From the ice-caverns of the Frostfield hails Tundra, a white ape shaman of enormous size and power. His thundering voice commands the obedience of wild creatures and his magical powers conjure up the terrible cold of his northern home. Even fiery Hellbourne daemons feel a chill as he enters the fray.
Tundra is a ganking semicarry whose power excels in map control and micro-management.
+ Good Attack Animation
+ Great Map Control
+ Good Movespeed
+ Good Base Armor
+ Long Superior Magic Stun
+ Able to Farm the Enemy Jungle
- Bad Stat Gain
- Has No Real Sidelane Presence
- Not Good Solo-Ganker Unless Farmed
- Very Highly Team-Dependant
- Melee Hero
Tundra can control ice and form it into deadly spikes at a whim, letting him unleash two waves of them towards his enemies. The shards will curve towards any target, destroying trees in their path.
Activation (Q)
Target Ground - Enemy Units
Type - Superior Magic Superior Physical
Range - 1300
Mana Cost - 120
Cooldown - 13 seconds
Anything hit by the shards take 90/120/150/180 Magical and Physical damage. This damage is reduced by both Magical and Physical Armor.
This ability destroys trees. Also grants 500 day and night clearvision while active.
They call me the lumberjack.
This skill is useful for the whole game. Being great harassing tool early game, and a farming tool mid game, the clearvision, as well as some decent burst damage are good late game as well. So generally, this skill is one of the best nukes out there in HoN.
Target them on the max range, as they move faster the further they are casted. This is because the lifetime of the Shards is always the same, meaning that the speed is faster if they have to move higher distance.
Call of Winter
Tundra has lived lived alone so long that he has formed bonds with the birds and the wildlife of the mountains. His two favorites are Shiver and Coeurl. When he calls, they will come to his aid in battle for a short time.
Activation (W)
Self Position
Mana Cost - 50
Cooldown - 40 seconds
Summons Shiver and Coeurl for 60 seconds. Coeurl will only be summoned at level 2 or above
Shiver
-100/100/200/200 Health
-270/270/400/400 Movement Speed
-Splash Immune
-Sight range increases with level
-Gains the ability to go invisible for 6 seconds at level 3
-450 turnrate
-0/0/5/5 armor
-Sight, day: 700/700/1200/1200
-Sight, night: 500/500/1000/1000
Coeurl
-0/400/400/500 Health
-350 Movement Speed
-550 Attack Range
-450 turnrate
-attack damage 23/23/23/43 - 29/29/29/49
-Sight 1400/800
-On attack, slows Movement Speed of target by 0/20/20/35% and Attack Speed by 0/20/20/35
Shiver and Coeurl, I choose you!
This skill is what makes Tundra the true map controller. The vision Shiver grants is in a pretty big area; He is basically a moving Ward of Sight with clear vision. It is extremely good for not only ganking and avoiding ganks, but also for counterwarding. Coeurl's slow is the big factor why he is so useful, although the damage is something especially early to mid game.
Shiver's invis has 1 sec fade time. Shiver range indicators
Cold Shoulder
Last Winter, Tundra had two distant relatives teach him how to charge his enemies correctly, coating them in ice on contact. The ice makes them easier to hit, increasing everyone's Attack Speed against that target.
Activation (E)
Target Enemy Unit
Type - Physical
Range - 600
Mana Cost - 40
Cooldown - 12 seconds
On use, charges the target, dealing Tundra's Attack Damage on impact
Applies Cold Shoulder to them for 8 seconds
Cold Shoulder Effects
Increases Attack Speed against this target by 15/30/45/60
The Brothers of cold send their regards..
This skill adds some solid burst damage for your DPS, especially if you have a Puzzlebox. It is also a built-in Nullstone proccer so you can freely cast your Avalanche -ultimate. Low cooldown and mana cost make it even more viable as a spammable nuke.
Avalanche
Tundra can control the mountain itself when in a fit of rage, summoning a piece of a glacier to smash his target and toss any nearby enemy heroes away.
Activation (R)
Target Organic Enemy Unit
Type - Superior Magic
Range - 600
Mana Cost - 150/175/200
Cooldown - 80/75/70 seconds
Deals 200/250/300 Magic Damage and stuns target for 3/3.5/4 seconds.
Pushes anyone between Tundra and his target 240 units away, deals 100/200/300 Magic Damage, and applies Avalanche to them for 2/3/4 seconds.
