PDA

View Full Version : Sear the Light, an Accursed guide.



Marylinn
01-19-2010, 05:51 AM
Accursed | Abaddon, Lord of Avernus

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/9974/accursed.jpg


Contents |


Guide information and changelog
Background story and history
Stats
Pros and cons

Character skills
Skill builds

Skill synergies
Item synopsis
Team synergy
Demonstrational screenshots
Replays
Credits




Information and changelog |
A few nights ago, I became interested in seeing how other people had played Accursed. Being curious, I waltzed over to the Premium Guides section of this forum and noticed the out-of-date Accursed guide. I shrugged, and went to the normal strategy section, where there was another guide that I felt was not very well laid out, as well as just not informational enough for my liking. And, honestly, there was just a general shortage of guides on this amazing hero.

I took these into consideration and decided I would write my own.

Changelog:
v1.00 [Accurate for patch 1.65] Thursday, January 21st, 2010. Completed and posted.

Hero Information |


Many have speculated as to what great, damned warrior now lives in torment within the burning armor that marches alongside the Hellbourne army. The Accursed, as he is known, screams in agony as he bring fiery devastation to his foes, but his actions seem driven more by a desire to find oblivion than by malice.


As a direct port of Abaddon, Lord of Avernus, there is not much in this guide that will surprise an experienced DoTA player. Even if you didn't play Abaddon yourself, you became acquainted with his skillset very quickly from being on the wrong end of it.


Stats |


http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5338/shot0015tgp.jpg


As you can gather from his base stat growth, he eventually amasses a rather huge health pool. This is most likely due to the fact that one of his spells comes at the cost of some of his own health.

His intelligence gain is also above average for a strength hero. It's even better than Jeraziah's, who is often compared to Accursed due to him being another strength support. This does not mean Accursed will not have mana issues, however it is much less taxing than Jeraziah's in my experiences.


Pros and cons |
Accursed is not the perfect hero for every game. On the contrary, his two roles are very clearly defined, and so if both of his roles are already being filled by other members of the team, he is a weak pick.

Pros:


Very durable hero, friendly to players who are still learning the support role.
Alongside of Jeraziah, could be considered one of the best support heroes in the game.
Has strong skill synergy.
Is not terribly item dependent.

Is very good at giving carries HELL in early game, making their late game less potent.
A very short cooldown ultimate that can be used to dive or tank towers very reliably.
Sear buff makes him and his team extra mobile, which can sometimes make the difference in killing fleeing enemy heroes.

Cons:



Cauterize does not scale well into late game.
Very reliant on your team.
Takes some practice to learn to fill both a support and a tank role.
Has a pretty slow farming pace. Though he is not item dependent, he does go through consumables at a pretty steady pace.
Though he is a support healer, his effective healing does not compare to Jeraziah, Nymphora, or Demented Shaman. It is arguably better than Soul Reaper's, but barely.




Skills |
__________________________________________________

Cauterize [Q]
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/7/7f/Accursedskill1.gif/96px-Accursedskill1.gif
At the cost of some of his own Health, Accursed bursts the air around a target, dealing damage to them if they are an enemy or healing them if they are an ally.

"It's a love hate kinda thing."

Ability type: Activate
Type: Magic
Target: All other units
Range: 750
Mana cost: 75 (All ranks)
Cooldown: 6 seconds (All ranks)

Deals 100/150/200/250 Magic damage to enemy units or heals allied units for 100/150/200/250 Health. Deals 50/75/100/125 Magic damage to self.


This very important skill is your biggest contribution to team fights in early to mid game. This skill's heal does not scale into late game very well, due to how much carry heroes scale when farmed. Even so, if you are playing heavily into the support role, by late game you should be using this every six seconds, either to damage an enemy or keep an ally alive.
__________________________________________________

Fire Shield [W]
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/3/32/Accursedskill2.gif/96px-Accursedskill2.gif
Accursed covers a friendly unit in a shield of flames protecting them from damage and removing harmful effects. If the shield is damaged to its breaking point, it will explode, dealing Magical damage to nearby enemies equal to that of the damage absorbed.

"Here wear this!"

Ability type: Activate
Type: Magic
Target: Allied units, self
Range: 400
Mana cost: 100/105/110/115
Cooldown: 18/15/12/9 seconds

110/140/170/200 damage shield. Once full amount is absorbed, damages enemies in 700 radius for 110/140/170/200 Magic damage.

Removes most remarkable debuffs that are not stuns. It specifically counters opponents like Slither, Arachna, Puppet Master, Blacksmith, Armadon, Pestilence, Forsaken Archer and the like, who have fight-determining binds, DoTs and debuffs.

This is also a potent harassment skill in early game. It can be cast on creeps to harass enemies with the explosion from behind towers, as the area effect of the explosion is very large. Additionally, having 110 effective health in early game allows you to tower dive for kills on a regular basis. This will be spoken about in more detail later in this guide.

This is really what I would consider to be the defining skill of Accursed. Preventing otherwise lethal damage can be tide turning in a lot of occasions, and removing crucial debuffs like binds and poisons at the same time.
__________________________________________________

Sear [E]
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/3/38/Accursedskill3.gif/96px-Accursedskill3.gif
Causes Accursed's attacks to sear his target, slowing their movement speed. Any ally that attacks the affected unit will be buffed with increased attack speed and movement speed.

"I'm melting!"

Action: Passive
Target: Enemy unit
Application: On attack
Debuff duration: 2 seconds (All ranks)
Buff duration: 4.5 seconds (All ranks)

Applies Sear to enemy target, slowing their movement speed by 5/10/15/20% and granting Burning Strikes to allied units that attack the unit, granting 10/20/30/40 attack speed and 10% extra movement speed.


