|
|
THIS GUIDE DOES NOT WORK WELL IN PUBS. YOU WILL NOT GET A HIGHER KD DOING THIS
Roaming
Hello and welcome to my guide on a very distinct playstyle. Roaming is something seldom discussed on these forums except in a passing comment. It is an incredibly potent strategy under certain circumstances and an amazing roamer will set your carry up for the express lane. Roamers admittedly gimp themselves on items and levels but if played well they will devastate the opposing team.
What is a roamer?
A roamer is a hero with no set lane. They head from lane to lane, looking for players who are out of position/low on hp to score a kill or to simply harass and slow down their farming and ganking potential.
Two types of roamers exist. For the majority of this guide I'll be focusing on dedicated roamers
Dedicated Roamers
Dedicated roamers are heroes that begin roaming at level one and stop roaming once the leveling phase stops and the group fight stage begins. They have either a strong stun or a crippling slow at level one that leads to an early first blood and hopefully subsequent kills beyond that.
Please note this is not an all-inclusive list. Pollywog Priest and Electrician, for example, also make great roamers.
A major requisite to being a roamer is to be strongly item independant. A hero who is expected to carry late game should not roam, because through roaming you minimize the amount of experience and creep kills you recieve to the collective benefit of your team. A Sandwraith should not roam, but a Slither is a prime candidate. Barring Staff of the Master, Slither cannot increase the magic damage/slows he does, so he will put out roughly the same amount of damage without any items at all.
Semi-roamers
Semi-roamers are heroes who start in a lane but leave their lane and begin ganking once certain criteria has been met. For example, Pharaoh will leave his lane and begin ganking nonstop once he hits level six and has boots and a bottle. These heroes will not be discussed in this guide.
Why should I choose a roamer?
Roamers put pressure on the enemy from level one. They give your team two solos and you help your carry/babysitter in a psuedo-trilane. Enemies mid and short lane are forced to play defensive lest they step out of position and be destroyed by a fissure that gets them stuck. Roamers are also incredibly potent ways to stop pulling and shut down jungling players. They are ausually in prime position to ward.
What are the downsides to roaming/why should I not choose a roamer?
Roamers inherently have no money. A roamer should never get the killing blow on anything for the first few minutes. They leech XP and receive assist gold. A roamer at twenty minutes would be lucky to have a bottle, boots, and a pair of bracers. You should not expect your roamer to carry you to victory.
If your team does not have two adequate solos, do not run this strategy. Playing the roamer in a pub game is also a quick way to concede at 15 minutes.
Item Overview
Recommended starting items
...
You get quite a bit of mana regen, a solid amount of stats, and enough tangos to last you through to your bottle (hopefully). You should ideally be able to sustain yourself through these items until at least you have boots/bottle.
If your team needs you to get wards, the second item set should be what you buy. You skimp on stats but the wards are invaluable to your team.
Starting Items I don't recommend
...
A naked bottle on a roamer is not *terrible* seeing as we're not trying to outhit anyone, but every bit of autoattack damage really comes into play in ganking. A pair of marchers and regen is something you should never take. You severely gimp your damage and mana regen, requiring you to head back to base after a maximum of two casts, defeating the purpose of being a roamer. Never get boots first.
Secondary Items
Every roamer needs these items, regardless of who they are.
Marchers give you extra MS, allowing you to chase and animation cancel better, allowing more hits and more successful ganks. You should directly upgrade your Marchers into Striders. With 150 bonus movespeed, running between lanes to gank becomes incredibly simple.
Bottle gives unequaled rune control and combined with a Winged Courier gives you a near infinite supply of mana.
Blood Chalice is the other mana regen option. If your mid needs the runes and the courier, blood chalice is the perfect alternative.
Mana battery supplement your regen quite nicely, as well as provide you fodder for some mind games.
Optional Items
The Homecoming Stone allows you to quickly counter tower dives and move to the far lane. Carry one as soon as possible, the mobility and ability to scare off tower dives is without a doubt worth the 135g.
