Heroes of Newerth Basics

[Meowshi]

Note: This should be updated to 3.1.1. PM me if you see any errors, or those weird '?' replacements for my apostrophe.


Glossary

1. Introduction

2. Game Lobby and Game Modes

3. Chatting
3.1 Heroes of Newerth slang
4. Hero Choosing Screen / Game Lobby

5. Goal of the Game / The Map

6. Shortcut List

7. Items
7.1 Initiation Items
7.2 Supportive Items
7.3 Defensive Items
7.4 Combative Items
7.5 Morph Attack Items
7.6 Supplies
7.7 Item Suggestions
8. Laning
8.1 Last Hitting
8.2 Tower Range
8.3 Creep Range
8.4 Map Control
9. Stages of the Game
9.1 Early Game
9.2 Mid Game
9.3 Late Game
10. What to do now

11. Conclusion

12. F.A.Q.



1. Introduction
First off, I am not one of the best Heroes of Newerth player out there. I have never been to any serious inhouse games, so I may be wrong on several accounts. However, I am experienced, and I know what I'm doing for the most part. I'm writing a guide because I'm sick of all of my friends joining a game, being called a noob, then uninstalling, never to play again. This game is very fun, however it has a steep learning curve. In order for it to be fun, you need to learn how to play. This guide is intended to teach the newbies how to play.

Oh. Make sure you have thick skin. Most people that will call you bad are just slightly better than you are. This game has the snowball effect, where a small discrepancy of skill goes a very, very long way. Don't let people's flames get to you, and try not to flame other people. We all rage, but raging isn't the same as insulting someone. Raging is insulting someone else's tactics :).



2. Game Lobby and Game Modes

When you first login to the game, you will be greeted by the lobby, shown below.


http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4366/81134534.th.jpg (http://img191.imageshack.us/i/81134534.jpg/)


To find a game, simply click on the Public Games button, and that will open a somewhat confusing list of games to choose from. I recommend doing the tutorial first, and I heavily, HEAVILY urge you not to pick matchmaking first. Pictured below is an example of a lobby you will encounter.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9821/67147324.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/i/67147324.jpg/)


Below is a key for all of the game modes below, however it may be somewhat confusing. A translation for each of these game types is below.
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/3646/17037779.th.jpg (http://img707.imageshack.us/i/17037779.jpg/)


Normal (ap/ar)- This is the standard picking mechanism. Everybody picks a hero at the beginning, with no specific order in a first-come-first-serve basis. There is no hero overlap. For information on ar, see force random.

Single Draft (sd)- Everybody picks one out of three heroes exclusive to them. There is no order, and there cannot be hero overlap, so feel free to take your time on this mode.

Random Draft (rd)- There is a pool of heroes which everybody picks from, however there is an order in which you get to choose your hero. This mode has largely been replaced by banning draft (-bd), but nobody really uses it anymore.

Banning Draft (bd)- Like -rd, there is a pool of hero which everybody picks from, however each team's leader (Blue slot and pink slot) takes turns banning a hero twice (4 total bans, 2 from each team)

Banning Pick (bp)- Like Regular, except team leaders (blue and pink) take turns banning three heroes each, one at a time. This is the mode used in matchmaking.

Deathmatch (dm)- Highly not recommended to new players. You have a pool heroes, and every time you die, you get a new hero. Your team loses when your base is destroyed, or if you run out of heroes. This game mode is not implimented yet

No Leavers- This game bans everybody with a high disconnection ratio.

Random Hero- You are given a random hero. You can repick your hero once, but that costs gold.

All Heroes- The heroes become unlinked from their perspective sides, so instead of only being able to choose from a pool of 21 heroes, you can now pick from a pool of 42 heroes.

Easy Mode (em)- It becomes significantly easier to level up, and you make double the money via income. Don't play this game mode. Seriously. It's horribly imbalanced towards carries, and gives very, very bad habits.

Noobs Only- Only players under level 6 can play.

Noobs Allowed- Anybody can play

Forests of Caldavar- The basic dota map. This one fosters a majority of the games on Heroes of Newerth

Watchtower- A new 5v5 map nobody plays :*(. Has a cool kongor replacement.

Darkwood Vale- A 3v3 which nobody plays :*(. Pretty cool, in my opinion, but cliffs are kind of funky and may favor one side over the other.

Shuffle Team (shuffle)- This shuffles the team around randomally. Any team you join in the lobby doesn't matter, just make sure you join a team and when the game starts, you'll be on a random team.

Autobalanced (ab)- The two teams are balanced based off of your PSR. Most public ab games don't have the ab icon selected (See the brown icon). Games with the brown icon ignores team locks, while games without the brown icon balances based off of the host's discretion.

Not Autobalanced (no ab)- Usually if the host has friends he wants to play with, he will include no ab in the title. This means that no autobalancing will occur. Noobs be wary of these games, as they may get stomped.


In the beginning, you might want to have a preference of joining shuffle games, as they prevent the teams from becoming too stacked. The way I learned how to play was to join -arem games (All random, easy mode), I do not recommend this, nor does anybody on the forums (easy mode is somewhat taboo, and it isn't really any easier.) I think the easiest way to learn is to join -ar or -sd games, as you get more exposure to all the heroes. After you get a feel for the skills of the heroes, feel free to specialize in -bd or -bp.

[Meowshi]

3. Chat commands

First off is the buddy list. To get to the buddylist, click the circled button in the picture below. If you're in-game, simply press the F6 button and then click the same circled button. This will open the community tab. Here are a few chat commands, which are remarkably similar to battle.net's chat commands.


http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7540/63054017.th.jpg (http://img180.imageshack.us/i/63054017.jpg/)


These are the basic buddy commands.

/w <username> <message>. This command will whisper the player of your choosing.

/stats <username> - This will tell you the user's stats

/r <message> -This will automatically put /w <username>, with the username being the person that messaged you last.

/buddy add <username> - This adds the person on your buddy list.

/buddy delete <username> - This removes the person from your buddy list.

/banlist add <username> <reason> - This adds people to your ban list. Banlists are private, and are not shared with your buddies.


To see more commands, simply type /help in chat.




3.1 Heroes of Newerth Slang

There are many words that people use in Heroes of Newerth that you might not be familiar with. Here's a short list to familiar yourself with their lexicon.

Top - The uppermost lane on the map, or the leftmost in Watchtower.

Mid - The middle lane.

Bot - The bottom lane, or the rightmost lane in Watchtower.

Neutralling - To act of killing monsters in the forest. This means you have two solo lanes, and one duo lane as oppossed to two duo lanes and one solo.

Runes - The tablets which spawns in the river.

Noob - Somebody new to the game that doesn't know what they're doing.

Newb - Somebody not new to the game that doesn't know what they're doing.

Gank - To team up on somebody in order to kill them.

Stash - When you buy an item, and you either have a full inventory or not near a town, the item will automatically be put in your stash. To select the item out, simply right click on it, and drag it onto the slot you want the item to go in. You must be within radius of your shop to transfer items. Outposts and Secret Shops do not work.

Forest - The patches of trees where the creeps are.

Roshan - The boss creep, Kongor on the Forests of Caldavar map. Also the bosses on the Watchtower map.

Push - The act of attempting to attack the enemy's towers / base structures.

Ult - Ultimate, the ability avaliable to you at level 6, 11, and 16.

b - Back. This means to start retreating.

Tower dive - Usually said at lower levels, this means to kill the enemy hero when they are under the protection of their tower. Very risky.

Buy Back - The process of purchasing your hero back when he dies with gold. Very costly, usually only seen in very late game when the hero in question has no use for money.

CC/Disable/Hex - The act of stunning the enemy so they cannot freely act on their own.

Snare - The act of reducing the enemy's movement speed.

Missing/MIA - Used when someone in the perspective lane (top missing / mid MIA / all MIA). More information on this in the laning section.

Rune Whoring - The act of taking all of the runes that spawn, as fast as you can in order to get a free bottle recharge (More information on that in 7.6 - Supplies), and map control (more information on that later)

Creep Skipping - The act of diving beyond their tower into the lane in order to short circuit creeps. I don't recommend you do this unless you're pushing a tower and your team is with you (No level 1 legionaire cheesing)

Backdooring - The act of teleporting into the enemy base in order to kill their towers, barracks, or even throne. Completely legal, don't feel bad if you backdoor. Easily countered by homecoming stones, which you should be carrying on your personnel at all times anyways. In heroes of newerth, it's impossible to teleport into the enemy base, so newbies often call everything and anything (Even incorrectly) out as backdooring.




4. Hero Selection Screen

So you have chosen a game, and you're waiting in the lobby. Here's what the game lobby looks like.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/6692/60299426.th.jpg (http://img89.imageshack.us/i/60299426.jpg/)

Somewhat self explanatory. Choose a slot by clicking on the colored circle that you want, and wait for the host to start the game. The host will most likely start the game after the entire game is filled on both teams. AFK hosts suck. It happens.

The countdown goes, and you'll be taken to a list of heroes you are able to choose from.


http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3825/76216468.th.jpg (http://img148.imageshack.us/i/76216468.jpg/)



The dice is a random button, which will give you an extra 250g on Normal mode games. Certain game modes look different. This is a standard normal mode game (all pick) with all heroes on. To choose a hero, Simply click on the hero portrait, and hit ready.

To do a swap, when you choose a hero, there will be a swap icon next to all applicable heroes' portraits. Simply click on that and a swap request will go to them. Then, all they need to do is click on your hero's portrait.


By the way, this is a loading screen. It isn't a race or anything. Just a loading screen.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/41/loadingscreena.th.jpg (http://img11.imageshack.us/i/loadingscreena.jpg/)






5. Goal of the Game

Welcome to the main game. The premise of the game is simple. Destroy the enemy's base.

The Legion Base is pictured below, otherwise known as the Sentinels in DotA.



http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4662/legionbase.th.jpg (http://img23.imageshack.us/i/legionbase.jpg/)




And here is the Hellbourne's base, known as the Scourge's base in DotA.


http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/3402/hellbornebase.th.jpg (http://img27.imageshack.us/i/hellbornebase.jpg/)



Inside the base are these two giant 'pools', which we usually call fountains. In the fountains, your character can fully heal it's HP and MP. The pool is 'protected' by a tower which does a very high amount of damage to any enemies who come inside of it. Also, you can purchase items inside of the fountain.

However, there are many obstacles in the way of getting there. For one, in most games, there are five heroes equally as strong as you blocking the way. Not only that, but there are towers all along the way, as well as creep spawns. Inside of the base, there are three sets of barracks, consisting of a ranged barracks, and a melee barracks. Protecting these barracks is a tower (one for top, mid, and bottom). The barracks are invulnerable until every single tower is destroyed. If you destroy the barracks, your team will get improved creeps for that lane, which not only makes it so your team automatically pushes a lane with creeps, but when the enemy kills a creep in that lane, they get reduced gold. To win the game, you must destroy the enemy's sacraficial shrine / tree. This is protected by two towers, which cause the tree/shrine to be invulnerable until they are destroyed.

If I'm not mistaken, the random huts and shrines do absolutely nothing except give you a small fund boost on destruction.


Here is a view of the minimap.


http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4513/20833263.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/i/20833263.jpg/)



There are three main creep lanes. The circles are towers, and the lines are the actual lanes. The lanes are referred to as Top, Middle, and Bottom respectively. Unless you have planned it out with your team, you will most likely have two heroes in two lanes, and one hero in the third. (A popular trend has been 2 top, 1 mid, 2 bot). If you see two people inside of a lane already, do not join that lane unless you actually plan with your team to do a trilane (Rare occurence)

The blue lines are the river. The river is a very easy way to get between the other lanes.



http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/4177/67248706.th.jpg (http://img31.imageshack.us/i/67248706.jpg/)


Also along the river, are these tablet spots. There are two tablet spots in total (both circled), and only one tablet can be spawned at a time. The tablet highlighted is a Tablet of Illusion, which causes two illusions of your hero to spawn. This hero looks exactly the same as a you to the enemy, however it does decreased damage, cannot cast spells, and takes a huge chunk of extra damage. The runes are as following.

Illusion- Causes two illusions of your hero to spawn. These heroes look exactly the same as you to the enemy, but it does decreased damage, it cannot cast spells, and takes a huge chunk of extra damage when hit.

