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Soulstealer v2.2.8.1
Table of Contents.
- Basics
- Introduction
- Lore
- Basic Stats
- Advanced Stats
- Hero Role
- Skills
- Description & Diligent Analysis
- Skill Build
- Items
- Initial Items
- Core Items
- Luxury Items
- Items to Avoid
- Gameplay
- Laning
- Ganking
- Team Clashes
- Good Teammates
- Enemies to Avoid
- Replays
- Closing Notes
- Changelog
Introduction
This guide is intended for the mid skill 5v5 games on Forest of Caldavar map and Normal Mode. Do not expect to follow these guidelines and be successful in other conditions, such as competition games.
Soulstealer is specific mid to late game semi carry hero due to his dependance on skills and his very strong ulti. With proper build he is great initiator, ganker and 1v1 hero. He is a hero that is meant to be played on the middle lane, as he needs to gain levels as quickly as possible. With proper play, he has the ability to dominate the mid and late game. He is a hero that excels at quickly bringing down single targets, and initiating with dealing high amount of damage to whole enemy team. In the hands of a good player, he can be a game changing hero that's capable of causing great damage and bring chaos to the opposing team's heroes while your team mates finish them off after complete mayhem you have created.
Lore
The priests tell young men bound for the battlefield that if they fall, Elysian fields and peace awaits them. But this is not strictly true, not as long as the Soulstealer walks the battlefield. Gathering the spirits of those he kills in a bloody, shadowy sack, he augments his own power with their suffering. Those who see him quake in terror to know that death, for them, will be no release, but only a fiery captivity and oblivion.
The above text will just give you the insight on what type of hero that is. Just the part of the HoN lore, and you do not need to know anything about it. As you can see he is feared enemy, mythical and deadly, who causes fear and makes enemy hearts chill from the danger or permanent captivity and oblivion. The agony that awaits them is feeding Soulstealer and making him a strong opponent.
Basic Stats
Let's look at Soulstealer's base stats and gains,Damage: 35 - 41What really should catch your mind at first here is Soulstealer's low base damage. It's very important to level your 2nd skill first and do as many last hits as you can to get it up fast. A good way to do that is to use your first skill to get more kills faster. Soulstealer's stat gains are nothing less than average. You do have a decent strength gain. Your agility gain is great and will supply you with decent natural armor. Soulstealer's intelligence gain is quite good compared to other semi carries, but you'll need to use bottle most of the time throughout the game unless you get Nullstone which is mentioned later on.
Attack Range: 500 (Ranged)
Attack Speed: 0.71
Armor: 1.8
Move Speed: 300
Strength: 15 (+2)
Agility: 20 (+2.4)
Intelligence: 18 (+2)
Advanced StatsCast delays: Demon Hand 0.65s, SoulBurst 1.4sTake a look at your cast points. Your cast point on Demon Hand is only 0.65 seconds. That's fast! But your ulti has 1.4 sec after nerf and that is the biggest problem with SS.
Sight range day/night: 1800/1200
Missile speed: 1180
Gravity: 1100
Turn rate: Fastest
Another good point on Soulstealer is his sight range at night. 1200 is more than average 800, which means that you can have sight on a lot of enemy heroes while they can't see you at night. Use this, ganking is always better at night time. Keep in mind, the day and night-cycles shift every 7.5 minutes.
Soulstealer's turn rate is the fastest, at 0.32 (or about 900 degrees / sec). Now, for example, let's say you're being chased at low HP, by enemy who is also low, or near to low, and you want to hit him with the Demon Hand to damage him and possibly prevent further chase, or even kill him. With Soulstealer you are able to do it very fast, so in most cases it is a good idea. It's very risky, so please keep that in mind and if you are not sure to hit, do not bother turning back.
Hero Role
We all know the four main groups of roles in Heroes of Newerth: Initiator, Support, Ganker and Carry. If you wanna be good at this game, it is crucial that you understand your role on your team. So your main role would be carry, and sub role, support dps.
The most important factor to look at when it comes to hero roles are their skills. 2 of Soulstealer's skills are active and 2 are passive. They revolve around (1) damaging the enemy, (2) increasing your autoattack damage and ultimate damage, (3) decreasing enemy armor (4) dealing burst damage. This means you will need to use your skills, do a few good ganks and have a good farm on mid, in order to gain level and item advantage over your enemies, because if you fail at that point, they will be able to kill you easily. Soulstealer is also a great initiator, being able to bring key opponents down in a matter of seconds. Although Soulstealer makes enough DPS through auto-attacks to be called a carry, there are better picks for carrying, but he can certainly help the team dish out some extra, auto-attack DPS in teamfights later on, specially if you went for ShieldBreaker or RiftShards. Now, what's a your job on a team? Your job as Soulstealer is to run around the map, setting up kills and getting farmed as much as you can. At later stages of the game you'll be unloading all of your skills at the start of the fight, then smack the enemy down with your auto-attacks.
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Skill Description & Diligent Analysis
It's time to take a look at what this guy can do with his awesome skills and how to best utilize them!
Demon Hand
Soulstealer calls upon the greater Hellbourne daemons to lay waste to the enemies before him.Action: FacingActivation
Type: Enemy Units
Range: 250 / 450 / 650
Radius: 275
Cast Time: 0.65 Seconds / 0.35 Seconds Backswing (Can be canceled.)
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 10 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Deals 75 / 150 / 225 / 300 Magic damage to each target in radius.
Demon Hand is first skill-reliant ability that Soulstealer possesses. In short, this skill has four uses: Farming, Killstealing and/or Nuking opponents, as well as harrasing. Think of it as a very strong, yet limited and skill related Pyro's Fire Blast. Remember, you can use it 3 times, in ranges mentioned above. Hotkey are Q, W, E, respectively for each range they work with. You can 2 shot creep waves with it, and that is the reason why you have bottle in your core build. To be able to get more kills and stay longer on lanes, farming at great speed. Good to mention is that after 35th minute you will not be able to hit them, as creeps grow stronger with time, but you can still finish them off with last hit or just auto attack them. First, let's take a quick glance at how far the range of this skill is.
