HoN Heroes of Newerth Tips & Strategies – Hero / Character Guides & Item Builds

There is a NEWER VERSION of this all-hero guide on this site
It is fully updated with all new heroes for the newest version of Retail Heroes of Newerth.

Please view it here!

Use your browser’s “find” feature and type in the name of the hero to search for them on this page. This is CTRL-F on most browsers. Or, just use the Alphabetical hero-link list directly below.

HoN is one of the least friendly games for new players. The complex and unforgiving nature of the gameplay means new players or (newbies / noobz) are in for a tough time. When I started playing HoN a month or two ago, the first thing I wanted to know was what items to get. I was surprised to find there is no compilation of this information available. Sure there might be a few random hero guides out there, but nobody has combined it all into one, easy to read resource. This means no long, extremely detailed explanations–just quick must-have information you can look at in 30 seconds before a game and get a good idea how to play each hero. This information was compiled through my own gameplay and by research from other guides and forums.

This article is meant to be loaded up before you play HoN. It contains short but helpful information on each hero: best item builds, skill selection, and general play strategy. Load up this webpage then the Heroes of Newerth game. When you select your character, press Alt-Tab to switch windows back to here. From there you can use your browser’s find (usually CTRL-F) to locate the information for your hero.

This article is now fully complete and contains EVERY HoN hero, even the newly added ones–enjoy!

9/20: Updated guides for Soul Reaper and Plague Rider, the newest heroes!
9/23: Updated Scout guide to reflect massive changes in his skills
10/3: Updated Pandamonium – new Legion Strength hero just added
11/9: Updated all new heroes – Corrupted Disciple, Rampage, Sand Wraith, Vindicator, Witch Slayer. Made some small changes based off new item changes.
11/26: Updated 2 new heroes: Engineer and Forsaken Archer
This article is no longer updated. Please view the new, updated guide on this site (link at the top of this page)

STOP!

There is a NEWER VERSION of this all-hero guide on this site
It is fully updated with all new heroes for the newest verison of Retail Heroes of Newerth.

Please view it here!

LEGION – AGILITY (AGI) HEROES

Night Hound

ITEMS:

Start:
3x duckboots
1x Runes of the blight

Early/Mid:
Steam Boots (Agility setting)
NullFire Blade
3x Soulscream Rings
Slash

Late:
Geometer’s Bane
Wingblade

SKILLS: Take Pounce first, then Smokebomb. You may want to take Stats in your early teens, but otherwise always get your Ultimate if possible and mix the other skills up as you feel necessary.

STRATEGY: You want to increase damage output over health (you will be invisible so much so it isn’t AS important).

Swiftblade

ITEMS:

Start:
2x pretenders crown
2x runes of blight
1x mana

Early/Mid:
Steamboots (Set to STR for early/mid game, AGI later) OR Enhanced Marchers
Lifetube + Manatube => Sustainer

Late:
Runed Axe
Shieldbreaker
Savage Mace

SKILLS: Always take Blade Frenzy first. You may want to take stats as the second skill early on since Crits won’t matter very much early game.

STRATEGY: One of the strongest agility heroes. Movement speed is important for your blade frenzy to keep up with enemy heroes. Make sure you don’t ultimate when near creeps because you will waste hits. Ideally you will ONLY use it when near 1-2 enemy heroes. A good combo is using your Ultimate to catch up to a fleeing enemy hero then when that is done use Blade Frenzy immediately. Blade Frenzy can be used to escape because it gives magic immunity.

Magebane

ITEMS:

Start:
4x Minor Totem
1x Rune of Blight
1x Stout Shield

Early:
2x Soulscream Ring
Steamboots (STR then AGI later)

Mid:
Helm of the Black Legion
Warpcleft

Late:
Wingbow
Brutalizer
Symbol of Rage

SKILLS: Get Flash lvl 1, then mana combustion whenever possible. Get your Ultimate Mana Rift right at 6. At lvl 4 you may want to take stats since the damage and health will be needed.

STRATEGY: You are a great ganker/assassin type. You should be able to take out most heroes 1 on 1 (or at least damage them heavily, drain their mana, and get away). in team fights you probably wont want to be the first in, but after the enemy first starts their attacks (and uses up a stun or two) you should blink in and take out a caster then blink away immediately if you get targetted. Your blink has such a quick cooldown that you’ll be back in the fight in no time. As for items, your helm of the legion will help immensly with surviving. For luxury items, more attack speed is great. watch out for being silenced / disabled immediately after blinking in. you are fairly fragile and shouldn’t be taking hits. use your brutalizer and warpcleft to get a stunlock on enemies. use your ultimate as a last attack to kill opponents before you leave the fight copmletely

Moon Queen

ITEMS:

Start:
Mana Potions
Soulscream Ring

Mid:
Post Haste OR Steam Boots
Assassins Shroud (you can use your ult then use this to stay invis when its going)
Nullfireblade (you cause mana drain on ALL of your main attack’s bounces)

Late:
Symbol of Rage
Wingbow
Staff of the Master

SKILLS: Always get Moon Beam when available (except if your Ultimate is available). Get stats at lvl 4–you can use the HP, mana, and damage.

STRATEGY: You can use your Ultimate, which is very powerful, and keep running. You have a good spam/stun spell also.

Scout

NOTE: This guide has been updated 9/23 to reflect recent changes (from the patch) to Scout’s skills.
ITEMS:
Start:
1x Pretenders Crown
Runes of Blight and Mana Potions
Minor Totems (as much as you can afford)
OR
Bottle only to start (if you plan on covering the runes, but this takes a bit more experience)

Early:
2x Soulscream Rings
Manatube (this gives you unlimited invisibility with your Vanish Skill)
Steamboots (STR then AGI around lvl 15)

Mid:
Runed Axe (Get Manatube/Lifetube parts first) Updated note: only get if you have free time to run around and farm creep waves.
Elder Parasite (Lifesteal and activatable massive attack speed)

Late:
Shieldbreaker
Charged Hammer
Brutalizer
Assassins’s Shroud (to escape while Vanish is on cooldown)
Savage Mace (damage)

SKILLS: Get electric eye at level 1, Vanish lvl 2. With electric eye set a ward watching the rune and river before the game starts. This will warn of incoming ganks also. Electric eyes should be used often and all over the map to help with recon and team ganks. You can place 4 at a time eventually.

STRATEGY: Scout is often considered a “noob” hero since he can get hero kills by getting the last attack on fleeing enemies, but in general is NOT a very good pick to help your team. Many consider him to be one of the worst heroes for any decently skilled game. You wont do much good in a big battle and you can’t take on people by yourself–all you can generally hope to do is add some extra damage when other teammates can’t. Higher level players utilize scouts great recon abilities to the team’s advantage. You should be all over the map, assisting in EVERY gank your team makes. UPDATE: Scout now can NOT double-Vanish; Vanish has been given a cooldown but have replaced its time limit with a slow mana drain. One manatube will eliminate this mana drain so get it early. You now have a “flurry” or huge attack speed increase on your first attacks after coming out of invisible, use this to your advantage. Many people are using Assassins’s Shroud to escape after you get your flurry off. As always, beware of enemies who get stealth detection (wards, eye, dust, etc)–check their inventory by selecting them when you can.

WildSoul

ITEMS:

Start:
Runes of the Blight
2x Pretender’s Crown

Early:
Steamboots (or possibly Post Haste)

Mid/Late:
FOR YOUR BEAR: Gloves of the Swift, Warpcleft, Enhanced Marchers, Mock of Brilliance
FOR YOU: Fortified Bracelets (survivability), Thunderclaw

SKILLS: Max your bear out first. Early and mid-game he is very powerful.

