Im Sand Wraith, FEAR ME Updated for 1.62. First posted in October 09 - Wont be updated no more, im clueless about SW nowdays. HoN has changed to much from Dota 6.5X/6.60.


Table of Contents:

• Stats and Hero introduction
• Skill builds
• Item Presentation
  
• Item Builds
  
• Strategy Section
• Worst Enemies
• Best Friends
• FAQ
  

Pros

• Global ganking/team fight teleport
• Decent escape skill
• Great chaser and 0 collision size
• Huge late game potential
• Adds confusion in team fights for the enemy team
• Fun to play!

Cons

• Weak early game
• Fears early game casters and gankers
• Medicore stats progression and starting HP/MP
• Needs loads of farm while lacking a farming tool
• Enemy number one of the opposing team
• Boring to play if the game goes crap.

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Starting stats and Final stats

A short hero analysis

These are our starting and final stats. These numbers say us nothing unless we compare it to other heroes. We have a comparable final strength to Dark Lady (1480) but higher than Swiftblade and Night Hound which both land on around 1380. The two strength heroes with the lowest strength progression are Magmus and Armaddon which both en up with around 1540 HP. However like Armaddon we have damage reducer which makes us more beafy. So dont let the 1423 HP decieve you with some HP gear we are going to be really hard to take down which brings us to our next point.
What is Sand Wraiths role in a team? We are a hardcore carry. Probably the strongest one in the game. There are very few heroes who can out carry a well played Sand Wraith. In late game we basicly carry by tanking since Sand Wraith has a skill which reduces 20% of taken damage and returning that amount to every enemy unit within 1000 range. With some HP items you are dealing a huge amount of damage by simply standing there.
Your Ultimate is another reason why you are such a strong carry. Mirage Illusions deals a huge amount of damage in late game to every enemy hero and scales with your stats/item progression. Do not underestimate the power of this one. It also adds confusion to the enemy team making it harder for them to focus and kill you.
Another reason why Sand Wraith is a great carry is because she has a global teleport skill connected to your ultimate which allows us to farm freely while still being able to enter fights instantly. Thus we can always be useful even if we are standing on the other side of the map. We dont have to wait 3 seconds for Post Haste or waste time waiting for a fight to begin. We just pop in there.

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Skill set

Desert's Curse



The Sand Wraith calls upon the endless Desert's Curse,
covering the ground ahead of him with sand. Enemies
caught in the sand are slowed while the Sand Wraith can
move faster and is unhindered by cliffs or trees.
Level 1 : 50 Magic damage in a line (2000 range), applies Familiar ground to Sand Wraith and Desert's Curse to enemies while in the sand and up to 7 seconds outside of it.
Level 2 : 100 Magic damage in a line (2000 range), applies Familiar ground to Sand Wraith and Desert's Curse to enemies while in the sand and up to 7 seconds outside of it.
Level 3 : 150 Magic damage in a line (2000 range), applies Familiar ground to Sand Wraith and Desert's Curse to enemies while in the sand and up to 7 seconds outside of it.
Level 4 : 200 Magic damage in a line (2000 range), applies Familiar ground to Sand Wraith and Desert's Curse to enemies while in the sand and up to 7 seconds outside of it.
Mana cost 130/140/150/160
Cooldown 16 seconds
Familiar Ground
+5/9/14/18% Movement speed
Unit walking
Tree walking
Cliff walking
Building Walking
Deserted Curse
+5/9/14/18% Movement slow

This is our chasing/slowing skill which occasionally can be used for kill stealing. When cast a buff is placed on Sand Wraith granting him 0 coalition size so you can walk over cliffs and trees. It also grants vision of the area or hero when its cast for its duration and can be used for escapes and scouting purposes as well.

