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Introduction
- Stripped of his beard (and therefore, most of his manliness) from his DotA Counterpart (Axe), Legionnaire has to make do with most of the changes in gameplay from DotA to HoN. His main role is to tank for the team while also dishing out tons of damage when enemies attack him. Legionnaire is a decent laner, but I'm going to focus on how to jungle Legionnaire in this guide.
Differences from DotA to HoN
- There are several differences that are now ported from DotA to HoN:
+ Creep respawn checkboxs are now smaller (you can pull creeps a little bit later and still make it in time to stack the camp)
+ Dark Troll Warlord creep camp replaced with weak Skeletons (can tackle them earlier on for great experience and gold)
- No more Berserker's Call/Taunt functionality on neutrals (cannot manipulate their AI anymore)
Jungling with Legionnaire
- Jungling with Legionnaire offers benefits for both you and your team. There are however some requirements that must be met from you and your team.
Benefits
- It gives you 2 solo lanes
- You get guaranteed gold income & don't have to focus on those tedious last-hits and denies
- If done properly, you'll level up just as fast as a solo lane
- You get gold very quickly
Requirements
- As Legionnaire, you must be the only jungler on your team
- Know the basics of jungling
- You have 2 good solo heroes that can take care of themselves early game
Jungling Basics
Before you jungle, make sure you know the basic information about the jungle, such as:
- "Jungling" is an act of neutral creeping starting from Level 1
- Neutral creeps first spawn at 0:30 after the lane creeps spawn.
- Each neutral creep camp will respawn their creeps every minute, at x:00, provided there aren't any corpses, gadgets (including Wards of Sight and Wards of Revelation) or other units in the creep respawn checkbox area. The checkbox is actually a circle with 500 radius.
- The neutral creep checkbox is the trigger that will determine whether the camp will respawn or not; if the information above is true, then it will respawn the creeps.
- Creep stack camps by pulling them away from the spawn location when the timer reaches ~x:52 (the most error-free time)
- Corpses take approximately 22 seconds to FULLY decay; this means all creeps should be dead at x:38, at the LATEST, if you want the camp to respawn.
- Minotaurs, Catman Champions and Vagabond Leaders will use their AoE spells when there are 3 or more units in a small AoE
- Vagabond Assassins will cast Purge on any hostile unit that approaches them
- Creep pulling (not to be confused with creep stacking) is the act of pulling neutral creeps into the lane, in order to draw your allied creeps' aggro to lure them in, in case you have a troublesome creep camp to deal with/you're low on HP. Pull the creeps from the camp into the lane at x:15/x:45.
- In most cases, aim for the creep with the highest HP when you're jungling with Legionnaire. Wolf Commanders prioritize themselves as targets above all other creeps, as their Damage Aura is really dangerous to Legionnaire.
- In general, Legionnaire should tackle creep camps with 5+ creeps for more efficiency and to minimize time and HP lost.
- If you end up with the healer camp at level 1 and want to stack it, you may want to wait until after you have stacked it before leveling up Whirling Blade.
Skill Overview
Axe is a hero with a theme based on judo. When somebody attacks him he gets all pissed off and proceed to kick ass until he dies from the amount of blows he has taken. I plan to exploit that. - thisisBob
Taunt
- What's left of Axe's manliness is now transferred to this skill. Instead of doing a loud, manly roar like Berserker's Call, Legionnaire does some weak Taunt shout. Regardless, this skill is useful for chasing, ganking, initiating and tanking all at the same time! Just note that it has a VERY TINY AoE (Area of Effect), so anyone with an IQ above 50 wouldn't let you run up to him and Taunt him. Therefore it's best to use this skill when coming from behind, chain it after an allied disable or use it after Portal Key. This goes through magic immunity.
Terrifying Charge
- Low mana-cost, a 30s cooldown with a pretty decent debuff that scales later on since it lowers damage and increases attackspeed by a percentage. Note that the easiness of an enemy canceling the skill hinders Terrifying Charge's chance of success at lower levels due to the very low movespeed bonus, so be wary about that. This skill also does a large amount of damage (150%/200%/250%/300%) Physical damage in a small AoE (Area of Effect), so it is quite a powerful nuke as well. Movespeed bonus is substantial at levels 3 and 4 (+140 and +522) so it is generally a good idea to max it early on.
