Pestilence- Swarm Them ALL!

[FuriousPeon]

Pestilence- The answer to late-game carries.


http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/Pestilencedetails.jpg


http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/PestilenceModel.jpg

Introduction

Pestilence is a mid-late game hero. His role in the game is to gank, and carry as much as humanly possible,. He has a few abilities that allow him to stun, as well as chase others. Being a strength hero gives him the advantage of being able to take a considerate more amount of punishment than agility heroes.


FAQ-

-Should I play Pestilence?
That depends. Can you last hit mildly-well? Do you realize that not all strength heroes can take a LOT of damage and do you have a good sense of teamwork?

-Why should I play Pestilence?
Scout, Night hunter, and Madman are infamous for their ability to go invisible. The ability swarm makes it so not only does it deduct 5/10/15 armor, but makes them visible for 30 seconds (with a 10 second cooldown.) Pestilence is also a hero that does not require much to carry mid-game.

-Is Pestilence a team player?
He is THE team carry in my opinion. You will not find any other hero who can support his team with abilities such as stun, and armor reducing with the sole exception being Defiller.

-Why not just play Warbeast? He can run real fast, and I get brutalizer on him anyway!
Does Warbeast have an AOE 2.5 second stun with a 2 sec slow? Does Warbeast have a passive stun so he can focus on other items? Warbeast can't reveal invisible units. Also, I think 40% increased movespeed is more than enough to catch almost every hero. Electrician beats the hell out of warbeast too. An ult that can take away his ult? Are you serious?

=Abilities=

Ihttp://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/PestilenceAbility1.jpg


Level 1- 10% increased movement speed, 20% increased damage taken.
(Lasts 25 seconds, 45 sec CD, cost 50 mana.)
Level 2- 20% increased movement speed, 20% increased damage taken.
Level 3- 30% increased movement speed, 20% increased damage taken.
Level 4- 40% increased movement speed, 20% increased damage taken.

Thoughts
This is going to be your second most leveled ability early game. I see many people go gore for the sake of the bash, but you just don't need it over flight this early. The movement speed allows for Pestilence to gank other lanes easily, run away, and initialize a stun for his team.

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/PestilenceAbility2.jpg

Level 1- 350 radius AOE Stun for 1.0 Seconds, 50 damage. 80 mana(2 second 20% slow afterwards)
Level 2- 350 radius AOE stun for 1.5 Seconds, 100 damage. 95 mana.
Level 3- 350 radius AOE Stun for 2.0 seconds, 150 damage. 105 mana
Level 4- 350 radius AOE Stun for 2.5 seconds, 200 damage. 115 mana

Thoughts
an AOE stun that can slow afterwards. This skill in conjunction with flight will net you more than a few hits on your enemy. This ability is also taken early to help gank. 200 damage will also help put the edge on your casters nukes to get that "little bit more damage needed" to kill the enemy. This is NOT a skill that is used to harrass heroes however, unless creeps will help do the damage, or you have another stun in your lane to follow with. It also has a low mana cost for what it does.

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/PestilenceAbility3.jpg

Level 1- 10% chance to bash for 1 second. 25 magic damage (2 second CD Passive)
Level 2- 15% chance to bash for 1 second.
Level 3- 20% chance to bash for 1 second
Level 4- 25% chance to bash for 1 second.

Thoughts.
Gore is a mini-disable. As if being chased down at almost max move speed wasn't enough, now you're being bashed every few hits until impale cools down. Gore is that oh so fun brutalizer some heroes just love to abuse. As nice as it is though, you won't be needing it til later on, considering that you won't have the attack speed to utilize it properly.

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/PestilenceAbility4.jpg

Level 1- 5 armor reduction. (Lasts 30 seconds, 10 second cooldown. Reveals invisibility on target. 25 mana.)
Level 2- 10 armor reduction.
Level 3- 15 armor reduction.

Thoughts
Night Hunter, Scout, and Madman, Tree be prepared to be ticked off. This is the ability that allows you to see invisible units, and reduces their armor. It also allows you to see where and what a unit is doing PERIOD. So for 30 seconds, you have full sight of the hero you used this on, and trust me this is invaluable for ganking. It makes juking, using fog, going invisible a thing of imagination. There's no escape. Use this ability to keep tabs on an enemy hero, or use it to help your team have increased damage against a focused hero. That 16% armor reduction quickly turns into -5% armor reduction, and that HURTS.

http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/images/editor/menupop.gif

Items. Do's And Dont's

Please take into strong consideration that most builds in guides are not universally 100% correct all the time, and there are variations. However, there are items that are n ot as efficient on certain heroes, given the nature of the hero's chemistry to the item listed. Green will be listed as suggested, and red will be listed as not reccommended. Anything not listed is free game, but not included in this guide.

