Furion - The Prophet

Furion, The Prophet


Introduction

Furion is pro hero

Strength: 17 + 1.8
Agility: 21 + 1.5
Intelligence: 15 + 2.9

Furion's stat gain is okay, I guess.

Skill descriptions

Sprout

Sprouts a ring of trees around an enemy unit, trapping it in place.

Extremely strong ability, definitely one of the most powerful trap spells. Enemies can still cast spells while in it, pudge's hook goes through it, and it can be blinked out of. Also, using a tango on the corner tree will give the person inside a way out.

Level 1 - Lasts for 3 seconds. 115 mana, 11 sec cooldown.
Level 2 - Lasts for 3.75 seconds. 140 mana, 11 sec cooldown.
Level 3 - Lasts for 4.5 seconds. 165 mana, 11 sec cooldown.
Level 4 - Lasts for 5.25 seconds. 205 mana, 11 sec cooldown.

Teleportation

Teleports to any explored point on the map.

This an absolutely amazing ability, and is what makes Furion so good at pushing, aiding ganks, etc. He has the ability to go anywhere on the map that he or one of his allies has explored. This is used in ganking, pushing, farming, and escaping for Furion. It's a short channel when you cast it, also, so take note of that.

Level 1: 50 mana, 60 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 45 mana, 50 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 40 mana, 40 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 35 mana, 30 sec cooldown.

Force Of Nature

Converts an area of trees into Treants. Treants have 550 hit points and deal 21-23 damage.

Some people like this, some people don't. It's effective for a forest Furion. I'm still not sure if he receives experience from their kills, even if he's not in the general area, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't. Still, this gives you free tanks and makes forest creeping extremely easy.

Level 1 - Raises 2 Treants for 60 seconds. 160 mana, 37 sec cooldown.
Level 2 - Raises 3 Treants for 60 seconds. 160 mana, 37 sec cooldown.
Level 3 - Raises 4 Treants for 60 seconds. 160 mana, 37 sec cooldown.
Level 4 - Raises 5 Treants for 60 seconds. 160 mana, 37 sec cooldown.



Wrath of Nature


Summons damaging energy to swath around the map and damage random enemies. Each enemy hit beyond the first adds 7% damage.

This ability is kinda meh-ish. It's strong because it hits all over the map, but is kinda random, and not as strong as say, Zeus's ultimate. It's damage is also fairly low, but improves over time. If you're casting it on a hero in your lane, cast it on the creeps first, so it bounces through all the creeps to increase damage and then hit them.

Level 1 - Deals 140 base damage. 200 mana, 90 sec cooldown.
Level 2 - Deals 180 base damage, hits a few extra targets. 380 mana, 60 sec cooldown.
Level 3 - Deals 225 base damage. 610 mana, 60 sec cooldown.

Read More......

Leoric - Skeleton King

Leoric, Skeleton King



Introduction


Skeleton King didn't have a guide, and he's fun and easy to play, so I decided to write him a guide. This is an awesome hero if you're a new player, and is a good hero to learn DotA with.

Range: 128 (melee) Move Speed: 300
Str: 22 + 2.9 Agi: 18 + 1.7 Int: 13 + 1.6
Damage: 54 – 56 HP: 568 Mana: 169
HP Regen: 0.91 Mana Regen: 0.53
Attack Speed: 1.39 Armor: 3

Skill descriptions


Storm Bolt

A magical hammer is thrown at an enemy unit, causing damage and stunning the target for 2 seconds.

2 second stun, decent damage, and the cooldown is low enough that it's a good initiator and can then be used for chasing.

Level 1 - 100 damage.
Level 2 - 150 damage.
Level 3 - 200 damage.
Level 4 - 250 damage.
Mana Cost: 140
Cooldown: 8

Vampiric Aura

Allied melee units within 600 AoE gain hit points when they hit enemy units.

This aura applies to yourself as well. It's one of the skills that makes Skele King so powerful, and useful to his team.

Level 1 - Gains 5% of attack damage.
Level 2 - Gains 10% of attack damage.
Level 3 - Gains 15% of attack damage.
Level 4 - Gains 20% of attack damage.



Critical Strike
Gives 15% chance to do more damage on an attack.

Critical Strike is absolutely amazing coupled with your Vampiric Aura. With damage items, critting will result in you getting massive amounts of health regenerated.

Level 1 - 1.25 times normal damage.
Level 2 - 1.75 times normal damage.
Level 3 - 2.25 times normal damage.
Level 4 - 2.75 times normal damage.

Reincarnation


When killed, this hero will come back to life at the cost some mana.

Skeleton cannot reincarnate if he is silenced, therefore Doom, SA's Smoke Screen, Bloodseeker's silence, Death Prophet's silence, Drow Ranger's silence, etc. stop this ultimate from activating.