Including the radius of the AoE, you end up with a max range of about 925 units. That is pretty far, which makes this skill so great at surprise ganking and initiation. Assuming you're not revealed by wards or anything, you can approach safe from the Fog of War, and cast this without the enemy noticing before it is too late.
Before we talk about how to use it, let's go over some mechanics and how the skill works:
- When the skill is cast, it will hit the enemy instantly.
- Enemies take 300 Magic damage, this is your first source of Magic damage. You can do the skill 2 more times, each hitting in its range and thus allowing you to do total of 900 magic damage. Like a Pyro's Ulti, but harder to do and lil bit less damage. Players love this skill, as with experience they tend to hit all 3, thus making Soulstealer strong nuker.
- Magic Immunity from spells or Shrunken Head completely ignores Demon Hand, so do not waste your mana!
- Invisible units also take full damage.
How to Demon Hand: Demon Hand is your main way of setting up kills, as it allows you to do strong nuke or finish of enemy. Your goal is to hit all three "hands". It is not dodged simply, but you have to predict their movements, and aim the skill accordingly.
This skill is easiest to land if you're in the Fog of War without the enemy knowing, but let's say you're laning against someone. Sure if you're mid you can sometimes use the hill to cast from the fog. However, when the enemy DO have sight on you, they will try to dodge it and will move around all the time, which is why you have to be the better player and predict where they will be heading, and not just waste your mana. In this case, a good way to hit would be to: Always keep moving around. Be unpredictable. It takes practice and you'll have to figure out how they move. Good tip I could spare is to move close to your enemy using the fog of the hill and then fire the one with shortest range and then launch up 2 more as the opponent will be running. That is a 100% early game kill on most of the heroes, but if they fight you back you might be in trouble. It is good to run a little bit back, and then when they go back also, turn around and hit medium and long range ones fast.
When ganking, make a teammate throw a stun/snare on the opponent for a guaranteed hit. If you don't have the support of your teammates or they don't have a stun/snare, just study the way your target(s) move. If a creep is about to die, you can hit them with your Demon Hand when they will walk up for the last hit. Remember, just keep trying and you'll master it very fast. Here are few pictures I took, just to give you insight on range of Demon Hand and it's radius.
Soulsteal
Soulstealer steals the souls of all he vanquishes, increasing his damage as his collection grows.Action: PassiveOn Kill
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Adds one charge
Adds 2 damage per charge to attacks. Dying will cause you to lose half of your charges.
Maximum of {8,15,23,30} Souls.
This skill does what it says. You get 1 charge with added +2 bonus damage. Every time you kill something, you get a charge. The skill is mainly used to boost your last hitting while laning, and to maximise your ulti's damage.
Dread
Soulstealer's appearance instills pure fear. Weakening the enemies morale, his mere presence lowers their armor.Action: PassiveAura Effects
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Radius: 900
Target: Enemy Units
-2 / -3 / -4 / -5 Armor
Dread is the skill that makes the difference in late game, the effect of a "free" Shield Breaker makes Soulstealer so strong hero in late game and able to kill hard carries.
Soulburst
Soulstealer releases torrents of negative energy based on the number of souls he has collected. Each torrent damages nearby enemies. The closer an enemy is, the more torrents he'll get hit by.Action: Target SelfActivation
Type: Magical
Cast Time: 1.4 Seconds
Mana Cost: 150 / 175 / 200
Cooldown: 120.0 / 110.0 / 100.0 Seconds
Required Level: 6 / 11 / 16
Releases one torrent for every 2 souls that the Soulsteal ability currently has.
Each torrent deals 80 / 120 / 160 Magic damage. Applies Soul Burst to enemies in radius for 5 seconds.
Soul Burst Effects
-15 / -20 / -25% Base Damage
15 / 20 / 25% Movement Slow
Soulstealer's ultimate has the potential to be the strongest ulti in game if aimed well. Good combination with Portal Key or Shroud will help you do it, but it can be done easily if you have a holder or stunner helping you. From experience, I was able to insta kill 90% of Int heroes and even few Agi ones.
Let's get the facts straight:
- It's the similar skill to Behemoth's ulti, just you need to be closer and the damage depends on proximity towards the enemy heroes..
- It deals Magical damage, which is why it's so superior than other semi carrie's nukes.
- It ails for 5 seconds, which is always handy for some extra time to finish people off.
- This makes him great at stopping carries because he can do very strong nuke and possibly even 1 hit them. Besides that good debuff will help your team finishing them off.
- The skill is not blocked by Nullstone, so you do not have to worry about that.
- It damages based on the proximity towards the target, the closer you are the more souls will hit your enemy.
- To give an example, let's imagine a target with 0 magical armor, thus taking full damage, and 1350 HP.
15 Torrents, each hitting for 160 magical damage = 2400 magical damage.
Potential of dealing 2400 Magical damage? Amazing. How to do it? Quite easy, but a little bit of luck is still required. For it to work, you must stand on the same spot like the enemy. That means you need to use Shroud, and intercept his movement, or when the enemy is farming, just stand on him and fire your ulti. You will be amazed at the damage you will do and instantly wipe him from the face of Newerth! But in most cases you will be able to just stand real close to the enemy and do about 1000 magical damage which is also a very good damage deal.
Skill Build
I've seen many different ways of building Soulstealer, but honestly, I can't see any other skill build for this hero than the following one:1 SoulstealFirst we are maxing Hand and Soulsteal to make us stronger in early game. We also take stats once in a while to get that few hit points extra. We start using our ulti in mid game so that's why we level it on 10 and not straight on 6. The other reason is that we also need our Demon Hands maxed, which we could not have if leveling ulti. Also we do not need Dread until we farm some item that will give us attack speed and because the aura will most likely show us to enemies and prevent us from surprising gank. Besides that stat boosting will give us the survivability which we really need and it is purely situational.