Early
2x http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/crushingclaws.jpg

2x(3) http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/item12runesofblight.jpg
1 http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/Item1HealingPotion.jpg (or http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/manapotion.jpg)

OR

3 http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/minortotem.jpg
2x http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/item12runesofblight.jpg
1 http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/item1pretendercrown.jpg

OR

Bottle(Only if mid.)

BUT DO NOT

Marchers
1 runes of Blight.

OR

Bottle (Top or Bottom lane.)

Explanation:
The suggested items are there as mini boosts to stats, and enough regen to survive your lane while getting in a good amount of last hits (Granted you have a babysit or another stunner.) The regen is meant to hold off until you can afford Helm of the victim, which will serve as your regen for the rest of early game. MARCHERS However, helps you not. Not only do you not have enough regen, but you've lost out on the extra hp. Marchers aren't going to help you this early. The purpose of Bottle mid is that you can rune hunt and help gank other lanes. The problem with doing it anywhere else is that you'll end up having to go too far away from your lane to get a bottle charge, and lose valuable exp/gold.



Mid-Game

Full Carry/Tank
Insanitarius
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/item9insanitarius.jpg
Steam Boots
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/item7steamboots.jpg
Whispering Helm.
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/whisperinghelm.jpg
(1950+1750+2850=6550)

OR

Abyssmal Skull

Steam Boots

WarpCleft


(2075+1750+2100=5925)

OR



Support Tank

Post Haste

Shruken Head

Warpclepft

(6810)

^-Often not used. Not nearly as effective as prior two.


-Runed Axe
-Savage Mace
-Brutalizer
-Elder Parasite

Explanation.
First and foremost, you do not need Runed Axe. As nice as the cleave sounds with the mana and hp regen, 4300 gold is 2/3rds the cost of your base build, and steam boots +Runed Axe alone can not help you own mid game. Runed axe contribute nothing to your ultimate, considering that I do believe cleave ignores armor on cleaved units. Savage mace has a bash in it, and it will counterflick with your original bash. Brutalizer, the percentage boost isn't worth the gold, and 25% is more than enough. Uncertain of HOD's engine, I cannot be sure to say that Elder parasite will override Flight or not, but I will say that even if it does not, 35% increaed damage to ones self, still hurts like hell. Activating Sanitarius will give you more than enough damage and attack speed to get the deed done, and the lifesteal will help alleviate the drain, plus steam is needed for the increased attack speed and bonus strength. Abyssmal skull and warpcleft is for those planning on going in a *different* direction from the first build. The lifesteal helps your team, and warpcleft is for a different item later on. Although you won't be doing as much damage as you would be doing with the first build mid game, This build is ultimately made to go into late.
The Support tank build is there for you to teleport, chase, and stay alive as you disable, bash, and swarm. You won't be dishing out carry-worthy damage, but there's little to nothing a team can do against a magic immune bug come up to them to stun while your team beats away at them. The Warpcleft is so your attack speed isn't pathetic so you can bash.


Late game.
Symbol of Rage
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/symbolofrage-1.jpg
Insanitarius
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/item9insanitarius.jpg
Steam Boots
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/item7steamboots.jpg
Shrunken Head
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/shrunkenhead.jpg

13760

(The alternative)
Whispering helm
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/whisperinghelm.jpg
Steam Boots
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/item7steamboots.jpg
Daemonic Breastplate
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/item13daemonicbreastplate.jpg
Shield Breaker
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t139/BloodyStag/shieldbreaker.jpg
( cost is 13875)

OR
2x Fortified Bracelets
Behemoth Heart

Steam boots

Shaman Headdress


For more of a tanky feel

Explanation
The Former focuses on if you went with the first build, an did dwell mid game. This makes you a realistic carry, because doing well mid and getting kills, means it's very likely you can afford these items. Having Shrunken head makes it so that the team can do nothing to stop your onslaught short of running away for 10 seconds, or somehow outdamaging you. Insanitaruis loses some of it's worth, but with Symbol of rage in play, it makes you fall in love with it all over again. Rift Shards is just for that damage boost. The Alternative build. Alright, so you and this other carry on the opposing team have been faming most of the game. You get a kill here and there, but his potential as a carry rivals yours, and you know with the first build, you can't take him alone. Let's say your team an dhis team have the same amount of disables and such. This is where this build is useful. -abysmal skull removes the need to waste an attack modifier on lifesteal,- ( No longer true, Whispering Helm by itself serves the purpose.)and give it to shieldbreaker. Daemonic breastplate increases your already devastating armor reduction. 25% armor reduction is a lot, but the reason it really shines is because realistically most agility carries will have 16+ armor by now, so it's nice to keep them humble and bring them down to negative or low. Shieldbreaker also gives you a decent damage boost, and daemonic breastplate helps you have more chances to stun, plus better tanking ability (and more opportunities to lifesteal.) Take into consideration these are NOT the only two builds this hero has. Some would refer hack and slash (though I disagree...) but there's much to be experimented with this hero. Edit: It's been brought to my attention that Behemoth Heart with 2 Fortified bracelets, Shaman's headdress and streamboots is also a good mid-late game. It gives you great survivability and decent damage, and best of all, is not farm intensive! Credit to Hiro and Euphoria for pointing this out.

