Devourer-Item build variations

[Alghazanth]

So after being mainly a support player for a while I use to play devourer a lot back when hon first came out ,and I would like to start playing him again.I was just wondering what some of the opinions of the community on items I've seen.

Main question: what is regarded as the best boots for devourer? Normally I have always gotten striders for the massive ms for ganking,but I feel weak once in combat. Also at least in the 1700 bracket I see a lot of devourer players pick up steamboots vs any other type of boots which I find strange.

Second: What is the opinion on SotM on Devourer in HoN currently? Back when I played him in HoN early years I would always get one after I finished core items boots,shaman's( or vestments+Hobl depending on enemy team make up)pk then staff. Or is it better just to obtain a heart/barbed after core?

[[WhiP]Uroefl]

Striders are usually not a good pick on devourer, sure they give that mobility and whatnot.
But I think if ur lane is going good he could use steamboots or ghostmarchers over striders.
Steamboots allows him to switch to Int for more MP and use less in comparison to other boots while Ghost marchers allow him to position well and give that strong base damage.

These has been a discussion once when to pick up Shamans headress and when to pick up Hotbl + vestments.
Personally I think it is preference but if I had to put a link to them, it'd be Steamboots -> shamans and when you have ghost marchers -> hotbl + vestments, since it gives the most balance between Hp and Magic resistance.
Why Hotbl? It gives you the block,Hp and the ability to break it to a behemoths heart, and protective wise about the same as shamans (for decay).

Blood chalice should always be picked up for various reasons, like denying urself and keeping ur mana pool up.
And eventually I think this build would be best.
Ghost marchers/steamboots -> Chalice -> Shamans/hotbl-vestments -> Portal key -> Beheheart (break hotbl).

[[RCT]`blackbird`]

Both helm and headress should be picked up eventually, helm gives block against physical damage, helpful since devo has mediocre armor, and headdress makes his rot do way less damage to himself.

I like tablet, since if you get stunned, tableting up generally lets you catch back up to your target.

[[Mana]Farosarg]

You can skip helm after shamans pretty easily if you are getting kills consistently and want to build Heart, Shrunken or SotM.

As to picking Heart or SotM, that depends again on how often you get kills and how often you get killed in process. SotM easier build-up allows you to pick the items up easier instead of struggling to get Axe of Malphai. However if you are able to 'float' to Axe, just go ahead and pick it up.

[Jenova26]

Generally speaking, this is my build order:

Marchers > Mystic > Ghost Marchers > Tablet > Helm > Shaman's > SH/BH/BA

And lots of TPs

[Alghazanth]

Thanks for the advice so far everyone. It seems as far as boots go it really is a matter of player preference.

[HeyYou42]

i like grieves. gives you the same MS of steamboots but better armor and a nice pushing tool.

[[iAPM]TattyJangles]

Ghost marchers always so you can stay on top of people with rot.

[tidds]

Its ALWAYS situational. Take this last game of mine for instance : They had HEAVY physical damage on Arachna/Flint/Bramble (ulti) and those 2 first were raping me apart with their kiting (Flints Q and Arachna), so I bought Sac Stone, Barbed Armor (killed Flint once with it in 5 hits he didnt even notice), FrostField Plate, HOTBL, Headress, TP.

I was so tanky to their Physical DMG they just gave up on trying to kill me and Magmus/Legio(awesome combination) raped them apart while Valk added DPS and DS supported.

Epic game.

Of course, if they were a team of heavy magic dmg (lets say Pyro, Chipper, Zephyr, SS, Tempest) maybe Headress would have been needed earlier along with Idol and OFC Heart to stack HP.

[PrestonLee]

All the best devourers I've encountered always seem to go ghost marchers; they can make magic happen with that hook and curve it so it hits behind creeps when it wouldn't normally hit, and ghost marchers are great for keeping on your target and abusing Devo's huge attack bonuses during ult without accidentally getting out of rot range trying to use your auto attacks with other boots. With that said I like steams because I'm noob with devo, and depend a lot on pkey and tablet to get into position because I'm bad at curving those hooks

Vestments is core, and you can make a good case for shaman's since it further reduces rot damage, if not then hotbl for the block and extra health. Assuming mid you'll probably grab bottle for rune control, chalice is nice to help with mana management + bottle, and can help you deny yourself in sticky situations, but it isn't mandatory.

after that it's situational, though tablet is another one of those pickups that you can do magic with devourer, it can help you able to catch up anytime someone barely gets out of rot range, can set up some surprise hooks, and gives you a better mana pool to work with and isn't deterred by taking damage like pkey is.

portal key, shrunken, and heart are your next priority pickups that are going to be good in most situations, all are good just depends what you feel you need. After that just whatever your team could use, barrier, frostfield, daemonic, mock are all pretty common and nice pickups based on situation.

