MyvTeddy
07-27-2009, 06:19 PM
MyvTeddy’s guide to Swiftblade, Yunero’s alter ego in HoN Vers. 1.0
NOTE: I will fill out the last section and fix some bits here and there later.
Log Changes:
About the author: Hi, My name is MyvTeddy, you can just call me Teddy. I also play other games such as Street fighter 4, Blazblue and Tekken under the alias djKun. I’ve played DotA long enough to know most of the game. I've played the majority of DotA with Juggernaught and Crystal Maiden so swiftblade is the perfect for me.
About Swiftblade: as you all know, swiftblade is basically yurnero the juggernaught from DotA, the only exception to that is Swiftblade has a counter-strike replacing the Healing Wards (To emphasize or improve Swiftblade’s solo abilities and survivability by counter attacks against melee heroes).
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/1987350/640/1987350.jpg
Based off DotA, Swiftblade is a hero-killer and a soloist. It’s possible to work in teams with Swiftblade as well. In early game, your goal is to farm or early harass the other team if possible. Mid-game is to farm your items while ganking and late game is usually mostly ganking since by then you should be very powerful. However Swiftblade is a very fragile hero and can die easily. Let’s call him swifty by the way. A lot of this guide will also be based off other guides as well to supplement the changes from Yunero to Swifty. As such, please check out and give thanks to Fuji and Kaution for their early guides.
Onwards with the skills:
Blade Frenzy (Blade Fury)
http://i28.tinypic.com/244bbxh.png
This will be your bread-and-butter skill in early and mid game. Straight off the bat, it can deal 400 damage in 5 seconds (if you manage to land all hits in 5 seconds). As each level goes up, it deals 20 more damage.
Lv1: 400
Lv2: 500
Lv3: 600
Lv4: 700
By level 3 you usually will have lv2 Blade frenzy that does 500 damage. Usually by then, you can easily kill any hero in 1 or 2 blade storms. This is an important skill to learn and should be maxed out ASAP. How do you connect all hits in 5 seconds? That’s where you come in. This will require a bit of skill, a bit of luck and a bit of mindgames. Remember, you can move while you spin. So what’s the most logical way to do this? Follow your target.
DO NOT HOWEVER RIGHT CLICK ON THE TARGET.
By doing so, you’ll auto-follow the target BUT they will be out of your blade storm range, making your storm useless and wasted. What I often do is basically right click in front of them and keep on right clicking. I change locations of where I click because (KEY IDEA) I’m trying to anticipate where my target is going and try to stick to that path and stick to the target. They may go to the other direction to fool you and that’s where you have to be careful with. Good reflexes will come into play so if you can anticipate or see that they changed directions; adjust your pathways to follow.
Also, this isn’t just your harassing ability. This is also your defensive/evasive ability. The magic immunity will prevent magic attacks and effects to be negated (in other words, Glacius’s ult just won’t do a damn thing to you for 5 seconds) So in other words, if your being chased: you can blade storm your way out or on the way back home to not only be prevented from being nuked/snared/rooted and at the same time, can cause the enemy to run away so they don’t get hurt while running in early/mid game.
movement speed will benefit Blade frenzy more due to you can make catching up to targets easier.
Counter Attack (replacing of Healing Wards)
http://i28.tinypic.com/2agvlee.png
What more do I have to say? As long as they keep hitting you, your chances of counter-attacking is pretty good. Since it procs. Every 0.6 seconds, you normally will always have this ready to go. I prefer Healing Wards because:
-It heals
-Can move by controlling it
-More useful in teams
But this will do just fine.
Way of the Sword (Blade Dance)
http://i31.tinypic.com/20ifb43.png
Again not much to talk about this skill. Just allows you to crit at a certain percentage.
Swift Slashes (Omnislash)
http://i28.tinypic.com/smasud.png
Your ultimate skill, your saving grace and your killer move. What this does is turning you invulnerable for the duration of the attack, blink towards the target and attacks at the same time and repeating the same thing for a specific number of times. This is a great skill to use to end a hero or to avoid being damage for the time being. I do not know if it’s magic or physical damage. If it’s physical, the attack damage could be reduced by the armor your target has and can count as a normal attack (therefore, crits can occur). All in all, great skill and usually kills targets or does enough damage to kill them.
