[Andromeda]

Skill Build
1 - Comet
2 - Stats
3 - Comet
4 - Aurora
5 - Comet
6 - Void Rip
7 - Comet
8 - Aurora
9 - Aurora
10 - Aurora
11 - Void Rip
12 - Dimensional Link
13 - Dimensional Link
14 - Dimensional Link
15 - Dimensional Link
16 - Void Rip
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Straightforward build. You can leave Comet at 1 and go for Aurora + Link early for a more teamfight/teamgank oriented build (i've seen it in some high level games recently).

Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier/Wards, 2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem

Core:
Marchers >> Power Supply >> Striders >> Fortified Bracelet >> Wards >> Wards

One or two Bracelets and Power Supply for stats allow more spamming of Comet and Aurora, Striders for imba roaming. Always get wards, its your highest Item priority. You can get a Bottle if you feel the need for it or if there are few Bottles on other heroes, but don't take away the runes from your mid-laner.

After Core:
Staff of the Master >> Portal Key (>> Nullfire Blade)

This stuff is luxury. You should not have much gold since you are warding and constantly roaming. It's not uncommon for an Andromeda to finish a 30+ minute game with nothing more than 2 Bracelets and Boots.
That being said, SotM and Portal Key are your two most useful items after the core. Get a Nullfire at any point if your team needs to counter Jeraziah, Hellbringer, Hammerstorm or Dark Lady.

Information
Roles: Support, Ganker, Initiator
Properties: Roamer, Nuker, Disabler, Babysitter, Anti-Carry
Prefered Lane: long / short
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 2 - Weak
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Comet)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Good Initiator and Anti-Carry Hero, Very Good at ganking and roaming)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak (Late game her job is to single out and swap their carry)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- Gank a lot! That's your primary task. Let your carries get the kills if possible.
- Once you get Portal Key you can queue it up after Void Rip to teleport right back to your allies.
- You are responsible to keep wards up at all times. Delay your items to buy wards.

Counters:
- Most Andromedas will play the roamer/supporter style described here. Gankers are best countered with vision, map- and rune control -> Wards.
- If you are facing a Carry-Andro get some armor and you should be fine. She is outcarried by almost every other carry in the game.

[Pyromancer]

Skill Build
1 - Dragonfire
2 - Phoenix Wave
3 - Phoenix Wave
4 - Fervor
5 - Phoenix Wave
6 - Blazing Strike
7 - Phoenix Wave
8 - Fervor
9 - Fervor
10 - Fervor
11 - Blazing Strike
12 - Dragonfire
13 - Dragonfire
14 - Dragonfire
15 - Stats
16 - Blazing Strike
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
My preffered Skill Build is to get very early Fervor and leave Dragonfire at level 1. Its excellent for putting early pressure on towers and harassing enemy heroes. If you go for pure ganking you can level Dragonfire over Fervor.

Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, Mana Potion, 3x Minor Totem

Core:
(Bottle >>) Power Supply >> Steam Boots OR Striders >> Wards of Sight

Get Bottle if you lane mid, otherwise its debatable. Always get Power Supply and then Steam Boots or Striders (arguments can be made for both. As of now I say its a matter of taste and playstyle). Keep Wards up all the time!

After Core:
Manatube >> Portal Key >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Behemoth's Heart

Manatube for better regen, will build into Kuldra's later. Portal Key can be a very good item on Pyromancer if you know how to use it! (Otherwise don't get it). In a normal game you will probably not even finish Kuldra's since you need to continuously buy Wards. In case you do finish Kuldra's however, start working on a Heart.

Information:
Roles: Ganker, Supporter
Properties: Nuker, Pusher, Babysitter
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak

30-Seconds-Guide:
- When possible avoid solo mid, you are much more useful with a partner (if that partner also stuns, the better!)
- You are not a carry. You are a Ganker and Supporter. Play accordingly.
- Gank mid whenever your ult is up.
- Never get Codex or Staff of the Master

Counters:
- Get Mystic Vestments early and upgrade it later if needed.
- Try to evade his stun by moving unpredictable.
- If you are < 800 hp and their Pyro has a Portal Key you are marked for Death.

