Azgalor the Pit Lord
Author: Maya
Changelog:
29.08.2009 - added a replay
Introduction
Azgalor is a caster-oriented STR hero with a spammable AoE rain-type spell, an AoE binding spell, a disrupting multiple-instanced ministun which works by exploding dead bodies, and a team teleport with a large cooldown. He is one of the best farmers in the game, able to clean hordes of creeps with a single skill. Although the Pit Lord does not possess direct single-target power, he can cause terror and chaos in battles, quickly push multiple lanes or defend the base alone against several enemies.
Stats
Strength: 25 + 2.6
Agility: 12 + 1.3
Intelligence: 17 + 2.6
Affliation: Scourge
Damage: 62-68
Armor: 4.7
Movespeed: 305
Attack range: 100 (melee)
Attack animation: 0.45/0.70
Casting animation: 0.75/0.51
Base attack time: 1.70
Missile speed: Instant
Sight range: 1800/800
Pros
[+] High durability
[+] Very good base damage
[+] Great intelligence growth
[+] Decent movement speed
[+] Extreme farming power
[+] Massive AoE damage
[+] Area disable
[+] Chained ministun
[+] Team teleportation
[+] Decent escape mechanism
Cons
[-] Terrible casting animation
[-] The disable is too awkward
[-] Melee range
[-] Pathetic agility gain
[-] No single-target power
[-] Item and team dependent
[-] Too situational skills
[-] High cooldown ultimate with mediocre effects
[-] Hard to play well
When to pick?
Pit Lord is a very versatile hero, his roles vary between Tank, Caster, Initiator and Support Damage Dealer (or everything combined). Depending on yours and the enemy team, you can decide which build to follow.
Generally, picking Azgalor is recommended if:
• You like flying yellow numbers
• Your team needs an AoE massacre or a good pusher/defender
• You have decent teammates.
• Enemies have fragile or channeling heroes
Skills
FirestormCalls down 6 waves of fire that damage enemy units in an area. Each wave deals initial damage and then burns enemies for 2 seconds.
Level 1 - 25 wave damage, 5 dps
Level 2 - 40 wave damage, 10 dps
Level 3 - 55 wave damage, 15 dps
Level 4 - 70 wave damage, 20 dps
Cooldown: 14
Manacost: 100 /110/120/130
Range: 750
• Deals magical damage
• Damage amount is {(Number of Waves) x (Wave Damage) + [(Number of Waves + 1) x (Secondary Damage)]} x (Target's Magic Resistance Factor)
Comment:
• This is your bread and butter skill. Spam it for farming, cast in the start of team battles, cast it in front of fleeing heroes, soften the enemies with it, use it to disrupt.
• Early game it causes the very quick depletion of enemies' regeneration items, while keeping you away from enemy harassment with its huge 750 casting range.
• It is not a superb anti-hero spell, but many people will underestimate its power and continue to toast inside until they realise it's too late to run away. Combined with disables, its total damage may exceed a level 1 Finger of Death!
• Late game the spell loses power against heroes, but its power against creeps is still devastating. The spell can quickly kill the ranged units and therefore create fuel for your Expulsion, escalating in a chain reaction and a Fire-And-Brimstone combo.
Pit of MaliceA deadly pit is conjured at target location. Any unit that enters it becomes corrupted with malicious forces and is unable to move for some time.
Level 1 - 1.5 seconds
Level 2 - 2 seconds
Level 3 - 2.5 seconds
Level 4 - 3 seconds
Cooldown: 22/21/18/15
Manacost: 100/115/130/145
Range: 800
• Bypasses magic immunity
• Prevents enemy from going invisible when binded
• Pit of Malice will bind any unit each time it enters it
Comment:
• This skill will create a circle of tombstones in a large area and will summon tentacles around the feet of all enemy units who enter the circle or happen to be inside when it's created.
• The animation is pretty awkward so use it carefully.
• It will bind magic immune units, e.g. Juggernaut in whirlwind. That means you can use the skill both for chasing/disabling and escaping. Just keep in mind it stops only movement and not normal attacks/abilities.
ExpulsionIgnites the rotten gases of corpses, detonating them to cause damage to any enemy within the explosion radius. Each explosion fuels another until there are no more corpses in the area. Does a ministun on damaged units.