Terrifying Charge: In Depth
- The new Terrifying Charge is an incredibly potent jungling tool - save it for the stacked camps to clear them more effectively.
Using Terrifying charge on a double/triple stacked creep camp at level 2+ can make once impossible creep stacks possible if you are lucky with the spins during those 4 seconds of 50% increased attack speed with 50% reduced damage creeps. - jhorry08
It's AoE is a relatively large angle centred at Legionnaire's front (an arc of 110 degrees that extends 240 units out):
Battle Hunger (DotA)
- In memory of the old (unmanly) Terrify skill, by the wise words of thisisBob:
Battle Hunger is here to take up space and **** you up. Learning Battle Hunger detracts your manliness. Learning Battle Hunger will also make Axe start listening to Vanilla Ice and let his mom cut his hair. Whats this? A 25 second duration damage spell? Women wait, pussies wait, morons wait, but not Axe. This is Icefrog's trap to turn Axe from a complete melee psycho into a hiding wuss. Battle Hunger is a damage-over-time skill with a easy-to-achieve precondition. It tempt opponents into hitting creeps so that Axe can run in and chop him up. Unfortunately, even with the buffed mana cost and cooldown, Axe cannot use this effectively if he still wants space to do Berserker Call, Culling Blade and Blink Dagger. Furthermore, unlike other DoTs, Battle Hunger doesn't have a secondary side effect such as slow or silence. It lasts too long for it to become effective and team fights and unlike other nukes, I find it only to be useful for 1/4 of the game. Thus, this strategy guide does not require Axe to learn Battle Hunger. - thisisBob
Whirling Blade
- The skill that defines Axe and Legionnaire. Luckily, Legionnaire didn't lose any of his manliness from this skill port. Anyway, Whirling Blade is what lets you jungle in the first place, not to mention making enemies fear to attack you. The more units that are attacking you, the more Legionnaire will own face. Not as good late-game since it's physical damage, but it's still an awesome skill.
Note: This ability procs at the beginning of an enemy's attack animation, and not after the projectile hits you.
Decapitate
- Instead of purging the weak from Axe's sight, Legionnaire gets to hack off someone's head when using this skill. Not a bad change I guess. Use decapitate to finish off low HP heroes, but if you know for sure that an enemy is going to die in one of your ganks, don't killsteal with this skill. The skill has a pretty low cooldown though, so don't hesitate to use it either. Great finisher because it goes through Accursed's annoying ultimate and through magic immunity.
Skill Builds
Jungle / Early-Ganker Legionnaire
- Whirling Blade
- Terrifying Charge / Taunt
- Whirling Blade
- Taunt / Terrifying Charge
- Whirling Blade / Terrifying Charge
- Decapitate
- Whirling Blade / Terrifying Charge
- Terrifying Charge / Whirling Blade
- Terrifying Charge / Whirling Blade
- Terrifying Charge / Whirling Blade
- Decapitate
- Taunt
- Taunt
- Taunt
- Stats
- Decapitate
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
Justification: First point in Whirling Blade for jungle capabilities & offensive usage. Second point in Terrifying Charge for early aid in jungling, or pick Taunt if you desperately need to gank at level 2. Third point in Whirling Blade to further enhance its usefulness in the jungle. From level 4 onwards, there are 2 paths: maxing Charge first for extremely early ganks or maxing Whirling Blade first to jungle with better efficiency. Taunt is maxed last because Whirling Blade's damage & cooldown reduction and Terrifying Charge's max speed bonus at level 4 eliminates the urgency for Portal Key. Decapitate is acquired when necessary/available.
Pure Jungling Legionnaire (Portal Key Rush)
- Whirling Blade
- Terrifying Charge
- Whirling Blade
- Taunt
- Whirling Blade
- Decapitate
- Whirling Blade
- Taunt
- Taunt
- Taunt
- Decapitate
- Terrifying Charge
- Terrifying Charge
- Terrifying Charge
- Stats
- Decapitate
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
- Stats
Justification: First point in Whirling Blade for jungle capabilities & offensive usage, second point in Terrifying Charge for early aid in jungling. Get Level 1 Taunt and Level 3 Whirling Blade at levels 4 and 5, respectively. After that, Whirling Blade is maxed for maximum jungling efficiency, followed by Taunt in preparation for using Portal Key to gank. Max Terrifying Charge immediately after since its effects are too good to pass up over stats now. Decapitate is acquired when necessary/available.