2 Demon Hand
3 Soulsteal
4 Demon Hand
5 Demon Hand
6 Soulsteal
7 Demon Hand
8 Soulsteal
9 Stats or Dread
10 Soulburst
11 Soulburst
12 Stats
13 Stats
14 Stats
15 Dread or Stats
16 Soulburst
17-25 Stats/Dread
Initial Items
Your initial items are mainly aimed at harrasing your enemy so you should just buy bottle if you will be doing so, and you should be handling mid easily against any casual opponent. I have given you more choices depending on the situation and thanks to guys who suggested it.Initial Items 2nd Choice
Initial Items 1st Choice
Soulstealer, with his low base damage needs to get bottle and control runes in order to get many creep kills and improve your damage. once you get about 10 souls it is much easier to last hit and you can continue purchasing other items since your gold gain will improve.
This choice is great for enemies with lower base damage and in mid skill tier, due to your increased survivabilty and regeneration. It will also help you getting the bottle faster as it is not expensive build.
Initial Items 3rd Choice
This item build is greatest for competitive matches as it will prolong your time on lane, give you better last hitting power and regeneration.
Core Items
Your core items should always be finished before buying anything else. Soulstealer needs items that can help him utilise his ulti, and items that make him mobile.
Luxury Items
Bottle: This item is what will let you keep roaming/ganking and spamming your skills without having to return to the base. Using the Runes to refill it, your mana problems should be solved. Assuming you're laning mid, this should be one of the first items you get.
Steam Boots: Best choice. You should allways make these boots if you're the team's best candidate for carrying (auto-attack DPS).
Homecoming Stone: Being able to port to help an ally in dare need, to stop a tower from getting destroyed by the enemy, or to quickly get to a lane to gank, you should always try to carry at least one Homecoming Stone at all times once the game starts to get on. There is no reason not to. Don't be the guy who never showed up in time to participate in a clash and end up losing a tower. You will not need them if you buy Post Haste though.
Portal Key: Excellent for positioning, and unelashing the full power of your ulti. Also very good to help your allies in ganks and amazig way of escape on the slightest sign of danger. Experienced players love it more than Shroud because it can not be countered easily.
Power Supply: Great item that will help you with regeneration and survivability. It helps a lot through early and mid game and will keep you in combat, roaming for longer.
Shrunken Head: One of the best items to get on Soulstealer in mid to high tier matches. it will make you able stay in the fights longer, be immune to most of stuns and therefore enabling you to aim your skills easier and not get interrupted when using ulti. It provides decent health bonus also along with the damage bonus it has.
Luxury items are items you should aim for after you've finished your core. Always ask yourself: What does my team need the most? Listed are some possible alternatives.Situational Items
If you're dominating, getting a quick Shieldbreaker is always a good idea. The item buffs your whole team's DPS on a single target. Additionally, it stacks with Dread and makes you a beast.
Daemonic Breastplate has great synergy with your Dread and auto-attacks through armor reduction, just like Shieldbreaker. However, it has a more team-oriented approach, it's all auras so you don't have to hit an enemy to benefit from it or anything. Assuming you have someone else to DPS, it's generally always better to get this over Shieldbreaker, as it boosts both you and your allies' survivability and DPS.
Decent item for Soulstealer, after I have tested it, it proved good for survivability and good movement speed buff. It is good to get it in matches where enemies have strong nukes as it will give you a chance to survive if they focus out the illusions. Good to mention is that skilled player will use his illusions to lure enemies on positions where fog of war will prevent them from seeing you and then as they come, just ulti-ing them.
Great item that gives you the edge against other carries if farmed on time. It's great evasion, and bonus to armor and attack speed are totally great in synergy with Shield Breaker and Dread, utilising your full auto attack power.
Behemoth's Heart is an awesome item to pick up if you find yourself with a lot of gold in your pocket at some point. It boosts your survivability and makes you able to initiate and take the hits without going down. It also increases your overall damage so it is a great choice and will make you able to still farm the creeps after minute 32 with just 2 Hand hits.
Hellflower is a great item if you have a holder in your team and are able to apply it's effect and then ulti. It will increase the damage done and it is still a good choice because of it's silencing properties. It can boost your burst even more and disable spell-reliant opponents. It will also solve your mana problems for good.
Not the first item you want to get, in rare cases Riftshards can be a good follow-up from Shieldbreaker etc. If you're gonna be the team's main source of DPS.
Kuldra is a great item against carries, and generally will help you survive their attacks, and you will be able to help your team overall. The best thing about Kuldra is that you will be able to stomp hard carries 1v1 so easily.
*If you need to free up space, you can get rid of Bottle. Keep your Boots and Shroud / Portal Key as part of your end game items.
Items to Avoid
Post Haste is a great situational item, if you will get farmed and be able to afford it, you will have the opportunity to farm even better and easier with it's ability to port you around the map so fast. Also very good speed boost will make it easier for you to escape.
This item is situational because it is in general useful only against noob players who never buy wards, or eye and you can use your Ulti quite easily with it. Of course it is possible to use it in normal games, but you will have to target players who do not have any form of reveal.
Nullstone is type of item which will even further decrease your downtime, because of it's regeneration properties you will be able to farm easily, spam your Demon Hands, and avoid getting ganked that easily, as it will block a spell and most likely save you from feeding the enemies.
These items are generally a bad pick-up on Soulstealer. Do not get these! They are only seen in low to mid games, but overall they are very bad choice.
Item that will give you fast attack speed and you will hit hard, but making you even more vulnerable and dependant on it, is the last thing you want to get.
Sometimes seen item, because of Int boost and good KS opportunity, this item is a very bad pick on Soulstealer. Even if you will be able to kill a guy easily, this item is not for SS, as you are made to rely on your auto attacks also, and not just go in Codex someone and run away.
Seen even in mid tier, this item gives you survivability, but it is to expensive for that purpose. Total waste of gold, and can easily be replaced with 2 Bracers. You need every gold you can get so buying this is a fail.