Level 1 - 20 damage per corpse
Level 2 - 40 damage per corpse
Level 3 - 60 damage per corpse
Level 4 - 80 damage per corpse
Cooldown: 10
Manacost: 75
Range: 750
• Deals magical damage
• Explodes a corpse in 500 AoE once per second
• Each explosion affects 400 AoE
• The spell stops when it fails to find a corpse 2 times in a row
Comment:
• This skill is able to chain-react because it only stops when it kills everything. The more corpses exploding lead in more dead units which leave even more corpses.
• Expulsion can cause huge damage during large teamfights in the Endspiel, while preventing enemy from using channelling spells and interrupting animation as well. However, it depends on dead bodies, which are often not presented when you need them.
• If possible, you can use it during Early Game to cancel teleportations if you have corpses around and Pit of Malice is in reuse (or you are low on mana).
Dark RiftOpens rifts that pass through the netherworld at his present position and a target unit simultaneously. Teleports your hero and nearby allied heroes through the rift.
Level 1 - 6 second casting delay time. Buildings only.
Level 2 - 5 second casting delay time. Units or Buildings.
Level 3 - 4 second casting delay time. Units or Buildings.
Cooldown: 180/160/140
Manacost: 75/150/225
Casting Delay Time: 6/5/4
Range: 99999
• Draws allied heroes in 375 range near Azgalor
• Does not teleport hidden units by spells such as Astral Prison or Phase Shift
• The skill is wasted if the channel unit or Azgalor die before the delay time expire
Comment:
• This skill can be used to gank, push, retreat or dodge ganks.
• It has a rather high reuse time and is incapable of using normal units at level 1. So use it with caution.
• If you are teleporting with it while taking a lethal damage over time, be sure to cast it upon the very corner of the map. That way it will teleport you straight into the fontain.
• There are still some unfixed bugs related with this skill. They include:
* The skill is not really a teleport. That means it will not dodge projectiles.
* The skill will display the error message "Target or caster is dead" even if your target dies after your Rift succeeds. Other than causing a little confusion and filling your screen, this doesn't really bother you.
* Azgalor will not teleport if he is hooked during the portal-effect animation. If that happens, it will teleport only Pit Lord's allies, but not Azgalor himself.
Skill order:
1. Pit of Malice or Firestorm
2. Firestorm or Pit of Malice
3. Firestorm
4. Pit of Malice
5. Firestorm
6. Pit of Malice or Dark Rift
7. Firestorm
8. Pit of Malice
9. Dark Rift or Pit of Malice
10. Expulsion or Attribute Bonus
11. Dark Rift
12. Attribute Bonus
13. Attribute Bonus
14. Attribute Bonus
15. Attribute Bonus
16. Dark Rift
17. Expulsion
18. Expulsion
19. Expulsion
20. Attribute Bonus or Expulsion
21. Attribute Bonus
22. Attribute Bonus
23. Attribute Bonus
24. Attribute Bonus
25. Attribute Bonus
Explanation:
1 level of Pit of Malice may be taken early in case you are ganked.
Firestorm is then learnt whenever available because this is your main skill.
Pit of Malice is maxed along with it for disabling and ganking purpose.
If you feel safe from ganks, you can delay Dark Rift until level 9 because it has too large cooldown and too much delay to be useful for any other needs.
An optional early level of Expulsion is got to prevent channeling skills and items.
Attribute Bonus is taken mid-game to enhance your HP and MP pools.
Expulsion is learnt late game because that is the time when you will have plenty of team fights and dead bodies.
Tips on Game Start
• Insist for solo mid. If your allies start trolling you about "Pit Lord solo mid" they are noobs and your game is 50% lost. In case they have a better hero mid already (which would mean a heavy ganker or a creep dependend hero like Nevermore) make a note about assisting in fights and head for one of the dual lanes, preferably the one without the carry or a hero who can't and doesn't need to last hit. If your team really has a more suitable solo hero, don't be arrogant and let him solo. Team comes first! The most acceptable case is to take a lane where your partner will be jungling.
• Share your chicken in case you're sure you can trust the team. I've lost some couriers due to noob teams. Do not let that happen.
