So What the Heck Have You Gotten Yourself Into? An introduction. Top
Major credit to Mowen for providing the code that I jacked in the forums for this guide!
This hero(s) is(are) so absurdly unique that he(they) kick
Illidan out of the awkward throne. These three amigos are a micromanagers dream and a moba players nightmare. To start off, we have three very different vikings that are controllable separately, or controlled as a group. They use absolutely no mana-like resource, and as such any abilities you choose will have some high cooldowns, but the strange part is that (with the exception of your heroic ability) you can only get abilities through talent choices. But, more on that later. For now lets introduce the three Nordic musketeers.
Olaf
The viking who enjoyed the victory parties more than the battle. His evident love of mead causes him to run the slowest of the three vikings, but makes up for it with resilience. He is the only melee, and out of the three he is the middle when it comes to damage (which he deals half the time with his stomach and not his shield). He can also charge an enemy to slow them slightly.
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Strengths: Greatest ability to withstand punishment ie hes the tank of the group. Can talent for 75% block, a stun when he charges, or a standard immolation.
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Weaknesses He moves slower than the others (i would say 80-90% compared to normal heroes) very low damage unless talented.
Baleog
The viking that was probably responsible for the victories that allowed Olaf to drink to his hearts content. This kickass little nord could not decide between hacking and slashing and throwing things so he adopted the stance of why not both? This guy can nail an oponent with a sword with accuracy and strength that would put most ninja to shame. This guy is the most normal of the three vikings, with average hero run speed and range, but the fact that his sword shatters on contact damaging everything behind his target makes him the main damage dealer
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Strengths: With 50% splash damage, and a health pool comparable to some of the glassier heroes, he will out damage most everyone in a sneak way. Can be talented to heal for a significant lifesteal that would make illidan jealious and can talent to increase his already decent attack speed to really bloody fast.
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Weaknesses:Not as resilient as Olaf, and not as quick on his feet as Erik. His high dps makes him the prime target out of the little viking hit squad.
Erik
This little redhead ball of fury causes you to wonder if the vikings took speed back in the day. This guy is the reason the greeks quit inviting redheads to the olympics. Faster than any other unmounted hero, Erik chases down weakened opponents as if one of them contains a mushroom thatll help him grow taller. The lowest damage dealer of the crew coupled with his allergy to getting hurt makes him take on a less aggressive roll than the others.
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Strengths: Bloody fast. This guy is outstanding for chasing down that pesky hero who fled the battlefield with 10% hp. Uncertain, but it seems his run speed is around 120% of normal heroes. Has longer range than some heroes. Can talent to headbut the opponent for a displacement, stealth while not moving (and increasing his sight radius significantly), as well as talenting for decent regen while he is moving. And he is always moving.
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Weaknesses Harder of the three to utilize effectively. Super low health pool, can be burst down by accident. Also, compared to the other two he does the lowest damage.
So, How Do I Dominate With These Guys? Top
So, these guys are not meant to be played as normal heroes. As they are classified under the specialist class, and classified as very hard, you should approach them with an open mind.
Not unlike
Abathur, these guys are quite powerful as team support, as well as pvp oriented later in the game. There are several strategies that these guys can employ that may not be readily apparent. I will now go over some of the important ones I have discovered thus far into the 30 games I have played with them.
Three Heroes in One
You can control heroes individually, so use it and abuse it. This is their greatest strength as well as one of their weaknesses. Early game however, is where this really shines. Don't be like other heroes and assume that you have to stay in one area.
Park your dudes in all three lanes. This allows the rest of your team to do whatever they very well please while not missing out on XP. Roam as a unit of 4 and crush that poor Jaina into the dirt? Check! Start mercing as soon as they spawn? Check! Totally push a lane way earlier than you should? Heck yeah!
All while NOT MISSING OUT ON XP. My favorite application of this strategy so far, is definitely on ghost mines. Park Olaf and Erik in the bushes outside of each mine entrance (Away from the enemies of course) and take Baleog inside to help aoe the living tar out of some skeletons. Now, as the hero becomes more frequently used you will have to check on them for viking hunting parties the enemy may commence. But the logic is simple, the enemy has two options: leave two heroes outside (in which you will have 4.33 heroes in the mines and they will have but 3) or they will commit 4 or 5 to the mines which makes them lose out on valuable experience! With a competent team this first mine is enough to start the deathball that the map can easily become. This strategy is still applicable to the other maps, IE park Olaf in bot lane on temple map and have the two dps work on a temple with your team.