Skill Build

1.Impale
2.Flight
3.Impale
4.Flight
5.Impale
6.Swarm
7.Impale
8.Gore
9.Gore
10.Flight
11.Swarm
12. Flight
13-14.Gore
15.Stats
16.Swarm

^Edited as of 6/19/09 upon testing. Also thanks to Glorify and Euphoria for clearing up a few mechanical issues and giving me incentive to experiment skill builds a little more in depth.

Will continue to add to this later on play style, match ups, and good lane combinations. Hope this is good for now.

[Euphoria]

Very nice guide. Just some suggestions, take em or leave em.

I suggest just 1 level of gore early, simply for the chance of it hitting, level 0->1 is 10% chance of stun, but all the other levels only scale 5% with no added stun/damage. And even though 30->40% MS boost doesn't seem that important, I feel flight and impale should be maxed before returning to Gore. With the stun mechanics in this game, you cannot perma bash, so why bother leveling it up earlier, since your movement speed will keep you on top of the enemy most of the time and your attack speed can't yet support it. Also, I don't really see him being played support ever. His stun lends itself to team fights sure, but other than that he is meant to be a brute. There is no need for Shrunken Head/Post Haste, since you are already at max movement speed with your Flight and most of your utility is done simply casting Swarm. Any enemy who focuses a hero with 2-2.5k HP and a good escape is wasting their time anyway.

You have left out his greatest item which is the Behemoth Heart. Any strength hero worth his salt needs this item since it gives great damage, huge regen, and since Pestilence is such a monster in any fight, requires them to deal with him, but since he can escape/regen at insane rates it becomes near impossible to ever kill him.

A suggested item path is:
2 x Bracelets (1020)
1 x Steamboots (Strength) (1750)
1 x Behemoth Heart (5500)
1 x Shaman Headdress (2350)


Then choose your favorite DPS item, although with his -armor, attack speed really rules the game at that point so Warpcleft --> Daemonic Breastplate would be best. This gives him insane regen/magic/physical defense and high attack speed. No one can really touch him at that point and it's a cheaper path. Insanitarius early on is nice, but since you are using flight to chase, unless you know you can survive a stun or 2 with that and the enhanced damage on yourself it isn't worth the detour IMO.

I don't think he really needs the Symbol of Rage, this item is frowned up on 99% of heroes since it is too costly for its use and there are better methods of regen/damage.

Remember he should be assisting in ganks/chasing and not a farmer, leave that to the carry who will outdps you in quick fights, so aim for 8-10k worth of items on him. Pestilence doesn't need to kill his enemies in 5 seconds since they can never escape.

Very nice guide. And I know you said there are other ways to play him. I was just listing one for those who may not be able to farm as well as your guide needs.

[FuriousPeon]

Very much appreciated for the input, Euphoria, helpful criticism and alternative suggestions are always welcome.

[Inconmon]

Havent had a decent pestilence that didnt dominate on his lane because his stun is so powerful. Just need any ranged supporter with decent damage/slow/stun. Slither, Puppet, Pyro, ... you name it. Its lane domination.

Might as well call him early-mid-late-gank-support-carry-hero.

[FuriousPeon]

I personally believe hero combinations like Glacier, Pyro/Torturer/Electrician can put him down too hard early if the users have a good sense of teamwork. I call him Mid-late because his ability don't do much fo rhim til later on. Using flight against heavy nukers that know what they're doing will get you disabled, nuked, and killed.

[Netukka]

By the way, thanks to HoN mechanics, you CAN get both -armor and life steal. Just a note I thought I should add ^^

[Hiro]

Nice guide. Like you mentioned, Pestilence isn't as item dependent as the other carries. Hell, two bracelets and steamboots are enough to take on most heroes 1v1 in early-mid game. As for late game items, most games I go for Demonic Breastplates since it gives him everything he needs; Survivability, attack speed and damage (-armor). I don't think Rift Shards, Symbol of Rage or Shieldbreaker are optimal on him because he doesn't really need straight DPS items, and he should be focusing more on survivability. I agree with Euphoria about the Behemoth Heart, which is my other item of choice if I'm farming nicely.

[FuriousPeon]

Hiro, Euphoria would you mind if I included a section in my guide giving your ideas? I'd give credit where due, of course.

[Hiro]

I certainly don't mind, and I'm sure Euphoria wouldn't either. We want to help the newcomers get better, and it's not fun when your teammate doesn't know their hero lol.

[Euphoria]

We need a giant sign pointing them to the guides. Go ahead on the additions.

[Glorify1]

I find treads enough attack speed to suffice for most of the game, as he has average agility gain. In terms of what dps items to get, it all depends on who you're up against, but the best in almost all cases is desolater(shieldbreaker).

