Tempest

[Lucretius]

Last Updated: 7/6/10

Tempest
A Storm is Brewing!
by Lucretius




http://i49.tinypic.com/bi07er.jpg

Table of Contents:



Introduction

Basic Stats
Advanced Statistics


Skills Overview

Glacial Blasts
Elemental
Meteor
Elemental Void


Skilling

Core Build
Justification
Got Micro?
Glacial Blast First?


Itemization

Early game buildup
Mid game buildup
Mid-Late game
Tiered Out


Further Itemization Discussion

The Boot Debate
Items to never buy


Friends, Foes, and Counters

Friends
Foes
Counters


Jungling Mini-Guide

What is the Point?
Info on Neutrals
Pulling Creeps
Video Tutorials and Replays


Question and Answer
Changelog and Credits

Introduction: Tempest

Spirits born of the elements, Tempests howl across the land raining fire and ice alike, indeed even calling great meteors from the heavens. Summoned of old by the Beast Horde, these ethereal beings now are summoners themselves, bringing elementals and even shadows of themselves onto the battlefield. Even their allies view these strange beings with awe bordering on fear. [1]
To a beginner Tempest will feel slow, fragile, vulnerable, and very underpowered. The learning curve is a lot steeper than say, a Scout. In the hands of a seasoned player Tempest will be the most feared hero in any match. He is capable of applying long periods of crowd control to the entire enemy team, essentially serving kills up for his own team on a silver platter. Geared correctly he can contribute to the killing of those enemies, but this is not a priority. Tempest is first and foremost a support/ganker hero, which means that he is much more team oriented than some other Heroes. Playing a Tempest means you won't be doing any solo ganking, even though you'll initiate a lot of ganking.

Basic Stats:



http://i47.tinypic.com/2vc6etc.jpg (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=35)

Highest Intelligence gain per level. Rank 1/60

Translation: Your mana and regen problems aren't as severe as they seem when you're lower level. By mid-game and late game you'll have more staying power in a fight (in terms of having mana to support your stay in the fight) by default than any other hero.






Lowest Agility gain per level. Rank 59/60

Translation: Armor gain happens naturally as you level as a function of Agility*0.14. As you level up and gain stats, your Armor goes up. Tempest doesn't get much Agi gain per level, so his base armor with stats is relatively low even at level 25. Over the course of the game your armor will actually decrease relatively speaking, because the amount of damage mitigation will be less and less each level than other heroes... making you squishier as the game progresses. This is one of the core reasons I choose to build him as support/ganker (as opposed to damage focused), and build items such as Nome's Wisdom and Plated Greaves.





Average Strength gain per level. Rank 39/60

Translation: You won't have to struggle very hard to build up your HP using stat items such as :FortifiedBracelet: Fortified Bracelets, and since you're agi gain is so low this gives you incentive to build up your HP for survivability.





(Information obtained from Corvias' HoN Hero Stats Table (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=44388).[5])


Advanced Statistics: Performance Based[2]

Avg CK/Game: (http://honstats.heroku.com/?sort_by=avg_creep_kills&sort_dir=DESC) Tempest has a relatively high avg Creep Kill rate in games, this is partly due to Tempest commonly jungling early game, and later in games he can push a lane with Elementals quite efficiently without even being present himself. With 6 Elementals up pushing a lane the probability for netting a last hit on any individual creep is increased, since you have 6 chances.



Average Gold/Min: (http://honstats.heroku.com/?sort_by=avg_gold_per_min&sort_dir=DESC) Tempest has a relatively high Avg Gold/Min rate. While not leading in this category due to other heroes with inbuilt crazy farm like Soul Stealer and Zephyr, he does rank high.



Avg Assists/Game: (http://honstats.heroku.com/?sort_by=avg_assists&sort_dir=DESC) Tempest comes in a close second behind Sand Wraith. With Sand Wraiths nerf in 1.6.4, Tempest will likely claim the top spot in this category soon enough.



Avg Deaths/Game: (http://honstats.heroku.com/?sort_by=avg_deaths&sort_dir=DESC) Tempests average deaths in a game is the lowest among Int heroes, aside from Succubus for obvious reasons. The above two statistics logically show us that Tempest maintains a very high Assist/Death ratio... one of the highest in HoN.



Tempest has the 2nd lowest Loss% (http://honstats.heroku.com/?sort_by=percent_lose&sort_dir=ASC) and the 2nd highest Win% (http://honstats.heroku.com/?sort_by=percent_win&sort_dir=DESC)... being beaten in both categories only by Plague Rider. This is a testament to how game changing this hero is.



(THANK YOU HoN STATS!!)
Skills Overview:
There is going to be no in depth skills overview because I consider that unimportant fluff-information that you can get elsewhere more reliably as patches and updates are released. Here are a couple of links that will remain up to date in a more reliable manner than this guide will for obtaining what I consider the "mundane numbers":

Tempest @ heroesofnewerth.com (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=35)
Tempest @ hondb.com (http://www.hondb.com/?hero=tempest)

For each skill below I'm going to cover some seldom understood nuances often overlooked by most people.

http://i48.tinypic.com/54eqh2.jpg (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=35)
One thing I will mention about Glacial Blasts is that you must have line of sight on your target in order for subsequent impacts to occur (its in the tooltip). This bit of information translates into "don't stun someone on the edge of the fog of war, or someone that can leap/blink into the fog." To make the most use out of this ability you want to use it on someone who has no easy escape mechanism. You should also use this to interrupt heroes who are channeling abilities.
http://i50.tinypic.com/301mv0p.jpg (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=35)
A couple of points about Elemental need to be made. They have high magic armor and deal physical damage. This translates into "You can own casters with these guys." People often under estimate how much of a punch these little guys pack. I consider them something similar to a mobile Pollywog Priest ult with about 70% of the punch in terms of their power.

A lot of people play tempest like these guys are really only good for pushing lanes late game or farming. I keep them out the entire game (or at least I try) whether farming me free gold in the jungle while I'm over with my team, or pushing a tower in lane with me, or working kinda like Pollywog Priests ult in a team fight. Keep this spell on cooldown and always be microing your Elementals.

How do I effectively Micro the Elementals?
Tip: The best way to select your Elementals is to double click one of them. That will instantly select all units in your vision of the same type. Unfortunately you can't really use control groups. The group of 3 Elementals that initially spawn are of a different type than are the 6 Elementals that spawn from the 3. Lets say 2 of your Elementals split, but 1 is left over because you were microing him and he didn't get in enough auto attacks to split. If you double-click the 4 that split, the 5th that did not split will be excluded from the selection, and visa versa. The split from 3 to 6 will kill the control group you set because of this... meaning that you would have to recreate the control group twice every time you spawned some Elementals. Its really just easier to double click one.
http://i50.tinypic.com/21m8e2f.jpg (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=35)
Those players that believe this spell is weak do not understand it. The cool thing about the damage this ability does is that it is percentage based, which means it scales perfectly with the progression of the game as heroes level and get higher HP.


"Damages targets in radius by 3 / 4 / 5 / 6% of their maximum Health in Magic damage per second. Lasts 8 seconds." That means that at its maximum potential, if you catch someone in this for the full 8 seconds at rank 4, they will lose exactly 48% of their life (without factoring in mitigation).

It also does magic damage which isn't as easily mitigated. Nobody is going to make a barrier idol to mitigate this, so its going to be a more reliable source of damage late game than something that is more obviously a threat.

In the skilling section you'll notice that I don't even put a point in this until well into mid-game, and that is because you don't have the mana to support using this in combination with your ult and stuns and elemental early game, but beyond mid-game when your regen is better and your mana pool is larger this skill is a must have.
http://i46.tinypic.com/xda6nb.jpg (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=35)
The Radius is 400, for a total width of 800 units, and it is often deceptively larger than players think. Some will attempt to get close enough to you for a stun but get sucked in due to the graphic on this ability being transparent on the fringe. A lot of people complain about this because they don't like the fact that they can't see it, we call those people whiners and /point /laugh at them for getting sucked into the Void.

For video previews of these abilities (not that anyone actually needs them, you can use video modules on the Tempest page (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=35) here at HeroesOfNewerth.com
Skilling:
Core Build:
There is really only one right answer with tempest, because there is really only one way to play the hero, and that is to jungle with him. There are very minor, slight variations on this but it is all conceptually the same. So all of these skill builds should be viewed in the context of someone who is jungling and preparing for an early/mid game series of ganks.
01. Elemental
02. Glacial Blasts
03. Elemental
04. Glacial Blasts
05. Elemental
06. Elemental Void
07. Glacial Blasts
08. Glacial Blasts
09. Meteor
10. Meteor
11. Elemental Void
12. Meteor
13. Meteor
14. Elemental/Stats
15. Stats
16. Elemental Void
Justification:
It's all about build up to early/mid game ganking. Your elementals are strong enough at rank 3 to mow over anything in the jungle, so you don't need rank 4 until much later. At level 3 Elementals you don't have to micro them, allowing you to focus on other more important things. You do need glacial blasts both as a defense mechanism in the jungle against gank attempts, and as a way of locking someone down in a group fight. You do not need Meteor for jungling or early game ganking, so you will not be picking this up until mid/late game.

At level 4/6 even though you will not have the gold to hit the shop for your Portal Key you need to gank the nearest lane and avoid getting killed, or gank mid (try to catch them running for a rune). The person with the solo lane should be comfortable at your tower farming up, let him know you're about to Void and jump the other team. This should get you at least one kill because you will have the element of surprise. While you are not likely to get the last hit on either of the enemy heroes for the gold gain, you are broadening the gap between how farmed your team is, and how under-farmed their enemy is.

