Mini Guide to all 79! heroes

[Anakha]

Foreword

This is a comprehensive mini guide to all 79 (and counting!) heroes currently in Heroes of Newerth. The advice and information given is directed towards gameplay in a 5v5 Normal mode game on Forests of Caldavar, although this can be applied to other games and modes where applicable.

Before I go any further, I would like to give massive credit to Newti who is the original creator of this guide, and which this work is meant to be an updated version of. For its time, it helped thousands of players new to the game with the fundamentals and deserved its Premium Guide status until it sadly became outdated as the game changed and developed.

Items listed in parentheses () are optional depending on circumstances detailed in the explanation notes below.

For quick reference to this document, I have kept the .<name> tags that are easily searchable in your browser (Ctrl+F for most browsers) for each hero section with a list of abbreviations, DotA aliases and abbreviations where relevant as well as common nicknames.
For example, to find Doctor Repulsor, you can search for ".doctor repulsor" ".dr" or even ".raijin" and you will find the start of the mini guide instantly.

[Moon Queen] .moon queen .mq .luna .moonfang

Skill Build:

1 - Moon Beam
2 - Stats
3 - Moon Beam
4 - Stats
5 - Moon Beam
6 - Moon Finale
7 - Moon Beam
8 - Multi Strike
9 - Multi Strike
10 - Multi Strike
11 - Moon Finale
12 - Multi Strike
13 - Lunar Glow
14 - Lunar Glow
15 - Lunar Glow
16 - Moon Finale
17 - Lunar Glow
18 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Moon Finale does not require Moon Beam to be maxed. This easy build is to go Moon Beam/Stats to optimize yourself to make the most of your spammable early game nuke to place intense pressure on your lane. The traditional last-hit build with Lunar Glow/Stats is a different playstyle and not one easily usable unless you have a decent sidelane to ply your crushing autoattacks against to farm with ease.
As solo mid, rune control and the resulting mana allow for dominant harass with Moon Beam against the opposing mid, with a swift transition into either a farming early-midgame, or a gank-push one with Glaives soon able to decimate creep waves to allow easier tower pushes.
In a sidelane, this allows you to assist your lane partner in either pushing out the opposing heroes in the lane, and basically not be borderline useless if your team comes to gank your lane for you.

Lunar Glow can be taken instead of the early stats if you feel you would benefit from it more earlier.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2xuckBoots: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Bottle >>) Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> 2x Soulscream Ring >> Whispering Helm >> Shrunken Head

Bottle can (and should) be bought if you are solo mid. Finish Soulscream Rings for more stats and swap Steam Boots as needed (Int if laning to harass with Beam, Agi if aiming to clear creeps and Str for ganks and team fights). As soon as you get Whispering Helm, dominate a neutral and start stacking ancients/neutral camps. You should be able to farm them easily with higher levels of Multi Strike with the lifesteal.
Shrunken Head with all the other stats/hp items will help negate your squishy-ness and negatives of short range, and allow you to get your full Moon Finale off and thus is definitely core.

After Core:

Geometer's Bane >> Symbol of Rage >> Wingbow

Geometer's Bane is the DPS item of choice. Illusions have Multistrike and eventually benefit from Lunar Glow, adding significant amounts of DPS to her. After that upgrade to Symbol of Rage and then fill your last slot with a Wingbow. Sell Soulscream Rings as needed to make space.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Late-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Is fine on vertical, can solo mid well.
Difficulty: 3/5 (low range, farming/ganking effectively)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Extremely good from Whispering Helm and Multistrike)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (high base damage for a ranged hero, Moon Beam hurts at level 3-5 with enough mana)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Moon Finale shines in 1v1 ganks and early teamfights)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (if farmed well, is a nightmare with geo illusions with multistrike)

Tips and Tricks:

- Use Moon Beam to harass, especially when you feel you can force an opponent out of the lane.
- Once you are level 6-7, go gank their long lane. Hide in the forest, go in with autoattack, if they run back finish with Moon Finale. Save Moon Beam if they try to TP or for the Killing Blow (you are allowed to KS as carry).
- Go for the Runes if you have Bottle. If you meet an enemy in the river use Moon Finale for a guaranteed kill.
- Don't use Moon Finale if your target can: go invis, go out of line of sight, go invulnerable (Shrunken Head and some abilities) or when multiple creeps are around. This can be relaxed a bit against single targets at later levels since it doesn't matter if 3 of the 7 Beams hit a creep when the max 4 per target hit the intended target.

Counters:

- Any hero with minions will significantly weaken her ultimate. e.g. Ophelia, Warbeast, etc.
- You can build a Puzzlebox or Assassin's Shroud to take away from her ultimate's efficiency. Mystic Vestments only do so much early on.
- It can be very hard to counter a Moon Queen as she has both very high magic and physical damage. You can however outcarry her.
- Regularly check or ward their ancient spot. Gank her if she starts farming them and steal the stack.

[Wildsoul] .sylla .wildsoul

Skill Build

1 - Summon Beardulon
2 - Natural Attunement
3 - Summon Beardulon
4 - Natural Attunement
5 - Summon Beardulon
6 - Natural Attunement
7 - Summon Beardulon
8 - Natural Attunement
9 - Wild
10 - Wild
11 - Wild
12 - Wild
13 - Bear Form
14 - Bear Form
15 - Stats
16 - Bear Form
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Only covering jungle Wildsoul here. A solo lane Wildsoul is well beyond the depth given in this kind of guide. Don't pick him if you know you wont have two heroes capable of soloing a lane.
You will not go into Bear Form until around level 9 at the earliest with this build, so there is not much use in taking it before then. The only time I would skill Bear Form earlier for this build is at level 6 is if getting hardcore ganked in the jungle.
Booboo and Natural Attunement offer the best jungling power, as Wild has a mana cost and a pitiful uptime without Natural Attunement.
Bear Form is also an extra 600 max hp at level 9, and 1000 max hp and 8 armour at level 16, with Battle Cry tacking on an extra 60 damage for the both of you as well. Not going it over stats is stupid, no matter who tells you otherwise.

Starting Items:

Wildsoul: :HealthPotion:
Beardulon: :IronBuckler: :LoggersHatchet:
Bear tanks the neutral camps and does more damage than you from level 1. Best to put both of these items on him.

Core:

Wildsoul: Marchers, 1 slot for homecoming stones.
Booboo: Alchemist Bones, Mock of Brilliance, Marchers.

When you send Booboo back to heal for the first time, buy 2x Gloves of the Swift on him. Complete Alchemist Bones asap even before Marchers on either of you. Get Marchers for both you and your bear next if necessary.
The next item you buy is Sword of the High for your Booboo. Usually you want to get Mock as fast as possible, which is attainable in 20-25 minutes of jungling with Alchemist Bones.
The trick here is to keep Alchemist Bones on Booboo until it comes off cooldown, and then switch it to Wildsoul to transmute a creep. Then put it back on Booboo.

After core:

- Create a pair of steamboots for Wildsoul.
- Upgrade Booboo's Marchers to Ghost Marchers. He wont get benefits from Steamboots' Stats and Ghost Marchers allow for good chasing and phasing so Booboo gets more hits off for an Entangle proc, and doesn't get stuck behind you!
- Warpcleft on Booboo. He's got that Mock, an entangle proc and massive base damage in general. Attack speed is the perfect stat for him for now; as your main source of damage is the Bear.
- Daemonic Breastplate or Charged Hammer. Use the Warpcleft to build either Daemonic Breastplate or Charged Hammer depending on how the game is developing. Leave Daemonic on Booboo for now, or make sure to keep the Charged buff on Booboo.
As soon as your enemies are capable of killing Booboo relatively easy (usually around the 35+ min mark) move everything onto Wildsoul and go Bear Form full time (as opposed to whenever you think you need it). This is where you turn into a true hard carry.
- Frostwolf Skull on Wildsoul. Adds the much needed movement slow for when Entangle doesn't proc. Goes through Magic Immunity (Shrunken Head) and slows attack speed to allow you more relevance. - Wingbow, if the game still goes on.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Jungle (for this build)
Difficulty: 3/5
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Can jungle from level 1)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 1/5 (can't really gank the sidelane without a lucky Entangle proc, which likely doesn't happen when you want it to)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (still reliant on Entangle procs when ganking, can floor towers VERY fast with Booboo)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (I am Bear with 4k hp, 30 armour and lots of damage. Hear me roar...for +60 damage too!)

Tips and Tricks:

- Only gank your lane from the forest if the opportunity presents itself or if your lane mate asks for it. You need to be level 3 for entangle tho. You're more applying pressure here to help scare off one person in the lane. Usually a waste of time for the most part for getting kills.
- Stack and pull creeps to the lane to help your horizontal lane solo hero. It will allow him to fight at the tower and get a better farm. (You can do this while Booboo is off healing)
- Carry a homecoming stone when jungling.
- Tabbing back and forth between Wildsoul and Booboo to give move commands and use items gives you better control. Practice is key.
- Once you have your core stop jungling (for now). Push towers and help in teamfights! A quick Mock buries all underfarmed support heroes, and ruins early teamfights on an semi-expendable Booboo that can quickly be saved.
- Booboo can tank and ruin towers quite easily, despite not having creeps around. Don't be afraid to take advantage of this. It's not BD.
- You can run circles around your enemies with Mock-Booboo to prevent them from initiating with a Portal Key. Especially useful versus blink initiators like Magmus and Behemoth.

Counters:

- Gank him in the forest. Typically a Wildsoul will be >80% hp when jungling, so bring a mate and some stuns.
- Try to catch him in Human form. Stun him and burn him down. Don't allow him to switch to his ultimate form before the fight starts if possible, as his ultimate is a max HP increase (and % HP increase, relative to max HP, much like Steamboot swapping), not a direct HP increase.
- All of his damage is physical, so armor is the logic counter to him. Barbed armor will NOT work very well (he has 3k+ hp with almost no items!)

[Scout] .scout

Skill Build:

1 - Electric Eye
2 - Vanish
3 - Vanish
4 - Disarm
5 - Vanish
6 - Marksman's Shot
7 - Vanish
8 - Disarm
9 - Disarm
10 - Disarm
11 - Marksman's Shot
12 - Electric Eye
13 - Electric Eye
14 - Electric Eye
15 - Stats
16 - Marksman's Shot
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Straightforward build. Eye is taken at level 1 to ward rune with one spare one for use in lane. If by some reason you're in the vertical lane, ward their pull camp rather than the rune. Make your team suffer for putting you in the vertical lane and buy wards for the rune (they're better anyway).
Get more levels of Eye early instead of Disarm if you want to block more creepcamps in the jungle, or feel you need more vision to stay safe in your lane.
As of the re-alignment patch, Marksman's Shot is now worth taking at 6.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Hatchet >>) Power Supply >> Sustainer >> Steamboots >> Runed Cleaver

CK or die.
Power Supply can save your life with only 2 charges to be able to vanish. Mana Battery is worth the initial pickup, just for the charge mechanic giving you warning and survivability. After that get Lifetube against a strong lane or Manatube against a weaker lane first (Manatube allows for Vanish spam while Lifetube counters their harass). Complete Sustainer, pick up Steamboots and finish off Runed Cleaver. If your farm is really good skip boots until after Runed Cleaver (this means if you can get a sub-17min Runed Cleaver go for it).
Ghost Marchers are ok as long as you realize that it detracts from survivability, but adds slightly more damage than Steamboots for Vanish. Activating Phase breaks Vanish negatively. Be careful.
Once you get Runed Cleaver, you can clear a full wave of creeps in a matter of 2 seconds out of Vanish. Make use of that to farm your luxury items.
CK or die.

After core:

Shrunken Head >> Savage Mace >> Symbol of Rage/Harkon's Blade

Shrunken Head is to make sure you can do your thing in teamfights and live to see another Flurry. It will now not break Vanish negatively, and will give you the full benefits of Flurry. Rejoice! Savage Mace is the DPS item of choice for a Scout whose carry potential is entirely within the space of a Flurry from Vanish.
Pick up lifesteal in the form of SoR to gain yourself a free life with a Flurry with it activated OR Harkon's Blade to Flurry out effectively True damage splashed.

Alternative Items:

Shieldbreaker: The listed build is relatively passive and safe. If you are farming very well, you can replace the lengthier Savage Mace with a quick Shieldbreaker beforehand. Farmed before the 25-30 minute mark it is very very effective.

Information:

Roles: Late-game carry
Preferred Lane: Horizontal lane, with a babysit.
Difficulty: 3/5 (a fairly easy hero to play, but has several important nuances to do with counterwarding and silencing effectively, Shrunken Head activation timing is everything for entering teamfights)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (SEVERELY crippled until he gets Runed Cleaver, one of the fastest farmers in the game with it)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 1/5 (Contributes nothing particularly, short of an Electric Eye in lane to silence)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Starts putting out quite a bit of damage after Runed Cleaver, ult is pretty good as a pickoff skill or initiation)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (very strong if not countered by anti-invis, using Shrunken Head under Vanish buff has effectively jumped him several notches)

Tips and Tricks:

- Is it time to win yet? If yes, genocide. If not, farm.
- Get eyes. Plant them before the creeps spawn at your rune spot and, if in the long lane, in their neutral pull spot (put it into the trees next to the camp. This will still block the camp and they can't easily spot it).
- Is it time to win yet? If yes, genocide. If not, farm.
- If they have a jungling hero consider putting both wards into their forest, or even getting a second level of Eyes early. It really ****s up a Tempest or Ophelia.
- Is it time to win yet? If yes, genocide. If not, farm.
- Set an Eye before ganks and blow it up by pressing "E" one second after you break out of Vanish.
- Is it time to win yet? If yes, genocide. If not, farm.
- Once you get Electric Eye level 4, plant wards in their forest to check for easy gank opportunities. The beauty of Electric Eyes are that they stay indefinitely, but have a short vision range and are detected by proximity (walking close to them). You can afford to put them in obscure places, where nobody will feasibly walk near but still give vision of people passing by.
- Is it time to win yet? If yes, genocide. If not, farm.
- Early on, staying in Vanish for extended periods of time will drain your mana dry very quickly. Generally, you want to use it initially as a distance closer, or just to flick on and off to get yourself Flurry. The initial cost is only 30 mana, but the upkeep cost is 5 mana/second at level 4. It may take a bit of practice, but get in the habit of simply using it as a damage output when you need to with its low cooldown.
- Is it time to win yet? If yes, genocide. If not, farm.
- Electric Eyes are most useful for counterwarding as they reveal all kinds of invisible units. This is Scout's main way of ensuring that nobody comes to give him any surprises, by heavily cutting into any map control that the other team is trying to extend into your territory. This also cuts down on the burden of Wards and counterwards on your support heroes (if any are actually buying them!) and allows them to be used in more offensive ward spots. This allows the rest of your team to be much more aggressive without being blind to what they may be running into, which is ALWAYS a good thing.
- Is it time to win yet? If yes, genocide. If not, farm.

Counters:

- The obvious counters to Scout are invisibility revealing items: Dust, Wards of Revelation and Bound Eye. Dust and Wards are the best choice until later in the game when you can safely buy an Eye and push.
- He has high physical burst damage from Flurry so armour and especially Barbed Armour will work very well.

[Magebane] .magebane .antimage .magina .am .mb

Skill Build:

1 - Flash
2 - Mana Combustion
3 - Mana Combustion
4 - Flash
5 - Mana Combustion
6 - Mana Rift
7 - Mana Combustion
8 - Flash
9 - Flash
10 - Master of the Mantra
11 - Mana Rift
12 - Master of the Mantra
13 - Master of the Mantra
14 - Master of the Mantra
15 - Stats
16 - Mana Rift
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Straightforward build. Flash is your main escape/chase tool and splashes extra temporary magic armour in an AoE to your team.
Mana Combustion is maxed first as it is your main damage skill for the midgame (64 mana burnt, 60% of 64 is an extra +38.4 physical damage per hit), and one that ensures that you can't be left alone to just bash on a target, lest they sit at 0 mana and lose relevance for a fight.
Master of the Mantra is a bit....lacking on range for an aura ability and its usefulness is in the little things you often don't notice initially, like -castspeed and small amounts of damage when people cast spells. It's worth taking over stats though, as the extra -castspeed can delay that one stun just long enough for you to dodge it with Flash.
Mana Rift can be delayed until 9 if you require the extra +ma from Flash or the lowered cooldown for whatever reason.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Hatchet >>) (Iron Shield >>) Lifetube >> Helm of the Black Legion/Runed Axe >> Steamboots

Iron Shield is technically not needed, but in most lanes it is worth building. It protects you from harass and will help your farming a great deal even later on.
Your Helm is next up. If you need to, finish your Steamboots beforehand for whatever reason but Helm should come soon after. An alternative route is to go for Runed Axe straight up instead of Helm, but this is much riskier and requires you to not be able to participate effectively in the midgame until your Shrunken Head is complete. Don't do it until you're competent (i.e. not needing to look at this guide).

After core:

Shrunken Head >> Geometer's Bane >> Frostwolf Skull/Symbol of Rage >> Wingbow

With Helm, you are a midgame powerhouse with the damage potential of Mana Combustion and Mana Rift, so Shrunken Head is your next pickup if/when you require protection from stuns.
If you think you can get away with it/having a really good game, Geometer's Bane is pretty much amazing and extends the usefulness of Mana Combustion to even lategame, where you will be draining 192 mana per hit with your illusions, for an extra ~120 damage + illusion base damage. Pick this up after Shrunken Head regardless.
Your next item depends on how the game is going, and whether you will be required to be the harder carry or not. Frostwolf is generally better if you have another ranged carry farming well to help you out with the DPS requirements, but otherwise you'll need Symbol of Rage to last long enough as the active is a lot of HP regained with your lowered BAT.
Wingbow is a nice generic fill-out item as by this point you'll have enough armour to make Evasion worth taking over extra armour, and you get more out of +attack speed than almost any other carry. If you have gone Runed Axe instead, it will be risky to participate in any sort of meaningful clash pre-Shrunken Head.

Instructions:

Roles: Mid-game carry (with Helm), Late-game carry (with Runed Axe)
Preferred Lane: Short Difficulty: 2/5 (animation cancelling well and timing on when and where to blink in)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (attacks quickly with Steamboots, but really suffers in flash farming without Runed Axe)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 1/5 - Specific lanes required or a decent sense of how to engage and disengage effectively for early Mana Combustion to shine.
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (HotBL with Mana Combustion puts out a lot of damage midgame with any kind of help)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (scales incredibly well with +damage and +attackspeed from agility stats on a lowered BAT)

Tips and Tricks:

- Farm, farm, farm but don't forget to help midgame as much as possible. Mana Combustion with a HotBL makes you very very very scary midgame, and some allied disables.
- Ancient and neutral camp stacking is a nice way to get him gold fast. A Whispering Helm after your first core item can help to start stacking with the aid of a dominated minion.
- Mana Rift does its damage based on how much TOTAL mana the target is missing, as opposed to the % of the target's mana pool missing. What is often overlooked on the skill is that it does that same damage in a small AoE around the target. Later on, against INT heroes that will still use a significant amount of their large mana pool (like Defiler, Torturer, Doctor Repulsor etc.) this damage will be incredibly potent and will often wipe out nearby heroes even if it doesn't necessarily kill the initial target.
- There's a common misconception that Magebane is meant to be the counter to INT heroes, because all INT heroes rely on mana. This is not strictly true. While Mana Rift does increasing amounts of damage to heroes with large amounts of missing mana (INT carries for the most part), Mana Combustion lategame is not going to have a very noticeable effect before you actually just start killing them outright. Mana Rift means he counters INT carries particularly well.
- Mana Combustion from midgame onwards, has its most noticeable effects on heroes with LOW mana pools, as it is more likely that from level 7 onwards, Magebane can drain an entire Strength or even Agility hero's mana pool in anything between 6-7 hits at max, easily achievable. This of course, primes the target for use of a finishing Mana Rift. There are a lot of heroes in HoN that are completely crippled by the lack of ability to cast spells when they so desire.
- The reason why Mana Combustion only counters INT carries and not INT heroes in general is then because quite a lot of them will have disables and a large enough mana pool to still be able to cast it at least once to save themselves and make a difference before they run out of mana.
- Early on, use Mana Rift as a finisher to secure a killing blow for yourself. Lategame, save it for the most dangerous/clumped up hero next to another for maximum damage. This is especially useful with initiators like Tempest or Flux.

Counters:

- Long duration roots, disables and silence ruin his mobility.
- Itemwise, Sheepstick and Armour are a solid choice. Barbed Armor is a good pickup as well, especially if facing a trash Magebane who has gone Elder Parasite and Brutalizer (lol).
- Special shoutout to Void Talisman preventing him from autoattacking you, but will not stop Mana Rift!

[Night Hound] .night hound .nh .riki .sa .stealth assassin

Skill Build:

1 - Pounce
2 - Smoke Bomb
3 - Pounce
4 - Backstab
5 - Pounce
6 - Invisibility
7 - Pounce
8 - Backstab
9 - Backstab
10 - Backstab
11 - Invisibility
12 - Smoke Bomb
13 - Smoke Bomb
14 - Smoke Bomb
15 - Stats
16 - Invisibility
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Pounce for last hitting (don't use it to harass unless you can get away with no/very minimal damage). Make sure to pounce-kill all siege engines for easy gold.
One point of Smoke Bomb taken at level 2 is enough for early game ganks/escapes, but can be taken at level 1 if necessary. Backstab is then maxed out for its damage potential as Smoke Bomb can function as a one-point wonder until level 12.
Invisibility's fadetime reduces with each level taken, and is the difference between living and dying. Take it whenever possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Hatchet >>) Power Supply >> Iron Shield >> Steam Boots >> Nullfire Blade

Iron Shield can be useful to prevent harass in lane, and can be built from the sideshop. Night Hound benefits rather heavily from stacking Agility, and Nullfire Blade is the signature midgame agility item for him, allowing Mana Burn, Purge to keep people under your Smoke Bomb for as long as possible and hit them OR to save yourself. Remember to upgrade it for unlimited charges!

After core:

(Shrunken Head >>) Frostwolf Skull >> Wingbow >> Savage Mace/Riftshards

Frostwolf Skull gives him even more of a slow to keep people under Smoke Bomb, and a superior orb that applies on Pounce.
Savage Mace/Riftshards make his damage skyrocket, most noticeable when Riftshards crits on a Backstab or Pounce.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Mid or Short lane
Difficulty: 1/5 (Pounce, Smoke Bomb on top of them, right click)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (Pounce makes getting siege engines easy, but otherwise not great)
Item dependent? - Only needs core to be really effective.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Some harass possible with Pounce, but it is better used for last hitting; Smoke Bomb)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Smoke Bomb brings a lot to teamfights, but he needs his core to shine as most semi-carries do)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (very strong if not countered by anti-invis)

Tips and Tricks:

- Nullfire Blade's Purge can remove debuffs from you. Especially Dust and Pestilence's ultimate, Swarm.
- Cut down Keeper's Eyes in the Forest with a Logger's Hatchet.
- Periodically check your opponents' gear for Bound Eye, Wards of Revelation or Dust so you don't get caught by surprise.
- Use Purge on your enemies under the Smoke Bomb; this will increase the time they are silenced and trying to run turning their back to you.
- As of the re-alignment patch, towers and creeps can attack Night Hound under his Smoke Bomb, and he can attack towers while under it.
- You can Pounce to allied units to effectively "blink" to safety.
- Geometer's Bane is no longer viable as it now lacks the synergy with Nullfire Blade to make it worth taking over something like Frostwolf Skull.
- Backstab's animation is very misleading, as it will occasionally play the special Backstab animation (spreading his claws out to gouge the target in one foul swoop) or just a normal on-hit animation. To check that you're definitely getting Backstab damage on your hit, take note that a red number pops up with damage on your hit. This is the same kind of number that comes up when you score a critical hit.

Counters:

- The obvious counter to Night Hound are invisibility-revealing items: Dust, Wards of Revelation and Bound Eye. Dust is the best choice until later in the game when you can safely buy an eye and push.
- He has high physical damage so Armor and especially Barbed Armor will work well.
- Savage Mace will counter Smoke Bomb's miss chance when under it (but you are still silenced!)

[Anakha]

[Swiftblade] .swiftblade .juggernaut .yurnero .skillblade

Skill Build:

1 - Blade Frenzy
2 - Stats
3 - Blade Frenzy
4 - Stats
5 - Blade Frenzy
6 - Swift Slashes
7 - Blade Frenzy
8 - Counter Attack
9 - Way of the Sword
10 - Way of the Sword
11 - Swift Slashes
12 - Way of the Sword
13 - Way of the Sword
14 - Counter Attack
15 - Counter Attack
16 - Swift Slashes
17 - Counter Attack
18 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Blade Frenzy and stats are taken for the first 5 levels. This is to have enough of a mana pool for Blade Frenzy + Swift Slashes at level 6 even if you've used Blade Frenzy a little bit before hitting 6. Also stats tend to be more useful than Way of the Sword early on as you won't be auto attacking so much as lasthitting.
One level of Counter Attack is taken at level 8. The first level gives you a 15% chance while the fourth level only gives a 30% chance to counter attack. You get 50% of the effect for 25% of the cost.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :ManaPotion: :IronBuckler: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Logger's Hatchet >> (Power Supply >>) Ghost Marchers >> Runed Axe/Frostburn

Logger's Hatchet >> (Power Supply >>) Ghost Marchers >> (Runed Axe >>) Frostburn/Nullfire Blade

Get a Logger's Hatchet from the Outpost asap. Power Supply is situational on Swiftblade, get it if you play against spamming opponents.
Ghost Marchers are better than Steamboots on Swiftblade (Blade Frenzy and then activate Ghost Marchers as Blade Frenzy will dispel the speed boost).
After Runed Axe (cleave crits hurt, and it helps you farm quicker), Frostburn is picked up next as it helps you stay on your target as much as possible.

It is possible to go straight for Frostburn instead of getting a Runed Axe. This is if your early game is not as dominating as you would have hoped, as making the transition into midgame with a way to stay on your targets is more important than a slow Runed Axe. Pick up Frostburn after your Runed Axe.

If playing against a hero like Hellbringer or Jereziah, consider a Nullfire Blade after Runed Axe for Purge to counter them instead of Frostburn.

After core:

Savage Mace >> Frostwolf Skull/Geometer's Bane split >> Staff of the Master

Savage Mace is generally the item that keeps you relevant enough to keep dominating on the weakest hard carry in the game.
Frostwolf Skull/Geometer's Bane is made from splitting your Frostburn in your stash, and is basically a desperate attempt to try and keep you relevant as other hard carries start catching up to you. Geometer's Bane will also help you push a bit quicker should the window of opportunity present itself.
Staff of the Master is suggested as your ultimate makes you invulnerable while in the process of it, and extending this lifeline can make the difference when you're coming to the point of filling out an entire inventory of items for carry battles.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Weak solo mid except against certain matchups.
Difficulty: 1/5 (Blade Frenzy is a large chunk of damage at low levels, little variation in how you approach teamfights)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (decent even with the option of using Blade Frenzy on creeps or triple stacks of neutrals)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Strong if paired with a disabler/slower, very mono-dimensional in how he gets kills doing this though)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Good ganking power with ultimate, Blade Frenzy + autos still hurt with minimal effort at this point against most heroes)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Needs decent farm, outcarried VERY easily)

Tips and Tricks:

- Remember you can attack while spinning once you reach level 7. This will GREATLY increase your damage!
- You can Blade Frenzy and then use a homecoming stone to make sure they can't easily abort your TP.
- Early game you can use Blade Frenzy to force the enemy away from his creeps and then use Swift Slashes on him once is he far enough for the kill.
- Later in the game use Blade Frenzy like you would use a Shrunken Head. Thats pretty much what it is.

Counters:

- Making sure he makes a minimal impact in the laning phase is CRUCIAL. A farmed Swiftblade is a lot less dangerous than a farmed Swiftblade with a huge level advantage over you.
To this end, there are several heroes that really ruin his laning phase with little to no effort. Exploit this heavily.
- Any hero that can blink or go invisible is able to avoid Swift Slashes.
- The best counter-item however is Void Talisman! Very underrated item that is EXCELLENT against a few heroes, including Swiftblade.
- Other than that he is not easy to counter. Barbed Armor is useless versus his ultimate (he is invulnerable) and armor stacking will only take you so far. Frostwolf Skull is very useful for kiting him lategame through Magic Immunity.
- Check/Ward ancient spots.

[Slither] .venomancer .slither .hydra

Skill Build:

1 - Poison Spray
2 - Toxicity
3 - Toxicity
4 - Poison Spray
5 - Poison Spray
6 - Toxicity
7 - Poison Spray
8 - Toxicity
9 - Poison Burst
10 - Toxin Ward
11 - Poison Burst
12 - Toxin Ward
13 - Toxin Ward
14 - Toxin Ward
15 - Stats
16 - Poison Burst
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Poison Spray first as it's generally the best skill for level 1 with its powerful ranged slow and DoT. Toxicity is taken for the next 2 levels as at level 3, nobody can trade autoattack harass with Slither for long. Poison Spray is still maxed first as it is still the best instant AoE damage he has, and Toxicity is maxed afterwards to complement this.
Wards are maxed last because, although AMAZING, they require a different playstyle to really effectively use early, and they give a significant advantage to the enemy heroes against you if improperly used at low levels.
Poison Burst is taken when required as it empties your mana pool drastically early on. Although I've put it at level 6 in the above build, it can be delayed until 9-10, depending on the circumstances of the game you're in.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:ManaPotion: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Power Supply >> Wards of Sight >> Ghost Marchers/Steamboots/Plated Greaves/Striders (>> 1-2x Fortified Bracelets)

If someone else gets a courier, buy Wards instead. Your job is to keep the Wards up so keep buying them! This is always more important than your core items! Ghost Marchers are decent to chase poisoned enemies down and also good for positioning your ultimate in team fights before you get Shroud or Portal Key. Steamboots give mutable stats and slightly more attack speed. Plated Greaves also have their place on a pushing Slither with Toxin Wards and Striders are the hard support boots of choice. Choose accordingly.
Fortified Bracelets are better than Soulscream Rings as the extra 114hp is worth it over the extra 6 damage, 6 attack speed and ~1 armour. Optional as always.

After core:

- Nome's Wisdom - Depending on your playstyle Slither can be quite mana hungry. Nome's is the best solution for that as it provides a very valuable aura for the rest of your team. Only consider it if no-one else builds it.
- Staff of the Master - because Poison Burst is what you bring to teamfights.
- Tablet of Command - An interrupt, larger mana pool and some more damage. It's pretty decent for its cost on him, especially since he's a support hero without a hard disable, immobilize or escape spell.
- Assassin's Shroud or Portal Key - for better Ultimate positioning and survivability. Rule of thumb: The higher skill level your opponents have, the more you want Portal Key. Get one; don't get both.

If you are still here after those, you most likely did something wrong. You should never reach this point in a normal game unless you "forgot" to buy wards or went farming instead of ganking.

Information:

Roles: Support, Ganker, Roamer, Pusher, Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any
Difficulty: 1/5 (ult, Poison Spray as many as possible, apply Toxicity!)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (can farm quickly with Wards and Spray but generally shouldn't)
Item dependent? - No, needs little more than boots and basic stat items to function effectively.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (powerful AoE slow, good harassing, even with auto attacks)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (very powerful ult in ganks and teamfights in combination with Toxicity)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (outcarried very easily with no scaling except Toxicity; Poison Burst is your main contribution to a teamfight)

Tips and Tricks:

- Power Supply is an excellent soft counter aganist ward-spamming Slithers. Especially early game. Grab a Mana Battery ASAP if you are laning against him. This is also one of the reasons why I advise against getting Toxin Wards early on.
- While Geometer's Bane can no longer remove his ultimate, it still can remove Poison Spray including its slow.
- Shrunken Head will also not remove Poison Burst, and you still get hit by it with activated Shrunken. However, you will take 0 damage from it while Shrunken Head is on. Shrunken Head also removes all his other dots/slows and is thus a decent counter.
- If a Slither decides to go carry do not worry, he is EASILY outcarried. Otherwise get magic armor and/or Shrunken Head.

Counters:

- Power Supply is an excellent soft counter aganist ward-spamming Slithers. Especially early game. Grab a Mana Battery ASAP if you are laning against him. This is also why I advise against getting Toxin Wards early on.
- While Geometer's Bane can no longer remove his ultimate, it still can remove Poision Spray including its slow.
- Shrunken Head will also not remove Poison Burst and you still get hit by it with activated Shrunken BUT you will take 0 damage from it while Shrunken Head lasts. Shrunken Head also removes all his other dots/slows and is thus a decent counter.
- If a Slither decides to go carry do not worry, he is EASILY outcarried. Otherwise get magic armor and/or Shrunken Head.

[Chronos] .chronos .faceless void .fv .darkterror .dt

Skill Build:

1 - Time Leap
2 - Rewind
3 - Time Leap
4 - Curse of Ages
5 - Time Leap
6 - Chronofield
7 - Time Leap
8 - Curse of Ages
9 - Curse of Ages
10 - Curse of Ages
11 - Chronofield
12 - Rewind
13 - Rewind
14 - Rewind
15 - Stats
16 - Chronofield
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Escape, nuke and chase in one ability. Time Leap is superb and has to be maxed first. The first level of Rewind gives you 10% chance to evade while each following level only gives 5%, therefore we get that first level asap.
After that Curse of Ages is maxed to increase your midgame presence through giving you a stun more often.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) Lifetube >> (Helm of the Black Legion/Runed Axe >>) Steamboots (>> Elder Parasite)

Pick up your Lifetube asap. Then build Steamboots or finish Helm of the Black Legion if you can do so early enough.
Yes, HotBL. Before you dismiss it completely out of hand with LOLRUSHEPSAVAGENOOB, hear me out.
Chronos has PITIFUL strength gain. 1.4 actually. Helm provides an effective 11 level increase in survivability to that, with the extra HP it gives, with additional regen and then melee damage block. With even 1 level in Rewind, Chronos has a LOT of survivability with an early Helm.
Chronofield is only 3-4 seconds earlygame as well, so it's unlikely you will be gibbing anyone solo under it anyway, so this allows you to stay AFTER Chronofield and still contribute damage. Diving past creeps and even towers now becomes a real possibility as well. It also primes you for mitigating the downsides of your next item.

Also tentatively core (although arguably, and is optional), Elder Parasite gives you the very effective attack speed to bash and kill under Chronofield. An item made for you: 17% lifesteal, and +100 attack speed on activation for its price is fearsome, but comes at a disadvantage of 20% increased damage. Helm helps to mitigate the potential downsides of this heavily. Some prefer to get Elder Parasite before anything else; I usually don't. 20% increased damage and 800hp? No thanks.

After core:

(Nullstone >>) (Shrunken Head >>) Savage Mace >> Riftshards >> Wingbow

Nullstone is mentioned first as it gives you mana regen for your relatively expensive abilities. Nullstone also prevents powerful single-target disables ruining your day when under Chronofield.
If you see yourself dying too early in fights get a Shrunken Head earlier. Shrunken is fairly situational as it is only an enabler, not a way to win a fight on Chronos. Usually you can eliminate the main threat in your Chronofield. Should you feel you still get disabled/nuked down too fast after Chronofield, you can consider Shrunken.
After you have established a comfort level of safety for yourself, raw damage items are the name of the game. You have a 4-5 second window of opportunity in order to burn down 1-2 heroes before a teamfight, or during it. Maximize this. Balancing attack speed with damage is key here in your choices for your game-ending items.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Late-game carry
Preferred Lane: Horizontal
Difficulty: 3/5 (Chronofield placement makes or breaks teamfights. Get it right or suffer the wrath of your team.)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (decent base damage for lasthitting, can blink between camps sparingly to speed things up a little)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Time Leap is pretty damn awesome, Curse of Ages can be prepped to get a combo of Leap->Stun early on)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (With the Helm and EP, he's very scary in the midgame for a hard carry who can tower dive with a 4 second team disable)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (One of the strongest lategame carries in Heroes of Newerth.)

Tips and Tricks:

- This hero needs a lot of farm, and he is not very good at it. After the laning phase if you do not have your core, go to the lane pushed the least and ask your teammates to leave so you can "static farm" (farming while hard denying the lane to keep it in the same spot and stay safe).
- Try to place the Chronofield to trap your enemies right at the edge of the sphere. This way your melee allies can still attack them.
- Always carry a Homecoming Stone when farming so you can Time Leap into the forest and TP out when you get ganked.
- After you have your core, do not be afraid of participating in a defense or a push! You have a lot of survivability provided you don't suicide yourself into bad situations. Carrying a TP is vital as TP counterganks for your team will win you games.
- Be sure to be farming if you aren't doing something else useful.

Counters:

- Two words: Barbed Armor. Chronos will instagib himself when he attacks you into Barbed Armor when he has Elder Parasite on.
- Don't let him free-farm. It's not easy to gank him due to Time Leap, but try to not let him solo farm a lane. Scaring him away is enough. A few coordinated ganks during the mid game will significantly hurt him.
- Spreading out will mitigate Chronofield's impact on his initiation, but be sure that you have a disable on someone outside of the field to stop him from ruining the person inside!

[Madman] .madman .mm

Skill Build:

1 - Stalk
2 - Barrel Roll
3 - Stalk
4 - Barrel Roll
5 - Barrel Roll
6 - Stalk
7 - Barrel Roll
8 - Stalk
9 - Berserk
10 - Gash
11 - Berserk
12 - Gash
13 - Gash
14 - Gash
15 - Stats
16 - Berserk
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Stalk is nice for early harassing and you won't be able to support the mana for Barrel Roll early on. Thus we get Stalk 2 first. Later with Bottle and Chalice, you can Barrel Roll more often and the mana cost for Barrel Roll at level 1 and 4 are the same. This is why we max it first.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :ManaPotion: :IronBuckler: 2x:MinorTotem:

You can get a naked Bottle if you start solo mid. Be sure to lasthit into harassing the other hero a lot with Stalk if you do that, making the most of the mana.

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice >> Steamboots

You need Bottle and Chalice. Spamming his spells make Madman such a dominant early and midgame hero. He has low mana and mana regen, as you would expect from an agi hero, so consider setting Steamboots on INT for now. Ghost Marchers are trash as you move much faster with Stalk and they do break Stalk slowing you down.
The way to abuse Bottle and Chalice to its fullest is when low enough to consider it, use Chalice first and then sip one charge from the Bottle. Ta-da, you now have effectively the same HP and much much more mana!

After core:

Runed Axe/Nullstone/Hellflower >> Shrunken Head >> Savage Mace >> Symbol of Rage/Frostwolf Skull

There are a few choices to make for your next item, and most of them depend on the situation at hand:
- Am I not sure? Nullstone.
- Am I going to be the only person farming/Am I on a team with less than 2 carries? - Go Runed Axe.
- Am I up against an annoying INT carry that relies on mobility and spells like Doctor Repulsor or Wretched Hag? - Consider Hellflower.
- Am I against anything with a long single-target disable or sight spell (Pest ult)? - Go Nullstone.

Shrunken Head is next, as is mandatory on all carries without long disables. Savage Mace is preferred as the next DPS item of choice, as Madman's innate steroids preclude the use of Riftshards (already has crit) and point towards Savage Mace (Berserk gives hefty attack speed; stacking damage initially is more efficient). After that, it's a case of "pick your attack modifier". Both are good.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Late-game carry, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any. Solid mid.
Difficulty: 3/5 (spammable invisibility, straight-forward spells but very position-dependent)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (splash crits are good with Runed Axe, and Bottle/Chalice abuse make Stalk->Barrel Roll on a wave or stack easy for quick gold)
Item dependent? - Yes, but can function well with just his core initially.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (His spells are excellent for harrassing...)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (... and for farming purposes...)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (... and for carrying hard if well farmed)

Tips and Tricks:

- Stalk behind the target and auto attack for 2-3 hits until they're on the side, Barrel Roll, animation cancel till you're in front. Stalk should be up by then. Rinse and repeat.
- Once someone from either side initiates, you should focus on Barrel Roll'ing as much of their team to start, and then Berserk and beat on whatever INT disabler/nuker is closest to you. If they can't disable you to hold you down, they can't stop you.
- Use your ult early (before the fight/gank), it lasts a long time.
- Barrel Roll can disjoint projectile stuns like Andromeda's Comet or Hammerstorm's Hammer Throw. It requires good timing, and stretching out Barrel Roll as far as possible to maximize the time invulnerable while rolling.
- Because of Berserk giving +150 attack speed, and attack speed scaling not being a linear relationship (more attack speed at certain levels doesn't necessarily translate to faster attacks, need to reach a certain amount of +attackspeed to jump the barrier to the next highest one), Madman is a carry that you can afford to go straight survivability into damage on. This also greatly increases the effective damage gained from his passive crit, Gash.

Counters:

- Mana Battery/Power Supply has to be gotten early if laning against Madman.
- Early and mid-game, his damage will be mostly magical. Later, it will be physical. Barbed Armor is good if he goes for pure damage (Runed Axe into Savage Mace). Void Talisman rates a mention at very very late game.
- A Revelation Ward placed at the start of a teamfight will negate Stalk's main advantage of stealth positioning and allow you the chance to disable him.

