Azgalor - The Pit Lord

Azgalor, The Pit Lord
Hero Overview
Azgalor is a tank who can spam his spells a lot. His three basic spells all have areas of effect (AOE), allowing him to wipe out creeps or affect multiple enemy heroes in team battles. His ultimate, Dark Rift, allows him and his allies to travel across the map in seconds. Although the Pit Lord lacks individual hero killing power, his abilities make him an excellent teammate. He excels at pushing and base defense, and can do a lot of damage in large team battles.

Statistics
Strength: 25 + 2.6
Agility: 12 + 1.3
Intelligence: 17 + 2.6
Hit Points: 625
Mana Points: 221
Base Damage: 62-68
Attack Range: 100 (melee)
Movement Speed: 305
Armor: 5.0

Pros
-High hit points
-Excellent starting armor
-Good base damage
-High intelligence growth
-Above-average movement speed
-One of the best farmers in the game
-Great pusher and push defender
-AOE spells allow you to make an impact in large team battles
-Difficult gank target
-Dark Rift lets your team push, defend, and gank much better

Cons
-Large size makes it easier for enemies to target him, or for him to get stuck
-Slow attack speed
-Melee
-No direct anti-hero nukes, struggles to get kills alone
-Item dependent
-Is an early game creep-kill hog (you may find yourself competing with your partner for creep kills)
-Needs allies who are able to coordinate with you. With noob allies, you may find yourself tanking a ton of damage in vain. You may also see your AOE spells or Dark Rift go to waste if your team doesn't move in on time to take advantage of them.

Skills

Firestorm

Calls down 6 waves of fire that damage enemy units in an area. Each wave deals initial damage and then burns enemies for 2 seconds.

Level 1 - 25 wave damage, 5 dps
Level 2 - 40 wave damage, 10 dps
Level 3 - 55 wave damage, 15 dps
Level 4 - 70 wave damage, 20 dps

Cooldown: 14
Manacost: 100 /110/120/130

Description
This is your main farming tool, your bread and butter. Once you cast it, the AOE will take the full damage of the spell over a period of 8 seconds (this includes the secondary burn damage, it doesn't take that long for the waves to actually fall). The cooldown is low and the mana cost isn't very high, so spam this often.

The exact amount of damage inflicted by Firestorm is a source of confusion for many players. The residual burn damage from each wave does NOT stack with the burn damage from other waves. If a target stays in the spell's AOE for X number of waves, the damage it receives can be calculated by the following formula:

(X * wave damage) + [(X+1) * (burn damage)]

This damage is dealt over a period of X+2 seconds. A level 4 Firestorm will deal 560 damage to creeps and 420 damage to heroes (due to natural 25% spell resistance) who stay within its AOE for the full duration. You also have to consider that units and heroes will heal during the spell's duration. So if a target stays in the AOE for the full duration, its life after 8 seconds will be reduced by the total Firestorm damage minus the amount regenerated.

Pit of Malice

A deadly pit is conjured at target location. Any unit that enters it becomes corrupted with malicious forces and are unable to move for some time.

Level 1 - 1.5 seconds
Level 2 - 2 seconds
Level 3 - 2.5 seconds
Level 4 - 3 seconds

Cooldown: 22/21/18/15
Manacost: 100/115/130/145

Description
This is an AOE disable spell with some odd traits. It creates a circle of tombstones where you cast it, and any hostile unit inside the circle, or entering it from outside, will have its movement stopped. This means that you can lead your shot and place this in front of a fleeing enemy, so that they will run into it. Because it takes a moment for this spell to take effect, always try to predict your enemy's movement so that you won't miss. Pit of Malice DOES affect magic-immune units, such as Omniknight with Repel on or Juggernaut while in Bladefury.

Remember that this spell only stops movement. It does no damage, and "disabled" enemies can still cast spells and attack. Don't bother casting it if you have low life and a ranged enemy is in good position to shoot you several more times and finish you off; just run and hope you can put enough distance between the two of you. Besides chasing down or disabling your enemies in battle, this can also be used as a means of escape.
Expulsion

Ignites the rotten gases of corpses, detonating them to cause damage to any enemy within the explosion radius. Each explosion fuels another until there are no more corpses in the area. Does a ministun on damaged units.

Level 1 - 20 damage per corpse
Level 2 - 40 damage per corpse
Level 3 - 60 damage per corpse
Level 4 - 80 damage per corpse

Cooldown: 10
Manacost: 75

Description
This is another AOE damage spell, only it's reliant on the corpes of dead creeps. Because of this, I don't think it's as useful as Firestorm is for general farming or damage. It also doesn't give you the extra options that Pit of Malice does, so I only level this up late game. This is most effective during large team battles with lots of creeps taking part on both sides.

The ministuns from Expulsion can occasionally be helpful if an opponent tries to cast a powerful channeling spell while inside the AOE.



Dark Rift

Opens rifts that pass through the netherworld at his present position and a target unit simultaneously. Teleports your hero and nearby allied heroes through the rift.

Level 1 - 6 second casting delay time. Buildings only.
Level 2 - 5 second casting delay time. Units or Buildings.
Level 3 - 4 second casting delay time. Units or Buildings.

Cooldown: 180/160/140
Manacost: 75/150/225
Casting Delay Time: 6/5/4

Description
The Pit Lord's ultimate has been heavily nerfed from its extremely powerful original version (named Dark Portal), and subsequently rebalanced several times. Long gone is the ability to perform continual full-team backdoor attacks on the opposing base, which was the original Dark Portal's most powerful feature. While I have campaigned for the backdoor ability to be restored, I also think that the current Dark Rift may be the most underrated ultimate in the game.

At level 1, this spell can only be targeted on friendly buildings. It's useful for defending towers and returning to the Fountain. Dark Rift gains offensive capabilities starting at level 2, when it can be targeted on friendly buildings or creeps. Level 2 and 3 Dark Rift can be used to quickly catch up to friendly creeps, greatly enhancing your pushing power. With Boots of Travel, the Pit Lord will have two teleports which will give him excellent map-wide control over the flow of creeps. He can push multiple lanes in a short time span, or push and then safely return home to heal or defend.

Keep in mind that Dark Rift has been changed from channeling to casting delay. This means that once Rift has been cast, the Pit Lord is free to do whatever he wants (or even get disabled). So long as he doesn't die, the Pit Lord will be teleported to safety at the end of the casting delay. Along with Pit of Malice, this makes the Pit Lord a very difficult target to gank and kill.

Dark Rift's most powerful, and least well-known application is in team ganking. See the "Dark Rift Ganking" section for further details.

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