STRATEGY: This hero has MANY different ways to play and this can be a lot of fun. You can and often should deck the bear out with good items (they will not drop on his death). Give yourself +HP items and give the bear things like Warpcleft (attack speed for his entanglement) and Mock of Brilliance. Also a lifesteal item on the bear would be helpful. Your bear does NOT gain anything from STR, AGI, or INT on items you give him so stick with +damage, attack speed, move speed, etc. You can select both yourself and your bear then use the TAB key to switch between primary control. Also, you can assign them to numbers by selecting them and pressing CTRL-1 / CTRL-2.

Andromeda

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Minor Totem
1x Pretender’s Crown
2x Runes of Blight
2x Mana Potion

Early:
3x Soulscream Ring
Steamboots (STR)
Homecoming Stone(s) (Always have one with you)

Mid:
Slash or Whispering Helm

Late:
Flayer
Wingbow

OTHER POSSIBILITIES:
Frostwolf Skull
Assassin’s Shroud
Shieldbreaker
Riftshards
Symbol of Rage

SKILLS: Get comet first — it’s stun is your bread and butter attack. Get stats at lvl 4 and also a couple other times early game. You may want to wait till lvl 12 or so to take your Ultimate–take stats instead.

STRATEGY: Andromeda is a recently added hero which was in DoTA. She has a good stun and her Ultimate allows you to switch places with an enemy. One quick note is that this can be very useful to disrupt enemy plans like moving Magmus when he is using his Ultimate. She is a great initiator or counter to an enemy channeling their ultimate.

Valkyrie

ITEMS:
Start:
2x Pretender’s Crown
1x Runes of Blight
2x Mana Potion

Early:
Bottle (If planning to dominate runes)

Mid:
Steamboots (You already have the leap skill) (set to STR then AGI later)
2x Soulscream Ring

Late:
Nullfire Blade => Geometer’s Bane
Charged Hammer (great for farming, kills creep waves quickly)
Wingbow

SKILLS: It is possible to have your nuke (Call of the Valkyrie) hit enemies twice. You must be close-within a 200 radius for this to happen and it will hit anyone randomly who is that close, so if you are aiming for a specific enemy, make sure they are the only one that close. Always get your Call of the Valkyrie first. You may want to save your ultimate, Valkyrie’s Prism, for a while and get stats or other skills instead.

STRATEGY: Great long regular attack range. Using the javelin stun (Javelin of Light) will require a lot of practice to master.

Zephyr

ITEMS:

Start:
Stout Shield
1x Runes of Blight

Early:
Helm of the Black Legion

Mid:
Marchers (Post haste later–Ehanced Marchers if you won’t have the money)
Mock of Brilliance (great item for him!)
Sacrificial Stone
Behemoth’s Heart

Late:
Frostfield Plate
Daemonic Breastplate
Totem of Kuldra

SKILLS: Your Cyclones can do a ton of damage early game and can be eaten for instant mana/health regeneration.

STRATEGY: A very strong hero if played correctly. You will have tons of cash with your tornadoes able to easily last hit creeps. Early/mid game you will want to be farming neutral creeps in the jungle. You are VERY fragile (a meelee Intelligence hero!). This is NOT a good choice for new players and you won’t really start to be powerful until after lvl 15. You MUST be last-hitting often early game. You need the money early. Many recommend to “Jungle” with Zephyr–just kill the neutral creeps. If you go this route, you will probably want a courier.

Engineer

ITEMS:

Start:
3x Mana Potion
1x Runes of Blight

Early:
Helm of the Black Legion (very optional, will help with survival early game only)
Ghost Marchers (or Plated Greaves if you are playing more defensive/supportive)

Mid:
Nullfire Blade
Thunderclaw (your turret inherits the chain lightning ability)

Late:
Charged Hammer
Shieldbreaker
Frostfield Plate (extra mana, armor, and the ability can slow enemies to keep them in your ult/turret range longer)
Daemonic Breastplate

SKILLS: Get The Keg and Steam Turret first and then put one point in Tinker to start. Get your Ultimate, Energy Field, right away. Finish Tinker in your early/mid teen levels, otherwise just get The Keg or Steam Turret depending on your play style. Both skills can help on both offense and defense. Max The Keg to help you push and escape better, while Steam Turret is for more of a steady play style.

STRATEGY: A good combo is to use your Ultimate, then lay down a turret immediately and use Tinker on it right away. This will deal massive damage although you will become the primary target of the enemy team so it helps if your team has aoe stuns or if they are pushing slightly in front of you. An important note is that your turret gains ALL of your items when you lay it down. For example, it will shoot out chain lightning with Thunderclaw. Use this to your advantage–chain lightning will fire off quickly since the turret, especially while tinkered, has incredibly fast attack speed. On the same note, with Nullfire Blade your turret will drain massive mana and do extra damage.

STOP!

There is a NEWER VERSION of this all-hero guide on this site
It is fully updated with all new heroes for the newest verison of Retail Heroes of Newerth.

Please view it here!

LEGION – INTELLIGENCE (INT) HEROES

Blacksmith

ITEMS:
Start:
Ring of the Teacher
1x Runes of Blight

Early:
Bottle
2x Talisman of Exile (or 2x Fortified Bracelets if you need HP)
Enhanced Marchers

Mid:
Ring of Sorcery
Glowstone + Sustainer => Sacrificial Heart

Late:
Hellflower
Totem of Kuldra
Frostfield Plate
Behemoth’s Heart (if you need more HP)

SKILLS: Get Fireball and Flaming Hammer first. Frenzy should be the last skill (lvl 10-14 or so take this). Don’t take stats–you want to improve your spells as quickly as possible.

STRATEGY: Early game, don’t go solo. Buy wards and watch the runes on your side, use your bottle to take them. Mid game stick with your teammates, use your fireball to stun and damage (and do lots of damage with your Ultimate’s Multicast). Also use your Frenzy on your team’s melee heroes to help them (or on yourself if you are paired with a caster, do this before using your fireball stun).

Nymphora

ITEMS:

Fortified Bracet
Runes of Blight
Lifetube
Manatube
Post-Haste (you will be able to teleport every 20 seconds or so–go wherever, whenever, push lanes)
Codex (upgrade this with any extra money, great for up to 800 dmg)

STRATEGY: You should be able to constantly be casting spells and teleporting switching lanes. be careful of enemy heroes ganking you–try killing only 1-2 creep waves at a time when needed then help your team gank for a short time then teleport back to lanes. you are great at defense against pushing enemies. be aware enemies can see when you use your ult. teleport skill. also your ultimate can take up to 2 people (at level 3) with you when you teleport–this is great for pushing. if the game stretches on for a long time you should be extremely rich. i’m not sure what would be best to get if you ever get to the point where you have maxed the codex out. Another option to consider is DPS–if you find you aren’t ever being threatened or attacked, + damage items will help out your normally piddly normal attack (especially after casting your boomerang spell and getting the increased attack speed). +Damage items would be a last choice. Also consider cyclone/transmute item for an extra disable. you should have TONS of money.