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Deserted



The Sand Wraith can prey on those who are alone,
granting him increased damage when an enemy is not near any allies.
Level 1 : Sand Wraith deals 15 True Damage to enemies with no allied units in 400 range.
Level 2 : Sand Wraith deals 25 True Damage to enemies with no allied units in 400 range.
Level 3 : Sand Wraith deals 35 True Damage to enemies with no allied units in 400 range.
Level 4 : Sand Wraith deals 45 True Damage to enemies with no allied units in 400 range.
Mana cost n/a
Cooldown n/a

Our first passive which is a nice skill on Sand Wraith since our illusions benefit from it. It increases illusions damage output by a significant amount. Since its True Damage it is not reduced by armor or any other resistances. The downside is that the skill doesnt work if the enemy hero has an allied unit within 400 range.

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Dissipation



Using sand itself as a shield, the Sand Wraith reduces incoming
Damage and reflects it back to any enemies around him.
Level 1 : 5% of all incoming damage to Sand Wraith is reduced and reflected to all enemies in a 1000 range as True Damage.
Level 2 : 10% of all incoming damage to Sand Wraith is reduced and reflected to all enemies in a 1000 range as True Damage.
Level 3 : 15% of all incoming damage to Sand Wraith is reduced and reflected to all enemies in a 1000 range as True Damage.
Level 4 : 20% of all incoming damage to Sand Wraith is reduced and reflected to all enemies in a 1000 range as True damage.
Mana cost n/a
Cooldown n/a

This the infamous skill which makes us harder to take down in mid/late game. Illusions does not return any damage. It returns and reduces any damage taken, after reductions, to all units within 1000 AOE. If we are hit by a 300 damage nuke the following math is applied:

• 300x0,75 (our natural resistance of 25%) = 225.
• 225x0,20 (Dissipation) = 45
• Sand Wraith is healed for 45 HP and that amount damages every unit within 1000 AOE
• Final damage taken by Sand Wraith is 180.

So, we dissipate 20% of all damage taken and returning it to the enemies. What does this mean? If you have 3000 HP with a Behemoths heart you will deal around 750-800 true damage to every hero within 1000 aoe before you die. This is huge. Its comparable to lvl 3 Blazing Strike (Pyromancer ultimate) which deals 715 damage after reductions to a single target!

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Ultimate

Mirage

The Sand Wraith tricks the mind, causing an illusion of himself
to appear next to all enemy heroes and attack them. At any
moment he wishes, the Sand Wraith can take the place of one of those illusions.
Illusion movement speed is 400.

Level 1 : Spawns an illusion next to all enemies heroes, lasts 5 seconds.
Level 2 : Spawns an illusion next to all enemies heroes, lasts 6 seconds.
Level 3 : Spawns an illusion next to all enemies heroes, lasts 7 seconds.
Mana Cost 150
Cooldown 120 seconds

This is what makes the Sand Wraith a beast. When used an illusion that deals 40% damage + Deserted damage is spawned behind every enemy hero. This increases your damage output in teamfights with signifact amount and adds confusion to the enemy team. We can at any time teleport to any illusion. This gives us a perfect way to teleport to the fights around the map. More on this later!

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Skill Builds:

These are the three most common builds for Sand Wraith:

The first skillbuild is the standard build. Desert's curse is maxed out first for its slowing purposes, movement speed bonus and damage. Deserted is taken above Dissipation to increase our damage when we are ganking lone heroes.Dissipations damage return is not game breaking in the beginning of the game since Sand Wraith has to small health pool to make a big difference in fights and ganking. Mirage is always maxed out as soon as you can because of its enormous impact in team fights.
The second skillbuild is if we are getting out hitted in the lane or need a slight HP boost in the beginning. It can make a difference. We are not slowing down our skill progression by alot since all the skills maxed out at 16. I would strongly advice against skilling two sets of stats, one at 2 and the second at 4, since it slows down the maxing of Dissipation.
The third skillbuild is used if we are in a desperate need of survival instead of damage. Here we are maxing out Dissipation before Deserted. This is best used when you are facing a heavy caster team since the 20% reduction of damage is comparable to a shaman headress. In terms of spell damage a 300 damage nuke is reduced to 180 damage with a maxed out Dissipation, down from 225. A hero with Shaman Headress takes 155 damage. In this case we are not skilling Dissipation because of its damage return, but rather because it reduces damage taken. As always you can change the details of the build maxing out Dissipation at 8-9 and Desert's Curse at 7.

