HoN Pebbles Hero Guide

Pebbles

Starting Attributes:

Str – 24 + 3 per lvl (primary attribute)

Agi – 9 + 0.9 per lvl

Int – 14 + 1.6 per lvl

Range – Melee

Damage – 61-67

Armor – 0.26

Movement Speed – 285

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Spells

Stalagmites

Pebbles summons forth an eruption of stalagmites at a target location, stunning and damaging all enemies in the area.

Type – Magic

Range – 600

Radius – 200

Mana Cost – 120

Cooldown – 20 seconds

Video to come

A great AoE stun, once Pebbles grabs a portal key make sure you cast Chuck before Stalagmites so that the target will take double damage.   Can also be used to destroy trees and juke around when running.

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Chuck

Pebbles throws a nearby visible unit to target location, damaging it and all enemies in an area around where it lands.

Activation
Deals 75 / 150 / 225 / 300 Magic damage to enemy units in radius. Buildings receive 33% damage. Deals 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 Magic damage to thrown unit.

Type – Magic

Range – 500/700/900/1100

Radius – 300

Mana Cost – 120

Cooldown – 10 seconds

Video to come

A fun spell that can be used in many ways.  You can toss an enemy or ally so it has its offenses and defensive uses, you can chuck in allies like Legionnaire or Behemoth who can then use their spells effectively without portal keys or you can chuck enemies into your team to effectively remove them from team fight.

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Slab Skin

Grants bonus armor and reduces the duration of debuffs.

-10 / -20 / -30 / -40% Debuff Durations
2 / 4 / 6 / 8 Armor

Passive Ability

Kind of a useless ability unless you can get farmed enough to not need the attribute bonus instead of this skill

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Grow

Makes Pebbles grow larger, increasing attack damage, move speed, adding to the power of his other skills, yet greatly slowing his attack speed.

Passive Ability

Great ability to get after maxing chuck & stalagmites especially later game when the -attack speed is countered by items.

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Skill Builds

1. Stalagmites

2. Chuck

3. Chuck

4. Stalagmites

5. Chuck

6. Stalagmites

7. Chuck

8. Stalagmites

9. Grow

10. Attribute Bonus

11. Grow

12-15. Slab Skin

16. Grow

17-25. Attribute Bonus

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Item Recommendations

Blood Chalice is a great item, use it right before you kill a hero and basically it’s free mana, a great pickup early on.

Portal Key is a core item on Pebbles, it allows him to blink right next to enemies to combo down enemies effectively.

Frostfield Plate is a great item, adds the AoE damage that Pebbs has with it’s activatable, gives him an upgraded mana pool with the +int and +armor to his abysmally small armor base.

Deamonic Breastplate basically fits most of Pebbles needs, gives him attack speed to counter his ultimate, armor for his already low pool base and lowers the armor of enemies increasing your damage even more, a great late item pick-up.

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Early Game

Early game if you are solo focus on grabbing levels and if you can capitalize on your opponents mistake.  If you are in a side lane again, focus on playing aggressively with your lane partner, pick up a blood chalice early and if you really want to a bottle as well, whether you get striders or ghost marchers is up to you however you should look to get a portal as soon as you can after boots/bottle/blood chalice.  After you pickup your portal key look to shutdown the other teams carry or focus on heroes that will fall easily to your combo.

Middle Game

By now you should be purely ganking with or without your portal key, again focus on other carry heroes or heroes you can  take down with your combo, they key to middle game is vision so counter warding and warding is always good, 200 gold is negligible for pebbles considering how many kills he should be obtaining.  The only farm you should be doing is gank-farming otherwise you will be getting a lot of experience and gold farming off the enemy heroes, again movement and vision is the key to Pebbles mid game.

Late Game

By late game most heroes will be able to survive your combination except for support heroes who’ve wisely spent their gold on courier/wards etc. like Andromeda, Witch Slayer etc.  So again focus on them or the carry hero, you should be by no means farming, grab another 2 heroes and go around picking off heroes with them, you can easily take out towers that are left with Chuck since it does a decent amount of damage.  If you can blink into the other team and toss a vital hero to your team whether the be a carry or huge disable like tempest, magmus etc. and get out it will be vital to victory.

Clan NABT: Total Shitstains

Clan NABT tried to force default time onto us for the CSN tournament, knowing we were committed to GR quarterfinals at the same time and couldn’t make it.  These kids refused our offer to play before or right after GR finished, and chose instead to stroke each other off in channel like a buncha Eurotrash shitstains rather than actually play a game of HoN with us.

After these dumpsters beat around the bush for an hour we finally dragged in a tourney admin to get them to play us.  Problem was, they wouldn’t agree to any specific time of playing because that would influence their plans of just keep dodging and eventually say “they weren’t there at default time we get ff win”.

