A massive leviathan of incredible strength and toughness, Tidehunter is a real tank. Using his Gush skill, he can slow and damage a single target while reducing their armor, allowing him and his allies to pummel the target to a pulp. To aid his close combat skills, Tidehunter has a powerful Anchor Smash spell, which he can use to unleash a devastating area of effect spin attack. A target of Gush who is hit by an Anchor Smash or two is in deep trouble. To protect himself while chasing down and smashing enemies, Tidehunter has a passive: Kraken Shell. This ability reduces all damage from physical attacks by a set number, allowing the Leviathan to wade into combat without fear, ignoring the blows of lesser foes. Kraken Shell also occasionally dispels negative spell effects, making him even more difficult to stop. By far the most feared ability of the Tidehunter is Ravage. This mighty ability allows the Tidehunter to cause immense damage and stun all enemies in a large area around him. This ability is most effective in large team battles, where it is a simple matter to hit the entire enemy team at once with its writhing tentacles, setting up the Tidehunter and his allies for an easy victory.
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Clockwerk is one of the most deadly ambush heroes in the game. Enemies who aren't careful will soon find themselves trapped and shredded by this tiny mechanical beast. Clockwerk is at his most dangerous when he is right on top of his target. Using Battery Assault, he repeatedly damages and stuns an adjacent foe. With proper positioning his Power Cogs can trap a single enemy next to him, while pushing their allies away. This combo is quite lethal to fragile heroes. To aid him in finding and binding himself to enemies, Clockwerk has Rocket Flare and Hookshot. Rocket Flare sends a missile into the battlefield, causing some damage and giving him Clockwerk vision of the targeted area. Hookshot fires a chain that latches onto enemy units with a damaging stun, then reels Clockwerk across the map and right to their side, poised to unleash his deadly Battery Assault and Power Cogs combo. Good awareness is the best counter to this small but deadly hero.
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Lina is one of the deadliest offensive spellcasters, capable of killing fragile heroes with one combo of her spells. Her two main offensive spells provide a powerful Area of Effect combo. Dragon Slave fires a quick fiery projectile which deals good damage over a long range. Light Strike Array is Lina's stun spell; however, due to her relatively slow cast time it can be difficult to hit moving enemies with this spell. Many Lina players cast Light Strike Array immediately after an ally has cast another stun, making the spell much likelier to hit and prolonging the total disable time. To support her offensive gameplay style, Lina has a passive skill called Fiery Soul. Every time she casts any of her other spells, she gains a temporary movement- and attack-speed boost, allowing her to chase down fleeing enemies. Lina also has the most damaging single-target spell in the game: Laguna Blade. This devastating blast of energy is one of the best ways to finish off injured enemies. Often heroes who think themselves safe are blasted into oblivion by a single Laguna Blade.
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Although she is an intelligence hero, Windrunner's gameplay style resembles that of an agility hero in many ways. Most of the time she relies on her physical attack. Her archery skills are powerful to start with but also enjoys a steadily increasing rate of fire. Deadly Power Shots not only pierce the nearest target with massive damage, but continue on to damage any units in the line of fire. Due to its exceedingly long range, Power Shot is also excellent for picking off injured heroes as they flee. To stop enemies from fleeing in the first place, Windrunner has Shackleshot--one of the best single-target stuns in the game. Shackleshot allows Windrunner to shackle a target either to a tree or to another enemy unit, potentially stunning two heroes. Her third skill, Windrun, allows her to escape dangerous situations, position herself for good Shackleshots, and catch up to fleeing enemies. If Powershot isn't enough to take down a target, she can use Focus Fire. This powerful ability makes her attack a single enemy at the fastest possible rate; while it reduces her total damage, it has a long duration. Focus Fire is also highly effective against buildings and other stationary targets--and woe to the enemy hero who is first hit by Shackleshot, since they are now essentially a stationary target themselves.
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Although Weaver may be fragile, he more than counters this weakness with constant bursts of speed and invisibility, along with the ability to periodically deal double damage on attack. He is the master of in, out, and back in. He sends out swarms of beetles which latch onto foes to damage and create chaos. The beetles also reduce his prey's armor, making them vulnerable to team attacks. Finally, Weaver can Time Lapse into the recent past, returning him to the location, as well as to levels of health and mana, that he'd been at 5 seconds prior. Weaver is a paradox--quick and agile, extremely hard to kill due to Time Lapse, but also fragile if caught off guard.