[Blood Hunter] .blood hunter .bloodseeker .strygwyr .bh

Skill Build:

1 - Feast
2 - Blood Crazy
3 - Feast
4 - Blood Sense
5 - Feast
6 - Hemorrhage
7 - Blood Sense
8 - Blood Sense
9 - Blood Sense
10 - Blood Crazy
11 - Hemorrhage
12 - Blood Crazy
13 - Blood Crazy
14 - Feast
15 - Stats
16 - Hemorrhage
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

This build is for solo mid. If you start on a side lane swap the first two skills to get/prevent an early kill.
The build is adaptable; usually Feast 3 is sufficient, but 2 levels of Feast can be enough before you max out Blood Sense and Blood Crazy if it feels right. Blood Sense now triggers off allied heroes being low HP as well, so putting points into it as soon as possible is more important than ever.

Hemorrhage is taken whenever possible for damage and its pseudo-immobilize.

Starting Items:

:HealthPotion: :LoggersHatchet: :IronBuckler:

Core:

(Iron Shield >>) Helm of the Black Legion >> Chalice >> Steamboots

If the game feels hard you maybe wanna get Iron Shield and/or Steamboots before Chalice or even 1-2 Fortified Bracers.
An early Helm makes Blood Hunter become an incredibly powerful (almost) unstoppable force. Tower diving with impunity with Blood Sense and Feast makes him a real threat no matter where on the map he is, as soon as someone is low enough to chase down.

After core:

(Mock of Brilliance >>) Nullfire Blade >> Shrunken Head >> Savage Mace >> Frostwolf Skull >> Riftshards

Blood Hunter is a good hero to rush Mock. It synergizes well with Feast and to a lesser extent with Blood Sense (constant damage on heroes fleeing outside of your autoattack, puts their Portal Keys on cooldown). If you are unable to really rush the Sword of the High before even Helm, then it's probably better to leave it and move onto other items.

Nullfire Blade now allows you to silence someone and then Purge the base damage off them for a pure silence. Nullfire's high agility primary and manaburn also adds needed damage, and with its charge restriction lifted on Nullfire level 2, gives him a reliable chase tool with the slow.
Shrunken Head is next as it stops you from being chain stunned to death, and unable to get the Feast debuff on someone to keep your survivability up.

Alternative Items:

Codex: A popular choice in pubs. It works fairly well in midgame as a ganking tool but severely hurts your lategame carry potential.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Solo mid. Can work in a sidelane with certain hero combinations (Vindicator).
Difficulty: 2/5 (last hitting and denying to get Feast makes or breaks you in lane)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (Feast helps somewhat)
Item dependent? - Yes, but can function well on his core and either Frostburn or Mock.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Weak harassing, but excellent staying power and superior last hitting except against a few heroes)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (Good ganker, better if opponent is braindead or you cause a situation where the target is damned if he does run and damned if he doesn't)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Not a true hard carry, but capable of extreme longetivity in teamfights when Feast procs off a hero.)

Tips and Tricks:

- You have to gank with Blood Hunter. If you're playing him, its the only reason you are there. Gank whenever your ult is up.
- You can take out the ancient creeps very early with Blood Crazy and you can generally go jungling pretty well from level 5 on.
- When ganking always decide whether to use Blood Crazy as a damage amplifier or as a silence; depending on the heroes you are ganking. Heroes that have powerful game-breaking spells, but do not necessarily have high autoattack damage are prime targets to be silenced (such as a Tempest). It is possible to Purge the base damage off the target you are silencing however if it could potentially cause issues in teamfights.
- When taking out a tower or a barracks, it is always a great idea to use Blood Crazy on yourself. The increase in damage is essential in maximizing potential tower kills.

Counters:

- Facing a decent BH solo mid is one of the toughest things in pub HoN. Chances are you will not be able to out-cs him and fall behind quickly. Harassing won't solve the problem. There are 2 solutions:
1. Put two players mid. This will shut him down for good.
2. Call for ganks.
- Any hero with burst nukes (Soulstealer), ridiculously powerful low-level stacking harass (Silhouette, Pyromancer with an early point in Fervor), or melees with high base damage and a hatchet are able to punish Blood Hunter in a solo lane, and negate his only real function to succeeding in a lane.
- If he is not overfarmed and overlevelled, his power will decline sharply after the midgame.
- Don't always stand still when he ults you. Sometimes you have to run to survive! Level 1 ult is fairly weak in particular, and can be run against to place yourself relatively safer to a tower.
- Carrying a TP for when he ults you can save you. He has no way to disrupt a TP channel himself without outside help.

[Anakha]

[Arachna] .arachna .spider .drow .travex .viper .netherdrake

Skill Build:

1 - Precision
2 - Webbed Shot
3 - Webbed Shot
4 - Harden Carapace
5 - Webbed Shot
6 - Spider Sting
7 - Precision
8 - Precision
9 - Precision
10 - Webbed Shot
11 - Spider Sting
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Spider Sting
17 - Stats+
23 - Harden Carapace+

Justification / Modifications:

Precision is taken first as it offers slightly higher base damage for initial lasthitting.
As of the re-alignment patch, Webbed Shot has received MONSTROUS buffs and now is a priority to put 3 points in over Precision first up to remove the cooldown between shots. Its second point is taken at 3 because all of its attributes (damage, and both slows) double in effectiveness. Precision is taken after 3 points in Webbed Shot as it still gives a huge chunk of damage from Arachna's high agility gain.
Spider Sting is taken every level and has now received a HP buff (4 hits instead of 3 to kill).

Harden Carapace can be taken as early as 2 against specific heroes that you can rid yourself of troublesome debuffs. I'm going to cop a lot of flak for my choice to not level it past 1 until stats are maxed out, but here goes. The 3 second duration and lack of a substantial cooldown scaling on it relegate the skill to a mere debuff cleanse, not something you actively trigger for the magic armour, as nice as it seems.
Consider levelling it after Webbed Shot and Precision are maxed if you really feel it is justified.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2xuckBoots: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Ghost Marchers/Steamboots >> 2x Soulscream Rings

Her core is relatively small, the reason being you can divert into different builds after it. Ghost Marchers tend to be the best option for running to runes, ganking and just damage in general. Steamboots have their place on her though.

After core:

Helm of the Black Legion >> Geometer's Bane >> (Shrunken Head >>) Savage Mace >> Symbol of Rage >> Wingbow

Helm of the Black Legion is good on her because she lacks a lot of midgame options for pure survivability that translate to better items (Icebrand->Frostburn), and has an innately large amount of midgame damage with Webbed Shot, Precision, her agility gain and Spider Sting. Helm allows her to towerdive much easier with the damage block and bulk HP, and resist a lot of punishment.
To make the most of Helm, you need to be fairly actively moving around the map, preferably with Ghost Marchers. If you are a farming Arachna, this pickup won't do a lot for you except delay better items.
Fairly straightforward stuff from here on in. Geometer's Bane is her premium DPS item and give her a lot with Precision Aura affecting the images. Savage Mace is next, giving images True Strike and yourself a massive chunk of damage.
After that, definitely Shrunken Head to not be disabled and Symbol of Rage (when not using Webbed Shot!) or Wingbow to complete the set. Shrunken Head can be picked up at any point before Geometer's Bane as you see fit, really.

Alternative Items:

Assassin's Shroud - Subpar, but can be taken at any point after the core if you really feel the need for it.
Portal Key - For the pure gank style of play. Best with Ghost Marchers and 3 Soulscream Rings.
Nullfire Blade: Arachna is a decent holder of Nullfire Blade, when a suitable hero on the other team needs the Purge to counter them, such as Jereziah or Hellbringer.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Horizontal/Mid (vulnerable on vertical)
Difficulty: 3/5 (Orb-walking, kinda squishy, feed warning for new players)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (Nice attack animation and early base damage, no farming spells tho)
Item dependent? Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (Dominant harass with Webbed Shot now, but still fragile. Can babysit if desperate)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (Reliant on ult to get kills unless fed)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (capable 600 range agility carry with high agi gain)

Tips and Tricks:

- Arachna is a very squishy hero; you will need some kind of defensive items eventually.
- You are easy to get ganked. Make sure wards are up when farming; if not buy some yourself.
- Spider Sting is a very, very powerful ability, having the potential to do more damage than Pyromancer's ultimate with Staff of the Master. On 0 armor the Spiderling is doing 1125 damage.
- The Spiderling is now impossible to kill by 1 hero alone, with 2 heroes the Spiderling will probably only get 3-4 attacks off before it dies. Early game you should use Spider Sting to get hero kills, never use it if you think your enemy can make it to their tower.
- Also don't be afraid to use Spider Sting to escape ganks if need be.
- If the enemy team has multiple slows/holds wait for them to be applied before you use Carapace. Don't use it too early and then have the exact same thing happen again to you.
- It is possible to negate the majority of certain high-powered nukes by popping Carapace before they hit. Pyromancer and Witch Slayer are prime examples of this. Obviously this is better if you have levelled the skill before stats (+8ma vs +32ma), so do so accordingly if you feel you can.

Counters:

- Homecoming Stone. She has no way of interrupting it bar killing you outright.
- Barbed Armour is worth a mention, as Arachna has fairly low HP for a carry.
- Void Talisman, as Spider Sting is physical damage, as is the brunt of her damage before lategame.
- Geometer's Bane can disjoint the Spider Sting, and kill it easily with illusions!

[The Dark Lady] .darklady .tdl .dl

Skill Build:

1 - Charging Strikes
2 - Taint Soul
3 - Taint Soul
4 - Dark Blades
5 - Taint Soul
6 - Charging Strikes
7 - Taint Soul
8 - Charging Strikes
9 - Charging Strikes
10 - Dark Blades
11 - Dark Blades
12 - Dark Blades
13 - Cover of Darkness
14 - Cover of Darkness
15 - Stats
16 - Cover of Darkness
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Her build is very flexible. The one suggested is probably the best since the Dark Blades nerf a while back. Charging Strikes is taken at 1st level to either help or prevent early ganks. Taint Soul is maxed next as it allows you to constantly CS in any lane, or even harass/slow when necessary.
Charging Strikes is maxed next as it increases in range per level and mana cost stays the same. Dark Blades is maxed last because the silence on hit stays the same at all levels, and one point at level 4 allows the biggest gain for the least amount of mana.

Cover of Darkness can be taken earlier if your game demands it with its global range, but for the most part your priorities are on your other 3 spells.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:/3x:ManaPotion:

Mana Potions or Minor Totems depend on how hard you expect your lane will be. Mana Potions will allow you to constantly CS with Taint Soul from a safe distance, while Minor Totems provide HP, damage and a slightly increased mana pool.

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) Power Supply >> Runed Cleaver >> Steamboots

Power Supply is strongly recommended.
Runed Cleaver will help your mana problems while being a great item on her in general. If you are struggling initially, feel free to build your Steamboots before finishing your Runed Cleaver.

After core:

Shrunken Head >> Whispering Helm >> Riftshards >> Wingbow/Symbol of Rage

Shrunken Head is mandatory after Runed Cleaver, with 2 of your steroids being easily purge-able. Riftshards are probably the best luxury DPS item on her at this point.
Wingbow or Symbol of Rage both offer survivability, with Wingbow more geared towards crushing down carries that don't have Savage Mace in carry vs carry battles, and Symbol more about being able to outlast anything that they throw at you with lifesteal. Symbol is generally better.

Information:

Roles: Late-game carry
Preferred Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4/5 (squish early game, needs farm to even be able to participate past early game)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (farming power comes from Taint Soul and Charging Strikes, especially with Runed Cleaver)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Some harassing possible, able to constantly CS a little with Taint Soul)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2/5 (starts picking up after 1st big core item)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (one of the hardest carries in the game; still one of the best and least situational ults in the game)

Tips and Tricks:

- Dark Blades + Charging Strikes will silence all enemies in the line. Activate Dark Blades and then use Charging Strikes through your intended targets. This will apply the silence to every unit hit, as well as your amplified damage.
- Charging Strikes will proc all your on-hit effects when used, like Runed Cleaver splash, Riftshards, Savage Mace, Frostwolf Skull, Nullfire Blade, Brutalizer and even Harkon's Blade. Each target struck counts as a separate hit, so if there is a cost associated with the use, the cost will be paid every single time until it can't be used again (in which case, the attacks just be normal).
- As you are a hard carry, if you have an ensured kill that you do not need to use your slow to catch up with, try to lasthit it with Taint Soul. This will accelerate your farm quicker, and allow you to reach your point of critical threat that little bit quicker.
- If you are losing the lane and get zero farm consider leaving Taint Soul at 1 and maxing Charging Strikes first instead to get a cheap/low cd escape spell with greater range on the charge. This allows you more breathing room for leeching as much exp as possible.

Counters:

- The Dark Lady takes off as soon as she gets Runed Cleaver. Delay that point as long as possible. Gank her; push her off the lane; deny any kind of free farm. A kill is not always necessary to deny her of getting the optimal farm she can get.
- A farmed up Dark Lady is possibly the strongest hero in the game. But it is pretty easy to stop her from getting overfarmed; always keep an eye on her. She is pretty weak early and mid game.
- Nullfire Blade can purge the Dark Blades as well as the Zeal attack speed buff off her. Use it right after she Charges in if possible. Nullfire's mana burn can also help prevent multiple casts of her low-cd steroids if sufficient mana is drained, due to her low-ish mana pool.
- Once she is farmed, only Void Talisman, Barbed Armor and Nullfire Blade will really help.

[Soulstealer] .ss .soulstealer .shadow fiend .sf .nevermore

Skill Build:

1 - Soulsteal
2 - Demon Hand
3 - Demon Hand
4 - Soulsteal
5 - Demon Hand
6 - Soulsteal
7 - Demon Hand
8 - Soulsteal
9 - Soul Burst
10 - Dread
11 - Soul Burst
12 - Dread
13 - Dread
14 - Dread
15 - Stats
16 - Soul Burst
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

There is no justification for deviating from the first 9 levels of this build under any circumstances. Soulstealer's (and his DotA counterpart Shadow Fiend) build is pretty much set in stone from low level pubs to world class competitive games for a long time now.
The only change that can be made is possibly taking stats instead of Dread until later.

Starting Items:

2x:RunesOfTheBlight: 2xuckBoots: 2x:MinorTotem:

NOTE: This is a small deviation from the usual Health Potion + Runes, because it is entirely possible that you will get your Bottle delivered to you before using up all of one kind of regen, so 2 sets of Runes are taken to be efficient with space.

Core:

Bottle >> Steamboots (>> 1-2 Fortified Bracelets/Soulscream Rings)

Post Haste instead of Steamboots is a viable choice if early enough AND you've established map control. If you don't get what I'm talking about or don't have it, stick to Steamboots. The small stat items are optional, but can be taken if necessary to have that little bit more health or damage early on. They can be skipped if you're farming well.

After Core:

(Portal Key >>) Shrunken Head >> Geometer's Bane >> Frostwolf Skull/Symbol of Rage >> Wingbow

The reason why Portal Key is put in brackets is because timing of when you get the Portal Key is critical, as well as the cast time on your ultimate is very poor. This allows Soulstealer unprecedented mobility and teamfight control with a full set of Souls, as he generally teleports directly on top of someone and instagibs them, to follow up with Demon Hands and autoattacks.
Due to the nerf to the cast time of Soul Burst, Portal Key will generally need an initiating stun (Glacius' Ice Imprisonment or Behemoth's Fissure are prime candidates here) to allow him to port directly on top of someone and ruin their day.
Shrunken Head is next to make sure you sit in the middle of it all unaffected. Build to carry afterwards with Geometer's Bane and your modifier of choice.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Secondary initiator, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Solo mid or bust. Can sidelane with someone like a Glacius but not optimal.
Difficulty: 4/5 (Nukes are a bit tricky and the ultimate needs perfect positioning)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (A full creep wave for 160 mana. Fully stacked neutral camps for 240 mana. Best farmer there is in the game until 35min in where 2 Hands will not 2-shot a creep wave)
Item dependent? Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Hands are a threat for any hero from hero level 3 onwards; able to rune control well by 2-handing the creep line to their tower to get the rune)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (THE best farmer in midgame, powerful ult and Hands peak at this point)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Solid carry due to his insane farm potential, very good pusher)

Tips and Tricks:

- From the point you reach level 7 until minute 35 you can kill a full creep wave with two Demon Hands. Use this a LOT to farm your items and be constantly at full souls for your ultimate's damage.
- When using your ultimate you have to stand as close as possible to your enemy. This is imperative! For maximum damage Portal Key right on top of them.
- In early game, use Demon Hands when your enemies get too close to the creeps. Demon Hand is a very good harassing spell if you can aim with it (practice is key).
- At xx:45 in lane, you can Demon Hand the creeps to quickly get all of them, push the lane up to the other tower and be free to grab the rune. The other mid can only contest the rune if they are willing to give up a lot of exp to do so, and with no guarantee of getting it. This gives you an even greater advantage over them.

Counters:

- SS is a very strong mid. He has a slow start but "takes off" once he racks up some souls (last hits). Send a hero with high base damage and/or good attack animation against him. Pebbles, Corrupted Disciple, etc.
- He is very vulnerable to ganks in mid. Low HP pool and no escape spells. Consider calling for ganks.
- Don't let him get rune control. If he can constantly refill his bottle he is very hard to deal with!
- If he goes Assassin's Shroud instead (bad), pick up Wards of Revelation and drop them as you push towers (this wins games).
- If you are low HP, don't run away from him in a straight line. Hands have progressive range, and it's easy to just be triple nuked in oblivion by anyone semi-competent.
- He is dependant on souls for his best skill in the midgame in his ultimate. Hounding/killing him constantly ensures he has to spend more time farming to be at full effectiveness, and this is less time he is running around dominating the game.

[Zephyr] .zephyr .party bird .shrooms

Skill Build:

1 - Gust
2 - Cyclones
3 - Cyclones
4 - Wind Shield
5 - Cyclones
6 - Typhoon
7 - Cyclones
8 - Gust
9 - Gust
10 - Gust
11 - Typhoon
12 - Wind Shield
13 - Wind Shield
14 - Wind Shield
15 - Stats
16 - Typhoon
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Gust can be taken at level 1 for a rune gank or save. One level of Wind Shield is taken early as it is passive and the first level provides significantly more than the following levels. This is mainly to help you run around either between neutral camps or chase.
Then max Cyclones and Gust after. Gust can be maxed if you are in an offensive lane and can get kills. Cyclones are your bread and butter farming/damage/midgame carry tool, and are your main source of damage impact in the midgame.

Starting Items:

:HealthPotion: :LoggersHatchet: :IronBuckler:

Core:

(Iron Shield >>) Lifetube >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Ghost Marchers >> Mock of Brilliance

Zephyr, being a very tough character with Helm and Cyclone HP gain, is a good choice for Mock. Unlike other heroes, you can't rush it naked however. You will need at least Helm and some Boots first. Due to your excellent farming abilities you will still have your Mock pretty early tho (25min Ghost Marchers, Helm and Mock is possible with some help and towers). You can get Plated Greaves instead of Ghost Marchers if they feature a lot of physical damage or armor reduction.

After core:

Barrier Idol >> Spellshards OR Frostwolf Skull >> Frostfield Plate/Daemonic Breastplate/Behemoth's Heart

Barrier Idol is taken as it helps mitigate midgame magic damage for everyone at their best point (which is where you peak, midgame), and allows you to stay up and constantly DPS down people with Cyclones and your autoattack.
Spellshards are your best DPS item at this point, as Mock/Cyclones/Typhoon are all magic damage. Frostwolf Skull allow you to stay on targets better, and keep heroes inside your Typhoon longer for more damage.
After that, more armour or HP to boost your effective HP through strengthening your weakest link of survivability.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Any. Strong solo mid against a melee hero.
Difficulty: 2/5 (Requires last hitting skills and Gust can be a bit tricky to use but he is very hard to shut down with his core)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Probably the best amongst melee carries)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (good lane staying power with Cyclones, easy to farm early on, decent jungler from when lanes break up)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (dominates the midgame hard with his core and snowballed enough)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (tapers off hard lategame as people start picking up Shrunken Head to mitigate most of his natural carry potential)

Tips and Tricks:

- When you have Cyclones up, you can block to prevent an enemy from reaching his tower, doing more damage than just mindlessly rightclicking them.
- If you use a Homecoming Stone, you will lose all Cyclones, keep that in mind.
- Gust has a lot of different uses with its targetted push. Always think about all the possibilities before using it.
- When Cyclones expire or are consumed, the oldest will expire first (thats a good thing).
- If you are at max cyclones always consume one before you do a last hit. The oldest cyclone will be consumed. This is a good habit to get into, as it avoids the chance of a getting the lesser heal (15hp if forced to expire from a lasthit or Typhoon, as opposed to 30hp if expiring naturally or eaten).
- Gust now has a ministun to interrupt people from TPing away from you when you sit on them with Typhoon and Cyclones. Don't waste it needlessly when ganking solo.

Counters:

- It is very very hard to deny Zephyr farm (unlike with other carries). One way to limit it, is by warding his jungle and controlling the lanes. A Zephyr with a bad early game does not translate into the dominating midgame force he needs to be to win a game.
- Don't engage him in melee early on when he has all 8 cyclones up unless you are at least 3 vs 1. You will melt extremely quickly the longer you stay in Cyclone range.
- Get a Barbed Armor and turn it on when standing in his ulti. (If 2 or more people do this he will kill himself with his ult).
- Barrier Idol and Shrunken Head help to counter his ult and Cyclone damage.
- Also consider Tablet of Command to jump out of Typhoon and stay away from him in general.

[Andromeda] .andromeda .vengeful spirit .vs

Skill Build:

1 - Comet
2 - Aurora
3 - Aurora
4 - Comet
5 - Aurora
6 - Void Rip
7 - Aurora
8 - Comet
9 - Comet
10 - Dimensional Link
11 - Void Rip
12 - Dimensional Link
13 - Dimensional Link
14 - Dimensional Link
15 - Stats
16 - Void Rip
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Comet is taken at level 1 as it is your bread-and-butter stun. It is 325 damage at max level, but scales in mana cost for the same duration of stun so it is maxed second. Aurora is maxed out first for the vision, -armour and -basedamage it gives for such a cheap mana cost. Dimensional Link is taken last and can be kept on Heroes only to prevent pushing the lane ridiculous amounts if necessary.
Stats can be taken instead of Dimensional Link if you feel it is justified (your purpose in life lategame is to swap an important target for them to be annihilated straight up).

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:ManaPotion: 2x:MinorTotem

Core:

Marchers >> Power Supply >> Striders >> 1-2 Fortified Bracelets >> Wards >> Wards

Striders are the best boots for her; running around between places to ward/gank. Always get wards, they are your highest item priority. You can get a Bottle (and/or Chalice) if you feel the need for it, but don't take away the runes from your mid-laner early on if he needs them.
Remember to keep 1-2 inventory slots open for wards and counter-wards.

After core:

Staff of the Master >> Portal Key (>> Nullfire Blade)

This stuff is hardcore luxury. You should not have that much gold since you are warding and constantly moving around the map to assist your team, not farming. It's not uncommon for an Andromeda to finish a 30+ minute game with nothing more than 2 Bracelets and Striders.
That being said, SotM and Portal Key are your two most useful items after the core. Andro is a decent Nullfire holder; get one at any point if your team needs to counter Jeraziah, Hellbringer, or even Dark Lady and you have no other candidates for picking up a Nullfire Blade.

Information:

Roles: Support, Ganker, Roamer, Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any except mid. Generally roams.
Difficulty: 3/5 (swap to save, stun, aurora. Landing decent Void Rips (swap) and staying alive in a teamfight can be tricky. roaming puts her at a 4/5)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (Aurora helps a little but isn't great)
Item dependent? - No, functions perfectly well with just Striders and even without them for the most part.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Comet is one of the best stuns at level 1 in the game, Aurora gives vision)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Good initiator, very good at ganking and roaming)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (Late game her job is to single out and swap their carry into a bad spot, or swap to save your carry)

Tips and Tricks:

- Gank a lot! That's your primary task. Let your carries get the kills if possible.
- Once you get Portal Key you can queue it up after Void Rip to teleport right back to your allies.
- You are responsible to keep wards up at all times. Delay your items to buy wards.
- A good swap will decide a teamfight just as quickly as any other initiation. Don't waste it needlessly.
- Void Rip will disrupt TP's, even while the target is Magic Immune.

Counters:

- Most Andromedas will play the roamer/supporter style described here. Gankers are best countered with vision, map- and rune control -> Wards.
- If you are facing a carry-Andro get some armor and you should be fine. She is outcarried by almost every other carry in the game.
- Positioning will generally make it much much more difficult for her to Void Rip you out of safety to be creamed. Since it is Physical, Shrunken Head will not save you from this, only decent awareness of where you are in relation to Andromeda.

[Anakha]

[Valkyrie] .valkyrie .potm .priestess of the moon

Skill Build:

1 - Javelin of Light
2 - Courageous Leap
3 - Call of the Valkyrie
4 - Call of the Valkyrie
5 - Call of the Valkyrie
6 - Javelin of Light
7 - Call of the Valkyrie
8 - Javelin of Light
9 - Javelin of Light
10 - Valkyrie's Prism
11 - Valkyrie's Prism
12 - Courageous Leap
13 - Courageous Leap
14 - Courageous Leap
15 - Stats
16 - Valkyrie's Prism
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Get Courageous Leap first instead if you have no plans to kill someone at level 1, and think there is a possibility you could be killed at level 1. Javelin of Light is one of the strongest level 1 stuns in the game, and we take that one point of it by level 2 no matter what.
Call of the Valkyrie is maxed out first as it does the most single-target damage of all your skills when properly placed, and is your farming skill. Javelin of Light is maxed next as it's your second nuke and less reliable to hit than Call. Courageous Leap can be maxed before Javelin of Light should you desperately need the lowered cooldown and higher distance leaped on it.

If you start mass pushing before level 10, get Valkyrie's Prism earlier. Its duration and fadetime isn't flash hot at level 1, and it takes a gigantic amount of your tiny mana pool so it's often best to leave it for now.

Starting Items:

2x:RunesOfTheBlight: 2xuckBoots: 2x:MinorTotem:

For early Bottle delivery.

Core:

Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers (>> 1-2x Soulscream Rings)

Ghost Marchers are viable, as positioning and mobility for the runes and throwing arrows is very important for her. Steamboots favor carrying a bit more, but your early autoattack damage suffers drastically without Ghost Marchers. The easier the game the fewer Soulscream Rings you will need.

After core:

(Nullfire Blade >>) Frostburn >> (Shrunken Head/Nullstone >>) Geometer's Bane/Frostwolf Skull split >> Savage Mace/Riftshards

Get a Nullfire ASAP if your team needs to counter Jeraziah, Hellbringer, Dark Lady etc. Otherwise go for the listed build. Pick up a Shrunken Head or Nullstone if required.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Ganker, Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any. Can solo mid, or side preferably paired with another disabler.
Difficulty: 4/5 (A hero with skillshots is only effective if you can land them often enough to count.)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Call helps a lot)
Item dependent? Yes, but can function well on her core for a short while.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (very dangerous arrow stuns, heavy nuke from level 5 on)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Fear the 5 second stun.)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Can be good if she dominated the midgame and/or has farmed enough, her ultimate is amongst the best initiation tools in the game)

Tips and Tricks:

- If you have problems hitting your Javelin, wait for someone else on your team to cast a disable, then throw the Javelin at the non-moving target.
- Valkyrie's Prism is a very strong initiation, escape and counter-gank tool. But the priority is on initiation, especially if you are lacking other good sources of it.
- Use Call of the Valkyrie (once it's level 3+) to punish enemy melee heroes if they go in melee range of the creep waves.
- Especially if you play in mid: Gank a lot! Landing a 5 second stun on the sidelanes or even on the mid hero (from you coming from the sidelanes) is devastating and will often net you an easy kill.

Counters:

- Valkyrie is VERY hard to counter. 2 escape spells, high physical and magic damage, long range/duration disable. Hero-wise, the best counters are stunners and long immobilizations so she can't leap away from the pain train she has coming for you.
- Minimizing the amount of fog you're standing next to will help you react and dodge the inevitable long range arrow initiation early-mid game. This is important in tandem with map awareness.
- Item-wise, I suggest you carry Dust or a Revelation Ward for the inevitable invisibility initiation. Armour helps, but is not really an effective counter.
- Even when heavily farmed, a Valk is still relatively squishy without Frostwolf Skull or something similar. The best counter is to focus her when possible, especially if she's sitting in the midgame with Ghost Marchers and a Thunderclaw like a lot of pub players do.

[Engineer] .engineer .turrent

Skill Build:

1 - The Keg
2 - Steam Turret
3 - Spider Mines
4 - Spider Mines
5 - Spider Mines
6 - Energy Field
7 - Spider Mines
8 - The Keg
9 - The Keg
10 - The Keg
11 - Energy Field
12 - Steam Turret
13 - Steam Turret
14 - Steam Turret
15 - Stats
16 - Energy Field
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Keg is taken at level 1 because it is an 80 mana AoE stun. Steam Turret's slow (3.5% per bullet you are hit with) does not scale with levels but is fairly strong with allied disables (35% when hit by 10 bullets out of the 40 it sprays) and is taken at level 2.
Spider Mines, sadly enough, are Engineer's bread-and-butter damage output, and are most effective early-mid game where HP pools are lower. They provide a greater damage output and better scaling than either Turret or Keg at all levels, but lack the range to apply them in a fight, as they are laid point-blank and only trigger within 200 units. Therefore, they require a bit of forethought and planning for their placement to be effective, as creeps will set them off as well as heroes. They are generally a farming tool for creep waves and pushing, as well as spawn blockers and area denial.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

Chalice >> Striders >> Power Supply >> Ring of Sorcery

Chalice and Power Supply are pretty strong as your combo will need a lot of burst mana. Also just a few charges will allow you to cast a Keg with 0 mana.
Striders are all that is necessary to run around setting up your mine traps. Ring of Sorcery helps expand your mana pool and gives you an active Replenish to help you constantly get your skills off.

After core:

Tablet of Command >> Portal Key >> Shrunken Head/Spellshards/Void Talisman/Barbed Armour

Portal Key as you are an initiator. Tablet of Command gives you a larger mana pool allowing you to get off all 4 of your skills, and push people through the walls of your ult (and then Keg or Turret them back through again for mass rage!)
Shrunken Head, Void Talisman and Barbed Armour are all preferred next for better initiation, or Spellshards to increase the damage output of all your skills.

Information:

Roles: Initiator, Pusher. You are NOT a damn carry.
Preferred Lane: Any, thrives on a sidelane with a disable like Glacius.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Not as trivial as it might seem)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Turret rips up creep waves to be finished off with a Keg, Spider Mines decimate creep waves as well)
Item dependent? - No, only needs Ghost Marchers and Tablet of Command/Portal Key to really set up a decent ult. Further items are nice, but can do without.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Good attack animations but low damage. Keg and Spider Mines are very annoying.)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Decent placement of skills ensure maximum damage; Spider Mines ruin warding underlevelled supports)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (ultimate is still amazing at all stages of the game for its Purge, great at stopping secondary PK initiators)

Tips and Tricks:

- Your basic combo at level 7+ if 2 or more enemies are in range: Tablet or PK close, use Energy Field and then cast Keg to push the enemy inside the energy field while keeping him in range of the Turret. If he already is inside, wait for him to run out then Keg him back in. If he fights, Keg him out at ~30% hp.
- Energy Field has a low cooldown, use it every teamfight!
- Throw down a Turret before casting Keg if the mana allows it.
- When in lane, if your lane partner can stun someone, you can place the Turret behind someone firing back towards you with ease for maximum hits and then Keg them easily with the slow on them. This is a very easy way to get kills.

Counters:

- With Shrunken Head on you can ignore all parts of Energy Field. If you play a carry, get Shrunken Head versus Engineer asap. (Not that it is only good against him...)
- Don't let yourself get Kegged into an enemy tower. This is very dangerous early game!
- Long allied disables allow Engineer to place his Turret directly behind you to maximize his damage output. Try to avoid this at all costs as you'll be hit by 3 nukes and will most likely die early on.
- Spider Mines have a 200 trigger radius and are revealed by Revelation Wards. Illusions like Geometer's Bane ones can also scout an area and detonate any mass Spider Mine traps.

[Corrupted Disciple] .corrupted disciple .cd .razor .lightning revenant

Skill Build:

1 - Electric Tide
2 - Corrupted Conduit
3 - Electric Tide
4 - Corrupted Conduit
5 - Electric Tide
6 - Overload
7 - Electric Tide
8 - Corrupted Conduit
9 - Corrupted Conduit
10 - Static Discharge
11 - Overload
12 - Static Discharge
13 - Static Discharge
14 - Static Discharge
15 - Stats
16 - Overload
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Corrupted Conduit can be taken at level 1 instead for first blood if the opportunity is right. Pop that baby on someone and animation cancel your way to +50 damage and an easy 200g.
Due to his base movespeed, Conduit is a FAR superior choice to take over Static Discharge early in conjunction with Ghost Marchers. Swap Static Discharge with Corrupted Conduit if you feel the situation calls for it. If so, take a level of Conduit for the vision buff no later than level 8.
Against melee mids that heavily depend on CK'ing for an early core (Blood Hunter, Pebbles, Deadwood), feel free to max Conduit before Tide to really ruin their lasthitting and punish them out of the lane with the extra base damage.

Starting Items:

2x:RunesOfTheBlight: 2xuckBoots: 2x:MinorTotem:

For early Bottle delivery.

Core:

Bottle >> Ghost Marchers >> Power Supply >> Helm of the Black Legion

Bottle is especially important if playing mid, you can skip it on the sidelanes. Get Power Supply in any case however.
Ghost Marchers can be replaced by Steamboots or even Plated Greaves to suit preference. All have their strong points.
An early Helm on this guy ruins people, and Corrupted Disciple is one of the signature heroes behind the damage block on ranged heroes being nerfed. It is still an amazing item on him nonetheless, allowing him to tower dive with impunity on a low HP hero.

After core:

(Shaman's Headdress >>) (Nullfire Blade >>) Icebrand >> Frostburn >> Frostwolf Skull/Geometer's Bane split >> Shrunken Head >> Wingbow

Against the current trend of spell spamming mids, consider a possible Shaman's Headdress instead or even just Mystic Vestments. Consider Nullfire Blade after the core if you need to counter Hellbringer, Jereziah or Dark Lady.
Frostburn is his bread-and-butter midgame damage item, which is later split up for the FWS/Geo combo. I suggest completing Geometer's Bane first.
Wingbow rounds him out nicely with Evasion on top of a sizeable chunk of HP.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Strong solo mid, but can sidelane.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Know when to tower dive and chase; keeping Conduit on for full effect)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Tide is a decent AoE spell; stacked camps or waves are easy stuff with Tide+Overload)
Item dependent? - Yes, but does function on his core very efficiently.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Tide is a very strong harass; very quick projectile speed)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Excellent chaser and tower diver, one of the best midgame carries)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Can carry decently with items. Conduit still ruins people lategame with 10 charges/200 damage off them)

Tips and Tricks:

- Tide is an exceptionally strong harass if properly used (try to catch the enemy hero on the outer edge of the circle). On Corrupted Disciple it's worth it to whore the Bottle with a courier (send the courier to refill it) if you don't have rune control.
- Corrupted Disciple is one of the best tower divers. He will complete Helm very fast and should then lead assaults/ganks beyond the enemy lines, drawing the tower fire on him because of the ability to shrug it off easily with the damage block.
- Corrupted Conduit will stop ticking up on Geometer's Bane activation, but the buff and debuff will remain.
- Gank a lot, especially when playing mid and picking up runes. Your level 7 Tide + Overload is devastating and will rarely fail to net you a double kill when ganking from mid.

Counters:

- Very, very hard to counter. High physical and magic damage so neither armor nor magic armor will really help on its own.
- Positioning and using fog of war to juke will help you to not get chased down, but only if Conduit is not on you. Tablet or Shrunken Head/Geometer's Bane will break Conduit ticking up charges (but the debuff will remain until it expires).
- Homecoming Stones are a solid counter when he casts Conduit on you (similar to Arachna) as he cannot stun.
- Deny him rune control. No mana means no Tide harass/farm and limits his chance to just simply charge at you and push you out of the lane.

[Sand Wraith] .sand wraith .sw .spectre .mercurial

Skill Build:

1 - Desert's Curse
2 - Dissipate
3 - Desert's Curse
4 - Dissipate
5 - Desert's Curse
6 - Mirage
7 - Desert's Curse
8 - Dissipate
9 - Dissipate
10 - Deserted
11 - Mirage
12 - Deserted
13 - Deserted
14 - Deserted
15 - Stats
16 - Mirage
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Dissipate is generally favored over Deserted for the damage mitigation. Only if you have complete lanecontrol for an early Helm, should you switch them up.
Desert's Curse has a scaling mana cost and Sand Wraith's mana pool is fairly abysmal so this can be delayed for further levels of Dissipate if you so choose. Levelling Deserted before Dissipate means you should always max Desert's Curse first.
Mirage is taken at level 6 to help rack up assist gold/port in. It can then be left until 14 because the duration only scales for an extra second, and 6 seconds over 5 is meh until completely farmed. Max it as soon as your other 3 skills are all maxed though.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :LoggersHatchet: uckBoots:

Core:

(Iron Shield >>) Lifetube >> Power Supply >> Steamboots >> Helm of the Black Legion

Iron Shield can be skipped if the game goes easy. Helm's extra HP and mitigation synergize with Dissipate's damage reduction, and allow Sand Wraith to neutral and tank creeps, while still maintaining a healthy HP pool in case he is required to port in with Mirage to ensure a kill.

After core:

(Nullfire Blade >>) Mock of Brilliance >> Frostwulf Skull >> Geometer's Bane/Riftshards/Behemoth's Heart/Harkon's Blade

Nullfire Blade is worth consideration for more of a midgame presence with maxed Deserted over Dissipate as Purge helps him chase, but his illusions will no longer mana burn on his ultimate. Really only consider it against Hellbringer, Jereziah etc. now though as the lack of mana burning images hurts its viability severely.

Mock of Brilliance is so good on Sand Wraith that it's almost never worth skipping. It helps him farm, which he drastically needs; and it allows him to apply Mock aura in a teamfight to everybody and guarantees assists on every kill, if not the kill. It also will disable all Portal Keys 100% the instant you use Mirage, making him a counter-initiator. Frostwolf Skull is next as using Mirage will apply Frostwolf's slow to all targets instantly.

Next is either Geometer's Bane, Riftshards or Heart depending on preference. Harkon's Blade rates a mention, as Mirage illusions carry the Attack Modifier of Harkon's when it is activated when Mirage is activated. They also drain their own (useless) mana pool to make your illusions deal effectively True damage and apply the Harkon's debuff to an entire team in a teamfight. Very useful as a 5th/6th item.

Information:

Roles: Late-game carry, Counter-initiator
Preferred Lane: Short
Difficulty: 2/5 (farming efficiently and effectively while still getting assists from Mirage)
Farming capabilities: 1/5 (weak autoattacks and agi gain, decent animation though)
Item dependent? - Yes.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 1/5 (horrific, only has a weak nuke/slow)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2/5 (3/5 with Nullfire and maxed Deserted)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (The hardest carry in Heroes of Newerth. Period.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Your ultimate allows you to farm ALL THE TIME. This is what separates Sand Wraith from most carries. If a teamfight is happening just activate Mirage and you are right in the middle of it to pick up assist gold whilst merrily farming away in safety.
- Always carry a Homecoming Stone! When getting ganked while farming, throw out a Desert's Curse (doesn't matter if it hits anything) and walk straight into the forest where they can't follow you. Then TP to another lane and continue farming. You can also use Mirage as a pseudo-escape mechanism by teleporting to a hero not participating in a massive gank on you, and then repeating the same Curse into the forest and TP away trick.
- Deserted is 45 true damage on hit, and will propagate to your illusions' hitting as well. This translates to roughly a bonus ~70-80 physical damage lategame against heavily armoured carries, since it is not reduced or negated by armour in any form. It is a powerful steroid.
- As good as Dissipate's magic reflection seems, on paper it isn't worth building around like Sand Wraith's old True damage Dissipate was. Damage will be preferable to survivability much much earlier than was custom back when SW enjoyed an overpowered skillset.

Counters:

- It's rather hard to deny his farm as she can almost always escape. If you gank him, bring 2 or more players and some disables. Scaring him off is often good enough, as he has no real way to farm quickly and any kind of delay hurts him a lot more than most other carries who are able to flashfarm more efficiently.
- Barrier Idol will counter Dissipate damage, and Nullstone will stop Mirage from working on yourself only.
- If he ults on you, instantly use a Homecoming Stone if you can't kill him. He can't cancel it.
- Forcing Sand Wraith to participate in base defense before he has farmed his set of winning items like Mock is the best way to shut him down.
- Anyone with a surefire way of killing illusions quickly is also very strong against Sand Wraith's Mirage. Witch Slayer and Pollywog Priest rate the highest mention here.

[Forsaken Archer] .forsaken archer .fa

Skill Build:

1 - Call of the Damned
2 - Crippling Volley
3 - Call of the Damned
4 - Crippling Volley
5 - Call of the Damned
6 - Piercing Arrows
7 - Call of the Damned
8 - Crippling Volley
9 - Crippling Volley
10 - Split Fire
11 - Piercing Arrows
12 - Split Fire
13 - Split Fire
14 - Split Fire
15 - Stats
16 - Piercing Arrows
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Get Crippling Volley first for the level 1 disable for a gank if you like, but Call allows for lane domination from level 1 if someone steps out of position even a little bit.
Call is maxed first as 6 skeletons beating on a tower with one wave of creeps at level 7 drops it VERY fast. It is her best source of early-mid game damage and farming ability.