This skill is an amazing early game utility that can be most clearly defined by it's ability to guarantee that an enemy cannot outrun you or your lane partner. This is a very reliable first blood skill, as long as your pane partner plays it smart and turns on the enemy at the same time you do. In later game, the buff it provides to carries (plus the movement slow) is a rather large deal, so being sure you're auto attacking the primary kill target is very important.
__________________________________________________

Flame Consumption (Burning Consumption) [R]
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/65/Accursedskill4.gif/96px-Accursedskill4.gif
Accursed summons a powerful fire tornado around himself which, when fueled with damage, causes him to regain his life. When not in cooldown, this ability automatically activates when The Accursed drops below 400 Health.

"Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire!"

Ability type: Activate, Passive
Type: Physical (Yes, physical.)
Target: Self
Range: N/A
Mana cost: N/A
Cooldown: 60 seconds (All ranks)

Flame Consumption: Removes debuffs and converts 100% of damage taken to health for 3/4/5 seconds. Automatically activates when The Accursed falls below 400 health.
Burning Consumption: Removes debuffs and converts 100% of damage taken to health for 5/6/7 seconds. Automatically activates when The Accursed falls below 400 health.


This is a very important skill, and is the skill that allows you to tank. It allows you to play more recklessly, and tank or dive towers every minute if you so choose, which can often determine the difference in clean pushes and ganks.

In teamfights, Accursed will generally be ignored completely because of this skill, so use that to your advantage to keep your team alive and supported and let this skill go off on its own in these situations. However, there are occasions where teams try to nuke you before this skill can go off. (Pyromancer, Witch Slayer and Legionnaire are notorious for this.) When facing these opponents, you need to be more weary of your own health, and occasionally you will want to activate this ability on your own, in hopes that those heavy nukers blow their 500+ damage nukes into your health pool. This takes practice, but is VERY disorienting for the heroes that this counters, and in the case of Pyromancer, removes a good portion of his contribution to team fights.

Disclaimer: I listed Burning Consumption's effects, however I do not ever condone getting Staff of the Master on Accursed, ever.


Skill builds |
There is no set way in which to level Accursed's skills. This will vary depending on the lineup in which you're up against. Although there are two very common approaches to Accursed in the lane phase that I will talk about here. Keep in mind that the below are just suggestions, and I encourage you to adapt your skill build to the pace of each game you play. Underlined so people can appreciate this.

Babysitter:
1-2. Can very between Fire Shield and Sear. However, this is up to you and is situational.
3. Cauterize
4. Fire Shield
5. Cauterize
6. Flame Consumption
7. Fire Shield
8. Fire Shield
9. Cauterize
10. Flame Consumption
11. Cauterize
12. Sear
13. Sear
14. Sear
15. Attribute bonus
16. Flame Consumption

A babysitter build, usually laned with a carry. The basic idea behind it is that you spam Fire Shield on creeps in order to push enemy heroes off of creeps, effectively preventing them from farming. Use your own discretion to improvise on this build.

I like to get a level in Sear early in case my lane partner and I can use the slow effect to turn a gank around on the enemy, but it's just a personal preference. Many have argued that it's a stupid idea, but that's not changing the success I've had with it in the past, so I have continued to do it.


Blood thirsty tower diver:
1. Sear
2. Fire Shield
3. Cauterize
4. Fire Shield
5. Cauterize
6. Flame Consumption
7. Cauterize
8. Fire Shield
9. Cauterize
10. Sear
11. Flame Consumption
12. Fire Shield
13. Sear
14. Sear
15. Attribute bonus
16. Flame Consumption

This build focuses on not only harassing enemies out of your lane, but rushing them from the very start and relying on tower dives with Sear on in order to kill off opponents very early in the game. Though I have never personally been a fan, I have seen people pull this approach off to rather large amounts of success. It takes practice and good timing in order to know when to rush the enemy, as well as to know when to abort the tower dive and bail into the jungle, but once you get good at it, you can often assure first blood for your team.

Most people who do this build will generally start off the game with a pair of Marchers and some Runes of Blight, and use the fact that they can easily outrun anybody to assure themselves and their lane partner early kills. I have even seen this done with Accursed as a solo mid, which was a really impressive sight.

Keep in mind that this will become more and more difficult to do as levels progress against certain heroes (Anybody with a stun or bind.) so it really relies on working within the first 5 minutes of the game. Think of this skill build as changing your role from straight support to early-early game ganker.


If anybody has any suggestions regarding skill builds, please leave a post here. If you do so, I would appreciate a brief synopsis as to why you skill the way you do so that I can try it out myself and see if I want to add it to the guide.

Synergies |
Accursed is a hero full of tricky skill synergies. These synergies are very forgiving, however, so they are by no means set in stone. These are mostly being listed as a loose guideline.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/3/32/Accursedskill2.gif/96px-Accursedskill2.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/7/7f/Accursedskill1.gif/96px-Accursedskill1.gif
This combination is good for a few different reasons. The most obvious one being that your Cauterize does not cost you health, as the shield will absorb the damage.

There is also another technique that I don't see used very often, but is also very slick. When chasing a fleeing hero that has low health, if you already had Fire Shield on yourself beforehand (not uncommon) if the enemy tries to juke you, you can cast Cauterize on a nearby creep or ally in hopes of dispelling Fire Shield and causing an explosion, which has a very wide range and goes through fog of war. A lot of the time, if the enemy is still attempting to juke, the explosion will catch them unaware and kill them.

