The Lone Wolf - Jungle Lycan Guide (6.83)

Welcome to my Guide!

Hello, and welcome to my first guide. I hope to supply a basic and advanced knowledge of Lycan, a well rounded melee strength hero.

Primarily played as a jungling hero, Lycan is able to farm efficiently through use of his Summon Wolves ability. After collecting enough items, Lycan can usually play aggressively with his high damage potential. Lycan fits into a wide range of classes, because he is exceptional at picking off lone heroes, but can also teamfight well and harass decently with wolves. Lycan can be played in-lane, although it can be hard to do early in the game as he has no stuns, escapes or initiates until level 6.

This is my first guide, so feel free to provide feedback!
I have constructed it explaining when and why to buy items, and how your playstyle should look in each stage of the game.

NOTES/TIPS:

Lycan's ult has a 2 second "channeling" time before he transforms, which means you should get somewhere safe to use it before engaging/escaping. The transformation cannot be interrupted, so feel free to use it and not worry about stuns.

Try not to leave the jungle at all early, going to spawn to regen once or twice is fine but try not to overdo it.

Playing very aggressively with the Aegis is a good plan, but know your limits. It's easy to dive after a wounded hero under his tower, it's the rest of his team is the problem. Depending on how far you dive, if you have Aegis, and how many stuns the other team has, that solo kill can easily turn into comeback gold for the other team.

Lycan cannot be slowed in wolf form, so using it to engage/escape a team stacking slows is a solid choice; just be careful when it wears off.

Stay with your wolves when jungling! Even when max leveled, they don't have the power to clear a camp alone!

Skill Build

Generally maxing out wolves is a solid choice, because they are how you jungle early game. Maxing out the radius attack speed and damage is another good choice, since it affects wolves and will help you farm faster. Howl is a great ability, but generally is better in teamfights, so saving it for later when teamfights are more common is a good choice. If you feel guilty about not supplying your team with a damage boost, feel free to switch a point out of your passive and into Howl. If you're paying attention to the lanes, you can give your team the boost they need to get a kill, and jungle faster yourself.

The reason Howl isn't leveled is because of the mana cost. It doesn't cost much, but each bit taken away depletes from your reserve for wolves. It's generally more efficient to YOUR farm to take passive.

Maxed wolves with invis can come in handy for more than jungling however. They can earn you a kill after you've died in a gank/teamfight if you've hurt the enemy enough, and bodyblock for you if you need to escape, very good if you need to run from the jungle to spawn if they gank you.

Lycan's ultimate, Shapeshift, is one of the best in the game, supplying extra damage, night vision, movespeed, initiation, and escape. It is a well rounded ultimate, having a short cooldown when maxed.

Starting Out (Spawning and Early Levels)

When spawning, a good starting loadout is a Quelling Blade, Ring of Protection, and Tangoes/Salve.

I prefer to take Tangoes, as you can continue farming while regenerating health. A salve also is most practical when running low on health, while tangoes can be used while you're missing a smaller amount.

A lot of people prefer to take a Stout Shield over a Quelling Blade because of Lycan's passive and active damage boosts; however a Quelling Blade is generally a better choice in combination with a Ring of Protection. The extra bit of armor gives you a bit of reliable protection, while a Shield is based on random number generation. The Quelling Blade can also be used to carve paths in the trees if you are out of tangoes or taking a salve. By cutting down trees between camps, you can reduce the amount of time wasted walking around, specifically from Dire center camp to Dire right camp, or from Radiant Bottom Camp to either of the camps above it. It may not be much, but every second adds up to time you could be earning more gold faster.

The Ring of Protection, again, will provide reliable armor, and give a jump start of the Vladimir's Aura. The Ring can also be upgraded to Basillus at the side shop, next to your lane. Basillus is very good as soon as possible, because with the aura your wolves will passively have more armor.

In the beginning of the game, try to avoid going to spawn as much as possible. It may be necessary, depending on which camp spawns you get, but the more time spent in the jungle is the better. Stacking one creep camp for when you're stronger is a good plan as well. Remember that your wolves are very weak in the early levels. If one is getting focused by the camp, pull it back and let the other wolf or yourself tank. This saves time and mana, which is beneficial to Lycan asserting his dominance.

Midgame (Levels 5-11~)

Rushing Vladimir's Aura is the best option for Lycan. It gives his wolves and himself lifesteal and damage, essential to strong sustain in the jungle. With the power to quickly clear camps with ease, Lycan should be able to accrue the rest of his items easily.