Split Fire now functions as essentially ranged cleave with no reductions on the first target you are hitting, and as such is not worth delaying for stats anymore.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2xuckBoots: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Bottle >>) Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers/Steamboots (>> 1-2x Soulscream Ring)

Bottle can work if you're spamming Volley to farm and push in a mid lane. Ghost Marchers promote a more active midgame, whereas Steamboots lend more power to your carrying potential after flashfarming hard with Call of the Damned. Soulscreams as needed, if your game isn't going as well as you would like.

After core:

(Nullfire Blade >>) Frostburn >> Shrunken Head >> Frostwolf Skull/Geometer's Bane split >> Savage Mace/Riftshards

Get a Nullfire after core if your team needs to counter Jeraziah, Hellbringer, or Dark Lady. If you feel uncomfortable with her stun delay, you can actually Purge the target and then land an easy Volley on them.
The rest is basic 600 range agility carry items. Frostburn splits up into Frostwolf Skull and Geometer's Bane to allow for kiting heroes, and illusion damage output. Savage Mace and Riftshards provide your real stopping power to end a game.

Alternative Items:

Whispering Helm - You can rush this directly after core and start ancient stacking. By the time you hit level 11 you should have a decent stack which you can farm VERY EASY with your level 2+ ultimate with skeletons out. Be sure to go Shrunken Head->Geometer's Bane earlier to compensate for the lack of HP from Frostwolf Skull.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any
Difficulty: 2/5 (Landing Volley can be tricky with the delay, placing Piercing Arrows for maximum effect as well)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (all 4 skills can generate farm quickly)
Item dependent? Yes, but can function on her core perfectly fine until lategame.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (skeletons and long duration disable)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (skeletons, very powerful ult in midgame)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (stays strong if you keep a farm advantage, otherwise becomes sub-par to other carries)

Tips and Tricks:

- A gank at level 7 With Crippling Volley and Piercing Arrows + saved up skellies will often get you a kill.
- Use Piercing Arrows together with an AoE disable (Tempest Ult, Keeper of the Forest Ult, ...) and/or when the enemy is trapped in a long choke in the forest and can't avoid it by sidestepping.
- Due to Piercing Arrows incredible range (1300 max) you can use it to finish off low hp runners if 1-2 ticks are enough.
- Piercing Arrows deal 600/1200/1800 max magic damage before reductions and thus can be one of the most devastating abilities in the game.
- Be careful with Piercing Arrows when the enemy team has one or more Barbed Armors.
- Pocket your Skeletons in lane until you have a decent opportunity to use them on someone disabled, or a tower. They are killed in 1 hit, push the lane unnecessarily and are easy gold to a ranged hero.

Counters:

- The best mid vs. FA is Soulstealer. He will get souls from her minions if they are out carelessly and quickly outgrow her in base damage, and push her lane out hard.
- She is very squishy with no real escape spells and thus very vulnerable to ganks.
- Activating a Barbed Armor while standing in her ult will deal significant damage to her.
- During the laning phase, keep killing her skeletons if she has them out carelessly (if you have a ranged attack). Easy gold and less farm for her.

[Anakha]

[Fayde] .fayde .na .nerubian assassin .anubarak

Skill Build:

1 - Cull
2 - Burning Shadows
3 - Burning Shadows
4 - Cull
5 - Burning Shadows
6 - Reflection
7 - Burning Shadows
8 - Cull
9 - Cull
10 - Deep Shadows
11 - Reflection
12 - Deep Shadows
13 - Deep Shadows
14 - Deep Shadows
15 - Stats
16 - Reflection
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Cull is taken first as it is the higher damage nuke first up, and saps mana equal to the amount destroyed. Burning Shadows is the priority to max first however, as it is your only stun, scales in length and gives slightly better damage for a full combo at level 3 (100+140 vs 160+70). This will also hold true at level 5 as well since Shadows gives 70 damage and .5 stun length per level, compared to Cull's 60 damage.

Deep Shadows is taken after both Cull and Burning Shadows are maxed, as it is only a slow and minor speed boost for yourself. One point can be taken earlier at 4 in place of a level of Cull but generally no more. Your 2 nukes take precedence in nearly all cases to make your ganking stronger.

Reflection is amazing and taken whenever possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 2x:MinorTotem: :ManaPotion:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers->Striders

Striders are core. Ghost Marchers will be picked up initially to be disassembled later, but Striders are still the best boots on her.

After core:

Codex >> Codex level 2 >> Codex level 3 >> Codex level 4 >> Codex level 5 >> Spellshards 1 >> Spellshards 2 >> Spellshards 3 >> Puzzlebox 3

Yep. Codex level FIVE. Nothing less. She's a nil-to-kill ganker with built-in invisibility and max movement speed. Equip her as such. The ability to instagib a carry or an important hero at any point in the game with maxed nukes and Codex is worth any amount of money you spend on Codex.
Spellshards 3 lowers the target's magic armour and makes all of your nil-to-kill damage from Shadows, Cull, Reflection and Codex 5 all effectively True Damage unless they waste money and inventory slots on external magic armour.

She has 2.5 seconds of time in which to completely decimate a hero, or else the gank has most likely failed. Puzzlebox is not conducive to her midgame playstyle, and is picked up AFTER Codex 5 and Spellshards to give her a little more oomph with the Puzzlebox Wizard ranged mana burn, as well as letting the minions loose on them for more damage when they're slowed by Deep Shadows.

Information:

Roles: Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo mid, but benefits from rune control and quick levels.
Difficulty: 5/5 (requires a different kind of playstyle and risk assessment than any other)
Farming capabilities: 3/5
Item dependent? - Yes, needs Codex, Striders and Bottle to kill solo.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Burning Shadows is a very strong stun in lane)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Ever been instagibbed while farming neutrals before?)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time the important targets have enough HP to survive her burst, still a mega threat to somewhat squishy key initiators/disablers like Tempest and Witch Slayer and the general run of the mill supports with disables who don't usually get a lot of farm.

Tips and Tricks:

- Autoattack out of Reflection to get the bonus damage, and then stun STRAIGHT AWAY. I see so many people screw these two basic things up, and that's half of your damage potential gone in an instant and the gank opportunity gone.
- HP counting is extremely important for you as a Fayde player to succeed. You have invisibility, and the leisure of knowing what your target's effective HP will be BEFORE you go all-in on him. If the preferred target is going to survive without any real trouble, it is usually better to find another target or get some assistance. Someone with a Portal Key is very good for this.
- Blow all your nukes on the target straight away. There's no point in waiting. If you're going to kill them, it needs to be in the space of your stun duration.
- Sneak up invis, unleash hell. Don't just use invis to escape, that is wasted potential from level 11 onwards. You should be ganking and not farming much.
- In teamfights, if you can't annihilate someone off to the side before they can contribute - be sure to hit Burning Shadows stun on as many people as you can. It has a long range and quite a long stun duration as well. This can make or break fights.
- When building your Codex, and you have Ghost Marchers initially on the leadup to completing Codex, DISASSEMBLE YOUR GHOST MARCHERS INSTEAD OF BUYING 2 MORE PUNCHDAGGERS. Not doing this sets you back 1000g (an extra level of Codex) to have terrible boots that you can't activate while in Reflection (which you will be most of the time). Striders offer more movement speed when in Reflection, cost less and carry zero risk.
- Fayde's autoattack is pitiful, and supplementing it early is ridiculously meh. Your Codex 2min earlier, or an extra 100 damage from an increased level of Codex earlier is worth more than +24 damage on the 2-3 autoattacks you might get in while ganking someone or from any other stupid items like Frostburn or Savage Mace that you might be tempted to build on her.
- You'll hear people herp and derp about how Puzzlebox does more damage than Codex, and how it's apparently so much better than going Codex. All of these flawed assumptions rest on the ability of the Puzzlebox minions to beat on their target for any decent length of time, which anyone with a stun or slow can prevent happening for an extended time.
- Codex also has less of a cooldown than Puzzlebox minions (40/36/32/28/24 vs 90 at all levels) and fits Fayde's ideal of ganking every single time Reflection is off cooldown. Codex's effectiveness is also magnified through Spellshards, and is a 800 damage nuke every 24 seconds at max level for 100 mana. Codex > Puzzlebox.

Counters:

- A Revelation Ward dropped just in front of you, or in the midst of your team as you're pushing a tower (obviously away from tower detection range!) will allow you the time to react to her sneaking up to you to gank someone.
- She is no carry, so you don't need to be too worried about her getting freefarm. Actually let her farm, that's better than having her roaming around.
- As with any ganking hero, Wards are a good counter. But do note she has invisibility and treewalking, and can sneak past Wards of Sight.
- Trying to juke a Fayde with her ult up is pointless, as she can walk through trees and see perfectly through them with clearvision. If you know she is near you stealthed, either stay near a tower or stay close enough to an ally with a disable. Obviously you want to stay far enough apart that your ally doesn't get stunned as well if she attacks one of you, rendering his help useless!

[Flint Beastwood] .flint beastwood .sniper .dwarven sniper .kardel sharpeye

Skill Build:

1 - Hollowpoint Shells
2 - Dead Eye
3 - Flare
4 - Flare
5 - Flare
6 - Money Shot
7 - Flare
8 - Dead Eye
9 - Dead Eye
10 - Hollowpoint Shells
11 - Money Shot
12 - Hollowpoint Shells
13 - Hollowpoint Shells
14 - Dead Eye
15 - Stats
16 - Money Shot
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Flare is arguably the best nuke in the game at this point (400 total damage over 2 seconds) at max level, and still allows anything from farming, harassing, scouting, killstealing to tower sniping.
Against certain lanes (like anything with Pollywog Priest/Electrician/etc) consider getting a second level of Hollowpoint Shells at 3 instead of Dead Eye (take Flare at 2 to compensate) to increase your chances of interrupting their disables on your lane partner.
At level 9, you will outrange towers! At Dead Eye 3, Hollowpoints gives you more of what you need, and this becomes the priority to max out now. Take your last level of Dead Eye at 14.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2xuckBoots: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Bottle) >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Steamboots/Ghost Marchers

Bottle if solo mid for Flare harass, and enough mana to burst down the other mid hero at 6. Skip on the sidelanes if you want, but be a little more conservative with your Flare usage.
Ghost Marchers make up for your pathetic base damage initially, and give you some mobility to chase someone down hard with Flare to be able to Money Shot for the kill. Steamboots are viable as well, giving extra mana for more Flares, or extra HP to survive ganks.
Steamboots are optimal just for the mutable stats, but pick to suit the situation.

After core:

Frostburn >> Shrunken Head >> Geometer's Bane/Frostwolf Skull >> Savage Mace/Riftshards/Wingbow

Standard FWS/Geo split works best here from Frostburn. Pick up Shrunken Head at any point you need it. Savage Mace stacks with Hollowpoint Shells so Riftshards may be more appealing.

Alternative Items:

Assassin's Shroud: It's ok, allows him a lot more mobility and a very sub-par escape, but not a pickup that I really feel comfortable about recommending. Be sure to autoattack out of invisibility to get the extra damage. This does NOT substitute for actual survivability.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Late-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any
Difficulty: 2/5
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Flare is amazing)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Has a lot of lane control with Flare and Hollowpoint harass, fastest attack point in the game and ridiculously quick projectile speed, held back by abysmal base damage)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Flare and Money Shot still very strong nukes, Flare on towers and then hitting them out of the tower's range is extremely good)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (One of the strongest ranged carries with his passives, Hollowpoint can interrupt attack animations with enough attack speed)

Tips and Tricks:

- He is one of the most potent harassers in the game. Be sure to hammer people whenever you get the opportunity.
- Flare does 100 initial damage to towers. Be sure to use this whenever possible to lasthit towers to accelerate your farm.
- At level 9 you can kill towers without getting hit. Flare gives vision so you can Flare the edge of the tower and pummel away at it safely.
- Money Shot can't miss unless the opponent dodges it or moves out of range (blink, take cover, etc.).
- Keep your range. Once you have Frostburn/Frostwolf Skull, it will be very hard to close in on you due to ministuns, slow and your insane range.

Counters:

- With 1.7 Str gain per level is is very squishy all game long (much like Magebane). If he doesn't go for survivabilty (Shieldbreaker for example) punish it by focusing him!
- Most of his damage will be physical but he has enough magic damage that neither armor nor magic armor will be a complete counter.
- Try to sneak up close range where he is pretty helpless.
- Once he has slow, be aware as he can start sniping you from a very far distance and chances are you wont be able to escape.
- Blink/PK gankers are his bane, as they negate his best advantages of range and positioning, and have the burst to take him down early-mid game.

[Dampeer] .dampeer .edward .vampire

Skill Build:

1 - Terrorize
2 - Vampiric Flight
3 - Vampiric Flight
4 - Terrorize
5 - Vampiric Flight
6 - Consume
7 - Vampiric Flight
8 - Terrorize
9 - Terrorize
10 - Bloodthirst
11 - Consume
12 - Bloodthirst
13 - Bloodthirst
14 - Bloodthirst
15 - Stats
16 - Consume
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Your two nukes take precedence over any kind of benefit that your Bloodthirst aura will ever give you early. Vampiric Flight scales in cooldown hard, and is maxed first. Terrorize's cooldown and fear effect is static (except under Essence effect) and is levelled second to keep mana costs as low as possible early on.

Bloodthirst is what you offer to a team lategame with an amazing lifesteal aura for all your team.
Consume is taken wherever possible to gain Essences to power up all your nukes as well as being a hefty nuke in itself.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Bottle/Power Supply >>) Chalice >> Ghost Marchers/Steamboots

Bottle if solo mid, else Power Supply after Chalice. Chalice is core as core on him with his ability to get all of the health back extra quick with one decent use of Flight. Ghost Marchers or Steamboots are the boots of choice for him. Pick to suit the situation.

After core:

(Great Arcana >>) Shrunken Head >> Spellshards >> Frostburn/Codex/Nullstone/Daemonic Breastplate/Behemoth's Heart

Shrunken Head needs to be picked up whenever teamfights are likely to start happening. Spellshards 3 is next as it powers up all your AoE nukes even further. Taking a Great Arcana beforehand is an option to cover regeneration and get some damage if you can pick it up quickly enough. Shrunken Head is the main priority though.
After that, pick to suit the situation. Frostburn for more midgame DPS and slow, Codex for another nuke!, Nullstone for more survival, Daemonic Breastplate for pushing and armour, Behemoth's Heart for more insane survival.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. OK at solo mid against other melee heroes.
Difficulty: 2/5
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (2 AoE nukes, mana intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (strong spells, but very weak mana pool; requires a decent babysit or a solo lane)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (Fairly strong nukes, but fairly low on total damage; thrives on extended situations where he can use his spells twice)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Bloodthirst is amazing, but the rest of his skillset falls off VERY quickly without farm)

Tips and Tricks:

- Vampiric Flight->Terrorize. Easy stuff to make sure you always land Terrorize.
- Consume can be used on creeps to give you an easy way to gain an Essence at level 6 and power up your other nukes. It has a low-ish cooldown, so this is the most reliable way to get Essences early on and throughout the game when you die.
- If possible, use Consume to finish off a weak support hero on a gank. You'll gain more Essences this way.
- Vampiric Flight can be used to gain health back very quickly by flying through an entire creep wave.

Counters:

- Destroying his laning phase, or ganking him consistently will effectively stop any kind of snowball he will get. He is hit very hard by losing Essences on death, and is a very weak laner.
- Magic armour or Shrunken Head will help negate his nuke damage.
- If he is charging at you ready to cast Vampiric Flight, you can pre-emptively stun in the direction he is coming from and interrupt his full combo. This makes it much more difficult to get back into range of Terrorize and Consume. This works best with heroes that have ground-targeted stuns. Practice is the key.

[Tremble] .tremble .zerg .shudder .broodmother .bm .black arachnia

Skill Build:

1 - Terrorform
2 - Impalers
3 - Impalers
4 - Dark Swarm
5 - Impalers
6 - Hive Mind
7 - Impalers
8 - Dark Swarm
9 - Dark Swarm
10 - Dark Swarm
11 - Hive Mind
12 - Terrorform
13 - Terrorform
14 - Terrorform
15 - Stats
16 - Hive Mind
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

This hero is basically a modified port of Broodmother, with much more emphasis on the mid-game carry aspect than the (better part) pushing power of Broodmother. The initial point shall be in Terrorform to grant potential invisibility and passive regeneration in lane to counteract harass and even put you in a position to lasthit or harass/gank back.
Impalers is maxed first as it has huge internal synergy with Hive Mind and gives a needed slow to gank your targets to establish mid-game dominance. It is also not an Attack Modifier! Yay.

Terrorform is not maxed next as Dark Swarm is for its ranged damage reduction, and its damage to clear waves to push down towers with -armour on Shudder. If you are ganking more than pushing and need the extra mobility, then consider taking Terrorform over Dark Swarm tentatively.
Hive Mind is basically Tundra's Coeurl on crack with a permanent duration, and is taken whenever possible.

Starting Items:

2x:RunesOfTheBlight: 2xuckBoots: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Power Supply >>) (Bottle >>) Steamboots/Ghost Marchers (>> 1-2x Soulscream Rings)

Bottle if solo mid. Power Supply is optional, but well worth the pickup for a clutch teleport. Steamboots and Ghost Marchers both have their place depending on what role you're wishing to focus on. Soulscream Rings if necessary.

After core:

Tremble tends to be just a vehicle for the items he can carry, as Shudder carries 2 of his skills with (arguably) 2 other better skills.

- Shieldbreaker - The mid-game orb for the mid-game carry. Synergizes really well with Shudder's -armour debuff as well.
- Portal Key - Has its uses on the hero that need to be melee range to apply the crippling slow he needs to lockdown someone. Can be used with Terrorform buried well within sidelane trees for the element of surprise.
- Hellflower - Alternative for Shieldbreaker for mobile spellcasters that are hard to pin down.
- Daemonic Breastplate - More -armour to really put the hurt on anyone you're hitting.
- Behemoth's Heart - Survive.
- Mock of Brilliance - Worthwhile if rushed.
- Shrunken Head - Necessary past a certain point to be able to do damage effectively.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Solo mid. Can sidelane with a support hero.
Difficulty: 4/5 (Managing Shudder, harassing through invisibility, effectively pushing and teleporting, Terrorform placement)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Shudder + essentially free posthaste)
Item dependent? - Not really, can function off a basic core until lategame but thrives off any kind of items.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (can passive and CK a lane extremely well with Terrorform, can harass with Impalers and invisibility)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Shudder really amps up his presence and has map dominance with Terrorform, high strength gain for an agility hero)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (does not carry as hard as any carry with better scaling, has a lot of EHP though)

Tips and Tricks:

- Terrorform takes some creative placement, but can block spawns. It will continue to kill trees while it is in place, making a rather noticeable sound.
- Mounds will also break down trees and give invisibility when chasing someone. Extremely useful if someone is trying to juke you.
- Placing the first mound up the hill in mid can ensure you have free regeneration for your laning phase while still gaining experience in safety.
- Shudder will apply his -armour to towers, making him a strong pusher with creep support. He can also attack at any distance from Tremble, meaning he can farm neutral camps, and even push other towers solo.

Counters:

- Destroying the mounds limits his mobility drastically. Take every opportunity to do so safely. Constant vigilance will be necessary with spotting some of the more creative places he can place them.
- Shudder also carries Tremble's 40% slow and can kite lower movespeed heroes quite easily as well as teleport around. Destroy him when possible.
- Laning against him is best if you have some non-targeted AoE spells to get through possible invisibility in lane. Aggressive laners like a Pyromancer are key to making his laning phase as hard as possible.

[Nomad] .nomad .sand wraith

Skill Build:

1 - Mirage Strike
2 - Wanderer
3 - Mirage Strike
4 - Sandstorm
5 - Mirage Strike
6 - Edge Counter
7 - Mirage Strike
8 - Wanderer
9 - Wanderer
10 - Wanderer
11 - Edge Counter
12 - Sandstorm
13 - Sandstorm
14 - Sandstorm
15 - Stats
16 - Edge Counter
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Semi-carry? Lol.
Mirage Strike is your lane presence and harassment tool, and is maxed first. It also can be used to lasthit in a really hard lane, similar to The Dark Lady's Taint Soul. It also gains significant benefits from being levelled due to its scaling and cooldown reduction for an amazing skill at a relatively cheap mana cost.
One point is put into each of your other skills at 2 and 4, for their decent benefits from one point.
Wanderer is basically a free 1.4x/1.6x/1.8x/2.0x crit against heroes, and is carried on both Strike uses and is favoured at level 2. It is also pathetically easy to charge up, in lane and outside of it.
Sandstorm gives invisbility but is less useful initially. It is also a worse version of Zephyr's old ultimate (the +/- cloud), but has additional perks to make up for it.
Wanderer is ideally maxed to give you the higher critical strike before Sandstorm, although they can be interchangeable if the game calls for it.
Edge Counter is a reactive line stun with massive damage at a low mana cost and is taken whenever possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Bottle/Chalice >>) Power Supply >> Steamboots >> 1-2x Soulscream Rings

Nomad's spells are cheap, and Power Supply provides enough on-demand mana to be able to ultimate or use Sandstorm at will. Bottle or Chalice are optional as Nomad needs mana to use almost all of his perks. Steamboots seem to be the best choice for him, given his incredibly high movespeed and synergy with early attack speed. Soulscream Rings if necessary.

After core:

Most of the options here are situational for the moment, until I see some clear winners. Not in any particular order as of yet.

- Nullfire Blade or Frostburn - Generally one or the other. Nomad is an amazing holder of Nullfire Blade's slow and purge with the strength of his skillset and I strongly recommend this item for him over Frostburn, which I feel is a substandard Attack Modifier.
- Runed Axe - This leads into the typical farming late-game carry build for him, which I feel that he can pull off a little too well to escape consideration, given the cheap survivability, movement speed and attackspeed built into his skillset.
- Shrunken Head - Necessary past a certain point to be able to do damage effectively.
- Whispering Helm->Symbol of Rage - I feel this is the best Attack Modifier for him past a certain point, as your agility gain, free crits and True Strike attack speed really start kicking into overdrive.
- Riftshards/Savage Mace/Wingbow - All typical agility carry items. Savage Mace stacks with True Strike and Wanderer, making it a prime DPS item for him.
- Daemonic Breastplate - More -armour and +armour to really put the hurt on anyone you're hitting and stay alive.
- Behemoth's Heart - Survive.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Late-game carry, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Short lane. Ok solo mid.
Difficulty: 2/5 (blink strike is self-explanatory, Edge Counter takes some timing)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (quick animation, strong autoattack damage, )
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (has a fair amount of presence in a lane with Mirage Strike carrying Wanderer on hit)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Does a scary amount of damage if allowed to stay on target, has Edge Counter to negate defensive stuns)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Probably doesn't carry as hard as other heroes, but +80 attack speed, strong stat gain and reliable "crits" will be the decider.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Mirage Strike's illusion carries Wanderer as well as yourself, allowing you to hit with it twice without it resetting. It is usually better than the True Strike attack speed for harassment.
- Sandstorm gives invisibility to the heroes inside, but the cloud is still visible to enemy heroes.
- Sandstorm's lower cooldown and mana cost at later levels means you can use it just as mobility between two places, or a potent slow for chasing down heroes.
- Mirage Strike's cooldown will reset if someone dies 500 units away from you, meaning you're able to immediately True Strike into another target and gain the attack speed all over again.
- Edge Counter is a line stun towards the target that triggered it. It has a deceptively long range so it can be lined up to stun multiple targets on a narrow path.

Counters:

- Edge Counter can be baited out of Nomad to minimal effect by utilizing a weaker hero to trigger it, or someone who is Magic Immune. Failing that, just not hitting him when he activates it! :P
- Both forms of Mirage Strike can be disjointed or dispelled like any other illusion with abilities (Witch Slayer!).
- All of his damage is physical bar Edge Counter, so stacking armour or Void Talisman will prevent the majority of his influence.

[Anakha]

[Silhouette] .silhouette .ninja .naruto .kunoichi

Skill Build:

1 - Tree Grapple
2 - Relentless Salvo
3 - Relentless Salvo
4 - Death Lotus
5 - Relentless Salvo
6 - Death Lotus
7 - Relentless Salvo
8 - Death Lotus
9 - Death Lotus
10 - Shadow
11 - Shadow
12 - Tree Grapple
13 - Tree Grapple
14 - Tree Grapple
15 - Stats
16 - Shadow
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Tree Grapple is taken initially as a one-point wonder for its stun, pseudo-blink and escape mechanism. Relentless Salvo is an all-in-one skill, with a small damage amp and attack speed for your 600 range autoattack and is maxed first. Death Lotus acts as a free passive Electrician mini-mock that costs no mana to use, and has an on-use nuke and is maxed next for farming and pushing power.
Shadow is taken at 9 and 10, as level 1 doesn't give a lot of significant benefits unless you are mid, in which case, you take it at 6 for ganking sidelanes with the switch ability.
Tree Grapple can be taken if you feel you will need the stun length increased, but her other 2 skills are so ridiculously good that it is not as much of a priority.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2xuckBoots: 2x:MinorTotem:
OR
2x:RunesOfTheBlight: :GuardianRing: 4x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Bottle >>) Chalice/Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> Ring of the Teacher >> Helm of the Black Legion

Bottle if solo mid, but can be considered in a sidelane instead. She has a lot natural damage from her skillset, so Helm helps her stay alive to dish it out. Ghost Marchers allow her to stay on target and keep Salvo debuffs up on them.

After core:

Most of the options here are situational for the moment, until I see some clear winners. Not in any particular order as of yet.

- Frostwolf Skull/Geometer's Bane split - She's a 600 range agility hero with a passive that makes her autoattack ridiculously good. The obvious choice.
- Nullfire Blade or Frostburn - Generally one or the other.
- Shrunken Head - Necessary past a certain point to be able to do damage effectively.
- Riftshards/Savage Mace/Wingbow - All typical agility carry items. Wingbow rates a mention as it has synergy with bolstering Shadow.
- Daemonic Breastplate - More -armour and +armour to really put the hurt on anyone you're hitting and stay alive.
- Behemoth's Heart - Survive.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Late-game carry, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any. Capable solo mid.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Lotus nuke takes some timing, Tree Grapple has vast amounts of use attached to it)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Lotus passive is a free mock on steroids)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (the Voodoo Jester of old would weep at the power of this autoattack)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (does a scary amount of damage if allowed to stay on target)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (given how ridiculously good Salvo currently is, she will outcarry a lot of common carries.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Judging when and how to use Tree Grapple for Log Bolas or Sky Dance is critical. Sky Dance acts as a pseudo-blink to get you closer (or further away), where Log Bolas is usually better as a retreating stun. Changing up between the two can also be useful for juking heroes as well!
- She outputs a lot of damage if allowed to keep hitting the same target over and over. Exploit this on unwary players with your 600 range.
- Death Lotus' passive blades will help you clear creep stacks and creep waves VERY quickly when you have picked up your Helm of the Black Legion.
- If you are ganking, you can use your ultimate illusion to run to another lane while you continue to farm and gain experience. If you see an opportunity to get in a gank, swap to your illusion and kill them! If you don't, you haven't wasted any time not gaining gold or experience.

Counters:

- Void Talisman will protect you from her punishing autoattacks.
- Pre-Helm, she is very squishy and wilts under any kind of burst.
- Fighting her away from decent Tree Grapple spots limits her mobility and potential stuns.
- Low mana pool means she is susceptible to mana drain of all kinds.

[Blacksmith] .blacksmith .bs .ogre magi

Skill Build:

1 - Fireball
2 - Flaming Hammer
3 - Flaming Hammer
4 - Fireball
5 - Flaming Hammer
6 - Fireball
7 - Flaming Hammer
8 - Fireball
9 - Chaotic Flames
10 - Frenzy
11 - Chaotic Flames
12 - Frenzy
13 - Frenzy
14 - Frenzy
15 - Stats
16 - Chaotic Flames
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

This build gives you consistently higher DPS and better harass than maxing Fireball first and getting Chaotic Flames at 6. As of the re-alignment patch, Flaming Hammer received a buff to its projectile speed and Fireball's cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds at lower levels before taking Chaotic Flames, solidifying this as the best build for him at this point in time.

Despite Fireball's damage scaling spiking at level 3->4 (100 damage) over Flaming Hammer's 80 damage increase, Flaming Hammer is still levelled over Fireball at this point (level 7!) because of a few extra reasons:
- You gain an extra point of -ma from Hammer (which detracts from the advantage or even tips the balance of actual damage output in favour of Hammer, maths required~)
- Additional slow %.
- Fireball now having a lower cooldown means that keeping it on a lower mana cost is beneficial (for the same stun time!)

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:/:WardOfSight:

Core:

(Bottle >>) Chalice >> Striders/Ghost Marchers

Get a Bottle asap if you are mid, otherwise it might not be worth the pickup. Chalice can be completed at the outpost. Then get quick Striders (or Ghost Marchers if farm is good) to be able to chase and escape.

After core:

- Puzzlebox - The premium damage item for him. Frenzied Puzzlebox minions are some of the nastiest things ever as they are limited by attack speed not damage, and Puzzlebox has a lot of utility outside of just damage and mana burn.
- Wards of Sight - You will be the one buying these babies if nobody else can, or is willing to. Wards pay for themselves with completed ganks or avoided ones, so they are a worthwhile investment. - Stormspirit - (aka cheapstick) is the cheapest solid disable you can pick up, and has a decent amount of mana regen.
- Tablet of Command - Always useful against a Keeper or silences. Expands his mana pool and gives him an interrupt to use on channeling spells, or even a way to break Nullstone for his optimal combo.
- Sacrificial Stone - Loads of HP and mana regen; expounds on Blacksmith's natural strengths.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - Best disable. Always good.
- Codex - rates a mention as the -ma from Flaming Hammer actually makes him the most devastating single-target burster in the game on a 4x multicast + codex.
- Hellflower - Makes your combo more devastating with the damage amp, and gives oodles of mana regen and makes you hit quite hard.

Information:

Roles: Support, Ganker, Roamer
Preferred Lane: Any (can solo mid)
Difficulty: 2/5 (mana management, comboing correctly, keeping up Frenzy on everyone relevant)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (can farm with Flaming Hammer, isn't great at it)
Item dependent? No, can live off core items until end game.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (has a ridiculous amount of base HP and armour, as well as a cheap stun. terrible stun damage scaling holds him back)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (somewhat reliant on multicast to solo gank but still great at it with help. an early Codex ruins heroes at this point.)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Frenzy is amazing on carries, and a 4x multi will still ruin that poor support's day)

Tips and Tricks:

- Gank a lot with Blacksmith, thats what he is best at!
- Try to use Flaming Hammer before you stun. This will reduce their Magic Armor and greatly increase the damage they take from Fireball. The -ma from Flaming Hammer is at its best exactly when Flaming Hammer impacts. Use Fireball then for the best effect)
- Blacksmith can scale better into late game than a lot of other supports due to high strength gain, base damage and Frenzy. INT damage items like Hellflower are extremely good on him if you can spare enough farm to get them.
- Keep Frenzy up on all relevant targets. The cooldown is only 5 seconds while the duration is 30.
- Looking for more hints? TOO BAD ITS ME BLACKSMITH!

Counters:

- Magic Armor. Shamans Headdress or even a Mystic Vestments greatly reduces incoming damage. Shrunken Head also works towards this end as well through immunity.
- Nullstone absorbs one spell, and that's the difference between a 1100 damage stun and a 750 damage stun. Or a 0 damage stun if he doesn't use Flaming Hammer on you first.
- Make sure you get some HP so he can't oneshot you.

[Nymphora] .nymphora .fairy

Skill Build:

1 - Nymphora's Zeal
2 - Volatile Pod
3 - Volatile Pod
4 - Nymphora's Zeal
5 - Volatile Pod
6 - Teleport
7 - Volatile Pod
8 - Nymphora's Zeal
9 - Nymphora's Zeal
10 - Grace of the Nymph
11 - Teleport
12 - Grace of the Nymph
13 - Grace of the Nymph
14 - Grace of the Nymph
15 - Stats
16 - Teleport
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Zeal is taken at level 1 because it's a stun, and your only disable. Zeal's stun scales in duration and has better damage than the new Pod, but scales a lot heavier in mana cost, is harder to hit, and has much less utility than the AoE heal/nuke. Pod is maxed first for these reasons.
If you go pure support or have some "broken" combo with Grace of the Nymph by feeding your lane partner infinite mana, feel free to pick up some levels of it at the expense of further levels of Zeal. Pod is still the priority to max by 7 however.

Changes to Nymphora's Teleport mean that level 1 allows you to take people with you, and is now taken at 6.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice:

Core:

(Bottle >>) Chalice >> Mana Battery >> (Power Supply >>) Steamboots/Plated Greaves >> Wards of Sight

Nymphora doesn't need any more primary stats for starting as she will babysit and not lasthit much. More important for her is staying alive to get levels. With this starting build you get Chalice starting pieces so you can have mana on demand for Pod or even Zeal with enough excess.
Get a Mana Battery in lane before Chalice if your lane warrants it, else pick it up later on.

After core:

- Wards of Sight - You will be the one buying these babies if nobody else can, or is willing to. Wards pay for themselves with completed ganks or avoided ones, so they are a worthwhile investment.
- Stormspirit - (aka cheapstick) is the cheapest solid disable you can pick up, and has a decent amount of mana regen.
- Tablet of Command (ministun breaks channeling, good item in general)
- Astrolabe (full support route; always have mana to cast it usually with Grace)
- Staff of the Master (If your game is coordinated enough to make use of it, saving a particularly useful hero just before they die is priceless.)
- Kuldra's Sheepstick (Otherwise, or after one of the above)
- Barrier Idol (only if nobody else is)

Information:

Roles: Support, Ganker, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Any. Can solo mid.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Keep a good overview in hectic battle situations; positioning is key to be able to get off multiple effective spells in an engagement)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (2 nukes, mana intensive; has Grace to counteract this a bit)
Item dependent? No, can function very well on just Chalice and Marchers.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (double stun with nuke very stronk, cast times hurt her here.)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (incredible pushing and staying power, teleport ganks are nasty if set up well)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (heal loses real effectiveness, Nymph go squish in the night. stun is still strong, as is a SotM ultimate)

Tips and Tricks:

- Start using Volatile Pod on level 3, when its damage/heal has doubled in effectiveness. Place it offensively to increase your lane dominance. Be careful not to push the lane too hard by blowing up enemy creeps, or healing your own ridiculously unless you want to push your lane in a fair amount for hits on the tower.
- If not laning with a stunner use Volatile Pod right behind an enemy, then stun him as he is running away to ensure he takes the delayed damage.
- ALWAYS keep Grace of the Nymph on cooldown! If no one else needs mana use it on yourself. Even at level 1 it restores more mana than it costs!
- Use your Teleport Skill to countergank with an ally from level 6. This is very effective if played right!
- Grace works best with a mana reliant carry (e.g. Madman) or heavy nuker (e.g. Hammerstorm/Pebbles). These heroes only have the limitation of mana for their destructiveness, and Grace gives them much more freedom for this.

Counters:

- Carry Nymphs are easily outcarried and they are very very squishy. She has no way to really carry anymore now that Zeal does not give attack speed per units hit.
- Always keep your ears and eyes open. If you hear the sound of (or even see!) some sparkling faeries, then Nymphora is trying to port near you (most likely behind you) and might bring some friends. React early!
- Don't forget to not stand in her Volatile Pods (The green "flowers" that appear).
- Stomping on her early in a fight ensures that she can't consistently be a nuisance in fights with her Zeal stun and Pod. She is very very squishy lategame unless overly fed.
- Zeal has an overly long cast time, so you can sidestep it with quick enough reactions.

[Glacius] .glacius .crystal maiden .rylai crestfall .cm

Skill Build:

1 - Tundra Blast
2 - Ice Imprisonment
3 - Chilling Presence
4 - Chilling Presence
5 - Chilling Presence
6 - Glacial Downpour
7 - Chilling Presence
8 - Tundra Blast
9 - Tundra Blast
10 - Tundra Blast
11 - Glacial Downpour
12 - Ice Imprisonment
13 - Ice Imprisonment
14 - Ice Imprisonment
15 - Stats
16 - Glacial Downpour
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

2 disables are better than one. Tundra Blast's longer range and duration make it better for taking at level 1. Aura is maxed after this as +2 mana/sec globally is amazing for every lane.
Tundra Blast is maxed before Ice Imprisonment because it offers far more damage than Ice Imprisonment (230x2-5 vs 280), its slows scale in effectiveness and duration, and has a much longer range (which allows you to stay alive!). Ice Imprisonment also lasts the same duration on creeps at all levels, so it's better for nicking the odd neutral for Ward money by freezing a big neutral and beating on it.

If facing someone like a Night Hound or a blinker like Wretched Hag, consider maxing Ice Imprisonment over Tundra Blast to disable their blink/invisibility fade for longer.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Power Supply >> Striders >> 2x Fortified Bracelet >> Wards of Sight

Don't be afraid to use a Healing Potion on your ally, that's why you got two in the first place (to save him the money). Power Supply is good on Glacius as he has the mana aura as well, also make sure you keep buying wards and counterwards as you probably have the lowest item dependency of all heroes!

After core:

Wards of Sight >> Portal Key/Void Talisman/Shrunken Head

You really don't need any more items than your core. However, if you can farm up some gold while keeping up the wards then start working on your Shrunken Head and Portal Key for better Glacial Downpours.
Void Talisman rates a mention, as it greatly extends your life expectancy mid-late game (yes, 4 seconds counts as greatly extended if you're out of position).

Information:

Roles: Support, Roamer
Preferred Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3/5 (dies to a sneeze)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (very strong with Tundra Blast and Ice Imprisonment lasting 10 seconds on creeps and neutrals)
Item dependent? No, functions perfectly fine even without Striders for the most part.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (Slow and a disable, global mana regen)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (Loses effectiveness fast, not very reliable ult damage)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 1/5 (the definition of a support that dies to a sneeze lategame)

Tips and Tricks:

- A game for a Glacius goes a lot like this: Buy Wards->Place Wards->Buy new Wards->Are they warding? Buy counterwards!->Counterward their Wards!->Repeat.
- Being able to abuse fog and high ground to channel Glacial Downpour in peace on heroes chasing you is a fine skill to have. It is a devastating skill to use when people are not aware or prepared to stop you from doing it.
- Ice Imprisonment has a mini-stun upon casting it, so it can break channels. It will also Reveal invisible heroes, disarm them and stop a lot of movement/blink spells. This can be key to shutting down annoying mobile threats like Wretched Hag, Madman etc. who are hard to pin down.
- Despite Ice Imprisonment being amazing, it is still 500 cast range and does not stop the target from using most of their spells. Be very careful.
- With a maxed Tundra Blast, you contribute a lot more in teamfights by skirting the edge and periodically casting your spells on as many people as possible without attracting too much attention. Tundra Blast puts out a lot of damage if you manage to get repeat casts of it in drawn out fights.
- Tundra Blast also has enough range that it is possible to trigger enemy PK cooldowns if they are out of position slightly. Keep this in mind.

Counters:

- Even early game, he is still paper despite his 2 disables. Often is worth targeting for a kill attempt purely because of this.
- Shrunken Head can still be activated whilst in Ice Imprisonment, breaking it.
- Problem?

[Thunderbringer] .thunderbringer .tb .zeus .lord of olympia

Skill Build:

1 - Chain Lightning
2 - Lightning Rod
3 - Blast of Lightning
4 - Blast of Lightning
5 - Blast of Lightning
6 - Lightning Storm
7 - Blast of Lightning
8 - Lightning Rod
9 - Lightning Rod
10 - Lightning Rod
11 - Lightning Storm
12 - Chain Lightning
13 - Chain Lightning
14 - Chain Lightning
15 - Stats
16 - Lightning Storm
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Get one level of Chain Lightning early and use it to lasthit stuff that you can't safely reach with your autoattack (and harass at the same time at level 2+ with one point in Lightning Rod). Blast of Lightning is a 350 damage nuke that reveals on a 7 second cd. It's awesome even without Lightning Rod.

Maxing Chain Lightning after your other 2 skills is done in HoN as the limitation of not being able to cast it while the old one was still bouncing is gone, and with Spellshards it is a lot of missed damage.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 4x:ManaPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice:

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice >> Striders/Ghost Marchers

You don't need extra stats to start off, as your lasthitting is pretty terrible anyways. Either drive the enemy back so you have free reign over the creeps or use level 1 Chain Lightning for lasthitting as explained above. Use the courier to ferry you your Bottle and Chalice and start your reign of terror.

After core:

Tablet/Portal Key >> Spellshards >> Staff of the Master >> Restoration Stone >> Kuldra's Sheepstick

Portal Key and/or Tablet are widely regarded as the best items to initially get for TB. Both allow him to operate on the edge of teamfights, abusing his long range abilities and allowing him to quickly dart in/away when needed (short: gives him the mobility he needs). Buy one or the other; both if you feel it's necessary.
With the addition of Spellshards to the game, Thunderbringer has become a one-man powerhouse of nuking power. You should be looking to pick these up as soon as possible, as they give him a way to become a double-scaling nuker. i.e. a carry. With a 60min game, it is easily possible that he will have 100k total hero damage done throughout the game.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Mid
Difficulty: 3/5 (the line has blurred a bit, but TB still requires optimal positioning to really be able to abuse his spells)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Chain Lightning)
Item dependent? Yes, but will function on core items extremely well.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (Heavy Nukes)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (spellshards...)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (...make him so ridiculous with SotM and refresher)

Tips and Tricks:

- Start nuking with Blast of Lightning at level 3. If you run low on mana bring more Mana Potions or regen to counteract Chalice with your flying courier.
- Get a bottle asap, and send the courier to refill the bottle if you don't get enough runes.
- Last hitting and denying is secondary with Thunderbringer. Play aggressive and keep up high pressure.
- As soon as you have Bottle, Chalice and Striders, get ready to gank other lanes.
- If there's an invisible hero that's in the area, use Lightning Blast on a random creep to reveal the area. If the invis player is bad, chances are he won't even notice.
- Blast of Lightning has a ministun to disrupt channels.
- Use Lightning Storm before you die if the fight is still going, even if it doesn't kill! Better even, use it at the start of teamfights or when within range of Lightning Rod to prevent Portal Key surprises and to give you an early advantage.
- A farmed TB looks something like this lategame: ult, blast, chain, pop refresher, ult, blast, chain. Congratulations, you have derped your way to 1.5k damage per hero.

