Tensei

http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=92475 More news about open beta. Once closed beta ends, if you prepurchase, you will no longer get the golden shield and the ability to taunt/smackdown. http://hon.esportmedia.com/video/2010/03/26/twl-tournament-match-load-vs-phb Nighthound in a competitive game, what? Also, Chu` getting DESTROYED in mid.

Heard nothing about physical copies yet, but there's rumors of Zephyr/Pandamonium/Scout plushies, as well as other, more mundane merchandise (t-shirts and the like) coming out. In other unrelated news: Succubus on the new login screen has lots of jiggle physics.

There's a 'release party' planned on the first of april (no joke), but that doesn't mean the actual game will get released by then. Maybe it means that the game will enter a (short) open beta phase. I think beta will end about 1-2 months from now, and there'll be at least one more patch to add the last couple of voices/fix any remaining bugs/add a bunch of new heroes for release.

What drama? You are all people who stopped playing for some reason.

Oh, and since it just came out:

Since the old thread has pretty much died down, and the epic 0.3.0.0 patch has been released just now, I figured it would be time for a new thread. Okay so what's this game all about? I heard this game is really hard to get into, is this true? How do I get to play this game? Okay, I have the game, where do I start? Glossary Some useful links/resources for new players -Premium Hero Guides, try to get into the habit of at least glossing over a guide before playing a new hero. - (more indepth than the ingame tutorial.) - - - Some shameless self-promotion - Heroes of Newerth Replay Montage - Heroes of Newerth Replay Montage 2 Some ingame rage/shenanigans

Already gave my extra key to Monobrow/Protricity, since they were the first to ask.

Obviously Rampage is the overpowered one here.

Haha, that's awesome. IIRC Hunter is the owner of the x6 (formerly known as We Heart Pigs) clan, which is the first and only sponsored HoN clan at the moment. That's my useless trivia for the day.

The test patch is up, actual patch..sometime next week I'm guessing. New UI is badass, Valkyrie is amazing, Chronos/Zephyr still pretty OP, Pollywog is alright, Glacius is great.

So-called blink + ult heroes are amazing at turtling which just helps promote the whole "turtle up and let your carry get farmed"-meta, which is boring to me (and actually benefits heroes like Chronos and Zephyr). S2 already said they'd be focusing on bringing in strong gankers (as opposed to carries and initiators) with the new heroes, so NA is a pretty distinct possibility.

Magnus is the blink & ult hero. Pitlords ult teleports himself+allies. Or did you want to see another blink & ult hero ported? Edit: never mind, you also wanted centaur and mortred ports. ugh.

1. Dark Seer 2. Pit Lord/Magnus 3. NA/Lanaya/Nightcrawler or possibly (but let's hope not) Mortred.

GOT A KEY!! Everyone should at least check their mail because it seems like the second wave of invites has been sent out.

Oh god yes, some of those ult combo's made me really sad. Andromeda also had the habit of swapping out people just as they were about to get hit by my Wave of death.

We lost.

I thought they'd have 5 classes in the end, just like the original D2?

This is a decent tutorial. Basically what you need to focus on at first is minimizing the amount of unnecessary deaths, because every death not only puts yourself, but also your team at a disadvantage.

Hammerstorm is not hard. I don't believe "I suck with a hero" is a good excuse, it's more likely that you just haven't played a particular hero enough. Hammerstorm is a bit situational in that regard because you need an aimed stun+ some form of burst damage (pyro or tort are best) to follow up Hammer's stun for a strong offensive lane. He also requires the enemy either lacking disables or at least not having the means to purge his ult every teamfight. I believe he's actually quite simple to learn, simply get marchers and a bottle, rush shrunken head, and after that get whatever lategame item you're comfortable with.

So did anyone here actually get a key yet?