However, this skill CAN be defeated.
What you can’t see, you can’t hit. So anything that goes invisible will cancel out Swift Slashes unless someone has like a true sight gem.
Fog of War/Line of sight will also break Swift Slashes. The moment the target go up a ramp, they will enter fog of war, unable to let you them for the time being and since you can’t see them, there goes your Swift Slashes.
Also, if there are any enemy creeps nearby, Swift Slashes will have a likely chance to target the creeps. SO therefore, you may only hit once out of the three hits if creeps are nearby the target. Isn’t that great?
So how can we prevent this or use Swift Slash properly?
One situation is to eliminate the creeps before the next wave comes. Once the hero is alone, you’re free to target the enemy and slash. Just be careful of your surroundings.
You can also fake-noob by going up the enemy, hit a few times and then run if you’re losing,run to an empty place somewhere and slash. You can also do some skill combos later on during the game.
SKILL BUILD: THE BnB
1. Blade Frenzy
2. Stats
3. Blade Frenzy
4. Stats
5. Blade Frenzy
6. Swift Blades
7. Blade Frenzy
8. Way of the Sword
9. Way of the Sword
10. Stats
11. Swift Blades
12. Way of the Sword
13. Way of the Sword
14. Counter Attack
15. Counter Attack
16. Swift Blades
17. Counter Attack
18. Counter Attack
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats
Reasons: Obviously, Blade frenzy is key skill in the beginning. However the stats? Going to stats instead of other skills will increase your survivability and you will often use your skills then stabbing the enemy to kill them. So counter-attack and way of the sword isn’t needed til later. Crits first before counter-attack. This is a bread-and-butter build based off Yunero’s bread and butter and it’s been proven many times it win games.
ITEM BUILD: The BnB
What you’ll end up with:
Steamboots (STR)
Runed Axe
WindBlow
Behemoth’s Heart
Abyssal Skull
*WildCard
Steam Boots: I find this to be a ideal choice since it does give you +10 Str that gives you more survivability and faster movement speed.
Runed Axe: the AoE damage is great for farming and can deal AoE damage to large scale battles in late game since you’ll be spending a lot of time stabbing then using your skill late game, the opposite of early game basically.
Wind Blow: This was an important item in Yunero’s item build (The Butterfly) so it would make sense to benefit swiftblade in here. The +30 agi and +30 damage will obviously increase your damage a lot and the best part: % 30 evasions. This will increase your survivability so much that you may just nullify damage by avoiding the damage all together.
Behemoth’s heart: for more survivability
Abyssal Skull: life-steal. Pretty phat and it’s a really good item to begin with. Especially late game when you’re doing like 250 damage per stab.
The last slot can be anything but I use it for Hack n Slash.
EARLY GAME:
2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/accessories/item1pretendercrown.jpg pretenders crown
2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/item12runesofblight.jpg Runes of Blight
1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/manapotion.jpgMana pot
Or
1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Relics/item11Marchers.jpgMarchers (Boots of speed)
1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/item12runesofblight.jpg Runes of Blight
GOAL ITEMS FOR EARLY GAME
2x fortified bracelets
1x Steam boots
GOAL ITEMS FOR MID GAME (In order):
What you have should have;
2x fortified bracelets
1x Steam boots
What to get next:
1x Abyssal Skull
1x Runed Axe
GOAL ITEMS FOR LATE GAME:
What you should have:
2x fortified bracelets
1x Steam boots
1x Abyssal Skull
1x Runed Axe
What to get next:
1x Behemoth’s heart
Sell fortified bracelet if you need at this point
1x Wind Blow
you can fill the last slot with anything.