Level 1 - 300 second cooldown. 100 mana.
Level 2 - 240 second cooldown. 150 mana.
Level 3 - 190 second cooldown. 200 mana.

Read More......

Dark Terror - Faceless Void

Hero Analysis


I write this section because many people get the wrong idea about faceless. In short words: darkterror is a melee agility natural basher hero with a range of 128, and a blink ability. He also has a mass disable spell once in 2 minutes after level 6. The fact that he is an AGI hero with natural bash makes him the best hero for permastun. Every point of AGI has multiple effects towards damage, since it makes the bash occur faster. He has the time-walk ability so he can bash anyone, and position chrono perfectly.

Faceless becomes truly imbalanced after midgame due to his passive abilities. Similar, but stronger than Naix, since he rapes naix easily. And like naix he has an extremely hard early game. He has no nuke, no ranged damage or healing ability. His passives are hardly effective on this level and TW doesn't give any damage either. This isn't a problem if you play pubs, and won't be a problem in most IH-s, but when you face a fully cooperative team, you will mostly beg for boots in the end.

In Cal or in Clan wars you will get raped before you get your first item. Soloing is impossible, and the hero you team up with will have a hard time too since faceless will be a burden on him. For example: faceless teams up with lich, and goes against a tinker lina combo. The first time faceless tries to give a last hit he receives a stun, a laser, a rocket and 4 hits. That's more than enough to kill a hero with low base hp. If you cannot be any help for your team early game at least don't feed the enemy! With a little xp you can farm neutrals to get your first items, and also you can farm on empty lanes for a while. Faceless doesn't need many items to become imba. He only needs the time to get the few important ones.

Thanks to our annoying permastun, and to the 5 second disable, along with the fact that we fight melee range, we will get the most concentrated fire. Even combos like CM+avatar or Enigma+avatar won't work against faceless, because both his ulti, and melee bash works against magic immune units. Yes you can't bash Engima since black hole sucks you in, but chrono still works against it! The enemy will disable us as fast as possible since they know we have time walk to escape. Stun, guinsoo, stun etc., and we will die if we concentrated on just damage items. Of course if we place our chrono properly we will rock with high dps, but what about the time when chrono is on CD? And what about our teammates? Our team benefits from chrono the same way as we do!

Skills

Time Walk:

• Level 1: 120 mana, 13 cooldown, 700 cast range, 300 AoE, 10% slow.
• Level 2: 120 mana, 13 cooldown, 900 cast range, 300 AoE, 20% slow.
• Level 3: 120 mana, 13 cooldown, 1100 cast range, 300 AoE, 30% slow.
• Level 4: 120 mana, 13 cooldown, 1300 cast range, 300 AoE, 40% slow.


It has a short casting time when void raises his hands. When you travel you become invulnerable so you won't take damage and cannot be targeted. It won't remove rupture. Although the effect remains while you travel you won't be damaged at all. This skill is similar to morphling's waveform, but you won't loose the control of the hero when you use it. When TW is finished there's a small period when you cannot issue commands to faceless! Since you don't have channeling spells just repeat the same command until void moves again. TW can be used under some spells like: ensnare/bite and those that are similar to these two.


Backtrack:
• Level 1: 10% chance.
• Level 2: 15% chance.
• Level 3: 20% chance.
• Level 4: 25% chance.


Whenever faceless receives damage (if the damage is above 6) there's a chance that this skill will trigger and that it will heal void back. It works against all types of damage except: sunder. This skill won't evade stuns even if the damage is backtracked! Silence and Doom and hex won't disable this skill! Actually nothing can. Bactrack is one of the most relaiable skills of dota! A disabled skill (most passives can be disabled) has a chane of 0% to work while BT 25% from level 7 till the end of the game.

Time Lock:


• Level 1: 10% chance per attack. 40 damage.
• Level 2: 15% chance per attack, 50 damage.
• Level 3: 20% chance per attack, 60 damage.
• Level 4: 25% chance per attack, 70 damage.

It is the same as melee bash. The damage it deals is magical and avatar can block it, but the stun effect will work even if it doesn't deal damage. The effect lasts twice as long on creeps and half on Roshan. Since the damage is magical you won't get return damage when it triggers (except your base damage). Doom disables this skill and any other basher in your inventory.

Chronosphere:

• Level 1: 3 Seconds, 150 mana, 165 cooldown, 500 cast range, 425 AoE.
• Level 2: 4 Seconds, 175 mana, 165 cooldown, 550 cast range, 425 AoE.
• Level 3: 5 Seconds, 200 mana, 165 cooldown, 600 cast range, 425 AoE.