Power Treads are a good choice for boots because they give him good stats and attack speed. If you choose to buy Boots of Speed before you've finished Vlads, remember to focus exclusively on Vladimir's. It's easy to "skip over" Morbid Mask and buy other cheaper items first, but Vladimir's is insanely good for Lycan's jungle.

After building Vlad's and Boots, a Skull Basher is the third core item Lycan should purchase. It gives him a bit of strength for a damage/health boost, along with flat damage and a powerful stun on right clicks. In Shapeshift form, he can chase down heroes and stun them for an easy chase/kill, or defensively stun a hero and escape with his move speed. Keep in mind that Skull Basher is a random chance. You are not guaranteed stuns, so don't dive players assuming you can stun and run (at least be careful diving, it's very easy with Lycan in Shapeshift).

A Medallion of Courage is an optional item, take it as you see fit. It gives a good mana boost, a lot of armor, and great solo kill potential. It's a cheap item for what it does, although it can be a bittersweet item since the armor reduction to yourself can put you in trouble in some situations. Generally I skip over this item because I purchase Desolator in the late game, and Vlad's can give good mana regen by itself. Again, this item is very niche. If you've gotten a big gold advantage from a few ganks, I highly recommend buying this to give yourself crazy pick-off power and solidify the snowball. Stacked with Desolator, this item is a force to be reckoned with.

You should continue farming in the jungle for these items, although at Level 6 you can gank mid or safelane easily. A few early kills certainly does not hurt, and really helps Lycan snowball effectively.

When you get your Skull Basher, you are able to solo kill Roshan.
Obviously this is a huge advantage to you and your team, with 200 gold to each team mate and loads of experience for you along with an Aegis. Just be careful if the other team has wards, or sees you entering the pit. Depending on how strong their carry is, or how many heroes they send to stop you, you may have a real fight. Lycan has extreme strength in wolf form (which you SHOULD NOT use on Roshan), and in a pit fight it can come in handy to kill a few enemies or escape.

Lategame (Levels 11+)

A Desolator is a very strong item, and usually I buy this item after getting the Aegis. Since you can gank well at this point in the game with immortality and a solid pick-off game, the huge damage boost and armor reduction can really help whether in teamfights or picking off that Sniper in the offlane. If you snowballed midgame and bought a Medallion, the armor reduction stats can make it easy to destroy an enemy in a few hits.

Heart of Tarrasque is a great item since Lycan is strength based, giving him amazing tank powers, regen, and a damage boost. This item should be purchased after Desolater if the enemy team has lots of burst damage or DPS, such as squishy Agility carries or supports.

Assault Cuirass is a fantastic item in combination with Desolator. The armor reduction on your foes will make them easy to kill, and if you're still holding on to the Medallion of Courage you can melt any hero in seconds. This item is fantastic in dealing with tanks, as the attack speed, armor reduction, and stun with Skull Basher should be able to melt them down.

Abyssal is a straight up upgrade for Skull Basher that is easy to buy. Whenever you decide you save for it, you can simply visit the Secret Shop and finish it if you have the gold for it. The 2 second stun can help to lock down enemies with good escapes, and the huge damage boost along with the passive stun are fantastic whether they have an escape or not.

Satanic is a fantastic luxury item, reserved for if you are fighting high burst heroes. In a manfight it can come in extremely handy since your DPS is so high, and the Strength and Lifesteal give you a great boost with your right clicks. I personally replace Vlad's with Satanic, since the passive lifesteal and stat boost compensates, while freeing a slot for other items. Vlad's falls to this item simply because wolves fall off in the lategame, not sharing the item damage bonuses with Lycan and his items.

Boots of Travel are pretty obvious; the passive speed boost is great and teleportation without having to buy a scroll helps greatly.

As in the midgame, you can solo Roshan handily and should be able to acquire the Aegis. Depending on how often you kill him, how long the game is, and how many items you've bought, the Cheese is great on Lycan since he can dive with it and maintain presence after he's been "nuked down."

Thanks for Reading!

This is my first guide, it's certainly much harder than it looks to write these! Feel free to leave feedback, anything I should edit etc. Try not to be too mean, I put some effort into this!

This is also a build guide, the code word being "guide." Feel free to sculpt your own playstyle, or come up with some crazy game-breaking item build. This is just a general guideline that I use, that personally I win games with and would like to share!

Happy Hunting!