COMBOS
EARLY GAME
Guideline:
-farm
-harass
Strategy:
MID GAME
Guidelines:
-farm
-gank
Strategy:
LATE GAME
Guide line:
-gank
Strategy:
NOTE: I will fill out the last section and fix some bits here and there later.
Log Changes:
About the author: Hi, My name is MyvTeddy, you can just call me Teddy. I also play other games such as Street fighter 4, Blazblue and Tekken under the alias djKun. I’ve played DotA long enough to know most of the game. I've played the majority of DotA with Juggernaught and Crystal Maiden so swiftblade is the perfect for me.
About Swiftblade: as you all know, swiftblade is basically yurnero the juggernaught from DotA, the only exception to that is Swiftblade has a counter-strike replacing the Healing Wards (To emphasize or improve Swiftblade’s solo abilities and survivability by counter attacks against melee heroes).
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/1987350/640/1987350.jpg
Based off DotA, Swiftblade is a hero-killer and a soloist. It’s possible to work in teams with Swiftblade as well. In early game, your goal is to farm or early harass the other team if possible. Mid-game is to farm your items while ganking and late game is usually mostly ganking since by then you should be very powerful. However Swiftblade is a very fragile hero and can die easily. Let’s call him swifty by the way. A lot of this guide will also be based off other guides as well to supplement the changes from Yunero to Swifty. As such, please check out and give thanks to Fuji and Kaution for their early guides.
Onwards with the skills:
Blade Frenzy (Blade Fury)
http://i28.tinypic.com/244bbxh.png
This will be your bread-and-butter skill in early and mid game. Straight off the bat, it can deal 400 damage in 5 seconds (if you manage to land all hits in 5 seconds). As each level goes up, it deals 20 more damage.
Lv1: 400
Lv2: 500
Lv3: 600
Lv4: 700
By level 3 you usually will have lv2 Blade frenzy that does 500 damage. Usually by then, you can easily kill any hero in 1 or 2 blade storms. This is an important skill to learn and should be maxed out ASAP. How do you connect all hits in 5 seconds? That’s where you come in. This will require a bit of skill, a bit of luck and a bit of mindgames. Remember, you can move while you spin. So what’s the most logical way to do this? Follow your target.
DO NOT HOWEVER RIGHT CLICK ON THE TARGET.
By doing so, you’ll auto-follow the target BUT they will be out of your blade storm range, making your storm useless and wasted. What I often do is basically right click in front of them and keep on right clicking. I change locations of where I click because (KEY IDEA) I’m trying to anticipate where my target is going and try to stick to that path and stick to the target. They may go to the other direction to fool you and that’s where you have to be careful with. Good reflexes will come into play so if you can anticipate or see that they changed directions; adjust your pathways to follow.
Also, this isn’t just your harassing ability. This is also your defensive/evasive ability. The magic immunity will prevent magic attacks and effects to be negated (in other words, Glacius’s ult just won’t do a damn thing to you for 5 seconds) So in other words, if your being chased: you can blade storm your way out or on the way back home to not only be prevented from being nuked/snared/rooted and at the same time, can cause the enemy to run away so they don’t get hurt while running in early/mid game.
movement speed will benefit Blade frenzy more due to you can make catching up to targets easier.
Counter Attack (replacing of Healing Wards)
http://i28.tinypic.com/2agvlee.png
What more do I have to say? As long as they keep hitting you, your chances of counter-attacking is pretty good. Since it procs. Every 0.6 seconds, you normally will always have this ready to go. I prefer Healing Wards because:
-It heals
-Can move by controlling it
-More useful in teams
But this will do just fine.
Way of the Sword (Blade Dance)
http://i31.tinypic.com/20ifb43.png
Again not much to talk about this skill. Just allows you to crit at a certain percentage.
Swift Slashes (Omnislash)
http://i28.tinypic.com/smasud.png
Your ultimate skill, your saving grace and your killer move. What this does is turning you invulnerable for the duration of the attack, blink towards the target and attacks at the same time and repeating the same thing for a specific number of times. This is a great skill to use to end a hero or to avoid being damage for the time being. I do not know if it’s magic or physical damage. If it’s physical, the attack damage could be reduced by the armor your target has and can count as a normal attack (therefore, crits can occur). All in all, great skill and usually kills targets or does enough damage to kill them.
