Post by sackpuncher on Oct 2, 2009 20:41:23 GMT -5
Sorry for the lack of pretty colors, the Strategy part of the guide is still in progress, but more experienced players should see where I'm going with this for now.
Blood Dancer, Trader Tempest
The beauty of the combo is that it allows for the BD to max his magic immunity asap without having to worry about allocating levels to stats early to live.
Leveling:
Blood Dancer:
Priorty
1. Evasion
2. Magic Immunity
Specifics
You will only need 2 levels of BD's level 6. This is used to clear masses of creeps who have been dropped to 0 hp by Tempest Burst.
Only 2-3 levels of BD's ultimate skill are needed to keep buildup to a minimum early.
Tempest:
Priority
1. Etheral Shield
2. Burst
3. Ultimate
4. Wrath
Specifics
Get 2 levels of Wrath (push) early and then save points for other skills, max Wrath only when nothing else is available.
Trader:
Priority
1. Shop
2. Collect Assets
3. Ultimate
Specifics
The way to level trader for this combo is as follows: 1 level of collect assets, then max shop to 10 above all else. Then follow the priority order.
Traders Glittering prizes is not used in this combo.
ITEMS: (pots are to be bought at your discretion, I can't forsee every possible scenario so I can't say how many or when you'll need them)
Early Item Order:(in this order)
Tank: Sword, Small Round Shield Tp Boots, Elven Armor
Trader: Scroll of teleportation Leather armor
Tempest: Scroll of teleportation Leather armor
Tank: Ivory Armor (he trades his elven to either the trader or tempest and they sell the leather)
Reasoning:
Getting a small round shield that early allows for the BD to take no damage for several levels and very minimal damage for a long time. Since you have a trader boots are not needed as a first item since he can go invis and run items so a sword greatly increases the BD's killing power and carries the team to 6.
Next items:(still in this order)
Trader and Tempest: Stop being cheap and upgrade from TP scrolls to TP boots
Tank: Bloodstone from Trader shop (not the ring)
Trader or Tempest: Whoever didn't get the tanks old Elven armor should now get Elven
Tank: Tower Shield (It should be needed right around now), Blood Thirst, Nimsha, Combo blade *Note, tank should drop the small round shield after around the Magical Cleave wave because it starts to lose effectiveness)
Trader and Tempest: Both should now get Combo Boots, Ivory armor, and AM pots, now that your tank is decked out
Reasoning:
The Bloodstone from Traders shop gives a very very large health boost, more than a Bloodstone ring would. This makes up for the fragile nature of the BD.
Get a Nimsha before finishing combo blade because it greatly increases the BD's leech per hit, as well as his damage per hit.
Getting combo boots for your support is always a good idea, you never know whats going to happen.
After that, get whatever you want.
Strategy guide:
To start off lets clarify the roles each hero will be playing. The Blood Dancer will be your tank, the Tempest will be your support, and the Trader will be your item runner. Strenths to this are the Tempest will not be distracted by running items and can more effectively keep the tank alive. The tank has built in magic immunity. Also, a trader can nearly permanently stay invisible making it hard to offense him while running items and nearly impossible for a thief to steal from him since you will all be pooling him for items.
This combo can be seen as somewhat weak early, and can be troublesome to reach level 6 with without some fairly coordinated teamwork. The blood dancer getting a sword as his first item allows him to solo both lanes 1 hitting creeps for the first two waves. He can be cripple to stop this but the tempest should be able to sufficiently cover the time with his attacks and his Wrath skill. It is important early to save wrath for when there is a bit of buildup so that you drop the hp of a lot of creeps allowing the bd to one hit them. This is made possible early because the BD will have a small round shield and thus take very minimal amounts of damage until the wolves round. Once this combo hits 6 it is very very strong because you can use BD's lvl6 skill to clear mass amounts of bursted creeps, and when it is on cd the bd attacks fast enough to clear large amounts of whatevers left fairly easily.
It's fairly basic, Tempest keeps the tank shielded as much as possible (once eth shield hits level 4 it should be permanently on the tank). He should also cast his innate over the tank whenever possible, as well as casting Burst around the tank whenever its cd is up. Push is saved for if you're having trouble getting items to the tank for some reason, or if the tank happenes to get offensed and is in danger. The trader keeps the tank in sufficient pots, as well as bringing him the items listed above whenever possible. The BD needs to time his lvl6 spell with tempests Burst for max killing power in order to keep buildup down as much as possible.
With the Burst stomp combo it should seldom be necessary to actually use anyones ultimate skills. If it is needed is when this combo can be in trouble as 2 of their 3 ultimates put the caster in some kind of danger(tempest and bd). You must remember that Tempest ultimate is a channeling skill, and that when BD uses his ultimate he no longer has any evasion(until he gets combo boots) or etheral shield. If needed you can stop burst, and use BD's stomp to slow the attack speed of the creeps to give the Tempest enough of a "head start" to ultimate so that he kills whatevers hitting him before he dies. As said above BDs ultimate should only be used early before the creeps do too much damage for him to have no evasion. Traders ultimate can be tricky to target with but is the safest of all 3 to cast. A trick is to get somewhat close, preferably on a ledge, while invisible, turn your back to where you want the caravan to land, and click in front of you. This will make the Caravan bomb spawn directly on the creeps you intended to kill, instead of having to travel to them and possibly missing or blowing up early.