Avalanche Effects
50% Movement Slow
-50 Attack Speed
I've frozen Mammoths in these things.
Very useful skill for early game ganking, as well as mid game fights. Useful to disable the enemy carry even through the Shrunken Head in late game fights.
Skill Build
Farm-oriented build
Piercing Shards
Cold Shoulder / Call of Winter
Piercing Shards
Call of Winter / Cold Shoulder
Piercing Shards
Avalanche
Piercing Shards
Call of Winter
Call of Winter
Call of Winter / Cold Shoulder
Avalanche
Cold Shoulder
Cold Shoulder
Cold Shoulder
Attribute Boost
Avalanche
Less farm-oriented build
Piercing Shards
Call of Winter
Call of Winter
Cold Shoulder / Piercing Shards
Call of Winter
Avalanche
Call of Winter
Piercing Shards
Piercing Shards
Piercing Shards / Cold Shoulder
Avalanche
Cold Shoulder
Cold Shoulder
Cold Shoulder
Attribute Boost
Avalanche
The 1 level in Cold Shoulder early on is completely your choice; I take it for the extra burst and last hits it provides. Having more levels in Cold Shoulder is unnecessary early on, so you will max out it as your last skill.
Piercing Shards is an extremely useful skill. You will use it to harass the enemy on the lane, as well as some burst damage to gank and countergank. It is very strong for farming due to its huge range; You can hit multiple neutral camps with it.
Call of Winter is also a good skill, and should be maxed after Piercing Shards unless you want to max it first. For me, Coeurl is useful, but it is not as strong as the level 4 Piercing Shards. Some disagree, thats why there are 2 builds.
Avalanche is taken on chance for damage, as well as disable improvement.
As you are a melee hero, your starting items will change based on your opposing middle hero. The following is my recommendation, so if you have any other starting items which are working for you, feel free to buy them.
Pickup one set of Runes of Blight, or if you prefer, a Health Potion.
Against a melee hero, Logger's Hatchet is strong.
Against a ranged hero, Iron Buckler is the best choice.
Against a nuker, such as Thunderbringer or Bombardier, Mana Battery is a smart pickup.
If you don't know who you will be against, an Iron Buckler is the best single choice. Personally I get Buckler against any hero, because it is extremely useful even against melee heroes in order to play aggressively.
Runes of the Blight/Health Potion
Value 90 / 100, in the respective order
Iron Buckler/Logger's Hatchet/Mana Battery
Value 250 / 225 / 200, in the respective order
Early Game
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You'll want a bottle since you are going to be controlling runes, using your hawk and by spamming the lane with piercing shards. You have a way to get HP back (bottle) and you will be spamming piercing shards a lot, so chalice is a good item to have. I say marchers and chalice are interchangeable because sometimes you will need marchers to properly control the rune/gank, and you don't want to not have marchers by ~8 minutes.
I like steamboots over Ghost Marchers because you will be killing neutral creeps (enemy jungle) a LOT, which steamboots help you more with. Also, it has synergy with chalice and bottle.
Other possible boot choices are Striders Post Haste. If you prefer the initiating Tundra, or the game requires that, you should get them. If you can't afford Post Haste, get Striders for the cheap roaming power. However, Post Haste is definitely a great item on Tundra, because the mobility they grant makes ganking extremely easy. You can also use them to teleport to your Shiver-pet.
Power Supply is purely optional. It is definitely a strong item, but personally I don't usually take it. This is because I already use 4 item slots to chalice+bottle+steamboots+tp, and I want to keep some for other items.