Item Build
- Items to start out with, optional items, luxuries, and core.
Starting Items
(590)
2x Iron Buckler + Runes of the Blight
OR
(593)
Iron Buckler + Runes of the Blight + Courier + Minor Totem
Mathcraft: Why two Bucklers or a Courier is "OK"
Iron Buckler stacking mechanics, showing why you shouldn't get more than 2 Iron Bucklers:
1 Iron Buckler: 60% chance to block 20 damage; 0.6 x 20 = 12 average damage block from each attack 2 Iron Bucklers: 1 - (1-0.6)(1-0.6) = 1 - (0.4)(0.4) = 1 - 0.16 = 0.84 = 84% chance to block 20 damage; 0.84 x 20 = 16.8 average damage block from each attack 3 Iron Bucklers: 1 - (1-0.6)(1-0.6)(1-0.6) = 1 - (0.4)(0.4)(0.4) = 1 - 0.064 = 0.936 = 93.6% chance to block 20 damage; 0.936 x 20 = 18.72 average damage block from each attack
- Since you're going to jungle Legionnaire until you get your Portal Key (and perhaps a bit more after that), you'll require damage reduction right from the start. Putting 2 Iron Bucklers on Legionnaire is the most cost-efficient method for protection early in the game. 1 set of Runes of the Blight is taken for potential double creep-stacking (more info on that later) and provides you with a little bit of HP regeneration.
- If your support teammates are too stingy/selfish to purchase a Courier for the team, purchase one yourself (follow the second option for starting items) - you will need that Courier.
Items During the Jungling Phase
Health Potion (100)
Normally you'll consume ~2 healing potions until you acquire your Lifetube, so have the Courier fetch you those when you're low on HP (or before you get low on HP). Take as many as you need (2-3 is enough for most games).
Iron Buckler (250)
Just make sure you have 2 of these in your inventory at some point between levels 1-6.
Lifetube (875)
The item that will immensely help you stay in the jungle. If you're tackling some intensely stacked camps though (4 times or more), Healing Potions will be better, though you'll need this for your Helm of the Black Legion later. After acquiring Lifetube, you'll have a lot of flexibility to get your core items. I'll discuss each item individually with respect to the type of Legionnaire you are playing.
Marchers (500)
Gives Legionnaire more mobility to move from camp to camp faster.
Ward of Sight (100)
If the enemies gank you in the jungle, invest in a of Ward of Sight to avoid them (and to gain vision of bottom or top rune). Only do this if your support teammates are too stingy to buy some for you.
Core Items
Helm of the Black Legion (2225)
This doesn't have to be fully completed right away but rather when you feel you need the defensive boost of HP/block.
Bottle (600)
If you want to have a secure source of mana regeneration, buy a Bottle. This also helps your mid hero if he is having trouble getting runes; Bottle is also good if your mid hero can spare you a useful rune to gank (Invis/Haste) or to aid your jungling even further (DD/Regen/Illusion). Power Supply can work for burst HP, but generally Bottle offers more utility and a much more reliable source of mana.
Ghost Marchers (1500)
OR
Plated Greaves (1,303)
Ghost Marchers offer an amazing positioning tool in 3 cheap pieces of 500 gold - if you play the early ganking Legionnaire and max Terrifying Charge, your mobility and positioning needs are fulfilled by Ghost Marchers and Terrifying Charge until much later on, hence eliminating the urgent need for Portal Key.
On the other hand, if you are rushing for an early Portal Key, then Plated Greaves will give you some much needed armor for increasing your EHP against enemy physical attacks.
Portal Key (2150)
This item should be obtained quite early if you are doing a pure jungling build. You can afford to delay this quite a bit until you got Ghost Marchers / Helm of the Black Legion / Bottle if you are doing the early ganking build though. Regardless, this item is still core at some point of the game no matter what type of build you use on Legionnaire.
Optional
Shaman's Headdress (2050 / 2225)
Get Shaman's Headdress if there are a lot of nukes flying around (especially AoE ones). Replace Helm of the Black Legion with this if you feel that physical attacks won't be a problem for a decent portion of the game.
Plate Mail (1400)
Get Plate Mail if you're against a lot of hard physical hitters to tank longer, and if you're comfortable with the amount of HP you have to withstand nukes.