Thunderbringer

ITEMS:
Start:
Mana Potion
Runes of Blight
Courier

Early:
2x Fortified Bracelet OR 2x Talisman of Exile
1 x Marchers
1 x Glowstone
1-3x Ward of Sight

Mid:
1 x Totem of Kuldra
1 x Post Haste

Late:
Sacrificial heart
Frostfield Plate
Portal Key

STAFF OF THE MASTER — too expensive, doesn’t help your ultimate much. watste

STRATEGY: You are a nuker and want to be able to cast constantly. talisman of exile give syou the nice mana bost. you should need hp too much–i fyou are getting hit youre doing it wrong.

Pollywog Priest

ITEMS:
Start:
Courier
Runes of Blight
Mana Potion

Early:
Bottle (have your courier bring it to you, be sure to grab runes)
Enhanced Marchers

Mid:
Totem of Kuldra
Storm Spirit
Fortified Bracers (if you need more HP)
Wards

Late:
Staff of the Master
Refreshing Ornament
Portal Key

SKILLS: Electric Jolt – get 1 lvl. Get Magical Bindings lvl 1 and your ultimate, Voodoo Wards right away. All other choices up to level 8 or 9, pick Stats. This will help you with more mana, damage, and HP–all of which helps you kill creeps and stay in your lane.

STRATEGY: Your role is support–disable and trap enemy heroes so your team can deal them damage. You can disable an enemy for an incredible amount of time using your items and spells. There are a number of different ways to play this character and each requires different early game strategy and item build. For most pub low to medium skill level games the best playstyle is probably lane/creep focused early game. The above item build is based off this. You’ll want to be soloing the middle lane. You’ll want to be using your Electric Jolt skill to make sure you don’t get creeps denied on you. You don’t really need items to be effective, you might as well get another disable with Totem of Kuldra and Stormspirit (4 disables!)

Tempest

ITEMS:

Start:
1x Ring of the Teacher
1x Runes of Blight

Early:
Marchers

Mid/Late:
Portal Key (CORE ITEM – always get this)
Another option mid game is Astrolabe–this helps your team when a lot of health and armor.
Shrunken Head
Poste Haste

SKILLS: Glacial Blasts then Elemental at the beginning. Get your ultimate, Elemental Void at lvl 6. Wait till lvl 10 or so for your Meteor.

STRATEGY: Your mid-late game strategy will be to use Meteor then Elemental Void on a group of enemies. Use Shrunken Head to keep you alive since you will be targetted immediately. Portal Key will help you position yourself perfectly and surprise the enemy team. You are one of the best Jungling heroes using your Elementals. Be careful not to let them die. If you pursue this route be sure to stock up on mana potions rather than healing items. If you do jungle, keep a watchful eye so you arent suprised by enemy heroes (they will know what you are doing) and also be ready to assist teammates if the enemy heroes get too close to your tower. For this, keep mana available and use your Glacial Blasts for a great stun.

Ophelia

ITEMS:

Start:
Runes of the Blight
1x Pretender’s Crown
Minor Totems

Early:
Fortified Bracelet
Marchers
Astrolabe

Mid:
Post Haste
Codex
Whispering Helm

Late:
Sacrificial Heart
Totem of Kuldra
Daemonic Breastplate

SKILLS: Command then Nature’s Wrath to start

STRATEGY: Great at pushing lanes mid-late game with the help of her creeps. You’ll want to look in the jungle for neutral creeps to command. The best choices are Minotaurs (have a stun) and also Wolfman Commander (damage aura). Early to mid game you will want to be in the jungle getting gold, commanding creeps, and leveling. The item Whispering Helm allows you to control one more creep.

Pyromancer

ITEMS:

Start:
4x Minor Totems
3x Runes of the Blight
2x Mana Potion

Early:
Bottle (if you plan to gank and control runes)
Marchers
2 talisman of exile
homecoming stones

Mid:
Glowstone
Enhanced Marchers (finish)

Late:
Staff of the Master
Sacrificial Stone

Luxury
Frostwolf Skull
Frostfield Plate

SKILLS: Get your two nuke spells always (Dragonfire and Phoenix Wave), wait for your Fervor until a bit later in the game. You may also consider getting stats early/mid game if you need more HP and Mana. Blazing Strike should of course be taken as it is HUGE damage early game and should almost guarantee an early game kill or two.

STRATEGY: You should probably be soloing the middle lane as Pyromancer unless you have another amazing solo-er like Thunderbringer on your team. When you get your ultimate at level 6, you should immediately help your team by quietly slipping away from mid and going to either the top or bottom lanes to gank and get one or two quick kills. Cast your stun spell, Dragonfire first, then Phoenix Wave, then Blazing Strike if you have it/if you think you will be able to finish the kill this time.

Vindicator

ITEMS:

2x Fortified Bracelets or 3x Null Talisman
Enhanced Marchers (or steamboots if you are really in need of HP)
Totem of Kuldra

Alternate Choices:
Alchemist’s Bones (only take early on and only if you are near the jungle on your side)
Shrunken Head (if you are taking lots of magic damage)
Behemoth’s Heart
Hellflower
Astrolabe
Demonic Breastplate
Frostfield Plate

SKILLS:Get Incantation first always. Take either Glyph of Silence OR stats next. Take your Ultimate, Final Chapter, right away–it is great to cast it before team battles.

STRATEGY: Supporter Role. Most importantly you’ll need survivability items since you’ll be targetted first. You have a great silencing ability (2 of them in fact!) so the longer you are in team battles the better .You’ll also want as much intelligence as possible to give you some great ranged DPS with your true damage / INT skill.

Witch Slayer

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Pretender’s Crown
Mana Potion
Runes of Blight
Bottle
Enhanced Marchers
Portal Key (optional)
Staff of the Master

Additional Choices:
Totem of Kuldra
Frostfield Plate
Behemoth’s Heart

SKILLS: Take Graveyard first, then Mini. Get your ultimate, Silver Bullet, right away. Get Mana/Power Drain extremely late game, lowest priority. Power Drain should only be taken early in some situations.

STRATEGY: Graveyard is a great AoE stun but you’ll need a little bit of practice to learn to aim and time it right. You want to be in a lane with a teamate.

STOP!

There is a NEWER VERSION of this all-hero guide on this site
It is fully updated with all new heroes for the newest verison of Retail Heroes of Newerth.

Please view it here!

LEGION – STRENGTH HEROES

Armadon

ITEMS:

Start:
Ring of the Teacher
Runes of the Blight

Early:
Shaman’s Headdress
Helm of the Black Legion (if the enemy has a decent amount of melee fighters)

Mid:
Enhanced Marchers or Post Haste
Mock of Brilliance

Late:
Behemoth’s Heart
Abyssal Skull
Daemonic Breastplate

SKILLS: First get Snot storm, then Spine Burst twice in a row. Get Armordillo at lvl 4 and then choose between always getting Armordillo and Spine Burst. Always get your Ultimate first also. Snot Storm should come last, but can be very helpful to slow enemies when working with your team.

STRATEGY: Good at baiting enemies. Can take insane amounts of damage from enemies from behind (Armordillo skill). Your goal on your team is to be a tank and a slower. Early game use your Spine Burst to last hit creeps–it is cheap and has a quick cooldown. Be sure if you fire off a spell at an enemy that you fire it repeatedly (spam Spine Burst etc). The more you use your spells the more damage it will do and your Ultimate will make you faster and stronger the more spells you cast. You won’t have great DPS but should be able to take a ton of damage and allow your team to chase down enemies with Snot Storm.