Got Micro?:
Some could argue that you don't need rank 3 Elemental until much later but I argue that there is less micro involved with rank 3 Elemental so I just grab it. If you feel comfortable with rank 2 Elemental in the jungle and you've got good micro, then by all means skip rank 3 elemental and invest in another point of Glacial Blasts for the level 6 gank. You do want to rank up Elemental eventually though, so that you can sorta drive-by on the Jungle, drop some Elementals and let them farm for you without having to babysit them or micro them. In this case an experience Tempest might skill this way.
01. Elemental
02. Glacial Blasts
03. Elemental
04. Glacial Blasts
05. Glacial Blasts
06. Elemental Void
07. Glacial Blasts
08. Meteor
09. Meteor
10. Meteor
11. Elemental Void
12. Meteor
13. Elemental/Stats
14. Elemental/Stats
15. Stats
16. Elemental Void
Glacial Blast First?
Occasionally you might find it fitting to grab Glacial Blasts first for the Level 1 gank at the Rune, or some other crafty gank scheme where a disable would be useful. When this happens you kinda screw yourself for jungling because you need Elemental to jungle. Fear Not! In this case simply pull the 2nd wave of creeps from the nearest lane into Neutrals, and jump in that lane until you hit level 2. When you hit 2, throw a point in Elemental and jump in the jungle. Under no circumstances should you attempt training creeps into a tower to level. You will waste so much time and fall desperately far behind trying this. In this case your skill build would look like this.
01. Glacial Blasts (Level 1 Gank, Pull Creeps)
02. Elemental (Go Jungle)
03. Elemental
04. Glacial Blasts/Elemental
05. Glacial Blasts
06. Elemental Void
07. Glacial Blasts
08. Meteor
09. Meteor
10. Meteor
11. Elemental Void
12. Meteor
13. Elemental/Stats
14. Elemental/Stats
15. Stats
16. Elemental Void
Itemization:
(Note: You can get more information about each item by clicking the icon, you will be redirected to the HoNDB.com page for that item.)
Early game buildup:
Beginning of the game: Level 1


Cost: 600g
:ManaPotion: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=mana-potion) Mana Potion x8 (400g)
:WardOfSight: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=ward-of-sight) Wards of Sight x1 (200g) or :Courier:


Alternatively, your beginning items might be:


Cost: 600g
:ManaPotion: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=mana-potion) Mana Potion x2 (100g)
:RingOfTheTeacher: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=ring-of-the-teacher) Ring of the Teacher x1 (500g)


A lot of people prefer the 2nd build because you can begin building toward your Nome's Wisdom sooner and beef up your elementals at level 1, when the armor aura on the ring is most cost efficient, however this build does objectively provide you with less regen... meaning that you will need to be more efficient in the jungle, and pull creeps (more on this later) as often as possible.

Alternatively Still, your beginning items might be:


Cost: 600g
:FlyingCourier: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=winged-courier) Winged Courier (400g)
:ManaPotion: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=mana-potion) Mana Potion x4 (200g)


The way you play this starting build is to to spend your first 600g earned in the Jungle on :Bottle: which you then use your Courier to ferry back and forth between you in the jungle and your pool, to refill. This is, many have argued, is the best route to take however there are some considerations. This adds an addition layer of early game micro in addition to what you do with your elementals. You need to be comfortable manipulating the Courier, shift queue him to run to the pool and back to you. If you go this route, you won't need a manatube because your regen will be consistent all game using your courier and your bottle.
@ Level 6/7/8 (about 9 minutes in depending on your experience and speed) you should have about 2000+ gold and have no mana potions left if you're moving through the jungle and ganking like you should. Jungle until you can buy your portal key:


Cost: 2150g
:Portalkey: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=portal-key) Portal Key

Mid-Game Buildup:
After your Portal Key you want to work toward the following Items. Buy them soon, but when convenient. You should have them no later than level 9/10 or whenever your first round of ganks end (hopefully sooner). The first problem to solve with Tempest is mana regeneration because you have 4 active abilities.


Cost: 1510g
:Marchers: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=marchers) Marchers (500g)
:Manatube: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=manatube) Manatube (875g) (unless you got a bottle)
:HomecomingStone: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=homecoming-stone) Homecoming Stone (135g)

The item progression is really looser than I'm leading on.
Fact: You don't absolutely need a portal key first because your first gank is going to be the nearest lane... where you'll use the fog of war to mask your initiation. I've been doing something more like this recently.

1) :RingOfTheTeacher: Ring of the Teacher + :ManaPotion: :ManaPotion:2x Mana Potions
2) :Manatube: Manatube (Once you have this you're set for early game regen)
3) :Marchers: Marchers
4) :Portalkey: Portal Key

With this item progression you avoid having to take any trips to the pool simply for regen. You can creep pull or lane to regain mana after a team fight. The difference is between a level 6/7 portal key and a level 8/9 portal key. Its not major, and I generally find that its preferable to get yourself some speed for easing through the jungle... and regen for maintaining your farm early on.

Once you have your Portal Key you should begin working on support items like Nomes Wisdom, as it offers survivability in addition to mana regen. This solves the first problem of mana regen and begins to address the second problem, survivability.


Cost: 2300g
:NomesWisdom: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=nomes-wisdom) Nome's Wisdom

Mid-game Itemization Summary:


Total Cost: 6560g
:Portalkey: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=portal-key) :Marchers: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=marchers):Manatube: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=manatube):NomesWisdom: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=nomes-wisdom):HomecomingStone: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=homecoming-stone)

Mid-Late Game:
Once you are at this point you should look at the game and evaluate the situation. If the opposition has a significant amount of magic damage then now is the time to build a headdress, otherwise finish your boots. If you notice earlier on that the opposition has a lot of magic damage then don't wait to buy your cheap +5 Magic Armor for 400g :MysticVestments: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=mystic-vestments) Mystic Vestments, which you can buy at the outpost. Don't upgrade these unless you're really getting hammered.


If you're up against heavy magic nukers:

Cost: 3900g
:ShrunkenHead: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=shrunken-head) Shrunken Head


If you don't need Magic Armor:

Cost: 1003g
:ShieldOfTheFive: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=shield-of-the-five) Shield of the Five (803g)
:PlatedGreaves: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=plated-greaves) Plated Greaves Recipe (200g)



If you ended up needing the Shrunken Head, then quickly finish your boots afterward and you're basically finished. Everything else is a luxury item for you.


If you are having trouble with melee hard carries.

Cost: 1500g
:VoidTalisman: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=void-talisman) Void Talisman
(Activate this immediately before you portal key in, not after. Same with Shrunken Head. You activate, portal key in, drop Meteor, drop Elemental Void. It takes practice.)


If you are owning, work on developing that Manatube. There are two options for you.

:Manatube: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=manatube) Crowd Control Items:

:Stormspirit: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=stormspirit) or :KuldrasSheepstick: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=kuldras-sheepstick)


:Sustainer: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=sustainer) Items:

:Nullstone: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=null-stone) or :SacrificialStone: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=sacrificial-stone) or :RestorationStone: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=restoration-stone)
(Any of these are good choice, some are more defensive in nature than others. Again, evaluate the situation and buy what you need. I prefer Nullstone because of the huge number of spells it completely blocks (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=38043).)





If the game progresses further than this its a bad sign. It can generally only mean a few things. Either you're not doing it right, your teammates are not doing it right, someone on the other team is doing it right, or some combination of the three. If either of the first two are true, then you should remind yourself that you can't win them all... and gracefully "GG" on your way to the losers circle. If its the latter, then put the Sheepstick to good use, grit your teeth, tier out Tempest and keep trying.

Tiered Out: (The best you're going to get for Tempest):



:PostHaste: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=post-haste) Post Haste or :PlatedGreaves: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=plated-greaves) Plated Greaves
:Portalkey: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=portal-key) Portal Key
:ShrunkenHead: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=shrunken-head) Shrunken Head or :VoidTalisman: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=void-talisman) Void Talisman
:NomesWisdom: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=nomes-wisdom) Nome's Wisdom
:Nullstone: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=null-stone) or :RestorationStone: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=restoration-stone) (I never build Sacrificial Stone using Sustainer.)
:FrostfieldPlate: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=frostfield-plate) Frostfield Plate

Further Itemization Discussion:
The Boot Debate:
:Steamboots: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=steamboots) Steamboots:
These are really the only absolutely off-limits pair of boots for tempest, because they give you nothing you really need... mediocre movement speed increase which detracts from your chasing/ganking ability... attack speed which you can't utilize because with 4 active abilities you spend little time auto-attacking... and a minor stat boost which isn't enough to justify spending the gold on these over other boots by itself.

:EnhancedMarchers: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=ghost-marchers) Ghost Marchers:
While not an optimal choice I believe that these are more beneficial than the Steamboots are. The increased movement speed and activated ability help your chasing and ganking, but it is largely wasted because you move around so well with your portal key already. The damage is nice but more beside the point than anything else.

:PostHaste: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=post-haste) Post Haste:
These are great late game after you're farmed up, and are struggling to push multiple lanes at a time. I would not get these until very late game though (in the 20's), and only if you're struggling to keep lanes pushed out. The downside on these boots is that you lose a lot of survivability, since they have no stats and no armor.

:PlatedGreaves: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=plated-greaves) Plated Greaves:
These offer tempest the most bang for the buck throughout the entire game. You require survivability because you are throwing yourself into a group of enemies to perform your signature ult, and these give you armor and stats. These no longer provide the +Armor buff to nearby allies, and you don't really benefit from the increase in base damage... (your Elementals do though).

Which is the best?
When Plated Greaves had the +Armor aura there was really no question about which are best, however now that it carries with it a +20% boost to base damage to non-player units they're not quite as worthwhile for Tempest as they once were... but the stats and the Armor still addresses what I believe is the most important concern for a Tempest... Survivability. I don't think buying Ghost Marchers is as terrible of an offense as it once was.

Items to never buy:
Tempest is an intimidating hero to learn, so its not often that you see someone randomly playing tempest horribly wrong. Generally if someone is playing tempest they've done a little homework and won't itemize foolishly, but it happens.

:AssassinShroud: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=assassins-shroud) Assassin's Shroud:
The biggest problem with this item is that there is a cheap counter for it. You might sneak into the middle of the other team once using this item, and it might work out great that first time... but someone will instantly buy a :BoundEye: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=bound-eye) or keep some cheap :DustOfRevelation: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=dust-of-revelation) or :WardOfRevelation: on them from that point on... making this item instantly junk.


:BarbedArmor: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=barbed-armor) Barbed Armor:
You do not have the HP to make this an effective choice. You should not be taking a great deal of hits, as this is the purpose of the Portal Key... zap you in for a surgical strike, attacking quickly without being touched. You are also such a threat that, even if the other team has to take a bit of damage to kill you they are going to do it... so this will not work to discourage attackers. You will be a primary target regardless.


:Mock: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=mock-of-brilliance) Mock of Brilliance:
Yes, the magic damage from Mock would stack with the magic damage coming from Meteor and your Ult however there is a huge difference between this item and Meteor. Meteor is percentage based, which allows it to scale well into late game... mock of brilliance does not scale well into late game and can only serve the function of stopping enemy portal keys (which isn't your job).


:Hellflower: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=hellflower) Hellflower:
You probably could use this item with some effectiveness, because it does boost your damage so significantly. If I were in a 1v1 or maybe even 3v3 situation I would consider this item because of the activated component of this item, but in a group situation this gives you absolutely nothing of value for Tempest.


:PowerSupply: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=power-supply) Power Supply:
You're not building toward this early game like most heroes since you're jungling... and you won't be buying a :ManaBattery: mana battery from the outpost because you won't be in a lane near one. You're investing gold toward mid-game. By the time you have your manatube and Nome's Wisdom, this item becomes obsolete... making its effective lifespan for Tempest only a few levels between 6/7, when you leave the Jungle, and 10/11 when you complete Nome's. It's a total waste of gold.

[Lucretius]

Friends, Foes, and Counters:

Tempest has ridiculously good synergy with a lot of heroes, which is why I argue for and play him as more of a support hero. He can also be easily countered, which is the only thing that makes his power remotely balanced.