[Keeper of the forest]

Skill Build Offensive
1 - Tree Sight
2 - Camouflage
3 - Tree Sight
4 - Nature's Protection
5 - Tree Sight
6 - Root
7 - Tree Sight
8 - Nature's Protection
9 - Nature's Protection
10 - Nature's Protection
11 - Root
12 - Camouflage
13 - Camouflage
14 - Camouflage
15 - Stats
16 - Root
17 - Stats+

Skill Build Devensive
1 - Tree Sight
2 - Camouflage
3 - Nature's Protection
4 - Nature's Protection
5 - Nature's Protection
6 - Root
7 - Nature's Protection
8 - Tree Sight
9 - Tree Sight
10 - Tree Sight
11 - Root
12 - Camouflage
13 - Camouflage
14 - Camouflage
15 - Stats
16 - Root
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Rule of Thumb: Offensive Build if paired with a ranged hero, defensive build if paired with a melee hero. Also chose the defensive build if you get harassed too much even though having a ranged partner.

Starting Items:
Monkey Courier, Runes of the Blight, 2x Minor Totem, Guardian Ring

Item Build:
Logger's Hatchet >> Ring of the Teacher >> Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom >> Sustainer >> Restoration Stone >> Portal Key >> Post Haste >> Frostfield Plate

There is no need to split a core or after core build here, the build-up is fluent. Get Logger's and a Scarab from the outpost asap and then bring Marchers plus the rest of Nome's to you via the courier.
Feel free to buy wards if your eyes get destroyed or you can't place them at the places you wish to (altough this is rarely an issue).
After Restoration Stone get a Portal Key for optimal 2xRoot placement and then Post Haste (Luxury). Finally a Frostfield Plate to complement all the Lategame needs Keeper has.

Alternative Items:
- Mock of Brilliance: A popular choice especially in pubs where you can free farm your lane and reach a 20 min Mock. If you can do that - by all means go for it. It synergises well with Keeper.
- Tablet of Command: An alternative to Nome's (mostly if someone else is getting it already). This provides you with the same Mana you need for 2x ulti and is generally an awesome item.

Information:
Roles: Suporter, Initiator
Properties: Tank, (Jungler)
Prefered Lane: Long, (Can jungle if absolutely needed, Can go mid versus other melee heroes)
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium (Very good base damage & attack animation)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Good last hitter, hard to kill)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Good initiator)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your first task as Keeper, before the Laning phase even really begins, is to get an Eye onto the top rune ASAP. Usually you will be laning in the long lane (top for Legion, bottom for Hellbourne). This allows you easy access to your opponents jungle from an early level and makes accessing the Outpost easier as well.
- As soon as Tree Sight comes off cooldown ward your opponents pull spot.
- Always leave enough mana for an emergency Camouflage, especially if there is anyone missing, as you never know when you're going to need it.
- Always carry a Homecoming Stone! If a tower is under attack teleport there and cast Nature's Protection on it. This will not only increase its armor but will also heal it back up.
- Read this guide for the most important locations to put your eyes.

Counters:
- If playing a melee hero you should pick up a logger's hatchet and cut down any Tree with an eye floating above it.
- You can put a hatchet on a courier to go kill eyes but do note that the eyes are now invisible unless a hero come within 450 range. So this is really only to save you a slot in your inventory.
- If you want to kill him, bring dust.
- As soon as Teamfights start happening bring along Wards of Revelation, place them down and kill him when he tries to initiate.
- Later in the game a Bound Eye can be considered.

[Rampage]

Skill Build
1 - Stampede
2 - Might of the Herd
3 - Might of the Herd
4 - Horned Strike
5 - Might of the Herd
6 - Favor of Sol
7 - Might of the Herd
8 - Horned Strike
9 - Horned Strike
10 - Horned Strike
11 - Favor of Sol
12 - Stampede
13 - Stampede
14 - Stampede
15 - Stats
16 - Favor of Sol
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
My Skillbuild for Rampage, but i don't play him often. One level of Stampede for transport and stun. Maxxing Might of the Herd first for movespeed and most important last hitting.

Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Crushing Claw, 2x Minor Totem

Core:
Logger's Hatchet >> Steam Boots >> Elder Parasite >> Shrunken Head

EP is pretty good on Rampage and in combination with Shrunken Head you don't have to worry too much about the extra damage taken. It is exceptionally good to 1v1 other heroes as you will get a lot more bashes. It is possible to skip EP if you don't like the item at all.
Don't get ghost marchers, they suck on him. Post haste are an alternative if you farm fast.