Behemoth

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Runes of the Blight
3x Mana Potions
4x Minor Totem

Early/Mid:
Portal Key
Enhanced Marchers or Post Haste

Late:
Frostfield Plate
Beastheart
OR Sacrificial Stone
Stormspirit

Feel free to get wards also as your core items are: Portal Key, Enhanced Marchers, and Frostfield Plate

SKILLS: Max Fissure and heavyweight first. Put one point in enrage early too. Remember, Heavyweight deals damage and stuns for EVERY spell you cast. Also, your ultimate, Shockwave deals more damage for each enemy unit in range.

STRATEGY: By end game, you really MUST have Portal Key. You’ll want to initiate team fights by using Portal Key then your ultimate, Shockwave. If you have it, then fire off your Frostfield Plate item spell for extra damage and slow. At this point, hopefully your teammates have been spamming their spells or have moved in to attack. Then you’ll want to fire off a will aimed fissure for damage, re-stun, and trap. Then use enrage and start meleeing. Hopefully this will be finishing the team off by now with the help of your allies. Keep in mind that Heavyweight deals damage and stuns around you every time you cast a spell! Use enhanced marchers to run out of the fray if things go badly. Make sure to fire off your ultimate near as many enemies as possible as this increases the damage.

Hammerstorm

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Pretender’s Crown
Runes of Blight

Early:
2x Fortified Bracelet
Punch Dagger
Ringmail
Enhanced Marchers

Mid
Shrunken Head
Hungry Spirit
Elder Parasite

Late:

Behemoth’s Heart OR Insanitarius

SKILLS: Take Hammer Throw and stats early on, till lvl 8 or 10. Wait till later to get Mighty Swing and Galvanize

STRATEGY: Use your Brute Strength spell, Elder Parasite, and Insanitarius for some amazing melee damage.

Pandamonium

ITEMS:

Start:
Minor Totem
Crushing Claws (makes fortified bracelets later on)
Mana Potion
Health Potion
Mana Battery (buy from outpost if in a lane against casters)

Mid:
Bottle (use for mana and to help with ganking)
2x Fortified Bracelets
Steamboots
Insanitarius (CORE ITEM)

Late:
Behemoth’s Heart (Lets you keep Insanitarius on permanently, lots of damage, harder to kill)
Shrunken Head

Optional:
Frostwolf Skull (damage, mana)
Runed Axe (mana regen, creep farming, damage)

SKILLS: Always take Cannon Ball first. Lvl 2 put a single point into Flick, then max out Cannon Ball, then max Flurry. At Lvl 6 put a single point into Face Smash (its only good early game for the stun, won’t do enough damage). Lastly, max Flick in the early teens. At about lvl 15 you should have everything you need (your Ultimate doesn’t really need to be maxed) so just pick Stats for the rest of the game.

STRATEGY: You’ll want to practice using your skills in combos for massive stuns and damage. Mid game if you catch someone alone you should be able to take them out by yourself with good positioning and good timing of your combos, especially if you have your insanitarius. Practice different orders of your skills for best effect. Use your stuns and/or Ult to disable the enemy in between the cooldown for your Flurry.

Pebbles

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Crushing Claw
1 Rune of Blight
1 Pretender’s Crown

Mid:
Ring of Sorcery (lets you have enough mana to cast your stuns)
2x Fortified Bracers

Late:
portal key (position yourself for stun gank)
daemonic breastplate (increases your lowered attack speed, more dmg, etc)

SKILLS: Take Stalagmites first, then Chuck in early game.

STRATEGY: Overall, use Portal Key to move right next to an enemy and then Stalagmite, then Chuck. Use Stalagmite, then Chuck an enemy immediately into the Stalagmite area. You can often get Stalagmite to damage your target twice. You’ll be a tank, but won’t be able to stand up to a unified assault by any means. in additon to the above items I might recommend some more +str boost items or +max health if you have some extra cash. try to make sure you go into mid/late game fights with at LEAST 2k hp. use your stalagmite stun to help your team, do some tanking, and get in and do some damage. your increased attack speed from the items will help avoid your ultimate’s negative effect (slow attack). you’ll easily be at over 200 dmg/hit mid game.

Keeper of the Forest

ITEMS:

Start:
1x Runes of the Blight
1x Healing Potion
2x Pretender’s Crown

Mid:
Sustainer
Steamboots
Insanitarius OR Elder Parasite
2x Fortified Bracelet

Late:
Runed Axe
Behemoth’s Heart
Alchemist’s Bones

SKILLS: 1. Get Tree Sight (place on a tree in the river to watch the runes). Then get Nature’s Vengeance and your Ultimate, Roots

STRATEGY: Camouflage is a key spell that should also be used on your on your teammates to surprise enemies to gank, or to save yourself or teammates in trouble. Keeper of the Forest can be used either offensively or supportively. The above item build is for a more offensive build. Use your Nature’s Vengeance early on in the game to do last-hits better than anyone else.

Legionnaire
(Often mis-spelled Legionaire or Legionairre or Legionnairre :)

ITEMS:

Start:
Iron Buckler
3x Runes of Blight

Early:

Lifetube
Beastheart (completes Helm of the Black Legion)

Mid:
Shaman’s Headdress (only if other team has a lot of casters)
Marchers (Possibly Enhanced Marchers Upgrade also)
Portal Key
Behemoth’s Heart

Late/Luxury:
Frostfield Plate
Mock of Brilliance
Daemonic Breastplate

SKILLS: Your taunt skill is crucial. Get Whirling Blade first, then Taunt.

STRATEGY: Despite what you might think, Legionnaire does not do much physical DPS with his regular attack. You NEED Portal Key to initiate team battles, then Taunt, basically taking control of enemies in a big radius and doing a decent amount of damage to them. IMO, Enhanced Marchers is good to escape from this if things start to go badly. Terrify is often underrated and can do a decent amount of damage when chasing down enemies or even at the beginning of a battle. Avoid lifesteal items, morph attack items, and damage items — you really shouldn’t be relying on your physical damage / auto attacks. You should have a ton of survivability and should be initiating any team fights. Use your Portal Key then taunt immediately, ideally into a group of enemy heroes and creeps. The rest of your team should then come in and take care of business while you soak up damage and attention and deal out a decent back with Whirling Blade.

Predator

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Crushing Claws
2x Minor Totem
1x Runes of the Blight
1x Healing Potion

Early/Mid:
Steamboots (set to STR early) OR Enhanced Marchers
2x Fortified Bracelet
Insanitarius (A MUST HAVE ITEM)
Hack (and later get Slash for Hack and Slash)

Late:
Shieldbreaker
Flayer
Symbol of Rage

SKILLS: 1. Venomous Leap 2. Stone Hide 3-5 Carivorous. You may want to wait to level the Ultimate until later in the game (lvl 13 or so). Your Ultimate, Terror, is MUCH more effective at level 3 than it is on its first level. Carnivorous is an AMAZING ability — each attack has bonus damage AND lifesteal of a percentage of the opponents current HP! Great for rapidly dealing damage to high HP enemies (tank heroes).

STRATEGY: He is a very flexible hero. His weaknesses are: Low attack speed, poor chasing, fragile early game. Pick items to compensate for these (see recommended items). You are very fragile early game. Venomous Leap and mana potions are great early game for extra damage and pressure on enemies. Early game, with an ally in your lane, use your Venomous Leap, leap in and attack while your teammate also attacks (ideally a ranged ally). As the enemy tries to escape, keep chasing then leap again after your cooldown. Usually this will be a guaranteed kill.