Had to drag the admin in there again to get them to finally agree on a time to play the next day or ff, and after only 2 of the idiots showed up they tried to argue that we had agreed on some magical time that was actually 6 hours later even though we had screenshot of them agreeing to the actual time with the admin in channel.  Get fucking disqualified you shady assholes.

NAtural Born Tacticians isn’t a bad name for this team.  In this case, their TACTIC was clear: dodge the match.  If you ever have the misfortune of encountering these sniveling publics on HoN, don’t give them the time of day.

Can you think of any better names for this worthless NABT clan?  Nasty Ass Butt Trolls?  Submit your own in the comments.

Swiftblade — HoN Hero Guide

Swiftblade

Swiftblade is a melee Agility hero in Heroes of Newerth based on DotA’s Juggernaut.   Swiftblade has one of the strongest lane presences of any Agility hero early game, with a dangerous combination of a magic damage/immunity spin and hero-killing ultimate, and can also carry late game with a good critical strike.  Here are the abilities:

Blade Frenzy (q)

Swiftblade spins with his blades out, dealing magic damage to units around him while remaining immune to magic damage himself.  This is great for killing enemy heroes early game, so long as you can get close enough to them, and stay close enough to them during the duration of the spell.  This is also a good way to avoid nasty stuns and other magic damage with a timely activation.

You can also attack at a reduced speed during Level 4 Blade Frenzy, which is good to do extra damage against a hero that is not moving (otherwise they might get away), or if you have a lot of slows and movement speed advantage (like Frostburn + Ghost Marchers).

Counter Attack (passive)

Counter Attack gives a chance for Swiftblade to hit back on any ranged or melee attack that hits him. The damage done is proportional to Swiftblade’s damage, so this improves as the game goes on and Swiftblade picks up more items.

Way of the Sword (passive)

Way of the sword is a Critical Strike; it gives a chance for 2X damage on any attack.  This also works during Swiftblade’s ultimate to deal more damage.  This becomes really powerful when Swiftblade has picked up attack speed and damage items.

Swift Slashes (ultimate) (r)

Swift Slashes does damage to random units in a small area around a first targeted unit.  This means if only one hero is in the area, it does all the damage to him, so this works worse and worse as more and more units are around.  This damage is distributed in 3/5/8 bursts depending on the level, and if Swiftblade’s attack speed is fast enough he can attack in between these bursts as well.  Swiftblade can crit strike from Way of the Sword like normal on these attacks and applies any other attack effects like attack modifiers or cleaving damage from Runed Axe.

Strategy

Recommended Skill Build

1. Blade Frenzy (1)
2. Stats
3. Blade Frenzy (2)
4. Stats
5. Blade Frenzy (3)
6. Swift Slashes (1)
7. Blade Frenzy (4)
8. Way of the Sword (1)
9. Way of the Sword (2)
10. Way of the Sword (3)
11. Swift Slashes (2)
12. Way of the Sword (4)
13. Counter Attack (1)
14. Counter Attack (2)
15. Counter Attack (3)
16. Swift Slashes (3)
17. Counter Attack (4)
18. Stats -> Level 25

Explanation: Blade Frenzy gets maxed first to get kills early game.  Stats are desirable at Level 2 and even at Level 4 to get enough mana capacity (310 needed) to cast both Blade Frenzy and Swift Slashes at Level 6.  Way of the Sword really helps your ultimate damage and your attack in general so we get this next.  Counter Attack doesn’t do much till late game so hold off on that.

Early Game

Recommended Early Game items:

+ +

Logger’s Hatchet + Ghost Marchers + Sustainer

An Iron Shield can help you farm early game too, if needed.

Early game you should lane with a ranged hero like Glacius, Plague Rider, or Demented Shaman who can slow or stun heroes for you to kill with Blade Frenzy.

Mid Game

Recommended Mid Game items:

+

Runed Axe + Frostburn

Mid game you should be farming and occasionally killing heroes when your ultimate is up.  Look for enemies that are isolated away from the creep wave and allied heroes so that you can kill them quickly with your ultimate.

Late Game

Recommended Late Game items:

+

Abyssal Skull + Wingbow

Another decent item on Swiftblade is Charged Hammer.  Any item that gives Swiftblade more attack damage and attack speed (indirectly or by adding Agility) improves his ultimate and his critical strike, which is what you want.  A Shrunken Head can be useful against teams with a lot of disable.

Counters

Disabling Swiftblade with a Hex or stun before he can use Blade Frenzy or use his ultimate is the easiest way to deal with him.  Some abilities like Devourer’s and Succubus’s ultimates can be used to disable Swiftblade while he is already spinning.  A great way to deal with a farmed Swiftblade late game is with a Void Talisman.  Activating this puts an immediate stop to Swift Slashes and prevents him from attacking you further.  Also, a Nullstone can prevent Swift Slashes from even casting, since it is a single-target ability.

