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There are few heroes who are more difficult to kill than the Lord of Avernus. Using his Aphotic Shield, Abaddon can cast barriers around any friendly unit which absorb a set amount of damage before exploding, dealing the absorbed damage back to nearby attackers. When under threat himself, Abaddon uses Borrowed Time, which can give him new life if he is in danger. For several seconds, Borrowed Time reverses the effect of all incoming damage and makes it heal Abaddon instead. Many enemies who were sure of their victory have fallen upon the Lord of Avernus intent on destroying him, only to find him completely healed by their attacks. In addition to his own near-invulnerability, Abaddon can heal allies with his Mist Coil spell. At the cost of some of his own life, the Lord of Avernus can either heal an allied unit or damage a foe. Finally, his dread sword Curse of Avernus imparts some of its unholy powers to its wielder. Any unit struck by this dark blade will be slowed, and any allies of Abaddon who attack the slowed target will gain increased movement and attack speeds. The Lord of Avernus excels at using his abilities on both offense and defense, and can single-handedly turn a losing battle into a victory.
Background Story
The Font of Avernus is the source of a family's strength, a crack in primal stones from which vapors of prophetic power have issued for generations. Each newborn of the cavernous House Avernus is bathed in the black mist, and by this baptism they are given an innate connection to the mystic energies of the land. They grow up believing themselves fierce protectors of their lineal traditions, the customs of the realm--but what they really are protecting is the Font itself. And the motives of the mist are unclear.
When the infant Abaddon was bathed in the Font, they say something went awry. In the child's eyes there flared a light of comprehension that startled all present and set the sacerdotes to whispering. He was raised with every expectation of following the path all scions of Avernus took--to train in war, that in times of need he might lead the family's army in defense of the ancestral lands. But Abaddon was always one apart. Where others trained with weapons, he bent himself to meditation in the presence of the mist. He drank deep from the vapors that welled from the Font, learning to blend his spirit with the potency that flowed from far beneath the House; he became a creature of the black mist. There was bitterness within the House Avernus--elders and young alike accusing him of neglecting his responsibilities. But all such accusations stopped when Abaddon rode into battle, and they saw how the powers of the mist had given him mastery over life and death beyond those of any lord the House had ever known.
Abaddon releases a coil of death that can damage an enemy unit or heal a friendly unit at the cost of some of Abaddon's health.
All 4 levels: Mana Cost 75, Cooldown 5, Casting range 800, Area of Effect N/A, Duration N/A, Allowed Targets: Allied or Enemy Unit
Level 1: Effects: Heals or damages for 100 HP. Deals 75 damage to himself.
Level 2: Effects: Heals or damages for 150 HP. Deals 100 damage to himself.
Level 3: Effects: Heals or damages for 200 HP. Deals 125 damage to himself.
Level 4: Effects: Heals or damages for 250 HP. Deals 150 damage to himself.
Damage type: magic (on the target) / pure (on Abaddon)
Abaddon will not receive Death Coil's damage if he has magic immunity when he casts it.
Self-damage from Death Coil is blocked/healed by Aphotic Shield and Borrowed Time.
Summons dark energies around an ally unit, creating a shield that absorbs a set amount of damage before expiring. When the shield is destroyed it will burst and deal damage equal to the amount it could absorb to an area around it. Removes certain types of negative buffs and stuns on cast.
All 4 levels: Casting Range 500, Area of Effect 675, Duration 15 seconds, Allowed Targets: Allied Unit/Self
Level 1: Mana Cost 100, Cooldown 12, Effects: Absorbs and deals 110 damage.
Level 2: Mana Cost 105, Cooldown 10, Effects: Absorbs and deals 140 damage.
Level 3: Mana Cost 110, Cooldown 8, Effects: Absorbs and deals 170 damage.
Level 4: Mana Cost 115, Cooldown 6, Effects: Absorbs and deals 200 damage.
Abaddon strikes an enemy with chilling power on each attack, causing all units who attack the slowed enemy to gain increased movement speed, along with faster attack speed, for a limited time.
All 4 levels: Mana Cost N/A, Cooldown N/A, Casting Range N/A, Area of Effect N/A, Duration of Slow and Bonuses 2.5/4.5 seconds, Bonus Movement Speed 15%, Allowed Targets: Any Unit
Level 1: Effects: Slows enemies for 5%, Gives +10% Attack speed to allies.
Level 2: Effects: Slows enemies for 10%, Gives +20% Attack speed to allies.
Level 3: Effects: Slows enemies for 15%, Gives +30% Attack speed to allies.
Level 4: Effects: Slows enemies for 20%, Gives +40% Attack speed to allies.
The Curse of Avernus buff is placed on Abaddon at the start of his attack, so he gets the bonus on his first hit. The debuff is only applied on hit.