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Starting Gear:

Now lets move over to the fun part. What items do we want on Sand Wraith and which items should we avoid? Sand Wraith is very versitile in his item build but there are some recurring items. Lets start out with the starting gear. There are four different types of starting gear that are commonly used on Sand Wraith:

The starting gear above is the mostly common used. The first one gives us a Logger's Hatchet for easy last hits. Its very important for Sand Wraith to get a good start and not get out hitted in the lane. Loggers solves that problem. The rest of the items tehre are fillers, and some regeneration.
The second one presented gives us a Power Supply for increased lane staying power versus spammers. Consider thisone if you face a Thunderbringer or Nymphora. Try to get a Logger's asap in the lane shop for obvious reasons.
The third one is for increasing HP and stats by a substantial amount. Its good if you can access side shops easily to get a Power Supply or Logger's asap or if you feel confident enough to out hit your opponents without a Loggers.
The forth one makes you happy.

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The "Core" Items:

As the game progress we are getting richer and richer. The most common reason people read guides are to find out skill orders and item builds, so here it comes, the fat chart showing you the 4 standard item builds for Sand Wraith! You will notice that every build centers around these four items, the Behemoths Heart, Nullfire Blade, Geometers Bane and the Mock of Brilliance:



There is a good reason why every build centers around these items. And a justification is needed. The reason is that they all have a good synergy with illusion heroes or that they work very good with Sand Wraiths skillset.


Nullfire Blade - 3300 gold - 22/26 agility - 20/36 Mana Burn - 8 charges of Purge

• Illusions gets Mana burn.
• You also recieve 8 charges of Purge which instantly kills any summon, dispells any buffs or debuff or can slow a hero for 5 seconds making it impossible to escape Sand Wraith.

Mock of Brilliance - 5150 $ - 60 Damage - Brilliance Aura deals 40 damage in a 600 radius.

• Illusions get Brilliance aura.
• Brilliance aura helps you farm fast. Needed since Sand Wraith is a bad farmer.
• Brilliance aura has a great team fight prescence and enhances Sand Wraiths aoe damage.
• Brilliance aura is great for chasing
• Disabels blink dagger.

Gemoeters Bane - 5200 $ - 30 agility, 15 intelligence - 15 strength - Ability to summon 2 illusions that deals 33% damage and takes 350% damage.

• Illusions gets Deserted.
• Desert's curse gives 0 coallition size you dont get blocked by your illusions.
• If you have Nullfire Blade Geometers Banes illusions also gets Mana Burn for an additional increase of damage.
• Further adds to the confusion on the opposing team since for 7 seconds there will be 8 Sand Wraiths running around dishing out damage.

Behemoths Heart - 5500 $ - 35 strength and 300 HP (965 total) - 10% increased damage.

• Good synergy with her Dissipation skill. The more HP you have the more you Dissipate.
• Always good with illusions so that they dont die so fast.
• Adds 10% to your dissipation damage, illusions, Mock, Deserted and your curse! Its a nice bonus indeed.

Marchers (500$) - Steam Boots (1450$ - 10 Strength - 60 MS - 25 IAS) - Post Haste (2700$ - 95 MS - Teleport to allied unit)
Sand Wraith can since the Boots rework only equip two of them, Steam Boots and Post Haste. If the fast Mock of Brilliance build is used i prefer making Post Haste so i can snatch that good farm before any team mate lays eyes on it (More of a public games issue). However they are quite expensive and can delay other important items like Behemoths Heart, Geometers Bane or Nullfire Blade. The Steam Boots are a nice cheaper way of aquiring an acceptable movement speed and a good chunk of HP. I preferably use them if a Nullfire Blade is used or if the game is really tight. So as a general rule: The easier the game the better Post Haste are. The harder the game the more viable Steam Boots are. In games you are doing really well you can skip upgrading your Boots until after your Mock and building Post Haste for the farming benefits of them.