Jereziah

ITEMS:

Start:
1x Ring of the Teacher
1x Runes of Blight

Early/Mid:
Abyssal Skull
Steamboots
Runed Axe

Late:
Hack and Slash

SKILLS: Always take Inner Light first. Righteous Strike will be the second skill to max. If the enemy has a lot of casters (nukers) you may want to take Protective Charm earlier–at least one level. Sol’s Blessing is great for pushing with your team. It makes them nearly invincible and heals a lot of their life.

STRATEGY: Use your Inner Light to heal yourself or your teammates when they are next to enemy creeps or especially near enemy heroes. Use Sol’s Blessing during a push or at a key point early/mid in any big team fight.

Rampage

ITEMS:

Start:
Crushing Claw
Runes of the Blight
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
(figure a combination of the above that works for you)
Early:
Enhanced Marchers
2x Fortified Bracelets or Battery/Bracelet
Insaintarius
Hack and Slash

Optional / Additional Ideas
Demonic Breast Plate
Flayer
Symbol of Rage
Behemoth’s Heart

SKILLS: Put 1 point in stampede first. Your priority is Might of the Herd then your ultimate, Favor of Sol, then Horned Strike, then lastly, around lvl 12, finish maxing Stampede.

STRATEGY: Not a very good pick for competitive or skilled games. Your main skill can be easily noticed and countered.

STOP!

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HELLBOURNE – AGILITY (AGI) HEROES

Chronos

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Minor Totem
2x Pretenders Crown

Early:
Alchemist’s Bones
Steamboots (STR then AGI later on)

Mid:
Elder Parasite
Wingbow

Late:
Riftshards -> Flayer
Savage mace OR Daemonic Breastplate (for extra survivability)

Very late:
Restoration Orb (cast 2 chronofields in a row, you should kill 2-3 enemies)

SKILLS: Always get Timeleap (your blink spell) when possible. Same with your Ultimate, Chronosphere.

STRATEGY: Weak and fragile, very reliant on items. End game if you get plenty of exp and gold with your great items you can easily win the game, take on groups of enemies alone, etc. Attack speed is important (you have a chance each hit to stun). Late game use your Ultimate, Chronosphere and your attack damage to take out their key heroes before a fight. Be VERY careful where you cast–if your teammates get caught in it it could spell disaster. Aim for INT casters who can stun and have other good spells, or take out their initiators (first attack guys). Early game be sure not to die. Rush to getting Alchemist’s Bones. Once you have it, head to the jungle for neutral creeps and keep using it to generate gold. Kill neutral creeps until you have enough gold for a Wingbow.

Slither

ITEMS:

Start:
Monkey/Winged Courier
Mana Potions (spend any spare gold on these)
1x Runes of the Blight

Early:
Bottle (if you want to be a roamer/ganker and go for runes)
Fortified Bracers
Enhanced Marchers
Wards (Both types–since you aren’t item dependent, you should have extra gold and wards help your team)

Mid/Late:
Staff of the Master
Post Haste

SKILLS: Always get Poison Spray first, then Toxicity, unless your Poison Burst Ultimate is available.

STRATEGY: VERY strong early game (poison spray is great–lots of dmg+ slow). Ranged will help with early last hitting. Once you hit lvl 6 be prepared to immediately have enough mana to cast ult then poison spray–This should get a kill, probably two. Late game you are a great support hero, fire off your ult early on in a team battle then your poison spray. Staff of the master will help your Ultimate, Poison Burst a bit. Slither is NOT an item dependent hero at all–abilities are the key. Always keep a homecoming stone or two w/ you for defense and helping teammates. This is a very good noob hero but can also do well in intermediate games. Early on a courier will keep you in lane, keep getting mana potions and health regen (blight) as needed. Have courier bring you your bottle/enhanced marchers as soon as you get enough for them. Using a botle can help greatly if you want to grab runes and roam around ganking enemies.

Blood Hunter

ITEMS:

Start/Early:
ring of the teacher
trinket of restoration

Mid:
Scarab
Guardian Ring
Abyssal Skull
Steamboots

Late:
Wingbow
Behemoths Heart
Riftshards
Flayer
Runed Axe

Hack and Slash

SKILLS: Early game use Blood Crazy a lot on enemies for good damage they can’t avoide. Late game use it on yourself for a huge damage increase. Be careful about using it on enemy melee heroes–instead use it on casters since it silences them and they won’t be doing auto attacks much anyway. Your Hemmorage Ultimate skill is great to catch people off guard and chase them down, or to use in the middle of a fight where people often don’t notice it (this spell damages heroes whenever they walk). Blood sense is great for the massive movement increase and you will get a TON of extra kills by chasing down fleeing enemies. Try to last hit and deny everything you can all game long as your Feast skill heals you whenever you make a kill (yes this DOES include your own creeps!)

STRATEGY: Very flexible hero–lots of ways and item builds are completely viable. Use your ultimate to chase down heroes or during the middle of a fight. Be sure to use it wisely, on a hero that will be running a lot. Try to avoid using it on a hero with a blink skill. Blood Hunter is NOT a great big battle hero, he is better suited for small fights and ganks. You should not be tanking as you will die quickly.

Soulstealer

ITEMS:

Start:
Courier
3-4x Minor Totem
Mana Potions
Runes of the Blight

Early:
Bottle
Fortified Bracers

Mid:
Post Haste / Steamboots
Portal Key / Assassin’s Shroud
Shrunken Head

SKILLS: Always get Soulsteal first. Don’t take your ultimate right away at Lvl 6-it won’t be much help and costs too much mana.

STRATEGY:
Start off with stat items and minor hp/mana regen. If your team doesn’t have a courier (pub game), invest in one. DO NOT buy bottle as a first item. Farm 600 gold in lane and have your courier bring it to you. His main spell, Soulsteal, takes a bit of work to get used to. Unlike most other AoE damage spells, it is NOT targetted-it just fires a certain distance directly in front of you. The great part about the spell is it has 3 separate cooldowns for 3 separate ranges — far, medium, close. If you work it right, you can fire all 3 within a few seconds at the same target as you move toward them. You will need to work on always facing your target when you fire and also on which hotkey fires at which distance.

The Dark Lady

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Pretender’s Crown
2x Minor Totem
1x Runes of Blight

Early:
2x Fortified Bracelets
Steamboots (INT setting)

Mid:
Nullfire Blade (usually, vs a team with casters) OR Shieldbreaker
Frostwulf Skull

Late:
Wingbow (great for most AGI heroes)
Flayer (with wingbow and nullfire blade you will get nice 1k+ damage crits)
Shrunken Head (magic immunity will be needed to keep you in the battle to do crits)
Geometer’s Bane

Leisure:
Runed Axe (Works with your Charging Strike Skill)

SKILLS: Coming Soon!

STRATEGY: her dark blades attack increases damage hugely and applies silence to those you hit while it is active. charging strike makes you leap forward and attack once any enemies in the way. combine these two and you can initiate, silence, and deal a good amount of damage to enemies before they know what hit them. the main problem with the dark lady is she is very fragile. her ultimate (blind all opponents for x seconds) can be very useful but only in the right hands. the dark lady is technically a carry but may be very tough for newbies to play. level her middle (taint soul) skill LAST–it is useful later on to slow enemies by 60% but is very mana expensive. you will need help early game, MUST have an ally in your lane.

