The Vikings have no active abilities to start off, and the only way you get them is unlocking them through talents. Because the micro is hard enough as is, I almost never choose any of the activate abilities. (QWE) Having the Vikings just be auto-attackers lets me focus on their positioning, and when to activate my heroic ability. I know everyone has their own individual playstyles, however these are what I usually pick, and why I think they're preferable.
Level 1:
Viking Hoard: Each Viking Gains an additional 1HP a second, and each regeneration globe picked up increases this effect by .5HP/sec. This is actually really good, mainly because the .5HP/sec stacking happens with each individual Viking. Meaning that if one orb is picked up when they are all present, regen increases by 1.5HP/sec. Since it's always good to pick these up while in lane, and you get a free one for every mercenary camp you clear, you can really stack up those bonuses and spend less time trying to regen health. Even though Olaf has crazy out of combat regen, this really helps Erik and Baleog, and also helps during combat as well.
Spy Games: Stealth and Increased Sight Range after standing still for Erik. Really does make him a scout though. However, this is just more micro-management, and harder to implement. Usually if you have him scouting in a bush around an objective, his additional speed will allow him to escape if an enemy if coming for you. (Especially if you use his ranged attack to de-mount them.)
Olaf the Stout: Every 8 seconds, block a basic attack and prevent 75% damage to Olaf. Stores two charges. Since hero basic attacks can be so fast, and since this talent only effects one Viking, instead of all three of them, I usually choose Viking Hoard instead.
Level 4:
Pain Don't Hurt: 20% Heal for Baleog is HUGE. This is what allows him to solo siege camps, and also, along with the passive regen, makes it so he hardly ever has to hearth. This effect stacks with the damage dealt as splash too, so he often has no problem sustaining himself without the use of healing fountains.
It's Sabotage!: Erik's attacks destroy 5 ammo over the course of 10 seconds. I know that keeping towers and forts empty is an important part of the game. However, I just think there are better heroes suited to be pushers. Leave it to an Azmodan, or a Zagara to worry about tower ammo.
Hardheaded Redhead: Gives Erik a charging melee attack that knocks heroes back. I just don't think Erik should ever be positioned in melee range against Heroes. It's way too risky. And often times to use this, you'll have to put him in the front line with Olaf, maybe good for escaping, but I think the slow of Olaf, or just simply feeding Olaf to a chasing mob is a better choice than trying to put Erik in the way.
Spin to Win(Q): Your first activated ability. The main problem I have with this, is that also, it forces your Vikings out of positon. To get the most out of this, you need Baleog and Erik to be hugging your target. Forcing them to be more vulnerable than at ranged. Also, more micro.
Level 7:
Baleog the Fierce: Baleog increases his attack speed by 8% every attack, will stack 5 times, up to 40%. This is what makes him a DPS machine. More attacks per second=more healing=more sustain=more attacks=deal enemies. This is also what helps him sustain solo mercenary camps as well.
Erik the Swift: As long as he is moving, Erik is healing himself. Often times, Erik is either a full health, or dead Viking. There's never really much wiggle room for him because of his low hp. If he needs healing, he can run back to a healing fountain, or even if he goes back to base, his fast run speed will allow him to join rank again soon.
Mercenary Lord: A close second. Having the Vikings in separate lanes, means more mercenary damage wherever they go. This works really well if you have the ability to micro-push two or three lanes at once, since you'll always have the time to send mercenaries to your enemy.
Jump!: A momentary few seconds of invulnerability. Hard to use, and also what if you only need one Viking to jump, and the other two to finish off your enemy? Nope. Once again, hard to use in situations where you need all three of your Vikings to go invulnerable. (Although they do slowly "drift" midair in the direction they were running.) Sometimes you take this to avoid AOE in teamfights, but once again, much harder to use, since you can be sacrificing tons of DPS when they're all midair, and without the speed-boost, Baleog's camp clearing capabilities are hindered greatly.
Level 10:
Longboat Raid: Get into a boat, fire balls of fire, sing a heartwarming song of heroism that will have your teammates humming along. This ability is OP. As I've said, it gives the Vikings a secondary health bar. Forces your opponents to either chose to fight against you, and take more auto-attacks (and mortars) to the face, or run away, (and still get auto-attacked.) The base AA has such a long range and great rate of fire it makes this ability just chew through your opponents. And, you also get a long ranged mortar (Q, that reloads pretty quickly) to launch at structures and enemies. (Note, all *living* Vikings need to be together to use this ability. If less than three Vikings are alive, but together, you can activate this ability, but a large chunk of the ship's health will be missing, and you won't be able to use the mortar ability.)
Play Again: All dead Vikings instantly respawn at caster's location. I never want to focus my build into the concept that I'll be dying over and over again. Because I play games and only die a few times, I don't see a reason to pick this. Sure, maybe late game if the death timers are super long, but I don't see a reason why you should have to die, over and over again, unless you play badly. Although you can use this as a "summon" tool, to simply bring all three of your vikings together. The ship itself just has so much more it can offer to the team itself.
Level 13:
Speedrun: Under 50% Health, gain 20% movement speed. Such a great ability. Good for running away, catching up, can stack with your Go! Go! Go! ability, to make it so nobody and catch up with you, or nobody can run away from your Vikings. If Erik is hurt, good luck trying to get up to him and kill him.
Hunka' Burning Olaf: The Sunfire Cape of Olaf. Deals bonus AOE damage per second around Olaf. Good talent as well, but I just prefer to have the mobility with Speedrun more over the AOE damage. More of a matter of preference.
Impatience is a Virtue: Every auto-attack reduces the Vikings cool-downs by .25 seconds. Since I don't use a very ability-focused build, I don't pick this up. The cool-down on Longboat Raid is low enough to use once every teamfight.
Level 16:
Large and In Charge: Olaf's charge also stuns the enemy for 1 second. Finally! A stun! This makes your group of Vikings really, really sticky. Disrupts assassins, locks down heroes, and gives you time to correct your positioning or, if they're running away, to attempt to surround them and body block them.
64-Bit Marathon: Grants unstoppable, and a 40% decaying speed-boost when activating Go! Go! Go!. Also a great skill to have, but I think with the base Go! Go! Go!, along with Speedrun, I would much rather take something that helps me in fighting, rather than more skills that assist in running away.
Norse Force: All Vikings gain a shield. Nice in some circumstances. But rarely will all your Vikings need a shield together. Better if you could activate one shield per Viking with their own cool-downs. But, I believe the stun is more viable as a talent.
Level 20:
Combat Prowess: Remember that OP boat we were talking about? Now it fires at TWO enemies at once, and the mortar has a 100% increased range. Not only do your fireballs melt away at whoever is near, you can catch running enemies with your long ranged mortar. There have been times were I have dunked running enemies that were caught in my mortar.
Checkpoint Reached: Your buff to the Play Again ability. Your Vikings respawn a second time after they are summoned after 10 seconds. So, once again, this really plays into the mentality of "cannon fodder," throwing more and more Vikings at your opponent. However, I really don't think that the focus for your talents should give the enemy more opportunities to rack up exp.
The Sequel!: Buffs your passive trait, so the respawn timer reduction is increased from 25% to 50%. A good trait in theory, but once again, I think the additional damage you can get from Longboat Raid will help you and your team stay alive, so you can worry more about killing the enemy team, as opposed to when you need to respawn again.
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