Azgalor - Pit Lord
Range: 100 | Move Speed: 305
Primary: STR
Str: 25 + 2.6 | Agi: 12 + 1.3 | Int: 17 + 2.6
Damage: 62 - 68 | HP: 625 | Mana: 221
HP Regen: | Mana Regen:
Attack Speed: | Armor: 4
Firestorm (F)
Calls down 6 waves of fire that damage enemy units in an area. Each wave deals initial damage and then burns enemies for 2 seconds.
Level 1 - 25 wave damage, 5 dps
Level 2 - 40 wave damage, 10 dps
Level 3 - 55 wave damage, 15 dps
Level 4 - 70 wave damage, 20 dps
Mana Cost: 100/110/120/130
Cooldown: 14
Comment: Firestorm is Azgalor's main source of money. Early and Mid game rely on this skill. I like this skill coz it's kinda intimidating once you see those meteors pounding and dealing heavy damage. The tendency is for your enemy to back off a little far from the range of the storm, thus, last hitting and denying merely is off their beat. As you reach level 3 Firestorm, surely a set of creep wave will be potted to your bank each time.
Pit of Malice (T)
A deadly pit is conjured at target location. Any unit that enters it becomes corrupted with malicious forces and are unable to move for some time.
Level 1 - 1.5 seconds
Level 2 - 2 seconds
Level 3 - 2.5 seconds
Level 4 - 3 seconds
Mana Cost: 100/115/130/145
Cooldown: 24/21/18/15
Comment: Very nice AOE stopper. It delays and halts your enemy causing them unable to move nor attack for 3 seconds (maxed level). It ceases channeling skills as well. United with Firestorm and Expulsion, it deals tremendous damage. Moreover, Pit of Malice is very assistive in successfully executing devastating AOE spells like Chain Frost, Epicenter, Freezing Field, Black Hole, Poison Nova and the likes
Expulsion (E)
Ignites the rotten gases of corpses, detonating them to cause damage to any enemy within the explosion radius. Each explosion fuels another until there are no more corpses in the area. Does a ministun on damaged units.
Level 1 - 20 damage per corpse
Level 2 - 40 damage per corpse
Level 3 - 60 damage per corpse
Level 4 - 80 damage per corpse
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 10
Comment: This is a decent alternative anti-channeling skill as well as AOE damage dealer overtime. This is very useful when tagged with other skills. Good alternative farming, killing and defending skill.
Dark Rift (D)
Opens rifts that pass through the netherworld at his present position and a target unit simultaneously. Teleports your hero and nearby allied heroes through the rift.
Level 1 - 6 Second Casting Delay. Buildings only.
Level 2 - 5 Second Casting Delay. Units or Buildings.
Level 3 - 4 Second Casting Delay. Units or Buildings.
Mana Cost: 75/150/225
Cooldown: 180/160/140
Comment: I found this skill great for ganking as well as backdooring together with all your allies. In addition, this is an Anti-gank skill. It can save the whole team or few allies from unexpected ambush or chase. Later on, I'll show you some tips on how to properly execute this.
Skill Build:
1. Firestorm
2. Stats
3. Firestorm
4. Stats
5. Firestorm
6. Stats
7. Firestorm
8. Pit of Malice
9. Pit of Malice
10. Pit of Malice
11. Pit of Malice
12. Expulsion
13. Expulsion
14. Expulsion
15. Expulsion
16. Dark Rift
17. Dark Rift
18. Dark Rift
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats
Item Build:
1.
Ring of Basilius (500)
+6 Damage
Passive: Brilliance Aura
900 Radius +0.65 mana/ second to friendly units
Passive: Devotion Aura
900 Radius +3 Armor
Does not stack with Crystal Maiden's Brilliance Aura, but stack with Sven's Devotion Aura. Active: Toggle Devotion Aura
Turns the passive: Devotional Aura on and off as desired.
Ring of Protection + Sobi Mask
nice mana regen for spamming firestorm and addtitional damage for easy last hit
2.
Ancient Tango of Essifation (80)
Actived (2 charges): Eat tree to gain 100 hp.
Item disappears when charges used up
replenish lost hp
3.
Ironwood Branch (57)
+1 all stats
Consume your remaining gold for Branches to pump your Stats. I usually get 3-4 pcs of this
Early Game:
Azgalor - Pit Lord (Level 1 no items)
Range: 100Move Speed: 305
Primary: STR
Str: 25 + 2.6 | Agi: 12 + 1.3 | Int: 17 + 2.6
Damage: 62 - 68 | HP: 625 | Mana: 221
HP Regen: | Mana Regen:
Attack Speed: | Armor: 4 As we look at it, you can definitely abuse his high attributes advantage early game like harassing your lane opponent with your normal attack or by using Firestorm. Let’s review the Cons and Pros of our underdog Azgalor
Cons:
1. No killing signature
2. Item Dependent
3. All skills require Mana
4. Not a typical and indestructible late gamer
5. Lastly, it’s hard to deal with his Ultimate. With lengthy cool down and protracted casting time. I mean not everybody loves his Ulti.