This spell has a 0.5 casting time and there's another little pause before it will stop the units. This spell only stops units and will never stop spells. Of course it will stop channeling since it is the same as a long duration stun. Avatar won't work against this either. This skill won't stop: omnislash, wards and spirits (like Exorcism) after they've been casted.

Read More......

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.

Read More......

Medusa-The Gorgon-Review

Medusa, The Gorgon
Maximizing Damage Potential


Introduction (Read It, It's Not Gonna Kill You):

Hello everyone, my name is Donald, but you can call me 'Donz' for short. If you know one thing about me it's that I have terrible vision, thus my guide will feature dull colors and ridiculously large text. I apologize in advance for any inconveniences this may cause you.

If you have been a part of the forums for a while, you will know that Medusa is my favorite hero and accordingly she is the hero I keep up with via strategy guide. Recently, I "retired" from DotA in favor of more pressing educational and career matters putting me out of commission for well over a year. However, as the summer time came and I found myself with more time on my hands the nostalgia has drawn me back in over the past couple of days.What is the product of this "return" to DotA, you ask?Well, you're reading it.

I decided to leave my old guide closed, and start fresh in the third edition of my Medusa guide. Hopefully you will find it on par, if not a step above the previous versions.I will admit, a bit has changed since last i've played.

Dealing with Medusa specifically, there has been multiple direct and indirect nerfs. Purge was weakened in relation to summons, everytime I check purgable buffs - more and more seem to not be removable (when I distinctly remember purging them off in previous versions), radiance's damage was nerfed, and AEGIS IS NO MORE (which not only nerfs Medusa's late game survivability, but also late game damage potential because you really can't get rapier anymore unless you want to Rosh constantly) just to name a few.

Well, getting right into it, i'm going to tell you flat out that Medusa is not an easy hero to play (contrary to popular belief).
Most of the time when I see Medusa picked the player goes chain + stats along with a bottle and a couple of wraithbands. They then run around the map thinking they are a God-like early game hero killer/ganker and get their asses handed to them resulting in their mid-late game being crippled.

You do not want to be this person.

Medusa can be extremely powerful in the right hands, however.
What hands are these, you ask?You Will Do Well With Medusa If:
You can last hit and deny well.
You have great map-awareness.
You can predict and avoid ganks.
You are not selfish and very team-oriented.
You are patient.
You have stunners on your team.



You should keep these factors in mind before you pick Medusa, and also while playing her. They will play a crucial role in your overall success.



Well , let's start


Description: The Naga princess was named after the legendary gorgon who turned her foes into stone. Though she hasn't developed a stoney glare, her combat skills will freeze even the strongest of fighters in submission. Her years of archery has allowed her to fire multiple arrows with keen accuracy. Manipulation of magic grants her a shield of mana to absorb physical impact. Channeling electrons within the air, she can ignite an electric spark that will jump from foe to foe. Her legendary name is well earned.

Stats:
Strength: 14 + 1.85
Agility: 20 + 2.5
Intelligence 19 + 2.25
Range: 600


Skills:



Split Shot
Medusa magically splits her shot into three arrows. These arrows deal a lower percent of her normal damage.

Level 1 - 45% damage
Level 2 - 55% damage
Level 3 - 65% damage
Level 4 - 75% damage

Split shot defines Medusa, and is one of the skills that makes her such a unique ranged agile hero. This skill will be your best friend mid-late game when you are trying to farm up those 'WTF-IMBA?' item combinations to end the game. This is also what makes Medusa valuable to her team in organized games. At level 4, you can have a damage output of 225%. Using split shot in team battles means a lot of heroes are going to get low very quickly, and this can often lead to double and triple kills. That means we need to get cost effective items that will boost your overall damage when using split shot.

What orbs work with split shot?

Skadi/Lifesteal: Only the main arrow with slow/heal
Diffusal/Manta: No. When you have split shot off you will burn mana, but when it is on you will not.
Maelstrom/Mjollnir, Burize/MKB, Sange: When these proc, you will only shoot one arrow.
Desolator: No, not at all. If you get desolator it won't even let you toggle split shot on. Avoid like HIV.



Chain Lightning


Hurls a bolt of damaging lightning at a target enemy that jumps to nearby enemies. Each jump deals less damage.

Level 1 - 75 damage, jumps 3 times.
Level 2 - 150 damage, jumps 5 times.
Level 3 - 225 damage, jumps 7 times.
Level 4 - 300 damage, jumps 9 times.

Low damage and takes away mana that could be used to survive with mana shield, but it is decent to farm and harass heroes with. This skill is situational, i'll explain the "Do's and Don'ts" of chain lighting later on.


Mana Shield
Creates a shield that absorbs 50% of the incoming damage by using Medusa's mana.