This method of detonating Flame Shield is also good for upping your teamfight presence when trying to fill the tank/semi-carry role.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/3/32/Accursedskill2.gif/96px-Accursedskill2.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/3/38/Accursedskill3.gif/96px-Accursedskill3.gif
Though I used the Sear icon, this synergy refers to auto attacking your own creeps. Casting Fire Shield on your own creeps that are within deny range, then auto attacking them allows you to force Fire Shield to explode, causing damage to nearby creeps and heroes alike. This is very effective in forcing most heroes, ranged and melee alike off of creep waves, as the area of Fire Shield's damage is very large. With a 700 radius on the explosion, you are guaranteed to hit any hero within attack range, as the longest attack range in the game currently is 600. This also sets you up for early game bloodlusts, as you can slowly chisel away at enemy health this way, then make your tower dive when they're at low health.

This synergy is what makes Accursed stronger in early game than Jeraziah. The harassment of this synergy is less potent, but more easily controlled than Jeraziah's Inner Light, as well as being more spammable.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/65/Accursedskill4.gif/96px-Accursedskill4.gifhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/7/7f/Accursedskill1.gif/96px-Accursedskill1.gif
I always thought this went without explaining, but if I don't list it, some idiot will more than likely post replies calling me a noob for not listing it. (Because the "it goes without saying" route just doesn't work on the internet.)

When you have Flame Consumption active, the damage that you would normally deal to yourself when you cast Cauterize will instead heal you. You can occasionally use this to your advantage in teamfights, since you do not have a way to cast a heal on yourself outside of items, however it is not game breaking by any means in my own opinion. Icing on the cake, I'd say. I can't honestly think of a time this has saved my life, but it's worth mentioning anyway.

http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/7/7f/Accursedskill1.gif/96px-Accursedskill1.gif
Alone, you can use Cauterize to deny your own death. This takes practice, but the basic idea behind this is that you kill yourself with the damage from Cauterize in order to prevent an enemy hero from last hitting you while you flee from them. This denies them gold and experience, both of which are a pretty big deal. It does still cost you gold as does any death, however.

This is probably the most advanced technique involved in playing Accursed, as there are so many variables involved that are out of your control. However, once you get good at this and can do it on a reliable basis, you will actually be able to tell the difference in enemy heroes when they can't get kills.

Marylinn
01-19-2010, 05:51 AM
Item synopsis |

Clicking on any of the items in this section will direct you to the item as seen on HoNWiki. (Disabled for now.) (http://honwiki.net/)
Accursed is not a very item dependent hero, however there are a lot of different ways one can build him to fill different roles. I encourage becoming familiar with all of them to learn which build best suits what situation.

Starting items
:Courier: :RunesOfTheBlight: :ManaPotion:x2 :MinorTotem:x2

If your team is supplying a courier, you have 200 gold to play with. I suggest buying either a Guardian Ring (To upgrade to Ring of the Teacher, the Scarab can be purchased from the sideshop) or a Mana Battery from the sideshop if you are going to make good use of it in the lane you'll be in. There is also the option to upgrade the team's courier to flying, but I don't suggest this as 400g towards a courier is a lot in early game.


Make good use of your courier! Do not be afraid to use it to ship consumables to yourself! You will go through quite a few mana potions!

Now that that's out of the way...


Support core |
:NomesWisdom: :PlatedGreaves: :Astrolabe:
:HomecomingStone: :BarrierIdol: :PowerSupply:


Notes
I always rush Nome's before anything else. Once you have Nome's in your possession, you have effectively completed Accursed's item build. It remedies his mana problems pretty much completely, as well as provides that ever-so-valuable aura to teamfights. It is an irreplaceable item that I would never even consider changing for something else.

After Nome's, pick a pair of boots of your choice. I listed Plated Greaves, as Accursed is a solid choice to carry them as the buff is great for pushing and teamfights, however if 2 or more people on your team already have them, you can get whichever boots you want. My second and third picks for boots are :PostHaste: and :Steamboots: in that order. Post Haste assures you will NEVER miss a teamfight, which is very conducive to Accursed's role.

After Nome's and Boots, it's up to you. Barrier Idol and Astrolabe are both solid choices. If the opposing team has a heavy magic lineup, Barrier Idol is almost always the better choice. It severely screws heroes like Pyromancer, Witch Slayer, Soulstealer, Plague Rider, Succubus...the list goes on. If they're a heavy area nuke team, Astrolabe is also one of the ways you can remedy Accursed's natural weakness. (The fact that he has no area healing.)

Power Supply can be bought at any time. I usually get a Mana Battery within the first ten minutes of the game, and upgrade it to Power Supply when I need to shrink down my items in my inventory. This usually comes around the time I start building boots.

And as always, keep a homecoming stone around at all times.


Tank/Initiation core |
Lots of choices here!
:SacrificialStone: :Steamboots: :ShrunkenHead:
:HomecomingStone: :PowerSupply: :BehemothsHeart:

Notes
This build has a lot of room for improvisation, but the basic idea is to build a Sacrificial Stone as early into the game as possible in order to amass as many charges as you can. This can be a lot more difficult than it sounds, so be aware that if you have a bad early game, you will need to settle for building your boots and shrunken in order to keep you alive. With a recent patch, Sacrificial Stone is a bit more affordable and a lot more useful, so it's a very, VERY solid item.

Boot choices are either Steamboots or Plated Greaves. Steamboots set to strength is a pretty big health boost, but Plated are a solid choice when dealing with heavily physical teams. Use discretion.

Shrunken Head is an amazing item, making you immune to most disables and magic. You can throw it on as the other team starts to rip into you and you will instantly appreciate the value of this item. It effectively cockblocks heroes with relatively fight-turning stuns or nukes, and is a huge pain in the ass when used correctly. An invaluable item indeed.

Behemoth's Heart is a really self explanatory item. A huge health pool boost is never bad. The health regen is sort of negligible, but it's worth mentioning I suppose.

Get a Power Supply whenever you find yourself with the need for it. If you don't manage to get Sac Stone, you're going to NEED Power Supply to feed you mana during the rest of the game.

