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I have been recently doing either an Ext/Con/Ext or Con/Ext/Ext build and wanted to do some math on whether or no it is worth sacrificing the early nuke potential to have the nuke available more often for harass (in a small window). I guess this might turn into a full Plague guide later. I'm presuming a 2v2 scenario since I don't play trilanes (which I hear Plague isn't that great in) and he's not too hot of a solo either.
Contagion
ExtinguishCode:The Plague Rider instantly afflicts an enemy with a Contagion, damaging and Infecting all nearby enemies. Action Target Entity Type Enemy Units Type: Magic Range: 600 Cast Time: 1.1 Seconds Mana Cost: 125 / 150 / 170 / 190 Cooldown: 9.3 Seconds Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7 Activation Deals 50 / 100 / 125 / 175 Magic damage to the target and an additional 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 to all enemies within 200 units. Infected Effects 30% Movement Slow -20 Attack Speed
Strategy around using Extinguish:Code:The Plague Rider ends the life of an allied unit instantly, restoring his own mana. His mount enjoys the snack and feeds off the destruction he caused. Action Target Entity Type Ally Creeps Type: Magic Transfigure Range: 400 Cast Time: 1.1 Seconds Mana Cost: 25 Cooldown: 55.0 / 50.0 / 45.0 / 40.0 Seconds Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7 Activation Kills the target unit and converts 15 / 30 / 45 / 60% of its current life into mana for the Rider. Acts as an actual creep deny.
-For lane control.
-Deny experience.
-Gain mana for additional harass.
Mechanics around creep waves and gaining levels:
Experience required for each level: 200 500 900 1400 2000 2700 3500 (X2 for dual lane since the split is even).
4 melee 1 ranged creeps spawn every 30s.
A catapult spawns every 7th wave (ignored for xp).
melee units
550 HP
62 xp
38-48g
ranged units
300 HP
41 xp
43-53g
balista (7th wave)
500 HP
88xp
66-80g
Mana gained from a melee unit
82.5-25=57.5
165-25=140
247.5-25=222.5
330-25=305
Mana gained from a ranged unit
45-25=20
90-25=65
135-25=110
225-25=200
Total experience / wave 227 454 681 908 1135 1362 1589+88 1816 2043 2270 2497 2724 2951 3178+88+88 3405 3632 3859 4086 4313 4540 4767 4994+88+88+88 5221 5448 5675
Assuming no denies, deaths, kills, pulls and capable of always staying in xp range, we can calculate when we expect us and our lanemate to reach certain levels. This is to calculate when we'll have various levels of Extinguish.
To convert to seconds, ~15 + 30*wave
Time until level X with a lanemate
2 2 waves 1:15
3 5 waves 2:45
4 8 waves 4:15
5 13 waves 6:45
6 18 waves 9:15
7 23 waves 11:45
8 31 waves 15:45
At level 5, the analysis isn't worthwhile any longer. No reasonable builds will continue to level Extinguish until level 13/14, most builds will also have Extinguish level 2 at level 4 if not level 3. At level 7, we will have definitely left the lane.
build 3-1-3-1
Denied experience / wave 0:00 0:55 1:50 2:45 3:35 4:25 5:15 6:05 6:55 7:45 8:35 9:25 10:15 11:05 11:55
build 3-1-1-3
Denied experience / wave 0:00 0:55 1:50 2:45 3:40 4:35 5:25 6:15 7:05 7:55 8:45 9:35 10:25 11:15 12:05
build 1-3-3-1
Denied experience / wave 1:15 2:10 3:05 3:55 4:45 5:35 6:25 7:15 8:05 8:55 9:45 10:35 11:25 12:15
build 1-3-1-3
Denied experience / wave 1:15 2:10 3:05 4:00 4:55 5:45 6:35 7:25 8:15 9:05 9:55 10:45 11:35 12:25
Seeing all of the data, we relate this back to our strategy with the Extinguish skill and how it relates to the build orders.
The cooldown of Extinguish doesn't reduce significantly with spending skill points in it. At best, we will gain 1.5 extra creeps denied (93 xp, not even half the xp to go from lvl1 to lvl2) by going a deny heavy build of 3-1-3-1. Skilling Extinguish at level 1 as a means to deny a maximum amount of experience is a poor strategy.