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Laning
Soulstealer should always try to get the middle lane. I wouldn't pick him if your team already has a guy who's a common mid laner. You need to take advantage of your early-mid game potential, and it's crucial that you keep your souls maxed all the time. Not only are you able to last hit better versus most mid heroes, but you're just that kind of hero that totally dominate if you're going up 1on1. While Soulstealer works in a side-lane, it's not where you really want him to be. Hence, the following will be based on going middle.
So, the first thing you wanna do is to head towards the Rune spawns. Go top spawn if you're Legion, bottom if you're Hellbourne. Follow the paths from your tower and stop at the inclines. This way you'll get sight of the spawns and be completely safe. Haste and Invisibility can be used for an early gank, Illusions and Damage will boost your last hitting powers for their duration. When the game officially starts and the creeps spawn, hurry and get back to your lane and try to block the creep wave as much as you can. Do this by walking in front of the lead creep all the way down. This will get the creeps closer to you which allows for easier last hitting.
Here, you'll have what's called a higher level ground advantage. First off, you'll be hidden from the opponent in the Fog of War. Second, if the opponent in a ranged character, it'll have a 25% miss chance when attacking uphill. So, try and get the creeps to this position, while getting in your last hits and denies. Once you hit level 4 or 5, you're actually more than able to kill your opponent. If it's a squishy target, a successful 2 hits of Demon Hand and 2 or 3 auto attacks will kill for sure. Once you hit lv 6 you can go gank if your mates really need it. But try to get Shroud or Portal Key ASAP so you can farm lot easier, be able to escape, initiate and kill.
Ganking
This is it. Your time has come to bring chaos on the other team. Let's start by looking at your possible ganking routes:
▪ Red routes are Legion.The map was made by TaeYong. He added common Ward spot during early game. The three spots in the bottom right corner are popular Hellbourne spots, while the two top left ones are popular Legion spots. Depending on how the opposing team have warded, you might have to approach more cautiously to avoid being spotted. The ward closest to the bottom lane (the rightmost one) is an amazing defensive Ward for the Hellbourne team; you won't be able to gank this lane without a Tablet of Haste or Invisibility. Just port to the tower (to the second one if the enemy got sight on the outer one), and walk unseen up into the woods.
▪ Green routes are Hellbourne.
▪ Blue routes are for both teams.
Whenever you gank, you want to use this order: (1) Shroud or Portal Key, (2) Ultimate, (3) Spam Demon Hands, short and mid range, (4) Aim for the last Demon Hand. long range, (5) Escape. This combo should kill most heroes. Be sure to check to enemy forest for an easy kill.
When the laning phase is over, you can gank lone heroes busy farming with the help of some teammates, but be careful when you do so! It's not as safe to gank at this point because the enemies will stick more together and be ready to back each other up.
Team Clashes
In team fights, your initial goal will be to bring down key targets (hard-carries or disablers like Tempest are excellent targets) as quickly as possible, preferably before they get to do anything. Squishy disablers probably won't survive your burst and auto-attacks, while carries with Shrunken Head will still be damaged by your Shield Breaker no matter what, which should be enough time to bring them down with the support of your allies. Getting the fight to a 4on5 before it even starts is a huge advantage. When pushing or being pushed, remember you can run into the woods and hide along most parts of the top lane. Blinking in from here (ideally with a Shrunken Head activated) is almost certain to catch the enemy off guard. It can be gamebreaking if you manage to land your ulti on a hard-carry like The Dark Lady or Chronos before they get to activate their Shrunken Heads or throw off their spells. This way you'll be able to follow up with auto attacks besides from your ultimate.
Good Teammates
Basically, any hero that can reduce Physical armor and stun or disable is great to couple up with Soulstealer. This also goes for anyone with a slow, because they'll easily set up your Demon Hands. To name a few:
Demented Shaman is an awesome hero. He has a it all, a slow/stun and Physical armor reduction. If he throws his ultimate a little while before the team fight beings, your auto attacks will equal disaster for the enemy.
Andromeda is like your best hero to gank with. A reliable stun and instant armor reduction (unlike DSham) is a godsend to you.
Pestilence, need I say more? Not only does he stun, but his Swarm will let you auto attack and kill most of heroes with ease.
Glacius is the coolest guy to have with you. His aura will allow you to spam your skills way more (missed Demon Hands during laning phase aren't that penalized anymore), and he has two awesome skills that'll let you set up a Demon Hand without failure.
Succubus is the hottest chick you can have. Her sleep or ultimate will allow you to perfectly do your ulti and rain hell to your enemy.
Devourer is amazingly good with Soulstealer, his rot and ulti make it so easy to use Demon Hands or ulti and destroy your enemy in seconds.
Enemies to Avoid
You don't want to face enemies that are capable of increasing their own team's Physical armor. Silences also stop your effectiveness. You will be able to kill some of them on 1v1, but in team fights, they will render you much less useful.
Demented Shaman is good to have on your team, but he can be a real PAIN when on the opposing team. His Storm Cloud will reduce effectiveness of your auto attacks, forcing you to rely on your skills to much.
Plague Rider is a common babysitter, and he's really good at it. He's also a ward b*tch which is bad news for you. Most importantly, he's able to give any ally +12 bonus Physical armor. Do not want! He can also harras you very hard and will force you to stay back and not get as many creep kills.
Scout has an awesome agility gain, which gives him high natural armor. That doesn't go hand-in-hand with your attacks. He can also go invisible, and dodge your ulti or demon hands, so you'll have to gank him with True Sight or an allied stun. However, most annoyingly, he has a silence that'll make sure you can't hit him or his allies with any of your skills. Worst thing is that he can kill you really easy with just few of his auto attacks.
The Dark Lady is pain in the ass. She can silence you, use darkness and prevent you from using any skill good, and slash you in only few hits, unless you have strong items like Wingbow.