I looked at your builds, and I noticed your alternative is using a vlads instead of a HoD, even though HoD is more potent and stacks 100% with your desolater. In HoN lifesteal stacks with everything, it's not even considered an orb effect.

With 1-2 bracers(or even 2-3 +3 str items) in the beginning coupled with tangos/flasks/clarities you have ample amounts of regen and base damage to control a lane. The reason he's so good in a lane early on is his instant cast aoe stun(that is GIGANTIC), and his huge buff to movespeed. It helps that he's a strength hero, and has a perfect animation.

In terms of your skill order, I think it's better to put a point or two into bash, as 20% movespeed is generally enough early game to catch kiting opponents so you can snare with your stun. The extra damage and the stun, while unreliable, can proc and enable kills that you normally wouldn't be able to get. Also, you don't need high amounts of attack speed to utilize gore, simply good positioning. I would go into more depth in explaining it, if I were you. What I mean by this, is, say you use impale. You hit once, then cancel the afterattack animation and move further down the lane to say his side for example. Hit again, move behind him or where he intends to run. This allows you to score more hits, and with 25%, you're bound to proc a hit and add more damage on the target.

To sum up, your starting item builds you suggest are fine, though I'd like to point out the redundancy in buying more than one set of tango. The only time you would do this is if you don't have a chicken, but if you do(and you should), you should really stick to one. When running low, you simply buy and ferry it out to you. I always suggest having a healing and mana potion, as they greatly aid your laning process, but it might be a good idea to go into greater depth as to why. Some new players, especially ones looking to read guides, tend to not understand why you buy an item. They just buy them for the sake of the guide telling them to. I enjoyed the format of the guide, and any player looking to learn pestilence should know he is probably the best carry in HoN at the moment.

[Gyokuon]

This guide was helpful and has made me a better player at HoN, and a better person in life. I think everyone can learn a thing or two from reading guides like this, as they can potentially help the people in this world become greater beings as a whole.

[Firestrike]

This guide was helpful and has made me a better player at HoN, and a better person in life. I think everyone can learn a thing or two from reading guides like this, as they can potentially help the people in this world become greater beings as a whole.

What?

good guide tho

[LuckyDevil]

This guide was helpful and has made me a better player at HoN, and a better person in life. I think everyone can learn a thing or two from reading guides like this, as they can potentially help the people in this world become greater beings as a whole.
This guide saved my cat!

[FuriousPeon]

I find treads enough attack speed to suffice for most of the game, as he has average agility gain. In terms of what dps items to get, it all depends on who you're up against, but the best in almost all cases is desolater(shieldbreaker).

I looked at your builds, and I noticed your alternative is using a vlads instead of a HoD, even though HoD is more potent and stacks 100% with your desolater. In HoN lifesteal stacks with everything, it's not even considered an orb effect.

With 1-2 bracers(or even 2-3 +3 str items) in the beginning coupled with tangos/flasks/clarities you have ample amounts of regen and base damage to control a lane. The reason he's so good in a lane early on is his instant cast aoe stun(that is GIGANTIC), and his huge buff to movespeed. It helps that he's a strength hero, and has a perfect animation.

In terms of your skill order, I think it's better to put a point or two into bash, as 20% movespeed is generally enough early game to catch kiting opponents so you can snare with your stun. The extra damage and the stun, while unreliable, can proc and enable kills that you normally wouldn't be able to get. Also, you don't need high amounts of attack speed to utilize gore, simply good positioning. I would go into more depth in explaining it, if I were you. What I mean by this, is, say you use impale. You hit once, then cancel the afterattack animation and move further down the lane to say his side for example. Hit again, move behind him or where he intends to run. This allows you to score more hits, and with 25%, you're bound to proc a hit and add more damage on the target.

To sum up, your starting item builds you suggest are fine, though I'd like to point out the redundancy in buying more than one set of tango. The only time you would do this is if you don't have a chicken, but if you do(and you should), you should really stick to one. When running low, you simply buy and ferry it out to you. I always suggest having a healing and mana potion, as they greatly aid your laning process, but it might be a good idea to go into greater depth as to why. Some new players, especially ones looking to read guides, tend to not understand why you buy an item. They just buy them for the sake of the guide telling them to. I enjoyed the format of the guide, and any player looking to learn pestilence should know he is probably the best carry in HoN at the moment.


Appreciate the insight, and will make adjustments explaining what to do, hopefully post up screens, of doing it, and so forth. and yeah, I will include more skill builds as alternatives to the first explaining the pros listed as you did.

[Rene1]

Perfect guide, ty!

[Woolygimp]

Very nice guide. Just some suggestions, take em or leave em.