Pestilence — HoN Hero Guide

Art by Kingaby

Pestilence

Pestilence is a Melee Strength hero in Heroes of Newerth equivalent to Slardar in DotA.  Pestilence is a strong ganker and initiator, tank, and counter to enemy heroes with invisibility.  Here is a look at his abilities:

Flight (q)

Flapping his wings Pest gets increased movespeed at the cost of amplified incoming damage.  At a constant +10% damage (any level) this is almost negligible, while having +40% movement speed at Level 4 is huge.  Use this to quickly initiate battles with your stun, catch enemies in bad positions, and chase them down.

Impale (w)

Insects impale the ground in a radius around Pestilence, damaging and stunning nearby enemies.  Radius is constant at all levels (and large), while damage and stun duration increases with level.  This is the great spell that lets Pestilence initiate onto several enemies at once and disable them so his team can wipe them out.

Gore (passive)

Pest stabs a unit with his horn giving bonus damage and a stun.  This gets more and more important as the game goes on and your attack speed continues to increase, allowing Pest to continuously stun and disable important heroes on the enemy team and effectively take them out of the battle.

Swarm (ultimate) (r)

Pest unloads a swarm of Locusts which temporarily lower the armor of an enemy unit and make it visible.  Needless to say this is the best counter to any hero with invisibility in the game.  The mana cost and cooldown are extremely low (only 25 mana, 10 seconds at all levels) which means you can keep spamming it on every enemy hero, making them die much quicker to attacks.  This also combines extremely well with items that reduce armor like Shield Breaker and Daemonic Breastplate, and heroes abilities that do the same, like Andromeda’s Aurora and Pandaomnium’s Flick.

Strategy

Recommended Skill Build

1. Impale
2. Flight
3. Impale
4. Flight
5. Impale
6. Swarm
7. Impale
8. Flight
9. Flight
10. Gore
11. Swarm
12. Gore
13. Gore
14. Gore
15. Stats
16. Swarm
17. Stats -> Level 25

Explanation: Impale is your main utility and should get maxed out asap.  Flight should be taken before Gore since this allows you to chase down heroes and land Impales which gets you a lot more kills and facilitates ganking early game.  A common noobie mistake is to level Gore instead of Flight which makes you a stronger fighter but with a lot less ability to initiate and make any battles happen where you will actually be able to fight.  At most you could get a single level of Gore early in lieu of a level of Flight which could give you some chasing/initiation speed in combination with the chance to proc an occasional Gore stun for additional killing power. Or get a couple levels of Flight then a couple levels of Gore.  Just remember that Flight is pretty important even though it looks like a shitty skill at first glance.  You might even prioritize it over maxing out Impale.

Early Game

Recommended Early Game items:

Steamboots

An Iron Shield and/or Logger’s Hatchet can help you farm in lane at start of game if necessary.  If farming is difficult then just try to get Steamboots.  If it’s easy you could just go Marchers straight to Portal Key and get Steamboots later.  Steamboots are the best choice of footwear on Pestilence because they give increased hit points for tanking and attack speed for Gore stun procs.

Early game you should focus on last hitting in your lane.  Whenever an enemy gets in a bad position you can kill them with your Impale stun and a few attacks.  Pest works best in a lane with someone like Demented Shaman who can slow an enemy enough (with Entangle) for you to get an Impale stun off, before healing you for more damage onto the enemy.

Mid Game

Recommended Mid Game items:

+

Portal Key + Shrunken Head

Portal Key is essential as it allows Pestilence to deftly initiate and pick off enemy heroes.  Once you have this item the combination of Portal Key/Flight and Impale makes Pestilence a very effective ganker and initiator for team battles.  Take advantage of this and pick off the carries and puny support heroes on the other team to give your team the advantage.  Make sure to use your ultimate as much as possible to give vision and make enemy heroes die quicker.

A Shrunken Head activated before blinking in to a group of enemy heroes to stun them makes a big impact on a battle if your team is good enough to follow up.  Pestilence will usually survive and be able to chase down any remaining heroes with Swarm and Flight for the Genocide.  You might consider a Shaman’s Headdress instead of Shrunken Head (later turn into Barrier Idol), or even a Nullstone or Barbed Armor in certain situations.

Late Game

Recommended Late Game items:

+ +

Shield Breaker + Daemonic Breastplate + lifesteal

Shield Breaker combines well with the armor reduction of Pestilence’s Swarm ultimate to really accelerate the death of any thing he hits.  Daemonic Breastplate is a great item on Pestilence as it adds armor to a Strength hero making him extremely difficult to kill, attack speed to proc more Gore bashes, and even has an armor reducing aura to further combine with Swarm and Shield Breaker to wipe out enemy heroes in almost no hits.