There Is No Way These Guys Can Hurt Me
Individually the damage these guy do is a joke, but add them together they become a force to be reckoned with. This is especially true once you hit level 10 (Which you should hit first if you employ the previous strategy) if you pick the longboat. These guys rack up the damage quick, and the longboat is a second health bar like commander odin used to be. A common strategy that I use that emphasizes this is soak xp until longboat is almost off cooldown and then run everyone to a lane where an ally needs some assistance, and open up a few cans. Should be noted that the mini map icon for these guys is a LOT LESS LIKELY TO DRAW ATTENTION as it is less than half the size of a normal hero Icon.
What Do You Mean I am Only Worth 25% Xp?
When a viking dies it only counts as 1/4 of a kill. The same as
Murky. So, take a page from his book and be suicidal maniacs! While not as fast as the egg, the vikings trait
Fast Restart means sacrificing one guy wont help the enemy as much and you will get back in the game pretty quick. Best application of this is ensuring your more powerful allies stay safe. Jump in front of that
Triple Tap. Get
Hooked on purpose!
Use Olaf to bodyblock and allow your allies to escape. Redhead punt (if you take
Hardheaded Redhead) an enemy to cancel their ult or prevent them from eating your
Jaina alive. This is strongest late game, when a your allies can't afford to die. If you have Olaf parked somewhere (Or any of them for that matter) and two of the others are next to a team fight and you need that longboat fire now, suicide the straggler so that you can summon that longboat asap.
Alright So Now I Know How To Be Awesome. Now Tell Me What I Should Be Scared Of!
Well, the biggest draw backs that these three bundles of awesome have is that indeed, its three in one. That means that any aoe WILL MURDER YOU. Jaina will laugh when she sees you, especially if her ult is up.
A viking alone is mostly worthless in a fight. The exception would be is if you have a viking by himself and a teammate is doing a 1v1, don't hesitate to lend some assistance. Keep yourself out of harms way though as any of them (even Olaf) will go down fast if they draw the enemies attention.
The Optional Abilities. Top
Talent Choices. Top
Spy Games - After standing still for 5 seconds, Erik becomes invisible and gains 75% increase to vision.
This helps your early game a lot, and later on if you continue your xp soaking past 10. Also allows you to worry about your two other dudes more and less about the fragile one.
Viking Hoard - Adds great survival. Weak though if you stick together. If you get this, keep your guys in several lanes, and try to sneak in so that when your team mate (if theres one in lane) will bounce it over to you. If you are absorbing orbs from three lanes, itll stack up rather fast. Greatest endgame benefit in this teir as it allows you to back up and refill the low health pools on Erik and Baelog Fast.
Hardheaded Redhead Personal favorite this teir, as it provides quite a utility boost. It allows you to displace heroes, and as such potentially interrupt (I HAVE NOT VERIFIED THIS YET) scary channeled spells like Nazeebo or Li Li. Great for getting away. Since the redhead runs faster than a bunch of heroes, if you are being chased run up and punt them further back, then dash out of there. It easily punts the victim out of range, so it can often guarantee your escape if it was otherwise hazy. Can also be used to punt heroes into your team.
Pain Don't Hurt Gives your primary dps source a solid (20%) life-steal. Quick math at level 20 shows that Baleog attacks 1.11 (1.554 if you take Baelog the Fierce) times each second for 159 damage for 176.5 dps (247) which gives us 35 (49) hp/s on single target. But wait, there's more! His SPLASH damage of 50% does to, so if you just go throw knives at a creep wave and hit 5 people that number jumps up to 105(148) hp/s.
It's a Sabotage! Causes Erik's attacks to destroy 5 ammo over 10s. Great push potential, but not my playstyle
Spin To Win! Your first Ability. If chosen you will now have a Q! Yay! But seriously though, I do not find it to be enough damage (250 per viking at lvl 20) to offset the utility of Hardheaded Redhead, though I suppose endgame it could provide a nice dps boost while you are waiting on your longboat to get off CD
I just started this last night, and I will continue more in depth Tomorrow, but for now I sleep! 7 am classes in the morn lol.
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