Counters:

- If you lane against Thunderbringer get Mystic Vestments asap (after your Bottle). Upgrade it later if you can/need to.
- Use your courier to bring a lot of regen items to your lane. If you need to go back to heal more than once early game he will outlevel you and you will have even more problems.
- Consider skilling stats if you can with your hero.

[Anakha]

[Pollywog Priest] .pollywog priest .rhasta .wog

Skill Build:

1 - Morph
2 - Electric Jolt
3 - Electric Jolt
4 - Tongue Tied
5 - Electric Jolt
6 - Voodoo Wards
7 - Electric Jolt
8 - Morph
9 - Morph
10 - Morph
11 - Voodoo Wards
12 - Tongue Tied
13 - Tongue Tied
14 - Tongue Tied
15 - Stats
16 - Voodoo Wards
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

I recommend on always maxing Jolt first for lane dominance, pushing and farming. Morph is taken level 1 instead of Tongue Tied because while it isn't the longer disable, it isn't channeling and will save you from rune ganks, or enable them just as nicely.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice >> Striders/Ghost Marchers >> Portal Key

The usual Bottle/Chalice combo to keep Pollywog's demands for mana satisfied. Striders/Ghost Marchers for general mobility for a Morph or Tongue, and to chase with Jolt.
Portal Key is your next big item as it allows you the mobility you need in ganks and teamfights to effectively place your 2 disables and Voodoo Wards if need be.

After core:

- Staff of the Master -> Restoration Stone: The way you end games with a Pollywog. Pushing a rax with 2 sets of these enhanced babies melts buildings like they were butter and makes very short work of a tower+rax.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick: Because 12 seconds of disable is never enough.
- Storm Spirit: Eul's (cheapstick) was good back in DotA when you could upgrade it to Guinsoo's (sheepstick). Now it's very lackluster. If you want to Ward-trap simply use Morph; there is no need for Storm Spirit in most of the cases as Voodoo Wards now have a small square in the centre to make Ward-trapping easier.
- Puzzlebox: Becomes viable when the opposing team is (counter-) warding. Also nice synergy with your CCs (cast minions and shackle the enemy while they beat him up).
- Shrunken Head - This is for the blink-hex kind of initiation to really keep down their carry at all costs before he pops his Shrunken Head and tears your team apart. The Shrunken Head is so that they can't disable your Tongue. This is an extremely advanced tactic to do, and requires decent coordination and perfect timing to use well.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Solo mid, or bust. This hero does not work well enough to put in a sidelane.
Difficulty: 3/5
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Jolt, ult will farm towers)
Item dependent? - No, can function with just boots and Bottle/Chalice but excels with items.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (nuke and disables)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Good pushing power with ult and Jolt to clear creep waves)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Still decent pushing, sotm->resto will melt raxes)

Tips and Tricks:

- If you are facing a double stun lane ask for a switch. It greatly reduces your effectiveness.
- Ward-Trapping: Cast Morph on an enemy, Place Voodoo Wards around him by targeting him with the spell, if he is not completely surrounded use Tongue Tied to prevent him from escaping and finish with Jolt.
- You can gank with Ward-Trapping from level 8 or 9 on (as soon as you get Morph). Don't go gank alone, its much less effective. You are a strong counter-ganker. Do this sparingly if you can push the tower straight after as well, as Voodoo Wards are much more awesome for knocking down towers, but use the opportunity if it presents itself.
- Always target their stunners/disablers with your Tongue Tied if possible. Otherwise they will interrupt it.

Counters:

- Voodoo Wards tend to die in 2 hits each, but there are enough of them that you'll suffer for trying to pick them all off. You can usually get out of a Ward-trap by killing one and running away.
- He usually is pretty squishy so he should be a primary target in team fights. He has enough disables to really make you suffer for leaving him alive.
- Nullstone or Shrunken Head will help if you keep getting CCd by him.

[Tempest] .tempest .enigma .darchrow

Skill Build:

1 - Elemental
2 - Glacial Blasts
3 - Elemental
4 - Glacial Blasts
5 - Glacial Blasts
6 - Elemental Void
7 - Glacial Blasts
8 - Elemental
9 - Elemental
10 - Meteor
11 - Elemental Void
12 - Meteor
13 - Meteor
14 - Meteor
15 - Stats
16 - Elemental Void
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Tempest will always be expected to jungle in pubs. This is a law of nature and cannot be questioned. Thus you get Elementals up to level 2 immediately. Level 3-4 is overkill for initial jungling, better max Glacial Blasts first to gank more effectively as level 2 Elementals are strong enough to kill 2 camps.

Starting Items:

:Courier: :FlyingCourier: 4x:ManaPotion:

This is to ensure that you can deliver your Bottle to you in the jungle when you get enough gold for it. It won't be long, so if your team is bad you can not share the courier initially until you get it. Be sure to share it afterwards.

Core:

Bottle >> Marchers >> Portal Key >> Ring of the Teacher

Boots, Bottle, PK. As a Tempest, you can reliably gank the sidelanes with Glacial Blasts with a decent disabler in solo lane at bot. Ring of the Teacher is next as the +armour aura makes you a formidable pushing machine with Elementals.

After core:

Plated Greaves >> Wards of Sight >> Shrunken Head/Restoration Stone/Puzzlebox

Plated Greaves add some EHP and combined with your elementals add a lot of pushing power! You can get these before Portal Key if pushing earlier but that's a preference thing.
After that you are done, you are expected to keep the Wards up!
If you keep getting a lot of money, work towards your Shrunken Head to make your initiation a lot more reliable (and uninterruptable!).

Information:

Roles: Support, Ganker, Secondary Initiator
Preferred Lane: Jungle. Can solo Short or Mid with Elementals.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Elemental Void placement makes or breaks games; 5/5 if soloing a lane with Elementals)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (A consistent jungler; can lasthit/deny every creep in a wave with Elementals)
Item dependent? Yes, requires his core to be effective in the game but nothing past that.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (strong solo lane, annoyingly good stun to gank with, has options to jungle)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Game changing ultimate and extremely good pushing power)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (is somewhat vulnerable to being picked off, ultimate still makes or breaks games)

Tips and Tricks:

- For an idea of the basics, watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmKevsvPeSI (he has slightly different starting items, and attempts to rush PK but the general idea is the same)
- Short Version: Double stack the easy and a medium camp at 0.49, use Elementals right after double stack. Clear the easy camp, kill as many as you can from the medium camp until Elementals run out (don't recast). Lane Pull creeps at the 1.45 mark. Wait until the 2.49 and repeat double stacking. This uses very little mana and gives you maximum xp and gold/min if done correctly.
- Stop Jungling once you have your core!
- Gank your lane often, especially at level 6 when you get your ult! (Use courier to send you more Mana Potions for ganks or to refill your bottle.).

Counters:

- Heroes: Vindicator, Hellbringer, Pharaoh, Succubus (can stop him from very far away through Shrunken Head)
- Items: Hellflower, Tablet of Command (no longer work through Shrunken Head!).
- What you basically need to do is interrupt his Elemental Void. This is what makes Tempest in a teamfight. All the methods mentioned above short of Hellflower and Tablet work through a Shrunken Head.
- Any hero with disables can stop him but they usually need to get pretty close without getting sucked in (a few exceptions like Chipper, Thunderbringer, Nymphora, ...)

[Ophelia] .ophelia .chen .holy knight

Skill Build:

1 - Command
2 - Nature's Wrath
3 - Nature's Wrath
4 - Command
5 - Command
6 - Ophelia's Touch
7 - Command
8 - Nature's Wrath
9 - Nature's Wrath
10 - Ophelia's Judgment
11 - Ophelia's Touch
12 - Ophelia's Judgment
13 - Ophelia's Judgment
14 - Ophelia's Judgment
15 - Stats
16 - Ophelia's Touch
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Ophelia will always jungle. Period.
Command does not give another neutral until level 3, so we put two points in Nature's Wrath for the increased slow/damage amp. As of the re-alignment patch, Wrath is now vastly superior to Judgment's damage potential. The extra +15ms on dominated neutrals from level 2 Command is still not worth taking over doubling Wrath's damage amp and slow.

One level of Judgment is worth consideration early for the ability to teleport heroes and creeps back to the fountain.

Starting Items:

:Courier: 2x:WardOfSight: :WardOfRevelation: 2x:ManaPotion:

Against competent players, you will need the Wards of Revelation to counter-ward the neutrals as well as the Wards of Sight to jungle in safety. When playing low level pubs, you can cut off 2 wards in favor of a flying courier.

Core:

Plated Greaves >> Ring of the Teacher

Ophelia's strengths come from her dominated neutrals and early push power; Plated Greaves and Ring of the Teacher are the best way to amplify this.

After core:

- Staff of the Master: 120sec global heal down to 30sec? The premium pickup for an Ophelia.
- Astrolabe: A decent Astrolabe holder for the team.
- Puzzlebox: More minions to buff and push with.
- Nome's Wisdom: More auras to buff your creeps and team with mana regen for the important minions. Doesn't stack with Abyssal Skull.
- Abyssal Skull: More auras to buff your creeps and team. Doesn't stack with Nome's Wisdom.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Support, Roamer, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Jungle
Difficulty: 10/5 (Hardest hero to play well in Heroes of Newerth; requires a completely different set of skills to use effectively from other heroes)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (can farm quickly with neutrals)
Item dependent? - Not in the slightest. She can even do without boots. Minion dependant? Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (The best level 1 ganker in the game.)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (One of the best pushers in the game, as well as one of the best gankers with a full set of minions)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (Minions die easily but are now easily replenished with charges on Command, but she's a pushover even with items)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ophelia is the BEST hero in the game for the first 5 minutes. This means you NEED to make an impact within those first 5 minutes upon the game, or else she's a wasted pick.
- Ophelia is very hard to learn and master. Controlling 3-4 additional creeps is very micro intensive.
- Useful creeps early on are (in the following order): Minotaur, Catman Champion, Vagabond Leader, Skeleton King, Vulture Lord. The best combination is 1 Skeleton King and 2-3 Minotaurs/Catman.
- Note that Vagabond Leader is giving your creeps a health regen aura. This is useful for farming in the jungle (but useless for ganking).
- Late game the priority for dominated creeps shifts: Wolf Commander (30% dmg aura), Ice Ogre (+armor buff), Snotter Boss (movespeed aura), Minotaur (attackspeed aura) are the priority now.
- At level 5 with 2 creeps and Plated Greaves or Ring of the Teacher, you can knock down a tower. Use this window of opportunity to do so.
- At level 7 you can solo Kongor with 3 strong creeps and your ultimate. Don't bring any of the weaker creeps or a Skeleton King (He hits like a girl).
- The 20% damage buff from Plated Greaves does apply to your creeps. Don't forget to keep the buff up whenever you use the minions.
- If you somehow happen to die, remember that you can still control your minions. They can even farm for you while you're waiting to respawn!

Counters:

- Behemoth with his block and ulti is the only real hard counter hero.
- Wards of Sight in the forest prevent her from ganking you or give you time to react.
- If you play a carry you can get an Alchemist Bones to instantly kill one of her creeps. Alchemist Bones will now no longer kill her creeps
- Never underestimate her!!! Her minions are the equivalent of another low-level hero.
- Check and/or Ward Kongor once she hits level 7.

[Pyromancer] .pyromancer .lina inverse .slayer

Skill Build:

1 - Dragonfire
2 - Phoenix Wave
3 - Phoenix Wave
4 - Dragonfire
5 - Phoenix Wave
6 - Blazing Strike
7 - Phoenix Wave
8 - Dragonfire
9 - Dragonfire
10 - Fervor
11 - Blazing Strike
12 - Fervor
13 - Fervor
14 - Fervor
15 - Stats
16 - Blazing Strike
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

The midgame powerhouse build right here. Phoenix Wave has better early scaling, and now more damage than Dragonfire. Keeping the stun at a lower mana cost is usually better as well so Wave is maxed first. Fervor can be taken instead of extra points in Dragonfire if you don't see yourself powerhousing the game.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :ManaPotion: 3x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Bottle >>) Chalice >> Steam Boots OR Striders >> Wards of Sight

Get Bottle if you lane mid, otherwise its debatable. Always get Power Supply and then Steam Boots or Striders (Steamboots if you have a level advantage; Striders if you don't see yourself being anything more than the ward *****). Keep Wards up all the time if you don't have a level advantage.

After core:

Portal Key >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Codex/Puzzlebox

Portal Key is the BOSS item on Pyromancer if you know how to use it when rushed on a level advantage. In a normal game you will probably not even finish Kuldra's since you need to continuously buy Wards if you are the ward *****. In case you do finish Kuldra's however, start working on a Codex or Puzzlebox.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Support, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Any. Ok solo mid.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Land that stun. Please.)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (2 AoE nukes that fully gib waves now.)
Item dependent? - No, functions perfectly fine with Boots, Bottle and Chalice.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (strong stun from level 1, 2 effective AoE nukes in lane and 600 range)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (5/5 if you have a Portal Key and a level advantage)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (Nukes don't kill outright anymore, still contributes a little by blowing his payload on multiple people)

Tips and Tricks:

- When possible avoid solo mid, you are much more useful with a partner (if that partner also stuns, the better!)
- You are not a carry. You are a ganker and support. Play accordingly.
- Gank mid whenever your ult is up.
- Never get Staff of the Master. A Codex will do more damage if that's the reason you're buying it.

Counters:

- Get Mystic Vestments early and upgrade it later if needed.
- Try to evade his stun by moving unpredictably.
- If you are < 800 hp and their Pyro has a Portal Key you are marked for DEATH.

[Vindicator] .vindicator .silencer .nortrom

Skill Build:

1 - Master's Incantation
2 - Sage's Lore
3 - Sage's Lore
4 - Glyph of Silence
5 - Sage's Lore
6 - Final Chapter
7 - Sage's Lore
8 - Glyph of Silence
9 - Glyph of Silence
10 - Glyph of Silence
11 - Master's Incantation
12 - Master's Incantation
13 - Master's Incantation
14 - Final Chapter
15 - Stats
16 - Final Chapter
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Sage's Lore is maxed as it is your ability that allows you to click apart lanes. Master's Incantation allows harass without drawing creep aggro and we put one point in it initially. Glyph is amazing and stop chain casting near you. Final Chapter level 2 and 3 are delayed until later as they have exorbitant mana cost increases for their effect.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:ManaPotion: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Power Supply >> Steamboots >> Fortified Bracelets >> Helm of the Black Legion/Astrolabe

Steamboots on Int while laning or farming, on str while in team fights or ganks. Helm/Astrolabe for survivability and support. You are partly responsible for setting up wards. Help buying them!

After core:

Void Talisman >> Tablet of Command >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Frostfield Plate

Void Talisman rates a mention as it makes you impervious to physical damage and gives decent stats. You will need this lategame to stay alive. After, more int and disable/utility items. Remember about the Wards...

Information:

Roles: Support, Counter-Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any. Weak solo mid.
Difficulty: 5/5 (Ult requires perfect timing and great awareness, you are very squishy, ultimate positioning required to make Glyph impact fights with its silence)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (Master's Incantation is ok, I guess...)
Item dependent? Yes, in that he will need a few items to stop him from just being squished and being useless.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (Click apart lanes with the touch of a Q, Master's Incantation allows harassment without drawing creep aggro)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2/5 (squishy.)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Ult will be game changing in teamfights, can rack up some impressive orb damage with a lot of farm)

Tips and Tricks:

- Vindicator is mainly used to counter certain heroes and lineups. He is supremely good at doing this, and as such is a bit lackluster in all other areas.
- Using Final Chapter at the right moment is easily one of the hardest moves in the game at the moment and depends on the type of Initiation you have. For example: Tempest requires an early silence to cast his Ult or with Shrunken Head directly after his Elemental Void ends. Behemoth is better off if the silence is ~1 second after his Shockwave, etc.
- Cast Sage's Lore right after your opponent uses a cheap spell so he can't easily get rid of it.
- Keep harassing with Sage's Lore. If you go out of Mana let the courier bring you Mana Potions.
- Use Master's Incantation mainly for harassing and let your carry get the lasthits if possible.

Counters:

- Sage's Lore is the most annoying harass in the game. For some heroes it is unbearable while other shrug it off (Armadon, Slither, Demented, etc). Swap lanes to put those heroes up against him that can handle it best.
- If you get wrecked by Vindi early game you can do a bit of jungling/lanepulling.
- Or just keep flying in those Healing Potions to deal with it.
- Late Game Vindi is no big deal outside of his ult and Glyph. If he goes mass Int for damage he is very very squishy.
- Nullstone blocks Final Chapter, but it now pierces invulnerability as well as active magic immunity.

[Anakha]

[Witch Slayer] .witch slayer .lion .demon witch

Skill Build:

1 - Graveyard
2 - Miniaturization
3 - Graveyard
4 - Miniaturization
5 - Graveyard
6 - Silver Bullet
7 - Graveyard
8 - Miniaturization
9 - Miniaturization
10 - Power Drain
11 - Silver Bullet
12 - Power Drain
13 - Power Drain
14 - Power Drain
15 - Stats
16 - Silver Bullet
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Witch Slayer allows for a couple of different builds. This one is the standard sidelane build, and one most people will expect you to go. Going Power Drain earlier is a situational solo mid thing, and outside the scope of this guide.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:ManaPotion: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Ring of the Teacher >>) Power Supply >> Steamboots >> 1-2x Fortified Bracelet

Ring of the Teacher is a decent early pickup in lane, as it gives you slightly better damage and fixes your low base armour, as well as almost doubling your base mana regen. I won't put it as a core item, but consider it heavily.
Steamboots are preferred as it gives you mutable stats: INT for a larger mana pool, STR for more hp.

After core:

Portal Key >> (Astrolabe >>) Kuldra's Sheepstick

Portal Key is almost as good as it gets on this hero. He has 2 amazing disables, and Portal Key allows him the mobility and positioning to use them to their best. This is a good pickup no matter what stage of the game you are in. Witch Slayer is also a good carrier for Astrolabe due to his unlimited mana pool with Power Drain later on.
And finally Sheepstick, because more disables are always good.

Alternative Items:

Puzzlebox is of course an option if the enemy team has invis or is warding.
Void Talisman when dealing with a lot of Shrunken Heads, Predators or Panda's! Using this will make you much more vulnerable to nukes though.

Information:

Roles: Support, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any
Difficulty: 2/5 (Click disable, receive bacon for the most part. There is a bit of a skill ceiling with Graveyard in regards to timing and placement)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (due to Graveyard/Power Drain combo)
Item dependent? No, functions very well off basic core and simple stat items.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (2 disables, 600 range)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (longest amount of non-channeled disables; burst damage ult)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Always somewhat useful with Mini and Graveyard)

Tips and Tricks:

- Don't KS with Silver Bullet. You are a support hero / babysitter at best.
- Don't overlap your disables. Don't cast Miniaturize right after Graveyard, use them after each other's duration has worn off. Chaining your disables to make optimum use of the total disable time is what separates a poor Witch Slayer from a somewhat ok one.
- Don't KS with Silver Bullet.
- If possible, use Graveyard + Power Drain on heroes with a low mana pool in teamfights (for example Pestilence or Hammerstorm). It will almost empty their mana pool with one cast!
- Power Drain and Mini will instantly kill illusions targeted by it. Use this to great effect against Geometer's Bane illusions and Sand Wraith's Mirage.

Counters:

- He is completely Magic Damage based, get Mystic Vestments early and later upgrade if needed.
- Get some HP so he can't insta-gib you with Graveyard -> Silverbullet.
- Shrunken Head works good, get one especially if they have more disables.
- Nullstone seems like a good counter, except he has 3 targeted skills (Mini, Silver Bullet, and Power Drain). A good Witch Slayer will pop your Nullstone with Power Drain and and then Mini and ult you everytime. Consider Shrunken Head if you want protection from him.
- Be extra careful if you rely on mana to escape (any form of blink or vanish). He drains it very quick while you are stunned and then you can only run.

[Defiler] .defiler .krobelus .banshee .death prophet

Skill Build:

1 - Wave of Death
2 - Power in Death
3 - Wave of Death
4 - Power in Death
5 - Wave of Death
6 - Unholy Expulsion
7 - Wave of Death
8 - Power in Death
9 - Power in Death
10 - Grave Silence
11 - Unholy Expulsion
12 - Grave Silence
13 - Grave Silence
14 - Grave Silence
15 - Stats
16 - Unholy Expulsion
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Grave Silence can be taken at level 2 or 4 as it is VERY useful both defensively and offensively. For example, to kill evasive heroes like Scout or Magebane.
The rest is straightforward. Wave of Death is her bread and butter skill for laning, harassing, pushing, and farming. Power in Death makes it much much better, as well as everything else when you take it. Extra damage is better than less costs, so Wave itself is maxed first, then Power in Death.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: :ManaPotion: :MinorTotem:

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice >> Ghost Marchers/Plated Greaves

She farms, pushes and harasses with Wave. Using it more = more dangerous hero. Bottle and Chalice go to this end. If nobody on your team gets Plated Greaves or if you are facing massive armor reduction or heavy physical dps heroes, consider Plated Greaves instead of Ghost Marchers.

After core:

Customize to suit the team you are up against! Listed in order of preference, not price range:

- HotBL->disassemble for Sacrificial Stone - The premium choice for a hero that thrives off HP, mana and mana regen; everything that Sac Stone offers in ever-increasing amounts with a nice buildup that gives you a Helm of the Black Legion in the meantime for a 250g diversion.
- Behemoth's Heart - New Heart is a beast choice for Defiler now, giving the old STR %hp regen and a bundle of HP.
- Frostfield Plate - Armour, mana pool and an extra slowing nuke.
- Frostwolf Skull - Increasingly popular choice, giving almost as much HP as a Heart and a superior slow compared to FFP that pierces Magic Immunity, as well as general stats.
- Nullstone - Oodles of mana regen, stats and survivability against nasty targeted disables (which are generally longer!)
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - Mana regen, high INT and an offensive disable!
- Astrolabe - The Helm of the Black Legion equivalent for an INT hero with a large mana pool
- Puzzlebox - Generally not worth getting first, but a decent pickup if against invisibility heroes as it helps push as well.
- Storm Spirit - Can be gotten directly after core if in need of a cheap disable. Use it on yourself while your ultimate is running for maximum effect.
- Void Talisman - Lategame against melee carries. Use when your ult is on since the spirits will keep attacking.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Solo Mid
Difficulty: 3/5 (very mana dependant, lacks a real disable)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (spammable Wave with very low cd)
Item dependent? Yes, but will function well with core and 1 other item.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control:4/5 (Dominant nukes, 600 range)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Insane pushing power and teamfight damage with ult and Wave)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Still does a lot of damage, but is outcarried very easily by any carry with real scaling when going item-for-item)

Tips and Tricks:

- Your ultimate is one of the best pushing spells in the game. Use it to take down towers starting as early as possible. (You will need your teams support for this tho).
- Wave of Death is a spammable farming nuke, use it to harass and farm up.
- Silence is very very important in teamfights. Never forget to use it! 6 seconds is longer than Vindicator's ultimate, and it has a very large AoE at level 4.
- If fighting evasive heroes with blinks/vanish/etc you maybe wanna save your silence for when they go low HP to ensure a kill. Silencing them will reveal them from invisibility and block them from blinking away.
- With your ultimate up you are almost untouchable in the mid game. You can take most 1vs1 and even 1vs2 battles. Just make sure you use it before you are at 20% hp.
- Pushing the creep wave into their tower after the xx:45 is easy to achieve with Wave, and will make it easier to control the runes. This allows you more mana to nuke the other hero down even more, and win mid.

Counters:

- Her ultimate is physical damage while her Wave of Death is magical. This means Magic Armor is not as effective against her as you might think. Don't bother getting it just for her.
- When she has her ultimate up and you are alone: RUN!
- Deny her rune control in mid, this will make the harass much more bearable.

[Demented Shaman] .demented shaman .ds .dazzle .shadow priest

Skill Build:

1 - Healing Wave
2 - Entangle
3 - Entangle
4 - Healing Wave
5 - Entangle
6 - Healing Wave
7 - Healing Wave
8 - Unbreakable
9 - Storm Cloud
10 - Unbreakable
11 - Storm Cloud
12 - Unbreakable
13 - Unbreakable
14 - Entangle
15 - Stats
16 - Storm Cloud
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

The two core things that are being rushed here are Entangle 3 and Healing Wave 4. Entangle 3 is gotten ASAP as it will provide you with both the 66% movement slow on level 2 and the 1 second stun as well on level 3; Rank 4 is a non-priority (+15 manacost, +48 physical damage on the DoT, -2 second cooldown) and should be taken only after you've finished the rest of your skills. Healing Wave Rank 4 is next as it will give you the maximum of 5 jumps, as well as the 140 damage per wave, greatly increasing it's damage output; it also brings it to a sweet 6 second cooldown.

As of the re-alignment patch, Arcane Hide has been replaced with Unbreakable, which is Dazzle's Shallow Grave ability which gives the person that it is cast on the ability to revive from death if killed in the next 6 seconds. It also adds some attack damage in those 6 seconds. It is essentially a free Token of Life if you are able to predict when someone is about to die. I recommend taking one point in it whenever you feel it is necessary (as early as 3, as late as 8 as I have put in the build) but your core priorities of getting Entangle 3 first and then Healing Wave 4 are still unchanged.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:ManaPotion: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Ring of the Teacher >> Power Supply >> Blood Chalice >> Plated Greaves/Steamboots >> Wards of Sight

Chalice is amazing on DS with his heal, and Power Supply complements him nicely. Expect to constantly keep wards up after getting Marchers and Chalice. Ring of the Teacher is early mana regen and armour aura allowing for mass sustained pushing with more durable creeps with Healing Wave and +armour aura.
You almost always want Plated Greaves unless someone else in your team profits more from them (there are very few heroes that do so). Steamboots are an acceptable substitute against heroes like Pebbles.

After core:

- Tablet of Command - Amazing item offering movement, mana pool and a ministun to interrupt channels.
- Nome's Wisdom - The upgrade path for Ring of the Teacher, and gives very decent benefits for its cost.
- Astrolabe - More heals and armour!
- Hellflower - I see some Demented Shamans go Hellflower. Certainly not a bad choice as it is providing a bunch of regen and good stats in general. Probably only good in pubs. I however consider it inferior to Nome's/ToC + Astrolabe unless there is a specific use for the 5 second silence/perplex such as:
//The enemy team has an evasive carry (Magebane, Scout, Madman, Doctor Repulsor etc.) who can be prevented to get away with Hellflower OR
//The enemy has a very ultimate reliant hero such as Plague Rider or Tempest and you are able to focus him down in 5 seconds OR
//The enemy carry has a Shrunken Head and your team heavily relies on magic to kill him.

Information:

Roles: Support, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Any. Is actually a decent solo mid, but wasted there most of the time.
Difficulty: 3/5 (using Entangle as a delayed interrupt, healbombing people/waves correctly)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Healing Wave melts creep waves in a click)
Item dependent? No, functions well off just a basic core.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (One of the strongest babysitters in a 2-1-2 lane situation; animation, heal and slow all make for superior offensive and defensive babysitting)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (skills are all extremely strong)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Heals decrease in power, ult and Unbreakable remains extremely powerful)

Tips and Tricks:

- Demented Shaman is the best farmer of all the babysit/support heroes. Make use of this!
- Position yourself so that the enemy creep wave is between you and your creep wave; then cast healing wave on yourself -> +200 Gold in one click!
- Take this 200 Gold and buy Wards of Sight. Map control for one simply click is pretty awesome, isn't it?
- Use Storm Cloud a lot, it has a very low cooldown and lower mana cost than Healing Wave or Entangle. You can use it on your own team before initiation or on the enemy team before a gank/initiation. It has a long cast range, but be aware as not to warn your enemies of an incoming gank and scaring them away!
- This can also be used to your advantage. You can often make the enemy fall back by just casting Storm Cloud on them.
- Be sure to use Unbreakable on someone if they are low and they are sure to die. The carry is the best target for this of course, but someone with a lot of disables that need to be used is also ideal. Choose wisely.

Counters:

- All his damage is physical. So the logic counter is armour, especially since his ultimate tends to reduce your armor quite significantly.
- Don't stand in your enemies creep wave. If he throws a heal, it will HURT!
- If he ults, you play passive until it wars off and be prepared for their initiation!

[Myrmidon] .myrmidon .fish

Skill Build:

1 - Weed Field
2 - Magic Carp
3 - Wave Form
4 - Weed Field
5 - Weed Field
6 - Forced Evolution
7 - Weed Field
8 - Magic Carp
9 - Magic Carp
10 - Magic Carp
11 - Forced Evolution
12 - Wave Form
13 - Wave Form
14 - Wave Form
15 - Stats
16 - Forced Evolution
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

One of each skill is taken by level 3 as all provide significant benefits at level 1. Weed Field is the best of the three skills to take first (longer range, more damage for 5 more mana). Take Wave Form for escaping earlier if necessary.
Weed Field is maxed first as it is the more reliable stun to land, scales better in damage and is AoE. Magic Carp's stun is easily avoidable unless having to move away from a well-placed Weed Field, but is still a strong nuke in itself and maxed second.
Forced Evolution is taken at 6 not for its combat ability (which is still nice) but its extra HP granted on activation. It can be delayed until 10 if you feel it is necessary to have Carp and Weed maxed out asap.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :ManaPotion: 3x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Bottle/Power Supply >>) Marchers >> Chalice >> Ring of the Teacher (>> Fortified Bracelets)

Myrmidon requires incredibly little to be effective in a game with such a strong skillset and int gain. Take Bottle only if solo mid, else Chalice and Power Supply. Ring of the Teacher helps to alleviate your armour problems. Fortified Bracelets as necessary.

After core:

Striders/Steamboots - Either or, depending on how the game is going. Plated could be considered if hardcore pushing or you still have armour issues.
- Wards of Sight - You are an item-independent support, and a good one at that. You should be expected to keep these up. They pay for themselves.
- Wards of Revelation - These as well.
- Tablet of Command - More mobility, mana pool and an interrupt.
- Void Talisman - Physical immunity for late game.
- Helm of the Black Legion - If by some freak chance you are raking in the gold, this baby is very nice for an artificial boost to your survivability. Helps alleviate your ultimate's problems and makes it more effective.
- Elder Parasite - Bad. Very bad. Don't do it.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Support
Preferred Lane: Any. Ok at solo mid.
Difficulty: 3/5 (overlapping Weed Field and Magic Carp properly, knowing when to Wave Form in and Evolve to bash on people and when not to)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (Weed Field is a nice AoE)
Item dependent? - No, works fine off his core.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (2 low cost spammable stuns/nukes)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (strong and mobile ganker, generally needs others to help him gank though)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (Spells still stun, but all your damage is either dangerous to apply or negligible; does better with Wave Form survival than most other supports)

Tips and Tricks:

- Using Magic Carp to line up Weed Field is key here. Often the Magic Carp stun will be avoided by the person you've cast it on, so lining up a Weed Field to pop on the point where they need to stop will ensure at least one of your stuns hit and they take both of the nuke's damage.
- Wave Form lowers magic armour on targets you pass over and slows them, making placement of Weed Field easier and increasing the damage of your ultimate and nukes. Forced Evolution's slow in conjunction with Wave Form is extremely powerful.
- You taper off incredibly quickly as your main sources of damage are all static magic damage, and are ignored entirely by Shrunken Head.
- Wave Form follows normal pathing, around creeps and trees if necessary.

Counters:

- Magic Carp's stun can be avoided by stopping (default S) or hold position (default H). Timing it just right will mean that you stop for a very minimal time if running. A carp in mid-air can also be easily disjointed with a blink skill, or any other disjoint.
- Myrmidon is VERY squishy with low base str, str gain, and very low base armour. His range is also short, so he can be harassed hard in lane.
- Anticipating a Weed Field is key. If the carp is out on you, expect a Weed Field placed after it to ensure you make the hard decision of stopping to avoid the longer Carp stun or taking it to possibly avoid the Weed Field nuke.
- Magic Immunity stops ALL of his damage and stuns.

[Voodoo Jester] .voodoo jester .witch doctor .vol'jin .vj .wd

Skill Build:

1 - Acid Cocktail
2 - Cursed Ground
3 - Cursed Ground
4 - Mojo
5 - Cursed Ground
6 - Spirit Ward
7 - Cursed Ground
8 - Mojo
9 - Mojo
10 - Mojo
11 - Spirit Ward
12 - Acid Cocktail
13 - Acid Cocktail
14 - Acid Cocktail
15 - Stats
16 - Spirit Ward
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Cursed Ground takes priority as the strongest non-ult nuke in the game, and Mojo is taken second, as it helps sustain pushes, but it is worth taking over stats.
Acid Cocktail is taken initially as it is your stun, but levelled last as it only provides additional bounces and damages only creeps for more mana. It's worth levelling over Mojo occasionally on a Cursed Ground-focused build, but only to hope to keep multiple people stunned for the almighty combo, and to farm with Acid Cocktail to rush your SotM. Use discretion here.
If you play as a pure babysitter you should switch Mojo and Cursed Ground.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:ManaPotion: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Chalice >> Power Supply >> Marchers >> 1-2x Fortified Bracelet >> Striders/Ghost Marchers/Steamboots

Chalice is as core as it comes for a hero. His combo takes a lot of mana. Power Supply also is needed, as your combo takes up a lot of burst mana. Bracelets compensate for his lack of HP and mana pool a bit. As for boot choices:
- Striders get you places quicker and easier. Best choice for a babysit VJ.
- Ghost Marchers allow a much more punishing addition to a high autoattack to complement Cursed Ground when your ult is down, AND allow easier placement of Cursed Ground from a distance by phasing in after you have thrown the initial Acid Cocktail.
- Steamboots on INT allow a larger mana pool to be able to get your combo off more reliably. Switch to STR later when your mana pool is big enough.
Choose wisely.

After core:

- Staff of the Master - Premium choice for him to bridge the gap into lategame. Great buildup of stats and will boost Spirit Ward to go up to 1500 damage per second it is channeled.
- Shrunken Head - Make that 1500DPS Spirit Ward uninterruptable (for the most part). Activation does not break Spirit Ward channeling.
- Assassin's Shroud - Hide that nasty little critter who's channeling that Spirit Ward. Activation does not break Spirit Ward channeling.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - 800 range disable yo.
- Codex - Fairly decent synergy with Cursed Ground, but is inferior to SotM's DPS increase in every way. Burst heals also counteract a Cursed Ground->Codex combo effectiveness severely. Even Codex 5 (800 damage) will only tick to 2200 damage by the end; not factoring in regeneration or heals.

Note that Voodoo Jester can be an excellent babysit but he also is a decent ganker and transitions into lategame DPS better than almost all supports. Usually there will be a hero in the game who is suited better for buying wards. However if no one else does, you should be manning up and buying those wards.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Support
Preferred Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3/5 (Cursed Ground has a long cast time and short range, with a hefty cd)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Acid Cocktail bounces and damages creeps; Bad Mojo can prep huge stacks of neutrals for easy killing without drawing their aggression)
Item dependent? No, can function very well off a basic core. Scales extremely well with items however.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (decent babysit with Good Mojo, has offensive laning power with Acid Cocktail and Cursed Ground)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (rapes on a decent Cursed Ground, pushes hard with Good Mojo)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (SotM ult gets genocides by casting it naked near the enemy pond while 5 heroes are in it. That's how good it is.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Always Curse first when possible. Then stun, Bad Mojo if necessary and finally place the Ward. If your enemy is running away you can stun first and follow up with a curse.
- Voodoo Jester is a decent solo mid, as he can use the runes to great potential and is a very vital ganker from level 6 on!
- Acid Cocktail is very effective in the jungle and on creep waves and can be used to farm neutrals/creeps a lot in order to get your items.
- You are a good babysitter but giving up last hits early game will hurt you a lot. Try to either go to an aggressive long lane or solo mid if possible.

Counters:

- Contrary to popular belief, his ultimate does physical damage not magical, while the damage from cursed ground is magic. This makes it hard to counter as you can't simply stack armor or magic armor.
- Barbed Armor should work well. Activate it when standing in his ultimate should kill him pretty quick (Note: I did not test that yet)
- You can't drink from your Bottle or apply a Healing Potion while Cursed Ground is on you. The only item-wise way to heal yourself is Power Supply and Astrolabe. So get at least a Power Supply and use it after Cursed Ground is on you, this will reduce the dot damage you take.
- Shrunken Head does not remove the curse but stops its damage while the magic immunity runs.
- Jereziah is an excellent counter to Voodoo as he can heal through/Protective Charm your Cursed Ground, preventing it from doing any damage and his ultimate completely stops Voodoo Jester's ward from doing any damage.

[Anakha]

[Puppet Master] .puppet master .pm

Skill Build:

1 - Puppet Show
2 - Puppeteer's Hold
3 - Whiplash
4 - Whiplash
5 - Whiplash
6 - Voodoo Puppet
7 - Whiplash
8 - Puppeteer's Hold
9 - Puppet Show
10 - Puppet Show
11 - Voodoo Puppet
12 - Puppet Show
13 - Puppeteer's Hold
14 - Puppeteer's Hold
15 - Stats
16 - Voodoo Puppet
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Puppet is a 600 range hard carry, with 2 disables early on to secure lane dominance. One point of each disable is taken initially, with Whiplash maxed out by 7 for its base damage increase and splashing critical strike.
Puppet Show is the better disable, as it stops the target from casting if you cast it in the right position, and is maxed before Hold, but the second point of Hold is taken initially so the target is dragged back to the center when they are trying to run away from you (as opposed to level 1).

Voodoo Puppet is a massive single-target damage amplifier, and is taken whenever possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Power Supply >>) Steamboots >> (1-2 Talismans of Exile >>) Whispering Helm

Steamboots are easily better than Ghost Marchers due to the survivability and attack speed they provide. Get 1-2 Talismans after (or even Fortified Bracelets if the game goes rough).
Whispering Helm allows stacking of creeps by domination of a minion to pull them for you. The stacks are fairly easy to kill off with Whiplash splash crits.

After core:

Shrunken Head >> (Assassin's Shroud >>) Hellflower >> Savage Mace/Kuldra's Sheepstick/Geometer's Bane >> Symbol of Rage

Harkon's Blade is inferior in every single way nowadays to Hellflower as a carry item.
After Hellflower, you can pick up any of the 3 listed, depending on what you need and how the game is going. Geometer illusions DO get the crit from Whiplash (be sure to activate it before throwing that crit attack to make all the illusions crit on their first attack!) but DO NOT receive the AoE splash damage from Whiplash.
Upgrade to Symbol of Rage after picking one of those, and then simply get one of the other 2 that you didn't pick.
As of the re-alignment patch and the buff to Puppet's agility gain, Geometer's Bane is now a lot more viable to take on him, but very situational.

Assassin's Shroud is tentatively listed, because the amount of misconceptions around this item on Puppet is ridiculously high. Shroud adds +125 damage which is multiplied by Whiplash on a crit. Useful for farming, and a bit of mobility but does NOT replace real survivability through Shrunken Head and HP/Armour in any way at all.

Information:

Roles: Late-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any
Difficulty: 4/5 (squishy, requires placement and timing to effectively use disables)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Whiplash is amazing, even better with Shroud)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (pseudo disables, crit splash)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (strong pseudo-disables and ult)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4.5/5 (extremely good autoattack carry for an INT hero)

Tips and Tricks:

- Don't forget the creep stacking. Every minute at x.50 to x.56 you have to aggro the neutral creeps with your minion and draw them out of their spawning area for an additional set of creeps to spawn.
- Farm the ancients once you reach 3 stacks. Then continue stacking. Stacking hard camps is also extremely good in case you have lost safe access to your ancients to stack them.
- Focus on last hitting over harassing, because harassing is not a good idea when you are ridiculously item-dependent and have no real nukes.
- If the enemy is slow to retreat from a creep wave, cast Puppeteer's Hold or Puppet Show. Free harass and they cannot run from the creeps hitting them.
- Your bread and butter: Open with Puppet Show if there is someone for the target to attack, and then chain with Puppeteer's Hold. Ult if needed (before Hold but after Show) and auto-attack till dead.
- Nightmare mode: Pulling this off is amazing, but is extremely difficult to do. Hold someone and get point-blank range to them. Cast Voodoo Puppet right next to them, and then Puppet Show them. They will attack the Voodoo Puppet and damage themselves, while you can beat on them and then use your Whiplash crit when it comes up on the Puppet to deal damage to them 3x over (Voodoo Puppet's damage amp from the initial hit, and the splash also gets them again!)