• Try to last hit and deny as much as possible. Ignore harassment if it's minor. Your bottle will come soon so you can allow yourself to stay in the orange HP zone. Pay attention however if the situation is an extreme one, e.g. Axe, double-stun or Yurnero with boots, etc. Don't die! Pit of Malice bypasses spell immunity, so use that if you need to.
• At level 2 to 3 you should already have 600 gold for a bottle. Buy it and bring it with the chicken, then return the courier to the base.
• At level 3 start spamming Firestorm, positioning it in a way it can affect melee creeps, ranged creeps and heroes. Try to cut off as much space as possible, so enemy will have either to take the harassment or run away from experience and gold. Level 2 Firestorm, which you should have at level 3, will almost kill the ranged creeps, so hit them once and try to last hit the rest. Don't cast Firestorm if there are less than 3 enemy creeps or your creep wave is about to die, meaning that you will waste a part of the spell.
• Do not hit enemy tower.
• Once you complete your Crow, you can use the Crow/Bottle combo. This is the most vital thing you should do during your laning. It works like that:
1) Put your courier near the allied tower.
2) When you are low on mana and there are no runes, drink the bottle and give it to the pet. If the rune is up (every even minute), however, and you have an easy access to it (you are mid) capture it and repeat the step. You should put an observer ward on the top rune spot if there isn't one already. If you get a rune like Haste or 2xD, you may want to try ganking a lane. Don't forget to warn your allies in that case.
3) Use "Return home", "Burst" and shift-click "Transfer items" on your chicken. Then continue laning.
4) When your pet returns, take your items and repeat steps 1-4.
The Crow/Bottle combo grants you unlimited life and mana for enduring any harassment and for endless Firestorm-spam-festival.
• If everything goes fine, your enemy should have run out of regeneration items by level 5. Then they have little to do: return to base, keep staying and eventually get killed by you, or call a gank. Since you watch over the runes, they cannot refill their bottle and they have to use their own Crow for that. Chances for that are less than 1%; I have never seen anyone in a game with me using that strategy.
• If they keep staying you can slowly drain their life with Firestorm by positioning it in a way they will be hit by 1 wave at least. If their HP drops below the 300 line, you can use Pit of Malice and then immediately Firestorm on them, most often resulting in a kill.
The Caster Build
Good for: ganking, disabling, blowing low hp heroes away, creating massive chaos and disrupting enemy team
Drawbacks: less durability, team dependency, more difficult to play, situational, no physical power
Items:
For early ganks:
For gank assistance:
Strategy:
Early game
By the time you hit level 9-10 you should already have your 1st item completed, whether it is a Dagon or a Necronomicon.
Charge your mana, because it's ganking time. If possible, get the rune and choose the lane to gank (using your common sense of course).
The Dagon combo:
Position yourself in the back of the enemy, cast Pit of Malice, Firestorm, hit the enemies, get assist from your allies and finally Dagonify one of them. If the other one escapes, but you're lucky, you may find enough mana for a second Pit of Malice; if you're unlucky though, you will have to block his path with your elephant body. The result? 2:0 for Azgalor.
The Necronomicon combo:
Summon your demons, charge with them, queuing mana burn/attack orders. Sneak from the other side, Pit of Malice, Firestorm, and continue with whacking them. Assist from allies must come in, of course. If necessarily, finish them with a second Pit/Firestorm. The winner: Pit Lord.
After the gank
Return to your lane, replenish mana and continue farming. If you see another possibility, gank again. You should dominate this phase of the game.
When people stop laning, you're entering the
Middle Game
The Dagon build:
If you have chosen the Dagon build, you are now only able to last hit heroes, finish off fleeing targets (i.e. "scavenging") and, of course, farming. Farming. Fire-spam creep waves like no tomorrow. Watch out for ganks. Be sure to carry around TP scrolls in order to change lanes. It is pushing time! Finish your Boots of Travel and keep pushing and farming rapidly until you finish (most of) your Guinsoo.
Do NOT upgrade the Dagon! It is much investment with little outcome.
Avoid pushing with your team at this stage. If you have to, save your spells to cast them when the enemies come. Cripple them! Create as much terror and destruction as possible! Don't hesitate to Dagonify walking deads ("scavenge", "last hit", "KS"), but don't steal kills from the carry (if he's there). You should not forget that you're not Rambo anyway; if you get too close to the enemy, you will likely get your arrogant face smacked. Don't let that happen!
