Abaddon role in the meta

Well I finally got a few games in with Abaddon last night and I have to say they were highly enjoyable with 2 wins and a loss (which was a fun loss).

So what worked for me - Orb of Venom was very useful all game to be honest, and only got rid of it mid/late when I needed the space. Drum of Endurance which is a solid choice for most heros work very nicely to make Abaddons already good speed even better! Sange and Skull Basher I got in the 2 wins work very nice in keeping the enemy where they are - one game they both went to Sange and Yasha and Abyssal Blade respectively.

In 2 of the games I also tried out Bloodstone, and found it to be incredibly useful in conjunction with the strength weapons - I was able to get in amongst it all and take a lot of damage, activating Borrowed Time when it looked like i was being focused.

However - in the 3 games (where one I played a more support role) - I found Mist Coil to be almost (not quite) pointless, which was what I was finding in the testing I did.

IMO you dont want this early game because you dont have the health to spam it, and it does not scale well to mid/late game at all. I think it got me a kill and healed a few people but I dont think its good enough and actually forgot about it most of the time unless a chance to finish someone off came up.

Personally it needs to be tweaked - make it "pure" damage or even "HP removal" to make it scale better.

Just a noobs perspective :)

None said to get Mist Coil early, but in conjunction with Mekansm and Urn of Shadows, its really good.Use it to heal, not to damage. Aphotic Shield yourself before using it if possible, it negates the damage.

Ah, I guess abaddon can be a carry if he can get enough farm (seen a killer abaddon build somewhere), but usually a semi-support\tank role is more rounded and useful all game long.

Oh yeah, I think Aphotic Shield doesn't absorb DPS, cause I once played Huskar, got Doomed, and Abaddon shielded me, and the shield didn't immediately burst (the Doom was Aghanimed, so 80 DPS), it just went on until it was up. Haven't confirmed it though, need more playtesting.

Funny you should mention those items as the 3rd game that is precisely the way I went in my more support role - both very useful on Abaddon. I think I ended up with Mekansm, Urn of Shadows, Sange, Bloodstone, Tranquil Boots - it was a 65min game and we lost - the had 2 well farmed Phantom Lancer and Drow Ranger but a very fun close game.

To be honest I did not twig Aphotic Shield and then Mist Coil, I will remember that so thanks.

He's a support - he can't carry better than any other semi-carries.
Wulfstan is right, max mist coil early (situational, but most of the time) and use it as a heal more than a nuke - also has a crazy 5 sec cd, so can quickly force enemies out of lane.
build as a core support hero, so that the enemies target you, and you can make use of your ulti. Mecha, Urn, Pipe, force staff, active items that help the team - spamming your coil as a heal as well on key allies. you can still pick up helpful aggressive items like a heaven's halberd (still with a good defensive active, stacks with the passive)
Good hero. Definitely a support hero - he's skill set has baby sitter / support written all over..

I check dotabuff.com almost everyday. In the first 3 days of Abaddon release the most bought items for him were Mekansm, Arcane Boots, Urn of Shadows, etc. But if you guys check it out now, you will see that after just a few days Phase Boots, Skull Basher, Sange and Yasha, Mask of Madness and other carrier items are being much more used on him.
I guess people noticed that he is much more useful as a semi-carrier than as a support, and I think so too.

About the Mist Coil I agree, it had to be altered a bit, maybe changing it to pure damage would do the trick, but this is a great skill nevertheless to finish off an enemy that starts running away from your hits and slow, I played 3 matches as Abaddon, I think I got something around 25 kills with him, from which I would say 15 were thanks to Mist Coil at the end of the battle, its useful, but I agree, it could be much more if it was altered a bit.

Oh the discussion... better support or carry... he is simply both it depends on what is needed.
On Abaddon there is no "You HAVE TO play him like this".
There are many heroes like this and there are no such discussions...

As for the builds well in DotA1 I played many games of Abaddon, and I even played him as a carry without Mist Coil, maxing Aphotic Shield first and Curse of Avernus second for durability, burst damage and chasing power to get net me some early kills on overconfident enemies.
Mist Coil was skilled last.
Item were Mask of Madness, Skull Basher into Abyssal Blade, Phase Boots, Drum of Endurance and situational picks like Heart of Tarrasque and Urn of Shadows.
This provides high MS to chase and Attack Power to finish your enemies. Activate Mask of Madness when focused to pop Aphotic Shield faster and triggering Borrowed Time while regenerating at high rate, when facing the enemy carry.

As support Curse of Avernus is replaced by points into Mist Coil to get the heals and possible kill netting nukes, and to eventually deny yourself before the enemy can kill you (since you are not as durable as in carry build). One(!) early point in Curse of Avernus can be very useful espacially with a Phantom Lancer as your teams carry.

As I said in the beginning:
There is no 'right' way to play Abaddon, like there is no 'right' way to play any multi-role hero.
Everyone has his favorite playstyle, and personally I like the Carry-style more.

There is no "You HAVE TO play him like this"

Couldn't have said better!

Honestly, I don't think he will ever be tier 1.
However, I'm looking at him for a offensive trilane support. The ability to dive for heroes with minimal risk is amazing. It's something that will need to be tested but like I said, on paper it looks fun.
My one issue with him is actually his ult. If only he could pop it on an ally then he would be obscene. But as a support, the main thing you'll be able to do in a tower dive is tank the tower. If you're taking all the farm for carry abaddon, you want it to be a quick game. That said, with someone like NP or LD soloing the safe lane, it could be viable.
(So solo gets #1 spot, Mid #2, Abaddon #3)

In fact, now that I've written this, I'm starting to like this idea. Bring on Abaddon for CM!