Friends
:jera: Jereziah
By casting Protective Charm (http://hondb.com/?ability=protective-charm) on you, Jereziah can give you immunity to a lot of stuns and other magic interrupts that would otherwise knock you out of your ult. This allows you to be effective much earlier in a match when you get counter-picked, instead of having to wait to build that :ShrunkenHead: (http://hondb.com/?item=shrunken-head)Shrunken Head.

Heroes which have the ability to unleash large amounts of AoE damage are also your friends. These heroes include but are not limited to:

:zeph: Zephyr
If he ults exactly where you're standing when you ult, enemies will be drawn closer and closer to the center of his Typhoon (http://hondb.com/?ability=typhoon), dealing progressively more and more damage throughout the duration of your ult. Your ults can also be chained to ensure nobody escapes.

:behe: Behemoth
Behemoths Shockwave (http://hondb.com/?ability=shockwave) will be the ult that kills everyone instantly toward the end of the Elemental Void. You'll be sad and think something like, "Oh man you stole all my kills." When this occurs punch yourself in the nutsack repeatedly until you understand that those are Behemoths kills, not yours.

:magm: Magmus
Magmus' ult Eruption (http://hondb.com/?ability=eruption) works especially well when nobody can run from it.

:defi: Defiler:
Everything Defiler does has high synergy with tempest. Wave of Death (http://hondb.com/?ability=wave-of-death) on 5 targets is really powerful. Using Unholy Expulsion (http://hondb.com/?ability=unholy-expulsion) during your ult pretty much ensures a genocide, and if not she can immediately Grave Silence (http://hondb.com/?ability=grave-silence) any enemies that are left over as soon as your ult finishes.

You get the idea, Honorable mentions include:

:plag: Plague Rider: Plague Carrier (http://hondb.com/?ability=plague-carrier) (yawn)
:souls: SoulStealer: Demon Hand (http://hondb.com/?ability=demon-hand) and Soul Burst (http://hondb.com/?ability=soul-burst)
:tort: Torturer: Same Synergy as Defiler.
:glac: Glacius: His Ult is okay I guess, but for a channeled spell its not nearly as good as Tempests.
Foes
Stealthers and Hard Carries

:madm: Madman
:scou: Scout
:nigh: Nighthound
Since our Tempests strategy centers around getting in the jungle solo and farming, these guys can basically ruin your game without much effort. These guys don't even have to kill you to ruin your game, all they need to do is be in the jungle pressuring you out of it. They stealth in and find you, and behind them comes the rest of the enemy team for a gank. If you go up against these guys make sure you're watching lanes and buying wards... no excuses (don't expect your team to call out missing enemies from lane).

Additionally because of your weak physical damage mitigation these guys can crush you unless you're well farmed. Going late into the game vs. these guys is going to be hard.

:chro: Chronos
Every tool Chronos has is a danger for you. He can get in close fast or jump into the fog to avoid subsequent impacts from Glacial Blasts. He steals Agility from you (which, if you'll recall you have almost none anyway) meaning he will hit you like a truck without being very farmed. He locks you down. He can kill you in the span of his ult, or just kill you straight up basically whenever he wants.

:mage: Magebane
His mana draining isn't as severe a problem for you given your impressive intelligence gain. You can't run from him or chase him because he blinks in and out. He can easily hunt you down in the jungle, so play defensively, and stay near your team.

*Any other heroes vaguely matching the above descriptions in any way also pose significant threat to Tempest.

Silencers and Stunners

Disclaimer: Not to discourage readers from playing Tempest, but this category is fairly huge... and you'll learn as you become more familiar with Tempest that this is the reason Tempest is not regarded as very powerful in higher levels of play.

:hell: Hellbringer
Long-Ranged easy to aim AoE Stun.

:valk: Valkyrie
Longest Range stun in the game, and if you're standing still casting Elemental Void its not hard to aim.

:blac: TOO BAD, Its Me Blacksmith
Although he risks getting sucked into your ult when attempting to stun you out of it, generally you're an easy target.

:behe: Behemoth
Long ranged stun Fissure, although generally not a threat because of how close he is to the front of the battle... if you're going in for an ult you'll likely catch him.

:engi: Engineer
Can't count the times I've gone in for an ult, and caught this guy... only to be knocked out a moment later from a blind Keg.

:vind: Vindicator
His job in life is to issue a global map-wide silence to cancel your ult. If you pick Tempest early on at the pick screen this will be the most common counter-pick because his ult goes through Shrunken Head.

:nymp: Nymphora
Often forgotten (by me anyway) that she has a stun, but its really long ranged when leveled. She can also easily cast a pod on top of you when you ult... healing allies and probably killing you.

:tort: Torturer
Chain Reaction isn't really so much of a threat because of its extremely short range, however Agonizing Bonds can jerk you out of your ult from very far away.

:pyro: Pyromancer
Fairly long ranged stun, especially easy to aim when you're standing still. Even bad Pyro's can cancel your ult.

:hamm: Hammerstorm
Stun, although he does risk getting sucked into your ult... but since its an AoE stun he can cast it on nearby allies and still hit you.

:bloo: Blood Hunter
Instant silence

:vood: Voodoo Jester
He throws Rocks!

:pebb: Pebbles
While his stun is short range, he CAN interrupt your ult with it... and given the number of people playing pebbles I wouldn't expect one to miss very often.

:zeph: Zephyr
Vector Targeting is imba.

:poll: Pollywog Priest
Morph

:succ: Succubus
Her ult has a really short range so she likely will be unable to cast that on you when you ult, but she can easily Mesmerize you from quite a distance.

:witc: Witch Slayer
Mid-Range Stun and Minimize... both of which can reach you easily from far away.

:elec: Engineer
His ult can Purge your Shrunken Head (and Jereziah's Protective Charm buff), making you vulnerable to a broader range of interrupts. He can then immediately lock you down with Grip.

:magm: Magmus
Magmus can ult and then blink into your ult. His ult will continue pulsing even while he's under the effect of Elemental Void, only good players would jump in on you like that though. He'll take damage, but your team will likely take more considering you'll all be in the Elemental Void killing enemies.

:mad: Players that Spread Out
Some people are smart, although this is arguably a minority, some people play smart and spread out to prevent you from catching more than 1-2 players at a time with your ult. This gives the rest of them that you didn't catch an opportunity to counter you.
Counters (...as if the list of heroes that can inherently counter you in some way wasn't long enough).
:TabletOfCommand: Tablet of Command
Its rare that you'll see someone using this to counter you, but it does.

:Mock: Mock of Brilliance
If someone has a mock on, you can't use your Portal Key to escape. Similarly, if someone has a mock on you then you can't use your portal key to blink in and ult. Its becoming popular to put a Mock on a Courier... so watch for it.

:KuldrasSheepstick: Kuldra's Sheepstick
Obvious Reasons

:Stormspirit: Stormspirit
Obvious Reasons

:ShrunkenHead: Shrunken Head
Grants Magic Immunity, meaning that your ult becomes worthless. This item is the biggest reasons Tempest fails in late game.

:BarrierIdol: Barrier Idol
While not a counter or an interrupt, this item significantly mitigates your damage.

:NullfireBlade: Nullfire Blade
Dispells any magic immunities you've achieved, whether Protective Charm from Jereziah or a Shrunken Head. Jungling Mini-Guide:
For all of those Tempests I've seen in lane doing it wrong.

What is the point?
Jungling offers a team a lot. Instead of having a single beefy solo mid, you effectively triple the amount of solo farm your team gets. You now have 1 person solo mid, 1 person solo in a lane, and you, the Tempest, solo in the Jungle. This gives your team the early advantage in team fights because you've leveled faster than the other team, and should net more gold as a result.

Some heroes are more item dependent than others, and Tempest is one of those heroes. You need a Portal Key to be effective, and its not cheap. The fact is that jungling, when done properly, will give you the highest gold/min in the game early on. Its profitable in addition to being good for your teams experience gain.
Info on Neutrals: Who do I cast Elemental on?
This is some heavily modified CopyPasta from Telluwar's Tempest Jungling and You: A Comprehensive Guide (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=69194) [3] I disagree with his ideas about skill progression, and his insistence on ricing for 20+ minutes with Tempest. Tempest isn't a Carry, and doesn't need to be really fed or far ahead in levels to be effective, and in fact you can be way behind in levels and still be a huge threat. Tempest really needs 1 item to do his job (Portal Key), and once he gets that in the Jungle he's basically done focusing on the jungle, but here is some valuable info on Neutrals.


First, some terminology I'll be using throughout this section:
Transmute: The act of turning a creep into Elementals, using the Elemental spell.
Focus: You and your Elementals attacking the same thing to kill it faster so as to eliminate the number of damage sources and take less damage overall.
Split: As a review, after each elemental auto attacks 6 times, it will split, regaining all lost health. The life timer of the new elementals is reset to full.
Micro: This is short for "micro-manage" the position and actions of each individual Elemental. This will involve primarily moving one of your elementals back away from the focus of the creeps or neutrals so he stops taking damage and then telling him to continuing attacking the target you are focusing. Moving it will slow the process of the split for that elemental, but will ensure its survivability, and therefore increase the speed of your overall farm.

http://i48.tinypic.com/14nffjd.jpg
Legend:
Top Green Circle: Hellborne Jungle
Bottom Green Circle: Legion Jungle
Yellow Circle: Low Tier Camp
Orange Circles: Mid Tier Camps
Blue Circles: Upper Tier Camp
Red Dot: Ancients
White Lines: Locations where creep pulling is commonly done.
Neutrals marked with an [x] cannot be transmuted to elementals.
Low Tier Camp:


Snotter Boss + Snotter x4: Transmute the Snotter Boss and focus each Snotter. You will have to micro a little at level 1 given the number of Snotters.



Ebula x3: Another really easy camp, just transmute one and focus down the other two.



Sporespitter + Earthoc x2: Probably the most difficult easy camp given the amount of damage the Sporespitter can do. Transmute the Sporespitter and focus down each Earthoc.

Mid Tier Camps:


Wild Hunter[x] x2: The worst camp a Tempest can deal with; these magic-immune enemies will require your elementals to be spawned elsewhere before engaging these.



Wolf Commander + Wolf x2: Transmute the Wolf Commander and focus down the wolves. The commander gives an aura to the wolves increasing their attack speed. If you miss the Commander somehow you can still, with a little micro, take this camp out with no problem.



Ice Ogre + Fire Ogre x2: A great camp for both their low damage and easy dispatching, transmute a Fire Ogre (they have more health), focus down the Ice Ogre first to eliminate a source of damage faster and finish the last Fire Ogre with a little micro.



Minotaur[x] + Goatar: You should be capable of using some micro to defeat this guy at level 1, howerver its a huge pain because Minotaur AoE stuns your elementals. This is best tried after the elemental split. With this camp using 3 elementals you will always have to micro 2 of the elementals away to keep them from getting killed, one immediately after the stun. The third elemental will split before it dies, and the two you micro away will split shortly after they engage again.