Power Supply (546)
If you can afford the item space, go ahead and use this - but Bottle is much more reliable. If anything, Power Supply would primarily be used if you're laning against spell-spamming heroes or for the burst HP in teamfights.
Luxury Items
Acquire your luxury items depending on the situation: Behemoth's Heart is great for practically all situations, so you can't really go wrong with that.
Frostfield Plate (4700)
If the enemy has lots of physical DPS (or if you need an AoE snare), upgrade that Plate Mail from before into Frostfield Plate.
Mock of Brilliance (5150)
If you're confident in your tanking abilities at this point, aim for a Mock of Brilliance to have more presence in team battles.
Barrier Idol (3653)
Get this as an upgrade to Shaman's Headdress, especially if there are lots of enemy AoE nukes.
Snake Bracelet (1800)
Get Snake Bracelet after getting sufficient HP to increase your EHP dramatically.
Barbed Armor (2700)
It's true that the armor boost from Taunt and your total Magic Armor makes this reflect less damage, but late game this can be viable against hard-hitting carries that are a bit squishy (Chronos and Madman for instance). It's also relatively cheap and boosts your armor for a low cost.
Items to Avoid
Legionnaire does pitiful physical DPS, thus not making use of the lifesteal. Don't even think about upgrading this to Symbol of Rage; Legionnaire gains way more benefits from Behemoth's Heart than from Symbol of Rage.
Legionnaire doesn't have a fast enough attack speed to make this item useful. You'll be spinning most of the time anyways.
Pure DPS items should be avoided. Legionnaire isn't a carry; don't play him as one.
Having 3 spinning heroes can be fun, but this item won't do you much good in the end because it doesn't synergize with you very well. Legionnaire doesn't rely on physical attacks to do damage and his images will die pretty fast anyway.
This item gives you very little benefits. Have one of your agility carry allies buy it and use it on you if you want to have the static charge buff that badly.
Legionnaire has no need for any attack modifiers. He doesn't deal his damage to enemies by physically attacking them - leave that to the carries.
Jungle Walkthrough (Legion)
After buying your starting items, go to this spot and stand here until the clock reaches 0:30 after the lane creeps spawn. If the camp spawns Skeletons, consider yourself lucky. You will revisit this camp later if that is the case.
Regardless of the type of creeps that spawned, go walk to the easy creep camp and wait until ~x:52 to pull the creeps, as indicated in the screenshot. Walk to the creeps to draw aggro (blue arrow), then move out up or to the right (red arrows). This is how you stack creep camps. Do not worry too much if you pull the creeps at x:51 or x:53-55, you can still make it in time for the creeps to respawn.
This is what a successful creep stack looks like. Dive into it and hit level 2.
If you got a Skeleton King creep camp before, go kill that camp and hit level 3. If not, check the other high level camp for Skeletons. If there aren't any, check to see whether either of the 2 medium camps have Wolf Commanders. If they do, kill the wolf camp (s). If they don't you can attempt to double creep stack.
First, you'll want to know which tree to get rid of to double creep stack. Get rid of either the tree with the yellow circle or the tree with the red circle. If you're good, you can pull the top camp, eat the tree, go down a bit and go left to pull both camps. If you're not as familiar with jungling, it's better to eat the tree first and then do the pull. If the bottom creeps get stuck behind the trees, you can eat the other circled tree to make double pulling easier.
Get close to the top camp (without drawing aggro) by x:51, then draw aggro at x:51/52, go down to the tree gap you created to aggro the other creep camp. Finally, pull them to the left. Congrats, you did a double creep stack!
From now on, you can do multiple things: tackle the easy camp again, deal with the stacked camps, deal with Skeleton camps (if any of them exist) or creep pull neutrals to the lane. If you want, you can also keep on stacking the 2 medium camps and then tackle them later on, depending on the circumstances.
Note: Once you have Portal Key, you can triple stack camps by doing the above & blinking over to the hard camp nearby to pull them. (Thanks to IzvergRzgvor)
Note #2: It is possible to double stack the lower creep camp without eating the tree. The initial spawn must not consist of Minotaur+Goatar & must consist of at least one other type of spawn, the reason being is that Minotaurs do not spawn close enough to the tree in order to draw aggro. Use the same timing as you would normally use for double stacking (you should move close to the trees at around ~x:54). Here is a screenshot illustrating this (Thanks to simparoo). Using this method, we can triple stack even without the use of a Rune of the Blight/Logger's Hatchet!