You are always in a good spot to both offensively and defensively place wards. These are somewhat costly and should probably be left to your dedicated ward *****. If that's you, salud.
You generally won't be the person to buy a courier, but you may want to upgrade it to a Winged Courier. It allows your items to be brought much quicker and refilling your bottle becomes painless. There are usually better candidates for upgrading your courier but it won't harm you to.
With the nerfs to Mana Battery, I just don't think the cost justifies the price, especially since you're so money starved. It's not a bad item, though, and if you end up with more kills than normal, by all means pick it up.
Positioning
Map Position
Depending on your team's lane choices, you'll be sitting in either team's jungle. If your team plays it safe and lanes your carry in the short lane, you should be sitting in your jungle and vice versa. You'll make occasional treks to mid, but your general position will be somewhere in this jungle.
Make no mistake, though; you're the most vulnerable to mid->short ganks. You will probably be overpowered by a higher level hero and any assistance from the lane. Your mid must be on top of missing calls and you should do your best to attempt to counter gank.
Rune Control
Roamers have a prime position to grab their respective runes. If short lane attempts to grab it, they have to go through you. If mid is a rune-dependant hero, it's an opportune time for you and your mid player to attempt a kill.
Double Damage/Illusion are your best bet at a guaranteed kill. You can eschew most of the good positioning required to gank and still be awarded the kill. With double damage rune you will most likely take the kill, but it's not something to fret over. Illusion not only adds damage, but it allows you to block with one illusion, further increasing the damage done to the enemy.
Invisibility lets you ignore positioning and wait right next to the enemy until the creep wave is in a favorable position.
Haste is my personal favorite. Haste allows you to visit the lane you can't normally get to in a flash. The enemy won't be expecting you in the slighest, giving you a great opportunity to catch them with their pants down.
Regeneration should be left to your mid player. You should have enough regen to carry you through to the end of the laning phase.
The Gank
Someone messed up and moved out of position. It's Glacius, and you can already taste his delicious tears. You step out from hiding and let fly with the nukes. Even Kremlin Joe would be terrified. You walk up to Glacius and start auto-attacking, just waiting for the announcer to triumphantly proclaim...
"Bloodlust!"
But your allies are sitting at the tower. You notice you're at the fountain, far from where the bad guys are. Your name is definately on the screen, but it's the second one instead of the first. That means...
...#$!%. Okay, let's prevent that.
Before the Gank
Let your allies know you're there. Ping yourself and then ping your enemies. If time allows, let them know of your preferred target. If you have multiple disables, try to organize them to possibly get both heroes. It's usually best to wait for your creeps to overwhelm theirs.
At this point you become the initiator. You are the embodiment of the word go. Look for your opening and take it.
The Gank
Someone messed up and moved out of position. It's Glacius, and you can already taste his delicious tears. Before he can even correct himself, you're there. His pants turn a delightful shade of brown. You land your nuke cleanly, and Sand Wraith is on him faster than white on rice. Witch Slayer lands an amazing stun that nails both Glacius and Maliken. At the very instant Glacius shatters, Maliken is a miniature version of himself, waddling towards the safety of the tower. He trail of sand at his back weighs him down, but he finally makes it.
An unsung agreement between the three of you is forged and your trio follows. Your nuke flies yet again, and Sand Wraith gracefully swoops in and clinches the kill.
"Bloodlust!"
"Double Tap!"
After the Gank
Head to the opposite lane that you just ganked. It's going to take that lane a little while to return and regain their confidence. You're simply going to be wasting time there. The opposite lane gives you time to regen, a quick runecheck, and another opportunity for a gank. Even if you don't kill mid, you should at least try to harass.
Killing an enemy is definitely the goal of a roamer, but even if all you're able to do is slow their farm and make them tower hug, you're accomplishing your goal.
If both lanes refuse to leave the safety of their tower, consider going to the far lane for an assist. If this is also unfeasable, farm a little with your lane. Try not to take your carry's last hits, but if he can't reach one for whatever reason, don't be afraid to snag it.
