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Quelling Blade
ClarityClarity
Tango (Shared)
Vladmir's Offering
Phase Boots
Black King Bar
Skull Basher
Assault Cuirass
Abyssal Blade
Desolator
Daedalus
Sange and Yasha
Satanic
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| 1. | Introduction |
| 2. | Starting Items |
| 3. | Early Game |
| 4. | Skill Sequence |
| 5. | Mid Game |
| 6. | End Game |
| 7. | Situational Items |
| 8. | Summary |
This guide is basically for beginners who would want to play Lycan. Lycan is a very strong hero in the hands of an experienced player...but for beginners Lycan is very hard to play since he is very item dependent and very useless in the early game. Basically if you do not play him right in the early game he will become a liability for the team instead of being a solid carry mid game and late game. Hopefully this guide will help beginners to appreciate Lycan better as I have... he is simply hands down may favorite hero in Dota since Dota 1.
Experience has taught me that the following items were the best in starting with Lycan, as I have mentioned and other guides have mentioned...Lycan is very item dependent.
So your first purchase would be a quelling blade...we badly need this for farming...next would be 2 clarity potions...we need this so we can summon our wolves for farming...then this is the tricky part especially in pub games...after buying 2 clarity potions we need to ask our teammates for at least 1 tango (if you can get more it would be better).
After purchasing quelling blade and 2 clarity potions...our next purchase would be the morbid mask (don't purchase anything else...save up to go straight to morbid mask).
Now that you already have your starting items, and hopefully at least 1 tango donated by a team member...wait in the fountain...inform your team that you will go straight to farming...do not be tempted by those runes!!! (it's a waste of time and health).
At the 8 second mark summon your wolves (your wolves will last 55 seconds)...wait for 3 seconds to get that precious mana regen...then head out to the first small camp. Again inform your team that you will head straight to farming. Going straight to farming will not only benefit Lycan but also the hero taking the bottom or top lane (depends on which lane got solo hero) because he will level up faster...your team will have 2 heroes gaining xp faster (mid lane and bottom or top lane depends on which went solo).
After taking the first small camp head straight to the second small camp. If you played good micro on your wolves you will have taken a few shots but generally your health is still decent. Basically you are now at the mouth of the second small camp and this is the only time you will summon your wolves for the second time. DO NOT SUMMON THEM at the first small camp... you will lose precious seconds.
Before going to Mid Game let us first discuss how to choose your skills to make Lycan easier to play for beginners.
Level 1: Choose wolves (as we have established in the early game chapter your wolves are essential to your farming).
Level 2: Choose Feral Impulse...This will increase your attack damage and speed and will also have the same effect on your wolves and any other units you control (this will be very essential in killing camps easier).
Level 3: Upgrade your wolves (we need them to farm!!)
Level 4: Upgrade Feral impulse (will give you +20 attack speed and 20% bonus damage)
Level 5: Upgrade your wolf (the bigger the badder the easier to take camps).
Level 6: Upgrade Feral impulse (do not choose your ulti yet...we will get to that later just be patient).
Level 7: Choose Shapeshift (choose this at level 7 I will explain later)
Level 8: Upgrade Feral Impulse (max feral impulse because at this stage we no longer need our wolves to farm)
Level 9: Upgrade wolves (maxed out wolves will have hp regen and are invisible...we will no longer use them for farming instead we will use them to serve as wards).
Level 10: Choose stats (do not choose howl...it is basically useless...the attack damage bonus is very small)
Level 11: Upgrade your Ulti
Level 12 - 15: upgrade your stats
Level 16: Max your Ulti.
Level 17 - 21: upgrade your stats
Level 22 - 25: Upgrade your howl
After fully assembling your Vladimir's offering this is where the Mid Game phase starts...
Farm as fast as you can so you can assemble your phase boots (we need this to chase down fleeing enemies later).
In the mid game be ever mindful of the minimap...keep farming until you will fully assemble your Black King Bar. Be out of the enemies sight as much as you can before you can fully assemble your black king bar but if an opportunity would arise pounce on it!!
Do not use your shapeshift in the mid game except for these scenarios;
1. You see a straggling enemy hero with very low health... pick them off they will be easy prey.
2. You see a support hero or paper heroes (heroes with generally low HP such as sniper, drow, zeus, etc...) marching alone... these are typically opportunities to get a kill and with your phase boots you can chase them down easily.
3. Your team clashes with the enemy team near your location... after the clash or in the middle of the clash activate your shapeshift to finish off or chase down survivors.