The Necronomicon build:
In case you have headed for the Necro build, you can still be a dangerous ganker with your 2 little friends.
At this stage their damage is devastating. Combined with your Pit of Malice and some slow/stun from your buddies the situation for your enemies can become very grim very quickly.
Gank as much as possible, but try not to delay your core items too much. You will be pushing less, so you can get your Guinsoo before the Boots of Travel.
Ganking with Dark Rift:
Be aware that you can now use your Dark Rift for ganking (Beast_Pete calls this "Surprise buttseckz"). Get your team standing around you and Rift on a creep that is soon approaching the hapless targets. Better if it's a dominated servitor or a summon like Lycan's wolf. Teleport and bind the targets, summon the demons if you have the book, Firestorm, Expulsion, flying arrows/stormbolts/hexes/impales/lasers/etc. from your teammates, Dagonification and then use the time you're together to push the lane. Your poor enemies won't even understand what has just happened. Same can be done if you can scout the jungle somehow and backstab the "safari traveler".
Spend the rest of the time in pushing. The big items are coming very soon, and if everything is going allright, you are the most farmed and leveled player. Well done! Now you should prepare yourself for the most funny part of the game. Get ready for the brimstone!
Endspiel
This is where team fights escalate and decide the winner. With your top-tier luxurious 1337 items you should be a walking Hell. Now you have several choises:
The Dagon build:
Get in close range and cast Pit of Malice, Firestorm and Expulsion. When you deem necessarily, activate Shiva. Guinsoo the most dangerous enemy and focus him/her. Dagonify either those who manage to slip away or just slap the carry with it. You are more durable with this build so don't hesitate to get yourself hurt (but don't overdo that either). With the help of your allies' disables, you should have quite literally brought the Hellfire on Earth. Finish the theater with a lane push.
The Necronomicon build:
Cast the devils and order them to attack the disabler. Cast Shiva's nova, Expulsion, Pit of Malice and Firestorm. Cast Guinsoo. Do not stack disables! Try to stay away from the battle because you are not a tank in that case. If you are nearly dead, flee away and teleport to a lane to push it.
Pushing
Pick the least guarded lane and push it. Then BoT to the other lane and push it as well. Finish with an allied push. When enemies come, disable them and Rift to the least guarded enemy lane. The enemies should have run out of quick teleportations and they will have to walk to defend. They will eventyally come; then cast everything and BoT teleport to the least guarded lane. Repeat that until the enemy find themselves sieged from all sides. Now charge for the Barracks!
Defending
In case Middle Game has failed, you should not ragequit. Pit Lord is being infamous for his superb capability to "turtle" (slow the game by defending the base heavily and buy his allies time to get their items and fight back). You won't lose easily, unless they BD successfully. In the worst case, you should have prolonged the match past the 70-80th minute. Most often in that case, you will have a whole team of noobs to blame.
Your K/D ratio will be most likely positive anyway. Even if you lose, don't start crying and don't hate Azgalor. It's a game and either team will lose.
Always remember that "There are no weak heroes, only weak players".
The Warrior Build
Good for: initiating, tanking, chasing, whacking, supporting/dealing damage and creating large area massacres
Drawbacks: less mana, less disabling power, no burst damage, weaker early game, weaker ganks, more expensive
Items:
For initiating:
Finally finish
For physical power:
Finish
For tanking:
Strategy:
Early game
Unlike the Caster Azgalor, the Warrior Azgalor will most likely cast his spells only once. You will also lack burst damage for early ganks, so don't bother with them. Ward yourself hardcore and keep Fire-spamming the creeps. By level 7-8-9 your enemy should have already left the lane. Which means it is now all yours! Take every single piece of gold you can, but DO NOT HIT THE TOWER. You don't want to reach the 2nd level tower because that way you will be exposed to a much greater danger, despite how hard you have Warded yourself. Remember, you still lack any items! It is also your last chance to decide which path to take (Tank/Initiator/Semi-Carry). Make a wise choise because there won't be a way back. Keep silently farming, change lanes if you need to, alwats carry a TP scroll with yourself. Do that until you reach (buy) the following items in your chronological list:
Initiator: Messerschmidt's Reaver (around 15 level)
Tank: Boots of Speed (around 13-14 level)
Semi-Carry: Boots of Speed (around 13-14 level)
Middle Game
Now start playing your role. It is rather simple, compared with the Caster build:
Initiator
Blink in, Pit of Malice, Firestorm and Expulsion. Do that in team fights, of course, and to initiate ganks. You will be a fat one, but you will not be immortal. So be careful and manage your health.