There are a lot of other really viable tanking items for Accursed. If you want more choices, refer to the "luxury items" section below.


Luxury Items |
This is mostly a compendium of solid choices for Accursed. I didn't build them into my actual item builds, but they are by no means bad items. Most of these items are generally good items, but some of them have more specific uses.



:Puzzlebox: A great item used in a lot of situations to counter invisible-reliant heroes, it can also be mentioned highly for it's ability to push towers. When micro'd correctly, the mana burn can be devastating.
:Stormspirit: is actually pretty good on Accursed too. If you're in desperate need of disables, you can grab this after Nome's and boots. That being said...
:KuldrasSheepstick: is good for the same reason, just way more expensive.

:BarbedArmor: is a hilarious item worth mentioning for when playing as a support. A lot of people expect to back off when your ult goes off, but if you blow this item early into your health pool, they will lose all interest in attacking you. If they don't, and this is especially true with heroes like Chronos and Madman, they will plummet their health to an almost unrecoverable point, causing them to leave a fight prematurely. Always worth a laugh.
:TabletOfCommand: Another item that's pretty funny when used correctly. You can use this in a couple of different ways. One, you can use it to push enemy heroes down hills, causing them to intiate teamfights before they're ready. This is often fatal for them, and is game-turning when done correctly. Two, you can use this item to escape. Simply run away and as you are running, use Tablet on yourself to leap even further away from the person who's chasing you. And third, you can push yourself off of cliffs, so it's nice for escaping melee carries by abusing terrain.
:RingOfSorcery: Decent item, I don't use it as a core item as I don't feel personally starved for mana after Nome's, but if you have a team that can make good use of the burst mana, you can pick it up. I like it for teams with Pebbles/Behemoth/Thunderbringer/Jeraziah, as it really just gives them THAT much more longevity when combined with their own Mana Rings.
:Mock: A good item to increase Accursed's teamfight presence when initiating. Having this will make you a greater threat, causing people to attack you, which means more broken Fire Shields. Your area damage is formidable as hell using this approach.
:DaemonicBreastplate Another initiation item. It's a solid tank item, which also provides it's fight-turning aura. Worth buying against teams with a heavy reliance on melee carries, as it makes them that much easier to nuke down.


Bad items!
Just some items that I've seen people buy in pubs that are terrible.



:Bottle: You do not need a bottle. Rune whoring is better suited to heroes with better mobility. If your mana is an issue, consider carrying mana potions. You'll spend about as much on them as you would a bottle over the course of a game, except you don't have to take runes from people who could actually use them in order to fill them.
:AbyssalSkull: Terrible item for just about everyone in the game except (arguably) War Beast. 15% base damage is not very valuable, as most heroes who rely on auto attack damage have low damage ranges, but attack very quickly instead. Daemonic Breastplate adds more damage on average via not only the buff to your team, but the armor debuff to the enemy. The lifesteal is negligible, as it doesn't benefit all heroes on the team like :Astrolabe: or :NomesWisdom: would and the mana regen doesn't scale into late game. Nome's provides the same armor buff.
:RunedAxe: Jesus Christ, this item is almost never good on a strength hero. Stop building it. Nome's is just a better item for mana regen, and the cleave/damage is mostly worthless.
:Shieldbreaker: :HackNSlash: both contain attack modifiers that do not stack with Sear. Not worth buying, you have :HackNSlash: built into your hero and Daemonic Breastplate will do what Shieldbreaker will.
:HelmOfTheBlackLegio Accursed's ult is fed by damage. You want to take as much damage as possible while your ult is active before people notice it and stop attacking you. While it's not necessarily as bad as some of the above items, it's not good either.

Marylinn
01-19-2010, 05:52 AM
Team synergy |
So you know what skills to get, and what items are good for you. But now you ask "but who will I perform well with!?" This is a pretty hard question to answer, since as a support hero, you have synergy with not just single heroes, but teams in general. As long as you're part of the team, you'll do well. So that being said, I'll just list some heroes that you'll do exceptionally well with in the early laning phases.

Buddies


:pand: :dark: :sand: :pebb: :pest: :legi: :warb: :madm: :zeph: :mali: :pred: :blac: :magm: :dead: :hamm: :nigh: :chro: :ramp: :behe: :arma: :mage: :bloo: :swif: :phar: :scou: :krak:
Basically any hero that needs to be in melee range will be in good hands while you're in lane. You give them the freedom to free farm, so as long as they're good at last hitting, you can focus on denies and make the other team cry.
:dark: :pand: :pebb: :hamm: :chro: :pred: :bloo: :blac: :swif: :nigh: :valk: :behe: :warb: :fors: :ramp: :mage: :andr:
These heroes in particular are really good to lane with, as they all have mechanics to score first-blood really easily as long as you keep the enemy Seared.
:slit:
A very good ally, as between your Fire Shield spam and their potent harassment via Toxic Spray and Toxicity, you will have your enemies running back to the fountain in no time.
:glac:
His mana regeneration aura is field-wide, so even if he isn't in your lane, his aura will feed you mana. Very helpful early on, especially paired with another source of mana regeneration.
:pred: :scou: :swif: :chro: :mali: :nigh: :zeph: :mage: :sand: :dark:
Your typical farm-reliant carries that will benefit the entire game as a whole by having a lucrative lane phase. You allow them to do this with ease.
:devo:
Sear can set him up for some really excellent hooks. Not the BEST duo ever, but certainly good.

