Change coming, more detailed strategy will be added soon!
Sick and tired of the autoattacking agi carries?
Spell spammers make you want to vomit?
Want to bash them in the face?
Want to shine your way through your teammate's admiration to victory?
I present you:
HARBINGER,
THE RETARD DESTROYER
OBSIDIAN DESTROYER!
Look at her. Isn't she beautiful? Look at those elegant black wings unfurl around you. Smell the scent of her immense wisdom - we dig smart ladies! Don't you just want to teleport into the astral universe where nothing exists except you and her....listen to the roar of the Lioness inside her at the beginning of the game.....those entrancing dark eyes...and that.....ahem, um, moving on...
Foreword and Introduction
Destroyer is not a straightforward hero. All too often my friends and I RAAAGGEEE at how incompetent pubbies abuse her, humiliating her in more embarrassing ways than George Bush can make himself look. So here I am, giving players new and old alike an introduction on how to properly manage the awesome late game dazzling blossom that is the beauty of Harbinger.
Why should I play this hero?
Play Harby if:
-You are an attention whore enjoy being in the spotlight
-You like instagibbing people for the lulz
-You take pride in your intelligence and would like to show it off
-You like farming and are good at it
-You are confident in your teammate's abilities.
Don't play Harby if:
-You prefer to humbly support your teammates to victory
-You last hit like my 11 year old cousin with Maiden
-You are a dumbass
-Your teammates are dumbasses.
Background story:
A hard working, educated intellectual created by ancient wise men, Harbinger takes pride in his awesome brainpower and his mission to eradicate the world of retards and low-IQ (intelligence) dummies. Ironically, however, to vanquish the lives of lowly enemies that he despises, he must invest his own pool of brain energy, leaving it almost as much as it began with. Yet despite this, Harby is a proud servant of the great Einstein himself, and takes great pleasure to fight global stupidity through his sheer, bright mind.
Okay, fine. Seriously. Background story:
An obsidian construct brought to life through the ill conceived necromancy of the Lich King, Harbinger craves magic to make up for the emptiness brought on by the incomplete nature of its summoning. Ironically however, to devour the magic that it so desires, Harbinger must tap into his own pool of mana time and time again, expending to the point where it ends up with even less than it began with. Yet despite this, the Obsidian Destroyer is a proud servant of the Undead Scourge, and takes great pleasure in annihilating the foolish Sentinels it encounters through psionic exploitation.
He has THE highest combined starting stats of ALL heros: 19 + 24 + 26 = 69.
He has a combined stat gain of 6.65 per level - in the top tier for ranged heros.
He has THE highest starting attack damage for ranged heros, averaging 56.5.
Pros:
Good laner
High stats
Shiny late game damage monster
nukes dumb heros into oblivion
Brains!
Cons:
Fragile - you will crumple faster than a guy hit in his nuts
item dependent
team dependent
Fragile - you will crumple faster than a guy hit in his nuts
Hero skills:
Arcane Orb
Gives the Destroyer extra power to damage his enemies based on his remaining mana pool.
This is what makes you a scary carry: Your main damage source. Late game, you can easily dish out 250+ pure damage every hit. However, if your intelligence is truly worthy for you to play Harby, you will not level Arcane is not to be leveled in the early game, for the reason below.
Astral Imprisonment
Teleports a target allied or enemy hero into an astral prison. The hero remains separated from the real world for the duration of the spell. If cast on an enemy, Harbinger steals intelligence from the target. Intelligence is restored to the hero after 60 seconds.
This is why anyone leveling Orb in the early game needs an aptitude test! Imprisonment is arguably the most versatile spell in the entire game. Disable, escape, interrupt, Damage increase, Ultimate support, pseudo-Mana drain, Damage decrease for enemy INT heros, what more could you want?
Essense Aura
Whenever a nearby allied hero casts a spell, it has a chance to restore a portion of its mana pool.
The fuel that keeps your ownage machine running, as well as the machine of your teammates. Your allies, maybe not Huskar, will love you for this.
