Like shapes in mist™

Introduction

Hello everybody and welcome to my Abaddon guide!
I don't consider myself an Abaddon expert,I only played 100 games with him,but I took my time trying out different stuff to see what works and I think I found some items that are really strong on him. :D
Keep in mind I'm a DOTAFire newbie so please tell me what's wrong with my coding,colouring etc...
EDIT:This is still a work in progress!

Why Abaddon?

Pros The best support in DOTA 2. Solid nuker till like 25 mins. Can teamfight extremely well with his Mekansm and abilities. Rather high base movespeed with 310 at the start. Can turn a gank into a double kill for your carry. :O Solid offlaner.

Cons No crowd control apart from a measly slow. Unreliable heal with his Borrowed Time.

Abilities

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.

Heals or Damages: 100 / 150 / 200 / 250
Self-Damage: 75 / 100 / 125 / 150
Cast Range: 800


Mana Cost: 75 Cooldown Time: 5
NOTES:
-You can deny yourself with the self-damage.
-You can pop your own Aphotic Shield with the self-damage.




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 absorbed to an area around it. Removes certain types of negative buffs and stuns on cast.

Absorbed Damage: 110 / 140 / 170 / 200
Cast Range: 500
Burst Radius: 675
Duration: 15 seconds.


Mana Cost: 100 / 105 / 110 / 115 Cooldown Time: 12 / 10 / 8 / 6
NOTES:
-You can put it on an ally who already has a shield to pop it.
-It won't pop when you activate your ultimate.




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.

Duration of Slow: 2.5
Movement Speed Slow: 5% / 10% / 15% / 20%
Duration of Bonuses: 4.5
Bonus Attack Speed: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40
Bonus Movement Speed: 15%
NOTES:
-It triggers before your attack connects,so in a pinch you can use it as a speed up near creeps if there need be.




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 hitpoints drop below a certain threshold.

Duration: 3 / 4 / 5 (*5 / 6 / 7) *SCEPTER UPGRADE

Cooldown Time: 60 / 50 / 40
NOTES:
-Use it right before an obvious nuke will come like a Laguna Blade or Earth Splitter.
-It will passively activate when it reaches a 400 damage threshold,so be careful to not waste it.
-If you're certain enemies won't attack you while your ult is activated,stack some Ancients and use them to heal up,it will be effective till level 10 or so.

Items

Starting:

This is how you will almost always start!


You gotta get it,if someone else got it just get a Healing Salve.Also upgrade it to flying if no one else did.




Same with the Animal Courier,you'll want to place one near the rune,and the other to block the creeps that will be pulled,so you want to go to the offlane,which is the lane with the enemy's jungle.




Since you'll use your Mist Coil you'll need this,change for a Healing Salve if you want,or if you really need all the regeneration sacrifice the Iron Branch purchase.




You'll ideally want to turn this into a Mekansm,but if you are facing a tri-lane or just some spammers like a Bristleback.



You are a bit mana-intensive early on,so this helps a lot.

Pre-core items you might want to consider:

This is when your options open up, Abaddon is a support,and every single game he will be a support,but he is a versatile support.Half of what you do will be shielding n' healing,but what you do in between will reflect your items and skill build.
These are the items I consider taking to cut my actions in half,I might buy a Medallion of Courage and use it on important targets in fight,I might hit a bit with my Orb of Venom and feel like it will do something,or I might just Urn of Shadows spam etc...



I really like this item on Abaddon because I often don't even skill Curse of Avernus,but don't always get this,you might not get the chance to often attack in melee,thus wasting some gold.




This item is very situational,but it can really pay off,because you can purge it with your Aphotic Shield and it can help heal you with your Borrowed Time.Really strong against someone like Legion Commander or Faceless Void.




This item can pay off big time,and it provides nice stats,but still considered a situational item,if you're doing poorly or already have a teammate with the item,don't get it.




Just get it if you're in a tri-lane or against a spammer.I don't really use this often,gives me less space for Observer Wards and Dust of Appearance.