Bottle of Tears (3/3)
Must be refilled at the Well or by picking up rune
Bottle is only filled 2/3 when taken to the Well by a courier Activation
Uses one charge, and restores 135 HP and 70 Mana over 3 seconds, Dispels on damage Value 600
Blood Chalice Passive Bonuses
+3 Strenght
+3 Intelligence Activation
Removes 150 HP, grants 100 Mana
If you are on 700 range of a dying enemy hero in 15 seconds after activation, you are granted back the initial life cost of 150
Cooldown 35 seconds Requires Crushing Claws 150 Mark of the Novice 150 Scarab 325 Total Cost 625
Power Supply Passive Bonuses
+3 Strenght
+3 Agility
+3 Intelligence Activation
Restores 10 Health and 15 Mana per charge. Maximum of 15 charges. Aura
Radius 1200
Enemy Heroes Aura Effect
1 Charge every time an enemy hero casts spell Requires Minor Totem 53 Minor Totem 53 Mana Battery 200 Recipe 240 Total Cost 546
Steamboots Passive Bonuses
+25 Attack Speed
+10 Strenght/Agility/Intelligence Requires Marchers 500 Gloves of Swift 500 Bolstering Armband/Fleetfeet/Apprentice's Robe 450 Total Cost 1450
Post Haste Passive Bonuses
+105 Movement Speed Activation
Mana Cost 75
Cooldown 60
Target ally non-hero unit/structure. After 3 seconds of channeling, teleports to the target, and applies 200 movement speed buff for 5 seconds. Shares cooldown with Homecoming Stone Requires Marchers 500 Recipe 2200 Total Cost 2700
Striders
Passive Bonus
+50 Movement Speed
When out of combat for 6 seconds, increases Movement Speed by an extra 100 over the next 2 seconds. Bonus Movement speed is removed when the owner takes damage, casts a spell, attacks, or uses an item.
Mid to Late Game
Helm of the Black Legion is a very effective item on Tundra. It is quite cheap, barely over 2000 gold, and provides you with tons of survivability. I suggest building this in almost any game when playing Tundra.
Portal Key is always a great item on a hero like Tundra. It helps you position yourself, initiate much easier, as well as even escape from certain situations. You can jump next to the enemy, Avalanche, summon your minions and Cold Shoulder + drop him down in the matter of second or two. Another item you should at least think of in every game.
Puzzlebox is the best item choice on Tundra because not only does it have synergy with Cold Shoulder, Tundra also has a permaslow and a 3-4 second stun, which is also good with Puzzlebox (the main problem with the item is that people can just run away when you summon... but no one runs away from Tundra). Did I say that HotBL and PK are strong items on Tundra, and nearly core? Well, so is this.
Some teams will have a lot of disable, and you need to get in there to do any real damage, so you should get a shrunken head in this case. As your games get higher level, you will find that you need shrunken head in more games than not.
Items above this line are the first ones to be choosing from; If you are in a position in which the ones you don't own don't fit the game, choose items below the line.
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Items below this line are more so situational items than the ones above the line, and should be built when needed.
Bound Eye is generally taken for counterwarding on Tundra. That is because he is hard to gank with his Shiver, and the Shiver also grants vision of all cliffs so no ward will stay unseen. If the enemies don't have any invisible units, put it in stash before teamfights to avoid losing it.
Items that increase the DPS of your minions, and all sort of auras to support your team are always great. So it's Abyssal Skull / Daemonic Breastplate.
Frostfield Plate is a great item to have for any team. The attack and movement speed slows, as well as the small nuke from it are useful for any teamfight, as they make kiting much harder, as well as mitigate some DPS. Solves your mana problems, and provides some extra armor on top of that.
Sheepstick is not a bad item on ANY hero. For Tundra, it makes you capable to either disable two targets, or completely shutdown one. Solves mana problems and gives some stats on top of that.
Frostwolf's Skull slows the enemies even more. It is good against opposing Shrunken Heads, Swiftblades and Predators. The stats from it are pretty huge, and it makes you extremely tanky. I would suggest it only if you are extremely farmed and want to "carry" the game a bit more.
Puzzlebox Passive Bonuses
+6/10/14 Strenght
+15/21/24 Intelligence
Activation
No Target
Mana Cost 50
Cooldown 90 seconds
Spawns a Puzzlebox Mauler and a Puzzlebox Wizard under your control. Each has a life time of 35 seconds. Upon achieving a level 3 Puzzlebox, the Puzzlebox Mauler will revealth stealth units in a 1000 AoE. Minions cannot attack towers unless the owner is within 925 units. Requires Bolstering Armband 450 Neophyte's Book 1000 Recipe 1250 Recipe 1250 Recipe 1250 Total Cost 2700/3950/5200
Abyssal Skull
Applies an aura to all nearby allies. Life Steal only works on melee units. The mana regeneration aura and the Armor aura do not stack with Ring of the Teacher or Nome's Wisdom. Since this item's Life Steal properties are applied via an aura, it does not count as an exclusive attack modifier. Aura
Radius 900 Aura Effects
+15% Base Damage
+5 Armor
+0.8 Mana Regeneration
+15% Lifesteal Requires Hungry Spirit 900 Ring of the Teacher 500 Trinket of Restoration 350 Recipe 300 Total Cost 2050
Shrunken Head Passive Bonuses
+10 Strenght
+24 Damage Activation
Self
Cooldown 80 seconds
Applies Shrunken Head to self for 10 seconds and dispels debuffs from self after each time Shrunken Head is used, the duration of Shrunken Head is reduced by 1 second and Shrunken Head's cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds. The duration of Shrunken Head will not go below 5 seconds, nor will the cooldown go below 55 seconds. Shrunken Head can't be removed or dispelled Shrunken Head Effect
Magic Immunity Requires Mighty Blade 1000 Warhammer 1600 Recipe 1300 Total Cost 3900
Frostfield Plate Passive Bonuses
+30 Intelligence
+15 Armor Activation
Self Position
Radius - 744
Manacost - 100
Cooldown - 30 seconds
Deals 200 Magic Damage to enemies in radius, and applies Frostfield to them for 4 seconds.