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Zeus has one role: offensive spellcaster. His spell damage output is probably the highest of any hero in the game, due to a combination of great damage and short cooldown. Arc Lightning strikes a large number of enemies simultaneously with chain lightning; and while it does relatively slight damage, its low cost and quick cooldown allow it to be cast repeatedly during a battle. Lightning Bolt is easy to understand: lots of damage! Offering a good balance of damage, cooldown, and mana cost, Lightning Bolt is Zeus's primary means of dealing with enemies..Every time Zeus casts a spell, his passive Static Field ability delivers a shock to nearby enemy heroes, based on their vitality. As enemies increase their life energy through the course of a game, Static Field does proportionally more damage to them. Zeus's most feared ability is Thundergod's Wrath. When cast, this spell causes a bolt of lightning to strike all enemy heroes on the battlefield. Thundergod's Wrath is especially useful for finishing off injured heroes as they limp away from battle, but it can also Zeus and his allies an edge in the heat of team fights.
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Necrolyte is an unusual offensive spellcaster, since he has two passive skills and only one primary attack spell. However, this doesn't stop him from being one of the strongest offensive spellcasters around. Necrolyte's Death Pulse is his bread and butter. This powerful ability doubles as a damage spell and a healing spell, with both effects on every cast. Death Pulse hits all nearby heroes, causing damage to foes and healing both friends and Necrolyte himself. Since it has a short cooldown period, this spell can be cast very often, providing constant harassment to enemies while keeping allies in top form. To fuel this barrage, Necrolyte has a passive skill named Sadist which replenishes some of his mana every time he kills a unit. To further weaken his enemies, his powerful Hearstopper Aura slowly drains the life of all foes in a large area of effect around Necrolyte. When he sees a sufficiently injured enemy hero, Necrolyte uses Reaper's Scythe, which is arguably the best spell in the game for killing off damaged heroes. This deadly spell deals damage based on how much life the target is missing, so even the toughest heroes die as a fast as the fragile ones. A strong Necrolyte is nearly impossible to defeat, releasing constant Death Pulses and draining enemies' lives with Heartstopper Aura until they are finished.
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You had better take advantage of the daylight while you can, since come nightfall you will be up against a powerful and adept hunter. Night Stalker's passive Hunter in the Night increases his movement and attack speed at night, making him a feared ganker and chaser whenever the sun is down. His Void spell damages a target and slows them to a crawl, allowing Night Stalker and his allies to deal great amounts of damage. Crippling Fear is a powerful weapon against spellcasters and fighters alike, as it both silences enemies and increases the chance that their physical attacks will miss the target. It is said that you have little to fear from Night Stalker when the sun is high--however, his ultimate ability, Darkness, allows him to instantly turn day into night (or prolong the night that has already fallen), giving his other spells their fullest effect.
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Venomancer is a hideous monstrosity who casts an assortment of toxins to bring down his enemies. He uses a fast Venomous Gale attack to project his poison at all enemies in a narrow path in front of him, slowing victims greatly and dealing damage over time. His attacks are coated with Poisonous Stingers that both slow and damage afflicted enemies. He can summon Plague Wards to do his bidding-deploying them either far out in front of him to scout, or in the heart of the bloody battle itself, to fight and weaken enemies. The wards can also be used to push and block off routes of attack or escape. His ultimate attack, Poison Nova, unleashes a potent toxin in a large ring around his body, infecting everyone it hits, dealing large damage, but over a long time. Though this toxin isn't lethal, every other poison he carries is. He is exceptional at weakening enemies, and slowing them down so that they don't stand a chance in team fights.
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Vengeful Spirit is so driven to seek revenge against her foes that she will sacrifice herself if it gives an advantage to her team. Her Magic Missiles stun and damage targets. Releasing Wave of Terror, she exposes an oncoming enemy while shredding its armor and dulling its ability to damage. Her lust for vengeance is contagious: nearby allies feel compelled to deal more damage. Even though she is not a particularly tough or agile hero, she will Swap her position with a key enemy or allied hero in an instant, disregarding her own safety for a promise of sweet revenge.
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