The Madman

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Runes of Blight
Helm of the Victim (side shop/Outpost–may want to skip this if you get a ton of gold and don’t have health problems early game)

Early:
2x Fortified Bracer
Steamboots (you don’t need Enhanced Marchers since you have a skill that works better)

Mid:
Abyssal Skull (lifesteal)
Savage Mace (damage)

Late:
Wingbow
Symbol of Rage

SKILLS: Use your invis skill to initiate, escape, chase, and move around the map. Use it often.

STRATEGY: Very weak early/mid game. Some say a VERY weak hero. Late game with his Ultimate Berserk, he can be very overpowered.

Arachna

ITEMS:

Start:
4x Minor Totem
Trinket of Restoration OR Mana Potions/Runes of the Blight

Early/Mid:
Alchemist’s Bones OR Whispering Helm
Steam Boots (STR setting)
2x Fortified Bracelet
Nullfire Blade

Late Options:
Shrunken Head
Shield Breaker
Wingbow
Flayer
Symbol of Rage

SKILLS: Always take Webbed Shot first. Take Stats second until lvl 6 unless you are in a lane against heavy caster/nukers, in which cast take Harden Carapace.

STRATEGY: Fragile at the beginning, strong at end. One of the strongest ranged heroes there are–great slow attack, good for ganking to help the team. Your ultimate is great in pubs, people don’t usually see the spider attacking them and that’s easy damage. Alchemist’s Bones is a great farming item and will get you a ton of extra gold.

Corrupted Disciple

ITEMS:

Start:
Regen items like Runes of Blight and Mana Potion
Courier?
Bottle – very early game
2x Soul Scream Rings
Mid:
Boots (later upgrade them, whichever you prefer)
Helm of the Black Legion
Mock of Brilliance
Shrunken Head
Optional:
Geometer’s Bane
Wingbow
Frostwolf Skull

Other potential / alternate choices:
2x Fortified Bracelets
Hack and Slash
Riftshards
Demonic Breast Plate

SKILLS: Take Electric Tide first, then Static Discharge. Take your ultimate, Overload right away. When everything is maxed pick either stats or Conduit.

STRATEGY:

Sand Wraith

ITEMS:

2-3x Fortified Bracelets
Mock of Brilliance
Post Haste
Behemoth’s Heart
Nullfire Blade
Riftshards / Wingbow / Geometer’s Bane

Optional/Alternate:
Helm of the Black Legion for survivability

SKILLS: Take Desert’s Curse first, then Deserted. Get Mirage when you can and pick Dissipation absoultely last, in your teens.

STRATEGY: You can use your ultimate, Mirage, to teleport to and finish off enemy heroes. It can also be used to scout, say to see if the enemy was at Kongor.

Forsaken Archer

ITEMS:

Start:
Pretender’s Crown
Duck Boots
Runes of the Blight

Early:
Bottle (optional, mid lane only)
Soulscream Ring
Boots
Assassin’s Shroud
Steamboots OR Post Haste

Mid/Late
Wingbow
Abyssal Skull (Lifesteal and nice +damage; get this after another damage item like wingbow, but you can grab the 900 gold lifesteal item whenever you feel you need it)
Shieldbreaker
Nullfire Blade or Frostwolf Skull

SKILLS: You may want to get stats at early levels since some of your other skills really aren’t effective enough until you can get some decent auto-attack damage output. Try geting Crippling Volley first. This will root enemies and do a little damage, allowing for you to fire off a couple extra shots. Leave your Call of the Damned and Split Fire until after level 6 or so. Split Fire isn’t very effective early game with your low damage and the low skill level. Call of the Damned is effective for pushing towers, but too early in the game it will be too easy for your opponents to take out your skeletons and they will be useless. Get your ultimate, Piercing Arrows, right away, try using your Volley first to do maximum damage.

STRATEGY: You will do well solo at mid. Be sure to get boots and a bottle and control runes, at lvl 6 or so help other lanes gank with your volley and ultimate. Forsaken Archer is great at pushing towers (with help of skeletons), but be careful since you can die easily. You’ll need an escape item like Assassin’s Shroud to get away after pushing. Your skeletons are great for harassment and pushing, however note that if you use assassin’s shroud they will still follow you, possibly revealing your position (make sure to beeline to safety rather than trying to hide). Note that your first AoE skill does not stun currently–it only stops enemies from moving and they can still cast and attack. Also note your multi-shot attack costs no mana but your attack effects do happen to all four targets (shieldbreaker will remove armor of all targets etc). Your ultimate can do some decent damage to all enemies, especially if another teammate uses some sort of AoE stun on their group. Remember to toggle off your multi-shot by hitting “W” in case you want to focus on one enemy hero, otherwise your damage will be reduced.

STOP!

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It is fully updated with all new heroes for the newest verison of Retail Heroes of Newerth.

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HELLBOURNE – INTELLIGENCE (INT) HEROES

Defiler

ITEMS:

Start:
1x Healing Potion
2x Mana Potions
2x Runes of Blight
3x Minor Totems
OR
It is good to have a courier — either you or someone on your team should get one.

Early:
Homecoming Stones
2x Fortified Bracelets
Sustainer
Enhanced Marchers

Mid:
Sacrificial Stone (uses Sustainer)

Late:
Totem of Kuldra
Behemoth’s Heart
Null Stone

SKILLS: Always take Wave of Death and Unholy Expulsion first when available.

STRATEGY: You’ll probably want to solo your lane if at all possible. Mid-late game your role will be to use your ultimate and spam your Wave of Death Spell to help teammates. Also spam your grave silence on whichever enemies it will affect the most.

Soul Reaper

ITEMS:

Early:
2x Fortified Bracelet

Mid:
Marchers (just the regular 500g ones)
Sacrificial Stone – CORE ITEM

Late:
Post Haste (or steamboots instead if you really need the HP)
Behemoth’s Heart
Totem of Kuldra
Frostfield Plate – CORE
Staff of the Master
Luxury:
Refresher Stone

SKILLS:

STRATEGY: Your best plan of attack is to be spamming your AoE nuke spell. Use your ultimate wisely and don’t steal kills, rather use it to take out a dangerous enemy in team fights.

Plague Rider

ITEMS:

Early:
2x Fortified Bracelets
Power Supply

Mid:
Steamboots
Wards
Astrolabe

Late:
Totem of Kuldra
Barrier Idol

Luxury:
Staff of the Master
Hellflower
Refresher Orb

SKILLS: Get Contagion and Extinguish first. Get your ultimate right away.

STRATEGY: You are a support hero. You’ll want to be assisting teammates and farming/pushing. You will be able to farm well since you should have almost unlimited mana and can spam your spells.

Glacius

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Runes of Blight
5x Minor Totem

Early/Mid:
Enhanced Marchers
3x Fort Bracelets

Late:
Shrunken Head
Portal Key

SKILLS: Have Chilling Presence be lvl 3 by the time you are lvl 5. Your Ultimate, Glacial Downpour is useless at lvl 1 so wait until you can take 2 levels in a row. Take one point in Ice Imprisonment and 1 point in Tundra Blast before level 6.

STRATEGY: Chilling Presence is Glacius’ real standout skill–the mana regen aura for your teammates is a HUGE boost. This in addition to the slow and disable spells he has make him a great team player. Glacial Downpour, your ultimate is not as great as you might think–the range is too wide and the damage is too random to really be effective.