Hero Miniguides
Slither
....Analysis
+ Strong slows
+ Decent range
+ Strong anti-juking mechanism
- DoT means enemy becomes deniable
- Harder to animation cancel
- Below average movespeed.
.....Skill Build
1 - Poison Spray
2 - Toxicity
3 - Poison Ward
4 - Toxicity
5 - Toxicity
6 - Poison Burst
7 - Toxicity
8 - Poison Ward+
Posion spray shoots in a line. Try to hit both heroes with the spray, but if you can't feasibly hit both, one is fine.
.....Replays
Match 28353650 (``Zera)
Behemoth
....Analysis
+ Easy to aim long distance stun
+ Longest disable in the game
+ Every skill can stun
- Melee
- Difficult to animation cancel
- Potential to disable YOUR team for 8 seconds.
.....Skill Build
1 - Fissure
2 - Heavyweight
3 - Fissure
4 - Enrage
5 - Fissure
6 - Shockwave
7 - Fissure
8 - Heavyweight+
.....Replays
Match 21559824 (JoshBell)
Andromeda
....Analysis
+ Long range easy-to-hit stun.
+ Armor reducing skill
+ Easy to animation cancel
- Short Range
- Low duration stun
- Large damage spread
.....Skill Build
1 - Comet
2 - Aurora
3 - Aurora
4 - Stats/Aura
5 - Aurora
6 - Void Rip
7 - Aurora
8 - Aura+
.....Replays
Match 27129614 (Rolo_L)
Electrician
....Analysis
+ Long range long duration disable
+ Movespeed increasing skill
+ Strongly mana independant
- Melee
- Easy to stop disable
- Scales very very poorly.
.....Skill Build
1 - Static Grip
2 - Energy Absorption
3 - Static Grip
4 - Energy Absorption
5 - Static Grip
6 - Cleansing Shock
7 - Static Grip
8 - Energy Absorption+
Mid Game
Mid game has rolled around and the laning phase has broken down. You're significantly lower level than the enemies, and you're also undergeared. Your team is miles ahead and your carry is a few minutes from his first big core item. Their carry is finishing up his bracers and is about three fourths of the way through his mana battery. Your job as a roamer is done and it's time for you to start recovering from it.
If you lose the game, don't fret. Learn from your mistakes. Maybe it wasn't an opportune time to take a roamer, or you played too timidly/aggresively. Don't expect this strat to beat every team ever. Learn to play it well, adapt to it, and adapt to enemies who adapt to your strat. A good roamer is an impact player that will decide the game within the first ten minutes.
Last edited by blueseph; 03-16-2011 at 09:25 PM.
Questions
Why aren't you including every hero that can roam?
I'd like to think of this as a slightly more advanced guide. The heroes that I've chosen to include are heroes that roam effectively and still contribute well to their team. Heroes like Hammerstorm, Glacius, Electrician, Pollywog, etc. can all roam, but they have much better slots to fill in the team. If you believe your hero can roam well, by all means, play him.
Are you sure roamers shouldn't get kills?
Absolutely. A quicker bottle won't net you more kills, but a Maliken who finishes his Shrunken Head earlier will net your team a whole lot more. A faster pair of boots might help you do more damage, but nowhere near as much as a faster Mock by Sandwraith.
How do roamers fit in with trilanes?
...They don't. Currently roamers have no place in current high level strategies. Trilanes are just too good.
Upcoming Updates
More replays/Better GIFs
More GIFs coming whenever I get the chance to actually pick a roaming hero in a BD and not be forced to fp hellbringer/jereziah/tempest. Due to school this probably won't happen for a good while.
Last edited by blueseph; 03-16-2011 at 09:09 PM.
Great post. But the Ultimate roamer is tb. Will destroy all heroes.
tb doesn't have a stun or slow, and his nukes don't do enough damage until level 5+.Originally Posted by Elzaros
he's a semi-roamer at best.
I don't know, I would like some gold for better roaming early on (for Bottle, Mana Battery and Boots). The faster you get your 3 roaming items, the better you'll be able to roam. Of course you're not going to purposely get the last-hit, but if you happen to do so it's not a bad thing.A roamer should *never* get the killing blow on *anything* for the first few minutes.