Works partially on towers. Abaddon will receive the buff from attacking a tower, however no debuff is applied to the tower so no other targets may benefit from it.
Can affect allies, including creeps being denied. Enemies attacking an ally target affected by the debuff benefit from the Curse of Avernus buff.
When activated, most negative buffs will be removed and any damage you take will heal instead of damaging you. If the ability is not on cooldown, it will passively activate when your hit points drop below a certain threshold.
All 4 levels: Mana Cost 0, Casting Range N/A, Area of Effect N/A, Allowed Targets: None
Level 1: Cooldown 60, Duration 3 (5*) seconds, Effects: Lasts 3 seconds.
Level 2: Cooldown 50, Duration 4 (6*) seconds, Effects: Lasts 4 seconds.
Level 3: Cooldown 40, Duration 5 (7*) seconds, Effects: Lasts 5 seconds.
Borrowed Time will activate itself if you suffer damage while you have less than 400 HP.
Upon casting Borrowed Time, Abaddon will effectively dodge any projectiles currently flying at him.
When activated it removes most negative buffs from Abaddon, including Stuns.
Borrowed Time can be manually activated.
It is possible to kill Abaddon without triggering Borrowed Time's auto-activation if he were to take damage higher than his remaining health, due to the fact that on activation of Borrowed Time, Abaddon takes the damage that activated it and then heals double the amount. Any other damage taken during the ulti will deal 0 damage and heal instead. This is intended mechanics.
Level 1: Mist Coil
Level 2: Aphotic Shield
Level 3: Mist Coil
Level 4: Aphotic Shield
Level 5: Curse of Avernus - Once so that the slow may be applied on the target, while you and your allies gain Ms and As on the target you're attacking
Level 6: Borrowed Time
Level 7: Aphotic Shield
Level 8: Mist Coil
Level 9: Aphotic Shield
Level 10: Mist Coil
Level 11: Borrowed Time
Level 12: Curse of Avernus
Level 13: Curse of Avernus
Level 14: Curse of Avernus
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Borrowed Time
Level 17 to 25: Stats
If you are playing the team's support hero it is usually wise to max Mist Coil and Aphotic Shield first before getting any points in Curse of Avernus as your first two skills provide a lot of utility early game ranging from healing, to debuff removal, protection and even denying yourself if needed.
Remember that Aphotic Shield can remove stuns and slows from its target, you can use this to save your allies from many certain death situations.
Casting Aphotic Shield upon the same target before its duration has ended will automatically detonate the shield before reapplying another. Combining this tactic with its massive radius can help to increase your DPS in a teamfight or finish off enemies during a chase.
During the early game you can use Aphotic Shield on creeps that are soon to die causing any heroes who move in for the last hit to take damage. With itemization geared toward mana regeneration this can be maintained as harassment in an Abaddon's lane support tactic. Even if the target hero realizes your tactic you can still burst your Shield by attacking the creep yourself.
If you are planning on playing the team carry early points in Curse of Avernus will give you much needed chasing power and increased damage output and will also apply the same to your allies. In this case it might be a good choice to max Aphotic Shield before Mist Coil because you are likely to be diving the enemy a lot which will assure that your shield will burst quickly, allowing you to repeatedly cast it on yourself.
Curse of Avernus can have defensive uses as well, such as hitting an enemy that is chasing your ally to slow them down. You can also use this to save yourself as well under certain circumstances as hitting your target will reduce their movement speed by 20% while give you a 15% movement speed buff. That short boost of movement speed can sometimes save you or your allies.
The on-hit buff and debuff of Curse of Avernus applies to any target that Abaddon may hit, including your own creeps. This means that enemy creeps will gain a speed boost after attacking one of your creeps with you. If you took an early point in Curse, use this to tinker with lane equilibrium during the laning phase.
Note that Curse of Avernus's debuff fully stacks with unique attack modifiers. Considering this you may sometimes want to buy an Orb of Venom which allows you to slow down a hero up to 32% when used in conjunction with your passive. When playing a carry Abaddon this aids you greatly with chasing down heroes. The same can be said with a Sange and a completed Sange and Yasha that gives you both a movement speed boost and an additional slow.
Abaddon is a very durable hero due to his unique ultimate, Borrowed Time, however do not let this fool you into diving enemies where retreating is the better option.
Due to his ultimate Abaddon is one of the few heroes that can dive towers even in early stages of the game, to add with his ability to chase down heroes you may also want to purchase a Mask of Madness as the extra damage Abaddon takes from activating it will not matter because of Borrowed Time.
Most veteran players will pay attention to when Abaddon's ultimate activates and will not attack until its duration has expired, you can however heal yourself using Mist Coil during this time, or by putting yourself among enemy creeps or damage-over-time skills that have already been cast such as Jakiro's Macropyre. Pay attention however that your ultimate has a relatively short duration.