Demented Shaman

ITEMS:

Start:
Ring of the Teacher
2x Mana Potions

Early:
Ring of Sorcery
1-2x Fortified Bracelets

Mid/Late:
Enhanced Marchers (or Post Haste if you prefer)
Totem of Kuldra

Optional:
Frostfield Plate
Astrolabe
Shieldbreaker

SKILLS: Entangle then Healing wave always, in the beginning. You may want to wait until lvl 10 to get your ultimate, Storm Cloud as it is not as effective at its level 1 state. Your Heal deals damage around your heal target, so use that to your advantage.

STRATEGY: Later on, your Heal spell can basically kill entire creepwaves in a single cast. Your Ulti, Storm Cloud WILL keep affecting everyone who was in the original target area, even if they move out of the storm! Late game, be sure to target enemies over allies with the Storm Cloud–this will have more effect. Your heal becomes less effective late game, but has a quick cooldown so could be spammed with decent mana regeneration.

Voodoo Jester

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Pretender’s Crown
2x Minor Totem
Runes of the Blight

Early:
2x Fortified Bracelet
Enhanced Marchers (or Post Haste later)

Mid:
Codex (great in combination with casting your Curse spell first)
Totem of Kuldra

Late:
Frostfield Plate
Shrunken Head (lets you get your ultimate off completely)

SKILLS: Take Cocktail and Spirit Ward first. Your Ultimate, Spirit Ward, is a channel spell. It will be good to have Shrunken Head (magic immunity) to make sure you get the whole thing off. Cast cursed ground before doing other damage as it will be amplified.

STRATEGY: Do not spam your spells early-mid, wait until they will be of greatest use and then cast Acid Cocktail, Curse, Mojo combo. Also try using Cursed Ground and Acid Cocktail before casting your Spirit Ward Ultimate.

Puppet Master

ITEMS:

Start:
Bottle
OR
Minor Totems and Runes of Blight/Mana Potions

Early:
Alchemist’s Bones
Steam Boots

Mid:
Totem of Kuldra
Shieldbreaker

Late Options:
Daemonic Breastplate
Shrunken Head
Behemoth’s Heart
Hellflower

SKILLS: Lvl 1. Puppeteer’s Hold Lvl 2. Puppet Show, then max Whiplash. Get Voodoo Puppet at lvl 6.

STRATEGY: Puppet Master is a very tough to master (haha!). For your ultimate, damage is transferred from you or your ally’s attacks on the puppet to your target. Only a set amount of damage can be transferred, but it does bypass armor. You should be able to cast it then attack it yourself for some major early damage on high priority targets. It will usually only take you 3 or so attacks to deal all the damage. Whiplash skill will help you with last-hitting. Your other skills are really psuedo disables that can be useful. When you cast your ultimate, use a disable like puppet hold in combination with it to make sure your target stays in range. Puppet Master is great at doing some huge ranged DPS with his regular attacks, and helps out only a little with his psuedo disables. Note that you may not want to get Alchemist’s Bones in easy mode games or if you aren’t able to get it early on. The attack speed does still help late game.

Hellbringer

ITEMS:

Start:
Pretender’s Crown|
Mark of the Novice
5x Mana Potion (Use your Life Void skill to heal yourself)

Early:
Marchers
Talisman of Exile (finish this–you already have 2 pieces)

Mid:
Stormspirit
Poste Hast (uses Marchers)

Late:
Restoration Stone (use to double cast your Ult, Malphas)

SKILLS: Death Boil will be your main skill to max first if you are playing offensively. After that, mix your selections up to match your playstile.

STRATEGY: In team fights late game you should use Restoration Stone to doublecast Malphas. Your Ultimate is also great at pushing towers mid game. Use Life Void to heal yourself early game. Tough hero to master, needs help from teammates.

Torturer

ITEMS:

Start:
1x Healing Potion
3x Mana Potion
2x Runes of the Blight
3x Minor Totems

Early:
2x Fortified Bracelets

Mid:
Post Haste
Icon of the Goddess

Late:
Staff of the Master
Sacrificial Stone

Optional:
Frostfield Plate
Behemoth’s Heart
Null Stone
Totem of Kuldra
Situational:
Shrunken Head
Shaman’s Headdress
Portal Key (only if your team does not have a good ranged disabler–blink in to land your spells. Don’t get too close)

SKILLS: Don’t take your ultimate until later (lvl 13 or so). Take Chain Reaction and Agonizing Bonds first, then Impalement, then Torment.

STRATEGY: Great power, tons of AoE spells / nukes, great at pushing and ganking lanes. Has low health so items need to make up for this. Agonizing bonds is a spammable nuke spell and is great for hero killing. Wait on taking torment as you won’t have the mana to use it until later.

Wretched Hag

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Pretender’s Crown
1x Runes of Blight
2x Mana Potion

Early:
Bottle
2x Talisman of Exile (or 2x Fortified Bracelets if you need HP)
Marchers (regular)

Mid/Late:
Post Haste (use marchers)
Staff of the Master
Frostfield Plate

Optional/Situational:
Totem of Kuldra
Astrolabe
Sacrificial Heart

SKILLS: 1. Flash of Darkness, then max Sonar Scream. Get your Bat Blast ultimate right away always.

STRATEGY: Use your Haunt skill to slow enemies and then kill with the help of your teammates. If you get targetted, use your blink to get to the backlines and spam your spells from a safe distance.

Succubus

ITEMS:

Start:
3x Minor Totem
1x Crushing Claw
2x Mana Potion
2x Runes of Blight

Early/Mid:
2x Fortified Bracelet
Enhanced Marchers
Homecoming Stones

Late:
Shrunken Head
Staff of the Masters (improves your Ultimate).

SKILLS: Early get Heartache a lot (heals you and damage enemy). Smitten should be your last choice. Always get your Ultimate, Seduce, when available–it is an amazing spell.

STRATEGY: Your ultimate is AMAZING at helping your team get a kill. It is great mid game in 3v3 or 3v2/1 fights to disable an enemy and deal respectable damage to them. Be careful about using your Smitten spell–in most pub/intermediate games many teammates will accidently hit the enemy and the disable is transferred to them. It might be best to use this spell on an enemy not direclty in the fight, to completely take him out of the picture for most of the battle. Then use your Ultimate on another enemy and all the sudden a 5v5 turns into a 5v3 in your teams favor!

STOP!

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It is fully updated with all new heroes for the newest verison of Retail Heroes of Newerth.

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HELLBOURNE – STRENGTH (STR) HEROES

Devourer

ITEMS:

Start:
Courier
Mana Potion
Runes of the Blight

Early:
Trinket of Restoration x2
Enhanced Marchers

Mid:
Shaman’s Headdress (MUST HAVE ITEM)

Late:
Behemoth’s Heart
Post Haste (if you chose to not get Enhanced Marchers)
Sacrificial Stone

SKILLS: 1. Decay 2. Hook (max these first), then get Devour at level 6. Take Cadaver Armor last.

STRATEGY: You may want to try purchasing a bottle first if you will be middle lane and can control the runes (not recommended though). You are fragile and can’t do much early game. You don’t have enough mana to use hook often and you don’t have enough HP to do much damage. Practice using Decay to last hit creeps, slow enemies, deal damage, etc. Turn Decay on immediately whenever you use your hook. If you miss, turn it off, if you hit and grab an enemy, use Devour on them immediately. You don’t want DPS items on Devourer–your goal is to pull in enemies into your slow cloud and disable them with Devour. You want a ton of HP and Mana regen in order to have your Decay cloud on as long as you want.