Extinguish at level 1 as a means of lane control is pretty standard. It has a little potential to backfire in that the enemy creep wave will damage your tower and you and your lanemate will have to compete with the tower for creep kills occasionally. In the long lane, this isn't a problem at all particularly if you're Hellbourne bot. We gain a poor amount of mana from ranged creeps at all levels and denies less experience, but affords us more lane control and denies a bit more gold than the melee creeps.
Finally, the analysis that I was originally after. Extinguish 2 at level 3 or level 4? Extinguish gains a mediocre amount of mana on a melee creep at level 1 (57.5 compared to 140 at level 2). A 1-0-2-0 build gives us 1:30 of "extra" time over a 2-0-1-0 build where would normally not have access to Extinguish 2 yet. This results in an extra 2 creeps fully denied or 160 mana or one whole Contagion nuke. The opportunity cost of skipping your nuke at level 3 can be compensated by a single mana pot (although that does make you unavailable to harass for 30 seconds). :/
While there is some merit to Extinguish 2 at level 3 (Swift + Plague lane), there are few chances where you won't want to go 1-3-1-3 or 3-1-1-3.
2 levels of Plague Armor versus the 2 in Extinguish:
Extinguish can full deny 15*62 (930) XP on our way up to level 7. This is a huge amount of experience and allows our lane to take advantage of getting to levels faster than the lane we're facing and supplies us with 57.5+140*12 additional mana.
It might be favorable to forego Extinguish for the armor skill if we're facing a physical damage lane (Demented Shaman, Andromeda, Pandamonium, Pestilence), but we're still giving up alot of free and untouchable early game power provided by Extinguish. Another way to look at it is that Contagion provides the same slow at level 1 as it does at level 4 and if your lane is mostly interested in surviving, avoiding leveling the nuke for points in armor could avoid deaths. Glacius gets away with mediocre non-ult nuking power, why can't Plague?
Sources:
HoN game
http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/wi...php/Experience
http://www.playdota.com/mechanics/unitstats
Last edited by man_guy; 01-28-2011 at 08:43 PM. Reason: 8)
Str
18
Agi
15
Intl
18
Str per Level
1.55
Agi per Level
1.8
Int per Level
3.25
Damage
42 - 51(24-33)
This whole section I f'd up.Each point in Intelligence will:
Increase the hero's max Mana by 13
Increase the hero's Mana regeneration by 0.04 points per second
Each point in Agility will:
Increase the hero's armor by 0.14 points.
Increase the hero's attack speed by 1 point
Each point in Strength will:
Increase the Max HP of the hero by 19 points
Increase the HP regeneration of the hero by 0.03 HP per second
Last edited by man_guy; 02-06-2011 at 02:57 PM.
Plague Rider
The pestilential stench of the Plague Rider can be smelled for miles, a foul warning of the diseases following in its wake. Mounted atop his undead steed, carried aloft on a stinking cloud of flies, the Plague Rider sows sickness among friends and enemies alike, all with the end of spreading disease across the lands of Newerth.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Base stats
- Level 1 - 25 Graph
- Stat analysis
- Skills
- Descriptions
- Skill Build
- Explanation for typical build and deviations
- Alternate Skill Build
- Items
- Starting items
- Next items
- Warding
- Mid game
- 6th items
- Team Composition
- Lane mates
- Team fight companions
- Free Win!
- Replays
- Credits
Introduction
Plague Rider is an item independent support hero. Plague Rider is probably the most noob friendly hero in the game with no skill shots. All of his skills are single targeted and with the proper build, you do not have to worry about mana management nearly as much as other heroes. Plague lanes well in a dual lane with a melee hero with a strong disable or damage skill. Plague Rider can handle a solo lane, even against two heroes due to having decent range and being able to control the lane through Extinguish. He does not do as well with farm as many other heroes can. He relies solely on magic damage and Plague Carrier does not deal reliable enough damage to buy Staff of the Master or Spellshards on him, so it is generally a waste of Plague's lane control to be solo or to spend much time farming. Plague is very squishy throughout the game and must position himself well to avoid getting dropped quickly in a team fight.