Blood Dancer, Trader Tempest
The beauty of the combo is that it allows for the BD to max his magic immunity asap without having to worry about allocating levels to stats early to live.
Leveling:
Blood Dancer:
Priorty
1. Evasion
2. Magic Immunity
Specifics
You will only need 2 levels of BD's level 6. This is used to clear masses of creeps who have been dropped to 0 hp by Tempest Burst.
Only 2-3 levels of BD's ultimate skill are needed to keep buildup to a minimum early.
Tempest:
Priority
1. Etheral Shield
2. Burst
3. Ultimate
4. Wrath
Specifics
Get 2 levels of Wrath (push) early and then save points for other skills, max Wrath only when nothing else is available.
Trader:
Priority
1. Shop
2. Collect Assets
3. Ultimate
Specifics
The way to level trader for this combo is as follows: 1 level of collect assets, then max shop to 10 above all else. Then follow the priority order.
Traders Glittering prizes is not used in this combo.
ITEMS: (pots are to be bought at your discretion, I can't forsee every possible scenario so I can't say how many or when you'll need them)
Early Item Order:(in this order)
Tank: Sword, Small Round Shield Tp Boots, Elven Armor
Trader: Scroll of teleportation Leather armor
Tempest: Scroll of teleportation Leather armor
Tank: Ivory Armor (he trades his elven to either the trader or tempest and they sell the leather)
Reasoning:
Getting a small round shield that early allows for the BD to take no damage for several levels and very minimal damage for a long time. Since you have a trader boots are not needed as a first item since he can go invis and run items so a sword greatly increases the BD's killing power and carries the team to 6.
Next items:(still in this order)
Trader and Tempest: Stop being cheap and upgrade from TP scrolls to TP boots
Tank: Bloodstone from Trader shop (not the ring)
Trader or Tempest: Whoever didn't get the tanks old Elven armor should now get Elven
Tank: Tower Shield (It should be needed right around now), Blood Thirst, Nimsha, Combo blade *Note, tank should drop the small round shield after around the Magical Cleave wave because it starts to lose effectiveness)
Trader and Tempest: Both should now get Combo Boots, Ivory armor, and AM pots, now that your tank is decked out
Reasoning:
The Bloodstone from Traders shop gives a very very large health boost, more than a Bloodstone ring would. This makes up for the fragile nature of the BD.
Get a Nimsha before finishing combo blade because it greatly increases the BD's leech per hit, as well as his damage per hit.
Getting combo boots for your support is always a good idea, you never know whats going to happen.
After that, get whatever you want.
Strategy guide:
To start off lets clarify the roles each hero will be playing. The Blood Dancer will be your tank, the Tempest will be your support, and the Trader will be your item runner. Strenths to this are the Tempest will not be distracted by running items and can more effectively keep the tank alive. The tank has built in magic immunity. Also, a trader can nearly permanently stay invisible making it hard to offense him while running items and nearly impossible for a thief to steal from him since you will all be pooling him for items.
This combo can be seen as somewhat weak early, and can be troublesome to reach level 6 with without some fairly coordinated teamwork. The blood dancer getting a sword as his first item allows him to solo both lanes 1 hitting creeps for the first two waves. He can be cripple to stop this but the tempest should be able to sufficiently cover the time with his attacks and his Wrath skill. It is important early to save wrath for when there is a bit of buildup so that you drop the hp of a lot of creeps allowing the bd to one hit them. This is made possible early because the BD will have a small round shield and thus take very minimal amounts of damage until the wolves round. Once this combo hits 6 it is very very strong because you can use BD's lvl6 skill to clear mass amounts of bursted creeps, and when it is on cd the bd attacks fast enough to clear large amounts of whatevers left fairly easily.
It's fairly basic, Tempest keeps the tank shielded as much as possible (once eth shield hits level 4 it should be permanently on the tank). He should also cast his innate over the tank whenever possible, as well as casting Burst around the tank whenever its cd is up. Push is saved for if you're having trouble getting items to the tank for some reason, or if the tank happenes to get offensed and is in danger. The trader keeps the tank in sufficient pots, as well as bringing him the items listed above whenever possible. The BD needs to time his lvl6 spell with tempests Burst for max killing power in order to keep buildup down as much as possible.
With the Burst stomp combo it should seldom be necessary to actually use anyones ultimate skills. If it is needed is when this combo can be in trouble as 2 of their 3 ultimates put the caster in some kind of danger(tempest and bd). You must remember that Tempest ultimate is a channeling skill, and that when BD uses his ultimate he no longer has any evasion(until he gets combo boots) or etheral shield. If needed you can stop burst, and use BD's stomp to slow the attack speed of the creeps to give the Tempest enough of a "head start" to ultimate so that he kills whatevers hitting him before he dies. As said above BDs ultimate should only be used early before the creeps do too much damage for him to have no evasion. Traders ultimate can be tricky to target with but is the safest of all 3 to cast. A trick is to get somewhat close, preferably on a ledge, while invisible, turn your back to where you want the caravan to land, and click in front of you. This will make the Caravan bomb spawn directly on the creeps you intended to kill, instead of having to travel to them and possibly missing or blowing up early.
. Even so the item order remains unchanged and the leveling can be changed when it comes to that. Since pedro and bruno haven't set a release date and are still busy doing bug tests I don't see a reason to write a 1.90 specific guide.