iFlee/Rice’s General Item Guide for HoN & DotA

Since I’ve received many messages about my item builds which I do not really put in the necessary core items that should require no thought to obtain I decided to make this guide in order to help some people look at situations and judge for themselves what to get.  Please note that items are not solely dedicated to a certain group, for instance Shrunken Head/BKB while good on a carry hero is universally good, just more beneficial to a hero that needs to not be stunned/slowed to output DPS.

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Carry Hero

This item section is meant for the heroes that have carry potential whether it be hard-semi or gank-carry categorized such as Swiftblade/Juggernaut, Soulstealer/Nevermore, Arachna/Drow Ranger etc.  These items should be looked at seriously for any of the heroes categorized as carries however please consider in which order you purchase your items.

Shrunken Head (HoN) | Black King Bar (DotA)

This is probably a core item for any carry hero due to the fact that this item when activated, negates all spells that would otherwise be aimed at the hero with the exception of some ultimate spells.  A Shrunken Head/BKB used at the proper time can turn the tides of a battle.  The point of SH/BKB is to allow the carry hero to stand in the fray and dish out a huge amount of damage since they cannot be stunned/slowed by means of most spells so after obtaining this item most  carry heroes gear for huge DPS items.

Geometer’s Bane (HoN) | Manta Style (DotA)

Pretty much a staple item since most carry heroes tend to be Agility based due to the + IAS/MS/All Stats & gives illusions which wreak havoc late game.  The great thing about this item is that it has a split millisecond of invulnerability which can be used to dodge single target spells and turn around a fight.  This item at the metagame phase while still an effective item isn’t the best DPS item available however due to the illusions the longer the game goes the higher the DPS capability of this item goes up.  Remember that illusions do not benefit from +dmg items only from +stats.

Savage Mace (HoN) | Monkey King Bar (DotA)

A great counter to evasion heroes and also Wingbow/Eaglehorn with the True Strike ability which makes it impossible for your hero to miss.  Also adds a % chance to deal 100 extra damage as well as adds a % chance to ministun.  As you can see this item has a lot of sub-abilities to it and as such makes it an extremely good item for heroes who have a decent chunk of attack speed but really lack a huge amount of damage.

Shieldbreaker (HoN) | Stygian Desolater (DotA)

This item has an orb effect that lowers the enemy’s armor that you attack by 6 and does not stack with other orb effects.  This orb effect has the hugest DPS output due to the negative armor it gets as well as the damage it has period.  Usually gotten on carry heroes that can farm it early and then take out enemy heroes extremely fast with just a few auto-attacks.  Usually this item is gotten in conjunction with Daemonic Breastplate/Assault Cuirass due to that items huge increment in attack speed and its -armor aura.

Whispering Helm (HoN) | Helm of the Dominator (DotA)

Probably the most bought orb effect which is lifeleech, this item adds so much more since it allows your hero to dominate a creep which for the most part is used to stack neutral creep camp as well as the ancient spawns.  It’s fairly easy to get this early due to the fairly cheap components (900 Hungry Spirit/Mask of Death, 950 Helm of the Victim/Helm of Iron Will) allowing for heroes +gold/exp farm to increase a lot when the higher level neutral creep camps are stacked.  Also can be upgraded into Symbol of Rage/Satanic which is the best leech in the game.

Charged Hammer (HoN) | Mjollnir (DotA)

While this item is geared more for the HoN carry since Charged Hammer is not considered an orb effect in HoN, it’s still an effective orb for DotA.  The rest of this section will assume you are playing HoN since there’s not much more to say for DotA.  The chain lightning proc is a huge plus for farming as well as teamfights and with the +attack speed that the item and its predecessor (Thunderclaw/Maelstorm) give allows you to utilize the +dmg and chain lightning proc.

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Support Hero

This item section is meant for support heroes such as Glacius/Crystal Maiden, Plague Rider/Lich, Slither/Venomancer, Accursed/Abaddon.  This item section for a reason does not have a huge list of high costing items because support heroes should not be farming a lot to begin with.

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Courier & Flying Courier

One of the 3 necessary components to supporting your team, a courier can make or break the middle lane more than others due to lack of a sideshop to grab boots or any regeneration etc.  Flying courier makes it that much better due to the fact that it is faster and can ship back and forth bottles that need to be refilled etc.  If there isn’t a courier bought at the beginning (and shared) then you will most likely be hearing about it so just suck it up and buy the 200 gold courier.

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Wards

Wards are EASILY the most important item that can be bought early to mid game and still have a huge effectiveness late game.  Early/Meta game is all about map control which incidentally usually involves rune control and being able to see said runes is an exponential advantage to your middle lane to grab those runes/bottle it and make effective use of it by killing another hero possibly with the appropriate rune (Double Damage, Haste, Invisibility).  However people are often counter warded with the use of the true-sight wards (Blue ones) which just shows you how much an emphasis on more vision of the map teams really jockey for.