Sometimes the best way to deal with Rupture is simply to run. Though Rupture will always outlast a manually triggered Borrowed Time, you still have total control of how much distance you can cover, as well as how much health you stand to lose or gain during Bloodseeker's ultimate.
Since Culling Blade can kill Abaddon even through Borrowed Time you might be able to bait out the skill from an enemy Axe by manually activating your ultimate just before you hit the threshold.
Magic Stick should always be purchased from the side shop, it will afford you burst damage Hp and Mp.
Early game.
This is a good alternative to Tranquil Boots which gives Abaddon a solid movement speed bonus for him to catch up to support troubled allies or to pin down enemies.
The As and DPS is good, as also the STR it gives you, since your Power Treads will be on STR.
A nice item, cause it gives you stats that you need, including Hp, Mp, Attack Speed and Movement Speed.
A must have purchase on any carry, tank, support hero. The + to all attributes and potential life saving ability are to good.
It's a solid item on Abaddon, no matter what role he takes. Take it if you or someone else on your team is having survivability issues.
Is an important item on Abaddon as it provides you with essential lifesteal and As, but you don't need to bother from the 30% extra damage you take, cause you have Borrowed Time to save you.
Will increase your DPS as well as help you against heroes like Lifestealer.
Extends the duration of Borrowed Time by 2 seconds at all levels. Take it when pushing or escaping are top priorities, or to last longer in a team fight. Since you don't need Black King Bar, Aghanim's Scepter goes with all roles on Abaddon.
Late game.
The best DPS item, which will give you major crits.
The third best item to get for Abaddon is Mjollnir behind Mask of Madness and Daedalus. It will give you those precious chain lightnings in fight doing damage to every thing in your way.
To good item and will help to disable.
More survivability also DMG, Health and Hp regeneration.
Cause Abaddon's low armor this will be a great idea making it. The armor, As and survivability it gives you is to good.
Luxury items.
Really great and luxury item on Abaddon, but you will have to choose this over Heart of Tarrasque. The DMG, Armor, Health and +25% Lifesteal is amazing, also the Unholy Rage which will increase your lifesteal by 175% for 3.5 seconds.
"The fog of war is no match for the mist of fate."
Situational items.
It's a really great item for a carry like Abaddon. This will allow you to kill more easily and effectively and I think it's the best situational item.
It's a good item on Abaddon, no matter what role he takes. Mostly get this against right clickers and the disarm is good to.
A way to increase your EHP is to get evasion. Butterfly is a great choice, but however Heaven's Halberd is another good built as it provides you evasion and disarm. Butterfly is a better item, cause it gives you damage, attack speed and evasion.
There are reasons to get this item. First gives you +88 sweet damage. Second gives a passive true strike to counter someone like Phantom Assassin or someone else who has or can get evasion. Third gives a 35% chance to stun the target for 0.01 seconds and deal 100 bonus Magical damage on attack.
Synergizes well with Borrowed Time and the Abaddon's inherent survivability. The item's passive will accelerate pushes and will force enemy attention away from squishier heroes in fights in order to stop the constant burn damage.
It is always good to purchase 1 Tango and 1 Healing Salve so you can recover from harassment.
This will help you regenerate Mp if used all up.
You will need damage block, so that you may stay longer in lane. Later make it into Vanguard.
You will need this for better farm.
Early game.
This is a good alternative to Tranquil Boots which gives Abaddon a solid movement speed bonus for him to catch up to support troubled allies or to pin down enemies.
The As and DPS is good, as also the STR it gives you, since your Power Treads will be on STR.
Vastly increases Abaddon's healing ability, as well as providing a DoT single-target ability.
A nice item, cause it gives you stats that you need, including Hp, Mp, Attack Speed and Movement Speed.
Extends the duration of Borrowed Time by 2 seconds at all levels. Take it when pushing or escaping are top priorities, or to last longer in a team fight. Since you don't need Black King Bar, Aghanim's Scepter goes with all roles on Abaddon.
Late game.
This is a great item on abbadon and with everything it provides you. Should be purchased against heroes with high As.
A soiled and tank item on Abaddon. Gives him everything he needs, great survivability and you can not just commit suicide with Mist Coil, but with Bloodstone to.
More survivability also DMG, Health and Hp regeneration.
Cause Abaddon's low armor this will be a great idea making it. The armor, As and survivability it gives you is to good.
Luxury items.
Really great and luxury item on Abaddon, but you will have to choose this over Heart of Tarrasque. The DMG, Armor, Health and +25% Lifesteal is amazing, also the Unholy Rage which will increase your lifesteal by 175% for 3.5 seconds.
