a stealth Hero it's a good idea to pick up or send down some wards of revelation, lane control for 12 mins and 200 gold is defiantly worth it.

Harassing: This is where I believe the pyro shines in a lane. The ability to hit both hero's at once with a well placed phoenix wave will make lane dominance no problem. Make sure you hit both heros each time you shoot this out to make it worth it. Even when you're not going for a gank its will keep them back, at low HP and very annoyed at not being able to do anything.

Team fights are a bit tricky for pyromancer because he will almost always be first target due to him dying so fast. Wait until your team initiates to come in. Drop you stun to stop a channel or pin down as many as you can. Phoenix wave as many as you can an then proceed to blazing strike your teams main target down if he's not dead yet. Kuldra's sheepstick should be used to control their most devastating hero, for example plague rider, tempest, magmus etc. The sheepstick is devastating to any channelling hero such as a succubus, voodoo jester or tempest.

Who to Watch out For

http://honwiki.net/w/images/b/bd/Magebanehero.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/0/05/Vindicatorhero.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/e/eb/Witch_Slayerhero.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/2/2d/Predatorhero.gif


These guys are the int killers.

Magebane is obvious with his manaburn and his ulti against pyromancers high int gain, as well as his magic armor.

Vindicator is the best combo breaker in the game and will mess you up while rolling cooldowns and has a strong mana burn.

Witch Slayer is your parallel, much like pyromancer he is able to destroy other int hero's with his high damage abilities.

Predator's charge/ slow and immunities gives him an immense advantage over you and many other hero's.


http://honwiki.net/w/images/4/4b/Armadonhero.gif

Armadon will eat up your dmg like no one else. Be very weary of this hero while laning against him and in late game. Geting caught in his slow/ quill spam could spell the end for you.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/2/2e/Chronoshero.gif

Chronos also has tank like features. There's nothing worse than watching your ulti fly towards him and see it do no dmg at all. This is Chronos' rewind ability at work.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/e/e7/Mystic_Vestmentsitem.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/5/53/Shaman's_Headdressitem.gif

Anyone with Mystic vestments or even worse Shaman's Headdress is going to eat a considerable amount of your damage. Try to keep up with who has what items in game.
.

.
.
.
.


Change Log:
first release 13/11/09
Added codex info 15/11/09
Added SoTM info 17/11/09
Added baddies 21/11/09
Added scaling 30/11/09
Added gold price etc. 18/12/09
Added update to item build 14/2/2010

[Deathlust]

Pyromancer is one of the heroes that benefits immensely from having a Blink Dagger. It makes him twice as effective in ganking when he has it at his disposal and adds to his survivability greatly. To skip over it seems rather foolish.

[scarekrow1]

Pyromancer is one of the heroes that benefits immensely from having a Blink Dagger. It makes him twice as effective in ganking when he has it at his disposal and adds to his survivability greatly. To skip over it seems rather foolish.

qft. You should really consider Portal Key.

[SupFresh]

Blink dagger aka portal key is considered in the guide although I may have to go into it more. Although I wouldn't recommend it before manatube just because the regen is extremly important for you.

[sYthex]

Hey nice guide... No mention of hellflower or codex? Pk is amazing on him. Though I really like the idea of a qfp

[reklawl]

I have a friend who only play pyro and i have to say this has increase his play from 1300 to 1700 easiest

[Didiuz]

As sYthex said no mention of hellflower, and no mention of SotM? i think its more useful then Codex. and ive gotta say this guide was a bit uneccesary as there are alrdy like 3-4 pyromancer guides

[SupFresh]

As sYthex said no mention of hellflower, and no mention of SotM? i think its more useful then Codex. and ive gotta say this guide was a bit uneccesary as there are alrdy like 3-4 pyromancer guides

Im going to justify this now for you cause you obviously didnt read the guide fully and require a direct response.

1. Hellflower Vs. Sheepstick - Sheepstick always wins out because not only does it do everything that hellflower does its slowes there movement speed making you're stun easier to place. The 40% dmg factor is really not a factor as you are there for control firstly and nukes second (this assumes you are at the point in the game where you could have one item or the other and at that point your nuke is already fading). A guaranteed stun (sheepstick) against a non guaranteed stun. you decide.

2. I did mention in the guide and explained that SoTM was a terrible item to get as it only adds 150 hp dmg on your ulti and minimal survivability. You'd be better to get Portal key.

3. I said codex was bad not good, I only mentioned it because sYthex commented about it and had to justify why it was a bad idea.

4.The other guides lay out strategies that are only really effective in pub play a.k.a getting SoTM or codex. This is a guide to play pyromancer the most effectively for both serious games and even in pubs this guide works. But hey maybe it was my fault for not making that clear.

Edit: have now added SotM explanation/math into guide.