Devourer is annoying hero at this moment in game because his ulti is empowering him alot and if he makes a good hook on you and starts rotting you will be dead. And that's without the ulti. Do I need to expalin more?
Pebbles is also a dangerous opponent as if he manages to stun you, he will come up to you and try to throw you towards his tower, on random creep that might be there. His combo is deadly as it's magical damage counters you easily.
Panda is a hero that can kill you from level 6 and above, as if he flicks you and does an ulti on you, you will probably be on so low HP, that 2 flicks will just finish you off. Besides that his ulti will counter your Shrunken Head, so there is no other way to kill Panda, but to outlevel him in early game with your nukes and good positioning.
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Replays
Match ID 22743624
Match where pure strength of Soulstealer has been shown, doing osme hat tricks, double taps, early concede of enemies and great farm with cool items. You gotta check this one! Played in low tier, just to show how Soulstealer should aim his skills.
Match ID 22780949
Once again total domination, but this time in a higher tier than last one. Amazing game.
Match ID 19121961
Squishy heroes, like Engi, Bubbles, Tempest and Plague Rider are meat for Soulstealer. If taken by surprise, they fall in 2 hits, check this one. Also played in mid tier.
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End Notes
So, this is the end of my guide. I hope you enjoyed reading this. I'd like to thank TaeYeon for making the guide's template from his guide which I used ( Deadwood ). I'd also like to thank JoeMartin and MintPanda for their guides that gave TaeYeon inspiration for this one's very design and aesthetics. Thanks to RodgerDodger (NomesWisdom) for his amazing support, flaming and dedication to make this guide worth reading and even more correct. Finally, a thank to you for reading this. If you have any questions or suggestions for improvement, please leave a comment or send a PM.
This guide was originally written by AdolfSlither and posted on the official Heroes of Newerth forums on http://www.heroesofnewerth.com using the template from TaeYeon. Please do not copy this guide and claim it as your own. Approval of posting this guide on any other site than http://www.heroesofnewerth.com has to go through me.
Changelog
*Originally posted - 12/09/10.
*Implemented changes noted by NomesWisdom to make this guide better. All the advices from other guys were also taken into mind. Thanks to [S2]ElementUser for correcting me on role.
*Added some items to luxury items, added new category called Situational Items and improved the layout.
*Fixed words choice, improved text, layout and overall originality of the guide. Thanks to everyone who contributed.
I'm going to be flat out honest and say that behind the nice layout, formatting and images (all of which was stolen) this guide is terrible (actually a better adjective would be dogshit). I don't even see how you could mess up such a guide on such an easy hero.
Bottle first? Shroud core? Where is the Power Supply? Why is Shrunken Head not core? Stats at level 6 and 9? You've gotten ranks in your ultimate before Soulsteal is even maxed! Seriously how are you doing playing Soulstealer like this?
Your information on cast times are wrong as well. Demon hands ability.entity:
Soul Burst ability.entityCode:casttime="1000" castactiontime="670" actiontype="facing" targetradius="275" casteffecttype="Magic" targetscheme="enemy_units"
Demon Hands cast time is .67s and has a .33s back swing. Soul Burst cast time is 1.5s and has a 0s back swing.Code:casttime="1500" castactiontime="1000" actiontype="target_self" targetradius="700" casteffecttype="Magic" targetscheme="enemy_units"
I clicked on the first replay and it was against a 5 melee team who had 2 DCs on it in 5v5 ap NOOBS ONLY. Seriously...?
You'd better shape this POS up asap.
I'd sing you a song, but
I'm just a little hoarse.
This is a troll right? But surely no troll would go to these lengths...
Thank you on your suggestion. First of all nothing was stolen as all the images come from S2, which I obviously can not edit lol. The layout is the same as the TaeYeon's because I liked it, and I PMed him asking for permission. If you had read the bottom you would figure that out. And for the build please do not discuss it like that, **** talking it, unless you are of higher skill, which unfortunately you are not. I am doing pretty fine with such build and I gave an insight for both newbies and little experienced players. Those items are best for them and 90% of the games. You talk like you aim on some HI skill games where people will not buy bottle first and make Shrunken as first item, but that is to advanced and people who need to read guides will not be able to do well with such builds. After all build is not what makes you strong, but your skill. Remember one more saying, "to each his own".
I am fixing the values now, I did not know where to find correct ones, so I put approximate ones, based on my feeling, which was not far from correct.
@Mike` He seems a bit to raged for some reason, but let him have his fun.
You aren't going to get many last hits against a good player getting a bottle first, imagine going against a hag who started with +8 int (which is standard). You're going to get out last hit on every creep and you're never going to get a rune. You're gonna be level 5 with less than 10 souls. Bottle first is bad and the only exception is if you start with a flying courier and you ferry the bottle back and forth.
No mention of post haste is pretty disappointing, at least you mentioned pk as an alternative to shroud.
It really is a pretty awful guide. PK is always better than Shroud, and IMO any SS guide after the nerf to his ulti needs to have guidelines on when to go for PK and when to go straight for the BKB or Geo's, since he can't land a good ult without a priming stun like Hammerstorm or Tempest going in first.
Also, some advice on using the hands is an absolute must, since that's the largest difference between a good and a bad SS.
Oh, and SS isn't a ganker. He can gank if he gets good runes or the enemy is out of position, but it's not why he goes mid. He goes mid to farm like crazy, get a level/gold advantage, and utterly destroy mid game.
The gank image map was also stolen
Your skillbuild actually suggests levelling the ultimate before Soulsteal is maxed
Portal Key is nowehere in luxuries
Geometers Bane is nowhere in luxuries
Symbol of Rage is nowhere in luxuries
Power Supply is nowhere in the guide
Bottle first, again, is terrible no matter what your skill level
Bad players are bad becuase they do things like Bottle first. It doesn't matter who your opponents are Bottle first is bad; you said yourself that Soulstealer has low base damage. How are you going to last hit with that low base damage to increase your low base damage?
Shroud vs PK is not a debate I'm going into. I'm fine with Shroud being bought as it has many benefits over PK especially in pubs.