Vagabond x2 + Vagabond Assassin x2: Another easy camp; transmute one of the Vagabonds. Kill the two assassins first because they have pathetically lower Hitpoints.



Werebeast Enchanter + Werebeast x2: This camp is a little difficult to micro because all of these units are ranged. They will continue to fire at your elemental until it is farther out of range, so begin moving it sooner than you normally would to keep it alive. Transmute the Enchanter and focus down each Werebeast.

Upper Tier Camp:

Skeleton King[x] + Undead Warrior x2: A great hard camp to get; transmute one of the Undead Warriors, and focus the king. The other Warrior's damage is pitiful. This camp can, with a bit of micro, be taken at level 1.



Vulture Lord[x] + Screacher x2: An unpleasant camp until you have level 3/4 elementals; unless you have already completed (or are about to complete) the split, you're best to not attempt until your elementals are level 3.



Catman Champion[x] + Catman Soldier: As of 0.1.66 the Champion can no longer be transmuted. The Catman Champion can stomp, slowing the movement speed and attack of your elementals. This makes this camp rough until you get level 2 elementals. Its doable with level 1 elementals but you really want to put this off until later if at all possible.



Vagabond Leader[x] + Vagabond + Vagabond Assassin + : As of 0.1.66 the Vagabond Leader can no longer be transmuted. Transmute the Vagabond and quickly focus down the Assassin because he has very low hit points, then micro your elementals until the Leader is dead. The leader has a fairly nasty frontal cone AoE that will smack all of your elementals (and you, if you're in the way). This can be mostly avoided in the following way. Stand on the opposite end away from the Vagabond so that when you transmute it the Vagabond Leader is facing away from you. Then quickly move the two elementals the leader isn't attacking out of the way of his AoE. If you're going against this camp with elementals already spawned and can't transmute one, do your best to keep Tempest off to one side, as the Vagabond Leader's ability does quite a bit of damage in a frontal cone.

Things you should already know:


Tempest is not your tank. Your elementals are. You should be staying at full health. The only exception to the rule is when you are finishing a creep off after the elementals have despawned. If you lose mana potions to creep attacks, you're doing it wrong. (Remember, if you take any damage while consuming a mana potion it is instantly canceled.)



You can see how much time is left on your elemental by looking at the cooldown on your spell. Generally (unless you animation cancel your elementals to split them faster, thus starting the split cooldown on them sooner) they will all despawn when the cooldown on your Elemental is up. This means you can literally keep elementals out all game (mana permitting).



Maintain map awareness. If the lane you're jungling closest to is missing some players for a time, stick with the camps closest to your base. The rule of thumb is: After each creep death, look at your minimap and count the number of enemy heroes you see... 1,2,3,4, ..5?



If you're jungling and they come for you, your best weapon is the elementals you're farming with and using Glacial Blasts to get away. If they come for you, you have 3-6 little weapons to harass the enemy as you back away. I've managed to turn the tables on gank attempts before using these underestimated little cannons.

Creep Pulling:
An example of creep pulling can be found in the video tutorials, but basically if you refer to the graphic above where the white line is, you drag neutrals from that camp into the lane as your creeps walk past and the creeps will agro onto the neutrals. The creeps will follow the neutrals into their camp. Pulling creeps should be done as often as possible for three good reasons.

1) As your solo lane partner levels faster than the opponents in his lane, he will push the lane out exposing him to ganks. He needs your help to get back to the safety of your tower. You can get him back to he safety of the tower by pulling creeps.

2) Pulling Creeps gives you time to regen mana without having to lose xp/min or gold/min. You do have to shift focus a bit each time you do this because all of a sudden your last hitting becomes important. Don't lose last hits to creeps. This is best accomplished by standing as close as possible to the Neutral that is about to die, and auto attacking it quickly at the last second.

3) As the neutrals beat down your creeps, you can assist the neutrals in killing your creeps once they are below half HP. This denies your enemies XP, further broadening the level gap between you and them.

The only disadvantage to keeping the enemy at your tower is that they get an opportunity to do damage to it. This is often the first tower that goes down, but the cost/benefit of giving up this tower is more than worth it.
Video Tutorials and Replays:
The following is simply a list of links that will help you understand the process of Jungling with tempest by watching it for yourself. We learn through mimicry, and since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I hope that after watching these videos you can gain a head start learning Tempest by imitating me. :D Also, if anyone would like to submit an exceptional replay, provide a link and some replay highlights so that I can add it to this section. I will review the replay and add it if I feel that it demonstrates exceptional tempest play that follows the guidelines in this guide.

29526941 (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=29526941)
Replay Highlights:


How to play defensively against Vindicator (not rushing portal key!). When you play against vindicator you have to understand that he hard counters your ult, his mission in life in a game vs. Tempest is to turn off his ult.
Decent Jungle beginning with :RingOfTheTeacher: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=ring-of-the-teacher), although pest did some creep pulling in top lane that he shouldn't have.
Essentially tiered out for the match at 14 on top of buying wards for the team.

29324860 (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=29324860)
Replay Highlights:


Portal Key @ 9:37
Winning 4v5
Wouldn't call this my best jungling, but its pretty good. Again I went with the :RingOfTheTeacher: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=ring-of-the-teacher) to start out.

22792707 (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=22792707)
Replay Highlights:


How to play Aggressively vs. a Vindicator.
Portal Key @ 10:00
Began with 8x :ManaPotion: (http://www.hondb.com/?item=mana-potion) and Wards.
Generally you want to have more than 1550 HP @ level 24, but we were pretty dominant so I skipped to the goods :FrostfieldPlate:.
585 xp/min

22082765 (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=22082765)
Replay Highlights:


Portal Key @ 8:39
Had :PlatedGreaves: :Portalkey: :Mock: @ 32 minutes (not that I would recommend ever getting Mock).

Note:
I'm currently undefeated with Tempest in Matchmaking. You can Search through Replays using the link at the top of the website.
9 Wins
1 Loss (Can't win them all!)

[Lucretius]

Q&A:
Ask me whatever and I'll do my best to answer.



Q: For your delayed elemental build, why do you get elementals at 13/14? If you don't get it early, doesn't it become somewhat worthless?

A: As the game progresses, creeps in lane become progressively stronger. That last level of Elemental allows you to keep the pace with the increasing strength of creeps in lane better enabling you to farm gold and better enable your team to push towers. The benefit you gain from this is increased chance to last hit creeps in lane because your elementals do more damage at Rank 4.

Q: No mention of Puzzlebox? [Blink -> Puzzlebox -> Meteor -> Ult -> Cast manaburn -> Hit squishy ulted target] requires a lot of micro for sure, but it can be pretty imba if pulled off right.
A: I don't really see the advantage of mana burning a target that is disabled and going to die in a few seconds, especially considering all of the other itemization options available that satisfy Tempests mana/survivability needs first. Maybe in a way way late game situation I could see it being useful, if you're team can't really kill the enemy in the span of an ult, otherwise its just neat. Unnecessary, but neat. The only heroes I've ever seen use puzzlebox are Ophelia and Succubus.

Q: Buying a Manatube on the way to Nome's seems indefensible, when you have a Ring of Teacher already in your inventory.

A: (The regen on Nomes has been nurfed since this question was asked, and no longer grants 100% mana regeneration.) I reiterate the point that tempest has 4 active abilities, all of which you will be keeping on cooldown. When you're in a lane or passing the jungle you will be casting elemental from the first neutral spawn until the end of the game. When you're in small skirmish or team fights you'll be using every tool at your disposal, including using mana for portal key and greaves. You will be stunning, using Meteor, and your ult. If you don't grab a manatube you will spend unnecessary time in the pool... or you will be under-utilizing the hero in team fights.

Q: What do you thinkabout taking bottle at level one? I've been doing this for a while grabbing runes every time they spawn

A: Tempest is about early-game dominance. What most people have a hard time wrapping their head around is that the further into late-game the Tempest goes, the weaker he becomes relative to all other Item-Dependant heroes who will be buying items to mitigate or counter your ultimate. Because of this fact, the most important aspect of Tempests early game is speed.

A big flaw in going bottle first is that you absolutely will lose xp/min while you're running from the jungle to the rune, and running from the jungle to the pool. The only way to effectively use a bottle early game with a tempest is to first buy a flying courier, and then buy your bottle... and then use the courier to refill your bottle. That way you're sitting in the jungle gaining experience uninterrupted with errands while your courier is doing all of the running.

[Lucretius]

Changelog and Credits:

1/14/10: Initially posted in unrevised form.
1/21/10: Switched out the gigantic icons for the smaller emoticons available on the forums, hopefully this makes it look cleaner overall.
1/26/10: Big update on the Itemization section, and the overall flow of the entire guide.
2/10/10: Added links to all of the item emoticons to HoNDB.com.
2/11/10: Added some text to the Jungling section, preparing to create the video tutorials.
3/3/10: Added links to replays with highlights, and added another viable start build to the Itemization section.
3/5/10: Added a few graphics to better explain abilities and the overall jungle layout. Also added a sweet intro gif.
3/6/10: Reworked the basic stats section to include some useful information.
4/13/10: Caught up on Q&A, and started on Friends and Foes section.
7/25/10: Revised Itemization slightly to reflect the changes to Nome's Wisdom and Plated Greaves.

[1] http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroview.php?hid=35 (http://www.hondb.com/)
[2] http://honstats.heroku.com/
[3] http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=69194
[4] http://www.hondb.com/
[5] http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=44388

* Additional Thanks to all of those who provide critical/constructive feedback.

[Drasha]

just going to throw in that glacial blast only stuns if you have vision of the target and that should be kept in mind when chasing.

[Kaelillidan]

Your idea on the plated greaves isn't too terribly bad; although i've never really had to get anything more than boots of speed itself. I remember back when I played DotA with Enigma, I would get a bloodstone and a Heart on him because....he was being focused by the entire team, and really required having the 2.8k HP.

Now one could argue that rushing the blink dagger is an effective ganking strategy; although it also minimizes your ability to regenerate mana, so after you have initiated in the attack you have to rush to the base to regenerate. There's upsides to this and downsides. Downside being ganked in the jungle while you haven't yet farmed your blink dagger; the few of us can feel the pain when you get sidewinded by a Yurnero, and there's really nothing you can do.

On the flipside, what if you built your enigma upon an early game regeneration; so you constantly had mana to protect mid and the jungle lane, while maintaining your awesome farm? By the time he hits level 6, I pretty much rush to base for a HP / mana regen and to pick up my boots, cause Lord knows when somebody will try to gank me, then rush back to jungle, get some eidolons, double up, hit the jungle lane and double kill.

I mean any Enigma playing pro, realizes how inexpensive a blink dagger really is, and if you could maintain you farm linear (constant); is that a better strategy, or no?