[levo]

thanks nice guide, as many of the heroes, this hero shines in good players where as a good feed under the bad players. (and if you have noticed in pub games, mainly people going for staff of the master and marchers i still dont get it)

[elfman]

qfp is so awsome! thanks! luv ya :D
can u tell me where to find more qfp, from u or some other member :)

[Miyataa]

One thing, I really love starting with getting this point booster, right after boots and pots. Imo getting that extra hp/mana increase is really nice. Then continue to get even more hp/mana with 10+str and 10+int (sry, im so stuck with dota yet, dont know the item names) also helps you to boost effectivity (survival / fire power). Then just getting that recepie you get all that for one slot and also get a slight ulti boost as a bonus.

Allthough, I guess this is more used in pub-games. But I really say that it helps getting that early point booster. Especally if your mid with an early bottle.

[Didiuz]

Im going to justify this now for you cause you obviously didnt read the guide fully and require a direct response.

1. Hellflower Vs. Sheepstick - Sheepstick always wins out because not only does it do everything that hellflower does its slowes there movement speed making you're stun easier to place. The 40% dmg factor is really not a factor as you are there for control firstly and nukes second (this assumes you are at the point in the game where you could have one item or the other and at that point your nuke is already fading). A guaranteed stun (sheepstick) against a non guaranteed stun. you decide.

2. I did mention in the guide and explained that SoTM was a terrible item to get as it only adds 150 hp dmg on your ulti and minimal survivability. You'd be better to get Portal key.

3. I said codex was bad not good, I only mentioned it because sYthex commented about it and had to justify why it was a bad idea.

4.The other guides lay out strategies that are only really effective in pub play a.k.a getting SoTM or codex. This is a guide to play pyromancer the most effectively for both serious games and even in pubs this guide works. But hey maybe it was my fault for not making that clear.

Edit: have now added SotM explanation/math into guide.


I dont know if you have noticed but portal key has a 3 second cooldown everytime you get damage. So Portal key is not rly that much of a get away item.

[Blessed_]

Use it before you take damage.

[ForTheSwarm]

Chronos also has tank like features. There's nothing worse than watching your ulti fly towards him and see it do no dmg at all. This is Chronos' rewind ability at work. Setting of a Phoenix Wave or Dragonfire before you ulti to make sure rewind is on cooldown is your only safe bet.


Rewind has no cooldown (only on the ANIMATION, not the effect). Otherwise, great guide!

[Nedrapter]

Not getting SotM cos it has 150 only extra damage isn't a good reason. Do you want to add 500 extra damage to make it worthy for you? Ofc not cos that would be far imbalanced. SotM is key item to Pyro for several reasons:

1- Its components help you accordingly to what you need at early game.
(sort on mana capacity? get Neophyte's Book. Short on hp? Get Mighty blade first.
2- Reduces cooldown too along with Behemoth's heart. With both of them you have your imba nuke every 43.75 seconds. (this can be be even 2 times in a battle in some long occassions).
3- 150 extra damage (after the reductions) is quite worthy damage. Along with Harkon's blade that 150 dmg becomes more too (bored to do the calculation). Why is it worthy? because you often need to nuke one target before he even cast a spell. Like jera for example. In that case you need to MOST spell burst.
4- If you can rush it, it ensure your kills, adds to your surviveability and makes you a feared enemy even by tanks. If you cant rush it, forget it.

Ofc every game is different and you might not be needed to nuke down fast anyone, but rather disable as much as you can. In these cases prefer Stormspirit/Kuldra over it, with no remorse.

[SupFresh]

Not getting SotM cos it has 150 only extra damage isn't a good reason. Do you want to add 500 extra damage to make it worthy for you? Ofc not cos that would be far imbalanced. SotM is key item to Pyro for several reasons:

1- Its components help you accordingly to what you need at early game.
(sort on mana capacity? get Neophyte's Book. Short on hp? Get Mighty blade first.
2- Reduces cooldown too along with Behemoth's heart. With both of them you have your imba nuke every 43.75 seconds. (this can be be even 2 times in a battle in some long occassions).
3- 150 extra damage (after the reductions) is quite worthy damage. Along with Harkon's blade that 150 dmg becomes more too (bored to do the calculation). Why is it worthy? because you often need to nuke one target before he even cast a spell. Like jera for example. In that case you need to MOST spell burst.
4- If you can rush it, it ensure your kills, adds to your surviveability and makes you a feared enemy even by tanks. If you cant rush it, forget it.

Ofc every game is different and you might not be needed to nuke down fast anyone, but rather disable as much as you can. In these cases prefer Stormspirit/Kuldra over it, with no remorse.
...

1. I dont see how you could be getting SoTM early game but ok. You building your steam boots will give you more than enough survivability unless you find yourself randomly running in without teammates.

2.By the time you have SoTM and Behmoths heart in a game your ulti has faded and your opponents have probably picked up shamans headdress. This is the point in the game where you need to be supporting your teammate or become useless. choosing between a 150dmg increase and a complete lock down for your team (kuldra's sheepstick) is pretty simple.

3. With kuldra's sheepstick you can guarantee a kill anyway as if used in combo with your abilities it gives you time to bring your other abilities off cooldown and score a kill.

4. If you can rush a SoTM then you can rush a Sheepstick, simple as that. Rather than fading in usfulness over the course of the game like SoTM, Sheepstick will keep your mana topped off and provide contol for your team.