Counters:

- Most Puppet Master's will still eventually go for Harkon's Blade, shifting their damage from physical to magic. Also with Shrunken they are not squishy at all. Active Magic Immunity will revert their attack back to their normal one, negating its only positive. This also negates his disables as well.
- A lot of PM's will also stack ancients with an early Whispering Helm like I've described here. Ward their ancient spot and go steal it or gank him when he is doing them.
- He is ridiculously squishy pre-Shrunken Head. This is exacerbated by a lot of people in pub going EP->Thunderclaw on him. Smash him hard if you see him going this glass cannon build.

[Hellbringer] .hellbringer .hb .warlock

Skill Build:

1 - Death Boil
2 - Life Void
3 - Death Boil
4 - Unholy Shackles
5 - Death Boil
6 - Summon Malphas
7 - Death Boil
8 - Life Void
9 - Life Void
10 - Life Void
11 - Summon Malphas
12 - Unholy Shackles
13 - Unholy Shackles
14 - Unholy Shackles
15 - Stats
16 - Summon Malphas
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Death Boil is one of the highest damage nukes at level 1, and chains more and does more damage with levels and is maxed first. Life Void makes Hellbringer extremely good in combination with all forms of damage and Malphas, giving him ridiculously high regeneration and lowers magic armour significantly, so is maxed next.

Unholy Shackles can be left at 1 until later as its 20% slow functions well enough until the other 2 skills are maxed out. Its one point can be taken at early as 2 if you feel you can make use of it better than Life Void, or you think you can delay Life Void until 4.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: :WardOfSight:

Take an extra set of Runes of the Blight if you don't need to buy a Ward.

Core:

(Bottle >>) Chalice >> Plated Greaves/Steamboots >> Barbed Armour

Chalice and Life Void synergy is one of the strongest in HoN, and Chalice should always be rushed before any other item (except Bottle if you are solo mid). Plated Greaves has synergy with Malphas and makes him even more ridiculous, while Steamboots give mutable stats (larger mana pool for more spells, or higher HP pool to survive better).

Barbed Armour - I simply can't stress enough how good this item is on him. This item has the best kind of synergy with Hellbringer and should be picked up on him first in every situation.
A target with Life Void on them hitting you with Barbed Armour activated will actually HEAL you, and the reflected damage will go through Magic Immunity. The -6 magic armour that Life Void gives on max level will increase the amount of damage they take from Death Boil and everything that Malphas offers, and consequently how much you are healed. It also gives precious armour and a bit more mana pool to play with. Get it.

After core:

- Tablet of Command - Larger mana pool, interrupt and mobility in the midst of it all.
- Restoration Stone - 2 ults is better than 1. Extremely dominant combo lategame as both stuns go through Magic Immunity in a wide area, and with both of the summons burning everyone in a small AoE around him, a decent Life Void will give you over 100 hp per second regeneration in the middle of a battle.
- Barrier Idol - Since you can sit in the middle of it all with Life Void and even just one Malphas and Death Boil, Barrier Idol is nice as you'll definitely be in the middle of it all to hit everyone with the activated ability, and it gives a lot of survivability with its own regen and increased magic armour.
- Puzzlebox - Synergy with Malphas, Life Void and Plated Greaves. Gives relevant stats and utility.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - 800 range disable.

Information:

Roles: Support, Initiator, Secondary Initiator, Counter-Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any (Good 1vs2 soloer)
Difficulty: 4/5 (Malphas micro with Fire Breath, getting off a decent Life Void every time, knowing when to ult)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (Death Boil is ok, but inconsistent)
Item dependent? - Yes, needs his core to really be able to contribute in the game.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (extremely good as a passive solo laner, db level 1 is one of the strongest nukes per mana cost in the game)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Decent ganker, powerful ult and push potential)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Insane regeneration is possible, but only with a decent Life Void which gets harder and harder to do; 4/5 with Restoration Stone and the mana to use all skills in a teamfight)

Tips and Tricks:

- Life Void got nerfed but is still very powerful especially early game. If you are low HP and need to regen cast it as soon as the enemy creeps are in your tower range, add Death Boil on top of it and auto attack. Use when needed and sparingly.
- Malphas is optimally not used as an initiation. Let other initiators like Behemoth, Pharaoh, Bubbles etc. do their job first! Get as many heroes as possible with your Life Void and then after stuns wear off, unleash Malphas. Barbed Armour if anyone is even looking at you funny.
- If you lack any form of initiation, Summon Malphas can serve this purpose and should be used that way.
- If ganking, try following this pattern: Life Void > Death Boil > Summon Malphas > Unholy Shackles > Malphas' Fire Breath. Be sure to cast the centre of the spell behind the hero you're ganking as to block him partially with Malphas.

Counters:

- Electrician can purge all of Hellbringer's debuffs as well as deal significant damage (600/800/1000 damage each level of Cleansing Shock) to Malphas with Cleansing Shock.
- Nullfire Blade's purge instantly kills Malphas! You get the full gold bounty! Get a Nullfire if you play an agility hero that can hold one effectively.
- Nullfire Blade's purge can also remove all his other debuffs on 1 person.
- Shrunken Head / Magic Armor is the obvious counter to his spells but you should not be worried about them too much. His ulti is mostly for the massive AoE stun through Magic Immunity and not for the damage it does.

[Torturer].torturer .leshrac

Skill Build:

1 - Chain Reaction
2 - Agonizing Bonds
3 - Agonizing Bonds
4 - Impalement
5 - Agonizing Bonds
6 - Impalement
7 - Agonizing Bonds
8 - Impalement
9 - Impalement
10 - Chain Reaction
11 - Chain Reaction
12 - Chain Reaction
13 - Torment
14 - Torment
15 - Stats
16 - Torment
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Impalement can be gotten level 1 for its sheer amount of damage output for a level 1 gank, especially if you cut the lane, or they are trying to prevent their pull spot from being warded.

Agonizing Bonds is probably the better choice to make nowadays as far as a first skill to max. Its lower cooldown, as well as how easy Chain Reaction is to land with a single point, allow you to frontload your skill points into mass damage output through Agonizing Bonds or Impalement.
Impalement is more total damage to a single target, and works on towers but is a self-AoE spell. Bonds allow you to abuse your 600 range better early on rather than having to be up close, personal and following your target to do the majority of your damage. Switch it up according to the situation and preference. If you're getting time to wail on the tower early (they are incorrectly creep pulling etc.), Impalement will net you a lot of free damage on the tower.

Torment is not taken until your other 3 skills are maxed, as its damage output is point-blank and you usually will not have the mana to support its costs. It is extremely efficient if left turned on and in range of multiple heroes for longer than 6 pulses, but is generally hard to get to reach that point.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

Chalice >> Bottle >> Marchers (>> Fortified Bracelet) >> Steamboots/Post Haste

Standard Bottle/Chalice combo for a mana intensive hero. Bracers for survivability as needed before you start getting your bigger survivability/mana items, Ghost Marchers for standard mobility or Post Haste if you have the farm and want to farm 3 lanes at once with your 4-nuke hero.

After core:

Listed in no order of preference:
- HotBL->Sacrificial Stone - Best item for a hero that thrives on HP, mana and mana regen in ever-increasing amounts.
- Shrunken Head - His 2 best damage skills are very close range (Impale and Torment) and this allows him to stay near there without Torment turning off because of disables, and being able to stay close to them all and alive. Also gives a bit of HP too.
- Nullstone - Single-target disable negation, stats and decent mana regen.
- Frostfield Plate - Armour, mana pool, another decent nuke with a slow attached to it to help keep them in range of Impalement and Torment.
- Shaman's Headdress/Barrier Idol - Magic damage negation and innate regeneration attached.
- Behemoth's Heart - Stay alive.
- Frostwolf Skull - Good choice, giving almost as much HP as a Heart and a superior slow compared to FFP that pierces Magic Immunity, as well as general stats.
- Portal Key - Has its uses on a hero with 2 close-range damage spells.

Customize to suit the team you are up against.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Ganker, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Any. Decent solo mid.
Difficulty: 4/5 (A hero really only crippled by his own flaws early on and throughout the game)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Mana intensive)
Item dependent? Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (Very strong nukes/stuns)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Nukes start to decrease in efficiency, but he has 3 of them on short-ish cd's)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Strong if farmed well, Torment's flaws limit him hard here)

Tips and Tricks:

- You are considered a carry. That means you should not be babysitting and optimally not giving up the last hits to a carry.
- You have one of the lowest starting HP pools and one of the highest starting mana pools. Thus you are very squishy and should get the Crushing Claws of any Bracelets you want asap.
- As a proper mid-game carry you should be farming a lot, don't be afraid to use your mana to get some extra gold.
- Shrunken Head is pretty much necessary to keep Torment on, as it will turn off very easily and the initial mana cost is not small.

Counters:

- Magic armour all the way. Torturer is a semi carry who deals a LOT of magic damage, especially with his ultimate later on. Barrier Idol and Shrunken Head is the way to go.
- Disabling him with silence while Torment is activated will disable it, and force him to pay the startup cost again. This will tear through his mana pool even quicker, and limit his damage output even more.

[Wretched Hag] .wretched hag .hag .qop .queen of pain .akasha

Skill Build:

1 - Flash of Darkness
2 - Sonar Scream
3 - Sonar Scream
4 - Flash of Darkness
5 - Sonar Scream
6 - Bat Blast
7 - Sonar Scream
8 - Flash of Darkness
9 - Flash of Darkness
10 - Haunt
11 - Bat Blast
12 - Haunt
13 - Haunt
14 - Haunt
15 - Stats
16 - Bat Blast
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Sonar Scream is your main skill for farming, harassing and ganking. One level in Haunt can be taken for the minor slow on Bat Blast but Flash is maxed before it.
I recommend taking the second level in Flash over Haunt because the extra 2 second off the cd really does make all the difference, and your level 1 Bat Blast is absolutely pathetic efficiency-wise.

Maxing Haunt over Flash or Scream is terribad, as it takes away your only real way to push a lane to gain rune control, takes away your only way to really farm effectively, and gives you a 400 range DoT slow on a hero with a weak autoattack and absolutely zero damage outside of that. Skipping levels on Flash or Scream to make your ultimate better either weakens your total damage output or drastically reduces your survivability, neither of which are acceptable on a fragile hero who needs farm.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:/2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice >> 1x Talisman of the Exile >> Steamboots >> Glowstone

You have a low mana pool to support the needed spells to kill someone. Fix this by getting a Bottle/Chalice and some INT items. You should leave Steamboots on INT for now for the most part. The Glowstone is picked up as it will go into either Frostwolf Skull, or an early SotM before 30min. They share 2 common items (Mighty Blade for +10str and Glowstone) so it's easy to transition if circumstances degenerate for you.

After core:

- Frostwolf Skull - Premium item for her with amazing synergy with Hag and her 2.0 agi gain, which gives her an amazing slow that triggers on Haunt usage, lots of stats and HP.
- Staff of the Master - SotM is a very decent item, but only worth grabbing if you can get it before 30min, where every ult cooldown will mean additional kills when outlevelling your opponents hard.
- Nullstone - Not an autobuy on her by any standard. Pickup to counter nasty single target disables that will stop your blink, with additional stats and mana regen!
- Savage Mace - A decent pickup vs heroes who utilize evasion, and devastating when her agi gain kicks in and she can chase down heroes with autoattacks.
- Spellshards - A hero with 2 massive AoE nukes, 1 on a low-ish cd, and a way to farm big items. This item is all kinds of good on her after fixing her survivability issues.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - Mana regen, stats and a disable. Hell yeah.
- Puzzlebox - If fighting vs invisible heroes or if you are sure the enemy is warding get this item directly after the core. Its very very good on her!
- Nome's Wisdom - Now worth considering again with the added +50% mana regeneration on it if you need something cheap in the way of mana regen to supplement you on skeleton farm.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any (Good 1vs2 soloer; good mid for rune control)
Difficulty: 3/5 (lots of damage output but very reliant on blink to survive)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Mana intensive)
Item dependent? Yes, needs her core to function sans Glowstone.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (an extremely good passive laner with rune control and blink; weak autoattack prevents her from dominating everyone)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (The Queen of Pain rules the map until the 40min mark with enough mana)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (nukes decrease in power, but has presence if snowballed enough with farm)

Tips and Tricks:

- Chasing too far with blink is very dangerous because the opposing team is likely to TP near your target and kill you. You have to be very careful and keep an eye on the minimap at all times. You are very vulnerable when you can't blink.
- Try to be aggressive, but never underestimate your opponent. Try to kill creeps when you use Scream on him. This will push the lane, giving you time to go to the runes and refill your bottle. Rune control is everything with a mid Hag.
- When chasing a hero he will most likely try to juke your blink by running in the other direction as soon as he hears the animation. The best way to counter this is to cancel your blink immediately by pressing "S" (this will play the sound and half the animation but not use the spell) then wait for him to juke and instantly blink on him. This requires practice and has to be executed fast to be effective.
- Level 1 Bat Blast is absolutely awful compared to level 4 Sonar Scream. It has LESS damage, a massive cooldown and costs twice the mana that Sonar Scream does. Taking Haunt early for this one is a big mistake as it's a weak slow at level 1 and the exorbitant mana costs of Bat Blast do not justify its cost over 2 uses of Sonar Scream early with how powerful your Blink is for keeping near the heroes with lower and lower cooldown.
- Level 2 Bat Blast however, does significantly more damage and is worth using more often as by this time, you will definitely have that one point in Haunt.

Counters:

- Magic Armor. Barrier Idol preferably. Activate it right before her ultimate if possible.
- Astrolabe. Heal your team up right after her ultimate. Excellent counter item!
- Any hero with decent length silences or disables prevent her from blinking away and make her an easy kill. Notably, Puppet Master and Blood Hunter for their very long disables as well as Hellflower.

[Succubus] .succubus .bane elemental .atropos

Skill Build:

1 - Mesmerize
2 - Heartache
3 - Heartache
4 - Stats
5 - Heartache
6 - Succubus' Hold
7 - Heartache
8 - Mesmerize
9 - Mesmerize
10 - Mesmerize
11 - Succubus' Hold
12 - Smitten
13 - Smitten
14 - Smitten
15 - Smitten
16 - Succubus' Hold
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Mesmerize is taken at level 1 because it is a 4 second disable at level 1, and will save you or even net you a first blood with some help. Heartache is then taken at every available level, as it is your main way to stay in your lane at level 3 and deal damage to your opponent. Despite the re-alignment patch's buffs to Succubus, Smitten is still not taken till the 12-15 range at the earliest, because it's not until later on that physical dps carries become relevant, and shutting them down becomes important. It can be skipped entirely if the game calls for it.

Mesmerize is maxed next because the disable length scales an extra second per each level. Due to the way Mesmerize disables, and how expensive your spells are: You may wish to swap leveling Mesmerize for extra levels of stats to pad out your mana pool a bit. If this is done, level Mesmerize after the additional 3 levels of stats are taken. It's still a 7 second disable at max level. Due to a recent buff, leaving Mezmerize at a lower level actually eases the taxing on your mana pool (130/140/150/160 instead of 165 at all levels). This means there is less drawback to taking stats if you so desire, but it may actually be less necessary because of the scaling mana cost! Judge each situation upon its own merits.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice >> Marchers >> (Power Supply >>) 2x Talisman of the Exile >> Striders >> Portal Key

Yes you are reading correctly, I don't only recommend Portal Key on Succubus; I consider it core. You need to have played her with Portal Key to realize the full spectrum of usefulness of this item on her. Her ability to jump in and completely take out two enemies make her a decent initiator even for teamfights and probably one of the best initiators for ganks.

Portal Key also makes her an even more amazing chaser hero. She can blink after fleeing enemies and Mesmerize them until her allies arrive. Portal Key also allows her to position in odd positions like in trees for teamfights to ensure she can get her full load of disable with her ult off cleanly.

After core:

Listed in order of preference:
- Wards of Sight - Let's be honest here. Succubus can't farm or push worth a damn, so she farms heroes. This is the number 1 way to enable you to get gold and levels. You are no ward *****, but 1-2 every so often help.
- Puzzlebox - Premium item for a hero with a 5.1 second channeled disable. Mez a target, pop these babies and then ult your target straight up and let them rape your target as well. Micro should be no problem to get that mana burn off from the Wizard to make sure you bury your target hard. Better than Staff of the Master in every single conceivable way. Ever.
- Shrunken Head - That 5.1 disable that goes through Magic Immunity? Make sure they'll never get out of it before you're ready to let them out to bring the Heartache.
- Tablet of Command - Positioning, mobility under silence, and a larger mana pool. An extremely good item under circumstances.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - What's better than 3 disables? 4!
- Stormspirit - Cheapstick allows a cheap disable, +ms and mana regen.
- Nullstone - Can be a decent transition from building a Sheepstick if needed lategame to counter someone like a Sand Wraith or Vindicator.

If you are getting Staff of the Master on Succubus, here is your chance to stop. Not only is Puzzlebox better, but it comes into play much much earlier (2700 vs 4300 to start seeing damage and survivability increases).
I would rate Staff of the Master up there with Riftshards and lifesteal of any kind as some of the worst items to get on her.
Don't do it.

Information:

Roles: Ganker
Preferred Lane: Solo mid or bust. Now with 500 range, she can subsist in a sidelane but is not preferred under anything less than extreme circumstances.
Difficulty: 3/5
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (she has a decent autoattack...)
Item dependent? No, will function off a basic core pre-Portal Key pickup.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (Heartache is amazing from level 3 to keep you in lane, 4 second disable from level 1)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (High solo ganking power with her disables, True Damage Heartache is amazing, 3/5 without Portal Key)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (disables are still good, 1/5 without Portal Key)

Tips and Tricks:

- Early on with Succubus, you are a ganker, that is your role. After level 6, use Homecoming Stones and move around behind the trees to setup kills.
- Not all heroes (even not all physical carries) suffer the same from Smitten. It's mostly the heroes that go for stats instead of pure +damage, or have extremely high stat gains.
- Silence is really strong versus you. If they have silencers, use your Portal Key to blink into fights and mesmerize the silencer as your first action to allow you to get your other CC's off at the start.
- Remember to keep wards up to allow yourself to gank if nobody else is getting them. It's only 100g to potentially allow a 225g gold increase.
- As of the re-alignment patch, Heartache's range was buffed to match her ult's range. No need to be wary of ulting at max range and missing the Heartache!
- Succubus' Hold disables through Magic Immunity, but will not deal damage on someone Magic Immune. This gives your team 5 seconds of reprieve in a massive fight of being disrupted by an unstunnable farmed carry. Use this wisely.

Counters:

- If you lane mid against her either get Mystic Vestments or a bunch of HP before she hits level 6. Otherwise she kills you with Hold + Heartache.
- If she keeps Mez'ing/Smitten'ing you in teamfights, you should consider a Shrunken Head.
- She likes to gank a lot from behind the trees. Putting up some wards there helps greatly when laning phase starts breaking up.

[Anakha]

[Plague Rider] .plague rider .lich .pr .kel`thuzad

Skill Build:

1 - Extinguish
2 - Contagion
3 - Contagion
4 - Extinguish
5 - Contagion
6 - Plague Carrier
7 - Contagion
8 - Extinguish
9 - Cursed Shield
10 - Cursed Shield
11 - Plague Carrier
12 - Cursed Shield
13 - Cursed Shield
14 - Extinguish
15 - Stats
16 - Plague Carrier
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Getting Extinguish at level 1 allows you to deny the ranged creep in the first creep wave. This will deny the enemy XP (he will reach level 2 significantly later than you if you eat a creep from the middle lane) and it will push the wave to your tower. If ganking at level 1, Contagion is preferred.
3 levels of Extinguish are enough to cover mana costs for constant Contagions and this build allows you to get the Cursed Shield one level earlier. If you're good with your mana, you can leave Extinguish at level 2 to take points in Cursed Shield from level 8.
It is possible to skip Extinguish and level Contagion and Cursed Shield straight off, but Extinguish gives you an amazing amount of lane control.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: 2x:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:MinorTotem:

Plague Rider will often be the babysit in a lane, and we take 2 sets of Runes as to capitalize on being able to nuke someone and get in extra autoattacks of harass while they are slowed. You will usually cop a bit of damage from creeps for it, hence the extra regen.

Core:

Marchers >> Power Supply >> (Ring of the Teacher) >> Wards of Sight >> (Fortified Bracelets)

Plague Rider is a pure support hero and should be played as such. Thus your main job will be warding! The gold that is left over will be invested in support items as listed below.
Ring of the Teacher complements his armour capacity and helps the other person in lane with mana regen. Strongly consider getting one.
Fortified Bracelets as necessary.

After core:

- Wards of Sight - You know why.
- Plated Greaves - Best boots for him, giving a small amount of stats and armour. Can be disassembled at your leisure for a quicker Astrolabe.
- Striders - If you aren't getting the farm at all between Ward purchases.
- Astrolabe - Extinguish ensures you'll always be running around with enough mana to use your spells and this baby. Also gives more armour, making you a veritable fortress with a heal. (level 13 with Plated Greaves, Ring of the Teacher, Astrolabe and Cursed Shield, you're sitting on 32 armour!)
- Tablet of Command - Mobility under silence, larger mana pool, another ministun.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - 800 range disable.
- Puzzlebox - The slows on Plague make this pretty decent on him for the minions to catch up to someone and pump out damage.
- Staff of the Master - Gives +90 damage per bounce of Plague Carrier, for +630 total. As a 4th/5th item, it's ok. Not worth rushing before Astrolabe/Tablet are done, as 4300 gold for either a SotM or those two items is a no-brainer choice to make. (HINT: It isn't SotM that's better.)
- Nome's Wisdom - Upgrade path for Ring of the Teacher. Gives stats and a heal aura. Only consider if nobody else wants one. The extra mana regen it now has is meh for you.

Information:

Roles: Support
Preferred Lane: Any. Ok solo mid, but fairly wasted there.
Difficulty: 1/5 (ult not trivial to place well, but this hero is THE newb hero for people to learn the basics of the game)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (unlimited mana, aoe nuke)
Item dependent? No, functions well off just basic Marchers and minor totems.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (decent harass with Contagion nuke and slow allowing harass, Extinguish denies exp hard from a lane)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Devastating ultimate, strong ganker with no real mana issues)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (ult is a low enough cooldown to flog off every fight, armour is very strong)

Tips and Tricks:

- Which creep to Extinguish at 0:00 depends on what lane you are doing it too, and which lane you are in.
- If you are eating a creep from mid, and running to a sidelane, it can often be better to eat a melee creep as it denies more experience from their solo mid straight up. This will also ensure that after the first wave is all dead, your mid will be level 2 while theirs is level 1. This can be gamebreaking with certain heroes (for example, a mid Devourer gets his full combo at level 2, and can intimidate the other mid with aggressive play with a very slight level advantage).
- If you are wanting to keep your lane back more and experience isn't a big thing, eating the ranged creep is better as it does more damage.
- If you are laning mid your reason-to-be is to gank. As soon as you hit level 6 head to the top or bottom lane and try to grab that double tap.
- If you are laning with a partner your job is to babysit. Focus on harassing over denying over lasthitting as with any babysitter except for that your harass actually is more than an annoyance with Contagion+autoattacks.
- Your ultimate has a ministun on the person that you cast it at. This will interrupt TP's and nasty stuff like Tempest's ultimate. Also goes through Magic Immunity!
- Be aware that Nullstone will counter your entire ultimate if you cast it at someone with one. It will bounce to them like normal with no problems if cast on someone else.
- When to cast your ultimate (Plague Carrier):
//In the forest with 2-3 enemies away from creeps (will bounce between them only for massive damage)
//When ganking 2 or more and you chase them back towards the tower away from the creeps (will bounce between them only for massive damage)
//When one hero and 2 creeps are standing very close (it will bounce between them very quickly; Wildsoul rates a mention here)
//You are about to die lategame and might as well do some damage before you go (low cooldown)

Counters:

- Barrier Idol. Absorbs the major damage of his ultimate.
- Magic Armour in general really helps.
- Positioning. This kinda applies to everything, but moreso to Plague Rider. If he's flogging his ult at you, spreading apart is the best way to mitigate its damage potential as it won't bounce if there are no targets nearby! This is the difference between a 280/370/460/(550) damage nuke, and an eventual 1960/2590/3220/(3850) damage nuke.

[Soul Reaper] .soul reaper .necrolyte .sr

Skill Build:

1 - Withering Presence
2 - Judgment
3 - Judgment
4 - Inhuman Nature
5 - Judgment
6 - Demonic Execution
7 - Judgment
8 - Inhuman Nature
9 - Inhuman Nature
10 - Inhuman Nature
11 - Demonic Execution
12 - Withering Presence
13 - Withering Presence
14 - Withering Presence
15 - Stats
16 - Demonic Execution
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Kids, I'm here to tell you that he lied to you. All that talk about being a support, maxing Withering Presence and skipping Inhuman Nature? Getting SotM? All lies. And all of us that knew no better believed it.
Soul Reaper is no support by any kind of standard except the standard of ignorance. 1 point is taken in Withering Presence first as your nuke is abysmal at level 1, and Withering allows you to really put the hurt on any hero approaching the creep line for too long over the course of the laning phase.

Judgment is maxed first, as it is your bread and butter skill that allows you to be a pushing, farming, and teamfighting force, ensuring a ~2000 hp difference between your team and theirs per cast in a teamfight.
Inhuman Nature gives you mana every creep kill you do. Now think quickly. You have a nuke that does 275 damage at max level. 5 creeps per wave means you're gaining 60/120/180/240 mana back per level every wave that comes along.
So wait, you're gaining back MORE mana than you can use to get all the creep kills in a wave? And you still want to skip that? Heh. Max Inhuman Nature next.

His ultimate can be delayed until 10-11 because not only does it tear through your mana pool at early levels, it's fairly pathetic at level 1. 175 mana for a single target stun every 100 seconds, or 185 mana for an AoE nuke every 5 seconds. Use your own Judgment (haw haw) for this.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :GuardianRing: 3x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Power Supply >>) Ring of the Teacher >> Plated Greaves/Steamboots (>> Fortified Bracelet)

Plated Greaves and Ring of the Teacher allow him to push ridiculously hard with Judgment spam giving you back mana. Pick up Steamboots situationally against magic burst gankers that threaten you (Pebbles). An early Fortified Bracelet notches up your HP a tad to make you not as squishy, but as always remains optional.

After core:

Helm of the Black Legion/Astrolabe >> Shaman's Headdress >> Barrier Idol >> Kuldra's Sheepstick

Helm or Astrolabe is picked up first on him to extend his buffer of HP. Astrolabe is better as it gives armour and a regen aura for everyone else around you, but Helm is still a viable substitute under certain circumstances.

Shaman's Headdress is taken next as the next threat to you staying alive is now burst magic damage. This will be upgraded to Barrier Idol as soon as possible, as you will be in the middle of every fight spamming your Judgment, and this means you'll be able to hit everyone with the activation. Shaman's Headdress can be taken straight away before Helm if the game is progressing and you don't think Astrolabe will be better than an earlier Barrier Idol. They have inter-changeable parts (Refreshing Ornament, and Shield of the Five can stay in Plated Greaves) so the transition is easy.

The next item is Kuldra's Sheepstick to ensure you can keep their (presumably harder) carry down long enough for you to be able to swiftly deal out more than one Judgment (within reason) to put him below half HP to insta-kill him with Demonic Execution. Grab the Manatube and Blessed Orb first.
You'll notice that Sheepstick is the first real item that gives mana regen in your build. Inhuman Nature is that good.

Alternative Items:

- Barbed Armour - An amazing item on him for the sheer amount of effective HP Soul Reaper has through Judgment heals, armour and magic armour, Astrolabe heal etc. Consider heavily if you're transitioning to lategame and their physical carry is getting dangerous.
- Nullstone - Substitute this in before Kuldra's Sheepstick, using the two bits of Kuldra to divert into building this. While being very good now it will stay situational. Get it to counter kill ultimates, Sand Wraith's Mirage or targeted silence. (Swift, Pyro, BH, etc)
- Behemoth's Heart - It's back and now more recommended than ever. With Heart now giving the %hp regen that used to be only for STR heroes, it has now become 1000 times more viable on Soul Reaper, who benefits IMMENSELY from the regeneration. Now the go-to survivability item for him for late-late game.
- Sacrificial Stone - Meh. It's ok, but simply doesn't do enough for you to justify buying it instead of Astrolabe+Barrier. More viable if you've gone Helm instead of Astrolabe.
- Nome's Wisdom - As of the re-alignment patch, consider taking this if you are struggling and need something to prop you up after Barrier Idol. Upgrade path for your Ring of the Teacher.
- Frostfield Plate - More armour, mana pool and another AoE nuke/slow. Inferior to Kuldra's Sheepstick for usage of an Acolyte's Staff (+25int item), but worth the pickup for the sheer amount of EHP with extra mana you'll have.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Pusher.
Preferred Lane: Any. Can solo 1v2 horizontal lane.
Difficulty: 4/5 (suffers from public player stigma's horridly. Expect people to throw games if you attempt to play him well.)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (low cd nuke, Inhuman Nature)
Item dependent? Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (Aura+harass+Judgement is very dominant; can really push hard from level 5)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4.5/5 (will melt towers, 2k swing in damage every 5 seconds mana permitting)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Will carry harder than most semi-carries when farmed)

Tips and Tricks:

- Soul Reaper moves very slow, having a base movespeed of 290(10 under average), as such most of his ganks will be done via TP counter ganks.
- Either offensive or defensive, you should be at every team fight and pushing down towers afterwards. You're far too useful at this stage in the game (~7-11) to not be in team fights, as you can literally be a 2k swing in damage with a single spell. AFK farming just doesn't work for this guy. If you aren't at a teamfight, you need to be knocking down a tower to make up for it.
- In mid game, with STR Steamboots on you should be tilting around 1.1-1.2k hitpoints, making you one of the highest health heroes (especially INT heroes) in the game. You need every bit of HP as you are a force as long as you can survive the onslaught. Every 5 seconds alive means an extra Judgment and ~1.4k damage dealt to 5 heroes.
- Soul Reaper thrives on drawn out fights, and chipping away at the enemy heroes. King of the Mexican stand-offs that occur in HoN, so to speak. This mostly often occurs at towers, which allows him to do his best work.
- Soul Reaper's strengths in pushing come from keeping the creep wave (and heroes) around him alive and taking tower aggression. Generally this means you should be prepared to use a bit of mana to keep them alive (by killing the enemy creeps as well at the same time) to beat on the tower longer.

Counters:

- Magic Armour is solid against him.
- Don't try to counter him too much, better focus on you / your team getting stronger than him.
- Burst damage counters him hard. Every second he's alive, Withering Presence is eating away at you and Judgment is being spammed, bringing you closer and closer to death.
- His pushing depends on having creeps and/or a team around him. Nuking down creep waves ensures he is left without support, and will invariably need to retreat, stalling his progress until you are more able to deal with him completely.

[The Chipper] .chipper .the chipper .chiprel

Skill Build:

1 - Rocket Barrage
2 - Tar Toss
3 - Rocket Barrage
4 - Tar Toss
5 - Rocket Barrage
6 - Sawblade Showdown
7 - Rocket Barrage
8 - Tar Toss
9 - Tar Toss
10 - Focus Buffer
11 - Sawblade Showdown
12 - Focus Buffer
13 - Focus Buffer
14 - Focus Buffer
15 - Stats
16 - Sawblade Showdown
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Rocket Barrage maxed first as it's your main skill. Tar Toss is the slow that lets you line up a barrage of rockets on someone and annihilate them. Also increases your damage output with tar burn. If laning against spamming magic-heavy heroes (Defiler, Slither) consider swapping Tar Toss for Focus Buffer to ignore their main harass/damage output.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:/2x:ManaPotion:

Totems or Mana Potions are purely preference.

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice >> Marchers >> (Power Supply >>) Ghost Marchers/Steamboots

Chipper is very mana intensive; and as such should get Bottle/Chalice to cover early mana costs. Ghost Marchers are preferable as Chipper depends a bit on being able to catch up to people and autoattack for the kill, and Ghost Marchers are optimal for this. Pick up Steamboots against burst heavy gankers like Pebbles, or if you wish to have a larger mana pool with the Steamboots on INT.

After core:

Great Arcana >> Staff of the Master >> Spellshards >> Kuldra's Sheepstick

Spellshards make his entire payload do 33% more damage (ignoring up to 6 magic armour) and give him slight reductions on cooldowns, allowing more spam. the Great Arcana is picked up first for regen, but Spellshards can be finished before SotM if necessary.
SotM is very good on chipper, turning his ulti into a semi-disable and increasing the damage! Amazing item for him and keeps him relevant lategame.
Sheepstick for mana regen and disable. Get the manatube and Blessed Orb first to transition to a Nullstone if required.

Alternative Items:

- Portal Key - Positioning can be key for this hero. I say can because it not always is. If they for example have a Tempest you want to have direct LOS on him all the time so you can stop his ult with a rocket. This is a prime example of where PK is a good choice.
- Nullstone - Sand Wraith's Mirage, nasty single-target disables etc. Gives decent mana regen for spamming rockets.
- Stormspirit - You can set up some nasty Sawblades into a perfect Tar Toss with this, but only get this if your really have troubles hitting your spells.
- Nome's Wisdom - Good item, but overshadowed by SotM and less effective later in the game.

Information:

Roles: Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any kind of solo lane, mid preferably.
Difficulty: 5/5 (3 'skillshot' abilities that need to be used together for the best damage output)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (ult has a low cd and will ruin creep waves or stacked creeps; rockets can snipe lasthits with excess mana)
Item dependent? - No, can function off a basic core.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (counters a lot of slow nuking mid heroes like SS and Defiler)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Strong ganker with a full combo)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Focus Buffer is pretty damn good, Spellshards and SotM can be scary in a teamfight)

Tips and Tricks:

- The Chipper is a good pick against Heroes with good single target nukes (Pyromancer, Witchslayer, Thunderbringer, Succubus, etc).
- You can fire all your rockets in very quick sucession so that if the first one hits, all three will hit.
- Rockets grant you vision. They are one of THE most amazing scouting skills in the game! (Shoot them at the runespots for example)
- The slow from Tar Toss is applied when the target is hit. If someone moves into the effect after the tar has been tossed, he will NOT get slowed. Also if your enemy moves out of the tar he still has the same slow.
- Choose wisely on which hero to use your Focus Buffer.
- The Sawblades use Vector Targeting: Hold down the mouse and drag it in the direction you want the sawblades to spawn. You can cut off chokes or mow down forest like that.

Counters:

- An early Mystic Vestments should help against the harassment.
- Chipper has very low hp and can easily be focused down.
- Chipper is a pure ganking hero, so wards do a good job at seeing him coming and thus preventing you from getting ganked.
- Power Supply is very good vs him as each individual rocket will add one charge. And he will spam them a LOT.
- Shrunken Head stops most of the damage and prevents you from being slowed.

[Bubbles] .bubbles .puck .faerie dragon

Skill Build:

1 - Shell Surf
2 - Take Cover
3 - Shell Surf
4 - Song of the Sea
5 - Shell Surf
6 - Kelp Field
7 - Shell Surf
8 - Song of the Sea
9 - Song of the Sea
10 - Song of the Sea
11 - Kelp Field
12 - Take Cover
13 - Take Cover
14 - Take Cover
15 - Stats
16 - Kelp Field
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Shell Surf is your main nuke and way of getting around. It has a static cost and is what you open with pre-Portal Key, so making it as good as soon as possible is the priority. Song of the Sea is technically a better nuke as it silences for 3 seconds at max level, but has a scaling mana cost and is only centered around yourself, and requires Shell Surf to pull off most of the time. It is maxed second for these reasons.
1 point of Take Cover is taken early to juke projectile stuns like Hammerstorm's Hammer Throw and Andromeda's Comet, as well as certain nukes.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :ManaPotion: 3x:MinorTotem

Core:

Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> 1-2 Talismans of Exile >> Steamboots

Bubbles is a ganker and thus profits a lot from Bottle and Power Supply. Basic Marchers are enough for the start.
Steamboots give him more HP, while Talismans contribute and flesh out his mana pool as well.

After core:

Portal Key - The premium item for a hero whose main job is to gank and initiate. Gives him unparalleled survivability with Take Cover.
Kuldra's Sheepstick - While initiating, disable that important carry hero even longer or before he gets off his Shrunken Head!
Stormspirit - Escape, disable, save team-mates, mana regen. This item is a decent pickup on the master of survivability, giving him more tricks up his turtle shell.
Frostfield Plate - Mana pool, armour, and another slow-nuke for your initiation. Synergizes well with his skillset.
Frostwolf Skull - Loads of survivability and damage, and a superior slow to chase down heroes with.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Initiator, Counter-Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any. Strong solo hero in any lane.
Difficulty: 4/5 (timing initiation right, ulting properly, dodging stuff with Take Cover)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (2 AoE nukes)
Item dependent? - No, works fine off his core.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (autoattack lets him down here)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (strong ganker with a level advantage, 3 second silence and bind)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Good initiation and team fight presence still)

Tips and Tricks:

- In the beginning you should usually not put Take Cover on autocast and use it manually to dodge spells. Later you can put it on autocast. Unless you have very high APM and awareness to actually use it effectively. Be aware that it will trigger off any kind of damage on autocast, including creeps!
- Shellsurf, Teleport -> Song of the Sea -> Kelp Field is a very strong gank combo starting in midgame.
- If you have a Portal Key you can use Take cover to let the 3 second cooldown on PK wear off and then blink away safely. Or alternatively throw Shell Surf and teleport to that while in Take Cover.
- Try to initiate next to the caster heroes to silence them asap.
- Bubbles is very flexible and fits most lineups and thus is most of the time a solid pick.

Counters:

- An early Mystic Vestments should help against the harassment.
- Bubbles has very low hp and can relatively easily be focused down.
- Bubbles is a ganking hero, so wards do a good job at seeing him coming and thus preventing you from getting ganked.
- Shell Surf can be dodged if you see it coming.
- Spread out in teamfights so he can't hit all of you with his AoE Silence (500 AoE @ level 4)
- Vindicator's aura will make Bubbles' life hell. Not allowing him to TP to his shell and not allowing him to chain his spells when in Aura range.

[Doctor Repulsor] .doctor repulsor .dr .raijin thunderkeg .storm spirit .angry wind panda

Skill Build:

1 - Magnetic Contraption
2 - Electric Frenzy
3 - Opposite Charges
4 - Electric Frenzy
5 - Electric Frenzy
6 - Ludicrous Speed
7 - Electric Frenzy
8 - Opposite Charges
9 - Opposite Charges
10 - Opposite Charges
11 - Ludicrous Speed
12 - Magnetic Contraption
13 - Magnetic Contraption
14 - Magnetic Contraption
15 - Stats
16 - Ludicrous Speed
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Repulsor's skill build is very mutable to the role you wish to play.
One of each skill is taken by level 3 as all provide significant benefits at level 1. I've gone MagTrap and Frenzy first for the harass and nuke combo possible, but the stun is also viable at level 1 for rune ganks etc.
Frenzy is maxed first as (sadly, I personally find) you get more damage out of multiple instances of Electric Frenzy through your combo and Ludicrous Speed bursts and the slow on it is amazing.
Opposite Charges is maxed next as it is your stun and longer stun = better.
MagTrap can be taken earlier instead of Opposite Charges if you are planning on farming and pushing more than ganking.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

For Bottle delivery in mid.

Core:

Bottle >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> 1-2 Talismans of Exile >> Steamboots

Repulsor is an effective ganker at 6 and thus profits a lot from Bottle and Power Supply. Chalice can be taken instead of Power Supply, but I feel that the nerfs to Chalice have made it too risky to take on him. Basic Marchers are enough for the start.
Steamboots give him more HP or mana, while Talismans contribute and flesh out his mana pool as well.

After core:

- Nullstone - Want to pin down Repulsor? Too bad it's me Nullstone and Ludicrous Speed. Gives lots of mana regen and survivability through single-target disable negation (Blood Hunter's silence, Hellflower's silence and hex of all kinds)
- Sacrificial Stone - A good item on him, but subpar to Nullstone for survivability and mana regen in one item. Get either this or Nullstone, not both.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - An amazing item on him with mana regen and another disable for him to wreak havoc with.
- Shrunken Head - Often necessary to avoid being disabled and wrecked hard, as you are an important target to take down.
- Hellflower - Silence? Attack harder, attack faster? **** yeah.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Initiator, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Solo mid. Strong short lane solo hero though.
Difficulty: 5/5 (mana management, comboing properly on the right target and not clipping EF, using Ludicrous Speed to disjoint/dodge nukes)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (MagTrap and Frenzy wipes creep waves with some practice)
Item dependent? - No, works fine off his core.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (500 range and short-range skills are his only weakness in lane)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Very strong ganker with a level advantage and unparalleled mobility)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (Good initiation and team fight presence still)

Tips and Tricks:

- Your basic combo is Ludicrous Speed -> Attack -> Opposite Charges -> Attack -> MagTrap -> Attack until just out of range -> Ludicrous Speed a little closer -> Attack. Repeat as necessary until dead.
- Using MagTrap->EF on the creep wave will push it a little at xx:45 and allow you to rune control.
- Ludicrous Speed makes you invulnerable while you are in flight, and as such, can be used to disjoint/negate all manner of nukes and nasty stuff coming your way, including projectile stuns and Cursed Ground ticks. Practice doing this.
- While you have mana, you should be ungankable. Without mana though, you are very vulnerable. To escape, you can Ludicrous Speed into trees, and TP away quickly.

