Abathur
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Build: Build #1
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This is Abathur's main ability and it allows him to be just about anywhere on the map that his allies or minions are. With this ability, 1v1 fights turn into..1.3 v 1. It's a decent ability and it can be a life saver for your allies, and gives them the edge in duels. Even though it's damage isn't game changing most people underestimate just how much it helps, but don't expect to win a fight with it when you put it on an ally who is below 30 percent health, but sometimes you can at least help them escape with your shield while you poke at the enemy while your ally is running away. It has three basic abilities, a stab which is a skill shot poke, and spike burst, a quick aoe ability which hits slightly less hard than your stab, and carapace which is a quick little shield.
This ability has an amazing range and simply puts on a mine on the ground that has vision and reveals enemies hit by it for 2 seconds. The mines take a few seconds to arm, during this time they can be sniped by enemy heroes or towers, even when enemies are occupied with a team fight the aoes will pop them before they arm, so don't expect to use it as a source of damage. I see a surprising amount of Abathur's mistakenly using it to push the lane early game. Early game it should be used on the bushes to provide vision and lets allies see enemies who may be waiting to ambush them. Even if they kill the toxic nest before it is finished, it has already served it's purpose by letting allies know someone is there and to beware. Revealing a Zeratul, Nova, or Illidan early game in the bush can really ruin their day. These heroes need early ganks to help them snowball into late game. After the very early game I usually keep them up in at least two lanes or three (if I have the Ballistospores talent), as well as the jungle, near the merc camps to let allies know when enemies are doing camps or in between the lanes to let allies know whenever enemies are coming to gank a lane.
This is Abathur's passive and when I first read about it the first time Abathur was released, I felt very underwhelmed but I was so wrong! This locust spawns from Abathur every 15 seconds and helps push the lane, they have a decent amount of health and do a respectable amount of damage to the creep wave. While you are symbioting around the map or placing toxic nests they will make sure the creep wave is pushed. Because of the fact that they spawn from you and have a timed life, it is important to not leave Abathur back at the home base because it will severely cripple your siege damage, which is something Abathur needs to have a lot of to make up for his lack of power during team fights. As the game goes on he will eventually leave the safety of his base and hide in bushes near the enemies fort (if the creep wave is in your favor, otherwise keep slowing down the enemy is they are pushing into your base). This leaves Abathur more vulnerable but this can be made up for by placing toxic nests on paths that lead to you, this gives you an early warning to an incoming enemy and allows you to deep tunnel to safety. This is important because the more experienced players will actively search for Abathur when they see his locust. Usually I deep tunnel to different lanes through the game so that my locust can push the enemy creep waves the right direction. The longer the game goes on, the more I find myself switching lanes so that I can help out a lane that is struggling.
Since, Abathur doesn't have a mount he has deep tunnel. This ability allows him to quickly move across the map after a short delay to escape harm or quickly assist a lane. You must have vision, so a common thing to do is place a mine down in the bushes before you deep tunnel into a lane. I will say that it is a horrible idea to deep tunnel into a lane where the enemy creeps can see you. Usuaully I clear out the creep wave with symbiote and then deep tunnel behind them if no bushes are available. If you do it within range of creeps, you risk an Illidan global ult or just letting enemies know where you are. If you are caught while this is on cooldown you are almost certainly dead. It can be interrupted however and unfortunately because Abathur is so squishy, you will most likely be dead if you are trying to use it when an enemy as already started beating on you.
Pressurized Glands- Increases the range of your symbiote's spike burst by 25% and decreases the cooldown by 1 second. This talent is frequently underestimated by so many Abathur's and I can't understand why. I initially thought it was lackluster till I forced myself to try it a few times. It is actually amazing! The increased range is huge, and the most useful part of this talent is that it allows you to hit all the minions of the wave including some a little far away that you wouldn't have been able to hit. This allows you to kill the minion wave a lot faster than you would've thought. The one second decrease in cooldown is kind of forgettable but it allows you to line up your stab, spike burst rotation more smoothly during duels and when killing minions. I just can't stress about how much it helps your siege damage. The extended range also frequently helps reveal a stealth character who hasn't hit a toxic nest.Survival Instincts- Increases the health of your locust by 30% and it's duration by 40%. This talent is probably the most frequently taken talent by other Abathur's and for good reason! It allows your locust to survive much longer and to withstand more abuse from towers, wasting their ammo. The increased duration doesn't really feel like it has much of an impact to me because I usually am close enough to the minion wave and the enemy fort that the locust usually die because of damage before their duration even comes close to running around. Still, the increased duration allows you to sit back closer to home without worrying about your locust dying before it reaches it's target.
Regenerative Microbes- This talent gives your carapace a small heal per second as long as carapace is active. Early, game it's not too useful because usually your shield is popped in the first two seconds. It is also heavily relies on other talents to increase it's effectiveness. It's usefulness isn't that much better late game either I find. The heal is noticeable mid game however. With sustained carapace the tier 2 talent, it allows you to place a shield and heal on a target without having to stay on that ally when someone else needs help with either a merc camp or a duel. When I choose this talent I frequently find myself switching between allies just to shield them and give them a respectable heal. Don't expect to be as effective as a true support however, just about half as respective, which isn't too bad seeing how it is a tier 1 talent.Envenomed Nest- This talent gives your nest an extra 30% damage over three seconds. This allows you to push waves easier with toxic nest however usually I use nests to scout and give team mates a heads up. Even by the time late game comes around and you are using the nests to help push, your locust or symbiote will be able to do it better and faster. I find the other three talents more useful to be honest. A good enemy hero will never let the mine arm in time and if you do want to push the wave with it, pressurized glands lets you push better while also helping a little bit against enemy heroes.
Prolific Dispersal- This talent gives you two charges to your toxic nests, bringing the total number to five. I don't usually take this talent because I am usually on top of using the toxic nests on cooldown. If you have 5 charges then that means you haven't been using your toxic nests to their full potential and 2 more charges won't change that. It just seems to exist to help out Abathur's who struggle to use their nest often enough. To a veteran Abathur using their toxic nest on cooldown, this talent will be absolutely useless.Ballistospores- This talent gives toxic nest global range and allows you to scout the entire map without moving and cover the bushes of all three lanes. This also allows you to place a nest across the map without vision and then deep tunnel there without having to walk there first. I usually don't get this talent, and the one thing I found when I didn't get this talent was that I missed being able to go anywhere with toxic nest+deep tunnel. I made up for covering the lanes by just walking up a few feet to be able to reach the furthest lane's bushes. Late game when I try to deep tunnel across the map, I clear the enemy minion wave with symbiote and then use the vision of my minions to deep tunnel to my desired lane. While this talent is definitely useful, I feel I can make up for not choosing this talent with just the few steps I mentioned above. The extra duration doesn't really make a difference I find, as I am usually good on renewing the nests early game in the bushes.
Sustained Carapace- This increases the duration of carapace by 50% and allows the duration to continue on your target even if you toggle off your symbiote. I find that people really overlook this talent as well because an increased duration doesn't increase the actual amount shielded. The reason this talent is so useful is that it allows you to shield someone quick and move on to help someone else! A scenario that I ALWAYS come across is a squishy hero like Illidan is attempting merc camps or map objectives like Grave Golems or plant zombies, he kind of depends on your shield so he isn't half dead by the time he gets done killing them. This talent allows you to quickly shield him and then jump to an ally who is getting ganked, so in turn helping them both! I usually choose this over adrenal overload, it just gives me more map presence. This talent is most powerful when combined with networked carapace. Networked carapace allows you to shield all minions and mercs within range of your symbiote. I can't stress enough how amazing it is to be able to quickly shield an entire minion wave and leave. This helps your minion wave not take an damage from your enemies minions and makes towers waste MUCH more ammo in trying to deal with the minion wave. The fact I can shield an entire minion wave anywhere on the map in only 2 seconds is just so good. When more tanky heroes are trying to stop a minion wave, this is hilarious and slows them down so much. I can almost feel an Uther's pain when trying to deal with a huge wave already and that is now also shielded.Adrenal Overload- This talent is amazing and is the most popular one. It increases the attack speed of your symbiote's target, whether minion or hero! Used on assassin's it will increase their dps by a respectful amount and helps them deal with enemy heroes and mercs better. It also helps your monstrosity a lot as well, since it hits for a decent amount already. Still I prefer sustained carapace on most games because it helps heroes and minions, however, if my teams comp is really bad at team fights (like if you have too many specialists on your team) then I usually get this to help them out more. Combined with the late game talent hivemind (which symbiotes two targets) this talent can be very strong!
Needlespine- Increases Stab's damage and range by 20%. I usually get this talent if I also got Adrenal Overload from last tier. The two combined output some respectable damage. The range is really nice and allows you to catch some fleeing enemies. Like I said, it depends on the talent I choose before. If my teammates need more team fighting power, then I get this and adrenal overload, but if we need more pushing power, I choose something else.
Vile Nest- This slows the victims of your toxic nest by 40% for 4 seconds! This seems amazing but sadly, by the time you get this talent you will rarely be catching anyone off guard in bushes and the game will be all about team fights and objectives. If you do catch someone with it, and you have team mates around, it will be an easy kill. I feel the other talents are better choices.
Networked Carapace- This allows you to shield all nearby minions and mercs when you shield a minion. As I said before, this is amazing when combined with sustained carapace. If I didn't get sustained carapace, than I don't get this because they are honestly useless without each other and amazing with each other. If I don't have sustained carapace then I am going to have to babysit the minion wave I'm on and if someone starts to get ganked then I when I leave the wave the shield on all the minions will vanish and this talent will be useless. :( One important thing to note is that you MUST shield a minion or merc with it to shield the rest of the minions, it won't work if you shield your locust, which is a common mistake. Another interesting thing to note is that if used on your monstrosity it will shield all nearby minions since TECHNICALLY,the monstrosity was originally a minion.
Calldown:Mule- I usually get this if the game is in a stalemate with neither side winning. This heals your towers and replenishes ammo. Late-game this talent becomes completely useless when all the towers are gone. So for the most part I get the other talents.
Ultimate Evolution- After a few second delay (during which time you can be bursted down) you will turn into a copy of an allied hero who can use all their abilities except for their ultimates, which was a recent change. Many people scream that this is the death of the ultimate and that it is no longer useful after this change, I tend to disagree however. Do not underestimate how much an extra Illidan, Arthas, or Valla can help your team during a team fight, even without an ultimate since their either put out respectable extra damage without their ult. As for Arthas or any other warrior, a good slow or stun from two warriors can help win a team fight in some cases. Some heroes depend on their ultimate more than others so its just a matter of knowing what your team needs more of in a team fight. While you are controlling the clone Abathur doesn't exist on the map, which is good because you won't be ganked at this time and bad because you won't get any locusts! So truly a team fighting ability!
Evolve Monstrosity- This turns one of your minions into a giant worm monster which is pretty much Abathur with a modified head and new arms. This guy gives you some extra pushing power and works really well combined with your locusts in a lane. It's also good to know that when you have networked carapace a symbiote shields him and all the minions near him. A symbiote also allows you to control him directly unlike other targets of symbiote. For every minion he kills he gets extra damage and health, usually spike burst helps you get stacks. He does decent damage, but doesn't feel too strong, certainly the more squishy heroes will feel the sting but also can burst him down in 2 seconds. That brings me to another point! HE IS SQUISHY, EVEN FOR AN ULTIMATE SUMMON! That doesn't make him useless though and I have taken many towers with him but it's important to know that you can't just place him down and forget him, even minion waves will kill him if he is unattended. So it is important to symbiote him after using him to clear the waves while avoiding damage to get more stacks of damage! I usually stop manually piloting him once the creep wave is gone and he is auto-attacking an out of ammo tower, since he can't mess that up. Don't even try to use him in a team fight though because he will melt under all the aoes being thrown out by the enemy. A decent ultimate, if your team needs more pushing power.
Assault Strain- This makes your locust's attacks cleave and then he explodes upon death! This talent gives you so much siege damage, it's amazing! You will literally melt minion waves with it and your siege damage will go up so much! Combined with locust brood (which spawns 4 locusts) it can be quite hilarious and will destroy even the largest minion wave. While locust brood is amazing when combined with it, it isn't absolutely necessary.Bombard Strain- This is ok, but usually the most important function of your locust is wasting the ammo of towers so I don't find it all that useful, and assault strain lets you also aoe the minion waves, so I feel like assault strain outclasses this talent in so many ways.
Spatial Efficiency- This just gives you one extra charge of stab, I have tried it a lot and haven't found it all that useful. While 1 extra second for spike burst was nice IN ADDITION to the range increase, I have never found myself not being able to wait .5-1 seconds before my next stab. Even the GCD of stab makes this kind of useless.
Soma Transference- Each enemy hero hit by spike burst heals your target for an amount. This is ok when combined with pressured glands from tier 1, but it's not amazing, I feel like it comes too late in the talent tree to be all that useful. The heal is nice if you hit all heroes with it though, and I like it way more than Spatial Efficiency.
Envenomed Spikes- This causes all targets hit by spike burst to be slowed by 40% for 2 seconds, and with spike burst on a short cooldown it can help out a lot! It's really good when you hit an entire team with a 40% slow. When choosing between this and Adrenaline Boost, I usually look at the comp. If I have a lot of mobile allies then I usually get this to help out with ganks. If I have a lot of immobile heroes such as Azmodan, then I usually get Adrenaline Boost to help them out with chasing or escaping since they desperately need the extra mobility
Adrenaline Boost- Makes your shielded target run faster for 3 seconds. This is amazing for a team of immobile heroes as it will let them chase enemies and avoid certain death. Combined with network carapace it can make your minion wave run faster, but I haven't seen the combination of the two do anything game changing.Locust Brood- Spawns in three locusts at your target location. This talent is my personal favorite and I usually get this if the game is close and we need more pushing power. But if we need more help in team fights, I get the first two talents instead. Late game this defines my playstyle as I frequently jump around the map to unleash a wave of 4 locusts before going to another lane. It destroys the enemy minion wave and tower ammo and is just so amazing combined with Assault strain, but assault strain isn't a requirement.
Volatile Mutation- This just creates a nova of damage around your ultimate evolution clone or monstrosity, unfortunately the radius is so small, it really stunts it's usefulness and won't be of much help in team fighting. The damage radius is even smaller than spike burst! It can help with pushing the waves, but if you needed pushing power, locust brood is better in so many ways and can be used 4 times as often!
Evolutionary Link- this gives the target of your ultimate evolution a decent shield every 5 seconds. This is great for team fights when used on squishy allies like assassins. Other than that, there isn't much to really say, it will definitely help them but won't save them from death if they are being focused down.
Evolution Complete- allows your monstrosity to deep tunnel and increases duration by 50%. Usually by the time you are level 20, it will be all about team fights and only the cores will remain and even if a wave of forts did remain the extra duration on the monstrosity won't matter much, though combined with deep tunnel it could possibly be used to split push, but not likely, as it is rare for there to be a lot of forts left this late in the game.Hivemind- This talent is fun and allows you to symbiote two allies whose symbiotes will copy everything the first one does. This is best used with a coordinated team since if the allies split up, the second symbiote will die! It is great for team fights however and combined with Adrenal Overload or Adrenaline Boost, you will have two fast allies who will be attacking very fast as well! So I usually get this if I also got the aforementioned talents.
Locust Nest- Useful against skilled enemies, if you still need to push lanes by this stage in the game and your opponents have been relentless in hunting you by tracking your locust, this will save you in both departments. It tricks enemies into thinking you are somewhere only to find the locust nest while also allowing you to split push! By this stage in the game your locust will be fully upgraded so an extra locust in a lane is nothing to ignore!
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