[SupFresh]

[/CENTER]


Rewind has no cooldown (only on the ANIMATION, not the effect). Otherwise, great guide!

fixt.

[Nedrapter]

1. I dont see how you could be getting SoTM early game but ok. You building your steam boots will give you more than enough survivability unless you find yourself randomly running in without teammates.

2.By the time you have SoTM and Behmoths heart in a game your ulti has faded and your opponents have probably picked up shamans headdress. This is the point in the game where you need to be supporting your teammate or become useless. choosing between a 150dmg increase and a complete lock down for your team (kuldra's sheepstick) is pretty simple.

3. With kuldra's sheepstick you can guarantee a kill anyway as if used in combo with your abilities it gives you time to bring your other abilities off cooldown and score a kill.

4. If you can rush a SoTM then you can rush a Sheepstick, simple as that. Rather than fading in usfulness over the course of the game like SoTM, Sheepstick will keep your mana topped off and provide contol for your team.

1- You dont need steamboots. the extra 1000 gold , better to spend it in Sotm, to rush it. Boots simple are fine.

2- Rushing Sotm will give many kills, meaning that you will have a big advantage in gold against the others. Behe's heart may be easy for you when they still struggling for shaman's headress. Moreover you can always nuke someone that doesn't have the Headress. IF they all have headress, GJ to them they are immune to you, your carry/ies will slaughter them.

3- If you want CC that much, pick Witch Hunter. Don't pick Pyro. An arachna with Kuldra will still ensure his kills, but that doesn't mean it's the ideal item. Pyro is a heavy nuker, don't make him a poor disabler with an aoe stun and a 30-sec-cooldown kuldra.If you pick Pyro for his disables, you just fail.

4- Yea you can rush anything you want, but as i said above, don't make a nuker into a disabler. Nuker, nuke hard, nuke as much as you can.

[Darchow]

1- You dont need steamboots. the extra 1000 gold , better to spend it in Sotm, to rush it. Boots simple are fine.

2- Rushing Sotm will give many kills, meaning that you will have a big advantage in gold against the others. Behe's heart may be easy for you when they still struggling for shaman's headress. Moreover you can always nuke someone that doesn't have the Headress. IF they all have headress, GJ to them they are immune to you, your carry/ies will slaughter them.

3- If you want CC that much, pick Witch Hunter. Don't pick Pyro. An arachna with Kuldra will still ensure his kills, but that doesn't mean it's the ideal item. Pyro is a heavy nuker, don't make him a poor disabler with an aoe stun and a 30-sec-cooldown kuldra.If you pick Pyro for his disables, you just fail.

4- Yea you can rush anything you want, but as i said above, don't make a nuker into a disabler. Nuker, nuke hard, nuke as much as you can.

You honestly do not know how to play if you think 150 damage on your ult every ~50 seconds which continues to go down is better than a 30 second cd 3.5 second hex. Stopping the enemy carry from doing damage for 5 seconds when you combine both of your disables is invaluable and that 150 damage which gets reduced further by hood is not worth it. Steamboots give you pretty much enough survivability if you aren't ramboing in.

If you wanted a pure nuker you would rush a dagon and be a glass cannon but you don't. In your logic, the 400 burst nuke is over 2x better than an aggies and it costs less gold, so obviously we should all rush dagons.

TL-DR; You suck if you rush aggies over sheepstick.

[SupFresh]

1- You dont need steamboots. the extra 1000 gold , better to spend it in Sotm, to rush it. Boots simple are fine.

2- Rushing Sotm will give many kills, meaning that you will have a big advantage in gold against the others. Behe's heart may be easy for you when they still struggling for shaman's headress. Moreover you can always nuke someone that doesn't have the Headress. IF they all have headress, GJ to them they are immune to you, your carry/ies will slaughter them.

3- If you want CC that much, pick Witch Hunter. Don't pick Pyro. An arachna with Kuldra will still ensure his kills, but that doesn't mean it's the ideal item. Pyro is a heavy nuker, don't make him a poor disabler with an aoe stun and a 30-sec-cooldown kuldra.If you pick Pyro for his disables, you just fail.

4- Yea you can rush anything you want, but as i said above, don't make a nuker into a disabler. Nuker, nuke hard, nuke as much as you can.

You don't seem to follow any sort of timeline in a game. I can't conceive in any game how you can think that you would be able to keep down five players from getting a shaman's headdress while you can sit there easily building a behemoths heart while already having SoTM and are not being farmed while slower than every other hero in the game because you only own marchers.

You assume that you are genociding the other team every 5 mins for some reason. when your ulti hits only 1 person.

Even if you aren't assuming that then by the time you own a SoTM and a behemoths heart I highly doubt you are still earlymid game.

In point 2 you say that rushing sotm will get you many kills. I guarantee that rushing Kuldra will get you the same amount of kills. I can also guarantee that you will get the same amount of kills with no items because pyromancer isn't item Dependant.