Heroes to look out for


:pyro::witc::legi::souls::dead:
All of these heroes can gib you before your ulti auto-activates. Be weary of them. Counter this by activating it manually before their huge hitting moves.
:pred:
His attacks, once he levels Carnivorous, deal damage based on a % of your health. This means he can eat through your health pool very quickly.
:blac:
Just because he's Blacksmith.
:soulr:
He's worth mentioning since his very presence in a lane can make it annoying for a carry to farm. All he has to do is level aura.

Demonstration screenshots |
Coming soon.

To do: Cauterize range, Fire Shield cast/explosion range.


Replays |
This section needs content. If you have any replays you'd like to upload, please leave a post here or PM me and I will link to them in this post.

Replay by me. (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=22699301)
Yeah, I didn't follow my own skill build or item build, I tried out Sidekick's here. I liked it a tad better than RoTT. I rushed Nome's Wisdom, abruptly followed by Plated Greaves. (I didn't go Steamboots. We were pushing pretty hard.) Then I started into Astrolabe, but never really got a chance to make use of it. Worked well enough, I'd say.

Another replay by me. (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=24613874)
Had a crumby early game, but had some good tower dives in there. (An early double kill.) Puppetmaster I laned with was kind of mediocre, we could have done a lot more to harass them out of the lane, but the Torturer was giving me hell. Thankfully Pebbles was a retard throughout the entire game (the part where they try to 2v1 me and fail because Pebbles whiffs stuns = classic) so it was basically an easy win. I went tank since we didn't really have a great initiator, but I still built Nome's first. Proved to be worth it, since from that point on the game was smooth sailing.

Courtesy of Sidekick. (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=20943435)
Replay of him soloing mid. If you've ever seen Deadwood, Blood Hunter, Pharoah, or Keeper of the Forest solo mid, it's pretty akin to that. Wish there was more I could say about it, but it's a pretty straightforward process.

Courtesy of HankyPanky. (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=22433927)
This replay was sent to me via PM. There are some glaring flaws I noticed in the very early game (Not taking a level of Sear cost him a kill, possibly two.) but overall this is exactly how I would recommend playing him with a melee carry. You'll notice how he dives the creeps without fear, causing the enemy heroes to run out of experience range a lot. He also makes really wise use of Fire Shield. He also made use of an item I should have probably metioned originally (Trinket of Restoration) which is pretty awesome in early game. (And if you watch the map with Fog of War turned off, you can see Puppet Master displaying some REALLY good ancient stacking.)

Courtesy of MostlyCasual. (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=21969145)
This replay plays a lot like what I suggested in this guide. There are some mistakes that people who play in higher brackets won't make (Pretty sure this game was in the 1500ish bracket.) during this replay, but ignoring the flaws of the opponents, the actual gameplay of the Accursed is good enough. He was present at all the teamfights for the most part, farmed well early game, stopped opponents from getting away by Cauterize sniping them, and kept Sear up at vital times. Overall pretty good for new players.

Credits |
Thanks to S2 for making Heroes of Newerth, and Icefrog for maintaining the game's predecessor.
Thanks to ShadowExile (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/member.php?u=376498) for the format I used to make this guide. I choose it as I thought it was very visually appealing and well laid out. His original layout/hero is here. (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showpost.php?p=827112&postcount=1)
Thanks to Viole (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/member.php?u=19244) for her excellent guide on juking (http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=6514). I learned a lot from it, and it helped me improve a lot at this game.
HoNWiki (http://honwiki.net/), which I found to be the most accessible database for item information.

Marylinn
01-19-2010, 05:53 AM
Reserved.

Marylinn
01-19-2010, 05:53 AM
Also reserved, because who the hell knows?

amarant123
01-19-2010, 09:01 AM
Abyssal skull is good for lifesteal, mana regen, armor and extra damage that applies to your melee hero members in your group. Also, I wouldn't get helm of the black legion as someone in the other guide said that it will hurt your ulti since you will get less health back. Otherwise, a nice guide.

Skull4er
01-19-2010, 11:20 AM
you should add mock, accursed is one of the best mock carriers ingame.

Marylinn
01-19-2010, 03:26 PM
Abyssal skull is good for lifesteal, mana regen, armor and extra damage that applies to your melee hero members in your group. Also, I wouldn't get helm of the black legion as someone in the other guide said that it will hurt your ulti since you will get less health back. Otherwise, a nice guide.
Honestly, the only thing that makes Abyssal Skull better than Ring of the Teacher is the 15% base damage. The lifesteal is negligible, and the aura and regen aren't drastically better.

The reason RoTT is better as it is a component for Nome's Wisdom, which I would consider better than Abyssal Skull by a mile.




Good catch on Mock. I had it in there originally, then reformatted some of the items and completely forgot to readd it. Thanks.

Meczor
01-20-2010, 02:53 AM
Two thumbs up!

MostlyCasual
01-20-2010, 05:21 AM
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=21969145

Not the best example in the world since I'm not 100% used to the frames on his attack, but I think I did ok. I played it like a babysitter early and went for tank items since we had no tank. Worked well, especially the part with the LOLslither ulti'ing into my bkb.

Nice guide tho.

Marylinn
01-20-2010, 10:00 PM
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=21969145

Not the best example in the world since I'm not 100% used to the frames on his attack, but I think I did ok. I played it like a babysitter early and went for tank items since we had no tank. Worked well, especially the part with the LOLslither ulti'ing into my bkb.