They had better be cooking up something really big (new interface/heroes?) for next patch since we've already gone two weeks without a patch. In the meantime, time for a scout miniguide! Based on recent competitive Scout builds. Hero Role: Single-target physical DPS hardcarry, lategame pusher/sologanker. Scout's strength lies in the fact that he has some of the fastest and safest farm in the game, essentially allowing him to outcarry many other heroes purely because of the insanely high GPM potential. There's two viable builds, the first being the more competitive one, with the latter more suited for a solo mid position in lower level games. Skill build(Map control/late ult build): 1. Electric Eye 2. Vanish 3. Electric Eye 4. Vanish 5. Vanish 6. Electric Eye 7. Vanish 8. Electric Eye 9. Electric Eye 10-14. Disarm 15-17. Marksman Shot 18-25. Stats The ultimate build for pure ricing. It focuses on attaining complete map control ASAP, basically allowing you to freefarm far past the river. Disarm and Marksman shot aren't taken until later because of the full-on hardcarry nature of this build, so you really shouldn't be ganking before getting your core items. Marksman Shot itself isn't that useful against players that know what they're doing, as it's quite easy to juke, costs tons of mana, and can even be TP'd out of. Lane: Legion bot/Hellbourne top, with a babysitter (preferably Demented Shaman). Skill build(Solo Mid/Ganking build): 1. Electric Eye 2. Vanish 3. Vanish 4. Disarm 5. Vanish 6. Marksman Shot 7. Vanish 8. Disarm 9. Disarm 10. Disarm 11. Marksman Shot 12-14. Electric Eye 15. Stats 16. Marksman Shot 17-25. Stats Disarm, Vanish and Marksman Shot give you the necessary burst damage to gank sidelanes and most likely win mid. The idea is to creep tug a lot, maintain rune control (which is easy), and generally make it hard for the mid lane to gank the sidelanes. It's not ideal, but Scout handles himself fine in mid. Items: - Logger's Hatchet, minor totems (or buckler against strong ranged harassers/solo mid), health potion, runes of blight. - Bottle (optional, if solo mid) - Lifetube-> Runed Axe (Before 20 mins) - Marchers-> Steamboots (Before 25 mins) - Whispering Helm (Optional, for solo Kongor potential, before 30 mins) - Shieldbreaker/Frostburn (Situational, before 35 mins, don't get both) - Savage Mace (~40ish mins) - Symbol of Rage? - WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY. Earlygame: Rush a lifetube, get it before your regen items run out. It will allow you to stay inlane pretty much indefinitely and be a lot more indifferent to ranged harass. You're rushing a runed axe in favor of even marchers, with the final deadline for it being the 20 minute mark. If you manage to get it before 15 minutes, the incredible boost it gives to your farm will speed the rate at which you get your other items by 10-15 minutes. Depending on the skill level of the enemy team, use your first electric eye either to ward the rune or counterward your pull spot. Whenever you get additional levels in electric eye, place them at spots that enemy heroes would HAVE to pass if they were coming to gank you, but save one electric eye for clutch situations where you need the silence to interrupt a channel or save your lanemate. Midgame: Max out your farming by TPing to pushed lanes, stacking/pulling neutrals, and hitting both ancient spawns whenever they're up. With whispering helm, runed axe, and steamboots, soloing Kongor around level 13 is very doable. Maintain map control by placing eyes at every lane you're farming from, to prevent getting ganked. Your team should be playing a turtle-based strategy, defending each tower with powerful ultimates from the likes of Behemoth, Magmus, Plague Rider, KotF and Kraken, allowing you to freefarm and solo counterpush in case one of your towers starts getting pushed. Avoid team battles unless you're