WHY DO YOU LEVEL STATS BEFORE MAXING SOULSTEAL? (shouting for extreme emphasis on how stupid this is).
If you want to call out stats it's pretty obvious you're not on my level either.
Last edited by NomesWisdom; 12-09-2010 at 06:38 PM.
I'd sing you a song, but
I'm just a little hoarse.
Everything Roger said. This guide has no redeeming qualities and no player of any skill level should follow it.
You guys keep saying bottle first is a bad item, yet you can not grasp what the bottle is for. I mentioned Portal Key, I did not mention Symbol, because it is hard to get it and not really a good pick, because damage output is not high enough. I' ll add Geometers to items to avoid, because it is sad to even think of making one on Soulstealer.
Confirmed for troll and reported for trolling.
This forum should not allow this garbage to remain, the blind leading the blind. I had a feeling you'd be too ignorant to accept the criticism and I was right.
I'd sing you a song, but
I'm just a little hoarse.
Ignorance is the main characteristic of you and everyone who actually flames this guide.
Why you might ask?
You just fly throught the text. You see things you did not see before, or did not expect. You say it is sh1t and you flame it. You do not accept it, you follow the "pros" and can not even think of anything other than that. You alone can not create anything unique or think of something on your own, but you blindly follow what is supposed to be a "classic" build. Situational skill leveling, item builds and tactics are beyond your reach and therefore all you can do is just flame.
Once again to prove your ignorance and from everyone who came here to flame, not reading the full guide, or saying it would not work in high tier games, I ask you to read the first actual sentence of this guide, which probably no one of you did. Then you might, I repeat, might grasp the purpose of this guide.
Do you really think I'd spend half an hour flaming something I didn't read?
You act like I don't have a tonne of time on my hands. If you're willing to actually be modest to your work I'll work through your entire guide telling you what is wrong with it.
I'd sing you a song, but
I'm just a little hoarse.
Of course I will be modest, as you can see I have already accepted few of your suggestions, but you should know that harsh words make people hostile and try to hit back. I am open to suggestions and if you help with your thoughts, and ideas, and giving alternatives and suggestions instead of fixing something that is not wrong, but just different, I will appreciate it and will credit you for helping me with making the guide.
2.0 int gain is actually really high compared to other non-int heroes.Let's look at Soulstealer's base stats and gains,
Damage: 35 - 41
Attack Range: 500 (Ranged)
Attack Speed: 0.71
Armor: 1.8
Move Speed: 300
Strength: 15 (+2)
Agility: 20 (+2.4)
Intelligence: 18 (+2)
What really should catch your mind at first here is Soulstealer's low base damage. It's very important to level your 2nd skill first and do as many last hits as you can to get it up fast. A good way to do that is to use your first skill to get more kills faster. Soulstealer's stat gains are nothing less than average. You do have a decent chunk of strength gain, however. Your agility gain is decent and will supply you with decent natural armor. Soulstealer's intelligence gain is not the best, and you'll need to use bottle all the time throughout the game.
The missle speed isn't instant. No projectile can be instant. If you can't actually be bothered looking into the code files to get the real projectile speed it isAdvanced Stats
Cast delays: Demon Hand 0.6s, SoulBurst 1.5s
Sight range day/night: 1800/1200
Missile speed: Instant
Turn rate: FastestGravity is how high it flies. Things with higher gravity have more of a bend to them (Scout's ultimate has a gravity of 2500).Code:speed="1180" gravity="1100"
You've ignored attack animation completely as well. Heroes with a ranged attack with an attack animation (how long it takes for the projectile to come out) and a projectile speed (how fast the projectile travels) to worry about.
.45s attack animation, .55s backswing.Code:attackduration="1000" attackactiontime="450"
The turn rate is 320, which means he takes .32s to move a full circle. It is correct below when you state that this is equal to 900 degrees / second.
Demon Hands cast time is .67 seconds. .67 doesn't round off to .6, and you shouldn't be rounding it off anyway.
This entire paragraph is copy pasted from Tae-Yongs guide. You haven't even included the attack point or backswing in your guide which made this plagarism obvious.Note that the damage point/cast point and the backswing together make up your whole animation while attacking, and that your backswing is the part of the animation after the blow is landed/projectile sent/etc. In other words, it is completely cosmetic and should be canceled whenever possible (also referred to as animation canceling) by issuing another command, preferably a move or hold command.
No, it's .67s.Take a look at your cast points. Your cast point on Demon Hand is only 0.3 seconds. That's pretty fast!
In debt? Typo.Skill Description & In-Debt Analysis
You should mention that this gives you three spells in one (it's only ever implied in the guide). Specify that the Q, W and E hands are the short, medium and long ranged hands respectively.Demon Hands.image
Soulstealer calls upon the greater Hellbourne daemons to lay waste to the enemies before him.
Action: Facing
Type: Enemy Units
Range: 250 / 450 / 650
Radius: 275
Cast Time: 0.6 Seconds
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 10 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
Deals 75 / 150 / 225 / 300 Magic damage to each target in radius.
The effective maximum range is 650 + 275, which is 925 units.Demon Hand is first skill-reliant ability that Soulstealer possesses. In short, this skill has mainly three uses:
Killstealing and/or
Nuking opponents, as well as
Harrasing. Think of it as a very strong, yet limited and skill related Pyro's Fire Blast. First, let's take a quick glance at how far the range of this skill is, Including the radius of the AoE, you end up with a max range of about 750 units. That is pretty far, which makes this skill so great at surprise ganking and initiation. Assuming you're not revealed by wards or anything, you can approach safe from the Fog of War, and cast this without the enemy noticing before it is too late.
You've mentioned three uses of Demon Hands and failed to ommit the biggest and quite frankly most important use of Demond Hands. FARMING. Demond Hands all about the farm, you 2 shot creep waves for christ sake! It is almost important to mention that after 35 minutes into the game you can no longer 2 shot creep waves since they gain health over time.