Triple Stacked Camps: Watch this video - Credit to HoN League
Jungle Walkthrough (Hellbourne)
Same thing as Legion, wait here until 0:30 for the creep spawn & look for Skeletons to kill later.
At x:50, draw aggro on the medium camp.
Afterward, go towards upwards & to the right towards the easy camp. Aggro them as quickly as possible - you should be at the easy camp at around x:55.
The result: 2 perfectly double-stacked camps!
Note: This creep-stacking method can be difficult to pull off 100% of the time since it requires good timing, so don't fret if you didn't stack both camps.
Dive into the stacked easy camp to reach level 2. From now on, you can do multiple things: deal with the other stacked camp (if circumstances permit it), deal with Skeleton camps (if any of them exist) or creep pull neutrals to the lane. If you want, you can also keep on double-stacking the easy & medium camps and then tackle them later on.
Here's some really helpful information about in-depth jungling for Hellbourne (thanks to Anx).
:So thanks to your guide, over the past 2 days I've managed to almost perfect the art that is jungling with Legionnaire.
- My average time for lvl 6 is under 4 minutes, though I've only play Hellborne side... no idea what it would be if I played Legion.
- I decided to Fraps my lvl 1-6 for you to add to the guide if you'd like, it might help some people who aren't exactly clear on what they have to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k27oRtKxPQ I also have some more timestamps for you (for Hellbourne side).
- The video (which was uploaded in high enough resolution that YouTube will undoubtedly re-encode it to their HD format and post a far clearer version of) can be found here:
- From the Medium camp without a circle, you can easily double stack the hard camp to the bottom-left of it without the use of boots or portal key. You have to aggro the mobs at the medium camp at :50, and run straight to the hard camp. When you're en route from the medium camp to the hard camp, with the mobs in pursuit, you should try to aggro the hard camp's mobs as far to the bottom of the camp as you can and as soon as you're within aggro range, head to the right towards the river entry point.
- Now, if you're fighting mobs at the medium camp marked with a red circle and want to be able to reach the other medium camp in time to aggro them by :50, you have to leave the camp marked with a red circle by about :37 or 38.
- Also, I've found that getting 4 hp pots and then marchers immediately (before life tube) is extremely beneficial, as it allows you to avoid having to stack the easy camp when you double stack on the right side... instead you aggro the hard group on the right at :49, just before the clock hits :50, and haul ass to the medium camp with the red circle... then up, as if you were stacking the easy one with the medium one.
- Also... If you're going to be standing around for 30 seconds anyways, I figure why not watch for the top rune... I only take if if it's double damage or haste, else let someone else bottle it... now if you pick up a haste rune, you should grab it at 0:21, and (as you can see in the video I uploaded) it will let you scout out what mobs are waiting for you at the hard and medium camps on the left before you go eat that tree and start stacking on the right. - Anx
Dealing with Different Creep Camps
Easy Camps
You'll own them easily regardless of which creeps spawn, don't worry. Just be aware of the Antlore Healer camp because you don't want to damage any of the units in the camp before stacking them, or else the Antlore Healer will stay in the spawn-check area.
Medium Camps
- Wolf Commander + Wolf x2: if one of these camps exist, you want to get rid of the camp ASAP. If it's in a stack, it's even worse because his Damage Aura gives a painful +30% damage to nearby neutrals; your Iron Bucklers cannot withstand them for too long. The 2x critical strike also hurts.
- Wild Hunter x2: These guys will take longer to go down because they have 800 HP and they only spawn in 2's. However, they deal low damage, so you should be fine. Dealing with them in a stack is more efficient.
- Ice Ogre + Fire Ogre x2: The easiest medium camp, these creeps will serve you well for clearing more dangerous stacks (ones with Wolf Commanders and Minotaurs). They do low damage and spawns in 3's.
- Minotaur + Goatar: The hardest of the medium camps, do not take this camp alone without help from a Wild Hunter/Ogre stack before level 5. If you need help and this camp is on the pullable camp, pull the neutrals to the lane.
- Vagabond x2 + Vagabond Assassin x2: This is a really easy camp to take out. The only thing you should be concerned about is Vagabond Assassin's Purge if you're going to creep pull/creep stack, as it slows your movement speed. Make sure to pull/stack the camp a few seconds earlier than usual.