Level 1 - .75 damage per point of mana.
Level 2 - 1.25 damage per point of mana.
Level 3 - 1.5 damage per point of mana.
Level 4 - 2 damage per point of mana.

This will be your bread and butter move. Get two points in it by level three and turn it on, this is what makes Medusa such a durable agile hero.







Purge
Casts a powerful anti-magic buff at a target enemy unit. Slows movement and attack speeds for 5 seconds.

Level 1 - Slows speed by a factor of 2.
Level 2 - Slows speed by a factor of 3.
Level 3 - Slows speed by a factor of 5.
Deals 1000 damage to summoned units.

Nice, fast cool down slowing skill that goes through BKB/magic immunity, dispels buffs (Ursa's Overpower, Sven's Gods Strength), and destroys summoned units (Pesky illusions!). All in all, a very useful ability. Only get one point in it though, level 1 purge, is just as good as level 3.

Read More......

Slardar - The Slithereen Guard-Review

Introdution

After a millennium of being trapped under the raging waters of the Maelstrom, Slardar rose from its chaotic depths with his brethren to serve the mighty demon lord, Illidan Stormrage.

Fanatically devoted to his cause, this Naga fought valiantly along his side until he succumbed to fatal wounds in the heat of battle. Salvation finally seemed within grasp - that is until his fate became intertwined with the grim reach of the Lich King.

Reincarnated as a soulless beast without emotion, Slardar tears through the enemy lines with inhuman speed, striking them out cold with mighty blows, undeterred in his quest to fulfill Nerzhul's every whim.

My Opinion

Before I played bnet at all, I played DotA in local games. I discovered how to play Slardar on my own, created my own item/skill build & Strategy.

I didn't even know that the forum existed..
It was really a shock to see such a good hero be used so badly on bnet, so I decided to write this guide. Let's talk about Slardar, I thought all str heroes were purely tanks when I was a DotA noob (we all were at some point), but Slardar is more of an early damage dealer WITH a nice base str and str gain to support his "rambo"... his skills give great ganking potential if used correctly, which isn't really that hard.

Hero stats overview :
• 300 MoveSpeed
• 21 Strength +2.8
• 17 Agility +1.9
• 15 Intelligence +1.5

Leaving you in the end (no items or attribute bonus) with: 88 Str 62 Agi 51 Int


Skill Description

Sprint

Slardar increases his movement speed dramatically, but takes 10% bonus damage.
Lasts 25 seconds.

Level 1 - Increases speed by 10%.
Level 2 - Increases speed by 20%.
Level 3 - Increases speed by 30%.
Level 4 - Increases speed by 40%.

Cooldown: 45 seconds at all levels.
Manacost: 50 at all levels.


Sprint is one of the best skills in dota which can really make your enemies hate/fear you if used correctly.



Slithereen crush


Slardar slams the ground, stunning and damaging nearby enemy land units.
Slows enemy units by 20% for 2 seconds afterwards.

Level 1 - 50 damage, 1 second stun.
Level 2 - 75 damage, 1.5 second stun.
Level 3 - 100 damage, 2 second stun.
Level 4 - 150 damage, 2.5 second stun.

Cooldown: 8 seconds at all levels.

Level 1: 80 mana
Level 2: 95 mana.
Level 3: 105 mana.
Level 4: 115 mana.



Needless to say, this skill is great. Not many heros have an AoE stun that good. It's your bread and butter and is to be maxed as soon as possible and used to its full poetential. It's an offensive spell and good escape mechanism with Crush&Sprint combo.
Also your only quick farming skill.


Bash
Gives a chance that an attack will do bonus damage and stun an opponent for 1 second.

Level 1 - 10% chance per attack.
Level 2 - 15% chance per attack.
Level 3 - 20% chance per attack.
Level 4 - 25% chance per attack.

Passive
One of the sexiest bashes ever. I still like barathrum's bash but its only 17% or something.. its 25% chance that your attack will stun for 1 second, combined with a good IAS item its too good to be true.


Amplify Damage



Amplifies physical damage against enemy units by reducing their armor.


Also reveals visible and invisible foes.

Level 1 - 5 armor penalty.
Level 2 - 10 armor penalty.
Level 3 - 15 armor penalty.

Cooldown: 10 seconds at all levels.
Manacost: 25 mana at all levels.

Your key to doing uber damage from early to late game. It's useful in stand-off's with other melee heros to give you the edge or just making the poor Int hero ur gonna gank even more vunerable and do nearly twice the damage on his already low armor. The more fun use is revealing invis heroes that rely on their invisibility to survive (Clinkz, Gondar, Rikimaru, etc.) and keeping an eye on your enemies in the lane so they dont slip away and gank a teammate without you knowing.

Read More......