How Viable is a Position 1 Underlord?

That reminds me, I need to come up with another right-click build don't I? That, or actually finish my first ever guide.

Coming in to say I agree with most things said here.

- Underlord is not a carry. Atrophy Aura is an extremely weak steroid, honestly I think it's just here to help with last hitting in lane. Compare the 90 damage you get when you've already won the teamfight to for example Astral Spirit's potenial 150-something damage on top of Natural Order that literally removes armor completely...and when's the last time you saw a successful carry Elder Titan? xD
What kills him even as a semi-carry (ET style) is the fact that he has no positioning to catch up with people. If you build right click, then not only will you hit like a wet noodle...you'll spend the entire game getting kited. He's as much a right clicker as Tidehunter is, so battlefury or even playing him safe lane...please nooo :)

- He's not very item dependent, even compared to other initiators. He needs Arcane Boots or Tranquil Boots/ Soul Ring for mana, Blink Dagger sounds really core-ish to me (but then blink on every hero XD), and that's it. Rest of the items is standard utility/aura stuff to enhance his team's pushing and teamfighting power like greaves, vlads, AC...stuff like blyatmail, and a Refresher Orb eventually. I'm sure I'd also buy Scythe of Vyse on him more often than not, since having good single target initiation is really core to his playstyle, and it sets up his Q and W perfectly.

- Underlord is not a rat the way Nature's Prophet is. He's more like Io, personally I always considered him to be the Dire wisp. The true strength of this hero is the fact that he moves his team around, so you can essentially 5-man all game without any mobility downside. Essentially it's like Meepo with your team, constantly switching lanes, either as 5 or splitting everyone in 2 groups and pushing 2 lanes at once. It can be a nightmare to deal with.
The idea is that your team does the tower damage and you just move them around / initiate the teamfights.
I'm sure he's pretty terrible in uncoordinated teams. Have fun playing him in inhouses but predicting <40% solo queue winrate.

- He's literally made to be a #3 offlaner, and I think it's his only viable role. I mean sure you could play him mid, but why? He doesn't need that much farm.
(he could work as a #4 because item-independent but it can be more situational/risky because he's pretty useless at low levels)

Thanks for all of the great comments guys. I tried it out in a couple of bot matches and it didn't bear much fruit unfortunately. You're right though his skill set does scream offlaner and in nearly 99% of cases I would run him as that for sure.

No Hard Carry Pit Lord guide from me :(

hes a pos 4. 1 bijillion percent.

oh u want to trade mr offlaner. hows that measly damage you got?

oh there are stacks? ill just take them thanks

oh we vaping mid? ez zone control no mr midlaner you not allowed to go back to tower!

oh we just won a team fight and there is a lane pushed out to a tower? huddle bucko's were going for a ride!


pos 4 no exception.


maybe pos 3 if the lane is super easy.

more indepth then memes

---

he has the mana to sustain his spells without throwing one out and being done. hes no one pump chump. he has relativly high ms and damage he screams aura utility. he does everything he needs to do without farm. his map presence is extended with damage and mobility. he can build in a variety of ways but most are not farm intensive. he utilises his team mates more so

He's most likely better as 3 possition. Firestorm is *** at killing stacks unless you tank them (then why the **** are you still stacking you BEAST), Pit of Malice is not enough at holding stacks together.


On the offlane he can contest stacks (incidentally pulls) with Firestorm, has high MS, good HP pool, high base armour, the aura to **** around on the lane and win trades. Earlier 6 means just a faster Dark Rift, although I disagree at taking rift at 6(unless you really need it) and rather take it at 10 and 11. Basically, he is SUPER good at contesting the lane. Compared to most other offlaners now who just resort to jungle comebacks or just give up on the lane completly (see Beastmaster, Batrider and Axe the two times it was run as a #3 in TI)

ikr :)

I think that's one of the several reasons why a Tranquil Boots/ Soul Ring build is the way to go on him IMO to sustain from this kind of stuff.

By the way, is it just me, or is defensive Dark Rift the most ******** thing ever? You sit back, cast your ult on the fountain or another lane, and then blink in to save any teammate wisp style...with no downside whatsoever. Seriously, AOE Boots of Travel that *isn't a channeling skill*...the ability to de-initiate any teamfight that goes badly and even go rat another lane on top for good measure...OS freaking Frog?

Aha! So he is the "ABORT MISSION" hero after all. Cool stuff