This is why you should be buying wards and supporting your team rather than building sub par damage upgrades 1 of your moves.

In point 4 you fail to realize that your ulti scales very poorly and doesn't keep up with the pace of the game at all. at level 6 you will be dominating people with your ulti but from that point on it fades. investing 4300 to something that wont add effectiveness into late game seems really pointless to me when you look at alternatives.

you also say nuke nuke and nuke some more but i dont know where you're getting all your regen from. please tell me.

Pyro provides a whole lot more lane harassment and ganking with phoenix wave rather than a high mana cost miniaturize that does no damage and something that you shouldnt be putting points into early game anyway.

[P4l35T1N3]

1- You dont need steamboots. the extra 1000 gold , better to spend it in Sotm, to rush it. Boots simple are fine.

2- Rushing Sotm will give many kills, meaning that you will have a big advantage in gold against the others. Behe's heart may be easy for you when they still struggling for shaman's headress. Moreover you can always nuke someone that doesn't have the Headress. IF they all have headress, GJ to them they are immune to you, your carry/ies will slaughter them.

3- If you want CC that much, pick Witch Hunter. Don't pick Pyro. An arachna with Kuldra will still ensure his kills, but that doesn't mean it's the ideal item. Pyro is a heavy nuker, don't make him a poor disabler with an aoe stun and a 30-sec-cooldown kuldra.If you pick Pyro for his disables, you just fail.

4- Yea you can rush anything you want, but as i said above, don't make a nuker into a disabler. Nuker, nuke hard, nuke as much as you can.


I don't understand why you are trying to debate that SoTM is best to get. The way you type it sounds as if...
1.Pyro went mid
2.Pyro got first blood in first 2 mins
3.Pyro kills mid hero 3 more times before level 6
4.Pyro continues his reign of terror and takes it to the lanes getting more kills

The way you imply is that by mid game you have won the game making it 25 - 30 min games. Even in saying that, I agree that if a Pyro does opt for this situation scaling doesnt have much to do with it when he is 5 - 6 levels above the enemy team and has a frostwolf skull which he will have gotten over SoTM because SoTM is SUCK!

If you think that this 150 damage is so much better, wouldn't it be a clear best to get a Codex that is another 400 damage and costs around the same if not less w/o upgrades?

Dude, no decent pyro gets SoTM, most games that arn't played by noobs end up into a late game situation which pyro sucks at with his moves which is the reason why he gets the totem.

[Darkalbino_]

Nedrapter, I'm guessing you are one of those guys who makes runed axe on legionnaire and portal key on Ophelia.

[Nedrapter]

You honestly do not know how to play if you think 150 damage on your ult every ~50 seconds which continues to go down is better than a 30 second cd 3.5 second hex. Stopping the enemy carry from doing damage for 5 seconds when you combine both of your disables is invaluable and that 150 damage which gets reduced further by hood is not worth it. Steamboots give you pretty much enough survivability if you aren't ramboing in.

If you wanted a pure nuker you would rush a dagon and be a glass cannon but you don't. In your logic, the 400 burst nuke is over 2x better than an aggies and it costs less gold, so obviously we should all rush dagons.

TL-DR; You suck if you rush aggies over sheepstick.

I can assure you that i know how to play. And Pyro is one of my strong heroes. I've got a total 72-11 (all non EM games) with Pyromancer. I can't say of course that every time my enemies were at my level, but i can't choose them most of the times. Codex (Dagon) would be awesome if it added surviveability and some mana, but it doesn't. That's why i dont prefer it. I usually get SotM on lvl 10-11, and it really counts that extra 150 dmg.
Maybe i can't provide an argument that will persuade you, but i think experience values more than arguments. I've tried Kuldra rush, I've tried Harkon's rush, Hellflower rush, Portal key+Stormspirit rush, out of all these, the most effective turned to be, SotM.

+Another reason for not getting a Codex (Dagon) is that you clearly provoke your enemies to get Headress or Shrunken's. It's like having a Night hound on your team and you buy Assassin's shroud. You might think of this as a stupid reason, but it's not.


Anyway, wana get Kuldra over SotM? go ahead, I've told you my experiences, and it would be best for all who read the guides, to try both and decide on their own.

[Stoli]

i just get treads -> blink and max stun first, ive never tried getting passive at 5, but i don't see the appeal

[P4l35T1N3]

I can assure you that i know how to play. And Pyro is one of my strong heroes. I've got a total 72-11 (all non EM games) with Pyromancer. I can't say of course that every time my enemies were at my level, but i can't choose them most of the times. Codex (Dagon) would be awesome if it added surviveability and some mana, but it doesn't. That's why i dont prefer it. I usually get SotM on lvl 10-11, and it really counts that extra 150 dmg.
Maybe i can't provide an argument that will persuade you, but i think experience values more than arguments. I've tried Kuldra rush, I've tried Harkon's rush, Hellflower rush, Portal key+Stormspirit rush, out of all these, the most effective turned to be, SotM.

+Another reason for not getting a Codex (Dagon) is that you clearly provoke your enemies to get Headress or Shrunken's. It's like having a Night hound on your team and you buy Assassin's shroud. You might think of this as a stupid reason, but it's not.