[Decency]

Enhanced Marchers are worthless, in my opinion. Steamboots are useful to me because I almost always pick up a refresher after portal key and the 130 additional mana lets you double cast a leveled ultimate far more easily. Plated Greaves are probably the best choice, though.

Portal Key is 2150, not 2100.

Top players have been going Boots+Bottle first, it's a route I can't say I find as efficient as what I do. =o Unharassed, you can have a portal key at 7 minutes almost like clockwork. Usually they'll get a kill or two from ganks but blow so much time losing experience and not getting gold that I don't see how it can be worth it. Either way, you don't mention it and you probably should until you prove what you do works as well.

You don't mention how the stun's usefulness is hugely increased at level 2 and level 4, but level 3 is barely any additional power and probably not even worth getting unless you can get level 4 too.

You don't mention stacking at all, and Telluwar's guide isn't very good, barely linkworthy and gives almost no information on stacking.

You don't mention his biggest counters (Hellbringer, Vindicator, Pharaoh, Andromeda, Tablet of Command) who can interrupt his ultimate from a huge range even through magic immunity.

Nome's Wisdom is a waste. There's no reason he would need to get that, he has no mana issues lategame with just a manatube because of his huge INT gain. Just grab a scarab for 1/8th of the price if you're really having an issue with it. Spending 2000 gold for a small aura for your elementals is meh. Good players will be hitting them with AoE magic, anyway, not physical attacks.

There's a lot more, I was mentally writing a Tempest guide so that's just a bunch that I picked out in a few minutes. I should probably just write the guide myself. -.-

[GlassShadow1]

As to stopping Tempest's ultimate and the difficulties associated with range and stunning, can't anyone with a tablet of command interupt it instantly from afar?

[Lucretius]

As to stopping Tempest's ultimate and the difficulties associated with range and stunning, can't anyone with a tablet of command interrupt it instantly from afar?

Yup.

I don't consider "How to Counter Tempest" within the scope of a guide geared toward explaining "how to play tempest." I guess I could include a section about friends and foes though.

[Uber_LOL]

Dude, I LOVE THE MIGHTY BOOSH! (you must be from london too?) And an amazing guide i think i'll try to play this gamebreaking char now!

[Lucretius]

just going to throw in that glacial blast only stuns if you have vision of the target and that should be kept in mind when chasing.

Its already in the guide.


Your idea on the plated greaves isn't too terribly bad; although i've never really had to get anything more than boots of speed itself.

Yea, often the game won't last very long if the enemy team gets hammered early before you have a chance to upgrade Marchers.


I remember back when I played DotA with Enigma, I would get a bloodstone and a Heart on him because....he was being focused by the entire team, and really required having the 2.8k HP.If you're taking large amounts of damage its over for you anyway. I think there are too many other important items for Tempest.


Now one could argue that rushing the blink dagger is an effective ganking strategy; although it also minimizes your ability to regenerate mana, so after you have initiated in the attack you have to rush to the base to regenerate. There's upsides to this and downsides. Downside being ganked in the jungle while you haven't yet farmed your blink dagger; the few of us can feel the pain when you get sidewinded by a Yurnero, and there's really nothing you can do.Starting strategy includes being prepared for jungle ganks, by purchasing wards and leveling Glacial Blasts. You can't really do much more than that except stay alert and rely on your team to call out missing lane opponents.


On the flipside, what if you built your enigma upon an early game regeneration; so you constantly had mana to protect mid and the jungle lane, while maintaining your awesome farm? By the time he hits level 6, I pretty much rush to base for a HP / mana regen and to pick up my boots, cause Lord knows when somebody will try to gank me, then rush back to jungle, get some eidolons, double up, hit the jungle lane and double kill.Guess it just depends on how much time you want to spend in the jungle. I find that you're much less effective mid-game when the first round of tower pushes occurs if you don't rush portal key. The enemy isn't going to let you simply walk into them and use your ult. Its more a defensive strategy to postpone the PK, if you're into 40-50 minute games. Rushing portal key is going to give you an early advantage. You jump in and ult, then while the other team is rezzing up you have spare time to regen and buy. Your farm is substituted by tower pushes and ganks earlier.


I mean any Enigma playing pro, realizes how inexpensive a blink dagger really is, and if you could maintain you farm linear (constant); is that a better strategy, or no?You're either going to buy it at level 6 or put it off until level 9 by spending that initial 2150 on regen items, and spend much more time in the jungle. I personally hate the jungle, and would prefer to spend as little time there as possible and more time engaged in team fights or ganks. Some people like to rice all game though, its just not me.


Enhanced Marchers are worthless, in my opinion. Steamboots are useful to me because I almost always pick up a refresher after portal key and the 130 additional mana lets you double cast a leveled ultimate far more easily. Plated Greaves are probably the best choice, though.

Buying Steamboots for the stats is a large waste imo, by the time you have your Refresher Stone you'll be high enough level to dual-cast an ultimate without padding your stats for a larger mana pool. The attack speed is completely wasted, and your movement speed is much less than it could be given other options. Marchers at least offer you some additional damage and movement speed. I don't argue that marchers are an optimal pick.


Top players have been going Boots+Bottle first, it's a route I can't say I find as efficient as what I do. =o Unharassed, you can have a portal key at 7 minutes almost like clockwork. Usually they'll get a kill or two from ganks but blow so much time losing experience and not getting gold that I don't see how it can be worth it. Either way, you don't mention it and you probably should until you prove what you do works as well.Time spent whoring runes to refill your bottle is xp and gold/min lost in the jungle. The amount of regen available to you with 8 mana potions far surpasses what is offered by a bottle early game. In mid-game after you have your manatube and Nomes, a bottle becomes even more useless.


You don't mention how the stun's usefulness is hugely increased at level 2 and level 4, but level 3 is barely any additional power and probably not even worth getting unless you can get level 4 too.If you will notice, every build offered maxes Glacial blasts at no later than level 8. Its a staple, and going in depth about the difference between the 2nd 3rd and 4th levels is immaterial because regardless you will be maxing it out as soon as possible. I consider it a waste of space, and useless information.


You don't mention stacking at all,Because you can't handle stacked camps while jungling early, especially if you are the kind that only gets rank 2 Elemental and Micros them. They're too fragile to handle that many neutrals. You will not get good farm with Elementals that die before they split. I also want to point out the difference between "creep pulling", which I am covering, and "creep stacking." A stack of creeps implies more than one total spawn of creeps in a given creep spawn. i.e., instead of having one group of Ogres, having a group of Ogres + some other "stacked" creep spawn.


and Telluwar's guide isn't very good, barely linkworthy and gives almost no information on stacking.I think I might agree, but the information about creep camps was the focus of the link.


You don't mention his biggest counters (Hellbringer, Vindicator, Pharaoh, Andromeda, Tablet of Command) who can interrupt his ultimate from a huge range even through magic immunity.I will go back and put this information in a friends and foes section.


Nome's Wisdom is a waste. There's no reason he would need to get that, he has no mana issues lategame with just a manatube because of his huge INT gain.Several reasons Nomes is a good option.
1) Tempest is a support hero.
2) Nomes adds to his survivability
3) Nomes gives him him cheap, solid mana regen.


Just grab a scarab for 1/8th of the price if you're really having an issue with it. Spending 2000 gold for a small aura for your elementals is meh. Good players will be hitting them with AoE magic, anyway, not physical attacks.1) You don't buy Nomes for your Elementals, that is simply an added benefit. You buy Nomes for the other 3 reasons I listed above.
2) Your elementals are highly resistant to magic damage already, giving them some armor against physical attacks makes them much more resilient and capable of pushing through creep waves and neutrals.


There's a lot more, I was mentally writing a Tempest guide so that's just a bunch that I picked out in a few minutes. I should probably just write the guide myself. -.-This guide was inspired out of the same attitude when I read the old premium tempest guide which has now been removed.

I appreciate the feedback everyone, keep it coming.

[Meowshi]

Quick question:

For your delayed elemental build, why do you get elementals at 13/14? If you don't get it early, doesn't it become somewhat worthless?

My build that I use for tempest is
Ele / Blasts / Ele / Blasts / Blasts / Ult / Blasts / HARD STATS --> / Ult / Meteor, because I find that I don't have enough mana for meteor a majority of the time, and my teammates can take care of it when they're all CCed.

Convince me out of it.

[Lucretius]

Quick question:

For your delayed elemental build, why do you get elementals at 13/14? If you don't get it early, doesn't it become somewhat worthless?

My build that I use for tempest is
Ele / Blasts / Ele / Blasts / Blasts / Ult / Blasts / HARD STATS --> / Ult / Meteor, because I find that I don't have enough mana for meteor a majority of the time, and my teammates can take care of it when they're all CCed.

Convince me out of it.

Added to the Q&A Section:

A: As the game progresses, creeps in lane become progressively stronger. That last level of Elemental allows you to keep the pace with the increasing strength of creeps in lane better enabling you to farm and better enable your team to quickly push towers. The benefit you gain from this is increased chance to last hit creeps in lane because your elementals do more damage at Rank 4.

Thanks,

[Blessed_]

Alternative start build: Flying courier + 4 mana pots, since wards are usually better on another hero to block their creep spawns + you won't get ganked too much since it's quite a bit of exp/gold lost + it's kinda hard to gank a tempest w/ elementals and glacial.
Then you go for bottle and use the courier to refill it, no need for any other mana regen tbh.

[Kaelillidan]

When I play tempest, I actually want the game to last more than 15 minutes. The last 3 times I have randomned him I think all I had was boots of speed, portal key, and sustainer. Nothing more than that required, it keeps his hp up and his mana up, and I guess when the enemies notice this, they forfeit. Which depresses me terribly because I am used to farming a restoration stone or null stone, a bloodstone, a mock, travel boots, and a behemoth heart, and ou course the portal key.

When you think about countering a support hero that has a small amount of HP; you want to do it quickly, and it's often not even well thought out. But countering a hero with a large amount of HP is a strategic process.

Ex. Witch Slayer at 650 HP vs. Witch Slayer at 1500 HP. His nukes are the same, but his ability to stay alive is much larger.

[Decency]

Tempest is not a support hero, to me. He's a ganker and an initiator. Getting Nome's isn't particularly important to me because of that. I don't see why you'd try to play him as support.

[Lucretius]

Alternative start build: Flying courier + 4 mana pots, since wards are usually better on another hero to block their creep spawns + you won't get ganked too much since it's quite a bit of exp/gold lost + it's kinda hard to gank a tempest w/ elementals and glacial.
Then you go for bottle and use the courier to refill it, no need for any other mana regen tbh.

That sounds like a great idea actually, and I will be testing that out and probably add it to the guide at some point.

Thanks,


Tempest is not a support hero, to me. He's a ganker and an initiator. Getting Nome's isn't particularly important to me because of that. I don't see why you'd try to play him as support.