People don't try to dodge Demond Hands in the lane, because it's impossible. Nobody stays in lane against a Soulstealer once he's past level 7. You're either killing him, sitting far away out of range of the long hand, or ganking somewhere else.How to Demon Hand: Demon Hand is your main way of setting up kills, as it allows you to do strong nuke or finish of enemy. Your goal is to hit all three "hands". It is not dodged simply, but you have to predict their movements, and aim the skill accordingly.
This skill is easiest to land if you're in the Fog of War without the enemy knowing, but let's say you're laning against someone. Sure if you're mid you can sometimes use the hill to cast safe from the fog. However, when the enemy DO have sight on you, they will try to dodge it, which is why you have to be the better player and predict where they will be heading. In this case, a good way to hit would be to:
Always keep moving around. Make random turns and just move back and forth changing to circles and so forth. Be unpredictable. It really boils down to a game of prediction. It takes practice and you'll have to study each individual opponent's movement patterns. Good tip I could spare is to move close to your enemy using the fog of the hill and then fire the closest one and launch up 2 more as the opponent will be running.
When ganking, make a teammate throw a stun/snare on the opponent for a guaranteed hit. Always try to make sure the outer ring of the AoE just covers the target, and place it in the direction the target is most likely to run. If you don't have the support of your teammates or they don't have a stun/snare, just study the way your target(s) move. If they mostly walk around in circles or keep to the same pattern, you can almost hit with 100% certainty. If a creep is about to die, you can hit them with Hand who's certain to walk up for the last hit. Remember, just keep trying and you'll master it in no time. For chasing, you simply cast it ahead of the enemy. Here are few pictures I took, just to give you insight on range of Demon Hand and it's radius.
You need to mention that hitting the Q hand is the most important. Why? Because if you hit that then the enemy has two choices. Either, a) Run away and face two make nukes, early game this will kill 90% of heroes, or, b) Face mano-e-mano with Soulstealer. There is a critical point between when enemies can choose b, and if they can't then they're pretty much dead. The Q hand has the shortest range, making it the hardest to hit, making hitting it the the best.
You should take an image from the Demon Hands Range Indicator thread to show the exact ranges of each hands.
Nobody wants to click on thumbnailsThumbnails
More coming soon
I'd sing you a song, but
I'm just a little hoarse.
You must have an old version on your comp.Originally Posted by NomesWisdom
The correct ones are:
demon hands
soul burstCode:casttime="1000" castactiontime="650" maxlevel="1" actiontype="facing" targetradius="275" casteffecttype="Magic" targetscheme="enemy_units"
Demon hands has 0.65 cast action time and 0.35 back swing.Code:casttime="1400" castactiontime="1400" actiontype="target_self" targetradius="700" casteffecttype="Magic" targetscheme="enemy_units" manacost="150,175,200" cooldowntime="120000,110000,100000"
Soul burst has 1.4s cast action time and 0 back swing.
Edit: I thought I should mention getting information from http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroes.php is a terrible idea since they are very rarely up-to-date.
Last edited by Vahn1670; 12-09-2010 at 08:32 PM.
S2 Games: Dedicated employees serving dedicated gamers. Continuous development. Never-ending improvement.
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Click the picture
My 2 cents
Bottle is a bad item to start with because his base damage is so low. The regen it gives is worthless if you cant get last hits. Secondly this makes you rely on runes which is bad because there is a bit of luck involved in where it spawns, plus you may not be able to get it. Starting with stats and regen items are better to start with since it is easier to last hit. Bottle is the first item you should get after this.
Pk is almost always better than a shroud. A shroud is counter by items that cost a fraction of what it costs. You cant engage near enemy towers. Pk allows better positioning.
BKB should be core
Geometers needs to be in luxury
Skill Builds
if you are going for first blood at rune q>w>w>q>q>w>q>w>r
standard laneing w>q>q>w>q>w>q>w>r
Just trying to provide some constructive criticism.
A mod needs to clean this thread up.
Just note that the gravity parameter is purely cosmetic and does not affect speed or impact time of the projectile.
Also Vahn, please use cast action time or cast point and not cast time. Cast time = Cast Point + Cast Backswing and it may be confusing to people who don't know the terminology.
About ganking:
Not 100% true, Soulstealer is your mid-game semi-carry and Soulstealer will usually have to spend at least some time farming to get his level + item edge over the enemy heroes before they get to the point where they overpower SS.This screams GANKER all the way, and Soulstealer shouldn't be picked for anything else.
Saying that SS "must" be played as a ganker is pretty much completely wrong.
Also for some reason, I often see SS trying to gank the sidelanes at levels 5/6. Unless it's an assured double-kill, it's pretty much not worth it for SS and he's usually better off staying until at least level 7 in the middle lane. And even then, you still need a good rune to "gank" properly.
Last edited by ElementUser; 12-09-2010 at 08:31 PM.
S2 Games: Dedicated employees serving dedicated gamers. Continuous development. Never-ending improvement.
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Tech Support and Customer Support: https://www.heroesofnewerth.com/support/
Look for my highlighted text (important information) and grey text (interesting but not required information).
The reason why you don't level the ult until level 9 is because it requires Soulsteal to be maxed to do a decent amount of damage. However, you also need Demon Hands maxed as soon as possible because they're imba. This is why you don't get the ult at 6, your reason makes no sense. Your reason for skipping Dread also makes no sense, "Until we get some item that will give us attack speed"? The reason you would get stats over Dread is for two reasons:Skill Build
I've seen many different ways of building Soulstealer, but honestly, I can't see any other skill build for this hero than the following one:
1 Soulsteal
2 Demon Hand
3 Soulsteal
4 Demon Hand
5 Demon Hand
6 Stats
7 Demon Hand
8 Soulsteal
9 Soulsteal
10 Soulburst
11 Soulburst
12 Stats
13 Stats
14 Stats
15 Dread
16 Soulburst
17-25 Stats/Dread
First we are maxing Hand and Soulsteal to make us stronger in early game. We also take stats once in a while to get that few hit points extra. We start using our ulti in mid game so that's why we level it on 10 and not straight on 6. Also we do not need Dread until we farm some item that will give us attack speed.Even with those two reasons listed, some people prefer to get Dread over stats.