Stats
STR 18 (1.55)
AGI 15 (1.8)
INT 18 (3.25)
Movement Speed 305
Damage 42 - 51
Attack Range 550
Attacks/Sec. 0.68
Armor 1.1
Dmg. Reduction 6%
Turn Rate 450
Day Sight 1800
Night Sight 800
Attack Animation / Backswing .46 /1.0
Projectile Speed 1000
Level Health Points HP Regen/s Mana Points MP Regen/s Armor Attack Speed Attack Damage 1 492 0.79 234 0.73 1.1 115 42-51 2 511 0.82 273 0.85 1.24 116 45-54 3 549 0.88 312 0.97 1.52 118 48-57 4 568 0.91 351 1.09 1.8 120 51-60 5 606 0.97 403 1.25 2.08 122 55-64 6 625 1 442 1.37 2.36 124 58-67 7 663 1.06 481 1.49 2.5 125 61-70 8 682 1.09 520 1.61 2.78 127 64-73 9 720 1.15 572 1.77 3.06 129 68-77 10 739 1.18 611 1.89 3.34 131 71-80 11 777 1.24 650 2.01 3.62 133 74-83 12 815 1.3 689 2.13 3.76 134 77-86 13 834 1.33 741 2.29 4.04 136 81-90 14 872 1.39 780 2.41 4.32 138 84-93 15 929 1.48 845 2.61 4.88 142 89-98 16 967 1.54 884 2.73 5.16 144 92-101 17 1024 1.63 962 2.97 5.58 147 98-107 18 1100 1.75 1027 3.17 6.14 151 103-112 19 1157 1.84 1092 3.37 6.7 155 108-117 20 1233 1.96 1157 3.57 7.26 159 113-122 21 1309 2.08 1235 3.81 7.82 163 119-128 22 1366 2.17 1300 4.01 8.24 166 124-133 23 1442 2.29 1365 4.21 8.8 170 129-138 24 1499 2.38 1430 4.41 9.36 174 134-143 25 1575 2.5 1508 4.65 9.92 178 140-149
Analysis
Plague Rider has the worst strength gain of all intelligence heroes, low starting strength, and low armor. You are squishy at every point in the game, but Cursed Armor helps mitigate the physical squishiness. Plague Rider's starting intelligence, intelligence gain and Extinguish 2 give him all of the mana he will need throughout the game to utilize all of his skills. At all levels of Plague Carrier, you have enough mana to use both the ultimate and at least 2 Contagion skills with no items.
Last edited by man_guy; 02-08-2011 at 02:33 PM.
Skills
Plague Rider has three skills that apply an Infected debuff. Although having the same name, the debuffs are able to be stacked. Attack speed is reduced additively while movement slow is reduced diminishing. All three Infected debuffs can be purged.
Contagion
The Plague Rider instantly afflicts an enemy with a Contagion, damaging and Infecting all nearby enemies.
The combination of Contagion and Extinguish makes Plague Rider extremely good at controlling a lane. You will often be using Contagion followed up by auto attacks on whichever hero in your lane is easier to kill as a means of harass. While chasing, make sure to animation cancel your auto attacks as you have a 1 second backswing.
The AOE component doesn't do enough damage to allow Plague Rider to farm in any reasonable capacity. Contagion should largely be considered a single target spell as the small AOE makes it difficult to hit multiple targets. The AOE component is small enough to be nearly insignificant, but there are a few situations that you can still take advantage of positioning to make use of it. Choke point chasing forces heroes to clump together to slow multiple targets. The AOE component can kill a nearby invisible hero on low life, or slow a hero with a Nullstone.
http://img146.imageshack.us/i/skill1l.jpg/
If a melee hero is being ballsy going for a deny on the last creep in the wave, while his ranged teammate is going to pull, punish his mistake by nuking him. The AOE will net you the last hit on the creep and slow the enemy hero--making them take lots of damage from the creep wave and your auto attacks.
Always use Contagion before Extinguish is ready to make the most efficient use of your mana.
Cursed Armor
Places a Cursed Shield on an ally, granting them increased Armor and causing any enemy who attack them to become infected.
Cursed Armor has cooldowns and durations that enable Plague Rider to spread this buff to up to four allies in preparation of a team fight. The movement slow of Cursed Armor can cripple a melee carry's ability to stay on a target. Cursed Armor will not apply Infected to melee attackers that are magic immune. Keep this in mind when facing a team with Plague Rider if you are melee and rely on your auto attack to deal the majority of your damage. Though magic immunity prevents Infected from applying to the attacker, the increased armor remains on the ally.
