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Tuesday 1 March 2011

Valkyrie


Skill Build
1 - Courageous Leap
2 - Javelin of Light
3 - Call of the Valkyrie
4 - Call of the Valkyrie
5 - Call of the Valkyrie
6 - Javelin of Light
7 - Call of the Valkyrie
8 - Javelin of Light
9 - Javelin of Light
10 - Valkyrie's Prism
11 - Valkyrie's Prism
12 - Courageous Leap
13 - Courageous Leap
14 - Courageous Leap
15 - Stats
16 - Valkyrie's Prism
17 - Stats+


Justification / Modifications:
Get Javelin of Light first (Leap second) if you plan to rune-gank. It's probably the strongest rune-ganking skill in the game.
If you start mass pushing before level 10, get Valkyrie's Prism earlier. Call of the Valkyrie is maxed out first as it does the most single-target damage, and is your farming skill. Javelin of Light (arrow) is maxed next as it's your second nuke and less reliable to hit than Call.
Lane Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Duck Boots, 2x Minor Totem

For early Bottle delivery.
Core:
Bottle >> Marchers >> (Power Supply >>) Ghost Marchers >> 1-2x Soulscream Rings

Ghost Marchers are viable, as positioning and mobility for the runes and throwing arrows is very important for her. Steam Boots favor carrying a bit more, but your early autoattack damage suffers drastically with Ghost Marchers.
The easier the game the fewer Soulscream Rings you will need.
After Core:
(Nullfire Blade >>) Frostburn >> Geometer's Bane/Frostwolf Skull split >> Savage Mace >> Riftshards

Get a Nullfire ASAP if your team needs to counter Jeraziah, Hellbringer, Hammerstorm or Dark Lady. Otherwise go for the listed semi-carry/carry build. Pick up a Shrunken Head if required.
Information
Roles: Carry, Ganker, Initiator
Preferred Lane: Any. Can solo mid, or side preferably paired with another disabler.
Difficulty: 4/5 (Arrows...)
Farming capabilities: 3/5 (Call helps a lot)
Item dependent? Yes, but can function well on her core for a short while.
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3/5 (very dangerous arrow stuns, heavy nuke from level 5 on)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4/5 (Fear the 5 second stun.)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3/5 (Can be good if she dominated the midgame and/or has farmed enough, her ultimate is amongst the best initiation tools in the game)
30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you have problems hitting your Javelin, wait for someone else on your team to cast a disable, then throw the Javelin at the non-moving target.
- Valkyrie's Prism is a very strong initiation, escape and counter-gank tool. But the priority is on initiation, especially if you are lacking other good sources of it.
- Use Call of the Valkyrie (once it's level 3+) to punish enemy melee heroes if they go in melee range of the creep waves.
- Especially if you play in mid: Gank a lot!
Counters:
- Valkyrie is VERY hard to counter. 2 escape spells, high physical and magic damage, long range/duration disable. Hero-wise the best counters are stunners and disablers.
- Minimizing the amount of fog you're standing next to will help you react and dodge the inevitable long range arrow initiation early-mid game. This is important in tandem with map awareness.
- Item-wise I suggest you carry Dust for the inevitable invisibility initiation. Armour helps, but is not really an effective counter.
- Even when heavily farmed, a Valk is still relatively squishy without Frostwolf Skull or something similar. The best counter is to focus her when possible, especially if she's sitting in the midgame with Ghost Marchers and a Thunderclaw (bad item).

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