Heroes of Newerth

[TwiNCannoN]

Man, S2 is kicking ass and taking names with these patches.

Originally Posted by Elerion

I already said that. When you can be aggressive, he's a very strong laner. The sad fact of the matter is that against strong lanes, you can't. Running past the creep line (which is where you have to be to be a threat) is very dangerous against any combo with strong disables and damage output.

You can, you just have to make sure to really make the most of it. Don't screw around and just get right in their faces, don't hesitate. No combo can take more than a few lego spins early on, and the radius is huge. I'm sure it will be a lot better now that lego spins no matter what, also. Obviously doing this make you have to suck down health pots, but the creeps following with you when you're right clicking the enemy heroes just get splatted as well and become more farm money. Only downside is you push the tower pretty hard, so this is much more effective when you're in top lane helborne or bottom lane legion, so you can creep pull.

What I usually try and do is wait for an opportune time to push, and push REALLY hard, and then when they get to their tower I just fall all the way back to creep pull, rinse and repeat. You won't get any kills but it's good xp and money, you're not sitting behind your creep line getting harassed and taking damage. Works great when you have someone jungling as well since obviously this strategy can be really bitchy for a lane partner.

[Pyros]

I find it's always a thin line between being aggressive enough to force people to back off and too aggressive to trigger a reaction and get owned, but that's what makes the initial game fun. On legio you're gonna get fucked with some spell spamming setups though, like if they have glacius and you're laning defiler or pyro spamming their wave AE thingie. Others can spam stuff too, but these are easy as shit to aim and basically unavoidable unless you stay way the fuck back, because the max range is big. Pyro comes with the double annoyance of having a stun too in case you get low.

Biggest issue with legio is like 70% of the pubs playing him suck anyway. They farm, farm, farm, gear him up, and still suck. They don't have the balls to initiate or time it like tards, when they did understand they're initiaters.

Anyway, read a bit about necrolyte, he sounds like an awesome hero, perfectly fitting the kind of style I like(half support half I rape your face). Wonder how the port will be though, like if it's gonna be a pure port or if they'll change one ability like they often do. That said, he's the new port on the list, I don't expect seeing him very soon. Sand Wraith looked fun though, and I hear a lot of good things about Diseased Rider(lich). Puck seems like a solid contender for a future port too, and I somewhat want Invoker he looks really fun to play and very original compared to the rest.

Also hope they'll get the matchmaking and replay shit done soon, these are pretty big features that I could use a lot. Replays especially so I can see some 5vs5 competitive play, dota videos on youtube are worthless and I don't want to install war3 to check replays by myself.

[CyrusReij]

When they say port, they actually mean pure port, and if something is wrong they change it more towards DotA, see the continual changes to Valkyrie (PotM) and Magmus (Sand King). I am more interested in what theme they are going with for him, as i am a sucker for their art in this game. Magmus/Andromeda came out fucking beautiful imho, and I would like to see them continue that trend with Sand Wraith (which it looks like they will) and Diseased Rider.

Either way, Necrolyte is an incredible powerhouse with Heartstopper aura being massively helpful all game + his ult which is the greatest anti-carry spell evar! Can't wait for him

[Inconsiderable]

Andromeda is done awesome but doesnt fit into the game and looks too much caster like. I so hope they change her, I just cannot stand playing Andromeda while I loved VS.

[Pyros]

Originally Posted by Inconsiderable

Andromeda is done awesome but doesnt fit into the game and looks too much caster like. I so hope they change her, I just cannot stand playing Andromeda while I loved VS.

She doesn't look more like a caster than Soulstealer. I think she looks awesome, even though when you zoom it's just a shitty galaxy bitmap, but I like the style, and it fits well with the ultimate. Also Aurora is like one of the best looking spell in the game(even though you can't tell if it hits shit or not ^^).

What's terrible though is the portraits in general. Not sure how they manage but it seems the portrait aren't reflecting the actual ingame models.

[wild_whiskey]

I love the look and style of Andromeda. Having characters that originate from vastly different worlds is part of what makes HON / Dota fun. Similar to Smash Bros.

Also, sweet god I love Demented Shaman.

[Pizoi]

Seriously need a mentor or something, I really suck at this game.

[Urlithani]

I have no problem playing a few games with ya and kinda talking as we go. I won't be back home until late friday night, though. You should really read some of the gameplay guides also if you haven't already at Heroes of Newerth Forums

Also, start with all pick games and pick ranged heroes that are relatively straightforward and easy to play, such as hellbringer, demented shaman, ...arachna? (someone else might give you suggestions for easy to play heroes there's a lot of heroes I don't play)

[Flesseck]

Originally Posted by wild_whiskey

Also, sweet god I love Demented Shaman.

Same here! I've been playing with a group of friends, and I'm just picking the Demented Shaman because his abilities are so familiar to me as I learn the game. It's very awesome, and I got used to him very quick. Maybe I just like healing/support, but it comes much easier to me than other shit. I think also b/c his abilities are similar to other games, i.e. WoW. I don't use his ultimate a hell of a lot, but I love his other 3. A nice root, shield, and standard heal. I wish the heal was slightly more beefier. Sometimes I feel like the heal doesn't heal for much, and I end up spamming it a bit just to keep up my friends' heroes.

What items/recipes do you usually get when you play him?

[Strifen]

I find hell flower to be an excellent item for Shaman, although I tend to build him around his attack damage, it's usually the first core item I rush after getting my phase boots and a bracer, after that I like to get a demonic breastplate for the added -/+ armor to go with shamans ulti. However this is in pub stomping games, for competitive games I almost always go for totem of kuldra.

[Flesseck]

Yeah, I tend to go for Hellflower and Enhanced Marchers. I'll try the Totem of Kuldra next time. So I'm assuming you don't go for attack damage in competitive games; would you just concentrate on INT and mana regen then? I've been going for mana regen and I love it. I try to also go for Staff of the Master because it enhances the Shaman's ultimate which is cool. You recommend any other items? What about more defense with more max health or health regen?

[Elerion]

If you don't have a strength caster that should get it, shaman is a good carrier of Arcane Ring. He's also a good carrier of Astrolabe. After phase boots, a bracelet and those two items, Totem of Kuldra or Hellflower (if silence > hex) are your best bets. They increase his support abilities further, and add some late game dps ability.

[TwiNCannoN]

Man, I feel like a bad for only just now realizing how amazing Helm of the Dominator/Whispering Helm is ... +20 damage?! where the hell does that even come from, there's no recipe cost or anything. Sure it loses the 3 hp regen, but it gets 5% more lifesteal too. And you can build it without even leaving bot/top lanes.

Also anyone have any good builds for Maliken yet? I went satanic but that seemed a bit overkill. Some lifesteal definitely seems preferable though to keep his +dmg sword on all of the time. He might be a good carrier of Abyssal Skull since some mana regen doesn't hurt him either.

[TwiNCannoN]

Originally Posted by Flesseck

A nice root, shield, and standard heal. I wish the heal was slightly more beefier. Sometimes I feel like the heal doesn't heal for much, and I end up spamming it a bit just to keep up my friends' heroes.

Make sure you respect the heal's damage component, honestly I rarely even use it as a heal unless I'm at the point where I can just spam spells all day (have a hellflower or something). It's just amazing as a nuke though. At rank 4 it's capable of doing 700 AE damage, and it's physical damage too which means his ulti makes it do more damage (less armor). It's great when you can bait someone into running into a line of creeps and then cast his heal real fast and laugh as 75% of their life bar vanishes. Absolutely brutal.

[The Professional]

Game has the worst community ever.