Anyway, wana get Kuldra over SotM? go ahead, I've told you my experiences, and it would be best for all who read the guides, to try both and decide on their own.

So you play pyro as a ganker / carry rather than a support hero that would be buying wards and courier?

[SupFresh]

I can assure you that i know how to play. And Pyro is one of my strong heroes. I've got a total 72-11 (all non EM games) with Pyromancer. I can't say of course that every time my enemies were at my level, but i can't choose them most of the times. Codex (Dagon) would be awesome if it added surviveability and some mana, but it doesn't. That's why i dont prefer it. I usually get SotM on lvl 10-11, and it really counts that extra 150 dmg.
Maybe i can't provide an argument that will persuade you, but i think experience values more than arguments. I've tried Kuldra rush, I've tried Harkon's rush, Hellflower rush, Portal key+Stormspirit rush, out of all these, the most effective turned to be, SotM.

+Another reason for not getting a Codex (Dagon) is that you clearly provoke your enemies to get Headress or Shrunken's. It's like having a Night hound on your team and you buy Assassin's shroud. You might think of this as a stupid reason, but it's not.


Anyway, wana get Kuldra over SotM? go ahead, I've told you my experiences, and it would be best for all who read the guides, to try both and decide on their own.

Oh I get it you play single player and don't help your team. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[SupFresh]

i just get treads -> blink and max stun first, ive never tried getting passive at 5, but i don't see the appeal

If you look out the stats of dmg to mana cost on phoenix wave and dragon fire you can see that phoenix wave has the best dmg to mana ratio this early.

Getting Dragonfire first is mainly due to it being your stun and can possibly score your team a bloodlust and the first rune battle other than that phoenix wave scales better early.

I would agree with maxing your stun first however it remains the same duration at all levels so its not a good idea.

Another benefit of putting points into phoenix wave first is the harassment capability early game. You'll often find that you would be able to hit both opponents at the same time in your lane doing high dmg at the level 3.

Getting the fervor at 5 is kind of touchy. I recommend getting it because when you chain an dragonfire, phoenix wave and ulti you'll build up 3 stacks to finish off the other guy. PLUS 60 attack speed at level 6 is no joke.

It also has a passive while you don't have fervor stacks up that increase your cast speed. making it easier to get your stun off.

[Stoli]

If you look out the stats of dmg to mana cost on phoenix wave and dragon fire you can see that phoenix wave has the best dmg to mana ratio this early.

Getting Dragonfire first is mainly due to it being your stun and can possibly score your team a bloodlust and the first rune battle other than that phoenix wave scales better early.

I would agree with maxing your stun first however it remains the same duration at all levels so its not a good idea.

Another benefit of putting points into phoenix wave first is the harassment capability early game. You'll often find that you would be able to hit both opponents at the same time in your lane doing high dmg at the level 3.

Getting the fervor at 5 is kind of touchy. I recommend getting it because when you chain an dragonfire, phoenix wave and ulti you'll build up 3 stacks to finish off the other guy. PLUS 60 attack speed at level 6 is no joke.

It also has a passive while you don't have fervor stacks up that increase your cast speed. making it easier to get your stun off.
I prefer stun over wave because if I'm only going to have mana for one of the two spells, I want to be able to stun.

That's all. I know wave does more damage, but getting 3 hits after stun is almost another nuke in damage.

[sYthex]

Staff is for people who want kills, sheepstick is for people who want their team to win. It's that simple. I pick codex over Staff because it gives you 400 damage over 150. then I go sheepstick and then I just level codex.

[Blessed_]

rush harkon's blade to reduce their magic armor so your nukes do more damage, works even better than dagon.

[SupFresh]

I prefer stun over wave because if I'm only going to have mana for one of the two spells, I want to be able to stun.

That's all. I know wave does more damage, but getting 3 hits after stun is almost another nuke in damage.

Yeah, keeping stun at a low level though will mean you almost always have enough mana to use it.

you aren't missing out on any damage because of the gain with phoenix wave.

[jar]

I can assure you that i know how to play. And Pyro is one of my strong heroes. I've got a total 72-11 (all non EM games) with Pyromancer. I can't say of course that every time my enemies were at my level, but i can't choose them most of the times. Codex (Dagon) would be awesome if it added surviveability and some mana, but it doesn't. That's why i dont prefer it. I usually get SotM on lvl 10-11, and it really counts that extra 150 dmg.
Maybe i can't provide an argument that will persuade you, but i think experience values more than arguments. I've tried Kuldra rush, I've tried Harkon's rush, Hellflower rush, Portal key+Stormspirit rush, out of all these, the most effective turned to be, SotM.

+Another reason for not getting a Codex (Dagon) is that you clearly provoke your enemies to get Headress or Shrunken's. It's like having a Night hound on your team and you buy Assassin's shroud. You might think of this as a stupid reason, but it's not.


