I found out that there isn't any satisfactory guide about Predator so, I've decided to put forth all my energy into this futile attempt, and write one!
I hope you find it interesting, easy to read, or at least helpful.
Predator
A brief description about Predator.
Predator is a STR hero with quite unique skills, some of them resemble Naix's in Dota, but that's only half of them. He is considered late game hero, but he can work out well in mid game as well, however requires some attention at early game. He is a pure damage dealer without any damaging spells, relies only on attacking and preying on his enemies.
For those who might be interested , here is , his background story:
With huge, lance-like claws of solid bone emerging from their forearms, and spikes fit to impale the strongest foe spread across their hard shell, Predators seem more like daemons than Beasts. The men who fight beside them look at them with recollected fear from the days the Predators hunted humans, not daemons. But the hunger, speed, and rage they bring to bear against the Hellbourne are a welcome boon.
I'll explain his skils in more detailed manner than the game does:
Venomous Leap:
The Predator leaps toward an enemy unit, then strikes them with venomous claws. The enemy takes some damage and is slowed briefly.
Type: Physical
Range: 650
Cast Time: 0.7 Seconds
Mana Cost: 90
Cooldown: 20.0 / 17.0 / 14.0 / 11.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
Leaps toward target, dealing 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 Magic damage and applying Venomous for 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 seconds.
Venomous Effects
40% Movement Slow
That's what the game says.
My explanation, this skill make you jump to your target slowing them a lot and dealing some damage, helping you get closer to ranged heroes (since you are melee). It can work as the initiator of your spells, bringing you into combat range and slowing the target helping your allies to reach him. It has quite short cooldown on the 4th level that you should not hesitate to use it first. It also works on magic immune units, but the slow and the damage doesn't apply, you just leap to the target, which is quite useful sometimes.
Stone Hide
The Predator makes his hide like stone, granting him Magic Immunity, dispelling debuffs, and increasing his armor temporarily.
Action:Target Self
Cast Time: 0.1 Seconds
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 15.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
Dispels debuffs and applies Stone Hide to self for 3 / 3.75 / 4.5 / 5.25 seconds.
Stone Hide Effects
Immunity Type: MagicImmunity1
3 / 6 / 9 / 12 Armor
That's maybe the most important skill for Predator. Good use of this results in a good Predator, bad use, results in a bad Predator, simple things. You can mess up with the other skills, but if you do with this one, you fail your game (more explanation about why later).This skill grants you Magical Immunity and boosts your physical armor as well for a maximum of 5.25 seconds. the colldown again is quite short meaning you can have it twice is many battles.
Carnivorous
The Predator feasts on his opponents flesh with each attack, allowing him to topple the mightiest warriors. Each attack damages opponents for a percentage of their current Health, and heals the Predator based on the damage dealt.
Passive
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
On Attack
Deals Physical damage to targets equal to 4 / 5 / 6 / 7% of their current Health and heals you for the same amount.
Does not work on Boss units.
Your source of damage. That's how Predator survives, kills and farms. Many confuse this skill with Lifesteal. No it's not Lifesteal, it may give you hp when you attack, but it doesn't steal life.It can deal huge amount of damage if your enemy is on full hp and has much life, and it can do pretty much anything if you enemy is low on hp.
Terror
The Predator roars, instilling terror in nearby enemies, reducing their armor. Allies who attack enemies affected by terror will receive increased attack and movement speed.
Action:Target Self
Type:Enemy Heroes
Type: Physical
Radius: 450
Cast Time: 1.0 Seconds
Mana Cost: 50 / 75 / 100
Cooldown: 60.0 Seconds
Required Level: 6 / 11 / 16
Activation
Applies Terror to targets in radius around self for 20 seconds.
Terror Effects
-2 / -4 / -6 Armor
When attacked, buffs attacker's attack speed by 20 / 40 / 60 and movement speed by 15% for 4.5 seconds
Terror is buff for your and your allies. Ensure that enemies wont go far alive and boosts your damage output. Since it works on area around you, it's better not to cast it for one running enemy but when you leap into a bunch of them.