Teleport

The last of 3 “must-haves” for support heroes that pay off huge dividends a teleport scroll is an item that while costing 135 gold has a huge payback if used properly.  You can chase down enemies who may hide behind a tower a lot easier, run to where the tower cannot see you and teleport home, you can teleport to another lane and gank or set up defense etc. etc.  You should ALWAYS be carrying a teleport around if you do not have Post-Haste/Boots of Travel which in most games will be all the time.

Astrolabe (HoN) | Mekansm (DotA)

This item is good in literally any situation, who doesn’t want to be healed?  Not only does it increase your own heroes survivability it increases the survivability of your allies be creeps or heroes due to not only the heal but the fact it adds 2 armor to all units in the AoE, 2 armor may not seem like a lot but damage reduction is damage reduction and even a little bit helps at all times.

Barrier Idol (HoN) | Khadgar’s Pipe of Insight (DotA)

More situational if the other team has a huge amount of burst magic damage (Pyromancer/Lina, Witch Slayer/Lion, Thunderbringer/Zeus etc.) but really a good pickup overall since there will always be magic damage in a game regardless of the hero picks unless you manage to do (in DotA) ARSH and get Troll Warlord.  Again used at the right moment can nullify a lot of burst magic damage and again, applies the magic shield in an AoE making it effective for the whole team.

Tablet of Command (HoN) | Force Staff (DotA)

An underrated item in both games to be honest, it can be used to push an enemy closer to your team when they aren’t expecting it, to juke out enemies by pushing you up cliffs, help chase by pushing you or a teammate, the possibilities are endless.  The only minor issue with this item is that it does take a bit of intelligence of when to use it, for instance if you are chasing through the woods and get your pathing changed, you may regret using this item but overall this item is very, very hilarious to see/use and a decent underrated item overall.

Nomes Wisdom (HoN)

This item is exclusive to Heroes of Newerth but it is such a good item.  When allies cast a spell they get healed based on the % of the manacost of the spell which really, who doesn’t want that? As well as it adds a minor mana regeneration of 1, which may not seem like a lot but then again it is like level 2 aura of Glacius/Crystal Maiden. Overall an extremely good item to pick up usually as Demented Shaman, Soul Reaper, Jereziah etc. basically any healer.

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Gank/Roamer Hero

This item section is dedicated to those roamers who focus or may focus on roaming/ganking as their main point of xp/gold early/meta game such as Andromeda/Vengeful Spirit, Witch Slayer/Lion, Pyromancer/Lina, Magmus/Sand King.

Teleport

Since these kinds of heroes depend on kills more than last hitting creeps a teleport scroll is key to moving around the map with wards, teleporting to a lane and taking the long detour route to another lane may seem tedious but it may pay off due to lack of vision to that particular gank spot/better positioning overall but overall turning a 2v2/1v1 into a 3v2/2v1 should come out with favorable odds for your side (assuming you have the 3 or 2), key word being SHOULD.  Always make sure your teammates are aware of your presence before progressing with your gank.

Bottle

This item will probably be bought by at least 8/10 of the heroes in the game because is it such a good versatile item, heals for 135 hp/75 mana over a short duration with 3 charges and allows you to bottle up runes to use at a later date, the reason why this is bought so much that with all the refills you will be doing over the game by fountain or runes this item will pay for itself tenfold as opposed to buying regen like Health Potions/Mana Pots.

Portal Key (HoN) | Kelen’s  Dagger (DotA)

An item good in any heroes inventory, some more than others however no one can refute the logic that blink dagger is a great item.  It can be used to help initiate for those heroes who have spells that are an AoE around themselves (Magmus/Sand King, Behemoth/Earthshaker, Kraken/Tidehunter etc.) or it can be used to blink away from incoming ganks or to juke out heroes.  I have to say that this is probably THE best item in the game, but that’s just my personal opinion.

Codex (HoN) | Dagon (DotA)

While this item is rarely gotten, that’s more to the fact by the time it is gotten 400 damage isn’t the biggest source of DPS one could have gotten, however if bought early enough a level 1 Codex/Dagon can easily combo off heroes, thinking particularly of Pyromancer/Lina and Witch Slayer/Lion who already have burst nukes.  However it is rarely upgraded past level 1 for a good reason, you should be looking to different items and leaving codex at level 1, the 100 dmg/minor mana cost/cd reduction isn’t worth the 1350 upgrade IMO at least.

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From here on out it really depends on the hero’s main attribute and there’s a handful of items that I did or did not include, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on item choices that you may have or on my item choices with some reasoning, remember that these items are not a MUST-buy for the most part (the only 2 real items I would classify as must-buy outside of TP/Wards/Courier would be Shrunken Head/BKB & Portal Key/Kelen’s Dagger) and are just my opinion of typical core items you would see watching a high tier HoN/DotA game.