Double Damage- Doubles your base damage for 45 seconds.

Rejuvenation- Heals your HP and MP to full for 45 seconds. Dispels when hit.

Invisibility- Makes you invisible for a minute or so.

Haste- Gives you unsnarable max movespeed for 45 seconds. You can still be stunned during this time.

Runes spawn every two minutes (0:00, 2:00, 4:00, and so on). If you take a rune at 1:30, it will respawn at 2:00. not 3:59. The runes are random in both location, and in type of rune. (Meaning, you can get two regenerations in a row, or two runes that appear in the top river in a row.) As you become more skilled and more skilled, people will begin to 'watch' the runes more, which effectively give them free bottle recharges (More information about that later under Supply Items).



This map below shows the neutral killing spots.


http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/3144/78790575.th.jpg (http://img194.imageshack.us/i/78790575.jpg/)


The highlighted areas are neutral creeping spots. The top and bottom chunk have easy-medium creeps, depending on the spawn. Early game, they can relatively kick your ass, but with a few items, you should be able to take on the creep spawn with ease. The red circled spots are harder monsters, which should not be attempted until mid-late game. The blue circle is Kongor, who is a very strong monster with stuns, and should not be attempted unless you or your teammates know what they are doing. Kongor gives the entire team 200g, drops an item which automatically revives you once, and
broadcasts to the entire game that your team has killed kongor.



6. Shortcuts

Ingame, there are many shortcuts that you can learn. This makes it easier to control your hero, decreasing reaction time, and increasing micromanagement capabilities. I fully recommend learning all of these shortcuts.

Below are some of the main shortcuts for skills.


http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6757/shortcuts2.th.jpg (http://img9.imageshack.us/i/shortcuts2.jpg/)


If your hero has four active skills, they will be activatable via. Q, W, E, and R, as listed in the picture. Q, W, and E will be your base skills, and R will be your ultimate. In addition, to use an item, hold down the alt button, then select either Q, W, E, A, S, or D, depending on the item slot which you would like to use.

To select your character no matter where he is, select the F1 button. Then, tap twice to focus the camera on your character. These are the absolute basics that are somewhat necessary for even average gameplay.

There are some heroes which can get multiple characters, for example the puzzle box minions, controlled characters by the Whispering Helmet, Orphelia's Command skill, Wildsoul's bear Booboo, and so on. To control them, simply select them, and press Control + (Number). Whenever you select this number, you will begin controlling that character. You can also select multiple units with this. For example, when I'm playing Wildsoul, my control scheme is as follows.

1: Wildsoul
2: Booboo
3: Wildsoul and Booboo

If I press the 3 button, I can hit the tab button to select between booboo and wildsoul. However, if I right click attack in this mode, both of my characters will attack. Tabbing simply allows me to use that character's skills.

One more thing, pressing the B button in any location will display the shop menu. If you are not near the outpost, secret shop, or your fountain, items purchased will go directly into your stash. Also, items purchased when your inventory is full will go to your stash (Fountain shop only, does not apply to outposts/secret shop). Items in your stash can only be transferred to your hero if your hero goes into the fountain, then simply right clicking on your hero's inventory space.

[Meowshi]

7. Items

There are a very high amount of items in the game, which can get confusing. There are a few key tips that you should remember.


Always go for a recipe. Getting items standalone with no future is usually not worth it, as it will hinder your progress. This does not apply to Supply items, Minor Totems, or the Void Talisman.



Never 'save up' for an item that requires 3k+ gold first. If you end up having enough for one, then feel free to get it. However, do not save up money just for that item- start with some lower priced items first. If you save, you will most likely die due to having low items, and being worse off than you would have, if you just normally purchased items.


In order to create an item, first get the base components, then get the recipe. Lets use the most common item, a Fortified bracer. Below is a picture of what the buying screen looks like. When you select the bracer button, the following window appears. Those which are highlighted in green are items which you already carry (On your hero, not counting the stash).


http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/1489/62873802.th.jpg (http://img31.imageshack.us/i/62873802.jpg/)


Simply buy the two items needed, and they will turn green on the shop menu. Then, to create the item, purchase the recipe. Be wary, not all recipes need to be purchased. However, most do. In the current version, there's a "buy all components" button, which makes it much easier. This is in the tutorial.

One note, the items list is a "****ing huge wall of text". If you're not interested in learning what all of the items do, feel free to skip it and go to the Item Choosing section.





7.1 Initiation Items

These items are usually good items to start with. Below is a screenshot of the initiation items buy menu. I will read them from left to right, top to bottom.



http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/4692/74241809.th.jpg (http://img704.imageshack.us/i/74241809.jpg/)




http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5471/initiationqb.jpg (http://img6.imageshack.us/i/initiationqb.jpg/)Power Supply (Initiation) [210 + 53 + 53 + 290 = 606g]


+3 Strength
+3 Agility
+3 Intelligence
Active Skill
Gives your character +3 to all stats, which is always good. Every time any enemy hero casts a spell within a certain radius of you, your item gains a charge. When you 'use' the item, you heal 15 health and 15 mana per charge you collected, so with ten charges, you will restore 150 health and 150 mana. Good item due to having base components you should usually have anyways. Is also very good against certain enemy heroes that spam lots of spells such as armadon or madman, but not very good against heroes that do not spam spells such as arachna. This item gives a very nice stat boost regardless who you're laning against, due to using two minor totems which you'll probably sell later anyways.



http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/6572/initiationwb.jpg (http://img11.imageshack.us/i/initiationwb.jpg/)Fortified Bracer (Initiation) [150 + 185 + 175 = 510g]:
+6 Strength
+3 Agility
+3 Intelligence
Gives your character a nice HP boost, as well as a small armor and MP boost. The main point of this item is the nice +hp boost you get from +6 strength, which is usable on any character. If your character is a strength character, it adds six base damage as well. Also known as a Bracer.




http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/7603/initiationeb.jpg (http://img22.imageshack.us/i/initiationeb.jpg/)Soulscream Ring (Initiation) [150 + 185 + 125 = 460g]:
+6 Agility
+3 Strength
+3 Intellect
Gives your character a small HP, mana, and armor boost. If your character is an agility character, adds six more base damage on top of that. Also known as a Wraith band.




http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6044/initiationrb.jpg (http://img193.imageshack.us/i/initiationrb.jpg/)Talisman of Exile (Initiation)[185 + 150 + 150 = 485g]:
+6 Intellect
+3 Strength
+3 Agility
Gives your character a mana boost, a small strength boost, and a small armor boost. If your character is an intelligence character, it adds six base damage. Also known as the Null Talisman.




http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/236/initiationab.jpg (http://img193.imageshack.us/i/initiationab.jpg/)Great Arcana (Initiation)[900 + 450 + 325 = 1675g]:
+6 intelligence
+15 Damage
+10 Attack Speed
+75% Mana Regeneration
This item is mostly a component inside of a recipe. Not only does it have a decent DPS boost, but it has a very nice mana regeneration boost. Mostly used in order to create a Hellflower, Restoration Stone, or Harkon's Blade. May be called an Oblivion Staff. If you're anything like my newbie roommate, you'll think this is a good item on agility heroes. Don't get it for them, it doesn't add enough damage for you.




http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/7909/initiationsb.jpg (http://img22.imageshack.us/i/initiationsb.jpg/)Sustainer (Initiation)[875 + 875 = 1750g]:
+10 damage
+5 Health Regeneration
+125% Mana Regeneration
Item with nice regeneration stats, but leaves much to be desired. The regeneration helps you stay in the lane longer to level up, but at the cost of stat points, which help you survive. Used in four recipes, the Runed Axe, Soul Booster, Nullstone, and the Restoration Stone. May be called a Perseverance, or Pers in game. Don't get this item every game, it's a common mistake to make.




http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4803/initiationfb.jpg (http://img193.imageshack.us/i/initiationfb.jpg/)Whispering Helm (Initiation)[950 + 900 = 1850g]:
15% Lifesteal
+20 Damage
+5 Armor
Active Skill
It can be activated to allow you to control a creature, which can be used for scouting, tanking neutrals inside of the forests, but most importantly creep stacking. Good for some cheap lifesteal and armor. Used to create the Symbol of Rage. This is the best lifesteal item you can get, due to it adding everything your carry may need (Damage and armor, on top of the lifesteal). May be called a Helm of Domination.




http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4803/initiationfb.jpg (http://img24.imageshack.us/i/initiationfb.jpg/)Alchemist's Bones (Initiation)[500 + 500 + 900 = 1900g]:
+30 Attack Speed
Active Skill
Allows you to transmute a creep to give you 3x the amount in gold for 25 mana, but has a cooldown of 100 seconds. The transmutation skill cannot be used on bosses/heroes or magic immune units. When used on a vagabond leader unit or a catapult, it usually gives a little bit over 200-300g, which will make this item eventually pay for itself. Best when gotten before the 15 minute mark. Is not used in any other recipes. Also called the Hand of Midas.




http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/2589/94816647.jpg (http://img36.imageshack.us/i/94816647.jpg/)Firebrand (Initiation)[450 + 1000 + 950 = 2400g]:
+6 Strength
+15 Agility
+10% Movement Speed
+15 Attack Speed
One of the few items in the game besides boots with a movement speed bonus, which makes it easier to chase enemies and get away. Most preferable on heroes that use their attacks, as oppossed to spells. Used with a icebrand in order to make Frostburn, an improved version of the two swords, and the Geometer's bane. Also called a Yasha.


http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9940/35071558.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/35071558.jpg/)Plated Greaves (Initiation)[500 + (550 + 53 + 200) + 200 = 1503g]:
+3 to Strength
+3 to Agility
+3 to Intelligence
+70 Movement Speed
+5 Armor
Active Skill
The active skill gives a very, very sexy buff to nearby allies which increases armor by two, and gives them a shield effect which blocks 10 damage from each enemy hit. In my opinion, these boots are the most OP boots in the game as of now. I get them for all of my support, as well as nuking heroes due to the insane survivability it gives you and your team. When added up, this item gives +7 armor. There is no dota equivalent. Do not feel bad if there are already 2-3 of them on your team. +5 armor is still mongo for you. No dota equivalent on this item.




http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/7941/initiationxb.jpg (http://img195.imageshack.us/i/initiationxb.jpg/)Enhanced Marchers (Initiation)[500 + 500 + 500 = 1500g]:
+24 Damage
+70 Movement Speed
Active Skill
The active skill gives a +10% Movement Speed increase, and allows you to walk through creeps and heroes for six seconds. The cooldown on these boots is twelve seconds. To make the most out of this item, you need to remember to use the skill as much as possible. When used correctly, they are very good for chasing and running away. I honestly hardly ever get these boots because of the lack of survivability attached, and the lack of anything but pure damage. (The active skill also helps you catch up to a target). May be called Phase Boots. I don't recommend these boots, and you see a lot of Newbies running around with these on even support heroes.




http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9175/initiationcb.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/initiationcb.jpg/)Steamboots (Initiation)[500 + 450 + 500 = 1450g]:
+60 Movement speed
+10 Strength / +10 Agility / +10 Intelligence
+25 Attack Speed
Pseudo Active Skill
Boots which also give nice stat increases. You can only have one stat increase. When you use the active skill on the boots, it will change the type from Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and back to Strength in that order. This item is good for the 10 strength, which will give you +190 health. Gives a very nice attack speed increase, making it viable for carries and other right clicky heroes. May be called Power Threads, or Threads.




http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6836/initiationvb.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/initiationvb.jpg/)Post Haste (Initiation)[500 + 2200 = 2700g]:
+95 Move Speed
Active Skill
When used, allows you to teleport to any allied unit or building on a sixty second cooldown. This is extremely good for getting away from enemies due to it being the fastest boots in the game, as well as for map control. You can keep two lanes pushed with these boots. Fastest boots in the game in terms of movement speed, however also the most expensive. May also be called Boots of Travel.