- Bracelet (505 $- 6 Str - 3 agi/int) - Soulscream (460 $ - 6 Agi - 3 int/str)
Ah, the debate. Soulscreams or Bracelets? I used to prefer Bracelets when the old Steam Boots where removed and introduction of Logger's Hatchet. But S2-Games seem to have a hard time deciding how they want their boots so the old Steam Boots are back. And they are better than ever! So nowdays i prefer the Soulscreams + Strength Steam Boots as they are a cheap way to increase your damage output/HP in early game and mid game. However i still consider them semi obsolete since the introduction of Loggers Hatchet since they are outshined by it when it comes to last hitting creeps. So a bracelet or two + a Logger's can beused. And in team fights often a chunk of HP is more preferable on a low strength agility hero. And ofcourse there is the Helm of the Black Legion (which will be presented later) that competes with the Bracelet stack. So... I would say its a tie - You chose what path you want to go or you skip this path for the Helm of the Black legion route.

- Mana Battery - (210 $ - 10 charges max) - Power Supply - (519 $ - 3 to all stats (57 HP) - 15 charges max)
Do not underestimate these babys. At a first glance they may seem quite weak but they arent. Every time an opponent casts a spell you get 1 charge stored that can be used at any time. Every charge heals you for 15 HP and 15 mana. Think about it, a fully charged Battery heals you for 150 HP/MP, a Supply for 225 HP/MP. In team fights the charges stack up fast. The MP granted from a full Supply equals 3 bottle charges and solves all our mana problems! The HP healed is almost as strong as an Astrolabe which heals for 250. Thus the Power Supply can increase your survivability with 282 HP if correctly used (225+57 from the stats). 282 HP! Again, 282 HP! This is huge for such a cheap item. 2 Bracelets gives 228 HP for a 1020 gold! Dear God this item is strong.
In the lane they are best used versus any dual lane or annoying spammers like Armaddon, Nymphora and Thunderbringer. Again think about it, if you face a Thunderbringer, every time he nukes you with a lvl 1 Chain Lighting you "reduce" the incoming damage by 15. The chain lightning deals 64 damage to you after reductions. With a Battery you actually reduce this damage by 23% (Lightning Rod not calculated) and gain a small MP bonus. This item is the king in the lane and can turn the tides of an early lane fight. Don't forget, you get charges even by fogged units. So if you get a charge but no spell is used in your lane this might be an incoming Valkyrie arrow, a Hammerstorn preparing to charge in with Galvanize, or a Scout going invisible.

(source  http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=59219 )

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Stats
Attack Type=Melee
Attack Damage=47-51
Attack Range=100
Movementspeed=300
Turnrate=320
Armor=3.22
MagicArmor=5.5
Strength=17
Agility=23
Intelligence=14
Strength per level=2.1
Agility per level=2.75
Intelligence per level=1.5
Spells
Stalk (Q)

The Madman conceals himself for a short time,
granting him invisibility and increased movement speed.
In his wild craze, the madman lashes out and damages any
enemies that come near him while stealthed.
Level 1 : Applies Stalk to self for 4 seconds. Deals 90 magic damage to enemys he passes through.
Level 2 : Applies Stalk to self for 4 seconds. Deals 100 magic damage to enemys he passes through.
Level 3 : Applies Stalk to self for 4 seconds. Deals 110 magic damage to enemys he passes through.
Level 4 : Applies Stalk to self for 4 seconds. Deals 120 magic damage to enemys he passes through.
Mana cost 60
Cooldown 12/10/8/6 seconds
Stalk effects
+50% Movement speed
Stealth with 0.5 second fade time unit walking.
Barrel Roll (W)