I suggest just 1 level of gore early, simply for the chance of it hitting, level 0->1 is 10% chance of stun, but all the other levels only scale 5% with no added stun/damage. And even though 30->40% MS boost doesn't seem that important, I feel flight and impale should be maxed before returning to Gore. With the stun mechanics in this game, you cannot perma bash, so why bother leveling it up earlier, since your movement speed will keep you on top of the enemy most of the time and your attack speed can't yet support it. Also, I don't really see him being played support ever. His stun lends itself to team fights sure, but other than that he is meant to be a brute. There is no need for Shrunken Head/Post Haste, since you are already at max movement speed with your Flight and most of your utility is done simply casting Swarm. Any enemy who focuses a hero with 2-2.5k HP and a good escape is wasting their time anyway.

You have left out his greatest item which is the Behemoth Heart. Any strength hero worth his salt needs this item since it gives great damage, huge regen, and since Pestilence is such a monster in any fight, requires them to deal with him, but since he can escape/regen at insane rates it becomes near impossible to ever kill him.

A suggested item path is:
2 x Bracelets (1020)
1 x Steamboots (Strength) (1750)
1 x Behemoth Heart (5500)
1 x Shaman Headdress (2350)


Then choose your favorite DPS item, although with his -armor, attack speed really rules the game at that point so Warpcleft --> Daemonic Breastplate would be best. This gives him insane regen/magic/physical defense and high attack speed. No one can really touch him at that point and it's a cheaper path. Insanitarius early on is nice, but since you are using flight to chase, unless you know you can survive a stun or 2 with that and the enhanced damage on yourself it isn't worth the detour IMO.

I don't think he really needs the Symbol of Rage, this item is frowned up on 99% of heroes since it is too costly for its use and there are better methods of regen/damage.

Remember he should be assisting in ganks/chasing and not a farmer, leave that to the carry who will outdps you in quick fights, so aim for 8-10k worth of items on him. Pestilence doesn't need to kill his enemies in 5 seconds since they can never escape.

Very nice guide. And I know you said there are other ways to play him. I was just listing one for those who may not be able to farm as well as your guide needs.

I'm sorry but this just doesn't work.

You need lifesteal / warpcleft and the defense that these items you list gives is neglible. With this character, I think a better offense is a better defense.

You won't even be able to effectively farm or get kills without some sort of damage items at the beginning, leaving you high and dry mid-late game.

[Ex0rz]

Reading guides wont really make you any better its common sense and a little bit of brains that make you a "good" player. I always check the kills & stats of a hero and base on that which items to make and which skills to pick.

[Feriluce]

Reading guides wont really make you any better its common sense and a little bit of brains that make you a "good" player. I always check the kills & stats of a hero and base on that which items to make and which skills to pick.

Actually reading guides stop you from randomly picking items because you have no idea what all the items does and how they'll work with your hero.

[RPZip]

Actually reading guides stop you from randomly picking items because you have no idea what all the items does and how they'll work with your hero.

This is true.

Reading a guide won't make you a good player, but it'll stop you from being an awful one.

[Alsn]

I would just like to recommend getting enhanced marchers instead of steam boots. Seeing as this hero is pretty much built around chasing people down and/or storming in and initiating with an aoe stun being able to unitwalk is huge. The attack speed loss isn't too bad as the bash isn't really all that good anyway(don't get me wrong, it's not bad, but being able to unitwalk will usually kill way more heroes than 30% more attack speed ever will).

The only exception is if you as pestilence for some obscure reason is the only carry type hero on your team, then you need the damage.

Edit: Also, getting one rank in bash early game could also be a wise choice. The first point is 10% as compared to the 5% the other ranks give you. It's not much and 10% move speed is arguably better but given some luck it can really help out.

[rayraytime]

Didn't really care for this guide. It's doesn't address the issues Pest has.

[Woolygimp]

Didn't really care for this guide. It's doesn't address the issues Pest has.

Like horrible damage and horrible survivability if he's snared/stunned/rooted?

This guy can't even take a scout 1v1 in melee in early game... it's pretty sad. Not to mention that though he is the stealth hard counter, the only stealth class in the game he can actually catch is a nighthound. The rest move faster than pestilence.

[Lethe]

Core should be steam/enhanced insanitarius shrunken head imo

[Mordiggian]

Like horrible damage and horrible survivability if he's snared/stunned/rooted?

This guy can't even take a scout 1v1 in melee in early game... it's pretty sad. Not to mention that though he is the stealth hard counter, the only stealth class in the game he can actually catch is a nighthound. The rest move faster than pestilence.

Disagree. I've caught up to scouts more than a few times using flight, and between bashing and impaling, he doesn't get far. That's the main thing, flight is essential for this hero, be it for getting close to squishy heroes before they can react, chasing down and chain-stunning enemies, or escaping when a gank goes bad. Without it, you'll simply plod along behind (or in front of) them until they reach a tower or their allies (or kill you). Also, the behemoth's heart helps greatly with his survivability if you can afford it, from my own experience.