Tank
Charge straight in, cast Pit of Malice as soon as you are in range, cast your other skills and start whacking the enemy. If you succeed, they will target you. A Pit Lord with 2k hp at level 13 won't be taken down so easily, and they will most likely waste their spells into you. Now your allies step in and score a goal.
Semi-Carry
A Pit Lord with an early Radiance is a considerable danger, despite his low attack speed. Your hits hurt and combined with Pit of Malice and your allies' disables you will be able to kick the enemy's ass quite fast. If they survive, keep chasing and burn them to death with Radiace. Don't forget to cast your damage spells in the beginning.
A Warrior Azgalor is not so magic-dependent and can still farm without Fire-spam. Don't hesitate to continue farming even if you are out of mana. Just be sure you are able to escape ganks.
When your bigger items come, you should be the best equipped and leveled player. So let's show the power of Azgalor!
Endspiel
Initiator
Keep doing the same you did before. Now with that equipment enemies will definitely focus you, so be prepared for that. Cast Shiva's nova immediately you blink in, because Pit of Malice has a rather awkward animation and may miss.
Tank
This the most simple case. Just charge in and start attacking the weakest enemy (after you have casted all of your actives). With the help of your team and the Shiva-Skadi slownage (backed up with Boots of Travel) it is not likely that someone will survive.
Semi-Carry
Let your tank draw the fire and then rush in and start pocking with your heavily stacked spear. Let none survive! Save your disables to catch fleeing enemies. You may want to replace your Battle Fury with a Satanic. It is up to you.
Pushing
Aside from teamfights, don't forget you are the best pusher. Push. Push. And push. Don't let your enemy breathe free. You must be a constant threat. Change lanes with teleports and use the previously mentioned "sieging" tactic in the Caster Build pushing section.
Defending
And of course, don't forget to defend. In case Middle Game has failed, you should not ragequit. Pit Lord is being infamous for his superb capability to "turtle" (slow the game by defending the base heavily and buy his allies time to get their items and fight back). You won't lose easily, unless they BD successfully. In the worst case, you should have prolonged the match past the 70-80th minute. Most often in that case, you will have a whole team of noobs to blame. Your K/D ratio will be most likely positive anyway. Even if you lose, don't start crying and don't hate Azgalor. It's a game and either team will lose. Always remember that "There are no weak heroes, only weak players". (sorry I repeat myself)
Rejected Items
No, no, and no. You are not a goddamn carry and you have the agility of a snail so get over it. If you want to waste your money on damage items, save it and buy some Rapiers for your carry.
Never! This is a big waste of money for an item that is next to useless because early game you will be using the Crow/Bottle strategy and later on you will never happen to run out of mana if you're a Caster.
Another waste of money for the crappy upgrade of 400 damage. Buy a Heart instead.
You will be immune to magic for several seconds, which means that your allies will eat the enemy spells. Don't let that happen. You are the tank, so you must absorb the damage. If you are under heavy pressure from magic, get a Pipe.
Best Allies
Pushers. Warlock and Broodmother deserve a special mention because they are devastating. When 1 lane is pushed by spiderlings/Inferno, another one by you, and the last by your team, the situation gets very interesting.
AoE masters. With their help the massive destruction gains apocalyptical sizes.
Long duration/AoE disablers. The more the enemy stays in the hellfire and brimstone, the better.
Worst Enemies
Mana burners. We all know the feeling when your mana seems an unstable value. You have just used your Bottle for 210 mana and *SLAP* you need another one.
DPS carries and anti-tanks. They either need just a few seconds to kill you, despite your mammoth amounts of health and defense (Lifestealer), halve your life (Necrolyte, Sacred Warrior), Perma-Stun you (Slithereen Guard, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord) or deal paranormal damage (Phantom Assassin, Spectre, Soul Keeper).
Silencers. Not using your spells on time can often mean not using them at all. Besides, you won't be able to escape with Dark Rift.