Counters:

- Shrunken Head will stop all of his skill damage.
- He has very low hp and can relatively easily be focused down IF you catch him out.
- Putting an aggressive laner against him will limit his influence for as long as humanly possible. Witch Slayer solo with a Power Drain build is a powerful counter to him in lane.
- Like Bubbles, he is primarily a ganking hero, so Wards do a good job at seeing him coming and thus preventing you from getting ganked.
- Vindicator, Pollywog Priest, Witch Slayer and Blood Hunter ruin him hard, as does Hellflower. His strength is in his skillset, especially Ludicrous Speed. Being unable to use these renders him very gimped and an easy target.
- Mana drain is also powerful against him for this reason as well.

[Anakha]

[Bombardier] .bombardier

Skill Build:

1 - Boom Dust
2 - Sticky Bomb
3 - Boom Dust
4 - Bombardment
5 - Boom Dust
6 - Air Strike!
7 - Boom Dust
8 - Sticky Bomb
9 - Sticky Bomb
10 - Sticky Bomb
11 - Air Strike!
12 - Bombardment
13 - Bombardment
14 - Bombardment
15 - Stats
16 - Air Strike!
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Boom Dust is amazing and maxed first due to its hard scaling and mega damage. Sticky Bomb may provide slightly more damage, but Boom Dust can be used to harass more effectively with its low cost and not being a fairly difficult skillshot to land. 1 point is taken in Bombardment as it's a cheap slow from level 1 and has multiple damage instances which detonates multiple instances of Boom Dust. Sticky Bomb is maxed next though, as it is still a powerful nuke and increases in cast range as well as damage.

Starting Items:

2x:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:/2x:ManaPotion:

For early Bottle delivery.

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice >> Marchers >> Striders/Steamboots (>> 1-2 Talismans of Exile)

Bottle asap, and Chalice after to handle your initial mana costs. Steamboots or Striders both have their benefits, though Steamboots are preferable for the mutable stats, especially the larger mana pool. If taking Striders, take Talismans as needed to increase your mana pool if having a hard time.

After core:

Tablet of Command - The premium item for Bombardier after his core. Provides a bit of mobility and a way to chase a little better with a needed increase in his mana pool and damage.
Stormspirit - Escape, disable, save team-mates, mana regen. This item has strong synergy with Bombardier with potential to set up easy Sticky Bombs and even Air Strikes on a target.
Spellshards - An obvious choice for a hero with FOUR (4) nukes. Keeps his damage relevant later on in the game.
Staff of the Master - Boosts his ultimate damage significantly with trailing napalm, giving him much more presence in a teamfight situation. Devastating with Spellshards.
Nullstone - Survivability, stats and mana regen. Helpful as a lategame item.
Kuldra's Sheepstick - Mana regen and a beast disable. Helpful as a lategame item.

Information:

Roles: Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any. Dominant solo hero.
Difficulty: 4/5 (hitting Sticky Bombs on a non-slowed/disabled target is tricky, Air Strike requires prediction as well, comboing effectively)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Bombardment, Boom Dust, Sticky Bomb)
Item dependent? - No, works fine off his core.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5/5 (Boom Dust is still dominant)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (strong ganker with a level advantage, Air Strike is global, has an insane amount of damage potential)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Air Strike is extremely good with SotM in a teamfight, as are the rest of his skills' secondary effects)

Tips and Tricks:

- Bombardier pushes very hard and farms well with Boom Dust, Sticky Bomb and Bombardment.
Boom Dust->Bombardment: Load up Boom Dust on a creep wave (spread them out; max of 2 per creep so charges arent wasted) and cast Bombardment on the entire wave. It dies VERY quickly.
Boom Dust->Sticky Bomb: Pop Sticky Bomb on a creep and then put Boom Dust on the wave one at a time, attacking it each time you put the Dust on someone to pop up. Manually detonate the Sticky when they are low enough as it is a small AoE. Collect gold.
- Optimally your combo on a target should be: Load up Boom Dust on a target -> Bombardment to slow them and pop Boom Dust -> Land an easy Sticky Bomb on the target -> "attackwalk" the target with autoattacks and Boom Dust as it comes up -> Air Strike! if necessary to finish off the target after Sticky Bomb has detonated.
- Air Strike! can be used to nail fleeing targets across the map if they are getting away, as it is global. Be sure to pay attention to the minimap!
- Sticky Bomb can be detonated prematurely. It does less damage and a shorter stun, but is sometimes necessary to ensure they die. Leaving it on to tick fully isn't always the best option.

Counters:

- An early Mystic Vestments and STR Steamboots should help against Boom Dust harass.
- Bombardier has no reliable stun, and only a 1 second slow to save himself. Otherwise, he is very squishy with low base strength and strength gain. He is easily burnt down.
- Moving unpredictably (sideways randomly!) can help to avoid him landing easy Sticky Bombs and an Air Strike! on you.

[Empath] .empath

Skill Build:

1 - Essence Link
2 - Illusory Veil
3 - Essence Link
4 - Synergy
5 - Essence Link
6 - As One
7 - Essence Link
8 - Illusory Veil
9 - Illusory Veil
10 - Illusory Veil
11 - As One
12 - Synergy
13 - Synergy
14 - Synergy
15 - Stats
16 - As One
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Essence Link is taken and maxed first for its dominating lane presence it gives, as well as survivability for you and synergy with As One. One point is taken in Veil and Synergy early for level 1 benefits. You can swap extra points in Illusory Veil for maxing out Synergy before it if you have a combo that benefits from the global HP regen aura, else maxing Veil is usually better for the longer duration of its block.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

Chalice >> Striders >> Tablet of Command >> Stormspirit

Chalice to be able to spam Essence Link even more. Striders to ensure you can always move close enough to your carry and jump in to ignore all damage for 30 seconds. As Empath can use skills and items while inside her host with As One, Tablet and Stormspirit are the two cheapest items with the greatest effect for saving your host when disabled.

After core:

- Astrolabe - Because another heal is awesome!
- Wards of Sight - Since you don't really need survivability between As One and Essence Link, these babies are all the more affordable.

Information:

Roles: Support
Preferred Lane: Any. Ok solo mid with Essence Link but mostly wasted there.
Difficulty: 1/5 (Really not difficult to play)
Farming capabilities: 1/5 (Weak autoattack, Wall is pretty bad for farming)
Item dependent? - No, requires literally no items to be of full benefit in a game.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Essence Link is her only saving grace, along with well-placed Veils)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Essence Link+As One+Illusory Veil is a very powerful combo on the right hero)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Only as good as the carry she is riding on, and if she's managed to scrape up enough gold for Tablet, Stormspirit and Astrolabe.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Essence Link is now only an ok 1v1 harass, healing you and allowing you to chase and autoattack harass with it connected from level 1.
- As One allows you to be fully effective inside your host, casting all spells and using all items even while the host is disabled. Essence Link will heal your host, not you, when it is used inside a host.
- If stunned in a host, you can Tablet your host forward and then place an Illusory Veil behind you so it is harder to chase. Saved!
- If you can, try to break the maximum distance of Essence Link by running away from your target near the end of the duration. This ensures you get the stun AND most of the damage/heal from the target.
- Be sure to jump inside a host before any kind of teamfight! It has 300 range and gives +80 damage and +80 attack speed to the host as well as a short spammable speed boost, so preparation is key.

Counters:

- Invulnerability (from certain skills) is the only thing that will break Essence Link, short of running past the maximum distance (and copping the stun for it).
- Burst damage makes Empath go squish, if she is outside her host.
- If she is inside her host, she will stay there until the host dies or the buff expires 30sec later. Good luck.

[Aluna] .aluna .gypsy .windrunner .alleria

Skill Build:

1 - Deja Vu
2 - Power Throw
3 - Emerald Lightning
4 - Power Throw
5 - Power Throw
6 - Emerald Lightning
7 - Power Throw
8 - Emerald Red
9 - Emerald Lightning
10 - Emerald Lightning
11 - Emerald Red
12 - Deja Vu
13 - Deja Vu
14 - Deja Vu
15 - Stats
16 - Emerald Red
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

This hero is basically a modified port of Windrunner, and shall be played and built as such. 1 point in Deja Vu initially for those ohshi- moments, and then 1 one point in each of her skills by level 3. Emerald Lightning can be taken at level 1 for a gank or even instead of Deja Vu if necessary.
After that, Power Throw is maxed as it is:
- Your biggest farming and harassment nuke
- Gains global range with your ultimate activated
- Has a 10 second cooldown meaning more damage output
Emerald Lightning is maxed next as the stun scaling is not that great unless there are more units, and even so, the chaining between targets is hard to judge so you might not get the longest stun in the target you want to. Deja Vu is finished up before taking stats.
Emerald Red gains significant cooldown benefits and charge storage and is taken from level 8 and then whenever available.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:ManaPotions:
OR
:GuardianRing: 4x:MinorTotem: 2x:RunesOfTheBlight:

Core:

(Bottle/Power Supply >>) Chalice >> Ring of the Teacher >> Steamboots (>> Talismans of Exile)

Bottle if solo mid then Chalice, else Chalice and Power Supply. Steamboots are preferred for their mutable stats (INT when casting spells, STR for fights) but Ghost Marchers or even Plated Greaves can be considered on her. Ring of the Teacher (and maybe even Plated) help her with a trickle of mana regen and +armour aura, and help her farm and push an empty lane extremely well. Talismans of Exile as needed, but usually aren't necessary.

After core:

As Aluna can be played as a support, or a mid-game carry like Windrunner, her items will differ depending on the role she is needed to take.

- Astrolabe - Mekansm was amazing on Windrunner with her naturally high INT gain and propensity to be a solo hero, and I see no reason why this wouldn't be the same here. Not just a "support item" but a great item on her all around.
- Hellflower - Often picked up after Astrolabe for the synergy between her being a potential INT auto-attack force, as well as solving her mana issues completely. Even just one Great Arcana can be picked up for regen possibilities.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - Great holder of this and benefits highly from all its stats and another disable.
- Tablet of Command - Great item on her with mobility, an interrupt and stats that suit her nicely.
- Nome's Wisdom - Potential upgrade path for your Ring of the Teacher. Gives additional stats and a slightly better aura. Astrolabe is usually better unless someone else has one/needs one more. Only consider going this if nobody else is and you're desperate for cheap stats.
- Savage Mace/Riftshards - Has some synergy with Emerald Lightning very lategame. Not preferred before Hellflower, Astrolabe or Kuldra's though.

Information:

Roles: Support, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Dominant solo with Power Throw.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Chaining Emerald Lightning properly, aiming a global Power Throw)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Power Throw and +attackspeed from skills)
Item dependent? - Not really, can function off a basic core until lategame but thrives off any kind of items.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (dominant solo, can passive and CK a lane extremely well even against a bad matchup)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (strong skillset currently with more options than Windrunner)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (stronger presence lategame if farmed, does not carry as hard as any carry with better scaling)

Tips and Tricks:

- Power Throw placement will make or break you. It has 1700 range, but a narrow radius and a 1 second delay before casting.
- Emerald Lightning will actually steal a minimal amount of attack speed from the targets hit as well as stun them. Hitting creeps is less of a consequence as actually stunning all relevant targets and stunning a hero on the last bounce.
- Counting creeps around is a good way to prime your stun for the maximum effect on the target you want. This will take practice, but is predictable as the stun will bounce to the nearest unaffected target always.
- Use Deja Vu to chase or escape with its 15 second cooldown. It gives a hefty increase in speed even with Steamboots and allows you to kite someone well when used in conjunction with the shadow's slow.
- Aluna has 1.45 BAT and 2.8 primary stat gain, exactly like Magebane. She can carry with enough items lategame, but generally has trouble reaching that point.

Counters:

- Burst damage. Pre-Astrolabe, she wilts very quickly to burst. This is extended greatly when she picks up Astrolabe, so your priority should be to make her life hell before then.
- Levels are all she really requires to be effective until latelate game, much like a Valkyrie. Disrupting this is a giant step to limiting her effectiveness in a game.

[Martyr] .martyr .emo .pedo .bishop

Skill Build:

1 - Retribution
2 - Guardian Angel
3 - Retribution
4 - Guardian Angel
5 - Retribution
6 - Hand in Hand
7 - Retribution
8 - Guardian Angel
9 - Guardian Angel
10 - Sacrificial Lamb
11 - Hand in Hand
12 - Sacrificial Lamb
13 - Sacrificial Lamb
14 - Sacrificial Lamb
15 - Stats
16 - Hand in Hand
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Retribution is your main source of nuke damage, and gives you a slow. It also allows you to trade hits with any hero fearlessly since it is on a relatively low cooldown, and thus is maxed first. Guardian Angel's damage reduction is ridiculously good midgame as well, and maxed alongside Retribution.

Sacrificial Lamb is decent once you have some decent HP and regeneration going on, since it takes % HP for its heal, so it is taken last.
Hand in Hand is taken whenever possible, as it allows you to either save or be saved in a clutch situation.

Starting Items:

2x:HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

(Power Supply >>) Chalice >> Steamboots >> Helm of the Black Legion

Chalice has perfect synergy with Retibution in every way and should be rushed. Steamboots allow a larger HP pool, and mutable stats in case you need to switch to INT for that clutch spell.

Helm of the Black Legion is cost-efficient HP and regeneration, and allows you to make much better use of Sacrificial Lamb in the midgame to really benefit your team.

After core:

- Wards of Sight - Should ward after core items.
- Astrolabe - Because another heal is awesome! Gives you a lot of burst healing for your team between Sacrificial Lamb and itself.
- Shaman's Headdress/Barrier Idol - Regeneration and block is always welcome.
- Behemoth's Heart - Everything you want in larger quantities.

Information:

Roles: Support
Preferred Lane: Any. Ok solo mid but mostly wasted there.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Managing your HP pool as well as mana pool; maintaining good positioning while hitting the majority of the heroes necessary)
Farming capabilities: 1/5 (600 range with a slow projectile speed, and that's about it)
Item dependent? - No, but thrives off simple HP additions.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Very strong at trading harass with Retribution as a kick in the face if they get low enough)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (Survivable, but lacks real burst)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (He has a lot of healing, and ways to ensure that he doesn't fall behind in levels)

Tips and Tricks:

- coming soon

Counters:

- coming soon

[Flux] .flux capacitor .jiggawatts .magnataur .iron man .dark seer

Skill Build:

1 - Magnetic Surge
2 - Release
3 - Magnetic Surge
4 - Polarity Swap
5 - Magnetic Surge
6 - Discharge
7 - Magnetic Surge
8 - Release
9 - Release
10 - Release
11 - Discharge
12 - Polarity Swap
13 - Polarity Swap
14 - Polarity Swap
15 - Stats
16 - Discharge
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

20 mana cost "pseudo-orb" attack that pulls enemy heroes out of position past the creep line? Don't mind if I do! Magnetic Surge is maxed out straight away for the increase in distance pulled/pushed and cooldown reduction to a mere 4 seconds. One point of Release is taken at level 2 since the slow is static at all levels, to complete your combo.
One point of Polarity Swap is taken at 4 to give you the option of pushing people, but it can be taken at level 2 if you feel you will need the extra range or push away over your full combo.

Release is still a 300 damage AoE nuke when maxed and is taken next over Polarity Swap for more damage potential when initiating. Polarity Swap is taken before stats as extra range is always nice but overshadowed by his two other skills.

Discharge is the ultimate setup initiation tool and is taken whenever possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :MarkOfTheNovice: :CrushingClaws: 2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice/Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers/Steamboots >> (2x Fortified Bracers >>) Portal Key

This hero's potential is mainly limited by his mana upkeep. Bottle/Chalice synergy is very strong for this hero, or a Power Supply if deemed more useful than either Bottle or Chalice. Ghost Marchers give you unitwalking and more attack damage, whereas Steamboots promote a more survivable hero who is likely to be the primary initiator moreso than a ganker. Pick to fit the situation accordingly. Fortified Bracers as needed to pad out your HP until you pick up Portal Key to initiate with your ultimate.

After core:

Most of the options here are situational for the moment, until I see some clear winners. Not in any particular order as of yet.

- Frostfield Plate - Survivability through armour instead of HP, and gives another way to keep their entire team cluster****ed. This will also disable Portal Keys with the damage on the nuke and as such, think it slightly edges out Frostwolf Skull's synergy with him.
- Tablet of Command - MOAR PUSH )))))))))
- Icebrand->Frostwolf Skull - 4 second application of the slow with Surge, and it works on your ultimate as well. A decent choice for him for its bulk HP and possible ability to kite with a 4 second push away.
- Shrunken Head - May be a help to be able to initiate without getting chain stunned and dying.
- Nome's Wisdom - Useful for mana regen, padding out your mana pool and having another aura to help you and your team out.
- Behemoth's Heart - Survive.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Initiator, Secondary Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any. Seems a capable solo mid.
Difficulty: 2/5 (To push or pull, this is the question...)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Release helps a lot, along with spammable cheap Surge)
Item dependent? - Not really. Portal Key opens up a world of potential for him, but given the global nature of his ultimate, it isn't necessary to be effective in every situation.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (has a scary combo at level 2, but his relatively short range cripples him hard in controlling a lane outside of his combo)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (pull->slow is very effective, but cannot solo gank)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (the best kind of setup for Runed Axe carries and aoe cluster**** ults. needs team support to shine.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Discharge will globally push/pull all heroes the indicated distance directly towards yourself. It will break trees (unlike Magnetic Surge) but cliffs and buildings will stop their movement upon contact with them. It will also give vision around all affected targets (everyone!) so you can see where they are hiding. Position yourself accordingly with Portal Key.
- Magnetic Surge is your swiss army knife of a skill. Pulling people towards you to kill them, pushing away heroes so you can run away to safety or juke for PK cooldown to come off, or even lasthitting creeps you can't quite reach with your short range.
- Release's slow is fairly finicky, as you'll only really achieve around a 50% slow when they are right next to you (or really far away), not 70%.

Counters:

- While the range to activate Magnetic Surge is 600, the pull distance is a lot smaller. Proper positioning will ensure his combo has much less effectiveness. Higher movement speed than Flux is also a massive bonus in long chases as he will have to rely on Magnetic Surge to even come close to you.
- Nullstone will block Discharge, but is easily triggered off by Magnetic Surge with a 4 second cooldown. Shrunken Head is no use against his initiation (but will definitely work against any kind of followup from his team, hopefully!)

[Anakha]

[Armadon] .armadon .bristleback .pig .rigwarl

Skill Build:

1 - Spine Burst
2 - Armordillo
3 - Spine Burst
4 - Armordillo
5 - Spine Burst
6 - Restless
7 - Spine Burst
8 - Armordillo
9 - Armordillo
10 - Snot Storm
11 - Restless
12 - Snot Storm
13 - Snot Storm
14 - Snot Storm
15 - Stats
16 - Restless
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

1 level of Snot Storm can be taken early for ganks and escaping if necessary, as it's a cheap slow. Spine Burst is his trademark damage skill and is maxed first, with maxing Armordillo next for survival and chance to proc more Spine Bursts on action.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Power Supply >>) Chalice >> Lifetube >> Helm of the Black Legion >> (Ring of the Teacher >>) Steamboots >> Mystic Vestments

A fast Helm in conjunction with Armordillo will ensure safe farming, and makes you EXTREMELY dangerous with enough mana to stack up spines. Mystic Vestments will soft counter your only real weakness at this point, magic burst.

After core:

At this point you are able to branch out into several different options, depending on the game:
- Mock of Brilliance - This is what keeps you a threat in a fight, and makes people want to burn you down. 40dps magic damage aura means you're doing an extra 200dps every single teamfight before reductions. No damage? No point targeting you. Make them make the hard choice.
- Barrier Idol - Expands on the early Mystic Vestments if nukers are still getting you down, or someone can reliably be expected to pick up Spellshards on the other team (and use it well!)
- Nome's Wisdom - A fairly decent cheap item on him, with a nice buildup from Ring of the Teacher. The mana aura is invaluable for helping to spam Spine Burst actually gives you a lot of "regen" from the heal aura.
- Behemoth's Heart - Stay alive. With this baby, they require a LOT of effort to get you down in any kind of protracted engagement. Also boosts your damage nicely.
- Frostwolf Skull - Not quite as good as Behemoth's Heart for survivability (not by much though), and has AMAZING synergy with Snot Storm since it applies the FWS slow on its cast.
- Nullstone - Worth consideration if they are starting to pick up Sheepstick or Hellflower to counter you. The mana regen is kinda wasted on you when you're high enough level due to your high int gain.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Short
Difficulty: 3/5 (requires a lot of intensive animation cancelling to be optimal with Spine Burst, Snot Storm and autoattacking)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Spine Burst)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Somewhat annoying harass)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2/5 (Needs good farm)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (Unkillable without extreme measures if well farmed)

Tips and Tricks:

- The best counter for you is Power Supply (and Mana Battery). Every half-decent opponent will get one against you; but there is little you can do about it. Just keep in mind that the enemy has additional 120/180 HP when you are chasing him down.
- Stacking Spine Bursts is his main source of damage. It is possible to dart in and out and stack spines on someone before you know a gank will come from allies in preparation.
- Casting Snot Storm and Spine Burst will interrupt your attack animation. To be optimal with damage and skills output and make use of Restless, use this order: Spine Burst->Snot Storm until close enough to attack->attack until Spine Burst CD is done->repeat. Be sure you don't clip off your last attack in motion with Spine Burst.

Counters:

- Power Supply! Get at least Mana Battery asap from the outpost when laning against him. He spams his spells a LOT.
- Try not to use your most damaging/expensive spells when his back is turned towards you. Move around or wait until he turns to you. Otherwise a significant amount of the damage will be absorbed.
- If you see Armadon stacking armour, consider a Harkon's Blade on your physical carry.
- Don't focus him in team battles unless you need to!
- Letting him stack Spine Bursts will be fatal. If possible, let the debuff wear off before re-engaging him.

[Behemoth] .behemoth .es .earthshaker .raigor stonehoof

Skill Build:

1 - Fissure
2 - Heavyweight
3 - Fissure
4 - Heavyweight
5 - Fissure
6 - Shockwave
7 - Fissure
8 - Enrage
9 - Heavyweight
10 - Heavyweight
11 - Shockwave
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Shockwave
17 - Stats+
23 - Enrage+

Justification / Modifications:

Fissure is your bread and butter skill pre-Portal Key and is maxed first. Heavyweight is taken for more damage on your combo, and for eventual synergy with Enrage for the stun.
Enrage can be taken as early as 3-4 if the ministun interrupt is important enough to consider. Enrage past level 1 is pretty meaningless, and stats are better.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 3x:MinorTotem: 4x:ManaPotion:

Core:

(Hatchet >>) Chalice >> Striders >> Portal Key >> 2x Talisman of Exile

Get a Logger's Hatchet if you can farm the lane (no use in getting one if you are forced to stay back and tower hug, or are roaming). Chalice allows you to solve early mana issues for a bit. Striders are amazing on Behemoth; the more mobile you are without having to buy TP's is a good thing.
Portal Key is your obvious goal for being the initiator you are.
Talismans can be taken before or even after Portal Key to flesh out your mana pool a bit further for your combo + more Fissures.

After core:

- Wards of Sight - Hell, even before you get Portal Key. Investing 100g to get more back from assist and proximity gold (and get EXP too!) is always worth it. After you have Portal Key, you're pretty much complete so these babies are the priority.
- Tablet of Command - Rates a mention as it can be used as a poor man's PK substitute. Or someone else can get it and push you in. Either or.
- Spellshards - Lowered CD's, mana regen and -ma. Makes your initiation THAT much more scary considering the amount of magic AoE you can pull off.
- Frostfield Plate - An extra AoE nuke for your initiation and bigger mana pool to do it with.
- Behemoth's Heart - It fits, ya know?

Information:

Roles: Initiator, Roamer, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any sidelane.
Difficulty: 4/5 (Placing Fissures makes or breaks the hero's early and midgame)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Enrage and Fissure with maxed Heavyweight will clear creep waves)
Item dependent? - Yes, requires Portal Key to initiate.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Fissure can net kills if properly used with someone who can make the most of it)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (constant threat if ganking with others)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Arguably the best initiator with the amount of stun he has; creep waves don't start spawning smaller!)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ganking/Initiating WITH Portal Key: Wait for an opportunity, which in this case is if two or more enemy heroes are surrounded by creeps and within 560 distance of each other.
- Ganking/Initiating WITHOUT Portal Key: It's all about positioning, Portal Key or not. Stay out of your opponent's line of sight and fissure enemy heroes into a corner, or separate them so that your allies can more easily dispatch them. After the Fissure run up and Enrage->Autoattack.
- Often times you will have to save your idiot partners from their own stupid mistakes. Generally I have managed to save them with a well-timed Enrage (that Heavyweight stun does get quite hefty when levelled), but every once in a while when they really screw the pooch you've got to put a Fissure between the bloodthirsty opponents and your lovable idiot.

Counters:

- When pushing or defending, stay away from your creeps! Otherwise his initiation will be devastating.
- Try to spread out as much as you can so he doesn't hit you all with his Shockwave.
- Closely watch Behemoth's movement in the early game. Be very careful if he is trying to trap you with a Fissure. This is very very deadly!
- Finally a Barrier Idol can be a helpful counter if popped before his initiation.

[Hammerstorm] .hammerstorm .sven .rogue knight

Skill Build:

1 - Hammer Throw
2 - Galvanize
3 - Hammer Throw
4 - Galvanize
5 - Hammer Throw
6 - Brute Strength
7 - Hammer Throw
8 - Galvanize
9 - Galvanize
10 - Stats
11 - Brute Strength
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Brute Strength
17 - Mighty Swing
18 - Mighty Swing
19 - Mighty Swing
20 - Mighty Swing
21 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Hammer Throw is one of the best stuns in the game from level 1, and Hammerstorm's bread and butter skill.
Despite Galvanize being an effective one point wonder because of the +movespeed being static at all levels, it is levelled as the cooldown on it (36/30/24/18) is far too restrictive for optimal use. Hammerstorm's core items all involving +strength also means that the +14 armour gives him much more survivability when it counts as opposed to stats.
Stats are better than Mighty Swing midgame in most cases, as you will rarely/won't really ever have the insane farm to efficiently cleave farm in the midgame. Take this after you get your level 3 ultimate though, as 50% of 300-400 damage autoattacks hurts.
As of the re-alignment patch, Brute Strength is now unpurgeable so there is zero reason not to take it at every opportunity.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Chalice >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Steamboots >> Fortified Bracelet

Some people like Bottle on him. Nothing wrong with that - if you plan to roam, go for it.
Galvanize is instant cast, so there is really no excuse to get Ghost Marchers! The attack speed and strength from Steamboots are vastly superior.

After core:

Portal Key >> Shrunken Head >> Riftshards/Behemoth's Heart/Frostwolf Skull

Portal Key is core. Your stun is so good that its timing is absolutely critical. You can somewhat initiate with it as well like a Pestilence or a Moraxus, only you have a much better advantage due to it not being point-blank AOE.
Always get Shrunken Head next, even if they only have a single disable spell in their whole team. Magic damage burns you down very hard, and disables are your bane. Shrunken Head can be taken before Portal Key on limited occasions.
Riftshards are probably the best thing DPS wise after this, as critting on Brute Strength can one-shot heroes with enough of a level advantage.
Behemoth's Heart adds harder to Brute Strength's damage increase and gives him insane survivability.
Frostwolf Skull is a more offensive approach, giving you a powerful slow that applies on the person you cast your stun on.

Information:

Roles: Initiator, Roamer, Ganker, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any sidelane.
Difficulty: 3/5 (high cost skills, animation cancelling important)
Farming capabilities: 1/5 (Cleave kicks in too late to really boost your farming potential any earlier)
Item dependent? Yes, does require his core and a Portal Key or Shrunken Head.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (One of the best early stuns in the game)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (Decent ganker, decent damage output, drops towers hard with Brute Strength)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Anything beyond his core in effective time makes him hit like a truck)

Tips and Tricks:

- In the early game if/when you are forced back to the fountain, consider teleporting to another lane, walking around the trees and initiate a gank. This will almost always lead to kills for your team as it is not expected and very effective.
- It is imperative to animation cancel on Hammerstorm, especially the activation of Brute Strength. With some practice you can even cast it on the run without stopping at all! (The animation will not play but the hammer glows).

Counters:

- Disables and slows ruin Hammerstorm. Outside of his initial stun, he has no way to stay on his target and dish out damage as Galvanize only really lasts long enough to close the gap and then a little bit. Frostwolf Skull will mitigate this somewhat, but if he's going straight for that, he's skipping Portal Key or Shrunken Head. Abuse this.
- As of the re-alignment patch, Brute Strength is now unpurgeable. umad?

[Pebbles] .pebbles .tiny .stone giant

Skill Build:

1 - Stalagmites
2 - Chuck
3 - Stalagmites
4 - Chuck
5 - Chuck
6 - Stalagmites
7 - Chuck
8 - Stalagmites
9 - Enlarge
10 - Slab Skin
11 - Enlarge
12 - Slab Skin
13 - Slab Skin
14 - Slab Skin
15 - Stats
16 - Enlarge
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Not much to say. Chuck has slightly better scaling after the second level of the spell on a perfect combo and is maxed first, and you can throw people for easier application of damage as a form of harass than just stunning them. Lower cooldown and higher range as well.

Starting Items:

2x:RunesOfTheBlight: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

For earl Bottle delivery. The Chalice pieces may be swapped out for a Logger's Hatchet and an extra Minor Totem if facing a melee mid like Deadwood.

Core:

Bottle >> Chalice >> Striders >> Portal Key

Bottle/Chalice so you can always have mana to combo.

After core:

Wards of Sight >> Daemonic Breastplate/Codex/Spellshards

After your core you are not very item dependent and free to assist in warding so you may use your newfound powers of Portal Key rape and pick on their carry every time he's slightly out of position. If you're rolling in the money early, consider Codex or Spellshards to extend your nil-to-kill range. Daemonic Breastplate can be taken to mitigate Enlarge lowering your attack speed, and give you a ton of armour to survive. Also helps out your team as they get the aura benefits and pushing power from the offensive aura.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Initiator
Preferred Lane: Solo mid. Can sidelane if need be.
Difficulty: 4/5 (Stag->Chuck, kids. Does require decent positioning for maximum damage)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Mana intensive, but can blow up creep waves)
Item dependent? - Yes, requires a timely Portal Key else is ineffectual for the rest of the game.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (high burst damage, constant threat in lane)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Highest burst damage in the game at level 8+, nicknamed Lord Instagib)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (Drastically loses power once heroes get solid hp pools and can resist his combo)

Tips and Tricks:

- Pebbles is a ganker. There's nothing else he can do with his skillset. He is a poor physical DPSer. He is the ultimate one-hit-wonder, with two spells that can be used singly or together for fantastic results, after which he runs like a sissy girl until his spells are back up. Don't let his main stat fool you: Pebbles is a caster.
- The famous "one-two" combo is accomplished by casting stalagmite on an enemy and then instantly chucking him onto himself. This does abnormal damage and is mostly a one-shot in early and mid game.
- The more advanced "one-two-three" involves manually right-clicking the enemy while he is chucked in the air for an additional ~200 damage before he lands. Try to practice this if you want to improve your Pebbles play.
- Stalagmites->Chuck. I'm going to re-iterate this. I don't care if you think you know better because it was Chuck->Stalagmites in DotA. It's different here.

Counters:

- You need to get above a certain health threshold to not be oneshot by him. To be safe, buy Bracelets or consider taking Steamboots.
- If you know it's coming you can sometimes dodge his Stalagmites by moving unpredictable as it has travel time in the air.
- Once he has Portal Key never stay on a lane with less than 800 HP unless you know he is out of reach. Wards help this process.

[Keeper of the forest] .keeper of the forest .tree .kotf .rooftrellen .treant protector

Skill Build (solo mid carry build):

1 - Nature's Protection
2 - Stats
3 - Nature's Protection
4 - Stats
5 - Nature's Protection
6 - Root
7 - Nature's Protection
8 - Camouflage
9 - Stats
10 - Stats
11 - Root
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Root
17 - Stats
18 - Stats
19 - Tree Sight+
23 - Camouflage+

Skill Build (traditional support-ish build):

1 - Tree Sight
2 - Nature's Protection
3 - Tree Sight
4 - Nature's Protection
5 - Tree Sight
6 - Root
7 - Tree Sight
8 - Nature's Protection
9 - Nature's Protection
10 - Camouflage
11 - Root
12 - Stats
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Root
17 - Stats+
23 - Camouflage+

Justification / Modifications:

The days of support Keeper are severely limited unless there are some drastic reworks to his skills. 3.4 STR gain and a propensity to level stats over some of his subpar skills are starting to make him more of a carry. For objectivity, i'll give both kinds of builds.
Camouflage is never worth levelling more than once. 15 seconds of invisibility is more than enough at any point. This one point can be taken earlier.
Nature's Protection is amazing for its armour properties on a naturally high strength hero and is maxed first.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight: :RunesOfTheBlight: :GuardianRing: 2x:MinorTotem:
OR
:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:CrushingClaws: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) Ring of the Teacher >> Plated Greaves >> Portal Key >> Sustainer >> Restoration Stone
OR
(Mock of Brilliance >>) Ghost Marchers >> Elder Parasite >> Insanitarius >> Shrunken Head >> Riftshards

There is a fair amount of disparity between the builds. One focuses on cheap DPS items like EP and Insan to really boost your damage through the roof and make you very scary when you're autoattacking someone. Keeper's natural strength gain, stats and Nature's Protection complement this well as Keeper is nigh indestructable with a level advantage and can afford to use EP and Insanitarius freely in fights to absolutely dominate everyone.

The other focuses on his ultimate and Tree Sight to provide initiation and map vision to his team, along with making jungling a pain for anyone on the other team wishing to do so by blocking camps with Tree Sight.

Information:

Roles: Support, Initiator, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Vertical lane or Mid
Difficulty: 2/5 (Tree Sight placement; juggling 2 active items that can go badly)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Insane base damage & attack animation)
Item dependent? - As a solo mid carry, yes. Otherwise, can survive without much.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Good last hitter, hard to kill)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2/5 (ult is his only real presence)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Good initiator)

Tips and Tricks:

- Your first task as Keeper, before the laning phase even really begins, is to get an Eye onto the top rune ASAP. Usually you will be laning in the long lane (top for Legion, bottom for Hellbourne). This allows you easy access to your opponents jungle from an early level and makes accessing the Outpost easier as well.
- As soon as Tree Sight comes off cooldown ward your opponents pull spot.
- Always leave enough mana for an emergency Camouflage, especially if there is anyone missing, as you never know when you're going to need it.
- Always carry a Homecoming Stone! If a tower is under attack teleport there and cast Nature's Protection on it. This will not only increase its armor but will also heal it back up.
- Learn where the best places to put your Tree eyes are.

Counters:

- If playing a melee hero you should pick up a Logger's hatchet and cut down any Tree with an eye floating above it.
- You can put a Hatchet on a courier to go kill eyes but do note that the eyes are now invisible unless a hero come within 450 range. So this is really only to save you a slot in your inventory.
- If you want to kill him, bring Dust or Revelation Wards.
- As soon as Teamfights start happening bring along Wards of Revelation, place them down and kill him when he tries to initiate.
- Later in the game a Bound Eye can be considered.

[Anakha]

[Legionnaire] .legionnaire .axe

Skill Build:

1 - Whirling Blade
2 - Terrifying Charge
3 - Whirling Blade
4 - Taunt
5 - Whirling Blade
6 - Decapitate
7 - Whirling Blade
8 - Taunt
9 - Taunt
10 - Taunt
11 - Decapitate
12 - Terrifying Charge
13 - Terrifying Charge
14 - Terrifying Charge
15 - Stats
16 - Decapitate
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

One level of Terrifying Charge is enough for initial jungling, but now is worth levelling for the speed increase. The initial hit is irrelevant. Taunt and Whirling Blade are still his bread-and-butter skills. Decapitate is taken whenever possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:IronBuckler:
OR
2x:RunesOfTheBlight: :IronBuckler: :GuardianRing:
Update:

EDIT 2: Regarding Legionnaire going 2 shields vs shield/guardian ring, The math seems like it'd be tough to accurately do for the shields, as it is down to luck, but I'm leaning towards Shield/ring. Legionnaire has 693 effective physical health at 1 without it, but with it, he has 768, a jump of 75, which isn't much, but considering that a second shield only gives you an extra 24% chance to block 20 damage, it's probably about even in worth. The thing that nails it for me, though, is that Shield, ring, and 2 stacks of blights costs 605 gold, so if you wait in pool until just after creeps spawn, you can start with 6 runes, which will help with double stacking more often, as well as just more regen. I used to always go 2 shield rune, but I think I'll be using this from now on .

Core:

Helm of the Black Legion >> Marchers >> Mystic Vestments >> Portal Key

Some like it, some hate it: Helm of the Black Legion is a controversial item not only on Legionnaire. I usually stack up camps where possible while farming the other camps. When taking out stacked camps use Terrifying Charge. Depending on your enemies, get an early Mystic Vestments and then get Portal Key.

After core:

Plated Greaves >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Frostfield Plate

Plated Greaves are very good on him, and can even be finished before Portal Key if the situation calls for it.
Barbed Armour is kinda situational but in the majority of the games it is a very solid choice after you got your tanking core and blink.
Heart is an obvious one. Frostfield Plate rates a mention as it helps with mana and gives solid boosts to armour, as well as giving a slownuke to make sure they stay in Whirling Blade range

Alternative Items:

- Ring of Sorcery - More buffs to this item mean that it can be considered on him in a hard push lineup. It gives armour, +max mana which helps you so much, as well as the active that can help you always land that clutch Taunt or Decapitate to save the day. So cheap too!
- Void Talisman - Since Legionnaire's spin procs on the beginning of the attack animation, and not against the impact point or damage, Void Talisman is now a supremely viable choice on Legionnaire with its recent change. It may replace Helm of the Black Legion as a first item, but I'll have to test that.

Information:

Roles: Initiator, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Jungle. He can lane now but Jungle is still prefered.
Difficulty: 3/5 (risky jungler as he often is half HP)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Among the best now with consistency fixes to Whirling Blade!)
Item dependent? Yes, needs his core to be effective moreso than nearly any other hero.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungler. (Can gank the sidelanes against weak lanes but isn't great at it.)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2/5 (Horrifically subpar until he picks up his core.)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (A decent initiator with a 3 second disable that goes through Magic Immunity; the harder to kill he is, the better he becomes)

Tips and Tricks:

- If you want to jungle successfully with Legionnaire you need to master the art of creep stacking. He kills 5 creeps faster and with less health loss than 2 creeps. There are good written and video guides for this. This Premium Guide for example.
- Once you have farmed 1 survivability item and Portal Key stop jungling! From now on you need to initiate team fights and ganks.
- Use a courier to send you health potions while jungling. It is always more efficient than running back to the fountain to heal.
- Help your mid to maintain rune control by spotting runes and gank your lane at level 6 for a rather easy kill.

Counters:

- Legionnaire's main damage potential doesn't scale into lategame. That's why his power will decrease drastically compared to other heroes (carries).
- Spread out and don't stand in the midst of a creep wave so he can't hit all of you with his Taunt and ruin you with many procs of his Whirling Blade.
- Ganking him early will interrupt his fragile early progression and is rather easy to do because of the nature of how he jungles.

[Predator] .predator .naix

Skill Build:

1 - Venomous Leap
2 - Stone Hide
3 - Venomous Leap
4 - Carnivorous
5 - Venomous Leap
6 - Terror
7 - Venomous Leap
8 - Carnivorous
9 - Carnivorous
10 - Carnivorous
11 - Terror
12 - Stone Hide
13 - Stone Hide
14 - Stone Hide
15 - Stats
16 - Terror
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Venomous Leap is maxed first as the slow is rather powerful and it scales in damage and duration of slow. 1 point of Stone Hide is taken early as Magic Immunity and debuff purge is amazing even at level 1. Consider maxing Stone Hide earlier before Carnivorous if the situation warrants it (heavy magic damage; mass disables early).
Carnivorous is his main damage skill and makes him an absolute monster midgame and onwards. If you plan on farming at all, take Carnivorous over Venomous Leap, leaving one point in it for the blink strike.
It is possible to delay Terror to levels 10 and 11 but I prefer to get it at 6 with the low mana cost for its benefits.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:CrushingClaws: 2x:MinorTotem:
OR
:RunesOfTheBlight:/:HealthPotion: :LoggersHatchet: :IronBuckler:

Preference, really. Second build helps a lot more if you've taken Carnivorous over Venomous Leap.

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) Power Supply >> Steamboots >> Helm of the Black Legion

One of the biggest advantages Predator has over other strength carries is, that he does not need a Shrunken Head for his core. Helm of the Black Legion complements his Carnivorous and Stone Hide in that Carnivorous is his main damage output for quite a while. Helm makes him extremely difficult to kill with innate lifesteal+damage, Magic Immunity and a way to stay on target with Venomous Leap. Helm allows him to be a force from completion with the extra HP and damage block giving him the best opportunity to tower dive people even early game.

After core:

(Hellflower >>) Shieldbreaker/Insanitarius >> Riftshards >> Behemoth's Heart/Frostwolf Skull

This may seem confusing but bear with me while I explain the above.
Predator has several choices on his first real DPS item. Shieldbreaker is amazing on him as it increases Carnivorous damage (which is physical) as well as his autoattacks BUT:
Insanitarius is not only cheaper (2850 vs 4400) it offers survivability AND comparable (if not superior) damage with attack speed. Roughly 7k worth of stats on activation for less than half the price. The buildup is also much nicer and frees Predator up to actually take a more useful Attack Modifier (like Frostwolf Skull!)
Insanitarius is pretty much a match made in heaven for him and should be considered highly.