Core:

These two are set in stone,you always get these!The only exception I could make would be if I got a lot of mana regen,and gotten a Drum of Endurance,where i will swap the Arcane Boots for Phase Boots,but I rarely get this much gold.


Especially good on Abaddon,the regeneration and armor are a dream come true!Get it unless someone else got it,otherwise get a Pipe of Insight.




Probably the best boots for Abaddon,makes you a heal machine if you're doing well and have an Urn of Shadows or Mekansm.

Luxury:

These are the items that will define your secondary role in teamfights!What I mean by this is if you,for example get Blade Mail,you'll soak up damage and support,if you get Assault Cuirass you'll auto-attack and support,if you get Scythe of Vyse you'll find the target to disable and support etc...



With the latest patch it redirects 35% of the damage your team takes to you when you activate Borrowed Time,thus healing you.I don't have much experience with this,but in theory it sounds good.The raw HP and stats help you a lot,and it also prolongs your Borrowed Time,pretty cool purchase.:D




A general late game purchase,could be game breaking when a final push erupts and you just bought-back,also buffs your speed to the maximum amount!




Buffs your armor like crazy,also helps your carries if they didn't get it.Also makes you right-click a lot harder,so if you have a Blade Mail and this,you can walk in to the teamfight like what up,i got a big armor value.:P




Solid support item,the stats do a lot for you,but other less mobile supports like Crystal Maiden will probably get it instead.




Solid item for a pushing lineup,if not for a pushing lineup it's more of a rushable,the sooner you can get it the stronger it will be.Gives you good stats and a Necronomicon III gives you true sight,so consider this if you have invisible enemies.




A nice item to get if anyone else got a Mekansm.Rush this if you're fighting a teamfight-oriented team,leave the Mekansm to someone else,you can farm this much faster than a Vengeful Spirit for example.




I grew to love this item!It's great on Abaddon for the stats and gives him a solid slow.




Superb teamfight item!Teammates like Earthshaker or Sand King will love you,since they can then get Aghanim's Scepter or something.Gives you solid tank stats,too.




Nice item if no one else got it.Not much to say. :S




Gives you the polymorph and awesome intelligence and mana regeneration!




Awesome disarm,you can compete with the enemy carry with this!Gives you really good stats,but the evasion might work against you when you ult.:S




Really good on Abaddon,makes him an even less attractive target to attack!Also combines well with Borrowed Time when you know you'll take damage.Statwise it's great,gives you armor,intelligence and damage,pretty good for it's price.:)




Nice item if rushed!If you can't rush it don't even buy it!It's really a pub item,you won't get a chance to get it in ranked games.



This item is very strong on someone like Abaddon,he makes great use of the movement speed,mana regeneration,the active is awesome in teamfights,especially if you have a Mekansm.I don't consider this as a pre-core item because of it's price tag,but if you can afford it,get it!

Gameplay

Support:

Disclaimer: Abaddon is a support and should always be a support,it's what he's best at,but there are many different ways Abaddon can evolve over the course of the game.He can deal good magical or physical damage,he can tank up to soak even more damage than he should,he can be an extremely hard support etc...All of this is dependent on your item and skill build!

Early game:

Your job early game is pretty simple,ward the rune and pull camp and babysit your carry.You can bully your enemies with your Aphotic Shield,but don't go in too close,just be at the edge of the explosion range to harass them.Deny as much as you can and if a fight erupts you often want to just fall back,shielding your ally and later healing him/her if needed,you want to shield him/her after a stun like a Magic Missile or Sacred Arrow,completely negating it.

Mid game:

This is when you are most active,you are roaming and ganking.You need to place Observer Wards as you go,and you need a teammate with a stun or something to deal all of your damage.There are two paths I usually take with him at this time,and I'll break it down,showing the pros and cons and you can easily then decide what you need.

