Blizzard's Edge
On mechanics; The icicle duration starts when the projectiles are first created, and will diminish as they travel. If fired at max distance (900), this means it takes 1.5 seconds to even begin rotating, leaving 2.5 seconds left for rotations. It takes 2.618 seconds for a projectile travelling at 600 speed to complete a revolution around a 250 radius circle. 2.618 is slightly longer than 2.5, but don't fret: Accounting for collision size of the icicles, it shouldn't be possible for a stationary enemy to avoid being hit by both icicles.
Anyway, because of this feature, targeting slightly short of the max distance will allow for enough time to begin a second revolution, which can be enough to be able to deal 25%-50%% more damage, depending on where on the circle a given enemy is located (i.e. whether they will be hit by one or both icicles on the second revolution). It is also worth mentioning that because the time taken to complete a revolution is more than half the base duration of the icicles, it is impossible to achieve more than two rotations within one skill use. The icicles deal damage while traveling, and can deal damage an extra time per rotation. Therefore, the maximum damage that can be dealt by each icicle is [65 x 3]. With both icicles hitting the maximum number of times, that means the maximum total damage with one skill use is 390. If you use your ultimate, though, they could get far more total revolutions, and deal even more damage.
On strategy; As discussed above, targeting closer to you is the most effective way to deal damage. Additionally, the projectiles are quite slow moving and could probably be dodged if launched from too far away. Firing when the enemies are already immobilised by Snow Tomb, or Time Freeze, or Rod of Atos, or an ally's stun or root, would be the ideal usage of Blizzard's Edge. Blizzard's Edge is also really good at clearly creep waves, because if you target directly on top of the ranged creep, and point the vector back towards the melee creeps, the circle is the perfect radius to be able to hit all of them with every icicle hit, so long as they don't move away.
Glacier
On strategy; Glacier has multiple effects that can all be potential useful, but it does have limitations. Most especially, placing them anywhere near each other causes them to not stay still, so using the skill as a damaging ability and a movement blocker at the same time is nearly impossible. Aether Lens is a pretty good option if you intend to use Glacier to look over cliffs, or have more precise positioning during a fight. An important factor to consider when using it to deal damage is that older Glaciers move considerably faster, so if you should try and make two Glaciers converge from either side of the enemy, position the new one slightly closer. Also remember that Glaciers will move closer to the nearest one to them, but if you, for example, have 2 Glaciers moving closer, it means you can strategically place a third at a mid-way point between them, which will create a Fused Glacier and reset the speed of one of them. This can allow you to rein a large Glacier in, or attempt to redirect it, if your intended target enemy moves out of the way.
Snow Tomb
On mechanics; Snow Tomb makes a singular ground effect that has a "slow amount" value. Once this value reaches 100%, it still slows, but it also gains the root effect. It is important to note that it never considers the amount that enemies within are being slowed. For example, if a Shapeshifted Lycan walks through the area before the root, it will have no effect, but once the root does take effect, he will still be rooted. Because the root effect is still tied to the ground effect, it can't be purged, but it will automatically stop affecting an enemy if they leave the area (e.g. by Force Staff, Meat Hook etc.). The damage threshold to trigger the collapse is kind of like the trigger for Kraken Shell's purge, except multiple units will contribute to it. This means AoE damage can trigger it very easily.
On strategy; Snow Tomb works a lot like Upheaval. The root effect is more like Chronosphere, though. Anyway, what this means is that, like with Upheaval, you can plan your timing with how you see the enemy moving, ideally catching them when either the slow is stronger, or when they are closer to centre so the slow has time to build up on them, meaning they won't be able to escape before the root applies.
Time Freeze
On mechanics; It's very important to note that Time Freeze only affects modifiers that already exist at the time of the spell being cast. You can't use Time Freeze for the stun, then walk up to an enemy and Hex them, and have the duration pause affect Scythe of Vyse's debuff. You need to use Hex first if you want the duration pause to apply to it.
On strategy; Time Freeze is a good ability even when you don't exploit its duration pause effect. Much like Void using Chronosphere to lock down his enemies before obliterating them, or just to get out of a tricky situation, Time Freeze is intended to be used either as initiation or as an escape tool. It has a relatively very short cooldown, to enable it to be used like that. Against certain enemy match ups, like those that have high status resistance and spell immunity, or in situations where Mobius doesn't get many active items, the duration pause isn't really that useful, but the stun can always be useful.
_
Quick Comment
You need to log in before commenting.
[-] Collapse All Comments