Anyway, wana get Kuldra over SotM? go ahead, I've told you my experiences, and it would be best for all who read the guides, to try both and decide on their own.

no it wouldn't, they could not waste their time and never get ag's on pyro. it's an awful item for him.

don't waste your time and even experiment with this, or do it in practice so you can run around forever until your ult cools down to gain 150 (less with reductions) damage when it comes up again.

[SupFresh]

no it wouldn't, they could not waste their time and never get ag's on pyro. it's an awful item for him.

don't waste your time and even experiment with this, or do it in practice so you can run around forever until your ult cools down to gain 150 (less with reductions) damage when it comes up again.

Exactly, With sheepstick your ultimate does not have to be off cool down for the item to be effective.

[SupFresh]

yeah ,

[Hi]

Works well. Premium imo

[JollyGreen]

Pyro is a great guy to build Astrolabe on [for the AoE heal mostly, but the armor and stats are just as lovable]. This is dependent on having a communicative team though that's willing to push earlier. [Of course, if your team has two or more item dependent farmy heroes, this guide has it right.] You can easily win a game in a half hour by pushing hard, and making the other team's carries abandon their farm [when they have to defend. or they don't defend and your slaughter their team 5v4, feeding your carries].

When I'm going Astro, start with a Courier, Ring of Regen, and a Minor Totem. [costs 603 gold, exactly your starting amount!]. Lane with a farmer, and harass, harass, harass. I've always found it much easier to harass with a Ring of Regen then with runes of blight.

Build Steamboots and Great Arcana with it. I go for Arcana because it is so much easier to build [and so much of it is in the outpost] AND it makes my attack damage seem to hit a lot harder, when I really need it to. The Arcana builds into a Harkon's if the game drags out.

It's a super easy to build... build with a lot of cheap items that give you flexibility in the order that you get things. Buying wards is a given.

[Last note: resist trying to finish your astro before its needed, or you'll gimp your mana and int. just put minor totems back on the courier when you need more item slots. Make sure you're not just mindlessly leaving steamboots set to Strength. Switch them up as needed.]

[Delvil]

The guide is good, and the arguments are enlightening. One thing, though: why did you never address his comment that if you want a hero for disabling as such, why not pick Witch Slayer? The methods you suggest for playing pyro are great, but if applied to Witch Slayer, are much more effective. Why pick Pyro over WS at all if this is what you intend? With him, it's a double sheep you'd be buying.

[dREXEN]

Nice items and stuff. But I'd build the SPELLS a bit different way but I still like it :)

[SupFresh]

The guide is good, and the arguments are enlightening. One thing, though: why did you never address his comment that if you want a hero for disabling as such, why not pick Witch Slayer? The methods you suggest for playing pyro are great, but if applied to Witch Slayer, are much more effective. Why pick Pyro over WS at all if this is what you intend? With him, it's a double sheep you'd be buying.

It's all about the timeline of the game with pyromancer. When comparing and playing witch slayer or pyromancer you'll find they lane extremely differently. Where pyro lacks in his disables he makes up for in damage. Phoenix wave is extremely strong in the early lanning phase and provides incredible harassment to multiple targets when used well.

Comparing this to witchslayer his stun is relatively low dmg through the whole game and nothing else to back it up except for his ultimate. This means his play style is stun and drain and play defensive. with out his ultimate he cant make much happen on his own and also proves fairly ineffective in roaming compared to the output of pyromancer.

However witch slayer begins to gain ground in mid game where disable's become much more essential to locking down those farmed up carries and this is why pyromancer picks up the totem.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that where pyro may gain an early bloodlust or dominate a lane with an offensive babysit. Witchslayer will play a defense drain and gain babysit lane playing defensive until opportunities present themselves rather than creating them like pyro and his lanning partner would.

lets theorycraft for a second here witchslayer and pyro both with powersupply steamboots(on str), and kuldra.

Total mana pool at level 11
Witch = 1170 Pyro = 1222


QWR And kuldra mana dump leaves pyro with the mana to use 4 more stuns, 4 more phoenix waves, 0 ulti's or 4 more kuldra's

QWR And kuldra mana dump leaves witch with the mana to use 2 more stuns, 3 more mini's , 0 ulti's or 3 kuldra's

At this point in the game pyro's ultimate is stronger, his damage out put is alot higher than witch slayers and he has more presence in a fight. So if anything pyro has higher control in a fight than witch does.

Keep in mind that witches miniaturize is at level 1 at level 11 unless your maxing it out early. If hypothetically you are its almost 1 fifth of your mana pool compared to 1 tenth. So your starved for mana. If you've maxed points in mana drain as well then you've only got 1 point into stun and your damage suffers a lot. So as you can see its an up hill battle at this point in the game.

The reason I use level 11 as the example is because once you hit late game as pyro (assuming its been an even game and nobody's fed) you become almost useless without the kuldra. But the early game example shows why pyro is alot different from witch. On top of all this Kuldra increases your chance to land Dragonfire's where Witchslayers stun is placed with relative ease.