Hellflower is listed as any hero that can take Shieldbreaker is a candidate for Hellflower against annoying INT carries like Doctor Repulsor, Wretched Hag, Defiler, Torturer or even someone like Magebane by removing their ways of carrying/escape while offering comparable DPS to a Shieldbreaker or Insanitarius.

Riftshards makes him scary scary after this, and Behemoth's Heart or Frostwolf Skull round out his full item set with a superior slow or abundant regen and survivability.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Late-game carry
Preferred Lane: Short lane. Can jungle if supremely necessary.
Difficulty: 2/5 (lasthitting with early Carnivorous can be a bit tricky as your damage is not consistent)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Very high base damage, built-in life leech)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Dangerous with capable babysitter and Leap)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (Dangerous with a Helm and Carnivorous; needs gold though)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (RAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWR)

Tips and Tricks:

- You have very good base damage and attack animation, last hitting should be pretty easy past a certain point.
- Don't simply activate Stone Hide right after you leap. Only activate it if you need it. It requires some practice and anticipation to use it correctly.
- You can block spells mid-air with Stone Hide. For example even when Hammerstorm's Hammer Throw is already flying it will not stun you and do no damage to you if you manage to activate Stone Hide before the projectile hits.

Counters:

- Predator is one of those carries that start to hit like a truck with just one big item (shieldbreaker or insanitarius usually). Unlike other hard carries he doesn't require a ton of farm to be very effective. The more important it is to deny him any early farm on his lane.
- 2 things make you get destroyed by Predator: If you have a lot of HP he will leech an insane amount of life with each hit. If you have low armor and he can reduce it to around 0 or even below he tears through you like butter.
- So don't stack HP, but armor instead. Ulti + Shieldbreaker reduces 11 armor. So you want to have a LEAST 15 Armor, better 20+. Anything below 15 Armor will make you get crushed. -> Plague Rider (and to a lesser extent Keeper of the Forest) is actually a solid counter as he heavily relies on armor reduction.
- Plated Greaves, Ring of the Teacher and Nome's Wisdom are a good against him. Ring of the Teacher offers 3 Armor to the whole team for 500g.

[Jeraziah] .jeraziah .omniknight .purist thunderwrath

Skill Build:

1 - Protective Charm
2 - Inner Light
3 - Inner Light
4 - Protective Charm
5 - Inner Light
6 - Sol's Blessing
7 - Inner Light
8 - Protective Charm
9 - Protective Charm
10 - Righteous Aura
11 - Sol's Blessing
12 - Righteous Aura
13 - Righteous Aura
14 - Righteous Aura
15 - Stats
16 - Sol's Blessing
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

1 level of Charm is taken at level 1 for the ohshi- run away! moments for your lane (which will be fairly often). Inner Light is an amazing healnuke, and when used effectively from level 3 will destroy melee heroes. Charm can be left at level 1 initially to put points in your slow aura if you feel you can get away with it.

Starting Items:

:Courier:/:WardOfSight:/:GuardianRing: :RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 4x:ManaPotion:

You can also get a Guardian Ring to start with if you dont have to buy a Monkey or Wards.

Core:

(Power Supply >>) Chalice >> Ring of Sorcery >> Marchers >> Plated Greaves/Steamboots

Plated Greaves are decent on him for the survivability and push potential with Inner Light nuke farming. Steamboots give you a bigger mana pool with mutable stats.
Chalice gives early-ish mana and Ring of Sorcery has been buffed further with Pickled Brain cost reductions. Get both as the more you can cast Inner Light and Protective Charm, the more useful you are.
Jereziah is actually a scaling lategame support and as such, should only Ward if it is absolutely needed.

After core:

- Nome's Wisdom - As of the re-alignment patch, is amazing on him again with the +50% mana regen. Consider highly.
- Tablet of Command - Works well with Jeraziah with mobility, mana pool and an interrupt. Consider highly.
- Barrier Idol - Competent holder of Barrier Idol in conjunction with Sol's Blessing.

Information:

Roles: Support, Counter-Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any. Decent solo mid.
Difficulty: 5/5 (placement of all skills makes or breaks the game)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Inner Light is a 360 True Damage AoE nuke)
Item dependent? - Yes, needs his core to function.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Incredible healnuke, but really doesn't lane particularly well with anyone except Devourer unless mid)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Charm and Inner Light are very strong when maxed)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (Best lategame support and game-changing ult)

Tips and Tricks:

- Perfect timing is required on both of your lategame skills to make the most of them. This is why Jeraziah is one of the hardest heroes to play.
- Jereziah is a class of hero best described as a "lategame support". He is a support, but requires survivability/mana items to help him support effectively. If you pick him, expect to put some amount of farm on him to optimize him.
- You are countered HARD by Electrician's Cleansing Shock and by Nullfire Blade.
- If laning versus melee heroes you can use the heal on a creep they are about to last hit for some nice damage.
- Do not understimate your farming power. Once you got Chalice and Ring of Sorcery you are able to spam the heal to clear stacks or creep waves for gold.

Counters:

- Electrician's Cleansing Shock can remove Jeraziah's Protective Charm as well as Sol's Blessing. If a unit has both Charm and Blessing on him, one application of purge will remove both (and slow the enemy).
- Nullfire Blade will remove Sol's Blessing AND Protective Charm. If there is a Jereziah in the game, someone should be rushing this item and upgrading it asap now that Purge charges on Nullfire stack. There is no excuse for not getting this. 14 seconds of Magic Immunity and Physical Immunity is too good to not go unchecked.
- His Inner Light is True damage, it cannot be mitigated by magic armour but you can precisely calculate the damage it will do.

[Pandamonium] .pandamonium

Skill Build:

1 - Flick
2 - Cannonball
3 - Cannonball
4 - Flick
5 - Cannonball
6 - Face Smash
7 - Cannonball
8 - Flick
9 - Flick
10 - Flurry
11 - Flurry
12 - Flurry
13 - Flurry
14 - Face Smash
15 - Stats
16 - Face Smash
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

I found it REALLY hard to justify going Cannonball over Flurry, but I feel the stun is good enough to justify taking it over Flurry. Switch up Flurry and Cannonball to preference. Flurry is much better if soloing mid as it is cheap and can be spammed liberally with a Bottle. Flick's -armour is maxed next as it gives you so much of a damage increase and slow for no additional mana cost.
The reason you don't get Face Smash level 2 on level 11 is, that the duration doesn't increase, while the mana cost does. Face Smash is a disable not a nuke, so same duration for less mana is to be prefered especially since you are pretty starved on mana anyways.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Bottle >>) Chalice >> Ghost Marchers >> Power Supply >> Shrunken Head

Bottle for solo mid. If so, skip Chalice or Power Supply if you like. Make sure you get Ghost Marchers asap, the earlier the better. Once you have them it will be very hard for your enemies to dodge your flicks and kills start happening. Power Supply is core. In most of the games you will then work for a Shrunken Head, which allows you to lockdown a target uninterrupted for a long duration.

After core:

(Insanitarius >>) (Nullstone >>) Portal Key >> Behemoth's Heart >> Riftshards

If your farm doesn't go well get Insanitarius. The buildup is superb! If your farm is going decent you can skip Insanitarius and go for Heart or a Nullstone directly. Behemoth's Heart will give you a big damage boost for your skills as it greatly increases your base damage. Portal Key for initiation or for an uninterruptable blink-ult on their carry . Riftshard crits do happen during Face Smash. If you lack initiation get Portal Key before Heart.

If you are getting Runed Axe on Pandamonium, now is your chance to stop.
You have a better damage boost and a better cleave on a skill that costs 30 mana with 4 charges. You have better regen options through Bottle, Chalice and Power Supply. Why would you ever bother getting this item?

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Decent solo mid with Flurry.
Difficulty: 4/5 (getting it all right...in the right order)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Flurry and even Cannonball)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Flick and Cannonball/Flurry combos are devastating)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very strong midgame ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (All skills are physical, and lock down through Shrunken Head)

Tips and Tricks:

- With the slow of level 1 Flick you are not guaranteed to land your Cannonball. Try to anticipate where the enemy is running or wait a second for him to start running before you Cannonball. With level 3+ Flick you are pretty much guaranteed to land Cannonball if queued after Flick.
- When ganking a lane use Flick/Cannonball on one hero then switch to the other hero and Face Smash him while your team mates finish off both heroes.
- Cannonball can be used as an escape skill. Use it to jump up/down cliffs or into the forest where the enemy can't reach you.
- Your main objective in a fight is to disable the most dangerous hero for as long as possible and kill him. Shrunken Head and Nullstone aid this so Face Smash cannot be interrupted.

Counters:

- Stack Armour. ALL his damage is physical and thus subject to mitigation by Armour. Nome's Wisdom, Plated Greaves, etc work fine.
- If he is rushing a Shrunken Head consider building a Tablet of Command to interrupt his Face Smash. This is critical if he can disable your carry with it. Use it on him if he is not quite at Shrunken Head (interrupts with a ministun) or not magic immune, or use it on your target to hopefully push him far enough away to break the channel!
- Void Talisman is his bane.

[Rampage] .rampage .spiritbreaker .barathrum

Skill Build:

1 - Horned Strike
2 - Stampede
3 - Horned Strike
4 - Stampede
5 - Horned Strike
6 - The Chains That Bind
7 - Horned Strike
8 - Stampede
9 - Stampede
10 - Might of the Herd
11 - The Chains That Bind
12 - Might of the Herd
13 - Might of the Herd
14 - Might of the Herd
15 - Stats
16 - The Chains That Bind
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

One point of Horned Strike initially for lasthitting/annoying stun harass and Stampede for ganking from level 2. Horned Strike is maxed next for the cooldown reduction and stun length increase (1sec stun every 10 seconds vs. 1.5sec every 7 seconds), with Stampede as well for the stun length increase as well as damage. Might of the Herd is taken last. Chains that Bind goes through Magic Immunity, and adds another disable to his repertoire. It is taken whenever possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:CrushingClaws: 2x:ManaPotion:
OR
:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 2x:MinorTotem: :ManaPotion:

Pure preference.

Core:

(Power Supply >>) Ghost Marchers >> Helm of the Black Legion >> 2x Fortified Bracelet

Ghost Marchers give all-important unitwalking and more damage in conjunction with Might of the Herd. Helm's damage block and HP gain, along with Fortified Bracelets are needed to keep up his health when going balls-deep.

After core:

(Portal Key >>) Shrunken Head >> Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart

Shrunken Head is necessary to keep him relevant and able to chain his disables. Portal Key works after Shrunken Head in that you can PK in and disable their carry straight up. Daemonic and Behemoth's Heart let you live longer to get off more Horned Strikes!

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Roamer
Preferred Lane: Any.
Difficulty: 3/5 (chaining disables effectively is hard)
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (good base damage)
Item dependent? - Yes, NEEDS Shrunken Head after a certain point.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (extremely poor in lane, better if ganking)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (comboing properly makes him dangerous)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (ult and Horned Strike go through Magic Immunity)

Tips and Tricks:

- Rampage is -in my humble opinion- inferior to Tundra. He has a lot more disable and can gank from level 2, but his main benefits are simply outclassed by Tundra.
- You can't do much early game unless with a competent partner. From level 2, you can net kills on your sidelanes or mid by charging them (give the other person warning!).
- Use Stampede to save you the TP gold if you want to move back to your lane (charge a creep or hero in lane from the fountain/from another lane).
- Stampede will Reveal and give sight of the target you are charging. Use this to your best advantage on someone who could juke or eventually go invisible and escape from a gank (read: Scout and Night Hound), even if you're not there to participate.

Counters:

- Nullstone counters Stampede and Chains. Other than that, you can't do more than stack some Armor and HP and hope he doesnt go after you.
- Void Talisman will help against his constant bashes.
- Always carry a TP. If you see him charging you and you are alone, INSTANTLY TP away!

[Anakha]

[Devourer] .devourer .pudge .butcher

Skill Build:

1 - Guttling Hook
2 - Decay
3 - Guttling Hook
4 - Decay
5 - Guttling Hook
6 - Devour
7 - Guttling Hook
8 - Decay
9 - Decay
10 - Cadaver Armour
11 - Devour
12 - Cadaver Armour
13 - Cadaver Armour
14 - Cadaver Armour
15 - Stats
16 - Devour
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Decay can be taken at level 1 as you can just simply rotwalk someone to death for a first blood if they are silly and out of position
Else Hook is the better damage source. An extra 300 damage with no downside to your own health pool is far superior to Decay's increased damage to them and you.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :ManaPotion:

Core:

(Bottle/Power Supply >>) Chalice >> Marchers >> Shaman's Headdress

Get Bottle asap if solo mid and then Chalice, else pick up Chalice and then Power Supply. Then work through Marchers and Mystic Vestments to eventually get your headdress. The reason for that is that Shaman's Headdress considerably reduces the damage you take from Decay. ALWAYS get it even if the other team has no magic damage.

Shaman's Headdress is better than HotBL and Vestments as not only is it cheaper, but it also mitigates the downside of Chalice and Decay better.

After core:

Striders OR Ghost Marchers >> Barrier Idol >> (Portal Key >>) Staff of the Master >> Behemoth's Heart

Ghost Marchers are very good due to the nature of Decay but Striders will do if you don't get the farm going. After that most of the time you will build a Barrier Idol for the team. Staff of the Master lets you regen even more HP when casting your ulti and thus counteracts the damage from Decay heavily. If forced into role of initiation, pick up Portal Key and Heart while ignoring SotM.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any. Dominant solo mid.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Striders and Chalice has made it a lot easier to be good with him)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Decay helps heaps)
Item dependent? - Yes, needs his core to use skills constantly.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Hook means certain death in conjunction with Decay after a certain point early on)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Very strong 1vs1 and ganking hero)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (depending on how well he has snowballed, he can have a presence)

Tips and Tricks:

- Getting the Hooks off can be very hard and requires a lot of practice. If you have problems hitting them, try running up to the enemy, activating Decay and Hooking them as they try to flee. It works pretty well against bad players.
- You can activate Decay even when you are casting your Ultimate. It will not interrupt the channeling.
- You can chop down certain trees to create a niche in the forest where you can Hook and block the enemy hero so they can't escape even without you using Devour.

Counters:

- Magic Armor reduces the damage from Decay and Devour, but not from Hook (Hook is physical damage).
- Try to stand behind, right next to your own creeps so he can't hook you. If you can't do that then keep moving, don't stand still.

[Electrician] .electrician .brized .medusa wannabe

Skill Build:

1 - Energy Absorption
2 - Electric Shield
3 - Energy Absorption
4 - Electric Shield
5 - Electric Shield
6 - Cleansing Shock
7 - Electric Shield
8 - Static Grip
9 - Energy Absorption
10 - Energy Absorption
11 - Cleansing Shock
12 - Static Grip
13 - Static Grip
14 - Static Grip
15 - Stats
16 - Cleansing Shock
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

If in a sidelane, take ONE (1) early level of Static Grip as it is very prone to being disrupted.

2 levels of Energy Absorption early for safer lasthitting, movespeed and fueling your mana pool. Electric Shield is maxed first as it is a Mock's damage on steroids and gives him three-way survivability (HP, mana and armour). Static Grip is usually taken at 6 or 8 because his other skills are more important to level.

It is possible to run around with 4 levels in Static Grip and Energy Absorption at level 8, however this requires a kind of coordination to pull off effectively you won't find in pubs, against anyone who isn't braindead. Shield allows more total damage, gives you a buffer of survivability and allows you to push and farm your core items much quicker.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:/3x:ManaPotion:

Core:

(Bottle >>) Marchers >> Power Supply >> Ring of the Teacher >> Plated Greaves >> Ring of Sorcery

Bottle for solo mid. Power Supply does a lot for you and should be built (depending on the lane you can delay it). Ring of the Teacher is one of the most effective items on Electrician and you should rush for that even before you upgrade the Marchers. Plated Greaves will then give you a LOT of EHP through their high armor. Ring of Sorcery is insanely cheap and ensures you always have mana for Shield or a EA.

After core:

Build to suit the situation. Puzzlebox and Shrunken Head are the obvious overall winners here for pure damage and damage through survival but there may be situations where you need to go outside of the box. Assess accordingly.

- Puzzlebox - The premium item for him. Amazing synergy with Grip and Shock with more mana burn to boot. Gives INT and STR, the two stats Electrician needs. The best DPS item on him by far.
- Shrunken Head - With the amount of damage you pump out, you will only ever die if you are chain disabled and burnt down before you get a chance to activate Shield again. The best item to prevent that by far.
- Nullstone - Adds to your survivability hardcore with stats, mana regen and single-target disable negation.
- Frostfield Plate - Armour, mana pool and another slow to help you keep up with Shield. Nobody escapes.
- Barrier Idol - Three-way survivability is only as effective as its weakest link. Boost your magic armour and help out everyone else as well!
- Staff of the Master - Purging yourself and your target can be useful in certain scenarios.
- Behemoth's Heart - Stay alive.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Dominant solo mid.
Difficulty: 3/5 (knowing when to chase with Shield effectively, mana management)
Farming capabilities: 5/5
Item dependent? - Yes, needs his core to function.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4/5 (Grip is strong in a sidelane; incredibly good mid with rune control and damage)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Good ganker; some of the best damage output with survivability and Puzzlebox)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (A true beast if well farmed)

Tips and Tricks:

- Electric Shield + Energy Absorption allows you to farm creep waves very quickly. Use this to get your core items asap!
- You can remove a variety of buffs and debuffs with Cleansing Shock (even through Shrunken Head!). At the start of a match take a couple of second to think about which different spells you are able to cleanse considering your current opponents.
- You are the ultimate counter to Jeraziah, The Dark Lady, Hellbringer and many others. Exploit this.
- Electric Shield activation DOES NOT INTERRUPT STATIC GRIP! When Gripping someone, activate it as soon as you're close enough to deal damage to them with it for maximum efficiency.
- Also note that Cleansing Shock deals 600/800/1000 True damage to enemy summoned units. Malphas has 900/1200/1500 HP.
- Shield has a activation cooldown of 0.5 seconds and requires as little as 1 mana to actually put up. It can be reapplied as soon as it is taken down. When chasing down someone, being at no mana does not mean you can't have the damage from the Shield on

Counters:

- Ignore him for the most part if possible. Kill everyone of his team mates first . Save some disables to interrupt his Grip, he will barely be a nuisance after if he has not built correctly.
- If he is moving around, make sure you get wards up.
- If he is farmed and a threat, chain disables to make sure he doesn't put up Shield again is the best way to deal with him.

[Kraken] .whats .kraken

Skill Build:

1 - Torrent
2 - Tsunami Charge
3 - Splash
4 - Splash
5 - Splash
6 - Release the Kraken!
7 - Splash
8 - Torrent
9 - Torrent
10 - Torrent
11 - Release the Kraken!
12 - Tsunami Charge
13 - Tsunami Charge
14 - Tsunami Charge
15 - Stats
16 - Release the Kraken!
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

One level of Torrent and Charge are taken initially for the slow, movement and possible stun. Splash is maxed first as it lets you get your core items quickly, and does more damage for no mana. Torrent is maxed next as the -armour is amazing, and I don't trust Charge half the time to actually hit the right person when it should. Constant benefits > conditional benefits in this case.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:/3x:ManaPotion:

Core:

(Power Supply >>) Steamboots >> Ring of Sorcery >> Portal Key >> Fortified Bracelet

Pick up Steamboots for mutable stats. Ring of Sorcery adds armour and a decent way to keep up mana to always have a Torrent or Charge out. Chalice can be taken if you're doing it hard, but it's simply not as good anymore on him.
Portal Key allows you to initiate with Charge OR Release the Kraken! PK->Charge is generally better for ganking as its stun is instant and allows you to push them a little out of position.
Power Supply is situational on Kraken. Get it in appropriate lanes, skip it otherwise.

After core:

- Wards of Sight - Once you got your core, help buy wards. Enabling ganks pays for itself, and so does saving yourself.
- Nome's Wisdom - As of the re-alignment patch, worth taking again. Yay!
- Barrier Idol - Great support item in most matchups. An extremely effective item to get on him.
- Puzzlebox - More damage on someone you're beating on in a gank.
- Daemonic Breastplate - Synergizes with Splash and how hard you can hit later on.
- Behemoth's Heart - It ain't no Kraken's Heart, but still suffices for stayin' alive like you're living through a song of the Bee Gees.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any. Can solo mid.
Difficulty: 4/5 (Placement is everything.)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Splash)
Item dependent? - Yes, needs everything in his core except Portal Key.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Splash is decent, as is Torrent)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (competent ganker, thrives off other people helping though)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (ult pull is very strong lategame; will ruin supports hard)

Tips and Tricks:

- Kraken is a very strong last hitter with Splash and he starts with decent HP as well as solid 3.1 Armor. It's not easy to harass him off the creeps.
- You are now no longer defined by just your ultimate. Missing it doesn't make you virtually useless for the next two minutes!
- Always remember: You are a ganker that will turn support. Do not play carry. Get supportive items, plant wards, let the least pushed lanes for your carries to farm.
- Placement of your ult and targets is important. The pull is very strong at later levels, and can disable just as well as a stun as they will want to run out of it to avoid getting damaged and stunned. This is sometimes better than using it on a carry who will have Shrunken Head.
- Early-mid game (around lvl 6-10) it is often worth to ult just to grab a single hero for an easy kill. Ganking their Sand Wraith right when he has saved up 2500g farming for Mock can be gamebreaking!

Counters:

- Mock of Brilliance can be good against him as it prevents him from blinking on your team once he gets too close.
- Be prepared for his ulti. Either spread out or stand close and get all sucked in. Most of the time you can anticipate when he will be using it and if you move back fast enough you can escape him.
- Tablet of Command will help push you or an ally out of it easily.

[Warbeast] .warbeast .lycanthrope .banehallow .wb .backdoor

Skill Build:

1 - Summon Hellhounds
2 - Primal Rage
3 - Summon Hellhounds
4 - Primal Rage
5 - Summon Hellhounds
6 - Metamorphosis
7 - Summon Hellhounds
8 - Primal Rage
9 - Primal Rage
10 - Battle Cry
11 - Metamorphosis
12 - Battle Cry
13 - Battle Cry
14 - Battle Cry
15 - Stats
16 - Metamorphosis
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

It makes me sad to do this, but I have reverted this build to the much simpler Hounds and passive skillbuild, as I've had several guinea pigs test the Battle Cry build and not have enough instant success/understanding to justify keeping it.
Hounds are maxed for the progressive increases in their damage and base armour to withstand neutral damage. Primal Rage complements their damage and increases their attack speed to give them more DPS output. Primal Rage also affects Puzzlebox minions, so this is a nice bonus. Battle Cry is maxed next because it's still +44 damage for your entire team for 0 mana.

Starting Items:

:HealthPotion: :RingOfTheTeacher:

Core:

(Alchemist Bones >>) Puzzlebox >> Ring of the Teacher >> Steamboots

Puzzlebox is the single-best DPS item in the game for Warbeast. Puzzlebox minions with additional attack speed, MORE damage, 522ms and unitwalking.
Quite frankly, it's almost always worth rushing BEFORE boots. It's that good. Your ult gives you max movement speed anyway, and you should not be caught out without it with Hellhounds being able to scout for you.

After core:

(Shrunken Head >>) Abyssal Skull >> Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart >> Frostwolf Skull

Shrunken Head is optional, yes. Get it if you feel you really need it. It is not uncommon to have 4k HP and a veritable ton of armour with a full kit of items 40min in, and as such, can laugh at disables as they simply can't burn you down in the disable time.
Abyssal Skull is still good on him as it is lifesteal, and not an Attack Modifier. The auras also help you and your creeps. It's just simply not worth getting before a Puzzlebox, as the Hounds don't need lifesteal to farm early on, or when they reach level 4. Daemonic Breastplate has the best synergy with your high HP and pushing ability, giving you a ton of armour and lowering armour on everything INCLUDING buildings. Best luxury pickup for him. Behemoth's Heart simply makes you more of a nightmare to kill. Frostwolf Skull tops this off for more HP, damage and a superior slow.
Sell your Chalice and then Alchemist Bones to make room as needed.

Information:

Roles: Late-game carry, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Jungle
Difficulty: 5/5 (microing hounds properly to scout and pull camps; farming efficiently past 20min when you're pushing as well; microing the pain train effectively)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Level 4 hounds can solo 2 neutral camps without you anywhere on the map)
Item dependent? Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungler (no presence at all with a passive build, which makes me sad)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (****ing scary to see barreling down at you with 4 minions all at 522ms. The living definition of PAIN TRAIN)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (Losing a teamfight against a Warbeast ensures that you've lost 2 raxes. Inbuilt crit, lowered BAT and extremely high damage make him extremely scary as a carry)

Tips and Tricks:

- Soloing Kongor at level 9 is still a trash idea. Get some help to do it from 1-2 others if you want to do it so bad.
- Battle Cry has a pitiful mana cost and should always be used constantly when you have it. Timing for things like after Tempest's Elementals split up is also useful when pushing.
- Hellhounds can solo 2 neutral camps at level 9 with Battle Cry or with level 4 Primal Rage. Use them to do so constantly to keep yourself raking in the gold.
- Hellhounds are also invisible at level 4 and can pull neutral camps for you, scout and even deny runes from the other mid player. They are among the most versatile skills in the game. The difference between a mediocre War Beast and a decent one is all in Hellhound usage.
- With even Puzzlebox 1, you should be knocking down 1st and 2nd tier towers VERY quickly. Charge at the tower irrespective of where the creep line is (without drawing enemy creep sight preferably), Summon Hellhounds and Puzzlebox minions just out of range, ult and rightclick the tower. Repeat. You can leave the minions there for a little bit if they are tping in, and the tower is nearly dead. All of the minions have a 925 leash range in which they can attack.
- Using the minions to block while you run away can mean the difference between getting away from a gank and dying. This obviously becomes less effective if the Hellhounds gain unitwalking from Metamorphosis, but leaving the minions behind to just attack someone while you run away is always more effective. Who cares if the Hellhounds or Puzzlebox minions live or not as long as you do?

Counters:

- He has high physical damage and will most likely carry a Shrunken Head. Void Talisman is the most optimal counter to that. Armour stacking will help too.
- Stormspirit serves a similar purpose as Void Talisman in being to save you or even team mates from his fury. If you can make use of them, get both items!
- Warbeast will most of the time be jungling. Make sure you pay him a visit from time to time as uninterrupted farming will make him a War BEAST faster than you might think.
- Make use of the fact that most Warbeast players will be almost completely useless before the 20-30 minute mark turning it into a 5vs4 in your favor. Push hard if you can.
- A Warbeast without Puzzlebox (usually Shieldbreaker like a tard) is easily outcarried.

[Pharaoh] .pharaoh .clockwerk .cw

Skill Build:

1 - Tormented Soul
2 - Wall of Mummies
3 - Tormented Soul
4 - Hellfire
5 - Tormented Soul
6 - Wrath of the Pharaoh
7 - Tormented Soul
8 - Wall of Mummies
9 - Wall of Mummies
10 - Wall of Mummies
11 - Wrath of the Pharaoh
12 - Hellfire
13 - Hellfire
14 - Hellfire
15 - Stats
16 - Wrath of the Pharaoh
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Tormented Soul is taken at level 1 in order to scout out the opponent's lanes (who's laning where) and for last-hitting purposes. In most lanes (especially solo mid) you want to max Tormented Soul first for lane control. If you are paired with a slower/stunner however you can max Hellfire over extra points in Tormented Soul and try to get some early kills. The damage from a full duration Hellfire is 910 damage!

One point in Wall of Mummies early counters certain heroes extremely hard like say, SWIFTBLADE! Use it for escaping, and even pushing heroes back and mana burning them with a bit of practice.
Else leave it for later and keep your mana for Hellfire/Tormented Soul.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:/3x:ManaPotion:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) Bottle >> Chalice/Power Supply >> Striders/Ghost Marchers/Plated Greaves/Steamboots

Remember, you are a ganker/initiator who is very reliant on having enough mana to pull off his moves/ganks. Your mana costs are very small per spell so Bottle + either Chalice or Power Supply is sufficient.
I've listed so many boots options as they ALL have their uses on him and all have their pros and cons.
Striders - Get there quicker, gank quicker. Cheaper too. Very viable on him.
Ghost Marchers - Phase makes attackwalking with Hellfire much easier, but generally don't much else for you besides that. Worth it only in certain situations as it is possible to attackwalk with Hellfire even with just Marchers. Consider against high movespeed heroes.
Plated Greaves - All-important armour and stats and the Plated buff works in conjunction with Tormented Soul to push down a lane.
Steamboots - Mutable stats; larger mana pool for more spells or more HP for surviving. Pebbles comes to mind here.

After core:

- Wards of Sight - Ganks and survival pays for themselves.
- Puzzlebox - The premium damage item on him. Puzzlebox adds a lot of DPS when the enemy can't run from your minions but the real power is to reveal invisible heroes once you catch them in your Mummies.
- Barrier Idol - As you are an initiator, you tend to cop quite a lot of damage when you do so. This baby helps you live a little longer through it.
- Behemoth's Heart - Stay alive. Glare at them and ministun them all.
- Staff of the Master - will reduce the cooldown on your ultimate down to 20 seconds and enables to target allies - transforming it to a stunning Portal Key!
- Frostfield Plate - Raw armor and a slowing AoE nuke after your ultimate will seal the deal in team-fights.
- Helm of the Black Legion - Old school Pharaoh. It can help when you are having a bad laning phase on a side lane where you need the HP/block to be less vulnerable after mana requirements are satisfied. It is also solid because you will often be the first target in teamfights simply because you initiate.

Information:

Roles: Initiator, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any. Decent solo mid and even in the hard lane.
Difficulty: 3/5
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (You can farm other lanes and stack creep camps from afar with Tormented Soul)
Item dependent? - No, only requires Boots, Bottle and Chalice/Power Supply to be effective for the rest of the game.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Strong harassment)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Hellfire > Ulti > Wall of Mummies > Auto-Attack = Kill)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Decent initiator, ulti still shines, auto-attack damage decreases though)

Tips and Tricks:

- You're always the first hero to go in!
- Hellfire > Ulti > Wall of Mummies preferably on casters to take them out asap and prevent them from pulling off any channeled abilites or spells with casting time. Dance on Vindicator if you get a chance.
- Keep map and rune control (Wards!) to keep your Bottle filled and ensures you to roam/gank even longer. This means you have to buy Wards from time to time in pub-games.
- Hellfire's mini-stuns denies a lot of casters to pull off their spells, like Behemoth or Rampage especially.
- It takes a bit of practice, but it is possible to stack ancients or neutral camps with Tormented Soul. Timing and placement is key here as the damage radius is larger than the vision radius (which will block the stack!)
- Tormented Soul can be used to spot runes or even harass another lane. Mid will love you if you manage to hit the other mid constant and not push their lane!
- There are few things in this game more satisfying than long range killing someone running away, or even disrupting someone's Health Potion after they escape in the laning phase. They can enjoy their long walk back to the fountain. Save a Tormented Soul if possible to do so.

Counters:

- Tablet of Command. Seriously, if you are not carrying and playing against a Pharaoh get this item. It's ridiculous how much this will screw him. You can save allies by pushing them outside his mummies, you can push himself out of the mummies or you can frogleap the mummies when he tries to use them to escape. You can also escape should he catch you with Hellfire.
- Vindicator makes him cry if you don't cast Hellfire before ulting in. Do so.
- Power Supply as he will spam his Tormented Soul like there is no tomorrow.
- Standing behind your creeps will most of the time save you from being initiated on.
- If you are a squishy carry hero (Like FA, Arachna, Madman, etc) Pharaoh will most likely try to initiate on you. Stay back and be prepared for it.

[Anakha]

[Accursed] .accursed .abaddon .lord of avernus .loa

Skill Build:

1 - Fire Shield
2 - Cauterize
3 - Cauterize
4 - Fire Shield
5 - Cauterize
6 - Flame Consumption
7 - Cauterize
8 - Fire Shield
9 - Fire Shield
10 - Sear
11 - Flame Consumption
12 - Sear
13 - Sear
14 - Sear
15 - Stats
16 - Flame Consumption
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Standard build for all situations. Cauterize is maxed over Fire Shield as it does more damage and effective heal. I don't think it is ever worth to delay your ultimate or to get an early level of Sear.

Starting Items:

2x:HealthPotion: 2x:ManaPotion: 2x:MinorTotem: :GuardianRing:

Amount of healing is important here. Cauterize allows you to heal at the expense of your own, and 2 Health Potions allow you to use one on your lane partner if desperate or if Cauterize spam is getting you down.

Core:

Ring of the Teacher >> (Power Supply >>) Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom OR Ring of Sorcery

Ring of the Teacher can be completed at the outpost. Then get either Nome's or Ring of Sorcery depending on your team. I prefer Nome's Wisdom now as of the re-alignment patch if no one else plans to get it. Power Supply is situational and can be skipped.

After core:

Steamboots OR Plated Greaves >> Astrolabe >> Barrier Idol >> Behemoth's Heart

The full support route.

Information:

Roles: Support
Preferred Lane: Any. Can solo mid but is wasted there.
Difficulty: 4/5 (Easy to learn, hard to master)
Farming capabilities: 3/5
Item dependent? No, only needs his core to be effective.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (has a fair amount of harass for a melee support, but needs mana)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (stayin' alive, keeping someone up with you)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (stayin' more alive, keeping someone up with you more!)

Tips and Tricks:

- Your bread and butter in the early game is to apply Fire Shield to yourself and then cast Cauterize on your enemies. This will blow up your Fire Shield and deal very high burst damage to your opponent.
- As long as you have enough mana, keep your lane partner's health topped, but try to always have mana for at least one Fire Shield.
- Remember that Fire Shield removes a range of debuffs, most importantly STUNS! Valkyrie's 5 second stun is a good one to remove
- Accursed is a pretty effective tower diver. Diving into tower range with a Fire Shield while right clicking your enemy will make sure the shield blows up and your enemy takes the damage. Using this can net you some early game kills.
- In team fights use your skills DEFENSIVELY!! Don't nuke spam Cauterize, use it to keep your most fragile carry up!! You have the best burst heal in the game, and they do more damage with 240 more health than you do.
- Fire Shield now has 700 range as of the re-alignment patch, allowing you to support with Cauterize and Fire Shield effectively without having to be in the middle of it all.
- Cauterize can be used to deny yourself when low enough. Doing this consistently will minimize any gain the other team gets by killing you.

Counters:

- There are heroes that can kill Accursed despite triggering his ultimate. Legionnaire's Decapitate will instantly kill through Flame Consumption, and Soul Reaper's Withering Presence will still kill you.
- Silence stops him activating his ultimate, and casting his spells. An Accursed who can't use his ultimate or cast his spells is dead weight and dead meat.

[Pestilence] .pestilence .slardar .slithereen guard .bug

Skill Build:

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

Justification / Modifications:

Impale is your main stun and nuke, and the stun duration scales. Max it first. Flight allows you to move at near max movement speed (511ms) with Steamboots. Its downside is constant (+10% damage taken) no matter the level it is on so maxing it out asap as well is beneficial so you get the most benefit out of it for the downside it can give.
Swarm is amazing with -5/10/15 armour, sight and reveal for 30 seconds. The downside? It costs 50 mana. Wait, that's not a downside. Take it every chance possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) Chalice >> Steamboots >> Portal Key >> Shrunken Head

Chalice covers mana costs for Pestilence. With that done, directly aim for Steamboots (you don't need more movespeed thanks to Flight). Then get Portal Key - an insanely strong item on Pestilence once you can see the immediate benefits of PK->Impale. Most of the times you will build Shrunken Head after PK and it generally is necessary to avoid the nuke damage and disables coming your way from initiating like you do.

After core:

Shieldbreaker/Insanitarius/Hellflower >> Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart

Shieldbreaker is your item of choice. Why? Because -21 armour makes you cut through all heroes like butter. If you don't manage to farm it, get the easier-to-obtain Insanitarius. Daemonic Breastplate has even MORE -armour and gives you armour as well. Hellflower can be taken against carries with blink or rely heavily on spells.

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Ganker, Initiator
Preferred Lane: Short
Difficulty: 3/5 (managing mana, PK->Impale placement, Swarming the right person
Farming capabilities: 2/5 (Impale is a low-damage nuke and you don't have the mana pool to spam it)
Item dependent? - Yes, needs his core (minus Shrunken Head initially) to function well.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (has a stun but not a particularly good one until maxed; needs a decent babysit)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Excellent TP- and counterganker; VERY strong with a PK)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (Strong and versatile carry)

Tips and Tricks:

- Flight makes you one of the best TP- and Counter-Gankers. Always carry a Homecoming stone and be ready to teleport-gank the other lanes.
- Focus on your farm during midgame. Your usefulness will skyrocket once you get Portal Key and Shrunken Head.
- Try to have a stunning/slowing babysitter with you (Demented or Witch Slayer for example). This will create enormous lane domination for a carry/babysit lane!
- Always remember that your ultimate will reveal the position of the unit; also on otherwise invisible heroes. Use it on enemies constantly to prevent them from juking you.
- Swarm works on Kongor. He drops very quickly with -armour.

Counters:

- Remember that Pestilence takes an additional 10% damage when his flight is on. So it is a good idea to burn your spells on him when he comes charging in.
- Void Talisman might be a good idea as he hits like a TRUCK on squishies.
- If you want to counter him, stack armor. You need to get to at least 20 Armor. There is a huge difference between 15 and 20 Armor (0% vs 20%+ dmg reduction). Get Plated Greaves and Nome's wisdom for that if you are support/can make good use of it. Then throw a Platemail on top and you will be fine.
- Plague Rider and Keeper of the Forest's natural +12 armour skill negates a great deal of Swarm's -armour.

[Maliken] .maliken .mali klause .rage

Skill Build:

1 - Sword Throw
2 - Sword of the Damned
3 - Sword Throw
4 - Sword of the Damned
5 - Sword Throw
6 - Possession
7 - Sword Throw
8 - Sword of the Damned
9 - Sword of the Damned
10 - Hellbourne Zeal
11 - Possession
12 - Hellbourne Zeal
13 - Hellbourne Zeal
14 - Hellbourne Zeal
15 - Stats
16 - Possession
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Sword of the Damned can be taken at level 1 to lasthit better, especially if mid. Sword Throw is amazing and maxed first always, along with Sword of the Damned to make it better. Hellbourne Zeal comes into play later when you actually get some damage to make the +as boost worth it.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) Chalice >> Whispering Helm>> Steam Boots >> Shrunken Head

Chalice makes him able to spam Sword Throw after a certain level. It is a VERY powerful harass when able to be used constantly, and will net you kills in lane with a partner. Get Whispering Helm before or after Marchers (doesn't matter) and start stacking ancients! Remember that you can only stack 3 times now, so go take em out every ~3-4 mins. Level 2 ultimate and Sword Throw makes quick work of them for an easy increase in gold.
Steamboots are the boots of choice since you can escape and chase with Sword Throw. Shrunken head is the core item on Maliken, being a rather squishy initiator. If you eat only one stun after initiation, chances are high you will die before you do your real damage.

After core:

Insanitarius >> Daemonic Breastplate/Riftshards/Behemoth's Heart

Shieldbreaker no longer stacks with the much needed Whispering Helm. Get Insanitarius instead or skip right to Breastplate for nice attackspeed and -armour. If you are farming really well, you can directly skip to Heart + Riftshards which will put your damage through the roof.

Information:

Roles: Late-game carry, Secondary Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any (Can solo mid)
Difficulty: 4/5 (switching between green sword and blue)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Sword Throw is amazing)
Item dependent? Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Sword Throw is very powerful in lane on blue sword, has some staying power)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2/5 (Not great until he gets Shrunken Head; should be farming hard)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (ultimate disables through Magic Immunity and has insane splash; Hellbourne Zeal kicks you into overdrive hard now)

Tips and Tricks:

- Your job is to initiate battles with Sword Throw and Possession if needed and let your team follow.
- When farming your ancient stacks use Sword Throw on cooldown and also don't be afraid to use your Ultimate. It has low cooldown and the splash helps a great deal, especially if you happen to get 3 dragon camps.
- Keep Enchanted Flames (blue sword) active as soon as you get Whispering Helm. The lifesteal counteracts the damage you take. Whenever you drop below 25% hp in team fights, switch to Life Essence and machine-gun your life back up. You are very, very hard to kill in Possession form with Hellbourne Zeal maxed out.
- Remember you can use Sword Throw to escape ganks. Throw the Sword into the Forest, blink and TP out.
- If you are going to use Sword Throw, put it on Enchanted Flames (blue sword) before throwing it. There is absolutely no advantage to throwing it colourless, and very little to throwing it on Life Essence as there is a cap on its healing.

Counters:

- Vindicator. Not only does he WRECK Maliken in the laning phase but he completely prevents Maliken from initiating with Sword Throw. Once he casts Sword he will be silenced by Vindicator's Glyph of Silence preventing him from blinking in. The silence is just long enough for him not being able to use blink.
- Keep an eye on his ancient creep spot to see if he is stacking. If so gank him / steal it.
- Save your stuns for when he drops low. Otherwise he is very hard to kill with Hellbourne Zeal and Life Essence.