[Woolygimp]

This guy has quickly become my favorite hero because he's one of the few with a capability to utterly rape madman/nighthound (and occasionally rape bad scouts) in PUBS.

I've found that the best item layout for him is pure offense. Going defensive on pestilence just isn't good, he doesn't have neither the damage or survivability to make it worthwhile.

But I've been going brutalizer (25% chance for 1 second stun/ +30 damage) then warpcleft to up his attack speed and I've found between the brutalizer and passive 25% chance to stun he'll stunlock most characters - and if they leave stun you just hit them with impale and back into stun they go.

It RAPES them so hard, they can't even move to run. Give it a go!

Shieldbreaker is very over-rated btw - don't need it with swarm.

[Darkshine1]

Personally, I've found that the most effective item build in the majority of games is to grab three Fortified Bracers instead of a Whispering Helm and then grab a Behemoth's Heart, Flayer, and Symbol of Rage in that order.

[TLSHadow]

Don't forget Portal Key for initiating if need be.

[Darkshine1]

Don't forget Portal Key for initiating if need be.

Typically, there's very little reason to have Pesti initiate. However, yeah, if you're on one of THOSE teams that actually needs you to initiate, then Portal Key's a must.

[Primax]

Very nice! Thank you.

[mqo]

But I've been going brutalizer (25% chance for 1 second stun/ +30 damage) then warpcleft to up his attack speed and I've found between the brutalizer and passive 25% chance to stun he'll stunlock most characters - and if they leave stun you just hit them with impale and back into stun they go.

It RAPES them so hard, they can't even move to run. Give it a go!

Shieldbreaker is very over-rated btw - don't need it with swarm. Considering brutalizer and gore (his passive) share the stun CD, that's simply a horrible idea. Considering shieldbreaker very much stacks with swarm, it's generally amazing. Like the other guy said, ARMLET for dps. Insanitarius is hands down the best single item in the game for nearly every str dps. The HP drain is irrelevant. Not even considering whispering helm (which you should have nearly every game), the -32hps you take doesn't mean much since you're gaining 475hp by using it... it takes 15~ seconds (about twice as long as it takes for any 1v1/team fight to be decided) for the drain to take you low enough for you to have lived longer with any other non STR dps item. After that, anything between Shrunken Head/Heart/Breastplate/Shieldbreaker/etc. works fine, just gotta choose based on the game situation.

[Mordiggian]

And, of course, with the heart, plus flat regens from items like the helm and Pest's natural regen, you can keep insanitarius on indefinitely,and only cancel it when you need a 10 second full heal :P

[TLSHadow]

I like Pest because he's an actual carry. Madman and Night Hound can KIND OF carry. Scout is just bad. Pest is one of the few true carries in HoN right now, along with Defiler and Torturer.

I also prefer Skull, the mana regen is essential unless you plan on getting the very much un-needed bottle.

[Rengan]

I played Slardar for several years as one of my strongest heroes in dota, and pestilance continues to be one of my favorites. My only problems with your guide are just opinions, but take them for what they are worth.

I usually start with 2 bracers and strength treads ASAP. You probably wont be getting many kills before this point because of your lack of damage and chasing capacity, but once you have steamboots you can reach up to 512 ms with a fully leveled flight. I never take a level of gore before impale and flight are both maxed, because although it might be occasionally useful the extra MS and stun are ALWAYS useful.

After this much strength, you should be rocking a solid health pool. You are by no means a tank, but you will need to be able to take some hits with flight on sometimes.
My core item for pestilance in 99% of games is Shieldbreaker. The way that armor reduction works is that any modifications to get 0 through -10 armor are amazingly useful, but after that it tapers off. By mid-late game, enemies will have more armor than your ult reduces, but that -6 armor is often that difference between +4 and -3, which is something like a 30% damage difference (I don't remeber the armor values for each point, forgive me). With the +60 damage, he hits hard enough to make great use of the percent amplification.

The only drawback to this is that he doesn't get the AS bonus he would from other items, nor does he get lifesteal. However, his stun and chasing capabilities make AS less useful. I usually build Abysal Skull after Shieldbreaker, but sometimes grab a hyperstone first if I'm not taking much damage. You could even get a whispering helm instead of abysal skull since the effects from that and shieldbreaker stack. At a meager cost of about 2k for each, it should be laughably easy to farm with the kills you'll be getting from sheer damage and chasing ability. The last items I would get on him would be Heart or Assault Cuirass (dont know the HoN names, sorry), but they are largely unnecessary for most games. with you carrying, the game should be over at this point.