It's a good item on Abaddon, no matter what role he takes. Mostly get this against right clickers and the disarm is good to.
Consider a Pipe of Insight if you are frequently teamfighting. When your ultimate is off cooldown, a quick burst of protection from single-target nukes may mean the difference between life and death.
Helps in compensating for Mist Coil's backlash damage.
This will help you regenerate Mp if used all up.
Gives Abaddon more stats, sustaining use of his spammable abilities.
As a support Hero, buying the Animal Courier is expected as the Hero is less item-dependent than others. If you're 2 supporters in team one of you will have to decide who's going to purchase one.
Readies the Hero in building bigger items such as Soul Ring or Ring of Basilius, while providing early mana regeneration.
Early game.
Consider Arcane Boots early game if survivability isn't your biggest concern, or if you are your team's primary healer. Beware! This restricts your item build, as Energy Booster ultimately only builds into a Bloodstone.
Vastly increases Abaddon's healing ability, as well as providing a DoT single-target ability.
Greatly improves the Hero's mana management issues wherever they are encountered. Be warned, however, that the damage is counted as the HP removal type, which does not trigger Aphotic Shield nor Borrowed Time.
A must have purchase on any carry, tank, support hero. The + to all attributes and potential life saving ability are to good.
Consider a Mekansm if you are frequently teamfighting. When your ultimate is off cooldown, a quick burst heal from single-target nukes may mean the difference between life and death.
Greatly increases movement speed and gives a lot of mana regeneration. It can help to disable heroes or to save your self.
Good item on Abaddon. Gives him +Health, +25 INT and Active: Cripple - Slows the target's movement speed by 60% for 4 seconds.
Very good and soiled item on Abaddon. Mostly helps against nukers.
Extends the duration of Borrowed Time by 2 seconds at all levels. Take it when pushing or escaping are top priorities, or to last longer in a team fight. Since you don't need Black King Bar, Aghanim's Scepter goes with all roles on Abaddon.
Late game.
This is a great item on Abaddon and with everything it provides you. Should be purchased against heroes with high As.
Provides Abbadon with a single target disable, which is highly useful in bursting down troublesome supports. The added mana regeneration allows you to further spam items and abilities.
A soiled and tank item on Abaddon. Gives him everything he needs, great survivability and you can not just commit suicide with Mist Coil, but with Bloodstone to.
Situational items.
It's a solid item on Abaddon, no matter what role he takes. Take it if you or someone else on your team is having survivability issues.
It's a good item on Abaddon, no matter what role he takes. Mostly get this against right clickers and the disarm is good to.
If you're against a high physical damage dealers, Ghost Scepter is a really good choice on Abaddon to avoid those high physical damage dealers. Later you can sell this and buy Shiva's Guard.
Consider a Pipe of Insight if you are frequently teamfighting. When your ultimate is off cooldown, a quick burst of protection from single-target nukes may mean the difference between life and death.
A team should start with Observer Wards, to cover a rune spot for vision. But either you or the other support should buy them on start. You can later buy them your self and ward around them map for ganks or danger.
You will have to purchase Sentry Wards, to deward around the map. Purchase Sentry Wards also if there is a hero in your lane that has invisibility so that you may have vision.
This will help you for a better deward, so that you always don't have to buy Sentry Wards and it will help you very good with heroes that have invisibility for someone like Bounty Hunter.
Abaddon's best friend in the entire game is Omniknight. He is the best to support his lane and both got the best combo. Omniknight's Purification will make Abaddon to survive more in the lane. When going in to fight, Omniknight casts Repel on Abaddon so he's immune to magic and quickly attack the enemy without no worry. While Abaddon has Repel, he him self will cast Aphotic Shield on Omniknight so that he absorbs to 200 damage or until the Aphotic Shield explodes. Curse of Avernus slow is 20%, while Omniknights slow is 28%, which both stack an the enemy hero has a -48% Ms. Eye of Skadi's passive slow stacks with Curse of Avernus and effectively slows the target by 55%. Omniknight's Degen Aura also stacks with this to. So Curse of Avernus -20% Ms reduction + Degen Aura -28% Ms reduction + Eye of Skadi -35% As and Ms reduction = -35% As reduction and -103% Ms reduction which is a permanent slow and the enemy hero him self has no chances of escape. While Abaddon and Omniknight had built Aghanim's Scepter, that increases Borrowed Time duration by 2 and Guardian Angel becoming global and targets structures. If the enemy team jumps in while you are attacking the target, you quickly activate Borrowed Time to remove most negative buffs and Guardian Angel that gives you both +99999 armor and +25 Hp regeneration and both ulties last 7 seconds. The 7 seconds of both ulties are enough to make you last longer, until your allies come and help you to.
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