Gives clearvision of 2 seconds on use Frostfield Effect
40% Movement Slow Aura
Enemy Units
Radius - 900
Type - Magic
-25 Attack Speed Requires Acolyte's Staff 2700 Platemail 1400 Recipe 600 Total Cost 4700
Sheepstick Passive Bonuses
+10 Strenght
+10 Agility
+35 Intelligence
+200% Mana Regen Activation
Target Enemy Unit
Type - Magic
Range - 800
Mana Cost - 100
Cooldown - 35 seconds
Applies Transfigured to target for 3.5 seconds Transfigured Effects
Silenced
Perplexed
Disarmed
Movement Speed set to 100 Requires Acolyte's Staff 2700 Manatube 875 Blessed Orb 2100 Total Cost 5675
Frostwolf's Skull Passive Bonuses
+30 Strenght
+15 Agility
+15 Intelligence
+200 Max Health
+150 Max Mana
+10 Damage On Attack Impact
Applies Freeze to target for 3 seconds when attacking or casting a single target spell Freeze Effects
30% Movement Slow
20% Attack Slow Requires Glowstone 1200 Icebrand 2200 Blessed Orb 2100 Recipe 700 Total Cost 6200
Bound Eye
The Bound Eye drops on death and has an 1100 Reveal Range of type Eye.
Eye Reveal type can reveal stealthed units, including Wards. Value 700
Portal Key Activation
Target Position
Range 1200
Mana Cost 75
Cooldown 14 seconds
Teleports self to target position. Cooldown of 3 seconds is applied to Portal Key if damaged by a player controlled unit. Value 2150
Helm of the Black Legion Passive Bonuses
+300 Max Health
+6 Health Regeneration
70% chance to block 40 attack damage Requires Iron Buckler 250 Lifetube 875 Beastheart 1100 Total Cost 2225
Items to Avoid
Frostburn: You are not an autoattack-carry! The slow from this item is basically useless, and other benefits dont fit your hero.
Fortified Bracelet: Rather get Power Supply/Blood Chalice, as they provide you good mana aswell, and you dont have inventory slots for these
If you can't solo the middle lane, you have done something wrong with your picks. Tundra NEEDS to be solo in order to take over a game and be useful.
Try to block your creeps to get them on your cliff --> Easy last hits and enemies can't gank you.
Time your Piercing Shards so that you get few creep kills and harass the enemy hero at the same time. ALWAYS target them on the maximum range, so that they move the fastest possible speed.
You should also try to time your Piercing Shards so, that the lane will be pushed before the rune spawns. If you for some reason can't gain the rune control, you'll need to bottle-crow. If you don't have wards, put the Shiver on either rune at the same time as you push the lane, other times use it to have viion over the enemy mid hero, so he can't harass you from fog, or put it in trees so the enemies can't gank you.
If you can't take the enemy middle hero down at level 6, preferably call for a gank. If you happen to get an opportunity, gank a sidelane; Your ultimate should easily provide at least one, if not two kills. By opportunity I mean getting a Haste or Invisibility rune, or TP-Counter-Ganking when enemies are playing too aggressive.
Mid to Late Game
There are basically two ways to play Tundra in the mid game.
Farming Style
You will be farming the enemy jungle as much as possible. So basically, you place your Shiver to avoid being ganked, and TP away if necessary. Use your Piercing Shards so that they hit multiple neutral camps to maximize your farm.
Why farm the enemy jungle? Well, farming the enemy jungle not only leaves your own jungle to your carries, but also takes away farm from the enemies. On top of that, it opens up ganking possibilites - Enemies don't usually have their own jungle warded.