[Meowshi]

7.2 Supportive Items

Not only items to help you, but these also help your team, as well as disable the enemy. Items in here are often aura and area based, but there is also an abundance of mana regeneration items in here. Below is a screenshot of the supportive item list displayed in the shop menu.



http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5894/19842114.th.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/i/19842114.jpg/)




http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/581/supportiveq.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/supportiveq.jpg/)Ring of the Teacher (Supportive) [325 + 175 = 500g]:

+6 Damage
+3 Armor Aura
+.65% Mana Regeneration Aura
Pseudo Active Skill

If you’re not trying to push the lane you are in, turn the ring to Heroes Only. That way your creeps don’t inadvertently push the tower, making it harder for you to get last hits (More information about that is in the Laneing section of the guide.) This ring gives a small armor bonus, making you a tiny bit sturdier. It also gives a nice mana regeneration aura for you and heroes around you. This item is used in the Abyssal Skull and Nome's Wisdom. May be called a Ring of Basilus, or RoB.



http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2306/supportivewd.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/supportivewd.jpg/)Refreshing Ornament (Supportive) [350 + 53 + 200 = 603g]:

+2 to All Stats
+2 Health Regen Aura

This item gives a small boost to your stats, but more importantly, it gives regeneration to you, and whoever you are laning with. Helps not only you, but your ally stay in the lane longer. Used in order to create an Astrolabe. May be called the Headdress of Rejuvination.



http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/8717/supportivee.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/supportivee.jpg/)Shield of the Five (Supportive) [53 + 550 + 200 = 803g]:

+2 to All Stats
+5 to Armor
Active Skill

The active skill gives you and all allies around you a +2 armor buff. Decent if you can remember it during team pushes. Only costs 10 mana. Has a 25 second cooldown. Used for creating the Astrolabe and Plated Greaves.



http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3484/supportiver.jpg (http://img6.imageshack.us/i/supportiver.jpg/)Ring of Sorcery (Supportive) [175 + 1000 + 525 = 1700g]:
+300 Mana
+5 Armor
Active Skill
The active skill gives you and all allies around you +135 mana. This spell costs 25 mana for you to cast and has a cooldown of 33 seconds. The armor boost helps you stay alive for a little bit longer, and the mana boost is perfect not only for casters, but for low mana, spell dependant strength heroes. Your out of mana allies will love you for it. May be called an Arcane Ring.


http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5766/supportives.jpg (http://img38.imageshack.us/i/supportives.jpg/)Tablet of Command (Supportive) [540 + 1000 + 500 = 2040g]:

+6 Strength
+6 Agility
+16 Intelligence
Active Skill
The active skill pushes the unit you select forward 500 units. The mana cost is 25 and the cooldown is 25 seconds. Very useful for displacing enemies that are very position oriented, chasing, and running away. Called the Force Staff in dota. Some people swear by this item, but most people never touch it. I recommend you also don't touch it until you're more familiar with HoN. Great for stopping channeling spells, as it goes through shrunken head.



http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1558/supportivea.jpg (http://img6.imageshack.us/i/supportivea.jpg/)Abyssal Skull (Supportive) [(175 + 325) + 900 + 350 + 300 = 2050g]:
+15% Base Damage Aura
+5 Armor Aura
+.8 Mana Regeneration Aura
+15% Lifesteal to Allied Melee Units Aura.
The life steal stacks with other lifesteal items. Be careful to not have multiple heroes with this item, since it doesn’t stack with itself. Is somewhat easy to make due to the low cost of the components needed. I hardly ever see this item, and I can't really recommend it due to there being better alternatives (See: Whispering Helm). May be called a Vladamir's, or Vlad's.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/1895/76783007.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/i/76783007.jpg/)Nome's Wisdom (Supportive) [(175 + 325) + 540 + 1000 + 260 = 2300g]:
+6 Strength
+6 Agility
+16 Intelligence
+10 Damage
+100% Mana Regeneration
+4 Armor Aura
+1 Mana Regeneration Aura
+Healing aura
The healing aura refunds 25% of used allied MP into HP on abilities. This item is a very, very good item for support, giving them essentially everything they need. You should see one of these every single game. It is a very, VERY good item. Get it on support heroes, but only one per team. Expect nerfs. There's no dota equivalent.



http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4561/supportived.jpg (http://img5.imageshack.us/i/supportived.jpg/)Astrolabe (Supportive) [(53 + 550 + 200) + (350 + 53 + 200) + 900 = 2306g]:
+5 to All Stats
+5 Armor
Active Skill

The active skill gives you and your allies 250 HP, as well as +2 Armor boost, which costs 150 mana with a cooldown of 45 seconds. If you are a support hero, getting this will help your team, given you remember to use it. The effectiveness of this item diminishes over time, as 250 health is a lot in early/mid game, but quickly becomes insignificant when the HP numbers start to push the thousands. Perfect for pushes, as it heals creeps too. May be called a Mekanism.


http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/1206/supportivef.jpg (http://img21.imageshack.us/i/supportivef.jpg/)Puzzlebox (Supportive) [450 + 1000 + (1000 Per Level) = 2450g + 1000 each level]:

+(6/10/14) Strength
+(15/21/24) Intelligence
Active Skill

When used, it summons two little buddies. They do nice damage, have a mana burn ability, and have true sight at level 3 (Can see invisible characters). It's somewhat hard to micromanage 3 characters, so I wouldn’t recommend newbies using them. The two summons can attack while you’re doing other things, such as channeling a spell, or even running for your dear life. Best for early-mid game, but the speed boost that the summoned units give as well as true sight allow it to be useful even end-game. It costs 50 mana to summon, and they have a cooldown of 90 seconds. This item is very, very sexy. May be called a Necromicon.



http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/1361/supportivez.jpg (http://img199.imageshack.us/i/supportivez.jpg/)Storm Spirit (Supportive) [325 + 1000 + 875 + 600 = 2800g]:
+16 Intelligence
+25 Movement Speed
+100% Mana Regeneration
Active Skill
This item allows you access to a new spell, Cyclone. Cyclone completely and totally disables one unit, which can include you, for 2.5 seconds. It’s good if your team is in a pickle and you need to quickly CC an enemy, or during a chase when you have teammates lagging behind. Units within cyclone are immune to everything for the 2.5 seconds. Costs 75 mana and has a cooldown of 30 seconds. May be called an Eul's, or cyclone stick.



http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6108/supportivex.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/supportivex.jpg/)Barrier Idol (Supportive) [(400 + 950 + 350 + 350) + (550 + 53 + 200) + 800 = 3653g]
+10 Magic Armor
+10 Health Regeneration
Active Skill
Very, very useful support item in spell caster heavy games. The active ability casts a barrier on allied units that lasts for eight seconds, and absorbs 400 spell damage. Has a cooldown of 60 seconds, but you can only have the barrier effect on you once every 50 seconds. Very good on support heroes, as it adds magic armor as well to increase your survivability. Called Khadgar's Pipe of Insight in dota.





http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7114/supportivec.jpg (http://img30.imageshack.us/i/supportivec.jpg/)Restoration Stone (Supportive) [(875 + 875) + (900 + 450 + 325) + 1875 = 5300g]:
+40 Damage
+4 Health Regeneration
+200% Mana Regeneration
Active Skill

When used, this item resets every single one of your cooldowns. This allows you to do things such as consecutively use two powerful spells, which may be invaluable for team pushes. However, it is very pricey, so not everybody with a high cooldown can get it. The active skill has a cooldown of 210 seconds, and has a very high mana cost of 375 mana. Rushing this item first may not be the best idea due to the mana cost. May be called a Refresher.




http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/511/supportivev.jpg (http://img25.imageshack.us/i/supportivev.jpg/)Totem of Kuldra (Supportive) [2700 + 2100 + 875 = 5675g]:
+10 Strength
+10 Agility
+35 to Intelligence
+200% Mana Regeneration
Active Skill

When used, this item transforms an enemy into a jittering pile of teeth which can do absolutely nothing except move slowly. This effectively disables an enemy unit for 3.5 seconds. This item does not channel, which means after using it, you are free to do whatever you want while your enemy is disabled, such as run, or even begin to channel a teleport back home. It’s very hard to create due to the necessity of two expensive items over 2,000g. Costs 100 Mana, and has a cooldown of 35 seconds. May be called a Hex stick, sheep stick, or a guinsoo.




7.3 Protective Items

These items often give you the health, armor, or health regen that's needed to survive. Not all heroes make use of these items, but a majority can use at least one listed. Below is a list of the shopping menu for your arsenal of protective gear.


http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/5488/protectiveset.th.jpg (http://img30.imageshack.us/i/protectiveset.jpg/)





http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/93/protectiveq.jpg (http://img6.imageshack.us/i/protectiveq.jpg/)Iron Shield (Protective) [250+150+150 = 550g]:

+6 Agility
+100% Chance to block 20 damage if you're a melee hero being attacked by a hero
+100% Chance to block 10 damage if you're a ranged hero being attacked by a hero
+60% Chance to block 20/10 damage if you're being attacked by creeps.

Very affordable, and increases your survivability. Decent early game item for agi carries, and you can make it all at the outpost.. Is also called the Poor Man's Shield in dota.



http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6003/protectivew.jpg (http://img27.imageshack.us/i/protectivew.jpg/)Shaman’s Headdress (Protective) [400 + 950 + 350 + 350 = 2050g]:
+10 Magic Armor
+8 Health Regeneration.
Perfect defensive item when the enemy has casters, such as Thunderbringer, Pyromancer, Soul Reaper, Torturer, etc. This is the only item with magic defense attached to it. Deciding whether to get this item or not is simple: If you’re a tanky strength hero (Pharaoh, Legionaire, etc.), and the enemy has at least one caster, get it. Else, don’t. Gives you a good excuse to get Talisman of Restoration at the very beginning to help you lane. Known as the Hood of Defiance.



http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/7458/protectivee.jpg (http://img43.imageshack.us/i/protectivee.jpg/)Barbed Armor (Protective) [450 + 1200 + 550 = 2200g]:
+10 Intelligence
+22 Damage
+5 Armor
Active Skill

When activated, returns 100% physical damage done to you for five seconds as pure damage. This item does not deflect spell damage. Only has a 15 second cooldown, so it’s very spammable. Good for countering high DPS carries that you let farm a little bit too much. The active skill costs 25 mana to use. May be called a blade mail.





http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/7258/protectiver.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/i/protectiver.jpg/)Helm of the Black Legion (Protective) [875 + 250 + 1100 = 2225g]:
+300 Health
+6 Health Regeneration
+70% Chance to Block 40 Damage

Item which gives a lot of lane control, but quickly phases out of usefulness in late game. Some pubbies swear by this item, because it gives them the lane survivability that they crave. However, since it delays your core items by 2k, I don't recommend always getting this item for the sake of getting this item. Purely a defensive item. Is also known as the Vanguard.





http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/7070/protectivea.jpg (http://img188.imageshack.us/i/protectivea.jpg/)Icon of the Goddess (Protective) [1000 + 1100 + 1200 = 3300g]:
+450 Health
+400 Mana
+1 Health Regeneration
+10% Mana Regeneration.

This item is a component to creating other items. Gives a very nice health and mana bonus, which helps survivability a lot. Used in creating the Sacrifical Stone, as well as the Staff of the Master. Also known as a Soul booster.




http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8079/protectives.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/i/protectives.jpg/)Assassin’s Shroud (Protective) [1400 + 900 + 1100 = 3400g]:
+38 Damage
+10 Attack speed
Active Skill

The active skill gives you a nine second invisibility, which gives you a small speed boost and also allows you to move through creeps. This wind walk can be used to gank people more effectively, and to suddenly disappear and return home safely. Can also be used to initiate a gank, as it does +125 bonus damage on attack. Costs 75 mana, and has a cooldown of 18 seconds. Known as the Loathars. The invisibility is easily countered by dust of revelation.





http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3969/protectived.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/i/protectived.jpg/)Shrunken Head (Protective) [1000 + 1600 + 1300 = 3900g]:
+24 Damage
+10 Strength
Active Skill

This item allows you to become magic immune for a variable amount of time. Upon first usage, it makes you immune for 9 and has a cooldown of 80 seconds. Each subsequent use, the duration goes down by a second and cooldown decreases by five seconds. (The duration goes to 8/7/6/5 seconds, and the cooldown goes to 75/70/65/60/55 seconds). This item is very helpful in ensuring that you do not get interupted while channeling a spell. When you use this, remember that the spells your enemy would have casted on you may be redirected towards your allies. Very commonly abbreviated as the BKB.




http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3254/protectivef.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/i/protectivef.jpg/)Frostfield Plate (Protective) [1400 + 2700 + 600 = 4700g]:
+30 Intelligence
+15 Armor
Active Skill

Item with many uses. The Intelligence gives a huge mana boost to any hero that has it. The armor boost gives a huge survivability bonus. The skill does 200 damage and slows down all units within a small radius. This item has an aura which decreases enemy attack speed by 25%. Good for the extra 200 damage team nuke, AoE slow, and a bonus to your survivability. Known as Shiva's.






http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2847/protectivez.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/protectivez.jpg/)Sacrificial Stone (Protective) [(1000 + 1100 + 1200) + (875 + 875) = 5050g]:
+450 Health
+400 Mana
+6 Health Regeneration
+150% Mana Regeneration
Collects a charge when an enemy hero dies within a 1000 unit radius of you.