Nice guide tho.
Thanks! Added it. A few tips I would suggest: once you get used to his attack animation, ditch the Logger's Hatchet unless playing against a Keeper of the Forest. :)

SideKick1
01-21-2010, 04:51 AM
Skill build for support/babysitter is
Fire shield
Cauterize
Fire shield
Cauterize
Fire Shield
Flame Consumption
Fire shield
Cauterize
Cauterize
Sear
Flame Consumption
Sear
Sear
Sear
Stats
Flame Consumption

with the core items being
:PowerSupply::Steamboots:(str) :NomesWisdom:
followed by
:Astrolabe: or :BarrierIdol: next depending on whats needed then the other if the game continues
and luxury
:BehemothsHeart:
and should be noted this is pretty much the only skill build worth doing, and i only ever get a loggers hatchet if i solo mid

SideKick1
01-21-2010, 05:04 AM
my most recent games as accursed
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=22048302
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=21159337
and one where i solo mid
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=20733805

Voulture
01-21-2010, 05:14 AM
Dunno i cant believe someone is not maxing shield and cautarize first. One lvl in sear is enough for first 10 lvls. I love playing Accursed, played him full support build few minutes ago, 22664961 (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=22664961).

Marylinn
01-21-2010, 06:02 AM
Dunno i cant believe someone is not maxing shield and cautarize first. One lvl in sear is enough for first 10 lvls. I love playing Accursed, played him full support build few minutes ago, 22664961 (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=22664961).
Like I said, situational and/or preferance. I can't honestly say I've played a game where I got farmed enough to have the mana upkeep to level Fire Shield early on. Unless I have a Glacius somewhere on the field, I already feel starved for mana until level 9ish just harassing with lvl 1 shield. Perhaps I am a tad more aggressive with it than most?

I need to play a game with him and post a replay, I have just been playing AP games and randoming, so hopefully he comes up soon. :)

SideKick1
01-21-2010, 06:35 AM
Like I said, situational and/or preferance. I can't honestly say I've played a game where I got farmed enough to have the mana upkeep to level Fire Shield early on. Unless I have a Glacius somewhere on the field, I already feel starved for mana until level 9ish just harassing with lvl 1 shield. Perhaps I am a tad more aggressive with it than most?

I need to play a game with him and post a replay, I have just been playing AP games and randoming, so hopefully he comes up soon. :)
you should be using the courier you bough to ferry mana pots as well as picking up a :ScarabRing: as early as possible

Marylinn
01-21-2010, 07:48 AM
Depends on the start of the game tbh. I don't always buy a courier, and I play pubs, so ten times out of ten, if I don't buy it I don't get one.

Generally I ride RoTT until my first trip to fountain, (usually right around 7ish) where I buy Marchers and a walking courier. TP back to lane, sideshop the rest of my marchers (usually enhanced) while shipping myself consumables. But those first few levels are a ***** for me usually. :\ Maybe reconsider the RoTT, I guess.

Puchi
01-21-2010, 08:08 AM
Good guide a few new things to think about, im going to try the "babysitter" skillbuild with some modifications. The item section is pretty messy, and the hero synergy part is way too detailed, try to limit both sections to the comonly best itempicks and best hero synergy / best counters, it gets abit boring to read the obvius stuff, but if you aim too help players in all levels of play its good i guess :P

Edit:
The build i usually use for babysitting is this:
Shield
Sear
Cauterize
Cauterize
Cauterize
Ulti
Cauterize
Shield
Shield
Shield
Ulti
Sear

This build makes it easy to harras, and also you can heal your lanemate making it a both offensive and defensive build, i aim to get my nomes as fast as possible. Starting items for this build:
Currier / ring of prot(+2armor)
2xblight
2mana pot
2 minor totems
^i think :P

My overall rating too your guide is 3/5
The reason for my mediocre rating is that the guide did not help me per say. Most of the stuff in it was very standard and you lack in my eyes high lvl tactics and tips.

SideKick1
01-21-2010, 08:09 AM
Depends on the start of the game tbh. I don't always buy a courier, and I play pubs, so ten times out of ten, if I don't buy it I don't get one.

Generally I ride RoTT until my first trip to fountain, (usually right around 7ish) where I buy Marchers and a walking courier. TP back to lane, sideshop the rest of my marchers (usually enhanced) while shipping myself consumables. But those first few levels are a ***** for me usually. :\ Maybe reconsider the RoTT, I guess.
your first item should either go to a courier or wards depending on which your team needs
your starting items should be 2x minor totem 1x runes of blight 2x mana pots
ship runes/health pots as needed and buy mana battery/scrab from the side shop asap if youre duel laning or courier them to you if your solo mid
after that finish your RoTT and set it to heroes only, buy marchers and depending on your gold income, if its bad aim to finish nomes first if its good finish your steamboots (set them to str)

after completing your core
Power Supply/Nomes Wisdom/Steamboots
you either play ward ***** (if needed) or look at your enemies and decide which is needed more, Barrier Idol or Astolobe, usually barrier idol.
if you manage barrier idol and astrolobe the remaining inventory slot goes to a behemoths heart
if the game still hasnt ended upgrade your boots to post haste, ward and save for buybacks

SideKick1
01-21-2010, 08:12 AM
also upgrading the courier to flying is an absolute must, asap

Marylinn
01-21-2010, 09:33 AM
My overall rating too your guide is 3/5
The reason for my mediocre rating is that the guide did not help me per say. Most of the stuff in it was very standard and you lack in my eyes high lvl tactics and tips.
It was really all aimed at new players. I try not to pretend I know more than I do, and I honestly haven't played at a high skill level yet, so I wouldn't want to try and teach something even I don't fully know/understand. I think once I find a group to play with regularly I will learn and add to this guide, but for now I'm not much better than most. My aim for this guide was to help fresh non-DoTA playing people get a handle on a hero that's generally easy to learn. (A good starting hero.)

SideKick1
01-21-2010, 10:09 AM
It was really all aimed at new players. I try not to pretend I know more than I do, and I honestly haven't played at a high skill level yet, so I wouldn't want to try and teach something even I don't fully know/understand. I think once I find a group to play with regularly I will learn and add to this guide, but for now I'm not much better than most. My aim for this guide was to help fresh non-DoTA playing people get a handle on a hero that's generally easy to learn. (A good starting hero.)
why dont you play with us (your clan!) more?