Mist Coil Offers good universal support,something that Aphotic Shield lacks. You can pop your own Aphotic Shield,making you a solid nuker! You have bigger range than with the Aphotic Shield build. You have an easier time denying yourself. You deal 310 dmg at level 5 and 390 at level 8,and your skills are on a pretty low cooldown. Much more health-intensive,you're more reliant on your Borrowed Time.

Aphotic Shield Easily spammable with some mana regen. Makes any stunner cry with agony. You almost always want to be in melee range for this,you can tank like a beast with this,so don't be afraid. You can bully baby carry Faceless Void out of any CS. No reliable damage,but if you can time it before a fight you're good to go.

-So you gravitate towards one of these builds,but they can fully be taken advantage of with appropriate items.These are the pre-core items you might want to consider,but you don't really need too,they are a bit of a gamble.:S
-For instance,the Mist Coil build is a bit health-intensive,you might want to consider a Urn of Shadows to solve that,and maybe even bolster your nuke damage!
-When I go the Aphotic Shield route I usually get a Medallion of Courage and an Orb of Venom,giving me awesome bully power until like 25 mins,when the enemy carry get's some farm.
-The Aphotic Shield is a more defensive build,so these two items can add a lot of offence for a paltry amount of gold,if you're doing well of course.
-In both of these builds i either get the pre-core items,or nothing and just rush the Mekansm and Arcane Boots.

Late game:

-This is when you fall off in damage,but your job isn't to bully or gank,your job now is to shield important targets,soak up damage with your Borrowed Time and to heal your team to no end!
-This is the time when your core items are done and when you maybe got a luxury item,like a Blade Mail or something with that price tag.
-You must continue to ward,these are the times when vision is game breaking,a failed teamfight because of the lack of vision is almost always a lost rax at this stage of the game.
-You often want to stay in the back of teamfights,healing allies and go in as soon as the first waves of spells hit,making use of your Borrowed Time in all of that chaos,especially if you got an Aghanim's Scepter.

Friends and Foes

Friends

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Any heroes that can take advantage of a bait or if they can position themselves for a nice shield are considered Abaddon's friends;

fills this description perfectly.He can just ult to get a nice shield pop,when he gets stunned just give him a new Aphotic Shield,heal him if needed and watch the low health Huskar chuckin' spears into the hearts of his enemies.



Soul Keeper is great too,you give him more time for a crippling Sunder with your shield.Your slows combine well,I tend to go the Mist Coil build when laning with him,he has low base health so even if he can't get a Sunder he can still do a ton of damage.



is an perfect example of someone who can position himself for a nice shield burst,his Smoke Screen combines well with you Curse of Avernus,allowing Riki to easily Backstab the enemy.

Foes

---

Anyone who has a silence or any DoT effects will give Abaddon a hard time;

is a good example of someone who can just chip away at your health and then when your ult is finished...BOOM,slaps you with a Poison Nova.I'm not sure if you can purge it,please message me about that!


is also a hero with a DoT,but he doesn't give a **** about your ult,his Ice Blast can decimate you if you don't ult before it hits you.It's rather easy to predict the ult,so he's not too much of a counter,but if you're team is hit with it,you're useless as a healer.

Soul Keeper is also on the foe list because if you ult,weeelll he'll still hit you and then you're Sunder'd,it's pretty hilarious.Everything else about him doesn't make him too strong against Abaddon,especially if you got the Mist Coil build,you'll do nice damage with your 390 nuke!


also counters your Borrowed Time with his Culling Blade,if you're in the threshold range of the execute,you're dead.He otherwise isn't very good against Abaddon,his taunt can be purged and Abaddon can take his allies out of threshold range with his Mist Coil.

gives Abaddon a hard time because his abilities force Abaddon to either use 100 mana,which is a lot at early levels,or to damage himself and waste 75 mana!In teamfights Silencer will really hinder your presence,atleast you can still use your Mekansm. :D

Almost forgot about Doom but that counters everything in existence. :S

Conclusion

I will add more content like videos,better coding,more info etc...as soon as i get the time.Between swimming practice and school I don't really have too much free time for DOTAFire.Thanks for reading,please tell me how I can improve this!