positive your team can't hold out 4v5 and you can get some easy kills. Trading towers is an advantage for you, and often a better alternative to TPing back to defend (as that's something Scout is terrible at). If the enemy team doesn't push but tries to turtle as well, prepare for a boring game where you simply outfarm their carry completely. For your 'main' item, pick shieldbreaker if you have a well-balanced, CC-heavy team that requires more burst DPS, but go for Frostburn if your team lacks disables and you're required to chase down enemy heroes yourself. Lategame: This is where scout really starts to shine. Solo-gank anyone that dares to push even a bit, and immediately counter with a towerkill, making use of the 5v4 situation. Don't be hesitant to backdoor and be sure to grab every Kongor kill. If you're already outfarming the enemy team completely, and you're actually having trouble dying because of the tokens, skip Savage Mace in favor of a Doombringer or two. Keep the pressure on by pushing multiple lanes and getting towers before the enemy team has the chance to respond. Farming: Set up eyes at every chokepoint that enemy heroes need to pass to get to you and vanish once you see them coming for a gank. A vanish+ runed axe combo takes down a creepwave almost as fast as TDL's charge/blades combo. Ganking: DO NOT OPEN WITH YOUR ULT. Set up your eyes strategically to maintain vision, flurry out of vanish, silence, and ult. Try to use your ult only if you have some insurance that you can maintain vision of the enemy hero (like one of your teammates chasing after him). If you're chasing down someone, try running way in front of them, then ulting. They won't know your position due to invis, and chances are they will continue running in the hopes of running out of range, because they'll assume you're behind them rather than in front of them. Teamfights: Let's face it, scout isn't amazing in teamfights. What you should focus on is turning the teambattle into an advantageous 5v4 situation asap, by following up your initiator with high single-target DPS that should allow you to take down a squishy hero or two before your silence runs out. Your main power in teamfights comes from the map awareness provided by Vanish/Eye that allows your initiator to line up a perfect shot. Dealing with Scout counters: - Bound Eye: Not as bad as it may seem, this only means that you can't rely purely on your Vanish to escape ganks (which you shouldn't be doing in the first place), and you can't give your initiator vision by hanging around the enemy team while vanished (though eyes still work). With properly set up eyes, you should be able to just hightail it out of sticky situations before the carrier even comes in range. Your insanely high single-target DPS allows you to prioritize the eye carrier and take him out first in teambattles. - Dust: Only a problem after a losing teamfight when you're getting chased down. You can often just juke with your high mspd, and wait until it runs out in such a case. It shouldn't really be a problem when the enemy team is trying to gank you, as, again, your map awareness with eyes will give them away before they even get in range. - Wards of Revelation: Can be counterwarded with eyes. If the enemy team is using them in a push, the same rules apply as with Bound eye; don't hang around the enemy team until after the initiation. - Pestilence: An overrated counter. He can only target you AFTER you go out of invis. Unfortunately for him, he will probably be silenced + dead when that happens. - Arachna: The ult (which reveals you) can be flurried to death. She has no escape mechanisms herself and terribly low HP, so she's basically gank-food for Scout. - Blood Hunter: Unless he's outfarming you by a lot, you will OFTEN just be able to tank his ult, and outDPS his auto-attacks with disarm+ the damage boost from his silence.

