Dota 2 Hero Reviews Part 2

I'm back with more DotA 2 hero reviews!  Let's jump right in to some more heroes, shall we





Chaos Knight:

Chaos Knight comes straight out of the Warhammer universe on his flaming horse to kick ass in multiple dimensions.  He's got a very similar look to the Chaos villains of the Warhammer universe, and all of his abilities are based on random chance.  He's very fun and easy to play, and you can most definitely label him a semi-carry.  If he gets a lot of kills in the mid-game, he'll dominate the late game, and he uses illusions and random stuns and criticals to destroy his foes.

Spells:

Chaos Bolt is a pretty basic targeted stun.  Click an enemy, they get stunned.  The damage and duration of the stun, however, is random each time you use it.  That means it can be anywhere from 1 to 4 seconds in duration.  It's a lot of fun, but kind of a gamble each time you throw it out there.  Definitely use this to try to get kills early in lane.

Reality Rift is Chaos Knight's second skill, and it's a really cool and unique one.  A portal opens between Chaos Knight and the target at a random distance between the two of them.  Both Chaos Knight and the target are teleported to the portal, next to each other, and Chaos Knight gets an automatic critical hit.  This is a cheap spell, so make sure you use it a lot in combination with Chaos Bolt.  The best combo is always to Reality Rift, hit, then Chaos Bolt.

Chaos Knight's third skill is a passive that gives him a random chance for a critical hit on his physical attacks.  This is important to giving him semi-carry potential, when his attack speed increases later in the game.  It's also important because of his ultimate...

Phantasm!  Chaos Knight creates illusions of himself, up to three at a time at max level.  The crazy thing about this ultimate is the illusions each do AS MUCH damage as Chaos Knight himself!  That's a 4x damage buff on his physical attacks!  Oh, and get this: When you use Reality Rift, ALL your illusions are teleported to surround the target enemy!  Yeah, that's pretty good.

Chaos Knight is a strong ganker that has decent teamfight presence (unlike, for example, Nightstalker).  You'll want to get power treads on him to boost his damage, along with a magic wand.  Bracer, and possibly Drums of Endurance, are a common next item on him.  Next, he'll definitely want to get an Armlet of Mordiggian for more damage output.  Make sure you toggle it ON before using Phantasm, as the illusions will benefit from the Armlet effect as well.  A Black King Bar usually follows the Armlet, to keep Chaos Knight doing damage during team fights.  Finally, a Heart of Tarrasque gives increased damage and survivability, allowing Chaos Knight to maintain Armlet at all times without losing health.  By this time, you should be racking  up the kills!

Chaos Knight's skill build is fairly specific.  You want to max out Chaos Bolt and Reality Rift first, all the way to 4 points in each, and then put one point in his critical passive.  At level 10 and 11, put a point into his ultimate.  That way, you skip the first level of his ultimate, since it only provides a single illusion, and jump right to 2 illusions.

Sven:

He's a viking, sort of?  Sven is actually very similar to Chaos Knight in power.  He's a melee strength hero with a powerful stun and an ultimate that allows him to carry.  He's different from Chaos Knight, though, in that his spells are SO good that he is often played as a support AND a carry - at the same time!  Sounds insane?  It kind of is.  Sven's another great hero for beginners and can fit into many team setups, with powerful abilities at all stages of the game.

Spells:

Storm Hammer is Sven's first skill.  It's a good stun that hits in a fairly large AOE, and does significant damage.  I can't believe how good this skill is!  Use it all the time, especially to start off a teamfight.  The cast range is somewhat short, so I suggest getting a blink dagger eventually to improve your initiation.

The name for Sven's next skill escapes me, but his enemies never escape Sven!  This ability gives a buff to movement speed and armor for several seconds to Sven and every ally surrounding him.  It helps chase down foes and push towers.  It's cheap and there's no reason not to use it often after the early game.

Sven's passive is Cleave, and it's also astoundingly good.  It gives Sven up to a 60% cleave at max level - twice as much as a Battlefury!  The cleave also has a much longer range than you expect.  In combination with his ultimate, you're going to be doing a LOT of damage to the entire enemy team thanks to cleave.  Of course, Cleave also lets you farm creeps ridiculously fast.

Finally, Sven's ultimate. Again, I forget the name.  Whatever.  It makes you strong.  It boosts your damage by a crazy amount for enough time to win a teamfight.  It is great.

Sven isn't very complicated to play.  Blast a group of enemies with your Storm Hammer, and beat them up using your ultimate and cleave.  It is so very satisfying to kill multiple heroes using only physical attack cleave!

As for what to buy, start off with boots and a magic wand.  Power treads are quite good on Sven, as long as you switch them to intelligence every time you cast a spell.  Next, you probably want a blink dagger, but BKB is literally the only core item needed by Sven.  Buy Wards if your team needs it; Sven is quite capable of supporting the team with few items.  Late game, when your cleave and damage is up a little higher, you'll have the ability to farm much faster, and you should probably grab a Daedalus for maximum bonus damage.

Rubick:

The Grand Magus, Rubick.  Also known as, that weird guy who steals other people's spells.  His signature ability is everybody else's signature ability.  Rubick is a support hero who can always make an impact on the game, but requires a lot of knowledge of enemy spells to know how to use them, and which ones to steal.  Rubick's a lot of fun to play because of how dynamic and ever-changing his abilities are from game to game.  It's also a great way to learn about new spells you haven't tried yet!

Spells:

Fade Bolt is Rubick's first spell.  He shoots out some magic bolt, and an arc travels from enemy to enemy, damaging all of them and lowering their attack damage.  It's a pretty useful ability!  Good for lane harass, and good for de-buffiing the enemy team prior to a fight.  The range on this is surprisingly good too!

Telekinesis is Rubick's second spell.  The target is lifted up for a few seconds, and then dropped down in a direction of Rubick's choosing.  The impact when the enemy lands even stuns nearby enemies!  This spell can throw enemies away, or pull enemies toward, your teammates, and it happens to be useful.  Just watch out for the close cast range.

Spell Shield is Rubick's third skill, which is a passive (notice a pattern?).  It provides his entire team, globally, with a % of magic resistance.  It's one of the most awesome global auras in the game.  But there's no point leveling it early when magic damage is low, so you'd best save it for later.

Finally, Rubick's ultimate is simply Spell Steal.  He steals the last spell casted by an enemy, and holds on to it for up to a few minutes.  Always try to grab a high-impact ultimate spell, but any sort of stuns, nukes, teleports, or other fun shenanigans are terrific!

As he's a support, and needs very few items, you really only need to get arcane boots, a magic wand, and a Force Staff.  If you get the cash, luxury items include Eul's scepter, Scythe of Vise, and Pipe of Insight.  Make sure to buy Wards and help your teammates!