However, this skill CAN be defeated.
What you can’t see, you can’t hit. So anything that goes invisible will cancel out Swift Slashes unless someone has like a true sight gem.
Fog of War/Line of sight will also break Swift Slashes. The moment the target go up a ramp, they will enter fog of war, unable to let you them for the time being and since you can’t see them, there goes your Swift Slashes.
Also, if there are any enemy creeps nearby, Swift Slashes will have a likely chance to target the creeps. SO therefore, you may only hit once out of the three hits if creeps are nearby the target. Isn’t that great?
So how can we prevent this or use Swift Slash properly?
One situation is to eliminate the creeps before the next wave comes. Once the hero is alone, you’re free to target the enemy and slash. Just be careful of your surroundings.
You can also fake-noob by going up the enemy, hit a few times and then run if you’re losing,run to an empty place somewhere and slash. You can also do some skill combos later on during the game.
SKILL BUILD: THE BnB
1. Blade Frenzy
2. Stats
3. Blade Frenzy
4. Stats
5. Blade Frenzy
6. Swift Blades
7. Blade Frenzy
8. Way of the Sword
9. Way of the Sword
10. Stats
11. Swift Blades
12. Way of the Sword
13. Way of the Sword
14. Counter Attack
15. Counter Attack
16. Swift Blades
17. Counter Attack
18. Counter Attack
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats
Reasons: Obviously, Blade frenzy is key skill in the beginning. However the stats? Going to stats instead of other skills will increase your survivability and you will often use your skills then stabbing the enemy to kill them. So counter-attack and way of the sword isn’t needed til later. Crits first before counter-attack. This is a bread-and-butter build based off Yunero’s bread and butter and it’s been proven many times it win games.
ITEM BUILD: The BnB
What you’ll end up with:
Steamboots (STR)
Runed Axe
WindBlow
Behemoth’s Heart
Abyssal Skull
*WildCard
Steam Boots: I find this to be a ideal choice since it does give you +10 Str that gives you more survivability and faster movement speed.
Runed Axe: the AoE damage is great for farming and can deal AoE damage to large scale battles in late game since you’ll be spending a lot of time stabbing then using your skill late game, the opposite of early game basically.
Wind Blow: This was an important item in Yunero’s item build (The Butterfly) so it would make sense to benefit swiftblade in here. The +30 agi and +30 damage will obviously increase your damage a lot and the best part: % 30 evasions. This will increase your survivability so much that you may just nullify damage by avoiding the damage all together.
Behemoth’s heart: for more survivability
Abyssal Skull: life-steal. Pretty phat and it’s a really good item to begin with. Especially late game when you’re doing like 250 damage per stab.
The last slot can be anything but I use it for Hack n Slash.
EARLY GAME:
2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/accessories/item1pretendercrown.jpg pretenders crown
2x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/item12runesofblight.jpg Runes of Blight
1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/manapotion.jpgMana pot
Or
1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Relics/item11Marchers.jpgMarchers (Boots of speed)
1x http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/item12runesofblight.jpg Runes of Blight
GOAL ITEMS FOR EARLY GAME
2x fortified bracelets
1x Steam boots
GOAL ITEMS FOR MID GAME (In order):
What you have should have;
2x fortified bracelets
1x Steam boots
What to get next:
1x Abyssal Skull
1x Runed Axe
GOAL ITEMS FOR LATE GAME:
What you should have:
2x fortified bracelets
1x Steam boots
1x Abyssal Skull
1x Runed Axe
What to get next:
1x Behemoth’s heart
Sell fortified bracelet if you need at this point
1x Wind Blow
you can fill the last slot with anything.
COMBOS
EARLY GAME
Guideline:
-farm
-harass
Strategy:
MID GAME
Guidelines:
-farm
-gank
Strategy:
LATE GAME
Guide line:
-gank
Strategy: