They recently gave a shield to Abathur's Symbiote (Q), and I personally thought he was strong in of himself as it was... so now he's more valid on those maps I think he is weaker on... but still... that buff just makes him more of a scary powerhouse... which is also why I don't care at this point to revamp/beautify this guide... most will look at it and decide to skip it I'd imagine, which means I get to be unique and avoid potential nerfs for that much longer (danged siege locust range nerf)... so this is more or less a semi-organized serious of random strings of consciousness... if you want to beautify the formatting for me to implement it would be welcomed, but whatever works.
There are various coined words and probably many mistypings/grammar mistakes, but eh, what do you want for free from a singular person who prefers playing to watching or making these guides? (One might then ask why i am making the guides.,... because most Abathurs are ****tastic wimps, and/or good but non-agressive (not great) Abathurs (Aka go close to this build and have map awareness but are just not aggressive (what a pompus claim...)).
To be an Aggressive Abathur you have to get ultimate evolution (hero clone ult), if you do not want to even consider that, then this build is not for you.
To be an Agressive Aba you need to:
Be Absurdly Aggressive (compared to the status quo of ****athurs or even those that are good), even when vs stealth opponents
Know where to mine per map and mine merc camps (great for contesting boss's).
Get the Attack Speed buff because it helps any hero far more than a thing that shields and shoots spikes...
Understand Aba is more of a
Late Game Hero... your team is 4.5v5 until level 10 (due to ult evo), and then your team is 5.3v5 once your team is level 16... at 20 your team is 5.5v5 since the nest pretty much can keep a lane indefinitely pushed and the enemy goes hunting for Aba when they see locust from it (buys your team more time and/or ganking opportunities).
Yes those numbers I assigned are arbitrary... the 4.5 just feels right... for until you have ultimate evolution your team can't contest easily, if one goes monstrosity then everything is hinged on keeping that damned thing alive and farming with it.... thus can't help your team instantly until 20 at which point it can burrow... ultimate evolution keeps your opponents far more weary whilst your locust push... plus then you can still Symbiote (Q) teammate instead of being a slave your your Monstrosity.
Ramblings (What the Brief Turned Into) Top
To be an Aggressive Abathur you have to get ultimate evolution (hero clone ult), if you do not want to even consider that, then this build is not for you.
Be map aware, and be ballsy, or as some comedians would say, instead of grow a pair, grow a vagina, they can really take a beating... or maybe since Abathur is so squishy...
Use locust to kill boss's (just need a tanky teammate there that will keep the boss out of locust range).
Tunnel Tunnel Tunnel Ult Evo... your locust can be used in any lane... go mid to start since you can mine anywhere.
Ultimate Evolutions cast is fast than tunneling, so if you are in trouble ult a teammate (that is hopefully nearby) and fight them away from the location that you'll return to once done ulting... or just kick *** take names and try your luck tunneling to fountain... I've done it and gotten away via healing a poison at near death plenty of times... Stuns will ruin you of course. **** (very important) ****
Any teamfight at later levels... once you can spawn a group of locust (level 16), dig near the fight and spawn them so that they will path to the fight, then ult evo a teammate. Unskilled players jump you and commit suicide via doing so, skilled players get raped for it's effectively a 5.3 vs. jumping players vs. remaining opponents, and once Aba(thur) is done ulting, more locust, some tunneling maybe (to a lane to soak?), and a Symbiote (Q).
You can hold a lane with locust vs a massive minion wave so your team an push... then you Ult Evo into the fight, you return to where you were defending and spawn locust again! Who'd have thunk one could have a 6th teammate?
Why People Fail (Who Cares - Pontification) Top
Most Abathur players are one of the following:
Go the wrong ult (Monstrosity)
Don't go locust (aside from attack speed at level 4 - there should always be someone able to use it)
Place all mines on top of each other as a "I want to Insta-Nuke someone" tactic... really easy to destroy mines...
Don't know mine kills grants xp
Don't know anything that the Symbiote (Q) is in range of grants xp
Don't know where to lay mines
(Solo) Lane always (how does any opponent ever allow this?)...
Don't know Ultimate Evolution deaths grant experience (just time it so either the timer will run out if you are going to kamikaze or the enemy has to burn so much they go on cd giving your team the opportunity it needs)... usually a ult evo "death" is acceptable since you only ever ult evo for a teamfight and/or to save teammates via being a decoy the opponent cannot ignore.
Don't know Symbiote (Q) refreshes cooldowns when you remove it and reapply it...
Don't Sumbiote (Q) teammates that are running and then dismount opponents that are chasing via Stab (the other Q)
Don't know the heroes their cloning and/or the build of their teammates that they are cloning (ult-evo), or
Simply lack map awareness **** (very important) ****
Don't play Abathur if you tunnel-vision, lacking map awareness with ruin you and your team.
Don't play Abathur unless you have at least tried all heroes in some fashion (the unique try option for any hero regardless of ownership is quite useful). Feel free to be a little lax with this 1, just don't be lax with it if you go into Hero League and do so at your own peril for Team League.
Anti-Stealth Top
Anti-Stealth boils down to 3 things you all can infer, all of which are dependent per map due to building positioning and mine range.
Position yourself near the fountain and withing the turret/fort/keep range as often as possible.
Lay mines strategically so that when stealth approaches they get slowed isntantly and the towers aggro them (more often than not to death... Zeratul at later levels tends to get away... but that Still Alive portal song is playing.
Map Awareness (tricky dependent upon the map per map).
It should go without saying that anytime you click to move keep tabs on where you are going.
The slow from the fort after a mine blow should let you dance around the fort such teat the stealth can't reach you and simply dies... don't try tunneling for that makes you a sitting duck... just like the curse on Cursed Hollow does when applied to your team.
If Zeratul gets his double blink trait, or blink back trait, he becomes more of a threat. If Nova gets her pass-through snipe then she is more of a threat... one simply has to watch out for smart nova's that use their clone to tank before sniping you... albeit your mines should have that covered.
Mining Brief Top
NEVER place mines all on top of each other, or even on top of each other unless your goal is for defensively killing minions/mercs and not for killing heroes. It is better to mine for vision/defense rather than trying to help 1's team get a boss/mercs with mines.
These mines are meant for warding and harassing the opponent first and foremost regardless of the map... and slowing on all maps but the Haunted Mines... In a game without wards Zagara's creep, and more-so, Abathur's mines are priceless... if you half a halfway-decent intuition/map-awareness and a map/ping aware team.
Your safety comes first, so always have a mine to defend yourself with if there are stealth (in the very least, it will make them seen sooner than they want to be.
Don't be afraid to mine within the path of minions, or to take down those (rock throwing siege) mercs...
Chokepoints win the game, especially when vs stealth's and placed such that stealth's/ganker shave to walk the long way around (or be seen) to gank a different lane... Some maps it is near-futile to do this...
Sky Temple, Tomb of the Spider Queen (too small for mines that slow to have any significant impact), Battlefield of Eternity... and the former two on top of Dragon Shire tend to be far faster games, thus getting to late game with enough left in the tank is a trick... and Battlefield of Eternity is a tossup.
Haunted Mines Top
To Do's
Get the M.U.L.E. instead of mines that slow, it will be an indispensable godsend for your team.
You can activate the M.U.L.E. anywhere whilst in the mines just like your Symbiote (Q) (foreshadowing?)
You CANNOT DIG between the mine map and the starting map, but you can dig anywhere from 1 place to another on the current 1 you are on (so mines in the mines tend to help escapes... or just Zagara's creep).
[*] Before the Initial mine instance, mine the map to help your team, then mine the mines at the top entrance (aka mine the mine map which is only mineable via the regular map bot lane (so go bot lane to start).
[*] After the initial run through the mines, once you have a stealthy opportunity to, enter the mines and mine them indefinitely. Just like before, if you go to the top of the mine map, you can mine the bottom of the regular map... and spawned locust follow you around (enemies should really figure that 1 out but only 1 team has ever had 1 player try to contest me, and they got a face full of mines and a gank from my team whilst i safely went b for i was too deep for the player to reach me in time)! Poor stealth heroes can't even gank you when your in the mines if both entrances are mined... the ultimate choke points.
Cursed Hollow Top
Placing mines at the 4 entry-points from the jungle to mid just stop stealth and gankers in their tracks, after that just place mines at other choke points (I favor jungle side of side-lane brush for stealth's tend to path into them there but the mid ingress/egress points take precedence all game).
Garden of Terror/Dragon Shire Top
I hate being Aba on Dragon shire for the games go to fast but the gameplay between the 2 is identical for Aba, albeit it is far easier and safer to do on the Garden of Terror.
Anytime you can take the Garden Terror and Dragon Knight, it will give your team the 5th prolonged fight/siege player it needs. Make sure if you can spawn locust/place a nest that you do so before taking the Terror/Knight.
Once the Knight/Terror is near falling get to a semi-safe (it is ok if enemies are about) location and ultimate evolution a teammate, then tunnel to fountain once ult evo is done.
Garden of Terror has 4 choke points to mid similar to Cursed Hollow, lay mines there.
Dragon Shire is fare more conceptual. It is best to control mid and bot on the Dragon Shire.
Favor laying mines in the top 2 mid lane bushes and top 2 bottom lane bushes, the vertical bush right on the other side of the Dragon Statue, then in the diagonal bushes in between the mid and bot lane. Early game though favor placing mines on the opponents closest mid whilst being adjacent to lane side bushes for bot and top lane, then alternate to the bushes guarding the shrines.
Blackheart's Bay Top
Keep a mine on boss and bot merc camp for vision, virtually everything else is unrealistic for this large map and a non-premade team.
Set preference to keeping vision on the turn-in-spot via mines at the intersection of the 2 bridges on the opponents side from mid fort. Mine the steam vents that go from bot to bot-jungle. Mine the other chokepoint over on their steam vent inbetween the siege mercs and gold giving weakling mercs... I know these mercs have names... yet I never hear anyone use them... Finally mine the steam vents at the turn-in, the turn-in itself, and within the w just big enough for a hero to walk through right below the turn-in.
Game start I believe in ganking bot and saying screw vision despite the team comp... but so few do that... (with an Aba they still contest!?...) Considering this place 2 mines in the far vision bush, and then 1 offset to the opponents side of the top vision bush.
Sky Temple Top
The temples spawn in a pattern so know at least the first few if not them all... the game tends to end once 3 temples spawn at once.
After the first temple instance coax someone from your team to do your top merc camp and help them... your team is SOL if the opponent gets mercs and yours' does not.
Your team is SOL until level 10... so focus on only getting 1 temple early on... I advise Aba miens around that temple... (I prefer mid for that is far more strategic a fort to break and keep (so Aba has a safe place to mine the map from and for ones team to move freely around mid)...
Bot Is far easier to contest... Aba should mine that like a sieve all around bottom, but moreso on the opponents bush side, and should immediately start doing so after laying 2-4 mines at the checkpoints from top/mid--> bot to slow the opponents convergence upon the temple. Mining should commence immediately after the first temple series finishes.
Tomb of the Spider Queen Top
Collect gems when you have ample time to slink back to safety... I often pickup via tunneling to the gems of where a teammate dies and just slink away from an opponent who thought they were defending them adequately (for an opponent they'd see coming).
Warding/Mining to stop the opponent from turning in is futile... mine the vents on either side of mid lane, mine the chokepoints (aka side tunnel/lane that are inbetween lanes for that really slows enemies from responding... Securing the bottom turn-in is easy than that of the top one... but top tends to be a more of a point for contention since top/mid are closer together than bot/mid, so bite the bullet and mine best you can based on opponent habits.
Battlefield of Eternity Top
Your SOL, ward/mine top/bot merc camps...
Ward around steam vents so no opponents surprise your team... your not getting the first boss... until 10 your team might as well soak xp and harass the opponent in hopes of killing them under your boss... so many underestimate the power of those multitude of stuns and a teams ability to route opponents... but the map is brand spanking new to everyone, so we will see how that plays out.
General/Uncategorized Top
Always go mid lane to start (if there is a mid) since one can mine virtually the whole map from there, but I rotate as needed and do focus my mines and Symbiote (Q) to the 1v2/stacked lanes... but make sure you are helping all lanes with that Q and the mines.
It goes without saying... but let your team know you are going to ult evo via some indicator... otherwise they may misread their odds for success.
Abathur fails when there sia failure of how those you ult evo are speced, there is no-one to reasonably ult (should only happen in QM and even then such is never the case for you tema may need a healer, tank/cc, etc. at any time)...
Abathur gives his team what they need in the middle of battle...
Heroes to Ult Top
People are obsessed with Illidan... I say eh, he's ok but tends to die too easily...
The key is cooldowns and damage, I'm not going to crunch numbers, say ult this 1 rather than that... everything depends on the situation and how your teammate speced... I might create a slew of guides that just cover what traits to get to best support your Aba's Evo Ult. Additionally, if your out of things to cast and are not an auto-attack hero... and you can't cast anything before you dissapear, just go ham and force them to attack you rather than your team... best done via autoattacking their squishies and ****-blocking their pathing...
The following are in no order and unorganized... cntrl+F the name if your lookign for somethign in particular... nto all heroes ar elisted... really The Lost Vikings? Murky? Brewmaster (Chen)? I think those are next to never worth ulting.
Kerrigan - has high cc and low cd's... 2 kerrigans can alternate cc and both go through 2 entire rounds of cc (which does high damage)to keep the opponent pinned and jump after them. That's right a cloned kerrigan can pull and stun opponents twice in their duration... as well as chase like a mofo... and kerrigan has great base damage in of herself...
Thrall - if your thrall speced right your going to melt anyone quite easily (Windfury, root, chain lightning, and healing galore!).
Rehgar - That slow totem and chain heal can really save your team or put up a great chease, especially since you can instantly enter wolf form!
Nova - Fear the two Nova's... Need more be said? Snipe Snipe slow slow clone clone... Snipe Snipe slow slow clone clone, where's that teammate and which Nova is the real 1? This is really good if Nova Goes cd galore (which inclouds the passthrough shot) for her snipe... especially if the teamfight is on top of the enemies minions... or beter yet, enemies Mercs (they don't instadie)!
Sgt Hammer - I tend to prefer buffing hammer, but if hammer specs right she can do a ton in of herself... ever rocket past the enemy and push them back into your team (with a wall?)? Yeah, have fun... plus that wall/knockback should keep you safe enough to still do some damage before you go poof!
Zagura - if she specs hutner killers such that she can hold 2... that is a Zag to ult... Don't underestimate teh damage of hunter killers even if they don't lock-on... hunt... go for the kill... anymore (unless vision is kept)... you can also lay creep... help that other zag out once the abttle is over and/or your so low you are 1 hit KO and might as well be more supportive (plus it is vision down the line)... but focus on doing damage.
Azmodan if he goes his lazer is valid to ult... not sure if when Azmodan ults if you can use his pool to beef up your cloned Q (Globe of Annihilation) as well.
Diablo and E.T.C. are CC gods, ult them if the situation calls for it... plus Diablo can do some (not amazing) damage if he is speced right.
Butcher - Depends on how he specs... if he specs autoattack/healing... go him if your fighting on top of your opponents minions... otherwise he is really easy to chunk down if his heal from Hamstring isn't up... just ask cloned Thrall... albeit hammer can fight him because Hammer's wall (if you takje it which you always should) screws up hius pathing and can make that unstoppable spell stop/slowed... especially if it is a chokepoint that is entirely blocked off... It is also fun to rocket away as he is usntoppable to bring him to death.
KT (Kael-thas)... can you skillshot to knock an opponent up in the air? if so he is worth ulting... only if you know how his passive works... His cd's are high, so your a 1 hit wonder, and if you botch your Q (Flamestrike) or anything really, you and your team are SOL for you are once again a useless teammate (Besides just walking past their team to their squishies to make them regret ignoring you... auto-attack ftw).
Sylvana's - Whilst I claim Sylvana's doesn't do damage elsewhere... or even say so myself... she is worth ulting for she is great at forcing people to focus her and finishing people off and/or being a kamikaze sieger... I mean... low cd's on her Withering Fire... and your in a teamfight jumping the back line of squishies... people should be dying thus you should be getting extra shots... it's a scary sight that an opponent would be foolish to ignore (for clones don't have to worry about death... how do you counter a kamikaze?
Tassadar... that shield rocks (especially if your defending your base (on Haunted Mines?)), the Psionic Storm... if it can be casted in rapid succession (at range?)... 4 of those out at once... gl avoiding them... being a thing to focus that goes untargettable really wastes the opponents time, especially since you come back with another psionic storm and auto-attacks.
[*] Side-note, give Tassadar that attack speed Symbiote (Q) buff when he ults if he went Archon.
LiLi - Heals and a speed-demon... a annoyance... plus the blinds!
Malfurion - High cd's unless your team needs a root, heal, and mana instantly... or some potentiallyserious harass from Moonfire (if he speced that way)... not really worth ulting for his heals and damage are meager... His ult is definitely more stable than LiLi's though and if your ulting a healer then something really went wrong in that teamfight (such as they did not wait for you or someone went 1v5 unaware or something...
Zeratul - Good to ult, nothing more need be said for how he specs is of minimal significance (albeit how he specs can greately change the way you play the clone).
Tryande - **** hero by comparison to others, why would you go her? Eh that's enough, quit the hate, she's valid to ult for a stuns and heal... and to mark someone... but unless she is an auto-attack build, in which she is still ****tastic, then have fun (h)owling the time away as you and your team die... she is a ult of last resort (everyone else is dead and your defending because she's such a weak hero at the time of writing this. If you are good with her, please prove me wrong, for she is 1 of the weakest heroes in the game in my mind... and only worth playing to get that 500 gold at level 5. Ok Ok... she has Stealth fora team and grant svision that can make for some awesome ganks... but sware players can see stealth... so have fun with that. Go her other ult... oo ahh, pretty, walk around it, disengage? Walk through it? Simply don't fight in it? What Tryande + Thrall or Arha's or Buthcer... or rather insanely long cc? come on... there is better aoe damage spells than heres... such as Jaina (by far).
Jaina - One of the best one's to ult, low cd's, high damage, extremely crippling slow cc... and all from a distance!... and if you get up close she can melt you there as well and just walk away... got to love slows.
Tyhus and Raynor - eh... Raynor is great for kamikazi and splitting up the enemy team since he heals gains attack speed, and knocks back... Tychos does some insane AOE harass damage and splits the opponent with his Overkill and Frag Gernade... plus run and gun's mobility rocks. Their effectively the same... worth ulting but not ideal for many spec wrong.
Stiches - Try dodging 2 hooks at once... great way to force teamfights, slow enemies, force them to focus a tank since he has decent damage and cc.
Muradin - Depends on how he specs... stilla good hero to ult for you can't ignore his damage, tankiness, and cc... a great kamikazi champ (especially since he can jump in).
Tyrael - I don't think very highly of this hero for cloning but he isn't bad, just situational like Aba himself... your not going to be kiting... so just go ham as with any other aba ults... your most likely ulting him because a near dead enemy is running, he engaged someone and he needs help, your saving his ***... His hit does a lot of damage, has decent cd's, and works well with the team sicne he has an aoe shield...
Advanced Tactics/Experiences Top
I get to be pompus/vain with pontification here but it plays to the same note of be aggressive and map aware. I've gone over most of them... 1 major 1 is a beautiful save I did for an E.T.C. and Brightwing against a horde of 3 or more enemies (I have to dig up the replay)... Blackhearts bay... I dug to the vision mid, got in BW's range, he (far more creepy if you evasion it as a he, especially since it's colorful and flies (just makes sense)). Anyways... BW blinks to me and then I Ult Evoed E.T.C. who is still around where the enemies forts walls are for top lane.... he runs through the bushes as he and i use our CC to keep them off him... After that I simply dug away for they never knew I was there (I assume they assumed it was some teammate other than Abathur and didn't want to chance a fight). In the end, BW and E.T.C survived what should have been a guaranteed death... a save that no other hero with no(?) other teammate can pull off alone.
Abathur is the pinnacle of potential and entirely relies on his team as much as his team relies upon him unlike any other hero in the game... albeit teammates that do not understand him will be unique challenges... so GL with that... I went from rank 50 to rank 1 (oo who cares, Rank 40 on is all that matters... lol) stupid fast... in 3 days i got to rank 4 (far more wins than losses) then got deranked (afk's/quitters galore)... stopped for a few days and then played another day and went straight to rank 1... I had some help from Sgt Hammer, Kerrigan, Zagara, and Brightwing... but those were only a few games played apiece in comparison.... I avoided Aba on The Spider Queen, Sky Temple, and Dragon Shire maps (in that order from greatest to least avoidance).
Now you might see why I am cocky when I play Abathur... unique gameplay, I win far more than I lose (unless I tried to levle boost freinds, just not possible, I can carry myself but not others for mmr doesn't know how to match you 2 with others - rank 1 with rank 20+ = SOL), leveled way too fast (maybe some luck involved via who I was vs. when I was first starting HL (won most of the first 10 games or whatever that metric is), and I just love the uniqueness of Abathur and the fun wordplay taht can be done.
[*] Oh yeah, I played a Quick Match the other day as Abathurmite vs. a ****athur on Abathursday. (What no reference to magic? ... and we curbstomped them such that we made them dissapear like Aba-KadAbathur, and their Abathur looked like a Aba-Cadaver just sitting there, in base, doing nothing and being useless <--- well maybe that's pushing it... thus why this all is in parenthesis... Badathur? Babathur - for those Abathurs' that don't know how to use Abathur to his fullest potential, the latter of 2teh 2 reserved for the baby skinned Abathur?)...
Backdoor Abathur (another meaning for Badathur?) - technically you can still take forts form behind but it takes whittling now of days.... so the risk vs. reward is not necessarily worth it... better to push down the towers and gates so the enemy can't defend on them if your team pushes that lane.
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