I will begin with an item build guide and justify it later while explaining the gameplay of predator.
you start with 603 gold (meaning you didn't random predator and you are playing "All-heroes" mode) and you get these:
When you get your 1st 900 gold, you start buying
In the following order, these:
--
--
--
--
So basically up to now you got:
The Runes of blight should no longer be there as you will have used them.
Your shopping list continues like this:
Until here, this is your CORE ITEM build, should be the same on every of your Predator game since it doesn't result from your enemies choices, but rather from Predator's needs.
What to buy next?
Your next items are not core. What that means? That means you can alter them depending on your game's needs. However I've noticed that i rarely need to buy something else other than these:
One of these 2, not both.(explaining why later.)
And these.
So your final items would be these:
or these
Now the most crucial part of the itembuild in this guide. HOW Predator plays, WHY these items, WHY not others, HOW to utilize them.
Predator is very fragile at start, he cant last hit creeps easily and he can escape easily if ganked. So it's much more profitable for you and your team, to leave a 2nd lane to solo, and go jungling at neutral creeps.
So in order to help you jungling you level your skills like that:
1- Carnivorous
2- Venomous Leap
3- Carnivorous
4- Venomous Leap
5- Carnivorous
6- Venomous Leap
7- Carnivorous
8- Venomous Leap
9- Stone Hide
10- Terror
11- Stone Hide
12- Stone Hide
13- Stone Hide
14- Terror
15- Stats
16- Terror
17 to 25- Stats
You will notice that jungling is quite easy* with this skill-build and these item. When you get your 1st 900 gold, go to the Outpost that is on the 2 corners (almost) of the map and buy your Hungry Sprit. Now Jungling doesn't cost you any life at all.
*
Easy creeps that you should target on lvl 1-3
these are low dmg creeps that dont damage you a lot
Creeps you should avoid before level 3 at least
Always aim for the easiest of each group, because it will give you exp faster and help you level your abilities.
Creeps you should avoid before getting Hungry Spirit
These wolves are the worst prey out there, low life, high damage and critical, they will lower you in seconds, avoid them at start at all costs.
You keep jungling at your neutrals, until you get Elder Parasite and Marchers (ofc you can gank at the closest lane when your ally asks you, your slow is quite useful).When you have Elder and Enchanted Marchers (from the point you can sell Iron Buckler whenever you feel it) ganking should be very often at your close, but you still farm there it's quite fast gold.
Why Elder Parasite and Enchanted Marchers?
The reason is simple and important. When you will have your lvl 4 Stone Hide, you got 5.25 seconds with nothing being able to stop you, in that time you should do the most damage you can without creeps/heroes blocking your path. So Elder Parasite gives you that insane boost for these few seconds and E. Marchers helps you run through everything to chase your target. Also you can use Elder Parasite to farm faster when you dont have Stone Hide ready to kill Heroes.
Next is Insanitarius.
Designed for STR carries this item works similarly with Elder Parasite. Gives you a huge boost for limited time (because you can't have it activated for long due to the damage taken). With these so far, any, at lvl 12 any INT hero is a prey and many other that dont have an escaping skill (like blink).
Now that the core build is over, lets go to the after-build. Many will have different opinions on these , that's why i ran thought some statistics to help some people see clearer the big picture.
Hack and Slash vs Shieldbreaker.
There is no correct choice between them. Each one has different purpose.
H&S helps you chase efficiently and attack faster (and gives you a certain amount of hp), while Shieldbreaker combined with your Terror reduces your enemy's armor a lot and helps you deal much more dmg. In which case to buy these?
If your enemies consist of disablers/nukers/STR heroes that move fast or escape (like behemoth for example) most effective would be Shieldbreaker, since they will have very low armor (INT, STR heroes) their armor value might also go to a negative value which means tons of damage.
If your enemies have 2-3 Agil heroes or heroes that can escape easily (like Rampage who is fast, Pestilence, Maliken , Accursed) H&S is more effective, since it will ensure your hunt, while Shieldbreaker wont get Agil heroes to negative armor, H&S will kill not let them escape even if they need few more hits.
Savage Mace, why to buy it.
Savage mace gives a good amount of dmg , a decent amount of attack speed, and makes your attacks NEVER miss. quite important against agility heroes that have evasion from wingbow or other skills. Since you are a carry you will need damage in pure form rather than STR.