Ganking Style
You should put the Shiver in offensive positions and try to get pickoffs in order to push towers and win teamfights. The key is to work with your team, holding Homecoming Stones and keeping Wards of Sight and Revelation up at all times.
If possible, you want to focus your ganks on the enemy carry / initiator, so the carry can't get strong items, nor can the initiator get a Portal Key to initiate with. If they are too well protected by the other players of their team, get whoever you can.
Late Game
Proper usage of your Shiver should grant you the advantage in map control. Enemies shouldn't be able to kill the Kongor or gank your team, so you have a huge advantage. Try to get a pickoff if possible, if not, simply win a teamfight. Try to jump on the enemy carry - Shrunken Head doesn't stop you. Another possible target is the enemy disabler, especially if its a squishy one.
Tips & Tricks
1) When killing neutrals, be sure to hit multiple camps with your Piercing Shards. If you have to lure the creeps out a bit or walk to the edge of a treeline to do it, then do it.
2) Use shiver to scout for runes early if your team doesn't have wards up.
3) Shiver allows you to farm extremely aggressively with proper scouting. Just leave your bird at a point far enough away so that when you see them coming it's not too late.
4) ALWAYS have shiver out. One of the main reasons tundra is so good is because of the ridiculous scouting you get from shiver.
5) I hotkey shiver to 1 key, my hero to one, and summons to another, and courier to a fourth key. This is because shiver is almost always being given a different instruction than my hero and summons, while my hero might be running away and I want the minions to attack, or so. Your hotkeys stick when you re-summon the units, so it's worth your time to hotkey them the first time.
6) If you have puzzlebox, you can pick off lone heroes with ease. All of your summons attacking with cold shoulder added to the burst damage from your ult and shards should be about 1500 damage before they even recover from the stun, at which point they're probably out of mana and being slowed. Just make sure you've scouted with shiver to make sure that they are indeed alone.
7) I've mentioned that you should be aggressively farming the enemy jungle. This should start the moment you finish hungry spirit, or even before. Steamboots, bottle, and chalice is really all you need. Generally this will be around level 8 or 9.
8) The Coeurl can remove Succubus' Mesmerize by pressing Attack-command.
9) When fleeing or chasing through the woods, try to get vision of neutral creeps with your Shiver and charge them to move around faster.
10) Both of your pets can clear Engineer's Spider Mines; always send the bird over to the lane engi is in as soon as you can to sweep for Mines, and remember to do so throughout the entire game.
11) In case your Coeurl isnt doing anything, send it into the jungle and stack it.
12) Parasite can jump in your bird and spread terror across the map, just remember that he gets kicked out when you resummon another one.
13) You and your allies can use Post Haste to tp on your Shiver while it is invisible -- this way there is literally zero warning since the teleport effect is invisible.
14) As long as your bird is one pixel behind the center of a tree it is invisible to units looking at it in that direction, try to position your bird so that its covered by trees in 360 degrees
15) Instantly use invisibility on your Shiver when you spawn it, this way your enemies lose track of your cooldown and have no idea where the bird is and where its going
16) Mock of Brilliance can kill the Shiver very quickly, try to keep it some distance away from paths where the hero with Mock might walk
17) You can deny yourself with your Coeurl / Puzzlebox Minions.
etc..
Carries that rely on attack speed, as your Cold Shoulder ability gives them more attack speed for a little time. Also your Shiver with the help of wards makes them to be nearly impossible to gank.
etc..
Gankers who highly rely on map control and can help you ganking.
Counters
Pharaoh
This guy is just annoying to face with any hero. But with Tundra, the most annoying thing is that he can instakill your Shiver with his Tormented Soul skill and he can countergank your ganks, and gank you easily.
Defiler
Your minions are basically just feed for her. Even though your ulti can take her out of a fight if placed correctly, she can totally dominate you on the middle lane with no problem.
Accursed
His shield dispels your ultimate from one of his ally, as well as makes them more tanky to all incoming damage.
Heroes with blinks/teleports can cause issues in the terms of staying alive, as Shiver is not AS useful agaisnt them, but it is still strong.
Note - If any of the replays are unavailable for download, I do have the files on my PC for cases like that. Just hit me up!
61377551 - Match 61377551
[fray]WyTaLiBa playing Tundra as solo sidelane, going with the max-Call build, Striders --> Puzzlebox --> Portal Key. Although he had some issues during the game, the Shiver usage is a thing to look at.
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