I notice you only went 12/8 k/d. Might I suggest the Whispering Helm/Puzzlebox build next time?

Ophelia was never bad. I decided she should be judged on potential and not on general player skill, and she's definitely a top tier hero provided one can play her. Also I have Warcraft 3 now so if anyone wants to get that DotA Allstars game going through Garena I'd totally be up for it. Warbeast has wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more farming, DPS potential and chasing than Rampage. Let warbeast freefarm for 20 minutes and he'll stomp your face in, let rampage freefarm for 20 minutes and uhhh..He will have his boots and maybe a part of shrunken head. He doesn't actually have any skills that help him farm. I don't see how you can say Warbeast 'sucks it up' lategame though...

~TIER TIME!!~ God tier - Always pick these heroes if given the opportunity. Always ban them if the opposing team could have access. S tier - Powerful, versatile characters that have significant utility. Try to fill your team with these. A tier - Good heroes that can do one thing very well (perhaps on an S-tier level) but don't quite have as much overall utility as S-tiers. For example, Pollywog Priest is a great disabler. However, Succubus is an even better disabler, plus she has more lane staying power. Pandamonium and Rampage are solid STR carries with good stunning capabilities, but Pestilence offers more power overall. B tier - Average picks. These may be competitive with the above tiers under circumstances, but cannot be thrown into any lineup. Generally these guys are mixed bags. For example, Swiftblade is a pretty good carry, but pales in comparison to Madman or the Dark Lady. Nymphora has some good potential but needs to be with the right heroes. Electrician counters Jeraziah, but doesn't offer a great deal to teamfights. C tier - Below-average picks. Certainly capable of filling specific roles, but they have 1-2 "deadweight" or underpowered abilities, or are very easily countered. For example, Night Hound's Ult makes him invisible, but wards, dust, eyes and Pestilence's ult will reveal him. Keeper's ult is comparable to Tempest's, but not quite as good, his eyes are easily countered, and his self-damage buff is a waste. D tier - Severely underpowered heroes. These guys require significant farm to be effective or are simply extremely hard to play properly. There is little reason to pick them over higher tier heroes. God: Demented Shaman, Plague Rider, Hellbringer S: Tempest, Jeraziah, Deadwood, Behemoth, Pestilence, Witch Slayer, Valkyrie, Succubus, Soul Reaper, Pharaoh, Magebane, Forsaken Archer, Puppet Master, Wretched Hag, Pebbles, Pyromancer, Zephyr, Chronos, Ophelia, Magmus A: Kraken, Madman, Sand Wraith, Legionnaire, Scout, Pandamonium, Electrician, Soulstealer, Defiler, Torturer, Accursed, Glacius, Hammerstorm, Corrupted Disciple, Predator, Engineer, Thunderbringer, Slither, Swiftblade, Blacksmith B: The Dark Lady, Maliken, Pollywog Priest, Vindicator, Nymphora, Blood Hunter, Wildsoul, Andromeda, Voodoo Jester, Moonqueen, Devourer, Nighthound, Keeper of the Forest C: Armadon, Warbeast D: Rampage Means the hero dropped a tier or two since the last list Means the hero was previously unranked or went up in the tier list Explanation/Justification: Most of the traditional 'god tier' heroes have lost their sheen: Tempest is easy to counterpick with popular heroes like Pharaoh, Vindicator and Hellbringer, not to mention that Tablet of Command is starting to slowly see more play. Jeraziah gets overshadowed by Accursed in general utility, lane/team synergy and because of the sudden viability of Electrician. Deadwood, while still a very strong ganker and solo mid hero, is no longer as much of a powerhouse due to the significant armor nerf, which makes him a lot more vulnerable to harassment. Behemoth, while still being arguably the best initiator in the game, never truly was god tier in my opinion, and you'll often see Pharaoh getting picked as an initiator over him due to the greater flexibility in lane options and additional roles he can fulfill (dedicated solo-ganker, puzzlebox/barrier idol carrier). The new god tier is composed entirely of support heroes, each of which can make or break a team; Dsham still has MASSIVE lane presence and will often be capable of allowing the carry that's paired up with him to freefarm. His ult is gamebreaking with the right team synergy (additional -armor heroes, or just teams heavy on physical dps in general), and he can push lanes very fast if necessary. Plague Rider is arguably the only true counter to so-called negative armor teams, as with the proper item build he'll be able to not only nullify most of the armor reduction, but also make life very hard for any physical DPS-based carry. Hellbringer really shouldn't need further introduction as he has it all: Massive AoE damage, synergy with any AoE magic DPS teams, strong lane presence, HUGE stat gain that allows him to tank like crazy as well as limited carry potential. Moving on to S-tier, Chronos is without a doubt the very best "hard"-carry in the game right now. Already a force to be reckoned with in midgame, the guaranteed five seconds of free attacking give him an incredible advantage over any other carry in lategame. Zephyr is a beastly semi-carry that combines huge tanking potential with massive AoE DPS and strong farming. Pyromancer was already a powerful ganker, but his new DoT makes him a strong towerpusher as well, and gives him decent auto-attack DPS on top of his nukes. Madman and Sandwraith used to be the best carries, but are just getting outperformed by the newly buffed heroes. Madman dropped a tier because Chronos' mid and earlygame effectiveness are almost as good, but his CC throughout all the game is way above anything that Madman could ever hope to achieve. Sandwraiths traditional tank build gets countered significantly by Idol/Headdress, so he's often forced to go some pseudo-DPS build that in the end doesn't make him as unkillable as he used to be. The rest should be pretty self-explanatory.

Oh wow...