[Magmus] .magmus .sand king .sk .crixalis

Skill Build:

1 - Lava Surge
2 - Steam Bath
3 - Lava Surge
4 - Steam Bath
5 - Lava Surge
6 - Eruption
7 - Lava Surge
8 - Steam Bath
9 - Steam Bath
10 - Volcanic Touch
11 - Eruption
12 - Volcanic Touch
13 - Volcanic Touch
14 - Volcanic Touch
15 - Stats
16 - Eruption
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Lava Surge is your bread and butter. It's maxed first and mainly used for initiating ganks by stunning in on them, for escaping/disjointing spells with its invulnerability or helping out teammates.
Steam Bath has a disjoint in it as well, and becomes even better with levels regarding damage, cooldown, length, invisibility time and mana cost. This is maxed next.
I've included Volcanic Touch after this on the premise that most people reading this aren't particularly good at farming, and will need some of the tips I'll give below to farm easily and effectively with Volcanic Touch to get a timely Portal Key. I personally end up maxing stats instead of taking it but it's down to personal preference.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:/2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

Power Supply >> Bottle OR Chalice >> Striders >> Portal Key >> Fortified Bracelet

Bottle and Chalice if mid, else go Chalice and Power Supply. Portal Key is the aim of the game being the initiator that you are.

After core:

- Wards of Sight - Even before you get your core, Wards pay for themselves with ganks.
- Spellshards - Makes your ultimate ignore magic armour, which is DEVASTATING. Has nice side benefits as well. The premium item for him after his core.
- Shrunken Head - Can help you initiate reliably if having trouble even after Portal Key.
- Staff of the Master - Fairly trash by itself without Spellshards level 3, but has significant benefits with it.
- Behemoth's Heart - Stay alive.

Information:

Roles: Initiator, Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any. Decent solo mid against melee heroes with Volcanic Touch.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Survival master 9000 with 2 disjoints, invulnerability, invisibility and PK on top of that)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Steam Bath, Volcanic Touch and even Lava Surge)
Item dependent? - No, will function perfectly well before his core with coordination and his core supplements his freedom to do his job.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Higher if paired with another stunner!)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Can't gank alone, Lava Surge ensures a kill most of the time, PK->ultimate is devastating midgame)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (still a very potent ulti with Spellshards if timed properly, relatively squishy compared to other Str heroes)

Tips and Tricks:

- You have to hit with your Ultimate in every teamfight!
- With Portal Key: Position yourself outside of the bulk of your team - preferably hiding behind trees or on higher ground - but in range to blink in. Then: Activate Ulti -> Wait 2 seconds (shift-queue Portal Key!) -> Blink in the center of the enemy team -> Lava Surge to stun/kill/escape (-> Steam Bath).
- Without Portal Key: Lava Surge in -> Ulti (Best with a paired stunner; opponents will try to stop your channeling though!) OR Ulti -> Wait 2 seconds -> Lava Surge in (Safer but no guarantee to hit in time in the right place!)
- Once you have Volcanic Touch level 2+ you can Lava Surge through an entire creep wave, hit the ranged creep and then hit one melee creep for a full wave of gold. If you have time, you can actually just Steam Bath the wave as it is against your creep wave, and do the same thing with Volcanic Touch without using as much mana. Using Steam Bath -> Lava Surge is also valid without Volcanic Touch.
- If you are wishing to push a lane harder, using Steam Bath in range of all the creeps is much faster than just autoattacking.
- Magmus can disjoint and dodge most stuns and nukes thrown at him. There's a reason you would never attempt to stun a good Sand King in DotA, and the same applies here.

Counters:

- A Barrier Idol greatly reduces the damage from his ultimate. Be fast to activate it though.
- Shrunken Head will also negate most of his damage as well as make you immune to the stun.
- Carrying Dust or Wards of Revelation on at least one teammate is recommended to kill him when he tries to escape with Steam Bath (He can directly Portal Key out of it).

[Deadwood] .deadwood .dw .captain falcon

Skill Build:

1 - Uproot
2 - Rotten Grasp
3 - Uproot
4 - Rotten Grasp
5 - Rotten Grasp
6 - Willowmaker
7 - Rotten Grasp
8 - Clearcutting
9 - Uproot
10 - Uproot
11 - Willowmaker
12 - Clearcutting
13 - Clearcutting
14 - Clearcutting
15 - Stats
16 - Willowmaker
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

2 levels of Uproot for last-hitting purposes at the start. Max out Rotting Grasp first for longer immobilization and magic-damage/-armor. One level of Clearcutting at level 8 to enable unsuspected ganks through the woods. You may take Clearcutting as early as 4 (instead of one level of Uproot) or as late as 10 if you can do without it.

Starting Items:

2x:RunesOfTheBlight: :IronBuckler: 3x:MinorTotem:

For early Bottle delivery.

Core:

Bottle >> Marchers >> Chalice/Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> Portal Key

Portal Key can be built before Ghost Marchers if you farm/gank well.

After core:

A Deadwood after 30mins in is only as effective as the items he has. Listed in order of preference:
- Codex - Disassemble your Ghost Marchers for this, to enable you to extend your nil-to-kill range further. Pick up Striders or Steamboots to compensate for your lack of upgraded boots.
- Daemonic Breastplate - More -armour on an aura to make your ult more devastating. Helps your team out too with the aura.
- Frostburn - Beat on them harder.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - If you want to prevent anyone escaping your ganks! Giving extra mana-regen to roam around endlessly. Also one of the strongest late game items in the game.

Information:

Roles: Ganker
Preferred Lane: Solo mid or bust. This hero does not work well in a sidelane.
Difficulty: 3/5 (Requires a lot of skill to ensure you transition well and have an impact on the game enough to justify your pick.)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Uproot means you destroy creeps quite quick)
Item dependent? - Not really, but is near worthless without his core after a certain point.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Uproot & Grasp)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Willowmaker+Grasp = death)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 1/5 (Drops off faster than a rock after 30min; only worth the items he has on him.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Try to get middle lane and last-hit and deny with Uproot to finance your core items.
- Use Rotten Grasp > Auto-Hit > Oakbolt > Auto-Hit to net a bloodlust in the right occasion.
- When you hit level 6 and get Willowmaker, try to rape your opponent on the lane or gank another lane. Fetch runes and fill up your bottle while traveling to your victims.
- Gank Combo: Pick a gank target > Fetch a tree with Uproot- > Place a grasp on targets location (2sec delay!) -> Clearcut through the woods straight in target's direction -> Willowmaker -> Attack -> Death! (Oakbolt -> Attack again if necessary)

Counters:

- Deadwood has low base armour and can be harassed with auto attacks quite effectively.
- If you are laning against him try to get Plated Greaves or Steamboots before he hits level 6. This will most likely make you survive a Willowmaker (Falcon Punch!).
- Nome's Wisdom and Armour in General are very good to mitigate Willowmaker damage. Keep in mind that Grasp reduces some armor.
- When he casts Grasp you can notice it in 3 ways: You hear a very unique sound. You see a brief casting animation. You see his mana go down. Whenever you see one of those 3 things immediately change direction and run the most unexpected way. Once you get the hang of this it's very easy to dodge Grasps.
- Stunning him when he's running up to you pre-PK is also a decent way to avoid death.

[Anakha]

[Balphagore] .balphagore .pudding pop

Skill Build:

1 - Corpse Conversion
2 - Regurgitate
3 - Corpse Conversion
4 - Demonic Pathogen
5 - Corpse Conversion
6 - Hell on Newerth!
7 - Corpse Conversion
8 - Demonic Pathogen
9 - Demonic Pathogen
10 - Demonic Pathogen
11 - Hell on Newerth!
12 - Regurgitate
13 - Regurgitate
14 - Regurgitate
15 - Stats
16 - Hell on Newerth!
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

One level of Regurgitate early to generate corpses. Slow and number of corpses stay the same across all levels, thus levels 2-4 can be delayed. It can be taken at level 1 if you can get first blood with the slow.
Max out Corpse Conversion as your main skill, and then Demonic Pathogen for the silence.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Chalice >> Ring of the Teacher >> Plated Greaves >> Power Supply >> Ring of Sorcery+Abyssal Skull OR Nome's Wisdom

Plated Greaves increase the damage of your minions by 20%, giving you very fast movement speed and survivability. A must have.
Abyssal Skull further increases the damage of your minions to a total of 35%! And provides some good Auras including lifesteal, mana reg and armour. If taking it, consider Ring of Sorcery as well.
Nome's Wisdom is now worth taking for him again with the +50% mana regen back on it.

After core:

Barrier Idol >> Tablet of Command >> Behemoth's Heart

Barrier Idol is required to not get burnt down hard by nukes before you are able to rack up 80 charges on Hell on Newerth.
Tablet is much better than PK on Balphagore as he will already be in combat when he needs to reposition himself to cast the ultimate and there is no 3 sec cooldown on ToC when you get hit.
Heart to stay alive long enough to be able to generate the charges lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher
Preferred Lane: Any. Can solo mid.
Difficulty: 3/5
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Regurgitate and Minions farm fast)
Item dependent? - Yes, requires at least core to be effective.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (doesn't die easily in lane; can push quite hard very early with a Ring of the Teacher and minions)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Towers go melty; Silence is very strong; Hell on Newerth is VERY strong in teamfights)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (Hell on Newerth is VERY strong in teamfights albeit harder to get off late-late game; silence is very strong still)

Tips and Tricks:

- One of your biggest strengths is to gank a hero with your minions then instantly go on and push that lane with the remaining minions. This puts extreme pressure on the other team and is very effective with Plated Greaves and Abyssal Skull or Nome's Wisdom.
- Pick up corpses even when you reached the cap. They will still give you 25 HP each!
- Regurgitate can be used as a cheap heal. With Corpse Conversion on level 4 it will regenerate 150 HP from those 6 Corpses for just 100 mana.
- You can move while casting regurgitate. So you can activate it and run after an enemy to catch up / let your minions catch up and slow him further.
- Always try to get at least 40 Charges before using your ultimate.
- You can trigger Demonic Pathogen's spread manually now. Do so if the need is there and they are close to their own team for maximum silence!

Counters:

- The minions are very vulnerable to any form of AoE damage.
- If you get silenced, run away from your team mates so the curse will not spread.
- If possible, burn Balphagore down before he gets a chance to rack up 80+ charges on his ultimate and devastate a teamfight.

[Gauntlet] .gauntlet .el guantelete

Skill Build:

1 - Grapple
2 - Infernal Instability
3 - Infernal Instability
4 - Enfeeble
5 - Infernal Instability
6 - Gauntlet Blast
7 - Infernal Instability
8 - Grapple
9 - Grapple
10 - Grapple
11 - Gauntlet Blast
12 - Enfeeble
13 - Enfeeble
14 - Enfeeble
15 - Stats
16 - Gauntlet Blast
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Grapple taken at level 1 to enable ganks as it has a stun. Enfeeble taken at level 4 simply because it is an amazing slow, but an extra level of Grapple can be taken here if you want more nuke damage and a slightly longer stun. Infernal Instability is maxed first as it is Gauntlet's main damage skill. Grapple is maxed next for the longer stun and more nuke damage. Gauntlet Blast is an amazing ult and taken wherever possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:/2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

(Bottle/Power Supply >>) Chalice >> Marchers >> Striders/Ghost Marchers >> Portal Key

Bottle (and eventually Chalice) first if solo mid, else Chalice/Power Supply for his mana hungry spells and low mana pool. Ghost Marchers or Striders to close up to activate Infernal Instability and pound away, and finally Portal Key for the ultimate ganking and initiating tool.

After core:

Matter of preference, really. Your core is done. Listed in order of preference:
- Wards of Sight - Ganks or survival pay for themselves.
- Tablet of Command -More mobility and mana pool with an interrupt.
- Barbed Armour - Surprisingly good on him with his 2.8str gain. Consider heavily if in lategame.
- Void Talisman - Physical Immunity is useful lategame as well against rampaging carries.
- Stormspirit/Kuldra's Sheepstick - Another disable with mana regen. Always nice.
- Daemonic Breastplate/Behemoth's Heart - Staying alive and helping out others.

Information:

Roles: Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any (Can solo mid)
Difficulty: 4/5 (ultimate placement, hitting Grapple on the run)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (Instability)
Item dependent? - No, works well off just his core.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Smack 'em, he does a LOT more damage than you'd think with Grapple->Instability)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Smack 'em some more, ultimate is an AMAZING disable with Portal Key against people grouped up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (You'll be expected to initiate with your ult to disable as many people as long as possible)

Tips and Tricks:

- Grapple is quite powerful for landing Infernal Instability if you can hit it. Depending on where you click for it, it can actually pull heroes in or push them over cliffs away from their allies.
- Grapple can also be used to save an ally being ganked as well as yourself with the right positioning.
- An early point in Enfeeble drastically reduces Kongor's damage. Use for great profit in early Kongor attempts!
- Infernal Instability from level 5 onwards has an incredible amount of burst. You should be looking to kill someone if in a sidelane at this point.
- Initiating with Portal Key: Wait until 2 or more enemy heroes line up -> Portal Key either BEHIND or to the side of them, and target the one furthest away from where you PK'd to. The glove will travel to the target, freeze any along the path for 4 seconds and stun the target for 1.5sec. Hammer onto the target with Infernal Instability and Grapple if possible. Remember that frozen targets have their stun dispelled from them after 1 second if damaged by a player!

Counters:

- Any form of CC is good.
- Spreading out away from non-standard lines will negate his initiation's main strength: Freezing someone for 4 seconds on the travel towards the target.
- Try to keep him off your carry, as Enfeeble is a -%ms, -%as and -%cs slow, as well as -%damage.

[Tundra] .tundra .rexxar .beastmaster .bm

Skill Build:

1 - Call of Winter
2 - Piercing Shards
3 - Piercing Shards
4 - Call of Winter
5 - Piercing Shards
6 - Avalanche
7 - Piercing Shards
8 - Call of Winter
9 - Call of Winter
10 - Cold Shoulder
11 - Avalanche
12 - Cold Shoulder
13 - Cold Shoulder
14 - Cold Shoulder
15 - Stats
16 - Avalanche
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Call of Winter at level one to scout runes/rune ganks.
Piercing Shards are maxed as they are your CK/harass tool even in a bad lane, or when going passive for a level advantage mid.
Call of Winter is maxed next as it is amazing. Cold Shoulder is taken last as a follow up for ganking/teamfighting.

If the situation calls for it (i.e. don't quite need max Shards or have no use for it), Call of Winter can be maxed first instead of Shards for a superior slow and more map control. Best used in conjunction with an early Bound Eye to counterward.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 2x:CrushingClaws: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Bottle >> Striders >> Portal Key (>> Bound Eye)

Bottle is required since Tundra is very mana hungry and your skills are very powerful, and allows you to rune control well (Shiver to scout where they are, Piercing Shards to push the lane back to get it uncontested).
After that, Striders to gank more often and quicker and then Portal Key. Portal Key allows you to blink->Avalanche anyone and makes you very scary as Avalanche goes through Magic Immunity and has devastating side effects for anyone nearby the person you have stunned.

With Shiver, Tundra is a premium candidate for an early Bound Eye for counterwarding with Shiver to ensure map control. Be very careful to not lose the Bound Eye by keeping it in the courier or in your stash when you don't need it.

After core:

- Wards of Sight - Ganks and survival pay for themselves.
- Puzzlebox - The premium item on him with amazing synergy between Cold Shoulder and Avalanche. Offers the best damage output for him, and very relevant stats.
- Post Haste - You can teleport to Shiver anywhere on the map with Post Haste. Worth considering highly for yourself or anyone else on your team.
- Daemonic Breastplate - Helps support your team and the debuff aura is strong in tandem with Coldblooded.
- Kuldra's Sheepstick - 800 range disable? Don't mind if I do!

Information:

Roles: Ganker
Preferred Lane: Any. Decent solo mid and can even jungle!
Difficulty: 5/5 (Requires superior unit micro and macro, and multitasking)
Farming capabilities: 4/5
Item dependent? - Yes, but requires only his core.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (decent laning with pet harass and vision, as well as Shards)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5/5 (Considered one of the best gankers in early midgame; map vision is overpowered)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4/5 (the best disable through magic immunity; map vision is still overpowered; teleporting to Shiver with Post Haste also very strong)

Tips and Tricks:

- When casting Call of Winter group yourself with the pig (Coeurl) and put the bird (Shiver) in another control group. Use Shiver to scout and Coeurl (+yourself) to harass.
- Either use Shiver at a runespot as a mobile Ward or actively move him around to spot for ganks. Make use of the Patrol command.
- You maybe wanna share control over your hero to your allies so they can help you maintain good map control with Shiver. It is near impossible to always keep moving Shiver while playing your hero.
- It is important to cast Piercing Shards at max distance since this will increase the speed at which the Shards travel. The shorter the distance you cast them, the slower they travel and the higher is the chance you will miss. So cast them ahead/behind of the enemy hero.
- Avalanche is considered one of the best ultimates in the game at level 6 and past. It is best used in ganking, so gank a lot in early/mid game.
- To gank: Cast Call of Winter -> (Portal Key ->) Avalanche -> Puzzlebox -> attack with all units -> Cold Shoulder -> Manaburn with Puzzlebox -> Cast Piercing Shards at max distance.
- Later into the game you should switch to pushing mode and try to get towers down with all your pets. You can even suicide them into a tower to get a fair bit of damage done. Don't push every lane all the time tho, your carries also want some safe farming.
- Tundra can jungle quite well, although it is EXTREMELY difficult to do. Here's a video of someone doing it in DotA with Beastmaster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mm-_yvd_Gc&feature=related
Not the best but it suffices to show the basics of what it entails. This is a Bottle first thing, and needs a Flying Courier and exact timing to pull off successfully.

Counters:

- Kill Shiver on sight to deny map vision.
- If he uses Shards, move sidewards to only get hit by one Shard.
- Wards are the most important thing if you don't want to get ganked into oblivion.
- Once he switches to pushing mode with Puzzlebox, you should have people carrying TPs at all times.

[Moraxus] .moraxus

Skill Build:

1 - More Axes
2 - Arcane Shield
3 - More Axes
4 - Quake
5 - More Axes
6 - Matraxe
7 - More Axes
8 - Quake
9 - Quake
10 - Quake
11 - Matraxe
12 - Arcane Shield
13 - Arcane Shield
14 - Arcane Shield
15 - Stats
16 - Matraxe
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

While Quake is like a slightly worse version of Pestilence's Impale, it is maxed second to More Axes. His signature skill allows him to harass very hard for a low mana cost as well as having a hefty slow if stacked onto a target. One point of Arcane Shield is taken early as you can absorb single target spells cast on you like a mini-Nullstone for some benefits. It is maxed last, as it is inferior in bonuses to Quake's stun and More Axes.
Matraxe is taken whenever possible.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

Chalice >> Marchers >> Power Supply >> Ghost Marchers >> Portal Key

Chalice is core as it allows lane domination through Axe spam at heroes, as Axes have a VERY low cost. Ghost Marchers are taken for phase and the ability to chase well past creeps with stacking Axe slow.
Portal Key can be built before Ghost Marchers if you farm/gank well.

After core:

Survivability is the name of the game here. Listed in order of preference:
- Ring of Sorcery - Gives +armour, and solves any further mana problems Moraxus has.
- Barrier Idol - Negates his one weakness of magic damage survivability.
- Puzzlebox - Decent as a DPS item on him through synergy with his slow and stun.
- Helm of the Black Legion - Ok on him. Never really worth getting before Portal Key. Ever.
- Behemoth's Heart - Stayin' alive with More HP.
- Demonic Breastplate - More Armour and More Attack Speed.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any. (Can solo mid)
Difficulty: 2/5 (Aiming the initial Axe can be a pain due to travel time, but followup on those is easy)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Quake and More Axes; mana intensive though)
Item dependent? - Yes, requires his core to function and Portal Key to initiate.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (Axe spam is strong, mini-Nullstone is good if able to dodge a stun)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (strong initiator with Matraxe and Quake)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (general effectiveness of damage output drops hard; pk->stun is still good)

Tips and Tricks:

- More Axes do an obscene amount of damage as a harass, and can even snag lasthits for you.
- More Axes also have a stacking slow if you hit your opponent with multiples of them. Use this to get close enough to use your stun and throw More Axes into them!
- Initiating and ganking with Portal Key: Activate Matraxe -> PK into multiple enemies -> Quake -> spam More Axes. This means Matraxe's separate HP bar will fill quickly with less damage to whittle it down before it can be effective! Pop Matraxe if it is at full HP for maximum damage!
- With Matraxe activated, damage you take will not put your Portal Key on cooldown.
- As of the re-alignment patch, More Axes are much more effective damage-wise against high HP targets.
- You can use Arcane Shield as a deterrant to single-target nukes/disables in fights by just activating it when you need to. Either they waste the spell or you gain time to do something else to avoid it!

Counters:

- He has very low mana and mana pool initially and will be dependant on Chalice. Harassing him will mean he is able to use Chalice to spam More Axes less.
- It's generally not worth focusing him in teamfights. He has very little to offer outside of his initial stun.
- Spread out to minimize his potential initiation impact. Quake has a fairly small AoE.
- Don't use single-target abilities on him when his shield is glowing blue! This means his Arcane Shield is activated and will absorb the spell AND get stronger!

[Gladiator] .gladiator .kunkka .admiral proudmoore .pirate

Skill Build:

1 - Pitfall
2 - Flagellation
3 - Flagellation
4 - Pitfall
5 - Flagellation
6 - Call to Arms
7 - Flagellation
8 - Showdown
9 - Showdown
10 - Pitfall
11 - Call to Arms
12 - Pitfall
13 - Showdown
14 - Showdown
15 - Stats
16 - Call to Arms
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Flagellation is amazing and maxed first for cooldown reduction and damage. Pitfall is taken initially as it is a 1.53sec stun and slow albeit delayed (targets are stunned while airborne). 2 levels of Showdown are taken midgame for ease of landing Pitfalls on a target, and then maxed later.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: :CrushingClaws: :MarkOfTheNovice: 2x:MinorTotem:

Core:

Chalice >> Power Supply >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Ghost Marchers >> Assassin's Shroud

An early Helm is amazing on Gladiator and picked up even before basic Marchers. Ghost Marchers are taken for their superior damage and unitwalking ability to line up Flagellation optimally.
Assassin's Shroud is core as it also gives unitwalking and the +125 damage backstab applies to all targets hit on Flagellation.

After core:

Runed Axe >> Riftshards >> Demonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart

Runed Axe is preferable to Riftshards as it optimizes damage output on Shroud->Flagellation a lot more consistently than Riftshards does.
Riftshards is the premium item on a Gladiator as a splash crit will deal True damage for the full amount of the crit (+ Assassin's Shroud backstab!) and give hilarious damage potential.
After this, Demonic Breastplate is taken to mitigate your lack of armour and help those hits in between as well as your team.
Your earlier Helm can be disassembled for a Behemoth's Heart after this.

Alternative Items:

- Doombringer - To quote RogerDodger's premium Gladiator guide:

"Riftshards + Doombringers + Flagellation = ???
...you know you want to."

Information:

Roles: Mid-game carry, Late-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Weak solo mid.
Difficulty: 4/5 (lining up whips and boats makes or breaks you)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (Helm of the Black Legion allows him to clear creepstacks and creep waves easily with no cost to mana or HP; Assassin's Shroud->Flagellation helps him flash farm very quickly for a small mana cost)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (whip harass hurts after a while; landing pitfalls make you decent with a good partner)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (ultimate is an extremely large stun with strong benefits; Assassin's Shroud->Flagellation is very painful)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5/5 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gba-1k1dezA)

Tips and Tricks:

- Flagellation is an extremely powerful harass, but will push the lane hard later in levels. Time it so you can get 2+ lasthits and damage on an enemy hero if possible.
- Call to Arms will ALWAYS land 1000 units forward of where you cast it from, in the direction that you clicked towards. Be careful to not overshoot it and waste it.
- Call to Arms will also buff allies it passes over before landing smack bang in the middle of the enemy team for a giant AoE stun. Be sure to use this as an initiation into a teamfight, or as a pre-cursor for lining up a good Pitfall.
- Showdown level 2 teleports the target back to where it was in 2 seconds. Chaining this immediately with Pitfall on the Colosseum left by Showdown will ensure the target is always hit by Pitfall. At later levels of Showdown, you can activate I Have No Patience to bring the target back prematurely (for 50 mana) to ensure they are hit by Pitfall.
- With Showdown, you can cast this on yourself, Shroud into a dangerous area, whip some poor sucker and then be teleported back safely! Best used at level 4 Showdown.
- The armour of the main target of Flagellation (the one who you whip) does not affect the damage dealt to any of the splash targets of Flagellation. The splash is the same regardless of how much armour the main target has. This is why Shieldbreaker or Demonic do not help you deal more damage. You would still want to whip a non-hero target to maximize Flagellation splash damage (True Damage splash on the hero is better than just a normal hit reduced by armour).

Counters:

- Invisibility detection so he can't casually Shroud and critwhip you all into submission without suffering for it.
- Magic Immunity will help against all of his skills bar Flagellation. The only thing that stops Showdown short of dying is Magic Immunity.
- Gladiator is rather easily outcarried if he is the only carry. He requires a LOT of farm and a bit of luck to proc Riftshards on a Flagellation to really shine as a carry.

[Anakha]

[Amun-Ra] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Path of Destruction
4 - Ignite
5 - Path of Destruction
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Path of Destruction
8 - Ashes to Ashes
9 - Ashes to Ashes
10 - Ashes to Ashes
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Ignite
13 - Ignite
14 - Ignite
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable. Now that Path costs much less HP, and it's extremely possible to regain effectively all your HP back if you hit yourself and other people, it is maxed first for its yummy 320 damage aoe stun.

Ashes to Ashes is maxed next, as the regeneration and on-hit AoE damage makes farming large stacks of creeps and creep waves very easy to do, and can ensure you can duck into the jungle and clear a camp quickly should the opportunity present itself.

1 level of Ignite is taken at level 4 for the slow to follow up a successful stun, to ensure you can beat on your target longer, as well as giving you another AoE nuke to farm stacks with past the laning phase. Due to Path being as cheap as it is, this spell is now secondary to your other 2 main skills.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up if people are stupid enough to sit in the middle of your respawn - but nowadays this doesn't happen ever, so don't rely upon them being hit by it.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate/Portal Key

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your EHP from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame. Portal Key is useful for landing your stun if you can't, or are required to initiate with Ignite->Path.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 5/5 (the best creep clearer in the game bar none because requires no mana to do so.)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- If you use Power Supply for a clutch spell, use the spell if lower than 225hp (it will take you down to 1hp) and then use Power Supply immediately afterwards. If done correctly on a full Power Supply, you will come back with more HP than you started with, and more if you hit yourself or others with your stun!
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 23% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 460hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Parasite] .parasite .infestation .catapult warrior

Skill Build:

1 - Infest
2 - Leech
3 - Leech
4 - Infest
5 - Leech
6 - Facehug
7 - Leech
8 - Infest
9 - Infest
10 - Draining Venom
11 - Facehug
12 - Draining Venom
13 - Draining Venom
14 - Draining Venom
15 - Stats
16 - Facehug
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Infest makes this hero able to jungle from level 1 by dominating a large neutral and using it to beat on the rest for easy experience. This skill also affords him safety within the other team's jungle from gank attempts, and allows him to pressure other lanes from unexpected directions. It also allows him to deny experience from the lane for his team-mates, ensuring an early experience advantage for a solo lane while still having time to run back for full mana and not miss out on experience or time while jungling.

Leech is maxed first as it is his chasing skill when his creep get discarded, providing a giant movement disparity between him and his target allowing him to dish out damage as well as nuke damage.

I generally max Infest before Draining Venom because level 2 of Infest reduces the hp drain on the neutral and gives it extra needed movement speed for when you are ganking a lane, and prolongs the life of the neutral for a good 10 seconds at most (2.5% to 2.0%).
This means you can take level 2 of Infest at 3 (while still maxing Leech first) if you see yourself farming constantly instead of ganking due to lack of opportunities.

Draining Venom does provide extra damage disparity, but really only sees true effectiveness when you have a large burst damage output with Codex, while Infest helps you farm and level quicker to this end.
If you are getting decent farm for an early Codex, you may replace further levels in Infest for Draining Venom to increase your burst damage.

Facehug is amazing and taken whenever possible.

Starting Items:

:RingOfTheTeacher: 2x:ManaPotion:

Core:

(Power Supply >>) Chalice >> Ghost Marchers

Chalice provides him with instant burst mana for an Infest, which can and will save you time and time again. It also allows you to sustainably jungle due to the mana cost on Infest. Ghost Marchers provide him with more needed damage, which is amplified by Draining Venom and much needed movement speed to stay on his target to finish them off after his combo, or to escape to the safety of a creep to Infest.

After core:

Matter of preference, really. Your core is done. Listed in order of preference:
- Wards of Sight - Ganks or survival pay for themselves over and over.
- Codex 5 -> Spellshards - The extreme burst damage route. Note that it does not say Codex 1. Codex's damage is also amplified by Draining Venom, and Spellshards removes what little feeble resistance there is to his massive 1810 burst.(260+400+800 * 1.24 = 1810.4)
- Puzzlebox - Best creep in the game for Parasite to Infest? A Puzzlebox Mauler. Gives you a lot of incidental benefits (True Sight), and a real deterrant to anyone wanting to kill you in one of these babies. Coupled with a Wizard to really allow you to work your magic and bring the pain.
- Hellflower - Damage amplification on the target, as well as a decent single-target disable and damage for Parasite. Consider heavily to counter certain heroes with blinks or escape mechanisms, to hold them in place constantly for 9 seconds of silence chained.
- Void Talisman - Physical Immunity is useful lategame as well against rampaging carries.
- Stormspirit/Kuldra's Sheepstick - Another disable with mana regen. Always nice.

Information:

Roles: Ganker
Preferred Lane: Jungle. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 2/5 (choosing the right time and target to gank and/or silence in a fight will change the outcome of fights)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (easily bashes down hard camps early on, but doesn't flashfarm like anyone with an aoe nuke)
Item dependent? - Not very. Only needs his core to function as a hero, but a Codex to solo gank.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: Jungle. Does gank the lane exceptionally well with dominant creeps.
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3/5 (Burst with a Codex is sufficient to take down all but a few heroes)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Only as relevant as the items he has, 1810 burst is always relevant, even lategame)

Tips and Tricks:

- Parasite is incredibly useful because he can creep deny at 0:00 for one of your solo lanes. As soon as the creep wave spawns, Infest one of the creeps and then run back to the well to regen the lost mana. Then run off back to the jungle, and the creeps will have spawned nearly immediately when you reach there (0:30). Archers move faster than he does, but melee creeps deny more exp from the lane.
- You can Infest a creep to help you escape and initiate onto heroes, duh obvious. What isn't so obvious is that you can Infest unusual creeps like everyone's personal love and hate: catapults! While in a catapult, you are unable to be stunned (since catapults are Magic Immune!) and gain all the usual benefits of being in a creep. Extremely useful for escaping, much to the rage of the enemy team and bemusement of anyone else watching.
- Wild Hunters also deserve a special separate mention as well, as they are Magic Immune and also have a mini-Shroud built in as their special ability. Your perfect gank-mobile!
- Make sure to pop out of a creep manually before it expires to ensure you get the gold and experience from killing it.
- Facehug steals buffs like Jereziah's Protective Charm and Sol's Blessing, but will also steal buffs like Monarch's Chrysalis. Be sure to know what you're Facehugging before it bites back at you! It will also steal buffs through Shrunken Head!

Counters:

- Catapult Warrior's greatest enemy is Hatchet. Beware Hatchet-wielding chasers when in allied catapults.
- Magic Immunity (Shrunken Head) and Magic Armour (Vestments/Headdress) will severely reduce or negate his burst.
- Wards. If you see him coming, you can stop him getting close enough to you when you are in lane, and this wastes his time and farming speed by a lot, especially early on.
- Cthuluphant can Hook his creeps right out from under him, even Wild Hunters!

[Emerald Warden] .emerald warden .ew .those ****ing wolves

Skill Build:

1 - Overgrowth
2 - Hunter's Command
3 - Silencing Shot
4 - Silencing Shot
5 - Silencing Shot
6 - Summon Gawain
7 - Silencing Shot
8 - Hunter's Command
9 - Hunter's Command
10 - Hunter's Command
11 - Summon Gawain
12 - Overgrowth
13 - Overgrowth
14 - Overgrowth
15 - Stats
16 - Summon Gawain
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Overgrowth is taken first because it is the best skill of yours at level 1, to enable you to either trap a rune or a side passage to prevent a level 1 gank on you, which jealous coordinated pubs may attempt. Hunter's Command is taken next to provide the inevitable "lolz i disrupted ur pot in lane without any effort" capability that so many people loathe, as well as heatseeking missile slows. Silence is maxed first, because the other 2 skills function well as 1-pointers for now, and the silence is most effective at disruption as well as a poking tool with its long single-target silence.

Summon Gawain is taken whenever possible because.....why wouldn't you?

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: :HealthPotion: 3x:MinorTotem: uckBoots:

Core:

(Power Supply >>) Marchers >> Ghost Marchers/Steamboots (>> 2x Soulscream Rings)

Power Supply for a clutch spell every so often. Ghost Marchers are preferred, because they heavily augment Warden's natural strengths (mobility and kiting) and give her much needed damage. Steamboots can be bought instead, but leave you drastically slow for the amount of HP you get.

After core:

Warden is a blank state as far as most items go, pick up any of these as per necessary and to best suit the game you're in.
- Frostburn -> Geometer's Bane+Frostwolf Skull split - Useful as ever if you have another carry on the team to help dish out critical damage. Rushing FWS will ensure you slow them really well, but do about 100 damage lategame - especially if you're not farming well. Don't do this if you're the only carry on the team.
- Helm of the Black Legion + Mystic Vestments - Warden's spells do a fair amount by themselves, but occasionally you'll need to invest in early survivability to avoid being instagibbed, most notably by PK gankers. This combo gives you the best chance to survive that per point of gold invested.
- Shieldbreaker - Much more damage and allows you to ignore other HotBL's block, which will cut heavily into your already low base damage. Incredibly efficient damage source, but doesn't stack with other orbs.
- Nullstone - A common pickup; allows you to avoid leading stuns so you can lolsilence the person trying after they've burnt your Nullstone. Great mana regen for spells as well.
- Savage Mace/Riftshards/Daemonic/Heart - to carry harder etc after your first lot of pickups.
- Puzzlebox - Not as bad as you may think. 4sec immobilize on the hero, as well as lots of ranged slows and silence means the little minions can dish out quite a lot of punishment.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Mid-game carry, Infuriating the other team
Preferred Lane: Any. Capable solo mid and 1v2 horizontal lane.
Difficulty: -5/5 (the hero pretty much plays itself)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Overgrowth is a 320 damage aoe nuke if maxed, 625 range)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3.5/5 (Incredibly frustrating to play against in lane, due to being able to cancel HP pots on a whim with wolves, and hard pokes with 625 range and silence. Overgrowth allows you to spot ganks from the sides and be safer.)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3.5/5 (Lacks burst, but has quite heavy sustained pressure with Gawain's swoop and wolves+silence poke)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Standard ranged agility carry, but needs a lot more items to really win a game by herself)

Tips and Tricks:

- You have the longest range in the game, 625. Be sure to use this to your advantage by allowing yourself to get in free harass without taking either creep damage or return harass.
- This, along with an Overgrowth in the side path that an enemy hero would most likely take to gank your lane, will keep you relatively safe as long as you don't overextend.
- See someone in your lane using a HP potion while low? Not sure exactly whether your lane has gone missing, or is just hiding in fog? Farming creeps, and unsure if heroes are coming to gank you? Press W.
- Hunter's Command is one of those spells that has no reasonable chance of failure upon its use, as it will always tell you something, depending on what happens. The wolves also have an incredibly long range and will chase people to the ends of the earth/pool once set on a target, even through fog of war. If there are heroes within its radius, it will eventually pinpoint exactly where they are. If not, you now know there is nobody that close to you....yet!
-

Counters:

- Burst damage and PK gankers really ruin Warden hard.
-more to come

[Revenant] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Monkey King] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Anakha]

[Drunken Master] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Master of Arms] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Rhapsody] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Geomancer] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Midas] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Anakha]

[Cthuluphant] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Monarch] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Gemini] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Lord Salforis] .amun-ra .walk .like .an .egyptian

Skill Build:

1 - Path of Destruction
2 - Ashes to Ashes
3 - Ashes to Ashes
4 - Ignite
5 - Ashes to Ashes
6 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
7 - Ashes to Ashes
8 - Ignite
9 - Ignite
10 - Ignite
11 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
12 - Path of Destruction
13 - Path of Destruction
14 - Path of Destruction
15 - Stats
16 - Pyroclasmic Rebirth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:

Path of Destruction is taken initially as it grants anywalking on use for a possible escape, and gives you your only disable.
Ashes to Ashes is maxed as the passive regeneration attached to it allows you your laning presence, and the ability to use your spells in lane and eventually recover the damage they will inflict on you. Ashes to Ashes' passive benefits also come into full effect earlier because the costs for his other two spells are static, allowing comparable damage to if you had skilled additional levels in the nukes earlier. This means it is maxed first by 7.

Ignite is maxed over Path of Destruction for a few reasons: the stun duration is static, steeper cooldown reductions on Ignite, Ignite takes less %hp from you, Ignite has an AoE %slow attached and giving Ignite a higher priority on damage means that you are not suffering from opportunity cost as much by using your only escape mechanism to inflict the bulk of your damage.

Pyroclasmic Rebirth is a free resurrection, given you have 50% of your max mana left. Upon return, it triggers a free instance of Ignite, making Ignite more of a priority to level up.

Starting Items:

:RunesOfTheBlight: 2x:HealthPotion: :IronBuckler: :MinorTotem:

Core:

(Logger's Hatchet >>) (Power Supply >>) Lifetube >> Marchers >> Steamboots/Plated Greaves

Rushing a Lifetube in tandem with Ashes to Ashes makes you have the ridiculous regeneration you need in order to compensate for the use of your spells that you'll need to give you your lane presence.
Power Supply is optional as it can give you the burst mana for your ultimate, as well as a nice boost to your HP for a clutch spell.

Steamboots are preferred as they pad out your HP pool, and give you passive attack speed to stack with Ashes to Ashes. Given how quickly he can push down creep waves, and his propensity for low armour, Plated Graves are a suitable replacement if so desired. Assess accordingly.

After core:

Shaman's Headdress >> Helm of the Black Legion >> Barbed Armour >> Behemoth's Heart/Demonic Breastplate/Puzzlebox/Frostfield Plate

As much as it may seem intuitive to just increase your HP pool for stronger nukes, HP regeneration and mitigation through armour is generally the best way to go first, before increasing your HP pool to drastic amounts. Shaman's Headdress first up addresses 2 of those concerns in one neat package with magic armour and massive regeneration. Helm of the Black Legion can be taken after for an efficient increase in your HP pool from there.

Barbed Armour after that discourages people from hitting on you, especially after you have used your ultimate. This allows you to make better use of the extra damage you get when you respawn. After this, pick any of the luxuries there to help extend your relevance longer into lategame.

Information:

Roles: Ganker, Pusher, Mid-game carry
Preferred Lane: Any. Extremely weak solo until a certain level, but benefits from quick levels.
Difficulty: 3/5 (missing your spells carries a very large penalty to your HP pool with no damage benefit)
Farming capabilities: 4/5 (HP intensive)
Item dependent? - Yes, very.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2/5 (Really not a lot to write home about. )
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Very very strong AoE combo promotes hyper-aggressive play with the damage output to back it up)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2/5 (tapers off quite heavily by the time you get enough HP to be doing significant damage to your own HP pool when using your spells.)

Tips and Tricks:

- Ra needs to hit his spells when he uses them, else suffer significant %HP damage for nothing. Use your allies liberally to set up your meteor stun, and ensure you explode next to them.
- Pyroclasmic Rebirth is the only thing that uses your mana pool, so a lot of the usual filler items are simply useless on him. Power Supply is extremely useful though, given Ra's extreme aggression ensuring you will constantly get charges for replenishment of your mana, should there be any kind of mana burn or drain in play against you.
- After Pyroclasmic Rebirth has gone off, you will respawn at 50% hp. As tempting as it may be, you should refrain from casting any spells initially unless needed, as you will be focused upon rebirth and your combo will drop you to 18% total hp, and make you easy food to anyone left over with half a brain to stun you.
- To give you an idea of how low you will be after using your 2 spells on respawn, on 2000hp you will be sitting on 360hp. Pyromancer/Witch Slayer will love you for it though!
- A special note for Vindicator: Using a spell will dispel Sage's Lore despite it using no mana.

Counters:

- Slither's poisons will halt his massive regeneration and chew out his large HP pool quite drastically.
- Vindicator and Witch Slayer both chip away at his mana pool quite drastically with Lore and Power Drain respectively, preventing Pyroclasmic Rebirth. Nullfire Blade and Puzzlebox minions will also achieve the same thing, with the Puzzlebox Wizard's mana burn, and the Mauler's feedback attacks being particularly effective.
- Soul Reaper is a natural counter to Ra as well, through Withering Presence and his ultimate upon his respawn. Soul Reaper's Judgments also take a huge toll on Ra as well, as it partially mitigates his AoE burst on nearby allies as well as whittling him down efficiently.
- Having a higher movement speed than Ra allows you to kite him effortlessly and dodge his meteor stuns with ease. Slows are also efficient ways to do this as well.

[Anakha]

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