Marylinn
01-21-2010, 11:05 AM
Whenever I'm on, nobody is around. School kind of keeps me occupied in the evenings, so I play after midnight est, so only like...Megumi is on.

Edit: Also, added a replay of my own.

PSR_PubStaR
01-21-2010, 12:09 PM
I really don't think it is good to max sear early especially you are babysitting. Shield should be maxed if the carry is just going to concentrate on farming.

My Avernus dota guide (competitive viable)
http://www.playdota.com/forums/14719/guide-competitive-avernus/

SideKick1
01-21-2010, 01:00 PM
blatant self-promotion
hi thar

Marylinn
01-24-2010, 04:55 AM
I really don't think it is good to max sear early especially you are babysitting. Shield should be maxed if the carry is just going to concentrate on farming.

My Avernus dota guide (competitive viable)
http://www.playdota.com/forums/14719/guide-competitive-avernus/
As I said a bunch of times in the section regarding skill builds, I suggest adapting to the flow of the game. If you're playing in a game where your farm goes pretty well, and can get a quick, reliable source of mana regeneration, I would max shield a lot faster. If not, leaving shield low is a decent option, since you can still damage heroes in lane and having high level sear will keep melee heroes off of creeps, in fear of getting caught in a gank.

I guess I should bold/underline the part.

Marylinn
01-24-2010, 08:20 PM
Some updates. Will do more tomorrow.

Elation
01-24-2010, 09:05 PM
leveling up sear so much is foolish

Marylinn
01-24-2010, 11:18 PM
Messed with skill builds. Realized mine is probably more inclined to a slower pace.

sieneh
01-25-2010, 04:20 AM
If you are interested, I can send you my replay of a pure support Accursed in a 1700+ game, normal mode, BD game.

Interesting lane setup as well, Defiler and me vs Madman and Demented.

The overall gameplay was pretty good, I made a couple of mistakes(which I comment in the chat as well), but all in all, the game was pretty decent.

Marylinn
01-25-2010, 06:04 AM
If you are interested, I can send you my replay of a pure support Accursed in a 1700+ game, normal mode, BD game.

Interesting lane setup as well, Defiler and me vs Madman and Demented.

The overall gameplay was pretty good, I made a couple of mistakes(which I comment in the chat as well), but all in all, the game was pretty decent.
If you rush at least :RingOfTheTeacher: before doing boots or minor totem, your mana problems in early game should be a lot less fatal. I have just been rushing Nome's and building boots afterwards lately. Your early game farm flies by a lot faster when you can afford to shield a creep and blow it up to damage an entire enemy wave. Should give it a shot.

PS: Just finished watching the entire replay. Oh god that Madman must have had down syndrome or something. Makes me laugh that people at 1700+ are still so bad.

sieneh
01-25-2010, 08:32 AM
If you rush at least :RingOfTheTeacher: before doing boots or minor totem, your mana problems in early game should be a lot less fatal. I have just been rushing Nome's and building boots afterwards lately. Your early game farm flies by a lot faster when you can afford to shield a creep and blow it up to damage an entire enemy wave. Should give it a shot.

PS: Just finished watching the entire replay. Oh god that Madman must have had down syndrome or something. Makes me laugh that people at 1700+ are still so bad.

As you can see in the replay, Defiler and me were being pretty aggressive, since I bought the courier at start, I couldn't afford my standard starting build which goes:

Totems
Armor ring
x2 runes
Clarity

When I don't have to buy a courier, I usually start like this, finish RotT on the lane and enjoy :p

Some screw ups were evident(like casting shield early on pharaoh when he was killing Thunder and sadly getting Defiler killed), but there were some good moves as well(like giving Pharaoh that Madman kill shortly after that clash) :p

Madman was very cocky since he had Dsham as a lane partner, luckily, Defiler knew what he was doing(even though he didn't take silence at 4, which I ALWAYS do).

Overall, I didn't farm much since we were being very aggressive, Defiler and me did well by keeping Madman and Dsham pinned down early game with Vindi harassing top and Pharaoh going on a ganking spree really really fast.

Marylinn
01-25-2010, 06:29 PM
Do you care if I post the replay you sent me?

sieneh
01-26-2010, 02:27 AM
Nope, knock yourself out if you think its good enough to show the playstyle of a support oriented Accursed.

SideKick1
01-27-2010, 09:29 AM
If you rush at least :RingOfTheTeacher: before doing boots or minor totem, your mana problems in early game should be a lot less fatal. I have just been rushing Nome's and building boots afterwards lately. Your early game farm flies by a lot faster when you can afford to shield a creep and blow it up to damage an entire enemy wave. Should give it a shot.

PS: Just finished watching the entire replay. Oh god that Madman must have had down syndrome or something. Makes me laugh that people at 1700+ are still so bad.
ive already posted 1 1700+ BD game
1600+ AP
and 1600+ SD
=/

SideKick1
01-27-2010, 09:37 AM
another good replay of me soloing mid with accursed
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=20943435

Marylinn
01-27-2010, 05:15 PM
Sorry, internet has been kind of a pain in the ass these last couple of days. Haven't been able to get a connection to HoN to watch the replays. :\ Will when I can.

Marylinn
02-01-2010, 06:17 AM
ive already posted 1 1700+ BD game
1600+ AP
and 1600+ SD
=/
Sorry I just haven't gotten around to watching all of them yet. I'm trying to watch all the replays before I post them so I can comment on 'em.

DarkBullet
02-04-2010, 02:34 PM
What about Staff of the Master, thats one of my favorite items on him becuase +2 seconds on his ult makes you unstoppable.