4. At the 15 minute mark use your ulti to take down roshan.
You will upgrade your ultimate ability only at level 7 because you will need Feral Impulse more to get you that farm!!
Choosing Shapeshift at level 6 will be useless since you will still be farming at this level...the plus 25 attack speed and 25% attack damage will do you more good than your ulti at this level.
In mid game continue to farm as much as you can...do not engage enemy heroes unless it falls under the situation I mentioned above... be invisible to your enemies until you have completed your Black King Bar.
After completing your Black King Bar...this will be your show...you will now shift from being a farmer to being a hunter!! Start Ganking / hunting enemy heroes...put them in a corner where they will have no room for escape...be mindful of the map... and when you see heroes with 75% life or less get close then activate your wolves and shapeshift...chase down these enemy heroes...activate only BKB when you need to (in case the hero is a stunner or if there are 2 enemy heroes).
At this point you can basically chase anyone down with shapeshift and your phase boots...it will be very hard for enemy heroes to escape (the only possible escape would be lothars...in this case purchase dust of appearance so you can finish heroes equipped with lothars).
DO NOT BE GREEDY!! Lycan with shapeshift and BKB on can basically kill any support or paper heroes regardless if they are accompanied by 1 or 2 more enemy heroes... after killing their support / paper hero run back do not engage the other hero or heroes with him/her. Activating your wolves, shapeshift and BKB will give you enough time to kill their support / paper hero and run back to safety.
Continue this method of hunting and taking down neutral camps along the way until you will complete your skull basher.
When you will have completed your skull basher this is the end of the midgame phase.
As you have noticed we prioritized stats over howl...the reason for this is that Howl gives very little benefit for Lycan. The additional damage is too low, hence upgrading your stats will give you more benefit. Plus the additional damage is no longer necessary in the farming mode once you have your Vladimir's Offering and it will also be insignificant to your hunting mode because you will have your BKB. Additional stats on the other hand will give you more benefits because or every point of strength you have, your health is increased by 19 and your health regeneration is increased by .03 ticks per second. Lycan will also gain attack damage when this attribute is increased. Lycan's base strength is 22 and naturally gains 2.75 strength per level hence upgrading stats will be far more beneficial than having a plus 50 attack damage (maxed out Howl).
At the start of the end game (after completing your skull basher) start building your assault cuirass. You will need this item to boost your armor and lower the armor of the enemy but the real gift of this item is the increased attack speed. With the increased attack speed combined with your skull basher and BKB you will be dominating the game.
At this stage of the game with your Assault Cuirass complete no one can stop you if you decide to kill their support / paper hero. But remember the rule...Do Not Be Greedy... run back to safety after you have taken down their support / paper hero and also please do not go 1 vs 5 that would be suicide... be a hunter not a suicide warrior... you can go 1 vs 3 max and after killing your target run back to safety.
At this stage your Shapeshift will cooldown every 60 seconds... but do not engage a hunt without your BKB...wait for your BKB to cooldown. And also do not use your BKB unless absolutely necessary... the duration of the BKB reduces after every use so use it with discretion. Just remember do not engage a hunt without your BKB...
Abbysal Blade...I rarely use this item but it will come in handy especially if the opponent will also use a BKB. You can stun the enemy with this item even if they will activate their BKB.
Desolator...this item is very useful since it will allow you to take on enemy tankers better the minus 7 armor reduction and the plus 50 attack damage can be very useful in taking the bigger opponents.
Daedalus...I use this item most of the time since the plus 81 attack damage and 240% critical chance combined with your feral impulse will make your hunts easier.
Sange and Yasha...the additional attack speed and the additional chance to slow the target would be very handy in finishing of your target.
Satanic...this item is very expensive and you can rarely get to assembling this but this item's life steal will stack with vladimir's offering and will definitely give you rampage / god like kills.
In conclusion Lycan played correctly will give your team a great advantage...played incorrectly will put your team at a disadvantage. So the rule is play safe and play smart. In the early game rush your vladimir's offering and farm your *** out.
In the mid game take down rosh and start hunting, take out the support / paper enemy heroes do not be greedy. After taking down your hunt objective run back to safety...wait for Shapeshift and BKB to cooldown before engaging in another hunt.
In the late / end game clash smart if you have a tanker on your team let him engage...do not engage first. During the engagement wait until you see the enemy heroes take decent damage before going in and chasing down the survivors. Remember clash only with shapesift and BKB on cooldown.
Remember these tips / rules and I am sure you will love Lycan as much as I do...
Feel free to drop your comments and suggestions to make this guide better.
Ciao!
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