Cursed Armor is very effective in mitigating damage from physical based enemies like
that have skills that reduce physical armor. At level 12, Plague Rider has 3.76 armor resulting in taking 18.4% reduced physical damage. With Cursed Armor 4, he has 15.76 armor with a 48.6% reduction. Increased armor loses effectiveness with raising numbers however. http://honwiki.net/wiki/Armor
Base attack speed is 100 and starting attack speed with no items ranges from 109-126. The Infected debuff reduces attack speed by a flat number, so it is far more effective early in the game before anyone has items or levels to raise their attack speed enough to make the debuff insignificant. The attack speed reduction component is most useful against Kongor as he only the base attack speed and does not gain attack speed with higher levels.
http://img651.imageshack.us/i/skill2s.jpg/
The low mana cost and long duration allows you to use Cursed Armor liberally throughout the game. Cursed Armor can be purged off of a target by Nullfire Blade or other sources purge, but given the cooldown, it may not be worth investing in an item to combat this skill. A sneaky little trick you can occasionally pull off is to place Cursed Shield on a creep the moment before a melee hero goes for a last hit.
Extinguish
The Plague Rider ends the life of an allied unit instantly, restoring his own mana. His mount enjoys the snack and feeds off the destruction he caused.
There are several uses for the Extinguish skill. Using Extinguish on your creeps gives you mana, denies the enemy team of creep experience and gold, and controls your lane by moving the creep wave closer to your tower. Extinguished creeps used to fully deny experience from the enemy, but was changed to give normal denied experience. Enemy melee heroes receive 2 / 3's of a denied creep's experience while ranged heroes receive 1 / 3. It is significant to Extinguish a creep out of the heroes' range to deny the full experience of the creep.
http://img833.imageshack.us/i/skill3k.jpg/
Melee creeps give 62 experience while ranged creeps give 41. When using Extinguish to deny experience from the enemy, target a melee creep. Melee creeps also have nearly twice as much health points, so you get more mana using Extinguish on them as well.
Level Melee Creep Mana Ranged Creep Mana 1 58 20 2 140 65 3 223 110 4 305 200
It's important to note that mana returned is based on the current health of the creep, not the maximum health.
The lane control Extinguish affords by both anti-pushing and skewing the experience gap between you and the enemy demands that you skill Extinguish as early as possible.
Plague Carrier
The Plague Rider lets loose a Plague Carrier towards an enemy that mini-stuns the first target it hits. The Carrier deals damage to the target it lands on before traveling to another nearby target. Any enemy hit becomes Infected.
Plague Carrier is a huge team fight skill and will have the other team put priority on killing you before you can get your ultimate off. Plague Carrier is also exceptionally effective in thwarting jungle ganks with easier controlled numbers of non-hero targets. Due to the random nature of the skill selecting where to bounce to, positioning and timing when to use this skill is very important and makes up for having three other fool-proof, targeted skills. Good teams will be wary of your ultimate and keep a good distance apart, ready to separate, when expecting a team fight. You will not always have the luxury of waiting for the perfect opportunity to use your ultimate. In this case, use your ultimate as a single target nuke and hope the bounces hit heroes and not creeps.
Plague Carrier's projectile basically has unshared flying vision as it bounces through fog, raised elevation, and vision blockers. Creep bounces can ruin an otherwise well placed ultimate. Intentionally use Plague Carrier away from creeps or have your teammates clear them out quickly before you unleash your ultimate. Invisible enemy heroes and gadgets are not valid targets of bounces. The only time you can control the bounces of Plague Carrier are where there are exactly two valid targets.Disjointing a bounce will result in Plague Carrier finding a new target rather than terminating the projectile.
Being a superior magic ultimate, Plague Carrier will bounce to magic immune targets and apply the Infected debuff, but will not deal any damage. The primary target gets mini stunned through Shrunken Head. Using Plague Carrier's stun can stop a magic immune enemy from teleporting or from using a powerful channeling skill.
Well placed ultimate
At this exact moment, Magmus has a Portal Key and is starting his ultimate, the other team cannot see us and Plague Rider is moving into range to follow up.