Each charge adds +1 Mana Regeneration. Multiple sacrificial stones stack, however only one of them will gain and lose charges. When you die with a sacrificial stone, all allies around you get (400 + Charges x 25) health. You respawn three seconds faster for every charge you have, and you lose 25 less gold on death for every charge you have. The stone allows you to see a large radius around where you died until you respawn. You lose half your charges upon dying. The lack of +damage and +stats make this item somewhat undesireable for agility and strength heroes, however it's perfect on casters who need the additional health, mana, and regen. Also called the Bloodstone.





http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4033/protectivex.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/i/protectivex.jpg/)Nullstone (Protective) [(875 + 875) + 2100 + 875 = 4675g]:
+15 Strength
+15 Agility
+15 Intelligence
+6 Health Regeneration
+150% Mana Regeneration
Negates one spell casted on you every 20 seconds

This item gives a small stat bonus, but the main draw is the spell negation. Not all spells can be negated, but most single target spells can be. This can save your life from a quick hex or electrician's grip, allowing you to get away and suprise gank people with ease. Known as the Linken's Sphere, or Linkens for short.




http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9566/protectivec.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/i/protectivec.jpg/)Behemoth’s Heart (Protective) [3200 + 1100 + 1200 = 5500g]:
+35 Strength
+300 Health (Not including the +35 strength’s health resulting in +965 Health)
[Strength] +.75% HP/second
[Agility] +10% All damage
[Intelligence] +30 Cast Speed
[Intelligence] 15% Reduced Cooldowns

Gives so much additional HP, that this item is good for more than just a strength hero tank. Makes you very durable, but it is very expensive, and doesn’t really help your killing power very much. Has a very, very meaty +health boost. Make sure you get some +armor items in conjunction with this, as widdling down a thousand HP when you have no armor isn't that hard. If procured, will probably be after core items in very late game. Known as the Heart, or HoT. Great on carries since dying isn't very high on people's priority lists.





http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2222/protectivev.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/protectivev.jpg/)Daemonic Breastplate (Protective) [550 + 1400 + 2100 + 1500 = 5550g]:
+40 Attack Speed
+10 Armor
+15 Attack Speed Aura to Allies
+5 Armor Aura to Allies
-5 Armor Aura to all enemies.

A very powerful item in team pushes. Not only will this make you and allies a lot harder to kill, but it will also make enemies squishier while boosting your team's attack speed. This item is very expensive, with two items costing over 2000g. Also known as a the Assault Curiass, or AC for short.

[Meowshi]

7.4 Combative Items

These items help your offense, focusing on attack speed and damage. These items are best used on carry heroes and heroes who physically attack often, as opposed to supportive heroes and caster heroes. Below is a screenshot for combative items tab.


http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5083/combativeset.th.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/i/combativeset.jpg/)



http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7218/combativeq.jpg (http://img30.imageshack.us/i/combativeq.jpg/)Elder Parasite (Combative) [900 + 1000 = 1900g]:
+17% Life Steal
Active Skill
The activated skill gives +20% Move Speed and +100 Attack Speed, but makes you take +20% Damage in return. The status effect lasts 12 seconds, has a cooldown of 25 seconds, and costs 25 mana. Known as the Mask of Madness, or MoM. (Nobody seems to remember the name Elder Parasite ingame). Good to give a small burst of high damage, for example during Chronos' ultimate, or Keeper of the Forest's. Don't be fooled by pubs, this is actually a candidate for the worst item in the game. Highly replaceable by a whispering helm, or even a single warpcleft (Gives a lot better benefits for 300g extra). If you're a carry, and you like dying, go ahead and get this item. Good carries that don't play ganker in 1500 games will never see this item. Oh yes I went there.



http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/8687/combativew.jpg (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/combativew.jpg/)Riftshards (Combative) [500 +1200 + (950 Per Level) = 2650g + 950g per level]:
+45/55/65/75 Damage
+10%/13%/16%/20% chance to have a 1.8/2.0/2.2/2.4x critical strike.
Somebody tell me if I'm wrong, but I never get this item first. This item is best procured after you get some survivability as a carry, and after you get some nice meaty damage, or something like that at least. It's not very good without a good +damage item supporting it. Multiplies in usefulness if you have lifesteal. Known as the Crysalis, or "crit"



http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/7227/combativee.jpg (http://img32.imageshack.us/i/combativee.jpg/)Codex (Combative) [1000 + 500 + (1350 Per Level) = 2850+1350g each level]:
+3 Agility
+3 Strength
+9 Damage
+15/17/19/21/23 Intelligence
Active Skill
Has an ability which deals 400/500/600/700/800 magic damage to a single target, while costing 180/160/140/120/100 mana per level, and a cooldown of 40/36/32/28/24 seconds. This item is used the best in conjunction with damage amplifying skills, such as voodoo jester's cursed ground and Orphelia's Nature's Wrath, which amplify damage done to them. Good for assassinating in early to mid game, but loses it's charm in late game due to inflation of HP. Extremely expensive for the amount of stats that it gives. Very commonly called a dagon.



http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/756/combativer.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/i/combativer.jpg/)Insanitarius (Combative) [950 + 500 + 500 + 900 = 2850g]:
+9 Damage
+15 Attack Speed
+5 Armor
+3 Health Regeneration
Active Skill
When toggled, adds +31 Damage, +10% Attack Speed, +25 Strength, but decreases your HP by 30 HP / second. When activated, it basically giving you a free Axe of Malphai + more on usage, however it decreases your HP by a very high amount. When used, the strength boost ends up being +475 health, which is nullified after 13 seconds, not including the damage you'll be taking from creeps and enemies. If you’re going to use this, remember that the health drain CANNOT kill you, so don’t try to deny yourself by letting it rot, you might get smacked by a creep for one damage. Good for team pushes. Also called an armlet.



http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/872/combativea.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/combativea.jpg/)Staff of the Master (Combative) [1000 + 1000 + 1200 + 1000 = 4300g]:

+10 Strength
+10 Agility
+10 Intelligence
+200 Max Health
+150 Max Mana
Improves the ultimate of many heroes
If eyeing this item, keep in mind that not all heroes can use this item. Since not that many heroes can even make use of the ultimate’s boost, you won’t see this item very much. This item has been expanded to include many, many more heroes. Even if this item improves your hero's ultimate, it may not be the most viable option, as this item does not give much of a DPS boost at all. It does, however, give a very nice HP bonus. Also known as the scepter, or agh's. I would consider this item on: Andromeda, Slither, Glacius, Devourer (Never play him. Seriously, waste of a hero slot), Pollywog Priest, Ophelia, Voodoo Jester, Demented Shaman, Pharaoh and Electrician. Don't even think about the other heroes.



http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1129/combatives.jpg (http://img16.imageshack.us/i/combatives.jpg/)Runed Axe (Combative) [(875 + 875) + 1200 + 1400 = 4350g]:
+65 Damage
+6 Health Regeneration
+150% Mana Regeneration
+40% Splash within a small radius for melee heroes only
This item gives melee heroes the ability to push in a lane easily. Since most melee heroes cannot attack multiple units, the cleave given by this axe gives pushing power to melee. It requires a lifetube, which is good for early lane dominance. Do not get this item if you are a ranged character, as the splash does not work for ranged heroes. Also called a battle fury.



http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3720/combatived.jpg (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/combatived.jpg/)Geometer's Bane (Combative) [2100 + (450 + 1000 + 800) + 500 = 4850g]:
+10 Strength
+30 Agility
+10 Intelligence
+10% Movement Speed
+15 Attack Speed
Active Skill
Nice, yet rarely seen item. This item creates two illusions of you, which do reduced damage, take additional damage, yet it removes most debuffs from you on usage. It costs 165 mana to use, which is a considerable amount on an agi carry (which this item is meant for). The cooldown is 50 seconds, and the images last for either 20 seconds, or whenever they die. Is also called a Manta Style.



http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/1284/combativef.jpg (http://img42.imageshack.us/i/combativef.jpg/)Hellflower (Combative) [(900 + 450 + 325) + (900 + 450 + 325) + (900 + 450 + 325) = 5025g]:
+20 Intelligence
+40 Damage
+30 Attack Speed
+225% Mana Regeneration
Active Ability
This item grants you a single target ability which silences one target as well as amplifies all damage done to them by 20% for five seconds. Good for disabling enemy support heroes, as well as mowing down carry heroes faster with the damage amplification. Costs 100 mana, and has a cooldown of 25 seconds. Also called a silence stick, or a orchid. Since this item adds zero survivability, it's kind of bad. Great for screwing over enemy blink heroes though.


http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/8148/combativez.jpg (http://img30.imageshack.us/i/combativez.jpg/)Mock of Brilliance (Combative) [3800 + 1350 = 5150g]:
+60 Damage
Does 40 Damage per second to all enemy units around you.
This item gives your hero some additional farming power, as creeps die relatively quickly to the 40 damage immolation effect. The damage per seconds hits stealthed units as well, making it so you can literally chase down invisible units to their deaths. Saving up for this item is somewhat risky, as it requires the most expensive item in the game. It's also called the Radience.


http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/3804/morphd.jpg (http://img16.imageshack.us/i/morphd.jpg/)Savage Mace (Morph Attack D) [1500 + 1500 + 2400 = 5400g]:
+80 Damage
+15 Attack Speed
+35% chance to do +100 damage and get a .1 second ministun
Truestrike
The mini-stun is a very nice damage addition, however be wary not to rely too much on the ministun in order to interupt the enemy's disables and channeled ultimates. The extra +100 damage proc makes it one of the better damage items in terms of damage:money, and if you get unlucky with procs, the +80 damage is still really good. This item has no survivability attached to it, so I usually get this item after my first damage item, or another item which gives me some health. Added is a True Strike, which gives you 100% chance to hit, which is perfect for countering hard carry heroes with evasion built in. Commonly abreviated as an MKB.


http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/672/combativec.jpg (http://img9.imageshack.us/i/combativec.jpg/)Wingbow (Combative) [900 + 3300 + 1800 = 6000g]:
+30 Agility
+30 Attack Speed
+30 Damage
+30% Evasion
Perfect in the hands of an agility assassin or even a very late game tank. Don’t get it if your hero already has evasion, as evasion items do not stack. It is very hard to save up for as a first item, since the 3300 pricetag is a huge chunk of cash for an early game agility hero. Is also known as the butterfly.



http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/5153/combativev.jpg (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/combativev.jpg/)Doom Bringer (Combative) [3800 + 2400 = 6200g]:
+250 Damage
Drops on Death
Upon dying, the item drops for anybody to pick up and use, which in enemy hands, will cause an upset. This item has the best money:damage ratio in the entire game, but since it’s so risky, you’ll be lucky if you see it 1:100 games, even if they’re easy mode games. Also known as the Divine Rapier. Had great games rushing this item on ophelia and suiciding for your allied carry. I usually lost those games, but they were hilarious.