Hard Camps
- Minotaur + Goatar: Explained above; do not take this camp before level 5, even if you have a Skeleton camp in the stack.
- Skeleton King + Undead Warrior x2: The best hard camp you can get, these guys give lots of gold and experience, while maintaining low damage. They also spawn in 3's, which is good news for you. You can take them on as early as level 2.
- Vulture Lord + Screacher x2: The third most difficult hard camp you'll encounter. At least this camp spawns in 3's instead of 2's, so it's a bit easier than Minotaurs/Catmen. Do not encounter before level 5 unless your HP is high enough.
- Catman Champion + Catman Soldier: The hardest creep camp you'll encounter as Legionnaire (Catman Champion and Minotaur have nearly identical stats, but Catman Soldier does 52-59 damage compared to Goatar's 18-21 damage). Do not fight this camp before level 7, no matter what.
- Vagabond + Vagabond Assassin + Vagabond Leader: This camp is easier compared to most of the other hard camps, as you'll have 2 weak units helping you spin against the strong one.
Dealing with Other Players
- If the enemies are ganking you in the jungle, your support ally should ward in this spot. If he's too stingy to do this, buy a set of wards yourself. The last thing you want is some random hero killing you with a nuke when you're at 50 HP from a neutral encounter. Though in most games, your enemies shouldn't be ganking you anyway. If they do, they'll most likely fail and lose their experience/gold that they would've gotten from laning. Besides, Legionnaire jungles very quickly anyway.
- By the way, feel free to gank enemies when the circumstances permit it without dying/losing too much time.
Legion's Ward Spot
Hellbourne's Ward Spot
Annoying Enemies
His Carnivorous deals damage based on the current percent of your HP. Since Legionnaire is a tank with a lot of HP, he'll tear you down pretty fast while keeping himself alive.
His Mana Combustion is the one of the annoying things about him, rendering you unable to use your spells due to your innate low mana pool.
Amplify Damage makes you fall faster. You'll need quite a bit of armor to compensate for the -15 armor late game. (Thanks to SyyRaaaN)
Great Allies
He'll make your tanking job more fun with Fire Shield & Cauterize.
Always a great ally to have, just don't tell him to cast Protective Charm on you in teamfights. Taunt+Inner Light deals some quick and painful burst damage to enemies.
Gives you all the mana regeneration you'll need.
Healing Wave will help keep you alive & damage Taunted enemies. Storm Cloud lets your Whirling Blade deal more damage later on, as well as buffing up your own armor. (Thanks to Mr_Kzimir)
Laning: Early Game (Levels 1-9)
- (<color=red>Skip this section and go straight to mid-game if you jungled</font>)
- If you decide to lane (due to bad circumstances for jungling), grab the same starting items (maybe replace 1 Iron Buckler with some Minor Totems) and farm your way to Lifetube & your core items. Go to the safe lane (bottom for Legion/top for Hellbourne) and a ranged allied hero if possible.
- If your enemies are ranged heroes (especially those with painful nukes and disables), attempt to last-hit/deny as usual and don't harass as much. Make sure to stay alive and farm that Lifetube. If you're having a hard time with the enemy lane, either switch lanes or get your team's Courier to fetch you additional regeneration items (same thing as if you were jungling).
- If your enemies are melee, be a bit more aggressive to establish lane control. When they approach the creep wave, right-click on the enemy hero to draw creep aggro. The enemies will either get a last-hit and suffer some damage from Whirling Blade or back off from the creep wave, thus losing gold. When they're far from the creep wave, make sure to issue another command (such as moving/attacking an allied or enemy creep) so you minimize pushing the lane too much. If they re-approach the creep wave, rinse and repeat.
- If the opportunity for a kill arises, use Taunt if the enemy is close enough. If you can get both enemy heroes and/or some enemy creeps with your Taunt, that will trigger Whirling Blade even more. Tell your ally to follow-up your Taunt. Of course if the enemy is not in range for your Taunt, wait for your ally to disable them and then Taunt them. This concept applies to allied ganks as well, so be ready. Keep your eyes on the minimap as well for potential enemy ganks.
- If your lane is pushed too far, you or your ally should do a creep pull if you're in the safe lane. It's best if your ally follows the pulled creeps back to their camp while you tank the enemy creep wave to get gold and experience. You shouldn't be ganking lanes until you have your Portal Key, so stay in your lane and farm that Portal Key up.