Electrician

ITEMS:

Start:
1x Runes of the Blight
1x Healing Potion
2x Pretender Crown

Early:
Enhanced Marchers

Mid/Late:
Sacrificial Heart
Codex
Behemoth’s Heart

Optional:
Mock of Brilliance
Frostfield Plate
Daemonic Breastplate
Totem of Kuldra
Null Stone
Frostwolf’s Skull

SKILLS: Static Grip first, then Energy Absorbtion.

STRATEGY: Late game you will be nothing more than a tank with a good disable; ideally you want to end the game before that. Your main goal is to pair up with another hero that can dish out good damage. Use your Static Grip spell to initiate and disable the enemy while your teammate dishes out damage. When Static Grip ends, fire off Energy Absorbtion for extra damage and to replenish your mana. If necessary, use your ultimate, Cleansing Shock to either slow the enemy or speed up yourself or your ally to finish the job. Cleansing Shock is also good for escaping and has a quick cooldown unlike most ultimates.

Kraken

ITEMS:

Start:
Runes of the Blight
Mana Potion
INT items

Early:
Trinket of Restoration
Scarab
2x Fortified Bracelet

Mid:
Steamboots or Enhanced Marchers
Hack and Slash
Abyssal Skull

Late:
Behemoth’s Heart (lots of HP and HP regen)
Whispering Helm

SKILLS: Get Drench and Tsunami Charge early in the game.

STRATEGY: Early game use drench as it is the most mana effecient spell you have. You will want to finish the game before late game as he doesn’t scale well. Late game your Ultimate can be useful for disrupting the enemy and teleporting them back into your teammates.

War Beast

ITEMS:

Start:
Ring of the Teacher
Mana Potions

Early:
Steam Boots

Mid:
(If you are going to jungle farm: Alchemist’s Bones, get this immediately)
Abyssal Skull
Symbol of Rage or Elder Parasite

Late:
Brutalizer
Hack & Slash
Shield Breaker

Luxury:
Behemoth’s Heart

SKILLS: Get at LEAST 1 level in Hell Hounds first–they are great for early game harassment. If you plan to go into the jungle, make sure to max this early.

STRATEGY: You will have great HP and lifesteal. Your hounds are great to assist at farming. At level 4 you can enter the jungle and farm there. If you go this route, get Alchemist’s Bones and Abyssal Skull right away to increase effectiveness. The Brutalizer items helps stop enemies since you have no disables. Don’t completely forget about your hounds since the enemy DOES get gold for killing them. DO use them extensively to harass and get last hits on creeps. By stacking Abyssal Skull and another lifesteal item like Symbol of Rage or Elder Parasite you can get crazy lifesteal.

Pharaoh

ITEMS:

Start:
2x Pretender Crown (or 1x Crown and Some Mana Potions)
2x Runes of Blight
1x Minor Totem

Early:
Ring of the Teacher
Enhanced Marchers
2x Fortified Bracelets

Mid:
Shrunken Head
Portal Key

Late:
Behemoth’s Heart
Frostfield Plate

SKILLS: 1. Tormented Soul, then get Hellfire, then at level 6 get Wrath of the Pharaoh.

STRATEGY: You need mana regen early game. You can use your missle, Tormented Soul, to do a lot of cool things: pull neutral creeps into your lane, push lanes from across the map, double spawn creeps, etc. It has unlimited range. Use your Wrath of the Pharoah to initiate. You can use your Wall of Mummies to trap enemies or stop them and escape. Use your Enhanced Marchers to escape; likewise this does not work on enemies with Enhanced Marchers turned on.

Accursed

ITEMS:

Start:
Iron Buckler/Stout Shield
Mana Potions
Runes of the Blight

Early:
Helm of the Black Legion
Stout Shield (a second one)

Mid/Late:
Enhanced Marchers
Shaman’s Headdress
Behemoth’s Heart
Portal Key

SKILLS: Get Shield and Cauterize before Sear.

STRATEGY: You are a tank only. The best thing you can do is have the entire enemy team target you instead of your teammates since you have your Ultimate which will usually keep you alive 3x as long as you would otherwise. In lower level pub games, Accursed is probably the BEST tank there is–your Ultimate automatically activates whenever you are low on health and turns any damage you take into healing instead. Usually an enemy hero won’t understand this or just won’t notice and you will get quite a bit of health back while your team deals major damage freely.

Pestilence

ITEMS:

Start:
2x crushing claw
2 or 3 runes of blight
1x mana potion

early:
helm of the victim (for health regen so you can stay in your lane)

MID/late:
insanitarius (+damage and armor, effect of drastically increasing damage but also doing damage to you over time and causing 450 dmg when you turn it off (non-lethal))
steamboots (gives more attack speed armor and needed health–keep it on str)
whispering helm (attack boost and lifesteal, lifesteal works well w/ insanitarius)
warpcleft helps also w/ attack speed

LATE:
symbol of rage
shrunken head (has magic immunity, keeps you from getting stun locked by entire enemy team, use if they have stuns/magic)
or
daemonic breastplate
shield breaker

SKILLS: Coming Soon!

STRATEGY: you are a carry, you will be the pusher of the team getting things accomplished. you can chase very well using your flight for +40% move speed (lvl 4). you have a great aoe stun with impale, and have a great way to counter invisible heroes like scout or nighthound with your ultimate, swarm. You’ll want lots of attack speed to help with gore (gives a decent stun % on normal attacks, more attacks=better chance) and lots of HP as you will likely be targetted when you get in close to use impale and attack. A lot of the mentioned items add to armor, another plus. early game you will want health regen items so you can stay in your lane and get lvled up. a note–when chasing and using flight/impale, after you have stunned them be sure to move in front of the direction they were headed. if they continue that direction you’ll get another 1-2 attacks in.

Magmus

ITEMS:

Start:

pretenders crown x2
mana pot 1
blight x2

MID (CORE ITEMS:)
enhanced marchers
portal key
shrunken head

LATE (luxury/tank items)
beastheart to behemoths heart
daemonic breastplate
symbol of rage
insanitarius
flayer
hack and slash

SKILLS: Coming Soon!

STRATEGY: not reliant on items, he is an ability hero. good strategy…use your q blink/dash skill to engage and stun then immediately spam your ult. shurnken head would help first. also a good idea is to start your ult, wait the 2 sec till it starts, then portal key into middle of fight. late game you turn into just a tank/disruptor to soak up damage since your ult won’t do enough to kill by itself and you aren’t the best dps melee fighter. to do your ult/blink combo: stand in the trees outside of lane/out of sight. cast your ult (2 sec channel) then shift click your destination with your portal key. when your pre-cast 2 sec channel time is done you will automatically teleport immediately

Maliken

ITEMS:

Start:
Pretender’s Crown
Runes of the Blight
2x Mana Potion

Early:
Steamboots
Fortified Bracelets

Mid:
Elder Parasite
Insanitarius

Late:
Behemoth’s Heart
Brutalizer

SKILLS: Sword Throw and Sword of the Damned are your first 2 skills to get. Wait until later in the game (lvl 15 or so) to get Hellbourne Zeal. Get your ultimate, Possession, right away, but wait until late game to max it out.

STRATEGY: You’ll want to be using your ultimate to give you ranged attacks in most team fights–you generally don’t want to do your sword throw/blink right into the middle of enemy heroes. It is useful for chasing or escaping though. You’ll want to be using your attack speed, lifesteal, and crits, to do major ranged damage. By late game when you have all the items up to Behemoth’s Heart, you should be able to leave Insanitarius on all the time for tons of damage, quick attacks, and lots of HP.