7.5 Morph Attack Items:

These items focus on changing your attack, known as morphing your attack. You will still attack normally, but every time you attack, your weapon can "proc" and cause something additional to happen. Items in here are usually more effective on carry heroes and heroes that use their attack than they are on caster heroes and support heroes. Below is a screenshot of the morph attack items tab.




http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/4248/76887762.th.jpg (http://img714.imageshack.us/i/76887762.jpg/)




http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/806/67824174.jpg (http://img144.imageshack.us/i/67824174.jpg/)Hack (Morph Attack)[1000 + 450 + 950 = 2400g]:
+15 Strength
+6 Agility
+10 Damage
100% chance to apply Frost (-15% movement speed) for 1.5 seconds.
This item is very easy to make, requiring items that all cost 1k or less. Applying frost makes it neigh impossible for some heroes to get away from a gank alive. The +15 strength is a very nice health boost, which will allow you to push the high 1ks during mid-late game. Unfortunately, this item gives somewhat little damage, maxing out at +25 if you're a strength hero for 2.4k. Also known as Sange.



http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1699/morphw.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/i/morphw.jpg/)Brutalizer (Morph Attack) [450 + 1500 + 1150 = 3100]:
+3 Strength
+30 damage
25%/10% chance (Melee/ranged) to stun the target for 1.4 seconds and do 25 damage to it.
More nerfed than it's dota counterpart due to a 2 second cooldown on all stuns. Has a horrible Money: Damage ratio. This item is bad. Candidate for the worst item in the game. This item isn't seen very often (In upperlevel non-em games at least, and if it is, it's in a melee carry hero's last slot. Known as the Cranium Basher, or Basher for short. Don't get this item. Seriously. You're paying 3100g for shitastic damage.



http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/6471/morphe.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/i/morphe.jpg/)Thunderclaw (Morph Attack) [1600 + 500 + 900 = 3000]:
+15 Attack Speed
+24 Damage
+20% chance to cast a mana-free chain lightning which does 200 damage to three enemies.
Gives heroes with no creep killing abilities a rudimentary creep killing ability. Rumored to be bugged on Booboo (It hurts him if you give it to him), this item is good on heroes that hit quickly, such as puppet master. Used in the Thunderclaw. Also known as the Maelstrom.




http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9727/morphr.jpg (http://img41.imageshack.us/i/morphr.jpg/)Nullfire Blade (Morph Attack) [1000 + 1000 + 450 + (850 Per level) = 3300 + 850g each level ]:
+22/26 Agility
+6/10 Intelligence
100% chance to burn 20/36 mana
Active Skill
The active item has a Crippling Wounds –like effect to it, which slows down enemy units and purges their buffs, or dispels debuffs off of friendly units. The 20/36 mana burn adds +80% of the mana burn to damage (so +16/28 damage if your enemy has mana). This item is perfect for countering heroes such as Jezeriah, Predator, and other heroes that can simply walk away if they have mana. Can be upgraded by purchasing the recipe again. I heavily favor it on heroes with a ranged attack than melee attack. Known as the diffusal blade in dota.



http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8461/morpha.jpg (http://img11.imageshack.us/i/morpha.jpg/)Shieldbreaker (Morph Attack) [1600 + 1600 + 1200 = 4400g]:
+60 Damage
+100% chance to do -5 Armor when you hit any enemy. Lasts five seconds.
This item has one of the best damage:money ratios in the game, and is very powerful in focus firing a target. Offers you no survivability, but having one in a team push is invaluable. Don’t get one if another teammate has it, as the broken armor debuff doesn’t stack. Known as a stygian or a desolator.




http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5568/44901461.jpg (http://img402.imageshack.us/i/44901461.jpg/) Frostburn (Morph Attack)[(450 + 1000 + 950) + (450 + 1000 + 950) = 4800g]:
+21 Strength
+21 Agility
+10 Damage
+14% Move Speed
+30% Attack Speed
+15% to apply Crippled to a target for 2.5 seconds, which does -15% move speedGives a nice strength boost (which translates to HP), a nice damage boost, and it makes it very hard for enemies to run away due to frost's effects (unless you die, but keep in mind you can really leave that job for your allies). While this item doesn’t have that great of a damage:money ratio (What's up +31 damage/5k gold), but it offers you survivability. The move speed bonus bonus allows you to hit max move speed (522) in conjunction with some nice boots. Not for intelligence heroes, or for casting strength heroes. Known as a H&S, or S&Y (Sange and Yasha)


http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/996/morphf.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/i/morphf.jpg/)Frost Wolf’s Skull (Morph Attack) [(450 + 1000 + 950) + 2100 + 1200 + 200 = 5900g]:
+25 Strength
+25 Agility
+25 Intelligence
+10 Damage
+200 Health
+150 Mana
+100% to release a frost attack which decreases movement by 30% and attack speed by 20.
This is the item to get if you’re in a deathmatch game. Else, I’ve seen some casters support their carries with this item. Due to it’s price tag, you don’t see it very often either. Very useful for the huge boost in HP, as well as the constant slowing effect. This item doesn't see the hands of main carries very often, rather is more likely to be in soft carries due to the lack of +damage. Referred to as a Skadis.



http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/176/10288569.png (http://img186.imageshack.us/i/10288569.png/)Harkon's Blade (Morph Attack) [(450 + 325 + 900) + 2700 + 500 = 4875g]:
+35 Intelligence
+25 Damage
+10 Attack Speed
+150% Mana Regeneration
Active Skill
When using the active skill, it turns your physical attack into a magical attack, and lowers the enemy magic armor by 5. (Base enemy magic armor is 5.5, so you're basically doing a LOT of damage.) Only downside is it consumes 75 mana per attack. The penultimate damage:money item in the game. Great on heroes like puppet master. Just be careful, this item has no survivability attached to it. My team only gets it for puppet master, but I've heard of other people getting it on other carries like Swiftblade (They're crazy, but I haven't seen any evidence proving it to be horrible). There's no dota equivalent to this item.


http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/7505/morphx.jpg (http://img15.imageshack.us/i/morphx.jpg/)Charged Hammer (Morph Attack) [(500 + 1600 + 900) + 2100 = 5100g]:
+24 Damage
+70 Attack Speed
+20% Chance to deal a 200 chain lightning to your target and two other targets
Active Skill
This is the Thunderclaw 2.0. It has the same Chain Lightning effect, except it comes with an active skill and improved stats. On usage, you cast a buff on your target (Allied), which makes units whom attack the target have a 20% chance to deal a 200 damage chain lightning to themselves and two enemy targets. Used best used in the hands of someone with lots of attack speed. Known as a Mjolnir.


http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/9058/morphz.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/i/morphz.jpg/)Symbol of Rage (Morph Attack) [(950 + 900) + 3200 + 1100 = 6150g]:
+25% Life Steal
+25 Strength
+20 Damage
+5 Armor
Active Skill
When activated, gives you a buff which grants you 150% life steal. Very, very powerful item, capable of healing you from 0-full within the 3.5 seconds your skill is in use. However, very expensive. Be careful not to get disabled when activating your item, and be careful not to waste it. Has a cooldown of 50 seconds, and a duration of twenty seconds, so you will likely only be able to use it once per fight. Commonly called a Satanic.

[Meowshi]

7.6 Supply Items
Supply items are usually one-time use items which specialize in health and mana restoration, and additional scouting capabilities. You will most likely buy something from this store every single game, be it wards, runes of the blight, or potions. Below is a screenshot of the supplies store.



http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8513/suppliesset.th.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/suppliesset.jpg/)



http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4641/sup1g.jpg (http://img24.imageshack.us/i/sup1g.jpg/)Mana Potion (Supplies) [50g]:
+100 mana over 10 seconds (3.33 mana per second)
This item stops giving mana either after ten seconds, or after you get hit. For maximum effectiveness, use it when not in danger of being hit. Mostly used early game, hardly ever midgame and waste of space lategame. Can now be used on allies by clicking on them after using the item.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9453/sup2t.jpg (http://img31.imageshack.us/i/sup2t.jpg/)Health Potion (Supplies) [100g]:
+400 HP over 10 seconds (40 health per second)
This item stops giving health either after ten seconds, or after you get hit. For maximum effectiveness, Use it when not in danger of being hit. The great thing about this item is that it can be used on allies (If they get hit it still dispels), so if your ally is running away and might be ganked on his way back, or you can hear a very mean thunderbringer ready to ultimate, feel free to heal them with this. They'll appreciate it.

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/3060/sup3z.jpg (http://img41.imageshack.us/i/sup3z.jpg/)Runes of the Blight (Supplies) [90g for Three]:

+115 HP over 16 seconds (+7.19 health per second)
Very price effective, basic item which gives players the needed HP regen in early game. To use, simply click on the item, and use it on a tree. Your unit will literally eat the tree. This item does not dispel when hit, so you can use it on the run.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4242/sup4.jpg (http://img24.imageshack.us/i/sup4.jpg/)Bottle (Supplies) [600g]:
+135 Health and +70 Mana over 3 seconds (+45 health per second, +23.33 mana per second).
Dispels on damage, and has a default of three usages before becoming an empty bottle. The great thing about this item is that it can be refilled by picking up a tablet in the river. This stores the tablet in your bottle, allowing you to use the tablet up to two minutes later. Excellent for map controlling, and is great for early-mid game. If you know where the tablets will be due to wards or another scouting mechanism, you effectively have a refill on your bottle every two minutes (When the tablets respawn).

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4494/sup5.jpg (http://img24.imageshack.us/i/sup5.jpg/)Ward of Sight (Supplies) [200g for two]:
+Sight in the targetted area for six minutes
Invisible ward which sees a very high radius. Can be revealed by Ward of Revelation, Towers, and the scout's Electric Eye. Great for scouting out ganks before they happen, Rune scouting, and overall map control. You can also place them inside the enemy's forests to see when they are killing neutral creeps, and on the top of ramps to make it harder for them to juke you. This item does not allow you to see invisible units. There are tons of guides for the sole purpose of learning how to ward effectively. Candidate for the best item in the game.

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1650/sup6.jpg (http://img27.imageshack.us/i/sup6.jpg/)Ward of Revelation (Supplies) [200g for two]:
+True sight in the targetted area for three minutes
Invisible ward which sees a very small radius, but sees invisible units in a large radius. This item is great for killing units that can become invisible. Use it when laning against a gung ho scout, madman, and other characters that abuse invisibility as an escape mechanism. Would be a better choice than dust when you're sure you'll be pushing that lane for a while, because it lasts longer.

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/6493/sup7.jpg (http://img32.imageshack.us/i/sup7.jpg/)Dust of Revelation (Supplies) [180g for two]:

+Reveals all invisible units within a large radius for 12 seconds
Has the same capabilities as a Ward of Revelation, however these are better for ganks due to the mobility of the invisible hero. If the enemy leaves the lane, as long as they are in your vision, you will be able to see them within the twelve seconds the dust of revelation is active. The dust can also not be destroyed like wards of sight can be, but that is rarely ever an issue.

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1892/sup8.jpg (http://img27.imageshack.us/i/sup8.jpg/)Homecoming Stone (Supplies) [135g for one]:
Allows you to teleport to an allied building, or your fountain
One of the best items in this game, this item can save you a death, save a tower, save an ally- you name it. You click on the item, then click on an allied building, and you will teleport there. You can use it while in silence, and even when being pushed by Kraken's charge. As long as you don't get disabled or you tell your character to do anything else, you will teleport to the building. Great for avoiding ganks and getting home safely from ganks. Be sure not to use all your mana beforehand, because it costs 75 mana to initiate the teleport. Has a 65 second cooldown. **** candidate, this IS the best item in the game. Always have one or two of them on hand.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/6268/sup9.jpg (http://img24.imageshack.us/i/sup9.jpg/)Monkey Courier (Supplies) [200g]:
+Monkey
Spawns a courier that doubles as a stash, which you can use to deliver items to you. Helps with lane control and delivering things to you when you're in the lane. You can also share the courier with your teammates to allow them to ferry items back and forth. Be careful not to forget about this little guy when he's delivering items, or he can get intercepted and/or killed. On death, he drops all your precious items, and while the enemy cannot use them, they can still steal them or destroy them. Remember, the longer you stay in the lane, the higher level you will be. This guy helps ship supplies to you so you can stay in there and gain a substantial lead over your enemies.

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8222/sup10.jpg (http://img189.imageshack.us/i/sup10.jpg/)Winged Courier (Supplies) [200 + 200 = 400g]:
+Ugly flying monkey
Morphs a monkey courier into a winged courier, which flies and has some more HP, allowing you to not have to worry so much about your courier getting sacked. You only need one per team, as you can share it amongst your allies. Just make sure they don't get your courier killed. Has two skills, which makes this courier a 'lot' better than its monkey counterpart. First, it has Speed Burst, which gives it max movespeed (522) for twenty seconds. This makes it much more efficient, as well as allow you to deliver items to yourself quickly in order to get back into the action. Secondly, it has Courier Shield, which makes it invincible for seven seconds. This can be used to deliver items to yourself if you're in a pickle (just make sure it doesn't get killed). This flying version can be used to scout out rune spots by looking over hills. This courier is actually a recipe used to upgrade your first little guy. Another candidate for the best item in the game.


