Moon buries Clan iCry 6 feet under with his 35-1 Chipper; 2x Immortal in one game

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kizzles takes a dump on SLiCKz mid

HoN Chipper Hero Guide

Chipper

The Chipper is a new ranged Intelligence hero in Heroes of Newerth version 0.3.2.  The Chipper is a Chiprel in a mechanized war contraption fully loaded with steam power, a barrel of nuts with mechanical grabber to feed them straight into his mouth while his hands are busy controlling levers, saw blades, rocket launchers, and a hot tar reservoir.  Basically he is the coolest rodent in town.  This hero is unique to HoN, but two of his abilities, Rockets and Tar Toss, are very similar to Bat Riders’ in Dota.  Here is a look at his abilities:

Rocket Barrage (q)

Rocket Barrage fires up to three rockets at a time at target location up to 3000 range away that mini-stun and damage the first unit they hit (won’t hit allies or neutral units), and also set any nearby Tarred units on fire.  This is a low-manacost, low-cooldown spell analogous to Batrider’s Flamebreak ability in Dota; and like much like Tinker’s rockets in Dota, it can be used to pick off enemy heroes from long range.  Note: the rockets do not deal splash damage like one might expect from an exploding projectile weapon; they are more like bullets, only hurting the unit they hit and nothing around it.

Rocket Barrage only does half damage to targets within 175 range of the Chipper (very close), meaning it is best used from distance with accuracy (like throwing a Valkyrie Javelin).  If you miss your target or hit a nearby enemy creep, it will usually deal no damage at all to the enemy hero; so be precise.

Tar Toss (w)

Tar Toss is an AOE ability that applies an movement and attack speed slow to units caught within its slimey grasp.  Accuracy is important because the closer to the center they are, the more they will be slowed by it.  In addition, if tarred units are hit with a Rocket Barrage, they catch on fire and take magic damage over time.

Tar Toss is a nifty ability to slow down individual escaping units before lighting them up with Rocket Barrages.  In addition, it can play a useful role in team battles by slowing and disrupting multiple heroes, and forcing them to take more damage from your Sawblade ultimate.

Focus Buffer (e)

Focus Buffer applies a neutron shield to target allied unit (seen above on the Chipper himself) that reflects some magic damage that unit takes onto nearby enemy units.  This ability is somewhat like putting Sand Wraith’s Dispersion ability onto a unit of your choice (except that it only reflects magic damage).

Focus Buffer is best used to protect important role-playing heroes or your late-game carry in team battles.

Sawblade Showdown (ultimate) (r)

If you’ve seen Battlebots then this looks familar.  The Chipper calls on his Chiprel buddies underground to push spinning sawblades out of the ground in order to deal initial damage and damage over time to any units caught in their way.  Needless to say getting caught in these is rather traumatizing.

The best way to use Sawblade Showdown is in combination with a good slowing or disable ability that will hold enemies in the area and force them to take maximum damage.  Something like a well placed Tar Toss or an allied Tempest ultimate.

Just like Zephyr’s Gust ability, Sawblade Showdown is a ‘Vector’ ability, meaning after selecting the spell you must first click your mouse and then drag in the direction you wish to aim it.  The Sawblades will then line up in the direction you pointed.

Strategy

Recommended Skill Build

1. Tar Toss (1)
2. Rocket Barrage (1)
3. Rocket Barrage (2)
4. Tar Toss (2)
5. Rocket Barrage (3)
6. Sawblade Showdown (1)
7. Rocket Barrage (4)
8. Tar Toss (3)
9. Tar Toss (4)
10. Focus Buffer (1)
11. Sawblade Showdown (2)
12. Focus Buffer (2)
13. Focus Buffer (3)
14. Focus Buffer (4)
15. Stats
16. Sawblade Showdown (3)
17. Stats -> Level 25

Explanation: Rocket Barrage is the foundation of Chipper’s ability to lane control and gank and should be maxxed out first.  Tar Toss compliments this and should be your secondary ability, otherwise just ignore it till later and max Rockets and Stats early (or get one level of it then go Stats).  Focus Buffer is a good shield, but is not really needed till late game when team battles are going on; so hold off on learning this till after you have Tar and Rockets no matter what.

Strategy

Early Game

Recommended Starting items:

+  +  + 

Minor Totems + Marks of the Novice + Runes of the Blight + Mana Potions

The Chipper is a mana-intensive hero, so grab items that will increase your mana capacity and regeneration rate so you can use a lot of spells to get kills early in the game.  Minor Totems and Marks of the Novice will also improve your attack damage for last hitting.  The Chipper has a long attack range and good base damage so you don’t really need to tank up or worry about getting killed while you farm in lane.  Make use of your long attack range to harass enemies in your lane.

Recommended Early Game items:

+ + +

Ghost Marchers + Bottle + Power Supply + Talismans of Exile

Ghost Marchers give Chipper the speed boost he needs to get close enough to enemy heroes to catch them in Tar Toss before tearing them up with his rockets and sawblades, and also more attack damage for hero killing.  Bottle and Power supply are also recommended for a hero that is made for ganking.  Talismans of Exile increase the size of your mana pool so you can use spam more spells before running out of mana.

Mid Game

Recommended Mid Game items:

or

Storm Spirit or Nome’s Wisdom

Since Chipper can cast 3 rockets at a time for 85 mana a piece when this ability is Level 4 (and another rocket every four seconds), the potential to put out damage is immense, and limited only by his mana supply.  On top of this, the cooldown for his other abilities, Tar Toss and Focus Buffer and Sawblade Showdown, are only 10 seconds, 10 seconds, and 30 seconds, at their max level respectively.  Therefore to maximize his effectiveness in battle, The Chipper needs an item like Stormspirit or Nome’s Wisdom to increase his mana pool and his ability to regenerate mana so he can spam spells NONSTOP.  Other decent options are Ring of Sorcery or Sacrificial Stone.

Late Game

Recommended Late Game items:

and

Staff of the Master and Frostfield Plate

Staff of the Master adds range and a slowing effect to your ultimate, which combined with Tar Toss means opponents will be severely disabled and taking massive damage from the saw blades.  Another way to magnify this damage is with Frostfield Plate, which can be used to slow enemy heroes further.

You are looking to stay alive for 30+ seconds in long team battles where you are casting spells nonstop to help your teammates and get kills, and even having time to use your ultimate more than once due to its very low cooldown.  If the game goes really late then think about a Harkon’s Blade to amp up your magic damage even more, or a Kuldra’s Sheepstick to add some disable to your team.