Wingbow
Wingbow. why buy an agility item on Predator. Wingbow may not give high damage, but gives high damage per second. You may not see it on your "Damage" tab , but you do much more damage with it. Simply, because you attack much faster. Another very important reason is that it works well with your Stone hide. While immune, the only thing that can hurt you is Attacks and Physical Damage. Wingbow provides you with armor and evasion, making you almost invulnerable while in Stone Hide.
What items to avoid:
Riftshards:
Why avoid when it's good offensive item? Predator's life may be not high , but he "gets" back life with his Carnivorous skill. He gets maximum when the enemy is at full hp and in every next hit he gets less. If you have riftshards and you achieve a critical hit, the enemy has lost much hp, and you gained hp only once. Meaning that it reduces your surviveability during combat. However if you increased your attack speed and damage steadily (like with Savage Mace) you will still make him hurt a lot and absorb much life too.
Behemoth's Heart:
Although a clearly STR originated item, it doesn't help Predator at all. He survives thourgh attacking and this one isn't an offensive item.
Helm of the Black Legion:
Exactly same reason as Behemoth's Heart and it's much gold wasted when not needed.
Not exactly avoid but... (see below)
Daemonic Breastplate:
While it helps a lot, Wingbow does the same job practically. The differences are that with Daemonic you got a bit more surviveability and the auras while with Wingbow you got more DPS. (you will see more differences in the table below)
Here are some statistics from a Predator 25 lvl. (under the buffs of Parasite, Terror, Stone Hide and Insanitarius)**
-With Elder Parasite, Enchated Marchers, Insanitarius, Savage Mace, Wingbow, Hack and Slash
Damage Per Second : 902.5
PHP : about 8500
MHP : about 3000
Movement speed : 522
-With Elder Parasite, Enchated Marchers, Insanitarius, Savage Mace, Wingbow, Shieldbreaker
Damage Per Second : 982
PHP : about 7500
MHP : about 3000
Movement speed : 500
-With Elder Parasite, Enchated Marchers, Insanitarius, Savage Mace, Daemonic Breastplate, Hack and Slash
Damage Per Second : 827.5
PHP : about 10000
MHP : about 3000
Movement speed : 522
-With Elder Parasite, Enchated Marchers, Insanitarius, Savage Mace, Daemonic Breastplate, Shieldbreaker
Damage Per Second : 907
PHP : about 9000
MHP : about 3000
Movement speed : 500
Well replacing Wingbow with Deamonic isn't huge change as you see, so it's not bad to do it (i never do it tho, i prefer wingbow).
All item choices are chosen with 1 and only 1 strategy. As a predator with your mighty stone hide. YOU MUST do the most possible damage on your time given immune. Fail to do that, will result in a failed Predator.
** These statistics are all without reductions being applied, simply because each target has different armor.
There is no point in mentioning easy victims from Predator, because almost everything is a prey if you follow this guide. There are some exception though which are worhy mentioning. The following are hard enemies for Predator:
His Disarm is Predator's worst enemy. Even nerfed now (1 second) still makes your life very hard. Don't provoke him to target you.
Don't let her do the bait and lure you out of combat. She can sleep herself and you will just lose your stone hide buff.
His ultimate spell....your worst nightmare. It's always wise to tell your allies to provoke Jera use his ulti before you charge in.
Careful with this one too, leaping to him may result in you silenced, meaning no Stone Hide, meaning easy prey for the others.It is good to lose 1-2 second of stonehide and apply it before you leap on Vindicator.
There is one item also that can ruin a Predator, or at least if you were Predator's prey, now you are not. This item is found with the name Void Talisman.
Since your damage is just your attacks, Void Talisman that renders someone immune to attacks and Physical damage (and lasts almost as long as your Stone Hide) can lure you and make you a bait. Check enemies' invetories. If you see that, DON'T choose him as your 1st target at all costs.
The end for the moment.
I'll update the guide with some screenshots and things i forgot to add (these exist , always) in the near future, stay tuned.
Originally Posted by JoeMartin
)
I know hack&slash is considered noob item since it just gives a bit of anything a bad player needs and doesnt do any significant change on most of heroes, but i find that it's good for predator.
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