Sanity's Eclipse
The Obsidian Destroyer unleashes his full potential; his mind unleashes a psionic storm able to penetrate lesser minds with terminal force, dealing massive damage to them. More crafty minds are able to resist most of the damage, but they expend most of their energies to do so, losing a lot of their mana.
The name of the guide. Your IWINLOL button. Weed out the dumb. Purge them from your sight. The less stupid ones will not fall just yet, but will have jelly legs and cramps after you deal with them. Let the smartening of the world begin!
Getting Arcane Orb early game is not worth the goodies that Imprisonment can give. You don't have the mana to spam it, and it won't do much damage anyway. Imprisonment can help you last hit by increasing base damage, hurt last hitting of enemy INT heros, keep their mana in check, escape, chase, and boost your ultimate. 90% of early game Orb users will end up hiding behind towers scrounging last hits instead of forcing their enemies to hide behind towers as you last hit with ease anyway with your huge base damage. Get Eclipse as you see fit, if you have ample mana, or if an immediate nuke can score a kill when a friendly ganker approaches - Imprisonment makes your eclipse all the more deadly.
Starting items:
If you randomed Harby (Lucky you) then:
The best bang for your buck. HP, damage, mana, consumables for almost all your gold, and every part of it is made into your core - recycling is good!
More often, in a serious game, you would pick your heros, starting with 603 gold.
Any reasonable combination of these is good.
If you end up buying this, bitchslap that CM/Warlock/Venge and tell them it's from me, Archangel--. HARD.
Core items:
Treads is preferred over BoT and Phase: Since Harby has to stack survivability and intelligence/mana, it leaves him very little options in IAS. Nulls is for the cheap boost in a little of everything in the mid-late game.
Guinsoo is the real core. YOU ARE NOT GOOD SMART ENOUGH FOR HARBY if you don't get it. It gives all three stats, emphasizing intelligence and mana, and it gives you and your teammates 3 seconds to whack down on whoever you want without having to deal with whatever they might throw at you.
Items after:
If the enemy team is heavy on physical damage, get Shiva first. If they have a lot of Lion/Rhasta/Venge who are jealous of your IQ and want to pin you down, go for Linken first and laugh as the dummies fail in their feeble attempt to bully the smart kid.
IAS, intel, mana regen, damage, do want! This works in great synergy with Guinsoo. Silence -> Guinsoo -> whack away and wait for the red number.
At the point in the game when you not being ready on the battlefield at a moment's notice is detrimental, sell your treads and get this. Otherwise you run the risk of the efforts of your teammates nurturing you go to utter waste.
Dude, the game still isn't over yet?
Other items:
Even after the bounty nerf, few heros benefit from the precious few IAS items that you can have more than Destroyer. If you can farm this in under 9 minutes, go for it! Just remember that it's not worth leaving a safe lane to transmute a neutral - you lose too much by not being with the creeps.
Heart isn't really worth it, especially after the battle HP regen was removed. You shouldn't be tanking anyway. Refresher is a waste - apart from the ability, it gives almost nothing. Spend your money on something that actually helps your other departments.
Debatable. However, as an INT rather than STR hero, Linken is the better choice. The recent buffs to Linken and repeated nerfs to BKB solidifies my argument - many, many spells are negated by Linken and it is something worth your money now. But if there really is THAT much crap that the enemy team is throwing at your direction, by all means get this.
For god's sake..........
Go see a doctor. All hope is not lost - yet.
I have actually seen this before.I swear, if you ever do this to my little Harby, I will hunt down your IP address, and punch you through your monitor.
Early game:
Harby can solo or dual - makes no difference in his lane strategy. Unlike many other carries, he can stand his own against the majority of mid-solo heros (who are mostly INT and will cry at your Imprisonment spam). But if there is a core ganker that badly needs early levels, like Tinker for example, give the lane to him.