The Madman does a Barrel Roll, smashing into
opponents in his path. Enemy units caught in
his wake are damaged and slowed.
Level 1 : Range 400, 100 damage, dazed for 4.5 seconds, units hit by Barrel Roll will be stunned for 1 seconds
Level 2 : Range 500, 150 damage, dazed for 4.5 seconds, units hit by Barrel Roll will be stunned for 1.25 seconds
Level 3 : Range 600, 200 damage, dazed for 4.5 seconds, units hit by Barrel Roll will be stunned for 1.5 seconds
Level 4 : Range 700, 250 damage, dazed for 4.5 seconds, units hit by Barrel Roll will be stunned for 1.75 seconds
Mana cost 130
Cooldown 11
Returns Madman to his original position after reaching the target destination
Gash (Passive)

The Madman becomes increasingly proficient at
gutting his enemies, giving him a higher chance to
critically strike them.
Level 1 : 10% chance for 2.0x Critical Strike
Level 2 : 16% chance for 2.0x Critical Strike
Level 3 : 22% chance for 2.0x Critical Strike
Level 4 : 28% chance for 2.0x Critical Strike
Mana cost n/a
Cooldown n/a
Ultimate
Berserk (R)

The Madman flips out, going totally berserk,
increasing his attack and movement speed.
Level 1 : +5% Movement speed +40 Attackspeed for 30 seconds
Level 2 : +7% Movement speed +80 Attackspeed for 30 seconds
Level 3 : +9% Movement speed +120 Attackspeed for 30 seconds
Mana Cost 100/150/205
Cooldown 55
Skill Build:
1. Stalk
2. Barrel Roll
3. Stalk
4. Barrel Roll
5. Stalk
6. Berserk
7. Stalk
8. Barrel Roll
9. Barrel Roll
10. Gash
11. Berserk
12. Gash
13. Gash
14. Gash
15. Stats
16. Berserk
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats
EARLY GAME:
2x Duck Boots
1x Pretender’s Crown
1x Runes of Blight
OR
1x Ring of the Teacher (Guardian Ring + Scarab)
1x Runes of Blight
During the early game, try to be aggressive with your stalk because it is quite useful especially if you do have Ring of the Teacher.
If not, stay back, focus on last hitting and denying to get that level advantage.
If you solo, try to focus on denying and then last hitting at tower to be very careful and survive. Spam stalk when you can.
MID GAME:
1x Abyssal Skull
1x Steamboots (Str)
2x Soulscream Ring
If you did better:
1x Mighty Blade
During this portion of the game, go ahead and try ganking people as much as you can.
Getting money is key especially in this portion of the game if you want to dominate during the rest game.
Finish your Hack as fast as you can and continue ganking and pushing towers.
As soon as your Hack and Slash is finished, you’ll be super fast which means easier to chase.
LATE GAME:
1x Abyssal Skull
1x Steamboots (Str)
1x Hack and Slash
1x Ruined Axe
1x Savage Mace
1x Demonic Breastplate
At the late stages of the game, try pushing as hard as you can and dominate till the end.
Once you get your ruined axe, or any of the other last 3 items, the game should be over, but I like giving more options. =]
Items to Concider (Situational):
Shrunken Head

Very useful in cases of nukers or strong spells cast mostly against you.
Brutalizer

In cases of hard hitters or really annoying stunners or casters, very useful item to stun as much as you can.
Worst Enemies:

Bound Eye (Or other reveal invis items)
Yes, your true enemy. You need to kill the bearer of this item as fast as you can! If you cannot spam your stalk, there’s not much of a way to chase or gank!

Scout
His wards can see you. Even when you use stalk, very hard to kill because he has invis too!

Pollywog Priest
His morph and bindings rape you. If you get caught in these, the other team can wack you to death, easily.

Magmus
Magmus has his aoe stun and his eruption which can kill you even if you go invis.

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Why bother with wards ?

200 gold for 2x Sight wards or 2x Revelation . A small price to pay for Map control which….. ultimately leads to winning games.

Where do i put wards?