I am letting my ultimate and Contagion go onto Valkyrie as Magmus has just finished his channel and will blink into the enemy team.
The resulting aftermath ends up being a genocide with Bubbles mopping up.
Skill Build
- Extinguish 1 / Contagion 1
- Contagion 1 / Extinguish 1
- Contagion 2
- Extinguish 2 / Cursed Armor 1
- Contagion 3
- Plague Carrier 1
- Contagion 4
- Cursed Armor 1 / Extinguish 2
- Cursed Armor 2
- Cursed Armor 3
- Plague Carrier 2
- Cursed Armor 4
- Extinguish 3 / Stats
- Extinguish 4 / Stats
- Stats
- Plague Carrier 3
Generally, you do not want to spend a skill point until the rune battle is determined. If your team has first blood within reach, a team fight at the runes or are laning with Swiftblade, you should take Contagion first without question. Otherwise, most of the time you will be taking Extinguish and denying the first melee creep out of the enemy's experience range. If you are on Hellbourne, you can take Cursed Armor at level 1 to aid in a level 1 Kongor rush. Extinguish's cooldown does not significantly drop with levels, so it does not deny much extra experience from the enemy. At level 4 if you have an enemy melee hero in your lane, you can opt to take Cursed Armor instead of Extinguish 2. It limits your free harass potential, but can give you and your lane mate the edge in an early gank or escape. If you take Cursed Armor at level 4, you can take Extinguish 2 at level 8. Your natural INT gain, Extinguish 2, and Mana Battery / Power Supply should give you enough mana for any skirmish, so stats can be taken over Extinguish 3 and 4.
Alternate Skill Build
- Extinguish 1 / Contagion 1
- Contagion 1 / Extinguish 1
- Contagion 2
- Extinguish 2
- Contagion 3
- Plague Carrier 1
- Contagion 4
- Extinguish 3
- Extinguish 4
- Cursed Armor 1
- Plague Carrier 2
- Cursed Armor 2
- Cursed Armor 3
- Cursed Armor 4
- Stats
- Plague Carrier 3
I do not play Plague this way, but if the other team is light on physical damage early (outside of draft, why did you pick Plague then?) you can take Cursed Armor at 10, 12-14.
Last edited by man_guy; 02-08-2011 at 02:44 PM.
Itemization
Plague Rider is an item independent hero. He is able to fully perform his job with little to no items. For that reason, you are the one that is going to buy the courier, upgrade the courier, and buy wards all game. The key to itemization with support heroes is utilizing your limited inventory slots with the cheapest and most effective items.
Short Lane:
:MinorTotem::MinorTotem:WardOfRevelation
/ (:ManaPotion::ManaPotion
:Courier::HealthPotion::RunesOfTheBlight:
Traditionally, the short lane support buys the courier. You need regeneration in lane and Health Potion and Runes of the Blight are too strong to ignore. Minor Totems are the most cost efficient +stat item in the game. These items take up everything but ~100g and you use your own sense on what you need. A Ward of Revelation can be used to counter ward your pull camp. Being able to pull along with having Extinguish puts your lane at a huge advantage. Extra mana provided by Mana Potions will not hurt even with Extinguish.
Long Lane:
:MinorTotem::MinorTotem
:WardOfSight::WardOfSight: :HealthPotion::RunesOfTheBlight:
The long lane items are similar to items in the short. Instead of the courier, you want wards to see the runes and incoming ganks to / from mid and to counter their pull. Extinguish will help pull the creep wave toward your tower, but you may need a tad more survivability since the tower is still further away than in the short lane.
I have not tried Chalice before on Plague Rider, but coupled with Extinguish's mana producing ability, it could be an exceptional way to keep the pressure up when laning.
Next items
:FlyingCourier: :ManaBattery: :HomecomingStone: :Marchers: :HealthPotion: :ManaPotion: :WardOfSight: :WardOfRevelation:
Your next item will nearly always be to upgrade the Flying Courier. Your items afterward are a toss up between those shown. What you buy depends on how the game is going. If I am facing a lane of heavy spell spammers, I will delay upgrading the courier to get a Mana Battery ASAP. If another lane is getting ganked often, carrying a TP can save a hero and turn the gank around. If you and your lane mate are facing a lot of harass, purchasing a Health Potion for them can save their money and let them stay in lane.