There are two other items worth mentioning

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/687/22606668.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/i/22606668.jpg/)Portal Key (Relics) [2150]:

Active Skill
The Portal Key allows you to teleport a short distance, however it has a decently long cooldown (14 seconds). You cannot teleport within three seconds of an enemy hitting you, whether it be with an attack or a spell. Costs 75 mana. Perfect for getting into position for very position-sensitive spells such as tempest's ultimate, kraken's ultimate, and behemoth's fissure and ultimate. In upper level games, you also see this item on some casters such as thunderbringer and pyromancer, however this is not very common, and is usually done when that team already has a substantial lead.


http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/4488/93330129.jpg (http://img37.imageshack.us/i/93330129.jpg/)Void Talisman (Relics) [1500]
+7 Strength
+7 Agility
+7 Intelligence
Active Skill
So you're a support hero / caster, and you have a crazy angry enemy carry running around one shotting people. What do you do? Get this baby if you can afford it. Gives you a nice boost to HP, but the main juice is in the active skill. The active skill gives you a buff called "Void Talisman" (Lame name), which makes it so you cannot attack, but things cannot attack you. You can still cast spells and move around and stuff, but physical stuff can't touch you. Great for making pubbies confused. You won't see this item very often (I think the lowest item use rate in the entire game), but don't forget it exists.



7.7 Item Suggestions
So you've seen all the items. How do you know which item to get? Here are a few pointers.


At the beginning, always start the game with some sort of health regeneration. If your hero has health regeneration skills, such as Hellbringer, items may not be needed. However, I recommend you always start with either a health potion, or a rune of the blight stack. Trinket of restoration / lifetube / helm of the victim are also viable forms of regeneration, but you forego stats by saving money and starting with them, which makes you susceptible to harassment and it makes it much harder to last hit creeps. They sell all three of the above health regeneration items in the outposts (not the supplies). I'd recommend a stack of runes of the blight or two in most normal, 600g starting game. (if you random and get 850g, some players choose to buy the life tube before creeps start to fight. Helm of the victim will require a few last-hits even with this starting gold bonus.)



After you run out of restorative items and have to go back to the fountain, buy Marchers. Marchers should be bought on your first trip back home or later. NOT immediately for any hero. Not even swiftblade / rampage. Having mobility gives you a great advantage, as well as good map control. While having additional HP is more effective in surviving ganks, mobility also helps when you have enough HP to survive the gank and need to high tail it out of there. Also, it'll help you catch up to an enemies if you decide to gank.



Try to always carry around a Homecoming stone with you. If it's not possible, don't fret. However, the homecoming stone will save your life. A lot. Especially if they have a Blood Hunter. If you have a blink hero, simply blink into the forest, and channel your teleport. If you don't, you can try to juke them, stun them, or if you're particularly ballsy, just stand there and channel it while they're smacking you. As long as they don't disable you, you won't stop the teleport.



Your core items are highly dependent on your hero. Luxury/Situational items are based on your enemy's heroes. Try asking your allies which item you should get, or use the in game recommended items tab. As you become more experienced, you'll get a sense of which items to get for which hero. Please, don't be one of the noobies who always get Helm of the Black Legion, for the sake of getting a helm of the black legion.

[Meowshi]

8. Laning

Laning is a confusing subject for players new to dota. In fact, this is where a majority of the ragequits occur. You can tell whether a player is good or not by how they lane.
As I’ve said before, there are three lanes. Top, Middle, and Bottom. You will most likely have two heroes in two lanes, and one hero in one lane. Ideally you want to have one ranged in each lane, but that’s not always possible. It is easier to lane with a ranged hero than a melee hero, simply because they are able to hit creeps from a further distance, making harassment harder for the enemy. There are several rules to laning.



Unless you can do significant damage to the tower, you do not want to push your creeps to the enemy tower. This makes last hitting for you harder, and it makes harassment from the enemy significantly easier. To do this, simply do NOT autoattack creeps. ONLY do last hits.
Do your best to stay topped-off at all times. This is why tangos are so good- they restore a small amount of HP, so they are often not completely wasted.
If you right click on an enemy hero anywhere on the map, all of the creeps within a small radius will attack you. You can use this to your advantage if you are the Legionnaire, or you can use this to bring creeps back to your tower, making last hitting easier, and making it harder for the enemies to gank you.
Dying is worse than having to walk back to your lane. Dying allows your enemy to get an easy 300g, as well as experience! While you may sacrifice some time walking back to the fountain, don’t forget that you can homecoming stone back!


8.1 Last Hitting: What does it mean?

A last hit, is exactly what it sounds like- to be the one to do the ‘last hit’ to the enemy unit. You get experience simply for being alive and around a certain radius of an enemy dying. However, you do not get gold from the creep unless you do the last hit. To last hit, hold down the alt key (or press ‘), and slap the enemy when your attack will do enough damage to kill it. It’s as simple as that. It takes some timing, especially when there’s a chain of monsters you need to last hit, but it’s doable. However, you cannot just last hit the enemy creeps, you also have to hit your allied creeps. This is called a deny. This makes your enemies get less experience than what they would have gotten if you did not deny. Below is a screenshot of the perfect time to smack the creep closest to me. Since the creep is an allied creep, it will count as a deny.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2727/77900953.th.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/i/77900953.jpg/)

8.2 Tower Range

Be careful not to run your enemies back into their towers! Tower range is shown in the following screenshot in red. Entering this range alone at a low level will ensure your death, unless you absolutely know what you're doing.

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/643/30234573.th.jpg (http://img268.imageshack.us/i/30234573.jpg/)

Towers have different levels of priority, listed below. Note, allied towers will never attack allied units.

1. Defend the latest hero whom is attacking another hero. Attacking meaning right click targetting. If I'm not mistaken, casting spells on them, as well as casting AoE spells, will not make the tower prioritize over you.
2. Defend the tower. If anything is attacking the tower, with an exception to ballistas/catapults, it will attack that unit.
3. Attack the closest target, whether it is attacking anything or not.

For example, lets say I run into a tower in a Creeps + 1 v. Creeps + 1 situation. If I right click on the enemy, the enemy tower will attack me. If I stay behind my creeps, I will be safe until my creeps are the next ones to be hit.




8.3 Creep Range

Try to stay inside this range of the creeps. If you are any further, you may not get experience, which will result in you being a lot easier to kill later on.


http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/8651/87811523.th.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/i/87811523.jpg/)

Ideally, you should always be able to be in range to last hit, or at least be able to swoop in and get the last hit if you're a melee character. However, if you cannot due to fear of getting killed, just stay within this radius. Enemies do not deny effectively in beginner games, so you should be fine until you learn the ropes.

Creep AI is as follows

1. Protect allied heroes who are being targetted (Be it versus creep, or versus enemies)
2. Attack the closest target (Not accounting for ballistas / catapults)
3. Attack ballistas / catapults
4. Walk designated path

A little note with #1, if you right click an enemy on the other side of the map, the creeps around you will all still target you. This gives every single character in the game a little 'taunt', if you guys are in the masochistic mood and feel like you want to get hit by creeps. Not recommended unless you know what you're doing.


Unless you are legionaire, in early game you never, ever want to be 'tanking', or being attacked by, the creeps. This causes you to consume your restoration items for absolutely no reason.




8.4 Map Control

The concept behind map control is very simple. If you see an enemy colored, (or red if you toggled enemy off enemy coloring, found on the top-left hand corner of your minimap), then even the newest of players know that if they want to survive, they have to get to a safe spot, usually behind a tower. If your team has map control, your team will be able to see gankers in action, which greatly increases your chances of survival.

Map Control not only gives your team enhanced enemy detection, but it also gives your team increased rune whoring capabilities. For example, if you ward the rune spots in the river, you will be able to see enemies coming via. river, as well as where each rune spawns every two minutes. What this allows you to do is effectively give your team an edge in ganking, as every gank will be with a rune, and will also deny the other team access to the rune, as there is only one every two minutes.

At the very least, if you choose not to buy wards to aid your detection, call missing when an enemy in your lane is not there. This allows your teammates to know infer their position (ie- on their way to gank them), or are vunerable in the forest killing creeps.


9. Stages of the Game

In the game of Heroes of Newerth, there are three perceived 'stages' to the game, Early, Mid, and Late game.


9.1 Early Game

In Early game, people will tend to stick to their lanes and level up. The goal for early game is to level up. This is the stage where the ability to lane really shines. When you deny a creep, you're hindering the enemy's growth rate. When you kill a creep, you're bolstering your own growth rate. Here are a few tips for early game.



Check your enemy's items. If they do not have any health regeneration, throw a few pot shots. They will be forced to retreat.
Try to not push the lane as much as you can. As you go further and further into the enemy's tower, it becomes easier and easier to get ganked. Simply last hit, and deny. Your creeps will naturally enter a dead lock, and if you're lucky, the enemy will push you to your tower, where it's significantly harder to get ganked.
Don't worry too much about getting the first kill. If your enemy makes a mistake, feel free to punish him for it, but do NOT run into their tower. You will most likely die.
Use your minimap. If the lane next to you is missing, unless you see which way they go, always assume they are going to you. If you are on top, watch to see if middle disappears. If somebody on bot dies, until you see them reappear at bot, assume that they switched lanes to top.
Measure the distance between you and your enemy. As you get better at Heroes of Newerth, you will be able to estimate the range on character's abilities.
Watch the rune spots. Most middle laners will get a bottle, and abuse the runes to gank bottom and top.

During early game, ganks will usually either start when someone hits level 3, level 5, or level 6. Early game ends around level six, and progresses into mid game.




9.2 Mid Game

In Mid game, characters tend to go in all ganking mode. You will have late game heroes continuing to farm, but you will have groups of 2-3 people running around ganking, and gradually pushing the first few towers.



You have to be a lot more careful with the minimap. Assume if ANYBODY is missing, they are most likely going to come for you. To counter this, try getting some sort of wards. Throw them in your blind spots, and have a homecoming stone ready.
If you are behind due to one or two deaths, try to get two bracers. Unless you know what you are doing, do NOT cross the river. If you keep getting ganked, try leveling in the forest a little bit.

Unless your team always gets the kill when you gank, ganking will most likely result in netting less EXP than the people laning. Don't gank indiscriminately, choose your targets wisely, and know the enemy's skills before you run in. If you don't know their skills, ask your team.




9.3 Late Game

In this phase of the game, people will be clumped up together, pushing hard. You will constantly have groups of four or five, running around stray pushers, and pushing the enemy base. The early game heroes will most likely start to become less powerful, and the late game heroes will begin to dominate.



If you are a kill on sight target that dies within the first ten seconds of fighting, tell your allies that you need to chill back, then defend a lane that is pushed close to your base. Be VERY careful of ganks, because as soon as you pop your head out, someone's going to start heading towards you.
If you have already pushed a lane, do not push it again. In some games, you see people push middle multiple times. Pushing the same lane does not do anything, unless you are planning to go in for the base kill. Suggest to your allies to go top or bottom.
Be very careful with multi-lane pushes. Sometimes it ends well, getting one of the two bases, however against more formidable opponents, it doesn't always work.


10. What to do now

Even though you've read the guide, don't expect to be super pro just yet. Here's a list of suggestions of things that you need to do in order to become a competent Heroes of Newerth player.

Learn every single hero's skills - Every hero has a different set of skills, and you can't be caught with your pants down. Learn the gimmicks and counters to the gimmicks. Blood hunter uses a skill on you and you start gushing red blood? Have an enemy scout running around using codex on people? See a giant fish with a whirlpool at his feet? Know how to counter each hero, so you don't have any mysterious "how did I die" moments.

Learn every hero's skills range - While you don't need to necessarily know that the range of Polywog's Priest's voodoo shackles is exactly 400 units, know that if you get past a certain threshold, you will probably be disabled. You should be able to approximate the range on the unit's skills, which helps you again, not be caught with your pants down.