Your job in a lane is simple - starting at level 3, spam Imprisonment! Use it on INT heros first, obviously. The damage exchange is extremely significant, and you can easily have 100 base damage in the early game, making last-hits and denies a breeze. Note that the Imprisonment feeds on itself - you must use your borrowed mana to feed your constant spam through Essence, otherwise your mana will leak back to the enemy and you won't be able to cast. If you find Essence isn't proccing as much as you need, cough up and ferry some clarities. The extra creeps that you get will more than pay off.
Mid game:
By the 10-12 minute mark, the gankers should all be running amok now. Keep farming but stay safe. Keep denying to force the lane close to your tower. Your allies should be putting wards for you. DO NOT participate in teamfights unless absolutely necessary. KEEP A TOWN PORTAL AT ALL TIMES. A juke-and-TP would save you hundreds of gold and precious time. Common sense should dictate - if 4 of 5 enemies are missing, do not farm under the enemy tower. Basic intelligence like that, which should be present on anyone playing Harby anyway.
This applies throughout the game: If you are involved in a teamfight, usually initiated by enemy gankers, stay back. Contribute with your imprisonment and attacks, but do not risk your life for your teammates'. You are not a cheap girl like CM (INCOMING MAIDEN FANBOYS DETECTED - ACTIVATE RAGE SHIELD) who will go down(pun intended) for anyone.You are too precious and too pretty to die. CAST YOUR ULTIMATE FIRST. I don't care if you are the carry and need gold. Yes it deals alot of damage: That retarded Troll/Void with 50 intelligence will be instantly crippled. But people often forget the secondary effect: Mana drain. You can instantly render that Zeus or Rhasta useless - what can a Zeus do with 200/800 mana?
Late game:
A splendid sight and a fond memory.
It's your time. It's ripe for payback to the kids who bully you in the early game. Join your team for the push - but remember than you are STILL as fragile as you ever were.
To do list in a teamfight:
Sanity Eclipse the enemy team.
Locate closest enemy that does something - hex him.
Locate closest enemy that your team is not currently attacking. Imprison him.
Fire away at an enemy hero until he is dead.
Repeat steps 2-4.
???
Profit!
Allies that would want to kiss your wings:
Spell spammers. You will be giving them the gift of mana, leaving them to bash away at the enemy. In the case of Zeus, he can actually act as a babysitter for Harby - Forgo Arc, and spam Bolt at enemies while Harby farms. Sweet.
You are awesome, but you aren't Chuck Norris - Enemies that you shiver in fear at sight:
The effects of silence are magnified on Destroyer - he cannot do ANYTHING in silence. He is a bit more useful than a Doomed Zeus.
4.0 Intelligence gain. What does that mean? He will probably laugh at your Eclipse that you worked so hard to prepare. Nether ward - 150 damage per attack. IT HURTS.
Take a look at his new mana burn - it's based on the enemy intelligence. How did this change happen? My best estimate is NA didn't like his boyfriend fawning over smart little Harby, got jealous, then gave Icefrog buttsex in exchange for his new I HATE DESTROYER T-shirt.
Enemies that you eat for breakfast:
Kills illusions - check.
Burst damage preventing Sunder - check.
Pure damage orb giving high-armor heros the finger - check.
All too often I see Anti-mage players run up to Harby with their ZOMG UNKILLABLE Hood and scream hack when they die in 4 hits before they even burned off 1/4 of Harby's mana. Pure damage people, pure damage.
Watch out - special mention
This little pimp can work. One second you are sitting behind your tank oiling your gear, and the next second you find 5 burly men having their way with you. Be careful. Remember that Swap range is 600/900/1200. Stay back. Do everything to keep yourself out of reach, even if means delaying your core Guinsoo and getting Linkens first, with it being able to block swap.
What happens if:
The enemy has way too many disables and we can't push
This usually happens in the late game. Save money for buyback. Go push a lane by yourself or with at most 1 teammate, while your other teammates assemble at anothr lane. Wait until the enemy arrives, then fight without using your ultimates and go down in a blaze of glory amist that Black Hole/Ravage/Fiend's Grip.
Immediately buy back, TP to meet your waiting allies, and push for the victory!
Arcane Orb
Astral Imprisonment
Essense Aura
Sanity's Eclipse