- Honestly there's not that much more I can say about laning Legionnaire. Only your lane control skills, technical skills, game experience and common sense can help you here.
Mid-Game (Levels 10-16)
- After acquiring your Portal Key, you should be starting to help your allies gank enemies with your Blink-Taunt combo. If there aren't any immediate opportunities, return to the jungle and farm for your Helm of the Black Legion and Enhanced Marchers. When a gank opportunity presents itself, go help your allies out. Given that both teams have been doing relatively evenly in hero score and laning experience/gold, your team should have the upper hand due to having 2 solos.
- Once you got your core items, ask your teammates to push some towers down. At this point, you'll have a very good amount of HP (~1600) with decent armor and great mobility. The enemies should fear your Blink-Taunt combo (if they don't, they'll most likely pay for it). Don't be afraid to initiate once you have your core items. Your allies should follow-up after you Taunted the enemies. If some enemy heroes are fleeing after a team battle and your team looks like it still has the upper hand, chase with your Blink-Taunt combo (assuming you still have sufficient mana). If not, retreat and help draw fire from your allies with Taunt.
- Legionnaire is at his peak during mid-game with all his HP and physical damage reduction. Therefore, you'll want to end the game sooner rather than later, so ask your teammates to push.
Late Game (Levels 17+)
- If it's late game, you should have at least one of the optional items or partially completed one of your luxury items. At this point, Legionnaire isn't as tanky or dangerous than he was at mid-game, due to enemy heroes getting more physical damage to cut through your HP & acquiring more EHP to withstand Whirling Blade. Your job is the same though, initiate & tank for your team, chase fleeing heroes.
Tank them all. - thisisBob
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I get Runed Axe on Legionnaire to farm for more stuff like Flayer and Savage Mace! I'M SO PRO Legionnaire isn't a hero that owns other heroes by hitting them over and over again. He owns by using Taunt to tank and by using his manly Whirling Blade. None of his skills help him gain more power by physically hitting enemies, anyway.
Q: No Fortified Bracers/Homecoming Stones?
In general you won't have much space for Fortified Bracers. It's general knowledge to carry a Homecoming Stone by mid-game whenever possible, so I didn't include it in the guide.
Q: Why no mention of the creep-skipping Legionnaire?
While it can be effective against a very weak solo/dual lane (mostly melee strength/agility heroes), a few nukes/disables and/or a ranged hero will make short work of Legionnaire.
Q: Why don't you ever refer to Legionnaire as "Lego"?
Because he's not made of Lego, obviously.
Q: Who is this thisisBob you keep on referring to?
Only one of the most epic guide writers ever. He wrote epic guides to bearded heroes in DotA AND he's the founder of the famous DotA MS Paint Rage Dump Thread.
Q: What's your opinion about Restoration Stone/Totem of Kuldra/Stormspirit, etc.? Use your own professional judgment to figure out whether it's good for the game you're in or not; I'm not here to discuss your item choices when you're freefarming 120 minutes into an -em game.
Q: Rumors have been going around saying that Legionnaire's Whirling Blade doesn't proc on blocked hits by Iron Buckler or Helm of the Black Legion. Is this true?
Not true at all. Whirling Blade still procs normally on a blocked attack.
(Old Terrify) Q: I USE TERRIFY AND OWN 9000 PEOPLE EVERY GAME! YOU SUCK NUB
Legionnaire's mana pool can't support Terrify. If it can, you're doing it wrong. Terrify is easily countered anyway, and it takes too long to be effective.
Q: Why can't I pass through the trees when I cut it down?
Make sure you are not playing a remade version of the game. In remade games, the treeline is still detected by the game-client as being there. Play fresh games and you will not encounter this problem.
References
- thisisBob's Guide to Axe
- thisisBob's Guide to Jungle Axe
- IronFisto's Guide to Jungling and Creep Pulling
- HoNWiki
- Appendix (Original Thread)[1]
These links may be disabled or out of date.
Credits
(For those not listed anywhere else.)
- Nome - for his guide format
- thisisBob - for his guides and quotes
- Anx - for his helpful insights on Hellbourne jungling
- jhorry08 - for his insights on Terrifying Charge while jungling
- Legionnaire Premium Guide, by the manly ElementUser.
- Ported to the wiki by Demonic150.
Replays
Players using Legionnaire.