Understand map control - Learn the usual routes that enemies take when they are missing, and have some sort of scout there to see approaching enemies. If you can see the enemy coming, the chances of survival are dramatically improved. Keeping an eye on your minimap is crucial in this game.

Figure out which items to get - While I've given a brief synopsis of when which items are good, you need to figure out how to actually use them, and when. Each hero is different and every circumstance is different. Don't have a static item build like "Always make Helm of Black Legion".

Understand pushing - You need to understand when to push, and when to retreat. Staying too long will get you killed, but retreating too early will allow your enemy to farm up faster than you, (Usually all three lanes will be pushed to their base) and allow them to cause an upset.

Get better at laning - Measure your Creep Kill : Deny ratio at the 15:00 mark, and keep trying to improve. I've read in another guide that a good ratio to try to aim to have is 70 kills / denies at the 15 minute mark.

Make some friends - In my opinion, the most fun way to play dota is to get a group of 10 people together, and just play games with each other. Try to split up the skill so that the games aren't completely one sided.

Don't join Noob Allowed games - Currently, there are two tiers- Noobs Only and Noobs Allowed. Noobs Only games can only house people under level six, but in noobs allowed games, you can have very high level people in it. If you're starting out, I recommend trying to find a game with shuffle teams on it to insure an intentional stack doesn't occur.

If it's your absolute first time playing, create a private game to get used to the map. Make it a Forest of Caldavar map, 1v1, any game mode, and just explore. When you're done, feel free to leave, it won't be tracked statswise as a leave. Get a feel for controlling your character, maybe a tiny bit of last hitting, but most importantly, explore. Knowing your terrain/positioning is one of the hardest, yet most rewarding skills in Heroes of Newerth.

When I began playing dota, back in the day, I learned by finding people around my skill level, and constantly playing -ar games with them (All random). However, that was a long time ago. I would suggest that you play -sd games. Do not touch -em. Easy mode does not make you better, it gives you bad habits. For a long time I was stuck in -arem games with my friends. I stopped playing and picked it up again. Upon entering a non -em game, I had many, many bad habits. I would suggest staying out of them as much as possible, only picking easy mode if you're on the phone with someone, or you are alt tabbing constantly not paying attention.

I would advise playing -sd, and maybe -rd until you are comfortable with the game. First, -sd gives you a pool of three heroes to choose from, one strength, one agility, and one intelligence. You can pick your favorite hero from the three, but you have to pick one of the three. What this does is it forces you to find new heroes. Not only that, but by learning new heroes, when going against the same hero, you will know which skills he can do, which would allow you to estimate what the enemy will do next. This would give you a huge advantage over someone that knows absolutely nothing, allowing you to get better and better at the game.

While you're doing this, I'd advise you to learn some tricks such as rune whoring, warding, and creep pulling. These are little things that greatly influence the outcome of the game. With these three, you will become a better and better player, which will be obvious against someone that doesn't do it.

While you're doing all of this though, don't forget to have fun :). This game is a game, not kindle for a flame war. Don't insult your team, make your criticism constructive.



11. Conclusion

The last thing that I want to tell you guys, is to not be dicks after you become skilled at the game. I’m not going to lie- I hate 80% of the people that I play public games with. Just because someone is not as skilled as you are, does not make them a retard. It doesn’t make them losers. It’s just a game. I request that you take it easy, play the game for what it is- a game. Don’t take it too seriously. Have fun, but don’t deny others fun. It’s lame when your own team members are trash talking you because you aren’t as skilled in a video game as them.

Feel free to post any suggestions on what I should include in this guide. It’s supposed to be a general, all purpose, welcome to Heroes of Newerth guide. I don’t want to have specific strategies for each hero in here. Formatting suggestions is also welcome.

Also, feel free to message me in game. My username is Meowshi. I can't join Noob-Only games (Nor do I really want to), but I don't mind answering questions / talking.

[Meowshi]

12. F.A.Q

A proper FAQ can be found at the Training Grounds, but here are some explanations for really, really frequently asked questions.



1. What does Strength, Agility, and Intelligence do?
Strength: +19 HP, +.03 Health/Second regen
Agility: +1% Attack Speed, +.14 Armor
Intelligence: +13 Mana, .04 Mana/Second Regen

You get +1 Damage for your primary attribute as well.
2. How do I access training mode?

http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=18176
Currently, there are no bots that you can play with. That may or may not change after the map editor comes out. However, you can find out heroes and their skills, their attack animations, etc.
3. What is Creep Stacking? What is Ancient Stacking?

To understand what these two are, you need to understand the mechanics behind neutral spawning. At 0:30, 1:00, and every single minute after that (2:00, 3:00, so forth), the game checks to see if a neutral camp is empty. If the camp is empty, then the game will spawn new neutrals.

To creep stack, you want to pull the creeps away from their camp before they spawn. If they are not in their area, a new wave of creeps will spawn. If you have not killed the creeps that you pulled, two sets of creeps will spawn there.

Ancient stacking is doing the same thing, except with the Dragons/predasaur creep spawns. Ancient stacking is such a viable tactic because each stack will yield around 300-400g each. If you clear a stack of 4-5, that's an instant ~1.5-2k gold for your carry: That's some serious gold.

Creep stacking is easiest done with the whispering helm. Simply dominate a creep (Vagabond Leaders are the best due to their shockwave attack (You can pull using shockwave if you're low on time), and their innate health regen), and run him over to the stacking spot. At :52-:55, pull the creeps and run as far as you can with the creep. Harvest whenever you're ready.

To counter creep stacking, simply throw a ward in their ancient spot. When they're about to harvest, initiate a team fight, win, and you just won a lot of money.

4. In some games, I die twice in the laning phase, then I just keep getting ganked until I'm 0-10! Then I proceed to die in every single teamfight almost immediately! What do I do to remedy this?

HoN has something called the snowball effect. If you die, you lose gold, and the enemy gains gold. This causes a pretty big discrepancy, but fear not! There are things you can do!

Tip #1: Don't fall into this situation. The only reason why you die in the early game phase is either lack of map awareness, bad team synergy, or you're plain out not careful enough.

Tip #2: If you've found that you already died a few times, play very conservatively. Don't be the first one in a team fight, stay back and hang around teammates. Carry homecoming stones.

Tip #3: Re-evaluate your item build. Chances are, you don't have enough survivability if you're dying to one or two nukes. You see that hellflower you're making? Stop making that and get a bracer or two. See those phase boots you've always dreamed of? Stop and get steamboots or plated greaves.

Tip #4: Re-evaluate your skill build. Feeding with forsaken archer? Don't bother getting those skeletons, get stats. Feeding with moon queen? Maybe it's time to get some more stats. This doesn't work with every hero (Like demented shaman, pyromancer, and other heroes that need all their skills), but for a handful, it works. +38 HP is nothing to laugh at.

Tip #5: Sit out a team fight. Be very careful with this one, as it might result in your entire team getting massacred, but if possible, sit at a tower and last hit a bunch of creeps. Sitting in the lane last hitting everything will result in ~300gold per minute, which is a hell of a lot better than dying. Just be careful- Your carry is a lot more important than your underfarmed ass.

The main thing is to get some survivability so you don't get instagibbed.



5. In other games, my team is doing really well! We farm the enemy team, then suddenly the enemy carry runs out of the forest and massacres us! X carry is so OP!

This is a common case of "We ganked everyone except their MVP". When ganking, the enemy carry is the #1 priority target. Everyone else is good to gank, but the one that matters is the carry.

Even if you can't kill him, driving him out of the lane will lower his gold per minute by a pretty significant amount. If he can't farm, he can't get phat items which he uses to genocide your team.

[FiNGERS]

I don't think you can delete posts, definitely not after someone has posted after you. Perhaps a mod would be so kind.

[JustAnothe2]

so is it possible to stack satanic and deso?

[FiNGERS]

so is it possible to stack satanic and deso?

Satanic has an exclusive lifesteal modifier that will not stack with other lifesteal modifiers. Shieldbreaker (Desolator) is an attack modifier that will not stack with any other attack modifiers (Frostwulf Skull, Slither's Toxicity)

[JustAnothe2]

Satanic has an exclusive lifesteal modifier that will not stack with other lifesteal modifiers. Shieldbreaker (Desolator) is an attack modifier that will not stack with any other attack modifiers (Frostwulf Skull, Slither's Toxicity)
so i thought orbs stacked in this.

[FiNGERS]

so i thought orbs stacked in this.

There are no 'orbs' in HoN. Simply basic attack modifier's or other 'exclusive' modifiers. Reading the in-game tooltips should explain how they work quite easily. Back on topic, this thread is coming along nicely by the way. I'm sure it'll help a lot of people, props for taking the time to do it!

[mjlaufgr]

I just wanted to thank you for posting this. As a HoN and DOTA newbie, I really appreciate it, ESPECIALLY the items section.

wow, that's amazing. congratulations

[HowdyDoody]

Howdy,

Oh Hell yea! Thank you!

Doody

[Chadwich]

This is a fantastic resource for new players.

Sticky this!!!!!

Great job OP. Tip of the hat.

[Eithinis]

I'm definitely going to be linking this to every friend of mine who I get to try the game. Thank you very much.

[Klahr]

Awesome guide, should get stickied asap!

[raven`2]

Yeah great guide right there, linking it to my friends. (:

[Zethos]

Nice guide :) The item guide is huge but well done.

[HowdyDoody]

Bump for Sticky!

[Travakh]

>A perseverence is a great item
>A Linken's is a trash item

Seriously? Just say what the items are, because your judgments on the items are all really inaccurate, and vary depending on which hero is deployed.

Don't give newbies wrong impressions (battlefury a good item lol), just say who the item is best suited for (bfury for farming melee, linkens for heroes with low stat growths).

[tropicaza]

Great job on the guide. I've deleted the spam posts and the other posts in between yours.

However, I can't really sticky this right now because there is a LOT of opinionated material in the guide that may not work for everyone. As Travakh's post states, you can't just say that Null Stone is a trashy item or that another item is better than this. Every item is situational.

It would be better if you provided the pro's and cons of each item rather than saying how good you think it is.

The reason I say all of this is that new people are impressionable and may make the incorrect build/stay away from certain items/hinder themselves when trying to build a hero properly.

Long story short, try and keep the opinions out and the more factual information in.

For example, Null Stone is great on many heroes, but not so great on others. It would be better for you to put something stating what situation it would be useful in rather than saying you don't really like it.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents, and if it's cleaned up appropriately then I might look into stickying it.

[HowdyDoody]

Bump because this is a great guide that helped me a LOT.

I do understand what the mod is saying though. But still a great read with a lot of good stuff in one place.

[wasakaka]

Loved your guide, especially the ideas around how items are often used. Most other guides are lacking that. Thanks!

[spinlight]

Great guide. Echoed many of the excellent sentiments I have read in other guides, and added some useful information that I did not know about the items.

Well done.

[tropicaza]

Has now been stickied after you (and I, secretly) cleaned up a few things!

[ToRpiD]

Don't encourage noobs to make SnY, as it is total trash.

edit: Battlefury does not make you farm better, it makes you farm more stupidly. If I wanted to farm as a melee hero, I'd stay away from BF, as it makes static farming impossible.

[Meowshi]

Don't encourage noobs to make SnY, as it is total trash.

edit: Battlefury does not make you farm better, it makes you farm more stupidly. If I wanted to farm as a melee hero, I'd stay away from BF, as it makes static farming impossible.

I'll take out the suggestion to S&Y, but putting your input about the battle fury would take it from a positive connotation to a negative connotation. I'll try to neutralize it if I can.

[fille3002]

Very good guide! When i started to play HoN after alot of DotA i didn't find my items, but now i think i know wich is wich :D

[chodeburger]

Nice guide; for a cat gamer.

Definitely helpful for showing new players the ropes.

[GasProblem]

Thanks for the guide.

I've never even played DoTa, so I'm as nub as it gets. This helps alot.

[ton]

Good guide.

[Kros]

Linked to in my FTAS thread, hope you don't mind!