I think you're creating a false dichotomy here, because playing support in no way conflicts with his ability to gank or initiate.

In this context "ganker" means "someone that participates in ganks" because tempest is not a solo ganker he will always be a participant, a contributor, etc...
In this context "initiator" means either "stunning someone" or "blinking in and using your ult" both of which he can do effectively with support items.

What I mean by "support hero" primarily is how you gear, what you buy, and how the hero plays. You'll be using your stun to prepare enemies to be killed by your carry or your team, not by you. You will be buying a courier or some wards (or both) throughout the game, and if you follow my guide you'll grab items that provide group Armor buffs like Greaves and Nome's to support your team as well (not to mention the healing from Nomes).

[_Archangel_]

No mention of Puzzlebox? [Blink -> Puzzlebox -> Meteor -> Ult -> Cast manaburn -> Hit squishy ulted target] requires a lot of micro for sure, but it can be pretty imba if pulled off right.

(Damn, feel like actually trying this now.)

[Lucretius]

No mention of Puzzlebox? [Blink -> Puzzlebox -> Meteor -> Ult -> Cast manaburn -> Hit squishy ulted target] requires a lot of micro for sure, but it can be pretty imba if pulled off right.

(Damn, feel like actually trying this now.)

I don't really see the advantage of mana burning a target that is disabled and going to die in a few seconds, especially considering all of the other itemization options available that satisfy Tempests mana/survivability needs first. Maybe in a way way late game situation I could see it being useful, if you're team can't really kill the enemy in the span of an ult, otherwise its just neat. Unnecessary, but neat.

Added to Q&A

Truly excellent guide, thank you.

That said, buying a Manatube on the way to Nome's seems indefensible, when you have a Ring of Teacher already in your inventory. Nome's in only 925gp more than tube at that point, and look at what you get for that 925gp, versus tube+ing:

Self: +6 Strength
Self: +6 Agility
Self: +16 Intelligence
Self: +4 Damage
Self: +25% Mana Regeneration
Aura: +0.35 Mana Regeneration
Aura: +1 Armor
Aura: Heroes are healed for 25% of the manacost of abilities or items cast.

And it doesn't even require a special trip to the secret shop.

[Lucretius]

Buying a Manatube on the way to Nome's seems indefensible, when you have a Ring of Teacher already in your inventory.

A: I reiterate the point that tempest has 4 active abilities, all of which you will be keeping on cooldown. When you're in a lane or passing the jungle you will be casting elemental from the first neutral spawn until the end of the game. When you're in small skirmish or team fights you'll be using every tool at your disposal, including using mana for portal key and greaves. You will be stunning, using Meteor, and your ult. If you don't grab a manatube you will spend unnecessary time in the pool... or you will be underutilizing the hero in team fights.

Added to Q&A

Thanks,

[Lucretius]

I would like to take this guide to the next level and achieve Premium status because currently there is no premium tempest guide, but I need suggestions and feedback in order to do so.

Right now I'm working on a Friends/Foes section.

Thanks,

[`blastin`Mot]

2 things that I wonder about:

1)

Catman Champion + Catman Soldier: The second-best camp; the Catman Champion can stomp, slowing the movement speed and attack of your elementals; so, transmute it! The soldier will still require a bit of cycling, but no biggie.
Vagabond + Vagabond Assassin + Vagabond Leader: Hands-down the best creep camp for a Tempest to deal with. The Vagabond Leader becomes a free 100+ gold, and the remaining minions pose no threat to the elementals from even level 1. If you're going against this camp with elementals already spawned and can't transmute the Leader, do your best to keep Tempest off to one side, as the Vagabond Leader's ability does quite a bit of damage in a frontal cone.
Both leaders/champions can no longer be transmuted/transfigured. See 0.1.66 change log.

2)
You can see how much time is left on your elemental by looking at the cooldown on your spell. Generally (unless you animation cancel your elementals to split them faster, thus starting the split cooldown on them sooner) they will all despawn when the cooldown on your Elemental is up. This means you can literally keep elementals out all game (mana permitting).Any more input on this? :)
I basically know how it works, but is it worth it on the elementals? Maybe when stacking creeps or in lane to push even harder?

[KokH]

Great guide, thanks :D

[Mateui]

Can't believe this guide isn't premium! Anyway, what do you like to build for Tempest after you already have Portal Key + Nome's and have no trouble being disabled when ulting? Today I decided to see how Behemoth's Heart would do, and it was superb. I've never had a tankier tempest (over 2200 HP) and the reduced cooldowns was nice - the few seconds cut from the ult really helped I find.

[Lucretius]

Can't believe this guide isn't premium! Anyway, what do you like to build for Tempest after you already have Portal Key + Nome's and have no trouble being disabled when ulting? Today I decided to see how Behemoth's Heart would do, and it was superb. I've never had a tankier tempest (over 2200 HP) and the reduced cooldowns was nice - the few seconds cut from the ult really helped I find.

If the first 3 conditions are true (PK, Nomes, and you're not getting disabled) the game will usually end before you can build that next big piece. People pretty much know that if they don't tend to keeping the tempest in check he's going to dominate the game, that is just the nature of how powerful the hero is (unless he's been counter picked)...

I wouldn't build a Behemoths Heart really ever, unless I was having difficulty staying alive late game and had tons of extra gold. The first "big" defensive item I build is generally always Frostfield Plate or a Kuldras, given its synergy with the rest of your area of effect spells. If the game is really magic heavy I'll build a headdress. A situation where I might think "Hey lets build a behemoths heart!" would be way late game if i'm getting focused a lot in lengthy team battles, and really behemoths heart is only going to allow you to be a bigger nuisance for a slightly longer period of time.

Glad you liked the guide! (I'm still looking to improve it!)

[`blastin`Mot]

Pretty situational I'd say. You could also get a Puzzlebox (spawn before ult, true sight at level 3, if the enemy has any invis heroes) or even Restoration Stone for Double Ulting.

[a_cloth]

Pretty situational I'd say. You could also get a Puzzlebox (spawn before ult, true sight at level 3, if the enemy has any invis heroes) or even Restoration Stone for Double Ulting.
this puzzlebox is OP

[SilverStars]

None of your skillbuilds includes taking Elementals at level 4. While I can understand the fact that you can jungle extremely well with lv3 elementals, I have to point out that with lv 4 elementals, and perhaps a ring of the teacher, it's easier to take out three (or even four, never tried really) creep camps with the same elementals.

Does it make too little difference to matter?

[Lucretius]

Pretty situational I'd say. You could also get a Puzzlebox (spawn before ult, true sight at level 3, if the enemy has any invis heroes) or even Restoration Stone for Double Ulting.

Only time I can think of getting Puzzlebox on tempest as a priority is in a situation where you're forced to play defensive (ex. vs Vindicator) but you're threatened even on defense against some invis hero like Nighthound or Scout... Otherwise your gold is going to be better spent getting your core items and building up survivability. Sight can be gained a number of other, cheaper, ways... the real benefit here is the mana burn. I'm not saying puzzlebox is off limits because of course, its a great item. Fact remains that cookie cutter builds are cookie cutter because of their rate of success. Puzzlebox is a pretty advanced item to work with, and its power reflects that. Its not necessarily sub-optimal if you're really comfortable with a Puzzlebox, but for someone reading this guide learning to play the game you need to stay away from Puzzlebox until you're more experienced comfortable with the game as a whole.

As far as restoration stone, I listed this in the guide as an alternative for developing the sustainer further... but the real downside to this item is its extremely long cooldown. I also think its unnecessary. If you land the first ult properly and you're packing the requisite immunity then by the time the first void is finished the other team should be at such a disadvantage (due to most of them being dead) that firing off a second would be overkill... you've got stuns to follow up with and you're likely not going to be the only person on your team with a stun.


None of your skillbuilds includes taking Elementals at level 4. While I can understand the fact that you can jungle extremely well with lv3 elementals, I have to point out that with lv 4 elementals, and perhaps a ring of the teacher, it's easier to take out three (or even four, never tried really) creep camps with the same elementals.

The same can be accomplished with level 3 elementals in the jungle, you need that point in blast because you want rank 4 blasts as fast as possible. As Decency pointed out on the first page, Rank 2 and Rank 4 give you significantly more benefit. You need just enough in Elemental so you're not babysitting too much, call it farm automation.... and you want as much Blast as possible for the huge mid-game utility that gives... and of course your ult... there simply is no room to fit another earlier point of Elemental in early game.

[a_cloth]

Only time I can think of getting Puzzlebox on tempest as a priority is in a situation where you're forced to play defensive (ex. vs Vindicator) but you're threatened even on defense against some invis hero like Nighthound or Scout... Otherwise your gold is going to be better spent getting your core items and building up survivability. Sight can be gained a number of other, cheaper, ways... the real benefit here is the mana burn. I'm not saying puzzlebox is off limits because of course, its a great item. Fact remains that cookie cutter builds are cookie cutter because of their rate of success. Puzzlebox is a pretty advanced item to work with, and its power reflects that. Its not necessarily sub-optimal if you're really comfortable with a Puzzlebox, but for someone reading this guide learning to play the game you need to stay away from Puzzlebox until you're more experienced comfortable with the game as a whole.

As far as restoration stone, I listed this in the guide as an alternative for developing the sustainer further... but the real downside to this item is its extremely long cooldown. I also think its unnecessary. If you land the first ult properly and you're packing the requisite immunity then by the time the first void is finished the other team should be at such a disadvantage (due to most of them being dead) that firing off a second would be overkill... you've got stuns to follow up with and you're likely not going to be the only person on your team with a stun.



The same can be accomplished with level 3 elementals in the jungle, you need that point in blast because you want rank 4 blasts as fast as possible. As Decency pointed out on the first page, Rank 2 and Rank 4 give you significantly more benefit. You need just enough in Elemental so you're not babysitting too much, call it farm automation.... and you want as much Blast as possible for the huge mid-game utility that gives... and of course your ult... there simply is no room to fit another earlier point of Elemental in early game.

puzzlebox IS a survivability item. and its very nice for countering wards/invis heroes and obvious synergy with ult. You can pretty much solo kong with elementals and rank 3 puzzlebox too. Don't underestimate the box's rape potential

[KADOONK]

I found just one chink in the guide.
Farming nome's wisdom first can be efficient towards your mana regen etc.
but if you jungle/forest from level 1, if done right you can farm 2150 gold in under 8minutes, which can put you at prime ganking time. since you will not be behind the enemy in levels, or shouldnt be. and therefore lane ganking with a blink ult on the 2 so that your solo(s) can farm up and then you can get back to farming your nome's wisdom.

just my thoughts, but I found it worked out quite well. the courier could always bring you pots/runes here and there if you need to.

but other than that 10/10

:D`Doozie

[SilverStars]

Some suggestions for your friends-foes section:

Friends
1. Soulstealer - The very best friend for Tempest's ult, with massive AOE burst damage. His demon hands have decent radius and he can usually net 2-4 people with each hand, more as your ult progresses. Disabled opponents mean easy demon hands.