`ASie
02-05-2010, 01:15 AM
Edit:
The build i usually use for babysitting is this:
Shield
Sear
Cauterize
Cauterize
Cauterize
Ulti
Cauterize
Shield
Shield
Shield
Ulti
Sear


I like this skill build better. It allows for harassment on the other team. One level of shield allows it to break faster, thus doing faster burst damage. Also, at lower levels, the other team will not deal enough damage to break the shield in one hit, so it can do wonders to save an ally. Cauterize is useful as both a heal and a nuke. It also synergizes with your ulti as you can somewhat heal due to the damage taken by using the skill.

Marylinn
02-06-2010, 06:05 AM
I like this skill build better. It allows for harassment on the other team. One level of shield allows it to break faster, thus doing faster burst damage. Also, at lower levels, the other team will not deal enough damage to break the shield in one hit, so it can do wonders to save an ally. Cauterize is useful as both a heal and a nuke. It also synergizes with your ulti as you can somewhat heal due to the damage taken by using the skill.
I use higher level shield on deny-range creeps to nuke the entire lane a lot more often than I use it to save people, at least in early-early game. It does push the lane if you're not careful about your own denies, but it also makes pretty quick work of hero HP too. Lower level cauterize is kinda good for this approach too, since it allows you to snipe mana/health potions off of enemies with relative ease and doesn't cost you as much health.

If I'm playing with a super aggressive laner, (Predator, Swiftblade, Madman etc.) I'll switch it up and do Sear->Shield->Cauterize->Cauterize and improvise from there. But like I said, comes down to preference.



And don't ever buy Staff of the Master. It's just terrible. Sacrificial Stone and Nome's are both lightyears better.

Juke_Box
02-09-2010, 07:55 AM
What about Staff of the Master, thats one of my favorite items on him becuase +2 seconds on his ult makes you unstoppable.

I can think of a million better ways to spend 4300g!

Jehuty
02-10-2010, 11:06 PM
when in 1v1 i like
:ElderParasite:
:Brutalizer:
:Steamboots:
:HackNSlash:

SideKick1
02-11-2010, 07:10 AM
accursed ulti isnt actually that good
no one who knows what they're doing is going to attack you while it's on and heal you
wasting 4300g to make it last longer is just absolutely retarded, you'd be better off rushing doombringer
incoming joke replay
http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=26129718

Marylinn
02-11-2010, 02:32 PM
when in 1v1 i like
:ElderParasite:
:Brutalizer:
:Steamboots:
:HackNSlash:
All "lol 1v1 is for noobs" arguments aside, Hack 'n Slash on Accursed is laughable.

Jehuty
02-11-2010, 06:27 PM
i just do it cuz ilike it that way

Marylinn
02-27-2010, 02:56 PM
Messed with some formatting.

Nakke`
03-17-2010, 11:26 PM
All "lol 1v1 is for noobs" arguments aside, Hack 'n Slash on Accursed is laughable.

its not as bad as getting sear at level 1 or 2

GGreenBass
04-06-2010, 05:26 PM
I would really like to know what you think of how I usually find myself playing Accursed.

Early game:
Items: Trinket -> Courior -> Astrolabe (Or I used to, more recently I've swapped to getting Nome's off of the bat because of it's AMAZING managen)
Skills: Depends. Sometimes I will level sear early, but only on rare occasions. I ususally put one into the shield but pump into cauterize for early/mid harass and epic heals.
What happens: Often I find myself keeping all of my teammates alive, healthy and gank-proof; but I am VERY often running back to base. This is annoying. Also, I will admit, sometimes I accidentally over-spam my shield and waste all my mana. I steal a few kills accidentally (it's almost always accidentally).

Mid game:
Items: Marchers, Nomes or Astro (w/e I didn't get before), then PostHaste.
Skills: Clean up my shield levels, get some in ult, and in rare situations where I'm not needed for any autoattack support I'll skip sear and pour into stats.
What happens: Teammates live a lot longer, they can survive through those annoying (or epic if you're winning) perma-teamfight situations, I usually keep people alive with my shield but the cast time makes it a little hard. I accidentally steal a kill or two. I usually die for the first time over something stupid here. Towerdivers serve little to no penalty at this point in the game- on my team, that is.

Late game:
Items: 100% Situational. Sometimes I'll get PushTab, or Barrier, and sometimes I'll go for Behe but I rarely ever finish it, regardless of a win or a loss.
Skills: Obviously clean up sear and ulti, and just pour into stats.
What happens: Sigh. I don't save HALF the teammates I usually should because I can't get the shield on them in time- and it's usually completely my fault- but sometimes I cast it as soon as I can/needed but they die before it lands on them. I probably don't die, but I will if something comes up. I can't remember what my own fountain looks like anymore, unless my team sucks (which obviously is the same thing as unless I'm playing horrible) and I'm defending it. (I don't mean to be boastful, Accursed is the ONLY hero I consider myself above average with.)

Any and all critiques would be appreciated- I'm thinking of ousting Astro out of my build entirely (but I like my earlygame Trinket), getting marchers a little bit earlier, and... that means I need to be more accepting of other item builds. Your guide really helped ^_^ I don't really play tank-accursed, as even in games where I am the closest thing to a tank I can ususally keep my teammates alive long enough to not need to build him like one. Also I'm very open to that firstblood build, but I'm also a little afraid of it because it's new.
Please PM me with any and all critiques, as I absolutely LOVE Accursed (and my clan trusts me with him immensely).

a_cloth
05-01-2010, 02:08 PM
great guide that deserves a bump

Skull4er
05-01-2010, 02:22 PM
since the latest changes to nullstone it can be a very good first item (if you have someone else that goes for nomes, for example Dshaman or WS)
also helps against those annoying nukes that kill you before your ultimate goes off :P