After Core:
Insanitarious >> Warpcleft >>Daemonic Breastplate >> Behemoth's Heart

Insanitarious works very well with Elder Parasite. You get more max HP and you can significantly increase your base damage while EP is active (this stacks multiplicative). But you can just skip it and go for Breastplate directly.

Information:
Roles: Carry
Properties: None
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (Good base damage)
Item dependancy: 5 - Very Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 1 - Poor
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Can carry if farmed)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- Rampage is - in my humble opinion - one of the worst heroes. He has almost no utility, a very confusing last hitting animation (horned striked screwing it up) and no escape mechanism short of his speed. Also his Horned Strike is too random to be reliable.
- You can't do much early game. Stay in your lane and farm. Don't charge on enemies, it is very dangerous to do early game! Your priority is to stay a live.
- Use stampede to save you the TP gold if you want to move back to your lane (charge a creep from the fountain/from another lane).

Counters:
- Not much to say. You can't do more than stack some Armor and HP and hope he doesnt stunlock you to death.
- Always carry a TP. If you see him charging you and you are alone, INSTANLTY TP away!

[Plague Rider]

Skill Build
1 - Extinguish
2 - Contagion
3 - Contagion
4 - Extinguish
5 - Contagion
6 - Plague Carrier
7 - Contagion
8 - Extinguish
9 - Cursed Shield
10 - Cursed Shield
11 - Plague Carrier
12 - Cursed Shield
13 - Cursed Shield
14 - Extinguish
15 - Stats
16 - Plague Carrier
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Getting Extinguish at level 1 allows you to deny the ranged creep in the first creep wave. This will deny the enemy XP (he will reach level 2 significantly later than you if you lane middle) and it will push the wave to your tower. If paired with a very agressive hero (mostly stunners) you can take Contagion at level 1.
3 Levels of Extinguish are usually enough and this build allows you to get the Cursed Shield one level earlier.

Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, Runes of the Blight, Health Potion, 4x Minor Totem

Core:
Marchers >> Astrolabe >> Plated Greaves

Plague Rider is a pure support hero and should be played as such. Thus your main job will be warding! The gold that is left over will be invested in support items as listed above.

After Core:
Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Portal Key

Always keep buying wards, you don't need more items than your core. Instead of Kuldra's you can also go for a Puzzle Box, Nome's Wisdom or Staff of the Master depending on your teams needs.

Information:
Roles: Supporter
Properties: Nuker, Babysitter
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium (Ult not trivial to use)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Medium
Item dependancy: 1 - Very Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (One of the best harasser)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 5 - Very Strong (Devastating ultimate, strong ganker)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Ult and Armor still strong)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- If you are laning mid your reason-to-be is to gank. As soon as you hit level 6 head to the top or bottom lane and try to grab that double tap.
- If you are laning with a partner your job is to babysit. Focus on harassing over denying over lasthitting as with any babysitter except for that your harass actually is more than an annoyance.
- When to cast your ultimate (Plague Carrier): In the Woods with 2-3 Enemies, When ganking and you chase them back towards the tower away from the creeps, When one hero and 2 Creeps are standing very close (solo mid for example), you are about to die and might as well do some damage before you go.

Counters:
- Barrier Idol. Absorbs the major damage of his ultimate.
- Magic Armor in general really helps.

[Accursed] .accursed .abbadon

Skill Build
1 - Fire Shield
2 - Cauterize
3 - Fire Shield
4 - Cauterize
5 - Fire Shield
6 - Flame Consumption
7 - Fire Shield
8 - Cauterize
9 - Cauterize
10 - Sear
11 - Flame Consumption
12 - Sear
13 - Sear
14 - Sear
15 - Stats
16 - Flame Consumption
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Standard build for all situations. I don't think it is ever worth to delay your ultimate or to get an early level of sear.

Lane Starting Items:
2x Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Guardian Ring, 2x Minor Totem

Core:
Ring of the Teacher >> (Power Supply >>) Marchers >> Nome's Wisdom OR Ring of Sorcery

Ring of the Teacher can be completed at the outpost. Then get either Nome's or Ring of Sorcery depending on your team. I prefer Nome's if no one else plans to get it. Power Supply is situational and can be skipped.
If you don't get Power Supply i recommend you get a Fortified Bracelet instead.

After Core:

Ghost Marchers OR Plated Greaves >> Astrolabe >> Barrier Idol >> Behemoth's Heart

The full support route.

Alternative Items:
- Abyssal Skull: Great item if you have other heroes on your team to profit from it. Get it after Astrolabe or Barrier Idol.