The Teal circles represent ward Locations. The General idea is to cover Rune locations + Jungling spots + Choke points Early  to mid game you obviously want rune control. Mid to Late game once towers have been pushed you want to start warding the jungling spots. When warding allways try and place the ward on the highest cliff possible, greater AOE sight is given the higher the ward:

I can counter enemy wards ?

Ward of revelation not only reveals stealthed enemy units it also reveals enemy wards. Place revelation wards at the common ward locations, then destroy any wards it reveals.

WTF, I’m not buying wards I’m the carry!

Who buys the wards ? The support hero buys wards, also known as the “support bitch” These heroes include the likes of, . Support heroes are mainly intelligence heroes with little roles. Don’t worry if your team has no support heroes, anybody can buy wards, just make sure your carry gets farmed.

To sum it up

• Remember to always have sight over important ganking areas
• Use Revelation wards to counter enemies Sight wards
• Place wards on the highest part of the terrain
• Dedicate one person , usually the support heroes to do the warding.
• You can block enemy neutral camps by placing a ward where the creeps would spawn

Written by Streek.

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---

source

http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=77877

Read this First!
Before we start you must understand and agree with most of the following given information for this article to mean anything to you. You may have different names for these terms, but as long as you agree with my fundamentals in a general way we can talk about hard carries from a high end perspective.

Given:
-Each hero in HoN has a role.
-The role of any one hero is common to other heroes, and a good amount of bleed over between roles occurs with "hybrid heroe"s
-Agi heroes fall some where between two extremes, illustrated below:





[x]------------[y]------------[z]

Game Time when heroes are most effective:
x= 10:00
y= 20:00
z= 30:00+

x= Blood Hunter / Slither etc.
y= Arachna / Forsaken Archer etc.
z= Chronos / Sand Wraith etc.

-People commonly refer to the heroes in the Z category as any or all of the following terms: Carry, Hard Carry, Late Carry etc
-People commonly refer to the heroes in the X category as any or all of the following terms: Carry, Ganker, Early Carry, Roamer etc.

Now if you can understand that, you can see that nearly all the AGI heroes fall somewhere on the above sketch. Please keep in mind I am just using rough estimates on the numbers to illustrate the point clearly. The reason I have drawn this out is so you can see that when you compare heroes, you must compare heroes that are close together on this chart for the comparisons to be useful. Its pointless to compare Chronos to Blood Hunter and ask which one is the "better" carry because they each have completely different jobs.

If you disagree with my assessment then stop reading now because the rest of this article is based on the above given information. However, if you do understand and agree with most of that, keep reading.


This article will discuss 4 different heroes that are all in the Z category. These are not the only heroes in the "Late Carry" category, but they are 4 very relevant heroes that have pros and cons.

The Players:



Chronos

Profile:
Chronos has gotten a huge boost with his makeover, and now he is seeing a lot more play at all levels. Chronos is the poster boy definition of the term "Hard Carry". Before the rework his early game was pitiful, and he had a very hard time farming. Now, His early game is still challenging but his farming and ganking power has gone up dramatically. Hist ult was game breaking before when it stunned both teams, now channelers keep right on channeling, and many spell can be cast in 6 seconds even with the reduced cast time. Instant spells work great =D.

Now lets talk about the controversial bash change. It is a lot more powerful now. You only need to get 1 level of this passive early on, this allows him to get rewind maxed out early on, improving his early game survivability. Rewind gets nerfed a bit to compensate for all the other boosts, but the fact that rewind can be maxed out right after leap is an indirect boost to it that negates the nerf somewhat.

The net result of all the changes is that Chronos has a bit easier time early on than he used to and his ult is even more game breaking than before. In exchange he gives up perma-stunning and hes a bit easier to kill than before even with his core items. The perma-stunning is not missed at all, the amount of stun that comes off the passive is plenty enough for most situations and it can be used tactically now. The agi drain means that we can now kill enemy carries while inside our bubble late game, thus ensuring we win team fights.