2. Jeraziah - Needed for higher level games where enemies will spread out in anticipation of your ult, stops any channel cancels except for Vindicator's.

Tied 3. Magmus - Same as Soulstealer, free AOE damage, but Magmus relies less on enemies being extremely close together. However, still a gamebreaking combo.
Tied 3. Zephyr - Your ult keeps the enemies in his ult, and his ult does more damage the closer the enemies are to the center.

Tied 4. Defiler - The ult isn't AOE, but still does incredible single-target damage. Nuke is AOE.
Tied 4. AOE stunners like Pyromancer, Torturer, Pebbles (all have AOE nukes), and heroes with massive AOE nukes, like Wretched Hag (Bat Blast) and Forsaken Archer.

5. Normal AOE nukes like Forsaken Archer, Wretched Hag's Sonar Scream, and Defiler (mentioned above).


Enemies
1. Vindicator - Global counter to your ult that goes through magic immunity. Nothing you can really do against this, except hoping that he'll fire his ult prematurely. Even if you catch him, his aura means you're not going to get a comet-ult combo off.

2. Scout - Sniped ministun, not that effective because of the channel time, but also his electric eyes which he can trigger from skills when disabled and trigger from eye even when he is stunned.

Tied 3. Sand Wraith and Thunderbringer - Can get an initiation in before you, stopping your Portal Key.
Tied 3. Pharaoh, Behemoth - If they get a quick initiation before you or your initiator does, you can't cast your ult/have lost your teamfight.

4. Magmus - He can blink into your ult and wipe your team while disabled.

5. Forsaken Archer - She can snipe your teammates from outside the ult.

[Lucretius]

I appreciate that SilverStars, I've been busy with classes but I'm definitely going to start working on this section.

[Lucretius]

I found just one chink in the guide.
Farming nome's wisdom first can be efficient towards your mana regen etc.
but if you jungle/forest from level 1, if done right you can farm 2150 gold in under 8minutes, which can put you at prime ganking time. since you will not be behind the enemy in levels, or shouldnt be. and therefore lane ganking with a blink ult on the 2 so that your solo(s) can farm up and then you can get back to farming your nome's wisdom.

The guide doesn't say "farm Nomes first." If you revisit the Itemization section it explains quite clearly that you should...
- Prep for jungling when buying your initial items.
- Jungle hard for 8-9 minutes for your portal key and then go gank. Which lane you gank is a matter of convenience, if the 2v2 lane is pushed to the enemy tower you won't be ganking it... your best bet is to plan on a gank in the 2v1 lane because the enemy will surely be pushed forward into your tower, thus exposed and vulnerable.
- When done ganking, regen and then work on mid-game core, including boots and Nomes

Nomes isn't mentioned until the Mid-Game Buildup section.

[Panamax]

What do you thinkabout taking bottle at level one? I've been doing this for a while grabbing runes every time they spawn

[Lucretius]

What do you thinkabout taking bottle at level one? I've been doing this for a while grabbing runes every time they spawn

The thing is, Tempest is about mid-game dominance. What most people have a hard time wrapping their head around is that the further into late-game the tempest goes, the weaker he becomes relative to all other Item-Dependant heroes. Because of this fact the most important aspect of Tempests early game is speed. The basic idea is to jump on your opponents hard early and mid game so that they don't make it to late game, if you can do that... then you win.

A big flaw in going bottle first is that you absolutely will lose xp/min while you're running from the jungle to the rune, and running from the jungle to the pool. The only way to effectively use a bottle early game with a tempest is to first buy a flying courier, and then buy your bottle... and then use the courier to refill your bottle. That way you're sitting in the jungle gaining experience uninterrupted with errands while your courier is doing all of the running.

Added to Q&A

[Panamax]

The thing is, Tempest is about mid-game dominance. What most people have a hard time wrapping their head around is that the further into late-game the tempest goes, the weaker he becomes relative to all other Item-Dependant heroes. Because of this fact the most important aspect of Tempests early game is speed. The basic idea is to jump on your opponents hard early and mid game so that they don't make it to late game, if you can do that... then you win.

A big flaw in going bottle first is that you absolutely will lose xp/min while you're running from the jungle to the rune, and running from the jungle to the pool. The only way to effectively use a bottle early game with a tempest is to first buy a flying courier, and then buy your bottle... and then use the courier to refill your bottle. That way you're sitting in the jungle gaining experience uninterrupted with errands while your courier is doing all of the running.

Added to Q&A
thanks for the great response, courier sounds like such a better idea

[Synzael]

Very good tempest guide. Recommend for premium.

[barbero15]

Here's my item build:
1. Courier + 6 mana potions + 1 Life potion (for emergency)
2. 200 gold, get winger courier.
3. 500 gold, get ring of teacher.
4. If your running low on mana potions, you can always send it via flying courier.
5. 2150 gold, get portal key.

--> On average, this can be completed around 10 mins..varies, because of different situations: (1) enemy visiting your forest, (2) running to save your teammates, (3) successful ganking

6. marchers (most of the time, i usualy forget to buy this very important item. I only notice it when I have a hard time chasing or escaping.)

7. I'm not really a fan of Nome wisdom..i suggest racing for Shrunken head..getting this will practically shutdown almost all of the threats that would stop your ultimate.

8. Void Talisman. Its rare that people use this item, but i did save my life so many times. (helps you escape from scout, nighthound..other hitters) This item will give you immunity from physical attacks for 4secs..giving you enough time to blink out.

In my experience, these are all the items you need. I usually save the rest of my gold for "buyouts".

Some other points:
1. I read, somewhere in the guide, that shrunken head is one item that makes tempest weak late game. I would argue against this because when using elemental void, your goal is to disable your opponents and give your teammates a "4secs hitting spree". Elemental void still sucks in your opponents even if they have shrunken head "on".
2. I agree that meteor is really strong! a lot of people are not aware that meteor is one of the skills that helps kill tankers. (blink in -> meteor -> elemental void)
3. Always look at the map and be aware of missing enemies. always be ready to blink out!!!

Question:
Does meteor go through shrunken head? As I recall, in Dota, enigma's midnight pulse goes through BKB.

[Lucretius]

Just an FYI, I ninja'd the name I normally use in video games.

ImOldGreg is now Lucretius

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DOMINATED!

[Passthechips]

You should add Pharaoh to your list of counters.

[SirJefferE]

While you've got the general gist of Tempests awesomeness down, you're really -really- underestimating how awesome puzzlebox is. I very much encourage you to try it out a few games, getting it before portal key even.

Yes. The standard build seems to be portal key first, but I can never figure out why that is.

I buy a mana ring, one stat thing, and one mana potion at the start. This gives me enough mana for elementals, with pulls inbetween to regain mana. At level 5 you have enough for boots + 1k int item, this gives you plenty of mana for the next little bit, and you can usually heal at base then tp top top spawn elementals and finish level 6, ends in an easy double kill (on hellbourne anyways).

After this it should take you a couple minutes max to get puzzlebox, depending on whether you got the kills or not (doesn't matter much either way). You should continue farming forest and ganking top/mid until you have level 3 puzzlebox (On average, I get this at about 16-20 minutes.)

Level 3 puzzlebox is insanely overpowered at this point, not just for the 75 mana burn per hit or the incredibly strong mana burn on the mage, not just because the auto attacks themselves (and the move speed of the minions) are incredibly hard and fast, but also because this gives you over 1k max mana. Combined with the mana ring you've already got, you will basically never run out while foresting or in team fights, unless it's an extremely extended fight.

Because of that, you can usually gank 4-5 times before 20 minutes and easily afford a portal key soon after. I've had a portal key as early as 17 minutes (after level 3 box of course) and usually no later than 25. Since the big 5v5 team fights start around then, it's plenty early enough.


In short: Portal key first = One hit wonder tempest. You will have your amazing ult, and you'll still be able to gank great, but you have no staying power, no farming power, no extra mana. If you're ults down you are completely useles basically, and will have to heal often.

Puzzlebox first = Great staying power, great ganking power even without your ult

Level 3 puzzlebox before 20 minutes = Able to solo gank and easily kill 90% of the heroes in the game. If you've brought a friend you can easily get a double on basically any two, without even casting the ult.



So, if you've ever thought puzzlebox is useless on temp, you've gotten it far too late in the game. If you don't believe me, try it out a few games just for fun. Practice the micro some, see how you do. If you still don't believe me, check my tempest stats or watch a random replay or two. > 90% win rate :D

[Lucretius]

While you've got the general gist of Tempests awesomeness down, you're really -really- underestimating how awesome puzzlebox is. I very much encourage you to try it out a few games, getting it before portal key even.

Puzzlebox (and that strategy) have some clear disadvantages.
- You can't initiate with a puzzlebox like you can with a Portal Key.
- It still doesn't save you from carries (or any heroes that can kill you just from auto-attack... but sometimes neither does Portal Key).
- You're either going to be farming more, or competing with your carry for last-hit gold... both of which I consider incorrect.
- 90 seconds is a pretty long cooldown compared to the 14s cooldown on portal key.


Yes. The standard build seems to be portal key first, but I can never figure out why that is.

I think its pretty obvious why its standard. It works!
And tempest is overall maintaining a solid win % (http://honstats.heroku.com/?sort_by=percent_win&sort_dir=DESC) with that standard build.


I buy a mana ring, one stat thing, and one mana potion at the start. This gives me enough mana for elementals, with pulls inbetween to regain mana. At level 5 you have enough for boots + [pickled brain], this gives you plenty of mana for the next little bit, and you can usually heal at base then tp top top spawn elementals and finish level 6, ends in an easy double kill (on hellbourne anyways).

It doesn't make any sense to build the Ring of the Teacher unless you're going to invest in Nomes. ... and it doesn't make sense to build a Ring of Sorcery because it doesn't address any of the other problems Tempest has (mainly survivability). Tempest continues to have the best int gain per level in the game, and with that comes inherently strong mana regen. He also has the worst agi gain per level in the game (making him progressively more and more squishy as the game progresses)... this means you need survivability... which makes Ring of Sorcery one dimensional and suboptimal given that Nome's exists.


After this it should take you a couple minutes max to get puzzlebox, depending on whether you got the kills or not (doesn't matter much either way). You should continue farming forest and ganking top/mid until you have level 3 puzzlebox (On average, I get this at about 16-20 minutes.)

To take advantage of a relatively item-independent hero like Tempest, you've got to get the one thing you need and then get to work engaging the enemy and displaying that strength when you're most potent. If you're in the forest at 20 minutes farming puzzlebox levels you're doing it wrong in my opinion because you've missed utilizing Tempest when he is at his strongest in a match. You should play to capitalize on your heroes inherent strengths, and tempest is an inherently stronger hero in early-mid game, and inherently weaker the later you go into a game.