Information:
Roles: Babysitter, Supporter, Tank
Prefered Lane: Short/Long
Difficulty: 4 - Hard (Easy to learn, hard to master)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Carry-Support, Tanking)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your Bread and Butter in the early game is to apply Fire Shield to yourself and then cast Cauterize on your enemies. This will blow up your Fire Shield and deal very high burst damage to your opponent.
- As long as you have enough mana, keep your lane partner's health topped.
- But try to always have mana for at least one Fire Shield.
- Remember that Fire Shield removes a range of debuffs, most importantly slow effects.
- Accursed is a pretty effective tower diver. Diving into tower range with a Fire Shield while right clicking your enemy will make sure the shield blows up and your enemy takes the damage. Using this can easily net you some early game kills.
- In team fights use your skills DEFENSIVELY!! Don't nuke spam cauterize, use it to keep your most fragile carry up!! You have the best burst heal in the game.

Counters:
- There are heroes that can kill accursed without triggering his ultimate. This is achieved by dealing more damage than his remaining HP with one single spell while his ultimate is not yet activated. The following heroes can do this relatively easy: Legionnaire (Decapitate is instant kill even while his ulti is ON), Witchslayer, Pyromancer, Deadwood.
- The vast majority of Accursed you will meet will go this or a similar support route. You can't really counter that. He has no obvious weakness. Simply ignore him and kill his team mates first. He is a P.I.T.A. to kill as you need to do it twice.

Swiftblade

[Swiftblade] .swiftblade .juggernaut .yunero (1.0.9)


Skill Build
1 - Blade Frenzy
2 - Stats
3 - Blade Frenzy
4 - Stats
5 - Blade Frenzy
6 - Swift Slashes
7 - Blade Frenzy
8 - Counter Attack
9 - Way of the Sword
10 - Way of the Sword
11 - Swift Slashes
12 - Way of the Sword
13 - Way of the Sword
14 - Counter Attack
15 - Counter Attack
16 - Swift Slashes
17 - Counter Attack
18 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Blade Frenzy and stats are taken for the first levels. Mainly to have enough Mana for Blade Frenzy + Swift Slashes at level 6. Also stats are more useful than Way of the Sword early on as you won't be auto attacking.
One level of Counter Attack is taken at level 8. The first level gives you a 15% chance while the fourth level only gives a 30% chance to counter attack. You get 50% of the effect for 25% of the cost. Good Deal!
If laned versus two aggressive melee heroes you can take the first level of Counter Attack on level 4.

Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem

Item Build:
Logger's Hatchet >> (Power Supply >>) Ghost Marchers >> Runed Axe >> Whispering Helm >> Savage Mace >> Symbol of Rage >> Staff of the Master

Get a Logger's Hatchet from the Outpost asap. Power Supply is situational on Swiftblade, get it if you play against spamming opponents.
Ghost Marchers are better than Steamboots on Swiftblade (Activate + Spin). The rest is basic carry gear. If playing against Hammer/Hellbringer/DL/... consider a Nullfire Blade after Runed Axe for Purge. Alternative Items include Shieldbreaker + Abyssal Skull instead of Whispering Helm + Symbol.

Information:
Roles: Hard-Carry
Properties: None
Prefered Lane: Short/Long
Difficulty: 2 - Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Strong if paired with a disabler/slower)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Good ganking power with ult, but should farm instead of gank)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Needs decent farm)

Noteable +/- and synergies:
Very Strong with disablers or slowers (Glacius deserves special mentioning as his babysitter)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- Remember you can attack while spinning once you reach level 7. This will GREATLY increase your damage! It got nerfed as of 0.3.3 but it is still pretty good.
- You can spin and then use a homecoming stone to make sure they can't easily abort your TP.
- Early game you can use Blade Frenzy to force the enemy away from his creeps and then use Swift Slashes on him once is he far enough for the kill.
- Later in the game use Blade Frenzy like you would use a Shrunken Head. Thats pretty much what it is.

Counters:
- Any hero that can blink or invis is able to avoid Swift Slashes
- Thus Assassins Shroud can be a solid pickup versus him.
- The best counter-item however is Void Talisman! Very underrated item that is EXCELLENT against a few heroes, including Swiftblade.
- Other than that he is not easy to counter. Barbed Armor is useless versus him and armor stacking will only take you so far.
- Check/Wards ancient spots.