[kingcomrade]

Insanitarius/Armlet was a bad item on Slardar and it's a bad item on Pestilence due to Sprint. If you go that direction you will have to return to your base to heal after every gank. A better item build on him is:
Bottle Bracers
STR Treads
Black King Bar
Helm of the Dominator
Hyperstone
then Heart if you get rich

Slard/Pest is my favorite hero and I play him a lot, Armlet just does not work well on him.

edit- This is based on the version of Dota HoN is based off of. In the newest DotA I would go Satanic over Heart

[Rengan]

Insanitarius/Armlet was a bad item on Slardar and it's a bad item on Pestilence due to Sprint. If you go that direction you will have to return to your base to heal after every gank. A better item build on him is:
Bottle Bracers
STR Treads
Black King Bar
Helm of the Dominator
Hyperstone
then Heart if you get rich

Slard/Pest is my favorite hero and I play him a lot, Armlet just does not work well on him.

edit- This is based on the version of Dota HoN is based off of. In the newest DotA I would go Satanic over Heart

You don't need bottle, as you shouldn't be using your stun to harass. Runes of the blight work just fine. Other than that, This is a solid item build except that he has no damage. BKB and helm give him some, but with treads you'll have maybe +60 max. That just isn't enough. This almost looks like a tank build, except that you're getting heart last and not finishing AC. I must say, I'm more than a little confused.

[KingDavid]

EUPHORIA IS RIGHT! HIS BUILD IS SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE. I THINK HE SHOULD MAKE A PESTILENCE GUIDE NO DISRESPECT TO FURIOUS PEON THOUGH. IN DOTA I USED SLARDAR AND MY BUILD WAS TREADS, 3 BRACERS, VITALITY->HEART, TP SCROLL. SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE, THATS WHAT I LIKE.

EUPHORIA'S BUILD:
2 BRACERS
STEAMBOOTS(STR)
SHAMAN HEADRESS
HEART
DEMONIC BREATPLATE

i hope u make a pestilence guide euphoria, cuz ur glacius one was good. And furious peon's early game items 2x gaunlets 2 runes and 1 flask goes well with euphoria's build.

[Jo]

I liked the guide and love pestilence, still prefer trinket of rejuv +2/2/2 bracer component for starters then steamboots,abyssal skull,hyperstone on him. finish of with crit if the game gets long and/or trade the bracer for an shrunken monkies head thingy.

sorry for mixing names :)

[Dravend]

I love to play pestilence and play him often to help counter the multiple invis heroes you see alot Nighthound Scout Madman, although i was wondering why you say steam boots over enchanted marchers. I find the extra speed boost extremely helpful for run n stuns as well as stacking with flight allows one to out run anything.

[livmew]

I love to play pestilence and play him often to help counter the multiple invis heroes you see alot Nighthound Scout Madman, although i was wondering why you say steam boots over enchanted marchers. I find the extra speed boost extremely helpful for run n stuns as well as stacking with flight allows one to out run anything.

You should be having level 4 Flight pretty early on (before you get bash, preferrably at level 9) and by then you'd be so bloody fast you don't need no stinkin' marchers! I think Steam + 4 flight is enough to get you over 500 MS, which means you can chase just about everything.

I'd recommend you spend the gold towards your next items instead of Marchers/Slash. Shieldbreaker is a continually popular item choice, and it really beefs up that attack.

[KingDavid]

someone make a better pestilence guide!

[somonels]

someone make a better pestilence guide!
Will be eagerly waiting for YOUR guide to the pest. I hope YOU will have some early game tips and how effectively gank.

Really do need tips on the two above. Chasing is not a good option as they will just trap me. With a little teamwork I am however able to place myself on their retreat path. Looking back in that situation i should really swarm first, then impale, proceed to **** the **** **.
Then again that's in 3v3, 5v5=beetleguise.

[WizEye]

Does enh. marchers' phase no more stack with flight? I was sure it used to do that in the past, but it seems like that's been taken out of the game now :(

So big question, insanitarius, yay or nay?

[Mordiggian]

Big yea. It rocks so hard on Pest.

[somonels]

I'd say nay, protective/regen items and then shield breaker.

[Skela]

Why no cranium basher? won't that stack and with a hyperstone almost permastun?

[Sarpati]

Why no cranium basher? won't that stack and with a hyperstone almost permastun?
Basher has a 2 sec cooldown in HoN. Not sure what you mean by hyperstone as I don't play DotA, but yeah, no perma stun.

[LiquorQ]

Basher has a 2 sec cooldown in HoN. Not sure what you mean by hyperstone as I don't play DotA, but yeah, no perma stun.
Hyperstone is warpcleft.


Does enh. marchers' phase no more stack with flight? I was sure it used to do that in the past, but it seems like that's been taken out of the game now :(

So big question, insanitarius, yay or nay?
I would say yay. The degen it gives you is EASILY countered by the lifesteal + attack speed you'll have. It can also be used as a mini heal for 450hp when used properly.

[Feriluce]

Wouldn't elder parasite be more effective than insanitarius btw?

Gives more attackspeed for more stuns, and it stacks with flight for max movespeed.

[Fallen_1]

I am currently working on a pest. guide which will include different item builds along with why to use them and what heros you should use them against! Be looking for it around 5 Days as it will include bits and pieces all of you have recommended and some screenshots! If so i might me adding some .gifs also!