Warding
By the time 5:30 rolls around, you need to either purchase wards or kill creeps to buy them. It's not important to counter ward at this exact time as the wards the other team placed will also be timing out. If you catch where the enemy renews their wards, you can counter ward then. Half the cost of a counter ward is supported by successfully destroying the enemy team's (orange) vision ward. Be mindful of when your wards will expire as it can be very dangerous to renew wards when you do not have vision of the area you are going into.Mid Game
The need to have vision of the enemy will never go away and you will need to be buying wards throughout the game. Your natural gold generation (69g / minute) is enough to take care of being able to four wards every six minutes. Prior to a planned team fight, I will often buy wards if I cannot finish an item. In the event that I die, it results in little net gold loss. Warding is a very complicated topic, so I just wanted to lightly cover it and redirect you to something more in-depth. <redirect to warding guide(s)>
Support hero items are pretty standard with some flexibility on their 5th and 6th items.
:stri: / :Steamboots: / :PlatedGreaves: :PowerSupply:
:WardOfSight: :WardOfRevelation: :HomecomingStone:
Plated Greaves recently had a nice change in removing the recipe. This reduced the cost by 200g, lets you carry a Shield of the Five around combined with boots in one slot and lets you disassemble the item into an Astrolabe to build Steamboots or Striders later. Striders are the most effective support hero boot, but I have found them poor on Plague if you are spamming Cursed Armor on allies you pass when warding / counter warding / etc. Striders will constantly be on cooldown and you will not be benefiting from the increased movespeed while doing this. This downside is not enough to ignore the effectiveness of Striders on support heroes.
6th Slot
Your 6th slot is flexible depending on the other team's lineup. Generally it will be inexpensive with small items that are easy to build on a budget. The sixth slot will be support item or one that gives you enough survivability to get your ultimate off. Many times you will not be able to afford these items until the game is over if you are keeping up with your warding duties. Some of the larger items can be afforded after a few incidental "kill steals" from your ultimate or a successful tower push.
Tablet of Command
Tablet is an amazing support item that allows your team to acquire superior positioning, chase escaping heroes, and stop powerful channeling skills. Tablet is inexpensive and has three easy to build items.
Kuldra's Sheepstick
Kuldra's is an expensive item and one you will not make in most games due to its cost and build up. Buy either the Acolyte's Staff or Blessed Orb first as the Mana Tube does not do anything for Plague Rider. You are mainly buying the Acolyte's Staff first due to the high cost and difficulty to obtain farm with Plague since you do not really need the extra mana or attack damage from the +25 INT. Sheepstick is effective against any team composition. Disabling one hero for 3.5 seconds is enough time to take nearly any hero out with focused fire before they are able to retaliate. Any time you can afford Sheepstick, you should make it. The added crowd control is invaluable.
Barrier Idol
Barrier Idol is great to build against a magic heavy team and has a build up that is easily managed. Refreshing Ornament is a component of both Barrier and Astrolabe and gives you options depending on how the game is progressing. Mystic Vestments provides immediate benefits to the intent of the final item. If you activate Barrier and get your ultimate off in a team fight, dying afterward will not be a huge loss to your team as Barrier does not require you to be alive for the team to benefit after successful activation.
Astrolabe
Astrolabe is the combination of everything a support hero could ask for. The Refreshing Ornament acts as a miniature Fortified Bracelet and the disassembly of Plated Greaves allow you to gradually build this item throughout the game without committing too many slots. All of the components are very inexpensive with the recipe being the only one with some difficulty in obtaining (900g).
Fortified Bracelet
A staple cheap, single slot item for boosting your health points. This can fill your 6th slot and be sold when you have enough gold for a better item.
Nomes Wisdom
Nomes Wisdom will give you and your team a small damage shield when dumping your spells and a good boost to your team's resilience. The Major Totem is a good starting item giving +4 all stats while you build Nomes. The +armor aura is strong and makes for a good buy.
Mediocre 6th Items
These items are worth building, but other items will usually do more for your team.
Spellshards
I have not yet tried this item in a game yet, so I will temporarily put Spellshards in mediocre items. Spellshards deals more damage than SOTM will boost, offers a (small) cooldown reduction that SOTM does not, and boosts Contagion's damage. SOTM however boosts Plague's survivability where Spellshards will give you nothing. Always remember that you cannot predict the performance of Plague Carrier when weighing the value of this spell damage boosting item.