- Dread reveals you to future gank targets by the aura
- Stats help you survive and give you more mana
There is no reason to get stats at 6; you're just making it 1 more level that you can't get your ultimate at, and giving yourself 7 less souls for auto attack damage for a level.Read what you just wrote.Initial Items
Your initial items are mainly aimed at harrasing your enemy so you should just buy bottle if you will be doing so, and you should be handling mid easily.
Bottle
Soulstealer, with his low base damage needs to get bottle and control runes in order to get many creep kills and improve your damage. once you get about 10 souls it is much easier to last hit and you can continue purchasing other items since your gold gain will improve.
Soulstealer.
With his. Low base damage. Needs to get Bottle to control runes?
First of all, how does a Bottle help you control runes? Is having the bottle going to stop absolutely any hero in the game from flogging your ass to the runespot because after the first 3 creep waves they'll already be 12/12 against your pitiful base damage and have the Bottle before the second rune even spawns? Is it going to stop them from stunning you, blinking to or outrunning you to the rune? If you're laning against any common mid hero you will get slaughtered in last hits and rune control by going Bottle first.
You need some stat items to last hit better and to survive better. Do you know what I'd do against a Soulstealer with Bottle first? Camp on his side of the ramp and auto attack him every time he comes near me because he has bad armor, bad base damage and bad range. Then when the t
Soulstealer controls the runes by nuking the creep waves down at the third creep wave, such that at the 2:00 point the enemy hero is busy dancing around their tower while you grab a rune. You haven't mentioned this obvious strategy anywhere.
Start with either 4 totems and 1 set of Runes of the Blight (this saves money for a faster Bottle) or 2 Duck Boots, 2 Totems and 1 set of Runes of the Blight and 1 Health Potion. Choose the former against enemies with lower base damage, latter against enemies with higher base damage.
Add Power Supply to this list; I shouldn't need to explain why. Shrunked Head is core on Soulstealer because it allows you to get your nukes off without being wtfdisabled.Core Items
Shroud
Steamboots
Bottle
TP
Shrunken Head shouldn't even be in this list since it should be in the core.Luxury Items
If you're dominating, getting a quick Shieldbreaker is always a good idea. The item buffs your whole team's DPS on a single target. Additionally, it stacks with Dread and makes you a beast.
Daemonic Breastplate has great synergy with your Dread and auto-attacks through armor reduction, just like Shieldbreaker. However, it has a more team-oriented approach, it's all auras so you don't have to hit an enemy to benefit from it or anything. Assuming you have someone else to DPS, it's generally always better to get this over Shieldbreaker, as it boosts both you and your allies' survivability and DPS.
Great item that gives you the edge against other carries if farmed on time. It's great evasion, and bonus to armor and attack speed are totally great in synergy with Shield Breaker and Dread, utilising your full auto attack power.
Shrunken Head is a great pickup as your first luxury item if your team lacks good initiation. It allows you to blink in with Portal Key and bring down key targets uninterrupted. Even if your team has a main initiator, Shrunken Head is always a good item on Soulstealer and often seen in high tier games.
Behemoth's Heart is an awesome item to pick up if you find yourself with a lot of gold in your pocket at some point. It boosts your survivability and makes you able to initiate and take the hits without going down. It also increases your overall damage so it is a great choice.
Sheepstick or Hellflower lets you initiate and disable even better. Sheepstick is great at disabling carries, while Hellflower can boost your burst even more, or disable spell-reliant opponents. Both items solve your mana problems for good.
Not the first item you want to get, in rare cases Riftshards can be a good follow-up from Shieldbreaker etc. If you're gonna be the team's main source of DPS.
Geometers Bane and Symbol of Rage should be added. Hellflower should be removed.
Worth noting that Behemoth's Heart lets you two shot creep waves until the 72 minute mark.
I hope this is Satire of some kind. "Despite popular belief, Runed Axe and Codex are bad on Soulstealer"? Nobody ever thought Runed Axe and Codex are good on Soulstealer. Oh wait, this section was plagarised from Tae Yong's Deadwood guide.Items to Avoid
Despite popular belief, these items are generally a bad pick-up on Soulstealer. Do not get these!
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/image...tem_Splash.jpg
Runed Axe is attractive to newbies because it boosts your DPS, HP regen and solves your mana problems! Well, getting a Bottle regens mana and HP as well, for a much cheaper price! You don't need the cleave at all because you're supposed to gank, not farm. You can take creeps down easily with your Demon Hand.
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/image.../Item_Nuke.jpg
Sometimes seen item, because of Int boost and good KS opportunity, this item is a very bad pick on Soulstealer. Even if you will be able to kill on guy easily, this item is not for SS, as you are made to rely on your auto attacks also, not just go, Codex someone and run away.
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/image...em_Shield2.jpg
Seen even in mid tier, this item gives you survivability, but it is to expensive for that purpose. Total waste of gold, and can easily be replaced with 2 Bracers. You need every gold you can get so buying this is a fail.
And yeah my laptop has an older version of HoN.
Last edited by NomesWisdom; 12-09-2010 at 09:29 PM.
I'd sing you a song, but
I'm just a little hoarse.
Portal key will always be a better option than shroud. Positioning is so important with this hero, I don't think shroud is core, really.
And what about Shrunken Head? >.> Thé core item for him ~.~
Where's the option for post haste as core when you get ridiculous farm?
Also bottle first only works when you have a level 1 flying courier.
[stream]www.twitch.tv/Kaluroo[Type /join Kaluro in-game for a fun pub channel!]In HoN, attacking structures during the absence of creeps is not backdooring.If someone is utilizing guerrilla style tactics on your structures, it is an acceptable strategy.
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