[Darkshine1]

Wouldn't elder parasite be more effective than insanitarius btw?

Gives more attackspeed for more stuns, and it stacks with flight for max movespeed.

There's a two second internal cooldown between Bashes, I believe. Attack speed wouldn't bypass that.

Also, at four flight plus some upgraded boots, you'll be at the max speed: 522.

[Feriluce]

There's a two second internal cooldown between Bashes, I believe. Attack speed wouldn't bypass that.

Also, at four flight plus some upgraded boots, you'll be at the max speed: 522.

Its not internal. Its very external. Anyway, more aspd = faster stun trigger after the CD is up.

I also believe that you only get ~500 speed with flight and phaseboots (not activated).

[Jo]

I like the guide even though I play him differently. I'm starting to think my item progression is pretty close to perfect even though I see the benefits of insanitarius.

item build: +3 health/second thingy+2x3 trees, boots, str belt, steam boots, scarab, bracer, warpcleft, abyssal skull, daemonic plate.

take it very easy until steamboots, then you could roam a bit if it seems like a good idea.

[bondcarl]

Love the guide has helped me a lot in learning how to play pestilence and i have had a good run with him. Every time i swarm a scout and proceed to chase him down and chain stun him i get a lot of colorful language directed at me in the chat channel :)

[valaki8]

I tend to use different skill + item build for this hero. Rather than max Flight early on, i put on Gore. This helps creeping (because the 10-25% are always seems like 25-40% in reality) and harassing meele heroes with Impale+Gore combo. Even in low levels an Impale plus a lucky Gore can stunlock a hero for 3-4 secs. Then after lvl 4 Impale (and lvl 2 Gore) i put 3 on Flight. Flight is a skill that is USELESS at lvl 1 and pretty crappy at lvl 2, yeah. In reality, you never catch a hero with equal movement speed with lvl 1 Flight. At lvl 2 it's ok but at lvl 3, it really kicks in. You don't need to max it before lvl 16.

You didn't write about how and when one should use their skills, so i suggest a way:

Early levels: if you have a good nuker or even nuker+disabler/stunner partner you can basically kill everyone in 2-3 sec. Gore comes in the picture here, in early levels the extra 1 sec stun really helps when you need 3-4 more hits but you have equal movement speed. Gore helps in creeping too.

After lvl 2-3 Flight: ok you can almost kill everyone in 1-1 but instead you have to help your teammates. In a bigger fight involved 3 or more ppl you pop Flight before the fight starts fly towards the strongest nuker, Swarm them and Impale upon arriving. They take 2-3 hits before the Impale wears off and they are pretty much dead. Swarm is a very, i mean VERY good spell, not just for revealing madman and scout and spamming on 2-3 targets but from lvl 2 whoever gets this, it doesn't matter if he's strenght or anything. He will melt from autoattacks only. If you see a fleeing hero, no problem, you have still Flight on so just catch them put Swarm and use Impale and bash them to death. If they nuke you and you survive the first stun-disable wave, just fly away, they never catch you.

Late game: Ok you have lvl 4 Flight and lvl 4 Gore now. You are an one man ganker. Aside from a very few heroes that can escape or can nuke you, you can gank everyone.
Team fights: the same, put Swarm on the int heroes and nuke them. Even in the late 16-17 lvls you can kill someone with just swarm and autoattack (and Gore ofcourse).


An important note: Gore + Flight is a killer combo when you chase someone. With impale you can successfully land 2-3 hits and then Gore kite them. That means you attack, then move a bit before them, attack, move, attack, move. If you are lucky, every 2nd or 3rd hit will be Gore so you don't even need Impale but Impale's cd is rather short so you don't have to worry about it.

[Jayt1]

Thanks for the guide, helped me work out some of the late game item choices that I never seem to get right. Btw, loving pest!

[Jesty]

This thread is funny ;)

Someone says to get X Item.
Someone replies and says no don't get X Item, get Y Item!
Someone replies and says no don't get Y Item, get Z Item!
Someone replies and says no don't get any of those items!

Obviously there's gonna be different items for different games. Pest's build varies depending on many factors (team layout, opponents, lane status, etc)

Would probably be more beneficial for this thread if you guys talked about what situations to use what items in rather than just to go back-and-forth arguing about what Pest's best build is.

[Scoutter]

Enhanced marchers do not work with flight, in fact if you use enhanced marchers while using flight it will drop you out of flight in favor of the marchers. Ill be posting my guide soon since I seem to do very well as pest for support, generaly around 15+ assists every game when I play as him so long as I have a solid team.

[AvraM]

Where does all the pics went away? it make the guide hardly readable

[Chili]

Pestilence + Pebbles is actually a most dominating combo as far as I've seen. Pebbles chuck pestilence to enemy, Pestilence stuns, Pebbles stuns = ? = profit