Void Talisman
This will help keep carries off of you. If you get your Plague Carrier and Contagion off it can be more beneficial for their carries to drop you instead of someone else more important on your team. I have regretted purchasing this item in the past on Plague due to the redundancy of utility provided by Cursed Armor, but it is an effective item for support heroes that get focused and is worth mentioning as an option.
Staff of the Master
The build up for Staff of the Master is actually very nice and gives Plague much needed HP to survive a moderate amount of focus to get his ultimate off. Staff of the Master does not reduce cooldowns and only modifies his ultimate by providing extra damage. Other items can provide better survivability.
Abyssal Skull
Abyssal Skull is good to build if you have a melee carry on your team as the aura provides them the full benefits of the item without having to commit a slot to it themselves. You receive more benefit to yourself by buying Nomes Wisdom.
Last edited by man_guy; 02-08-2011 at 03:26 PM.
Team Composition
Plague Rider can be the primary initiator if forced to, but Plague is generally better suited initiating directly after someone else.
Plague Rider is not a hero that will be first picked except in drafting modes where hero choices are limited. Due to Plague Carrier's unreliability and the ability of the other team to simply run away, Plague Carrier is best utilized by a team with a strong initiator like Magmus or Behemoth.
Early Game
Plague Rider has a very strong early game. Contagion and Extinguish combine to make you a harassing machine setting up for easy kills on the enemy and burning through their regen items to stay in the lane. Generally, you will stay in your lane until level 6 except to TP counter gank, renew wards, or gank mid with a good rune.
Mid Game
By the time you hit level 6, the lanes have already started to break down and you will either be roaming around setting up ganks, defending / pushing towers with the team, stacking creep camps for your carry, or warding. Plague Carrier is a very strong ultimate at this point when counter items cannot yet be afforded and any counters will lie in the enemy teams' skill sets. With 750 range on your ultimate, try to use it on the hero your team wants to drop the most followed immediately by Contagion on the same hero.
Late Game
Like many support heroes in HoN, Plague Rider drops in effectiveness as the game goes on. Plague does not have a stun like some other supports do, so he cannot do much to the enemy team's carry once he has a Shrunken Head. Barrier Idol nullifies most of your ultimate's damage, but the slow will still go through and Plague Carrier will probably break Barrier's magic buffer on a few heroes. Make sure to spread Cursed Armor to your team's most important heroes prior to engaging in any battle. You cannot apply Cursed Armor to a magic immune teammate.
You can expect to be the main target in team fights in an attempt to take you down before you can get your ultimate off. At this point in the game, the enemy team will have Portal Keys and you will get focused. Stay out of sight and play like a coward until your initiator goes in or you find a good opportunity to let Plague Carrier out.
Lane mates
Plague's 4 second 30% slow with Contagion at all levels lets these heroes stay on the target and benefit greatly from Plague's lane control by being able to free farm the lane.
Team fight companions
Eliminates the ability to move to avoid Plague Carrier bounces. Behemoth's Shockwave will destroy the creep wave leaving only heroes to bounce to. Magmus's Eruption will also help destroy the creep wave, but also provide another slow followed by a Lava Surge.
Deserted triggers when an enemy has no allies in proximity. The enemy team has to decide to gather to avoid taking the true from Deserted when Mirage goes off or to separate to avoid Plague Carrier.
Worst Enemies
The ability of items and heroes to create secondary, unimportant targets to bounce to greatly diminishes the power of Plague Carrier. Barrier Idol's spell shield will help mitigate the damage of Plague Carrier, but the slow will still apply to targets.
Free Win!
Well not really, but any time you can be alone with just Wild Soul and Booboo and your ultimate is ready, he will be an easy kill.
Replays
Match 27057191
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Demonstrates good follow up Plague Carriers after Magmus Eruption. Laning with Swiftblade rather sucked since any attempt at spinning on top of someone would just be followed by a leap out on either target. Stacking because I expect Swift would get a Runed Axe, this helps make up for Swift's poor early game. This game was a little one-sided by the time Magmus got his blink, but the point is to show some proper Plague play.
Last edited by man_guy; 02-08-2011 at 03:21 PM.
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