Andromeda & Behemoth need consumable regeneration to be able to roam well so the sooner they get Bottle the better.
An unsung agreement between the three of you is forged and your trio follows. Your nuke flies yet again, and Sand Wraith gracefully swoops in and clinches the kill.
I wish the scenarios are always perfect enough to let the carry get the last hit :P. But 90% of the time you'll need every hit you can get
Last edited by ElementUser; 12-07-2009 at 08:13 PM.
S2 Games: Dedicated employees serving dedicated gamers. Continuous development. Never-ending improvement.
-----------------------------
Tech Support and Customer Support: https://www.heroesofnewerth.com/support/
Look for my highlighted text (important information) and grey text (interesting but not required information).
between starting regen, gold ticks, and any assist gold, you should be set for your bottle. if you take a kill that your carry won't be able to reach in time, no harm no foul.
personally i havent had a problem getting a bottle before my regen ran out, though.
I really like this thread. I hope your going to update this when some of the other roamers from Dota gets ported in.
Ophelia doesnt count as a roamer!?;
Or did you just include some example heroes and there are many more?
ophelia falls into the category of a jungler, sadly. you might get supremely lucky and snag a minotaur at level one and do a quick gank to your respective lane, but it doesn't really qualify.
there are other roamers. electrician for example is an excellent roamer, but i've chosen to include the most popular ones.
How about using Witch Slayer/Pyro as a roamer? Both have stuns for ganks.
Tooltip update for unpurgeable (de)buffs
Demented Shaman guide
Need a place to discuss private clan business?
Or are you looking for a place to discuss StarCraft II?
This would be a good place to start -->
witch slayer's stun is too short to roam effectively. he's also a superb babysitter, so it's better to use him as such.
pyro generally isn't picked unless it's in conjunction with another stunner to have an amazing double stun lane. he's not a bad choice, though, as far as roamers go.
Hmm nice guide - I want to try this with Slither.
But I'm worried about being super underleveled. If we're pressured in such a way that we cannot finish - how do I gain the levels I missed?
your team should be super overleveled. think of it as your team vs their team in rock climbing. instead of climbing, you're standing at the bottom grabbing them and pulling them back down. eventually, your team throws you a rope and you take the fast track up.
as slither, you're there for your poison spray and your ult. once those have been wasted, it doesn't matter all that much what happens to you. if you're at least 7, you contribute enough as is.
+1 for premium
2 heroes you forgot pollywog and electrican.
Forum Moderators are not S2 Games employees. My posts in no way represent the view of S2 Games or any of its staff.
Please use the report post functionto have me review a post that you believe is breaking the Forum Rules.
Check the Sticky Threads for additional information on this sub-forum and the Announcement Threads for more information about Heroes of Newerth as a whole!
-----------------------------
i didn't forget, i just consciously omitted them. i even mentioned electrician a few posts up!
i'm not a fan of polly roaming. i'd rather him sit in a lane and get 6 asap. might just be me. i'll note it though =]
Electrician is only good for roaming they are both worth mentioning as good roamers even if some one like polly can fit other roles as well.
Forum Moderators are not S2 Games employees. My posts in no way represent the view of S2 Games or any of its staff.
Please use the report post function
Check the Sticky Threads for additional information on this sub-forum and the Announcement Threads for more information about Heroes of Newerth as a whole!
-----------------------------
noted and mentioned =]
I personally think Succubus is definitely a dedicated semi-roamer. Whenever I hit level 6, I run top, sleep the disabler, and then use my ulti on the carry. I then rely on my team to disable the remaining disabler in that lane so that we don't get interrupted. Carry gets the kill on the person I ultied, a few seconds later the disabler goes down because of the chain stun, and I help with a Heartache. With just about 0 mana, assisted in a double kill, then push the lane, and back to mid.
i think i'm just gonna stamp "these lists are not all inclusive at the top of the page"
Posting Permissions
