Valkyrie - MIRANAAAAAAAAAAA Port

[ruzai]

Valkyrie - A Guide to Being an All-Star

Enjoy being a universal ganker, having "brain-required" abilities and the potential to hard-carry late game? Then the this is the hero for you.

The Valkyrie is by far my favorite hero to play; not only is she easily the most versatile hero in both DotA and HoN, but she remains relevant throughout every phase of a game and is certainly one of the most dangerous characters in capable hands.

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Contents

I. Caveat & About Me
II. Stats and What They Mean
III. Ability Overview + Tips & Tricks
IV. Skill Build
V. Item Build
VI. Lane Preferences


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I.
The Purpose of this Guide

This guide is intended for non-easy mode play, as I am a believer that -EM completely ruins the intent of game designers in relation to balancing. I have no experience with either the competitive DotA or HoN scenes and in fact, my interest of AoS's developed shortly after HoN beta release.

I am writing this guide because too often, I see Valkyrie players doing things I believe to be inefficient - like going without a bottle or rushing Thunderclaw and Enhanced Marchers. This guide is a tutorial on how I believe you can make the most out of your Valkyrie and become the shining star that you are.

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II.
Initial Statistics


Damage: 38-49
Armor: 1.80
Move speed: 300
Attack type: Ranged (600)
Attack rate: 0.59

Strength 17 (+1.85 per level)
Agility 20 (+2.75 per level)
Intelligence 17 (+1.65 per level)

This is as mediocre as it gets, people; when compared to other heroes, we are locked dead center in the stat spectrum - which is not a bad thing at all, considering we are a ranged agility hero. We will gank/semi-carry throughout the early + middle game before developing our item dependence to hard-carry in the late game.

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III.
Skills and How to Use Them

Our primary nuke that deals magic damage around the Valkyrie in addition to a striking another random hostile unit standing very close to us for half damage. This spell will not be spammed early-mid game as our mana pool cannot afford the strain; however, this will be our main method of clearing creep waves later in the game.

This ability will not strike invisible units.

Note: The range for Call is slightly short of our attacking range, after landing your javelin and running into attack, you will NEED to move forward a bit for this spell to land.

This is the spell we are so infamously known for and the difference between a good and amazing Valkyrie. A maximum range Javelin is the longest disable in the game and a strong nuke, Javelin + Call is why we are feared. To give you an idea of the range of this spell, it will travel from the top rune to between the two middle ramps before dissipating.

Javelin ranks only increase damage done, we will level this ability second. This abilities DOES hit invisible units.

Notes: I cannot stress this enough: this is not a click and fire spell, never ever ever click on an enemy hero and cast this spell - predict their path of movement and aim there. Remember that this spell gives vision of 1000 units around itself and travels at 837 move speed, so if you ever feel a hunch, feel free to chuck it away. It might just save your life, or even better, save/ruin a Kongor kill.

*****The easiest Javelins to dodge are the ones thrown in broad daylight. Camera distance is small, ABUSE THIS!!!! Go out of your way to wait and land arrows from unexpected angles that your target won't be able to dodge!

Click here for a full sized example of normal camera distance and proper Javelin angles. Circles in red are areas where your arrow should come from, purple is where you shouldn't throw from.

[ruzai]

This is what makes you such a slippery and hard hero to kill. You leap forward bypassing whatever terrain and apply a movement/attack speed buff on landing around yourself. Be cautious of using this ability offensively.

Notes: If things are looking grim, leap into some trees and port out - nothing is more satisfying than escaping a 5-man gank.

An unimpressive ultimate at first, to say the least, but this ultimate will save you and your teammates hides countless times. In more organized play, this can certainly be used to set up team battles

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IV.
Skill Building & Justifications


1. Javelin / Leap
2. Javelin / Leap
3.-5. Call
6. Javelin
7. Call (Maxed)
8.-9. Javelin (Maxed)
10. Prism
11.-13. Leap (Maxed)
14.-17. Stats
18.-19. Prism (Maxed)
20.-25. Stats

Leap should be taken at level 1 if you are laning against something like a Swiftblade and Behemoth and need to escape giving up First Blood. On the other hand, Javelin taken at 1 will be taken if you can net the first kill. Our ultimate is taken at 10 because our mana pool cannot afford such strain at 6. Javelin is maxed second to take advantage of the damage it does in the middle game. I max Prism at 18 + 19 because I feel the extra stats are more significant than a few extra seconds to our invisibility.

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V.
Item Build

The Core:

Bottle is the item for every ganker alive, a fantastic source of replenishment - no argument here.

Post Haste are invaluable for us, it nearly pays for itself by saving us gold from Homecoming Stones and freeing up an inventory slot; but also gives us infinitely greater map presence and allows us to quickly clear a creep wave and bail in the late-game. No other boots should be considered, but if you absolutely cannot farm, then get Steamboots.

The Iron Shield allows us to be a more aggressive harasser while laning in addition to freeing up a slot from two pairs of Duck Boots you need to buy to last hit better.

Soulscream Rings are great DPS for cost, however, Fortified Bracelets should be used if in need of health.

Late Game Items:

This is the ranged carry item, images do great damage in addition to making you even harder to kill.

It gives you all the health and mana you need, minor damage and makes it impossible for people to run from you. What more do you need?

This should be your first big item after Post Haste if the enemy team has heroes like Hellbringer, Jereziah or Hammerstorm. Knowing how and what to purge will make your team love you.

This is the best damage-per-gold item in the game, besides the Doombringer. Get it!

If your game manages to last this long, you are a first choice candidate for this item.

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[ruzai]

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VI.
Lane Preferences

I nearly always choose a side lane when playing Valkyrie for many reasons. She is not a particularly strong last hitter, her ganking potential is strong from the first level and she needs to roam way too much to take advantage of the extra experience from middle. Just don't do it unless you have to.

Top lane for Hellborne, bottom for Sentinel to make the best use out of Javelin.

Best Team Partner:

[IMG]http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/8328/succubus****this.png[/IMG]

Succubus and Valkyrie has always been a very strong combo, Mesmerize into a Javelin during rune checks for a quick first blood.

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And here we are at the end of my first and hopefully final guide. I'm sure I could have gone way further into detail on a bunch of things but I'm far too tired.

Thanks for reading. :>