After this Pest is a fighting machine and the last thing to do is get lifesteal.  If you already have an attack modifier (like Shield Breaker) then you want to get Abyssal Skull because it gives lifesteal as an aura.  Otherwise get Whispering Helm and do it big.

Counters

You basically want to Hex or disable Pest in some other way to keep him out of your grill.  Killing him early when he’s saving money for Portal Key is very good.  If he’s able to farm unchecked and get Portal Key and Shrunken Head early in the match then you are in serious trouble and need to follow his position closely on the minimap so he doesn’t pick you off.

HoN Accursed Hero Guide

Accursed

Starting Attributes:

Str – 23 + 2.7 per lvl (primary attribute)

Agi – 17 + 1.5 per lvl

21 + 2.0 per lvl

Range – Melee

Damage – 54-56

Armor – 4.38

Movement Speed – 300

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Spells

Cauterize

At the cost of some of his own Health, Accursed bursts the air around a target, dealing damage to them if they are an enemy or healing them if they are an ally.

Activation
Deals 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 Magic damage to enemy units or heals allied units for 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 Health. Deals 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 Magic damage to self.

Type – Magic

Range – 700

Mana Cost – 75

Cooldown – 6 seconds

A great spell, can be used offensively to nuke a hero down or defensively to heal an ally or deny yourself and the opposition a kill.

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Fire Shield

Accursed covers a friendly unit in a shield of flames protecting them from damage and removing harmful effects. If the shield is damaged to its breaking point, it will explode, dealing Magical damage to nearby enemies equal to that of the damage absorbed.

Fire Shield Effects
110 / 140 / 170 / 200 damage shield. Once full amount is absorbed, damages enemies in 700 radius for 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 Magic damage.

Type – Magic

Range – 350

Mana Cost – 100/110/120/130

Cooldown – 18/15/12/9 seconds

One of the best early laning phase spells and babysit spells, basically nullifys a certain amount of damage and if the damage threshold is broken explodes the shield & damages units around it.

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Sear

Causes Accursed’s attacks to sear his target, slowing their movement speed. Any ally that attacks the affected unit will be buffed with increased attack speed and movement speed.

Burning Strikes Effects
10 / 20 / 30 / 40 Attack Speed
10% Movement Speed

Passive Ability

Ever since becoming an attack modifier it isn’t that great of an ability, to be honest I’d get attribute bonuses before this spell until late game since the % movement slow is negligible.

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Flame Consumption

Accursed summons a powerful fire tornado around himself which, when fueled with damage, causes him to regain his life.

Protective Flames Effects
100% of damage taken converted to Health

Cooldown – 60 seconds

Great  spell once you learn when to use it or late game when all shit is going crazy and you just press R

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Skill Build

1. Fire Shield

2/3. Cauterize

4. Fire Shield

5. Cauterize

6. Flame Consumption

7. Cauterize

8/9. Fire Shield

10. Sear

11. Flame Consumption

12-15. Sear

16. Flame Consumption

17-25. Attribute Bonus

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Item Recommendations

Astrolabe is an additional heal for Accursed making him that much of a better support hero, Cauterize/Shield/Astrolabe is about 500 damage healed, yeah.

Nomes Wisdom is a great addition, gives that much needed Mana Aura & the abilities that come with it compliment Accursed in general as well as the team.

Barrier Idol again adds to the healing/damage nullification that Accursed has for his team as well as himself, obviously dependent on how nuke-heavy the other team but there are few heroes which make this item worth it alone (Thunderbringer, Pyromancer etc.)

Again adding to Accursed annoying capabilities to live through fights, this should be looked to picked up after quite a few support items.

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Early Game

Early game you are probably going to be babysitting a carry/semi carry hero, make sure to shield/heal them whenever the opposition tries to advance on them or use your nuke NOT to last hit but harass the enemies back, a good early game item is Blood Chalice.  You should focus on letting your carry get last hits and forcing your creep wave to static or pull back by attacking  your own creeps when they are half life & attacking the other hero so creeps aggro onto you.

Middle Game

You should be roaming now with other teammates, make sure you carry a TP in case your carry gets ganked and you have the potential to save them.  While ganking shiled your initiator or whoever is going to be rushing in and likely taking damage, remember Cauterize does NOT need to be used to last hit heroes.  Should you be rushing into a dangerous situation remember to manually activate flame consumption so you get healed as opposed to damaged.

Late Game

By late game you should be throwing out spells whenever they are cool downed, focus your shield on your carry hero or if someone gets caught up too aggressively shield them, you should not be farming at all by this point, you are better off getting gold & experience from the opposition heroes dying and your team pushing down towers.  Kongor is always good since you can heal allies/shield them or tank yourself and use flame consumption to heal up all the damage you would otherwise take.