Team Construction:
Even though Chrono's early game has been boosted a bit, that doesn't mean he can universally fit into any line up and dominate. Chronos needs to farm for about 25-30 minutes. So he needs a team that can give him a reasonable amount of safety to do so. A savvy Chronos player will move into the jungle around lvl 5-6 for full time, consistant farming. With the new leap, Chronos can now effectively help on nearby ganks, and the team should try and utilize this new aspect of Chronos. Get people scared of him early on and it makes farming a whole lot easier. Mostly though you want a team centered around creating opportunities for Chronos to farm up fast. THat means you may have to turtle up and defend towers with 4 if they are pushing hard. Or maybe you have a ganking line up and your early carries are keeping the game under control from the start. I love having an early game superstar like Blood Hunter or Pyro when playing Chronos because those type of heroes take a lot of the pressure off me.

Vital Statistics:

Primary Role: Late Carry
Secondary Role: Mid game Initiator

Pros: Game breaking Ult, Agi drain makes him a carry-killer, early game now less painful, he can gank a lot better with the new leap
Cons: Still needs 25-30 minutes of solid farming to be effective, easier to kill than before, does not fit well in every line up

Sample line up: Chronos, Pyro, Pest, Forsaken, Hellbringer




The Madman

Profile:

Despite the Pseudo-Nerf to Stalk, Madman is a viable Late Carry. Madman lacks a game breaking skill like Chronosphere. To compensate for this, Madman has a much easier time farming than Chronos and he requires less items to become effective. Madman has the ability to help initiate fights with barrel roll, though many Madman players fail to use this facet of his skill set. The barrel rolls skill naturally combo with just about every other hero in the game, some more so than others. Madman can swing team fights in your favor by leading off with a barrel roll followed by a stalk. This safely softens up the entire enemy team, stuns them in position for other heroes to use follow up skill and sets the stages for Madman to mop up whatever easy kills are left over.

All four of Madmans skills scale perfectly to late game. The combination of Stalk and Barrel Roll give him all the escape mechanism he needs to farm up heavily in the first 20-25 minutes. If the other team is playing sloppy he can use these skills to help on nearby gank to great effectiveness, and I want to stress that as well. His early game is solid and mostly stress free compared to a hero like Chronos or even Sand Wraith. The ability to farm up quickly and the universal appeal of having a huge, long range, AoE stun on your team is why Madman is on this list.

Team Construction:

One of the best things about Madman is the fact that he is a late carry that has some early to mid game utility. Coupled with his great disable, this allows madman to fit in just about any team that is looking for some scaling DPS. Madman can farm safely on your long lane, then clear the jungle efficiently. This allows him to reach his effective mark around 25 minutes in your average game, which is somewhat faster than other heroes on this list. You will need to compliment Madman with a game breaking ult to make up for his lack of one, and that needs to be seriously noted. Madman is very friendly to AoE and blinking teams as well.

Vital Statistics:

Primary Role: Late Carry
Secondary Role: Disabler, Initiator

Pros: Easy to farm with and high Str+Agi gain means less items needed, long range AoE stun+damage, fits well with just about every balanced lineup
Cons: Lacks a game breaking Ult

Sample Lineup: Madman, Magmus, Slither, Demented Shaman, Tempest




Magebane

Profile:

Magebane is another Hard Carry that lacks a truly game breaking ult. Like Madman, Magebane has an easy time farming, but unlike Madman he lacks any sort of disable. Because of this lack, Magebane has less ganking power than Madman early on in the game when enemy mana pools are still low. The good news is this liability disappears by mid game and his ganking skills improve rather quickly. Magebane has decent lane presence from the start, and he has the ability to get some early game lane kills with the right partner ie Vindicator.