Level 3 puzzlebox is insanely overpowered at this point, not just for the 75 mana burn per hit or the incredibly strong mana burn on the mage, not just because the auto attacks themselves (and the move speed of the minions) are incredibly hard and fast, but also because this gives you over 1k max mana. Combined with the mana ring you've already got, you will basically never run out while foresting or in team fights, unless it's an extremely extended fight.

Once you're well into mid-game you're over the hump in terms of mana problems, you're not going to be able to spend your mana fast enough to run out... and thats simply from his incredible int gain and really any regen item. Even in an extended fight, you've got cooldowns on eveything you can do.


Because of that, you can usually gank 4-5 times before 20 minutes and easily afford a portal key soon after. I've had a portal key as early as 17 minutes (after level 3 box of course) and usually no later than 25. Since the big 5v5 team fights start around then, it's plenty early enough.

I'm not really sure what kind of game mode you're playing, but team fights should begin way way waaaaaaaaay before 25 minutes.


In short: Portal key first = One hit wonder tempest. You will have your amazing ult, and you'll still be able to gank great, but you have no staying power, no farming power, no extra mana. If you're ults down you are completely useles basically, and will have to heal often.

Sometimes it isn't how well you use your ult, but how afraid you make the other team of you potentially using your ult at any moment. If you've landed a few good ones you save it and not be so aggressive... make them understand that you're going to kill them all if they make 1 mistake. This is the psychology that goes into Tempest play, and can be an excellent tool for pushing towers.

Also, You're staying power exists in the following ways by default:
- Highest int gain per level of any other hero in the game.
- Fairly long cooldowns on most of your abilities.
- You're really going to use 2 skills as core in a fight, Glacial Blast and Elemental... with your other two abilities as utility to be precisely placed only when appropriate. You're making Tempest into this mana hog (and early game he is) but by mid game you're beyond that.


Puzzlebox first = Great staying power, great ganking power even without your ult

I don't have a problem with Puzzlebox, but its not as water-tight as you're making it out to be. I think you're approaching Tempest from a very one dimensional point of view.

[SirJefferE]

It's hard to argue against a lot of your points because for the most part, we both agree that Tempest is an awesome hero. But I'll try clarifying a few points.

Puzzlebox (and that strategy) have some clear disadvantages.
- You can't initiate with a puzzlebox like you can with a Portal Key.Maybe not in the bigger team fights, but the very fact that you have your ult means that they can't initiate either. Like you said below, it's not even in using your ult, it's that intimidation thing that makes them play split up and scared that'll help your team. Besides, I've found that it's maybe a 10 minute difference between getting level 3 puzzlebox first and getting a portal key. So that's roughly 10 minutes you're not able to initate with ult, but also 10 minutes where you have stronger ganking power without it.

- It still doesn't save you from carries (or any heroes that can kill you just from auto-attack... but sometimes neither does Portal Key).Yes it does. As I said, you're usually getting a portal key by 20-25 minutes anyways, and carries aren't powerful enough to kill you before then. It's very rare that -any- hero can kill you before then. I've very oftentimes had 2 heroes gank me in a forest. I cast elementals if I don't have them (I usually do), I cast puzzlebox, I ult. One of them dies basically right then, and then I can stun and kill the second one as soon as my ult ends. I can't can't the amount of doublekills I've gotten less than ten minutes into the game, simply because they figured 'Hey, lets screw with tempests farm.'

You're either going to be farming more, or competing with your carry for last-hit gold... both of which I consider incorrect.I never compete with my carry for gold, and I don't add too much farm. Casting elementals on forest creeps and waiting 6 hits just so you can gank with them gives you a few hundred gold alone, and if you get the last hit on the gank (Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't) then that's a few hundred more.

Either way, it barely takes any farm at all to get both items fairly early.
90 seconds is a pretty long cooldown compared to the 14s cooldown on portal key.Yes, but portal key is only as useful as your ult. Unless you have some pretty good support from teammates you can't really gank as well with just a stun. Most heroes will beat you easily - Something they'll regret trying if you have a puzzlebox.

I think its pretty obvious why its standard. It works!
And tempest is overall maintaining a solid win % (http://honstats.heroku.com/?sort_by=percent_win&sort_dir=DESC) with that standard build.Tempest is maintaining a solid win percentage because, as we both agree, he's freaking awesome. I'm maintaining an amazing win percentage with my way, but of course one individual players statistics don't show all that much overall. Either way, who is to say that the win % wouldn't be even higher if everybody tried my way?


It doesn't make any sense to build the Ring of the Teacher unless you're going to invest in Nomes.I sometimes finish Nomes after my blink dagger, depending on what kind of gold I'm getting after it. But I'm usually ganking at that point so it's all situational. In any case, ring of the teacher is for cheap/easy mana regen throughout the whole starting phase, and the extra armor on your elementals really helps for the first few levels. If you pull right and do the right camps, you can farm nonstop at pretty incredible speeds, up until your first (almost always successful) gank at level 5. Before your gank you'll have your 1k int item by then anyways, and your troubles are gone.


To take advantage of a relatively item-independent hero like Tempest, you've got to get the one thing you need and then get to work engaging the enemy and displaying that strength when you're most potent. If you're in the forest at 20 minutes farming puzzlebox levels you're doing it wrong in my opinion because you've missed utilizing Tempest when he is at his strongest in a match. You should play to capitalize on your heroes inherent strengths, and tempest is an inherently stronger hero in early-mid game, and inherently weaker the later you go into a game. I don't sit in a forest for 20 minutes, by the 20 minute mark when I'm usually getting blink I already have 2-4 hero kills and 5-6 assists.


Once you're well into mid-game you're over the hump in terms of mana problems, you're not going to be able to spend your mana fast enough to run out... and thats simply from his incredible int gain and really any regen item. Even in an extended fight, you've got cooldowns on eveything you can do.But my way, you never have mana problems in the first place. The entire reason for getting puzzlebox first is to have incredible staying power before it even gets to mid game.


I'm not really sure what kind of game mode you're playing, but team fights should begin way way waaaaaaaaay before 25 minutes.The occasional 3v3s or 4v2 or whatever, maybe. But all the 5v5 pushes are usually happening past 20 minutes. Of the ones that happen before, the very fact that you're there and you have an ult will deter any initiation by them, and you'll be able to defend fine/maybe pick off one or two.


Sometimes it isn't how well you use your ult, but how afraid you make the other team of you potentially using your ult at any moment. If you've landed a few good ones you save it and not be so aggressive... make them understand that you're going to kill them all if they make 1 mistake. This is the psychology that goes into Tempest play, and can be an excellent tool for pushing towers.I absolutely and fully agree, but I would say that this is an even stronger argument for puzzlebox. If you're running around stunning/manaburning/insane dpsing heroes there is really nothing they can do about it, because none of them are going to actually fight you and risk getting ulted. You can usually take 1-2 heroes by yourself, and if you bring an ally like you should you can take even more. If the whole crew comes to fight you then they get stuck in an ult and it goes from bad to worse for them.


Also, You're staying power exists in the following ways by default:
- Highest int gain per level of any other hero in the game.
- Fairly long cooldowns on most of your abilities.
- You're really going to use 2 skills as core in a fight, Glacial Blast and Elemental... with your other two abilities as utility to be precisely placed only when appropriate. You're making Tempest into this mana hog (and early game he is) but by mid game you're beyond that.Again, I agree. But my build solves his early game mana problems entirely by having that +10 extra int about 4 minutes into the game. Each extra puzzlebox recipe only adds to that.


I don't have a problem with Puzzlebox, but its not as water-tight as you're making it out to be. I think you're approaching Tempest from a very one dimensional point of view.It's funny, because I've always thought that getting blink dagger first every single game was pretty one dimensional. I played tempest many -many- times your way, and yes, I agree that he's amazing like that. But I decided to start branching out and try new things, and once I hit on puzzlebox first I've never really looked back.

Again, I encourage you to try it. Not just once or twice, but build him that way your next 5 or 6 games until you've got the hang of everything. You might decide it sucks and go back to normal, or you might love it (like I do) and start changing the guide around.

[Montageman]

This might sound a little strange, but i play tempest like an agility hero, maxing out glacial blasts first (at lvl 7) and getting the Elder Parasite. Tempest has a rather high attack damage compared to many other int heroes, combined with the attack speed buff from the parasite and then combined with 3 consecutive stuns gives you a first class ticket into gank city. i rarely end up needing the elementals for anything execpt pushing lanes fast late-game. plus you still have your meteur + ult combo for group ganks.:D:D

[Lucretius]

This might sound a little strange, but i play tempest like an agility hero, maxing out glacial blasts first (at lvl 7) and getting the Elder Parasite. Tempest has a rather high attack damage compared to many other int heroes, combined with the attack speed buff from the parasite and then combined with 3 consecutive stuns gives you a first class ticket into gank city. i rarely end up needing the elementals for anything execpt pushing lanes fast late-game. plus you still have your meteur + ult combo for group ganks.:D:D

http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=2093863
2/7/13

http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=1607858
1/7/1

Both games are EM. :D:D

[SirJefferE]

http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=2093863
2/7/13

http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=1607858
1/7/1

Both games are EM. :D:D
We may have slightly different views on the optimal build for Tempest, but I think we both must have cringed while reading that last post.

[Lucretius]

Yea, and normally I don't go out of my way to dump on someone who is giving input in a thread (no offense personally to Montageman)... but this is a guide and disinfo has to be pointed out and criticized for why its wrong for all of the people reading that don't know its wrong.

[Montageman]

Yea, and normally I don't go out of my way to dump on someone who is giving input in a thread (no offense personally to Montageman)... but this is a guide and disinfo has to be pointed out and criticized for why its wrong for all of the people reading that don't know its wrong.

im sorry, Tempest is one of my favorite heroes and i just wanted to point out my little "experiment" with him. i know some characters are rather boring to play but vital to the teams victory, and i wanted to show off my little descovery. even the loading screen tips say "There is more than 1 way to play a hero". i just dont like my kills to be completely dependent on an ulti that takes forever to cd.

those other 2 games were pretty bad i know, bad day i guess. can't win them all.

btw: http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=3651663

this was my most recent play with him. i think my point is that this is a plausible build. nothing more.
if you dont like it thats perfectly fine and i wont get offended. I just like tempest. :D

[Kcolraw]

so much safer to start with sentries if opponents bother blocking and they should

[Lucretius]

In Matchmaking I'm 9/0 using Tempest following the suggestions in this strategy guide.
Great Success!

[Lucretius]

Took a long break (4 months) from the game.
Came back and still completely turned a game around using Tempest with this strat.
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=26850695

I'll update the guide soon.

[Arod]

You might want to jungle whit tempest in the opponents jungle, for then you can gank the short and mid lane, wich always puts the enemy mid hero on par