FAQ
Question: Isn't Pit Lord a rather boring hero, who plops spells on the creeps during the entire game?
Answer: That is what Pit Lord does in competitive matches, because his job is to push and defend, thus putting pressure on the enemy. This guide covers only pub games, where nothing stops you from playing Azgalor this way and win easily.
Question: Are there any heroes I should be afraid of during the laning phase?
Answer: Problematic heroes are mana burners (Nerubian Assassin, Keeper of the Light, Anti-Mage, Invoker, Demon Witch) and Broodmother (in case you are soloing middle against her).
Question: Why shouldn't I level Expulsion early? It's an awesome skill with 75 mana cost and 10 seconds cooldown!
Answer: That's true, but you will barely find where to use it during the early stages. It is most useful in team fights around large bulks of creeps. Neither of these happens early. You don't need it for farming because Firestorm is far more effective in that job, and you don't really profit from the 75 mana cost because you are supposed to use the Crow/Bottle strategy, period.
Question: What about Phase Boots?
Answer: No. Pit Lord doesn't need to chase since he won't be able to kill with melee attacks. Instead he has an 800 cast range binding disable. Pit of Malice eliminates the need for escaping as well. Pit Lord can farm anything he wants (price for Boots of Travel is not a problem) and he needs to push lanes (teleportation) so the only suitable footwear is Boots of Travel.
Question: Arcane ring is not such a terrible item, it allows you to spam spells more freely and it helps your team.
Answer: This equals 1700 gold spent for 300 mana and 110 mana restoration every 33 seconds. Which effectively means that you give this money for 3.33 extra mana regeneration per second and the amount of mana bonus from 23 intelligence. Definitely no. If you're going for The Caster Build, it will be a definite no-no. You don't need it early and you won't need it once you buy a Void Stone. Why? Because your mana and mana regeneration will be sufficient to cast about 10-15 consequent Firestorms. You will just wish you haven't bought it because you will barely find yourself in need to click it. If you want to support the team or unlimited mana, get a Guinsoo's Scythe.
Question: Isn't Dagon on this hero a bad item? He's not a hardcore nuker/ganker like Slayer, Faerie Dragon or Nerubian Assassin.
Answer: Buy it (very) early and you won't regret it. There will be more than 5 cases when you will wish you have had it. Even if it looks useless on paper, ingame things are different. I remember one case when I went wicked sick with a Pit Lord using only Boots of Speed and Dagon 1. 4 kills with it, 3 double kills. Too bad I didn't save the replay, but anyway I had a (very) noob team and we lost 25 minutes later.
Question: Why Pit Lord is so underrated hero?
Answer: Because people can't kill heroes with him, because they don't know what to buy him, how to play him and what he is capable of. You won't hear "Geomancer, such a shitty hero 200 hp 20 damage lol!" and "Pfff... Invoker... He's not even a HERO NO STATS OMFG" just because we all have seen someone owning a whole team with them. But THEY can't play them because they are hard to play and thus subconsciously underrated. Confused, eh? They just afraid to say "Invoker sux" because people will possibly flame them and call them noobs (since Invoker actually doesn't suck) but they still think it, while in Azgalor's case - no one has even seen a Pit Lord going beyond Godlike so they just say it, hence the rumour that Pit Lord is a so-so hero.
Question: Why are you using German words in your guide? (Endspiel)
Answer: Because I love foreign languages and playing chess
(Endspiel is a term in chess which means Late Game).Replays
Here is a replay by JimRaynor55 (my mentor, THANKS, Jim <3). He follows the Necronomicon build. What is interesting about it is that he literally saves his team from loss and leads it to victory, while being suppressed by feeder allies and a guy who goes afk for 30 minutes. A really great game.
Unfortunately, the replay is not up to date with the latest patch. This post from DotA-Allstars will give you information how to view it.
Special Thanks
• Blizzard Entertainment for the wonderful game they have created!
• IceFrog for the great map and for this awesome hero!
• JimRaynor55 for inspiring me to play Azgalor, for his help, reviews, advices, tips, replays and patience!
• Baconzilla and Beast_Pete for their great and funny guide on DotA-AllStars website and for proving that Pit Lord is not a boring hero!
• All you readers for spending your time to take a look at my guide and for the passion for Pit Lord!