Without a doubt, Glacius is a hard as support as it gets, rivaling Demented Shaman and Plague Rider. With the buffing of his base damage/armor, and the HoN slowly turning into a more gank-oriented game, Glacius is seeing a lot play. He requires a lot of skill to play very well, and a good Glacius is an invaluable teammate.

First off, don’t expect to farm anything. Glacius does nothing but nuke, play in the back and ward/counter gank. His main role, however, is to provide a lot of bonus mana to his teammates, so he does best in strong casters teams and has a strong presence in lane.

Tundra Blast

Amazing spell for level 1. Should not be leveled as the effects of the spell do not scale and it doesn’t do enough damage/doesn’t help the team more than his other skills. Its cast range is huge (700) and the spells effects are great (30% MS reduction and attack speed reduction). Can also be used to harass heroes that are using mana potions from far away and slow heroes when your creep wave is coming and theirs is almost gone (the hero cannot turn around and hit you without taking creep damage and his creeps are dead). Yes, a good Glacius will know when to cast this spell to maximize damage.

Ice Imprisonment.

Holds an enemy in place for 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 seconds. Also ministuns them and they will not able to attack but can cast spells after the mini stun, so beware.
Great for chasing or initiating. Shows invisible units during this time. Also, if cast on an ally unit, reduces damage taken by 20 / 30 / 40 / 50%. Cast on youself if you’re getting focused to get your ult off or to save allies taking damage over time. For example, on the last tick of Hell Bringers Death Boil, cast it on yourself to reduce the final damage by half, possibly saving yourself.

Chilling Presence:

Arguably the best support ability in the game. This is to be maxed as soon as possible. Gives everyone on the map a ton of mana regeneration (0.50 / 1.00 / 1.50 / 2.00 ). Will make the difference between losing and winning lanes. Must get. Do not level tundra blast over this. Looking down and seeing that your Glacius is leveling this spell gives you the same initial feeling as after a long day of work then getting home and sitting in the couch for the first time.

Glacial Downpour

Congratulations on reaching level 6, probably dying about 5 times and buying a host of wards. You will be rewarded with a spell that only does damage if you manage to get inside the middle of a battle and cast it without dying. Yes, GD hurts. You’re best bet with this spell is to try to cast it in fog during chases or uphill so they can’t see you. Once you get a Portal Key, you can wait a bit in the back till it’s clear for you to go in and cast this spell.

Strategy

Recommended Skill Build:

1. Tundra Blast(1)
2. Ice Imprisonment (1)
3. Chilling Presence (1)
4. Chilling Presence (2)
5. Chilling Presence (3)
6. Glacial Downpour (1)
7. Chilling Presence (4)
8. Ice Imprisonment (2)
9. Ice Imprisonment (3)
10. Ice Imprisonment (4)
11. Glacial Downpour (2)
12-15 Stats (5)
16. Glacial Downpour (3)
17-25 Stats and Tundra Blast.

Early Game

You should be babysitting/owning. Glacius has a great lane presence with Tundra blast/Ice Imprisonment, so try laning with a hero that nukes or can capitalize on you slow/stun. If other lanes are having trouble, go there and help out. Glacius’ strength is his early game. If you’re feeding, play back more and don’t initiate/try to leech experience. Also harass the enemy a lot and let your lane partner farm. You are able to play very aggressive, but if you’re against another strong lane, Glac may feed a bit

Mid game

Not much has changed here. You can also go Bracers/Strength Steam Boots. I’d also only get a Portal Key if you’re actually getting that kind of gold. Astrolobe is fine if you’re farming that well but you shouldn’t put anything over wards/tps right now. That’s Glacius main role. Mid-game involves Glacius being involved in all team fights/team skirmishes. He should not be farming any lane. Having under 100 gpm is common with this hero.

Late Game

If you manage a Portal Key, go for tank items. If you can’t manage 2100 throughout any part of the game, getting even Gantlets of Strength help. Shrunken head is possible, but it’ll take forever to farm. Also, just getting Fortified Bracelets help a lot. Maybe a Mighty Axe or something to help you stay alive. The later the game goes, the weaker Glacius gets. Keep helping the team and warding, though. You’ll probably die every fight if you don’t position yourself in the back. Let other heroes soak up damage for you.

Replays:

Me playing Glacius in a 1700+ Eu BD game.

http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=6447388

Tags: Crystal Maiden, glacius, HoN, support, ward bitch

This entry was posted on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 10:49 AM by KingRaven and is filed under Guides: HoN. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.