[Solcry]

Item Choosing
So you’ve seen all the items. How do you know which item to get? Here are a few pointers.
1)At the beginning, always start the game with some sort of health regeneration. If your hero has health regeneration skills, such as Hellbringer, items may not be needed. However, I recommend you always start with either a health potion, a rune of the blight stack, or even a trinket of restoration/life tube / helm of the victim if you’re going to be able to use them in a recipe. They sell all three of the above items in the outposts, but I’d still recommend a stack of runes of the blight in a normal, 600g starting game. (if you random and get 850g, you can buy the life tube before your creeps start to fight. Helm of the victim will require a few last-hits.).


Don't really agree with this other than the aside about buying a stack of Runes of Blight. In my experience its always better to start with some stat boosting items respective to your primary attribute. If you're going to get a bracer/ring/talisman - buy two of the cheaper component, two minor totems, and then two runes of blight. This gives you a healthy amount of health regen to lane with and a good amount of damage increase to last hit/deny with.

On your first fountain trip, you could complete the bracers/rings/talismans and get your marchers, and you good to go. Sell the minor totems if you need the extra cash, but you don't have to.

[Meowshi]

Fixed it for you.

[The_Jedi]

Thank you, I feel much more confident about learning to play!

[Dgent]

Want to thank for this great thread, thanks for the effort!!

[iDeKay]

Thank you so much. I played dota once a long time ago and forgot almost everything about it. When I jumped into HoN, I was a little overwhelmed. I was starting to get a little discouraged and then I found this. Thanks for the time and effort, the newbs appreciate it a ton! (Or at least I do.)

[KSiM]

Thanks for the time spended. It helps me a lot.

[endovelico]

bookmark'd.

[theGhost963]

Ok, new around here and this is one brilliant starting place :) I've actually converted what Meowshi has done into a bookmarked PDF, with linked images. If you don't want this, please feel free to delete it, I made it for my own ease of use as well as for printing, just thought I'd share.

HoN Basics.rar (http://www.mediafire.com/?ycbby0x2qvl) | 4.64mb

It's hosted at MediaFire since it's too large to upload as an attachment and it's an archive inside an archive, since I've password protected the file and mediafire wont handle them. Extract the archive inside, then open with the following password: rlE2GTB](GhN|x('7\6(a3W9/"kG8-}\vPXp%W{DO%lofXYfAW*Oc[8DHryB.n#

P.S: Oh, and if you find anything wrong with the document, let me know and I'll try and fix it :)

UPDATED: 28-08-2009

[Meowshi]

I have something wrong with the document!! \o/


Every time HoN updates the items, I have to go in and update my guide. Not only that, but if I think of something that could be helpful to the noobies, I'd update my guide. PS- 4.66 meg? Damn I slack off too much.

I won't be able to update your .rar file.

Sides that, I appreciate you doing this very, very much Ghost :)

[theGhost963]

Well, I get where you're coming from :) (I actually thought of those points as I was uploading it XD But figured I'd made it for myself, so why not share) I'm more than happy to update it, if/when new stuff is added :) (I have way too much time on my hands :P Not to mention I enjoy doing this kind of stuff...... which is probably a tad odd XD) Well, what you've created is currently 36 pages as I've compiled it, I wouldn't say that's slack XD

No problems. And I really want to thank you because this guide is quite easy to follow and get my head around :)

[Tino]

About the runes, DD is only double base damage, not double total damage.
And you also forgot about the haste rune.

[Meowshi]

Well, I get where you're coming from :) (I actually thought of those points as I was uploading it XD But figured I'd made it for myself, so why not share) I'm more than happy to update it, if/when new stuff is added :) (I have way too much time on my hands :P Not to mention I enjoy doing this kind of stuff...... which is probably a tad odd XD) Well, what you've created is currently 36 pages as I've compiled it, I wouldn't say that's slack XD

No problems. And I really want to thank you because this guide is quite easy to follow and get my head around :)

Thank you very much, I've updated it once more (Added a bunch of stuff about laning, fixed a few engrish errors, and what not, and a few other things, and added Haste).

I said I was a slacker because I did this all at work :P


About the runes, DD is only double base damage, not double total damage.
And you also forgot about the haste rune.

Frankly, I don't know how that's been missing. Thank you so much :P I fixed it.

[Joyntus]

I just wanted to thank you for posting this. As a HoN and DOTA newbie, I really appreciate it, ESPECIALLY the items section.

Can't agree more.

[the_gamer]

hey man, AMAZING guide. thank you so so much for spending the time/effort to make this.

[Jewless]

Thanks for the guide Meowshi (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/member.php?u=18985), I definitely got some great tips from it.

[Ruscour]

Thanks a lot man, really helpful.

[Whettaz]

Hey i beleive the staff of masters item recipe has changed now. But thanks anyway for a brilliant intro guide.

[Meowshi]

Hey i beleive the staff of masters item recipe has changed now. But thanks anyway for a brilliant intro guide.

Yeah, I actually was in the process of changing the rest of my guide to be up with .44. It's a lot of work @.@

You probably got to it before I did ^_-

[xnode]

my 2cents as a new player, this guide definitly has pointed me in the right direction thank you for the hard work!

[scyld]

Thanks for this guide!

However, a question...

My hero auto-attacks whenever I get near mobs, and I can't make her stop. It's impossible to get last hits in. When I do what the guide suggests, that is hold down alt or "'", it doesn't work. Alt just makes me ping the map, and ' does nothing at all.

Not only that, but I cannot attack my own units to "deny" the opponent.

Granted, I have only tried playing on a map where I'm the only player, but I want to get these basic techniques down before I go against other players.

If I don't understand this, I must not be the only one...

Thanks in advance.

[dunehunter]

What you can do is simply right-click to move over and over again, so you keep trying to move somewhere without ever getting there, so your hero won't attack.

[fixxer_linux]

This guide is really great and helps an lot.
However, could it be possible to have some details on how works the stats of the heroes.
I don't understand the meaning of the icons that appears on heroes on the selection screen (a bow, a hammer, with numbers). I guess this strenght, intelligence, armor, and so on, but what icon is what stat ?

What is the use of stats while in game ? In particular, what is intelligence ? Gives mana regen ? I also noticed that while in game I can see the current status when clicking on icons.
What gives strength ? survavibility (I'm strong as I can take huge damage) or ability to hit stronger ?

Of course, I more or less guess the meaning and usage, but I'd like some light on that topic, as it seems important to understand that for choosing the heroe and then the items to build.

EDIT : some more stupid question : will some items always work on all heroes ? For example, does "runed axe" work on plague carrier or pyro ? Those heroes doesn't use an axe (or a weapon) to attack. So, is "runed axe" useless on them or does it work ??

Thanks already for the job done on the topic so far.

[Meowshi]

This guide is really great and helps an lot.
However, could it be possible to have some details on how works the stats of the heroes.
I don't understand the meaning of the icons that appears on heroes on the selection screen (a bow, a hammer, with numbers). I guess this strenght, intelligence, armor, and so on, but what icon is what stat ?

What is the use of stats while in game ? In particular, what is intelligence ? Gives mana regen ? I also noticed that while in game I can see the current status when clicking on icons.
What gives strength ? survavibility (I'm strong as I can take huge damage) or ability to hit stronger ?

Of course, I more or less guess the meaning and usage, but I'd like some light on that topic, as it seems important to understand that for choosing the heroe and then the items to build.

EDIT : some more stupid question : will some items always work on all heroes ? For example, does "runed axe" work on plague carrier or pyro ? Those heroes doesn't use an axe (or a weapon) to attack. So, is "runed axe" useless on them or does it work ??

Thanks already for the job done on the topic so far.

I'll add these things in next revision. Also to the guy above with the deny problem (I'll add another section on this)

To not attack mobs, simply press H, spam Stop, or right click move around. To last hit, hold alt to see the enemy HP, when it's low, right click it.

if it's your creep and you're trying to deny, press the A button and left click.

[Etdashou]

If I'm not mistaken, the random huts and shrines are worthless.

I think it is useful to destroy them. I you land the "killing" blow you will have a small boost of cash. This is useful and quick if you see a very low HP hut.

Also, destroying them make your creep faster to the shrine. So they won't stop and hitting those huts.

[scyld]

What you can do is simply right-click to move over and over again, so you keep trying to move somewhere without ever getting there, so your hero won't attack.


I'll add these things in next revision. Also to the guy above with the deny problem (I'll add another section on this)

To not attack mobs, simply press H, spam Stop, or right click move around. To last hit, hold alt to see the enemy HP, when it's low, right click it.

if it's your creep and you're trying to deny, press the A button and left click.

Thanks. And noobs like me will definitely appreciate the added information on last hitting and denies (if they aren't turned off instantly to the game by the community, that is).

[toffys191]

Omg awesome guide
i started off 1400 psr and im now 1640 after reading this guide lol!!
A++

[Certa]

It's quite obvious how much effort you put in this and how much it will help any completely new player that reads it. Thank you.

[Meat_Puppet]

I suck horribly, but after reading this, I think I'll suck a good deal less.

Outstanding work, thanks!

[Number1Dad]

Thank you for writing this. It's very comprehensive and easy to understand unlike some of the other noob guides here.

[Didiuz]

Seems like a really nice guide ( although i was to lazy to read it trough) ill link it to all my newbie friends

[muss]

Good Guide.

[Nitpicker1]

Great guide, helps alot, thanks!

[Bobsuncle]

Great guide. You have helped this newbie out alot, appreciate it.

[Soz3]

By the way, this is a loading screen. It isn't a race or anything. Just a loading screen.

Hahaha, this made my day.

Great guide, perfect for new players! ALL the basics. Great job.

[Cloud]

Will you be updating this guide again? Real good stuff you got going here. especially the item list

[goldenwitch]

A comprehensive guide to the basics for certain.

[AswanJaguar]

Thank you for the guide, pretty helpful for a beginner :)

[kranima]

Great guide, i should improve a little bit more now

[Excstazy]

Thanks a lot for the guide this helps a lot.

[misteryoung]

at last i could understand the game better :D

[Pattey]

Wow, thank you for taking your time out to compose this Guide. It's really helpful. I'm new to this game, completely NEW. So I know nothing about it. But this Guide helped me a lot to be comfortable. Thanks!

[streetg850]

great beginners guide gave a good opinon insight on this game.
quick fix though.
a newbie is someone new to a game or something he/she hasn't done.
a noob is someone whose been there for a certain amount of time and still does newbie things. (mostly used as an insult).

[Unyazi]

you've got newb and noob round the wrong way.

a newb = newbie ergo, new to the game. probably gonna be pretty bad
a noob = well, noob, as in, probably thinks they are pro, makes bad decisions quite frequently, doesnt listen to advice, flames frequently etc

[OhReuben]

nice guide man

[robbiek1]

BIGGGG
nice guide tho!

~Robbie

[pwn_U_fast]

very nice guide and highly approve.

couple of updates...

1. there are no tiers in public games anymore, just change the 'Don't join noob allowed games' section to a literally say, play no stat games. any title is fine as long as its no stats. (this will help people learn better)

2. can you add DEFAULT shortcut keys to the shop items assuming the shop is open (thus you do not have to hit 'b' to open shop). for recipe items just put the path to the recipe?

e.g. r-x-w to get courier.

3. add the /ignore commands.

[Mate92]

You mixed up Noob with Newb, other than that excellent guide :)

[d0peturtle]

Great guide..! ill spread the word.

[JONNyG]

Eh this guide has some misleading info. Staff for example is awesome on heroes like chipper and plague rider (so much extra damage per bounce the enemy is basically forced to get barrier or die), and Devourer is by no means a waste of a hero slot, even before he was changed.

Overall this is pretty good and straightforward, albeit biased, so I would recommend it to newbies just starting the game (not noobs).

[EontheWolf]

I feel the need to voice one small issue with the slang....
Noob has NEVER meant someone new to the game. You actually got em mixed up...
Newb comes from the term newbie, (thus 'newb'), and refers to someone who's new to something, and may not quite know what to do.
Noob comes from gamer lingo and specifically leet speek and I believe quake lingo years upon years ago, and spread from there. It refers to someone who, while usually not necessarily new to the game or what have you, still have little to no idea on what to do, as they refuse to listen and/or learn.
Just ya know...a heads up ^^;

[pwn_U_fast]

^^ regardless this is for newbs and noobs.

[Shumnasty]

wow, very very useful! Im semi new to DotA, played about 50 games of LoL, and just started HoN...this helps ALOT! Keep up the great work brother!