[frtzarn]

how about nomes wisdom on him for support? its one of my favorite items to get on intel supports

[Croutonman]

With Plated Greaves introduced a couple patches ago, would you still stick with Steamboots or move on to Plated Greaves?

[Chimmchar]

Portal key on Ophelia is rape

[SupFresh]

Nome's Wisdom is not a bad item although I feel that its situational to your team. A few things you may want to consider before getting Nome's wisdom is how much it will actually help your team. Does your team have a lot of activate/mana cost spells or are they mostly passive aura's and low mana cost abilities eg. arachna. Its good for pyro sure but there's better items when it doesn't help your team that much.

Plated Greaves are pretty debatable, 7 armor and some stats plus 10 extra movement speed is good but steam boots attack speed boost synergies well with fervor.
My advice is that if their isn't another set of Plated Greaves on your team then pick them up. If there is then pick up steam boots, the ability to change them to int when last hitting creeps then back to str when a fight happens plus the extra attack speed is to good to pass up imo.

[Farkon]

I've seen a pyro outrun a CD with phase boots after casting 3 of his spells.... ha ha ha.

[SupFresh]

I've seen a pyro outrun a CD with phase boots after casting 3 of his spells.... ha ha ha.

yes that would be quite funny.

edit: updated guide

[Electroid]

I can assure you that i know how to play. And Pyro is one of my strong heroes. I've got a total 72-11 (all non EM games) with Pyromancer. I can't say of course that every time my enemies were at my level, but i can't choose them most of the times. Codex (Dagon) would be awesome if it added surviveability and some mana, but it doesn't. That's why i dont prefer it. I usually get SotM on lvl 10-11, and it really counts that extra 150 dmg.
Maybe i can't provide an argument that will persuade you, but i think experience values more than arguments. I've tried Kuldra rush, I've tried Harkon's rush, Hellflower rush, Portal key+Stormspirit rush, out of all these, the most effective turned to be, SotM.

+Another reason for not getting a Codex (Dagon) is that you clearly provoke your enemies to get Headress or Shrunken's. It's like having a Night hound on your team and you buy Assassin's shroud. You might think of this as a stupid reason, but it's not.


Anyway, wana get Kuldra over SotM? go ahead, I've told you my experiences, and it would be best for all who read the guides, to try both and decide on their own.


your prob one of those kids who tried to get kuldra once, and it failed becuase u had a bad team or didn't know how to survive w/o staff, and then lost and assumed KULDRA IS DUM I NEED MY STAVV.

i just tried out this build and it worked marvels even check it out, (not this acc, I_AM_PH33R)

also i've used this build on a diff acc, (I dont think the replays are still up yet)
you prob also get staff w/ tb as well and a refresh orb hey? and get your score to 20 and 0 and say taht your amazing.

[Voulture]

I dont really see a point of taking additional levels of stun. It does not increase stun duration, Phoenix Wave damage is scaling much better and got bigger aoe and its easier to hit. usually i am going: Stun/Wave/Wave/Fervor/Wave/Ulti/Wave/* and depending on game Max Fervor than stats and ulti only or stun at 8/9/10.

Also - wards + nomes wisdom (+ astrolabe) + graves is awesome build as well. Or stormspirit. New pyro is a great pusher after all. And yes both codex and sotm are terrible pyro items (codex is still better than sotm btw). I would never take them over Portal Key / Harkons / Kuldra / Puzzle.

[Nightmxre]

I dont really see a point of taking additional levels of stun. It does not increase stun duration, Phoenix Wave damage is scaling much better and got bigger aoe and its easier to hit. usually i am going: Stun/Wave/Wave/Fervor/Wave/Ulti/Wave/* and depending on game Max Fervor than stats and ulti only or stun at 8/9/10.

Also - wards + nomes wisdom (+ astrolabe) + graves is awesome build as well. Or stormspirit. New pyro is a great pusher after all. And yes both codex and sotm are terrible pyro items (codex is still better than sotm btw). I would never take them over Portal Key / Harkons / Kuldra / Puzzle.

You go extra 'stun' because of the extra damage. Your 1 2 3 combo is devastating early - mid game. Fervor is totally unneeded that early and will just gimp you. If you're owning real early, SOTM keeps you owning for quite a while, not to mention the survivability it gives.

[SupFresh]

I dont really see a point of taking additional levels of stun. It does not increase stun duration, Phoenix Wave damage is scaling much better and got bigger aoe and its easier to hit. usually i am going: Stun/Wave/Wave/Fervor/Wave/Ulti/Wave/* and depending on game Max Fervor than stats and ulti only or stun at 8/9/10.

Also - wards + nomes wisdom (+ astrolabe) + graves is awesome build as well. Or stormspirit. New pyro is a great pusher after all. And yes both codex and sotm are terrible pyro items (codex is still better than sotm btw). I would never take them over Portal Key / Harkons / Kuldra / Puzzle.

The real reason you get stun early instead of maxing wave is because you are min/maxing the mana cost and damage of both abilities as you level up. This means that the build provided will give you the most damage for the least amount of mana while leveling increasing your longevity which is vital in the lanning phase.

[Darkalbino_]

The real reason you get stun early instead of maxing wave is because you are min/maxing the mana cost and damage of both abilities as you level up. This means that the build provided will give you the most damage for the least amount of mana while leveling increasing your longevity which is vital in the lanning phase.

And thats the words of the wise.

[Lii1]

I can't believe people still talk about codex and sotm on witch slayer and pyro... I thought these times were over like 3 years ago in dota...

pyro and witch slayers are all about portal key or harkon...
that's the real debate... harkon for dps or sheepstick?

If you go the harkon way, isn't phase boots better than power treads? additionnal damage over attack speed, since attack speed costs more mana via harkon..

But yeah, the strength from power treads does sound good, pyro is squeeshy

[Lii1]

With Plated Greaves introduced a couple patches ago, would you still stick with Steamboots or move on to Plated Greaves?

Obviously steamboots, with his high intel gain and his passive, pyro is able to dish a lot of dmg with normal attack.

blink, stun, attack, attack, chase, attack, attack, wave = kill

In bigger fights, combine that with ulti, more stuns and more waves.. in between you get the attack speed charges.. that's why it makes sense to try some dps on him.. like harkon and steamboots.. too bad they recently nerfed harkon's.

[Griddler]

Weird guide...

I like pyro in lane because as mentioned you can easily harass both enemies with wave, and when paired with a guaranteed stun (or near guaranteed like magmus) its ownage.

My usual build is just 1 rank in his stun, then max wave and fervor. I don't have the math but I'm guessing the +dmg you get from fervor is comparable to the +dmg you'd get from higher ranks of stun, without costing you extra mana. The movespeed boost will also help you escape and hunt down runners, and the cast speed reduction should help landing the stun.

Items is where I'm less sure...

I feel like he should have a bottle for sure and a portal key for sure. I have no prob running around with normal marchers as I farm up my pk.

He probably needs a bracer or two for survivability.

I was wondering if Nome's is a core-ish item for him or if it should only be in certain situations. A RoT early on helps you keep mana up to harass with wave.

Also bracer vs talisman? I like sometimes taking 2x mark of the novice at the start for the mana, regen, and last hitting they provide - then turning them into talismans

I'd say a normal-ish start for pyro is some combo of:

- courier/ward
- guard ring (buy scarab in lane asap for RoT)
- runes of blight / hp pot
- minor totems / mark of the novice

[Shuffl3r]

I play every game with pyro like this:Nom's wisdom,Staff of the master,Steamboots,Behe's hearth,Harcon's Blade and Portal key.....and i have won 95% of the games ive played with him....trust me Pyro is the hero i play the most...12% of all games

PS.I use pyro when im playin 5v5 with 1650+ PSR and k/d/a is almost every game 25/6/18

[Griddler]

If you get all those items you're playing EM. And SOTM is trash item for him.

I would probably focus bottle-boots-bracer-portkey.

Luxury could be harkons or behe heart. Kuldra/stormspirit are possibilities but generally better on other support heroes.

Again just not sure where nome's fits into all of this - maybe go for it if laning since the RoT is good early? Should it be gotten instead of a bottle?

[FireCross23]

you might want to include accursed in the people to watch out for list because while ur ulti is flying towards him he can just use his ulti and basically go back to full heal

oh yeah BUMP!

[d1sco]

thanks for this guide!

[XaLOpAbLO]

nice guide :D:pyro:

[Tyg]

level fevor before the stun, phase boots are also a good option

[Wakikeke]

Well, I skill my pyro: stun nuke nuke fervor nuke ulti nuke fervor fervor fervor ulti stun stun stun I've had good experiences with that and thats what Im sticking with for now altho might balance the stun fervor ratio but as for items...

some things that havent been mentioned blood chalice since it new understandable and tablet of command i find both very effective.

[NaB]

I do the same build... 1 rank stun at lvl 1, then max wave, then fervor. I find I barely have the mana to combo with stun rank 1, nvm rank 3 or 4 (and that's w 2x mark of novices!) ><

Is there a reason sac stone is not mentioned?

If you're running around gibbing its easy to get a few charges on it that bumps up your survivability a few notches. You may be focused and die early on - if you do you heal team for 400 and still get the xp of any kills near there :)

It also builds very easily with fairly cheap components - lifetube gives you some regen so you dont have to re to the fountain everytime you take a bit of dmg.

Also no discussion of pyro jungling? In addition to rocking creep waves he jungles extremely effectively after about lvl 9. In between ganks or when you need that next component you can easily sling through the jungle and clear even the hard camps in a flash.

My usual build:

ghost marchers - talisman of exile (sell the other mark when u upg this 1) - manatube/glowstone - sac stone - portkey.

Luxury probably behe heart, never really got that far :p

[Drakonas]

With the patch 2.0 the item Spellshards was interduced
Spellshard
+6 int
+17dmg
+10 attack speed
3/6/9 cd reduction
75% mana reg
causes any magic dmg you deal to ignorw 2/4/6 of you targets magical armor

is it possible with spellshards to deal with the inefficiency of pyro in late game?