Like Chronos, Magebane can move into the jungle full time very early on if your team composition supports such a move. This will net the team more exp. When I play Magebane I like to be ready to hit the jungle at the 7-8minute mark with an Iron shield and a Mask of Death. The jungle is a very consistent source of gold and exp and I can normally get my core items by 25 minutes or so. After you have your core items Magebane becomes truely scary in a hurry. His turbo attack speed kills heroes in seconds and drains their mana so they cannot escape or fight back. Magebane is an excellent chaser and hes bloody hard to kill. Magebane's -cast speed aura does not scale well and has limited use in the early game, but his other skills are good enough to make him a viable pick in a lot of situations.

Team Contruction:

Magebane can fit well into most lineups, though ganking heavy teams use his skills most efficiently. Safety isnt much concern for Magebane since he has a spammable, instant cast speed blink. This lets you have free range in you choice of support hero for the team. Magebane works very well with stuns / grips. Your overall team strategy should be focused on isolating a hero either via gank or other means. Once isolated, the gank squad disables it for Magebane to finish "In the blink of an eye".

Vital Statistics:

Primary Role: Late Carry
Secondary Role: Mid Game Ganker

Pros: Hard to kill, Deadly in 1v1 situations, combos insanely well with other gankers, decent AGI gain
Cons: Lacks game breaking ult, Lacks Disable, low STR gain

Sample Line-Up: Magebane, Plague Rider, Electrician, Andromeda, Vindicator



Sand Wraith

Profile
And finally we come to Sand Wraith, and in many ways the Sand Wraith discussion is the whole purpose of this article (besides talking about the high end viability of the new Chronos). In the interest of full disclosure I will start out by saying that I am not a huge fan of Sand Wraith in HoN. I think that for meta-game reasons Sand Wraith is less viable in HoN than he is in Dota. I realize that Sand Wraith's high hero win% is in conflict with this opinion but my explanation for this is that it has become a commonly known fact that Sand Wraith is a very difficult hero to use properly. The result of this is that only the really good players play him consistently. On top of this, the recent nerf to Dissipation makes him less game breaking than he was before.

That said, I think Sand Wraith is an EXCELLENT pick in a lot of drafting modes, and thus deserves a place on this list. Now thats out of the way lets talk about what Sand Wraith brings to the table as a Late Carry.

Sand Wraith is a game breaking Hard Carry with a wicked AoE maim. He farms moderately well since he has some escape potential with Deserts Curse. He can also farm a lane longer than the other carries on this list due to his ult doubling as a teleport. All of Sand's skills scale decently well, and he has decent STR gain.

On the downside, Sand has a very tough early game. He has almost no lane presence, though occasionally he can facilitate some early kills with the maim on Desert's Curse. He needs a babysitter and there is really no way around it. More importantly though, the nature of the way he deals damage and breaks games open require more farm than any other hero on the list.

Team Construction:
To make Sand effective you MUST assemble a team that can afford to buy him lots of time to farm. Sand needs a ridiculous amount of farm to become truly game breaking. It really doesn't help that the damage from Dissipation is Magic instead of Pure. That said, Sand Wraith's ult unlocks a few tactics that can mitigate his pathetic early game IF used wisely. Sand can port in and finish off any hero on the board that is in critical range. It is important to build a ganking team that buys sand plenty of time to farm up while allowing him the chance to get a few easy kills via his ult.

Vital Statistics:

Primary Role: Late Carry
Secondary Role: Disabler

Pros: Game breaking, moderate farmer, AoE LONG distance maim, global chaser / finisher, excellent STR gain

Cons: Needs tons of support and doesn't combo well with other heroes, takes longer to farm than any other hero on the list, nerfed Dissipation makes him less game breaking, poor AGI gain

Sample Line up: Sand Wraith, Blood Hunter, Keeper of the Forest, Wretched Hag, Plague Rider

Conclusion

After comparing the roles, strengths and weaknesses of these four carries we can see that each one is viable for different scenarios. I think that post nerf Sand Wraith is the least viable of the four. Chronos is potentially the most game breaking of the four, but he fits into fewer teams than Madman or Magebane.

I look forward to hear your comments regarding my opinions on HoN and these late carries. Thanks for reading this.

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