Sotm is a decent pickup, but for the most part any of the mentioned above are just plain better. If you're playing devo right, sotm just isn't very valuable because he should be raping without it anyway, it's not a gamebreaker, just having more health (behe heart) or more utility (shrunken, tablet, pkey, frostfield, daemonic, barrier etc) is going to be more valuable than that lifedrain sotm gives.

lastly, get 1 point in E whenever you can manage it and gANK like crazy or just be present in all teamfights, what makes devo dangerous is all that extra strength he gets from ganks. You can have crap farm, but when you've got +20 strength from ganking early on that's a whopping 400 health you get out of no where, so even if all you have is a shamans with all that extra health you're still tanky as hell. Being involved in 10 kills early on is going to give you way more than afk-farming mid for hotbl while no one gets ganked, always remember that when you hit 6, ask someone on your team if they want mid and go do some dirty work, don't stay mid and farm unless you know you're going to get kills out of it.

but yeah, whenever I see rapetrain Devo's doing crazy hooks it's always ghosts+tablet+pkey making it happen. I used to not respect devo players but after seeing what GOOd Devo's can do with ghosts+tablet+pkey and hook, I've definitely changed my opinion on devo

[[xBM]Ackwell1]

I play a lot devo (most played ) and I tend to pick steamboots/armor boots/ghost marchers depending a bit on the situation, vestments, helm, maybe barrier depends on the enemy heroes, tablet, hellflower/hex and other things your team will need.

I like tablet>pk, but pk isnt a bad option its your preference. Sotm is pretty crap on devo so skip it.

[girard`]

This is really dependent on your farm, but I'm a huge fan of Boots of Travel (or w/e they're called) on him if you can afford it. Those boots and PK are huge for his mobility...and Devo thrives on mobility. Obviously, Vestments -> Headdress is essential.

Other luxury:
Heart
Frostfield Plate
Staff (not a huge fan but I've seen it work)

[[f13]zstarkey42]

PK is extremly fun for some troll hooks. Aim hook, grab someone and PK back a long distance and the victim will get pulled all the way back. The ability to instagib lone heros with PK+ult is very useful as well. Tablet also works for him if you're having mana issues.

[[xBM]Ackwell1]

PK is extremly fun for some troll hooks. Aim hook, grab someone and PK back a long distance and the victim will get pulled all the way back. The ability to instagib lone heros with PK+ult is very useful as well. Tablet also works for him if you're having mana issues.

that pk trick doenst work anymore? If it does it is extremely hard to pull off. I can only manage hook them into the position where I casted the hook.

[[f13]zstarkey42]

Nope, it still works if you pk after the target is caught by the hook. It is hard to pull off yes, but you can isolate someone completly out of enemy retaliation range at the start of a teamfight which can be huge.

[[E]Marach]

PK is extremly fun for some troll hooks. Aim hook, grab someone and PK back a long distance and the victim will get pulled all the way back. The ability to instagib lone heros with PK+ult is very useful as well. Tablet also works for him if you're having mana issues.

Nope, it still works if you pk after the target is caught by the hook. It is hard to pull off yes, but you can isolate someone completly out of enemy retaliation range at the start of a teamfight which can be huge.

afaik hooking towards another place with the use of PK/tablet does work, but you can only pull someone a certain distance. ie pulling more than hook range doesn't work, as Ackwell already said.

[[xBM]Ackwell1]

afaik hooking towards another place with the use of PK/tablet does work, but you can only pull someone a certain distance. ie pulling more than hook range doesn't work, as Ackwell already said.

Phew.. I thought I was wrong

[DntJealousMe]

Runes,HP,MP,Mark of novice,Pretenders crown> ward lane always get firstblood with rot> marchers or complete mana ring if double tap or quick farm>Phase boots,shamans>PK>SOTM>Heart or Shrunken. gg