Pros:
1. A versatile Strength hero. Can be modified 360 degrees
2. Can be supporter, tanker, caster, killer and ganker3. Prompt farmer and fast pusher
4. High stats gain (HP and MP), and decent armor
5. High damage at early stage (Lvl 1 = 60-70 damage)
6. Last-hit / Deny friendly, decent starting MS = 305
7. Nice disabler/holder, blocker, defender, and an effective backdoorer
8. Useful ganker tagged with his ultimate
Skill Build Rationalization:
I believe you are wondering why I chose Stats over Pit of Malice. Okay, no questions about the Firestorm being the first Skill, right? Foremost, Firestorm is your “bread and butter”. It’s your harassing, farming and can be a killing apparatus. By level 3 Firestorm, it can wipe out a creep wave. Now, with regard to Stats over Pit of Malice, the latter consumes high Mana even at level 1. You want to conserve your Mana and spend it through Firestorm all alone. Coz your Mana Pool isn’t that high enough to sustain your Firestorm-Pit of Malice combo especially when facing 2 range foes. After all, early game is all about farming. Thus, you’ll just need to fill your bank with money at the same time dealing damage to your enemy. I know Firestorm can easily be dodged coz it’s obvious right? Your opponent will simply say, “hey you noob I can just easily steer clear of those crappy falling fires”. But then you simply just say, “so what?” I’m not after killing you, I’m after your creeps, I can clearly see dollars popping out each time. The good thing is if they stay within the AOE of Firestorm for the sake of last hit or deny, good for you coz that’ll lead to an early kill. Bad for them coz they’ll certainly loose their money or devour their flask/tangoe early on.
Pit of Malice will be scored after maxing out Firestorm. By then, you should have Perseverance that will suffice mana depletion. This is your stopping and chasing skill. According to it’s description, it corrupts the enemy once it’s been trapped inside the pit. I found out that it somehow reduces the armor of the enemy for short period of time. I’m not that certain about the percentage of the armor being omitted once you’ve been trapped.
Expulsion is next to be maxed out after Pit of Malice. This is very supportive when it comes to team pushing, defending as well as killing. What I love about this is the mini stun which cancels channeling. In addition, it provides high damage within duration per corpse. Then after maxing out those 3 spells, back to Stats again. As the game progresses, the opposition surely gets stronger. You need more Stats to stuff yourself keeping your HP high to shield yourself up. If you’ve been raped by 4 or 5 enemies, then it couldn’t be helped hehe. Maxing Dark Rift early on is situational and optional. If your team comprises of gankers and aggressive then max it out sacrificing your Stats and the other skills.
Dark Rift’s Benefits:
1. Can save you and your ally from being rape/gank (mostly Level 3 Dark Rift can do it coz it is reduced to 4 seconds delay)
2. Can teleport the whole team to one place at the same time leading to successful escape or gank provided there’s an allied creep there.
3. I also found this anti-Overgrowth (anti-Treant). When you’ve been trapped in Overgrowth, you can still cast skill right? The good thing about Dark Rift is it’s not a channeling type that can be disrupted. Even if you’ve been stunned, hexed, shackled, voodooed, and any type of disables, it’ll still teleport you once you have successfully cast it. Even while walking, it will still push through. In doing it, you must cast Pit of Malice first then Dark Rift or the other way around just to reduce the damage inflicted or to at least delay your enemy for 3 seconds from casting devastating skills. Note: you can only teleport to your buildings and creeps, neither to allied hero nor to courier. Furthermore, allied heroes need to stay next to you in order for them to be teleported as well. I’m not that certain about the specific AOE that it covers for your allied heroes to be teleported with (I guess within 200 AoE). It’s like a free Boots of Travel for the whole team however, it requires high mana, and generally, I hate the 4 seconds transporting time with a long cool down. Its okay for the 4 seconds casting time to balance it, but the cool down really annoys me. Personally, I feel uncomfortable scoring Dark Rift without maxing the first 3 skills. I prefer getting this behind.In version 6.52 map, you can actually cast Dark Rift anywhere in the map with allied buildings and creeps. No need to specifically click the building or creep. That's a good change. Clicking on buildings and allied creep is a pain on my butt :-).
Alternate Skill Build (ganker type)
If your team or few members of your team comprise of gankers, this build suits their support needs. This skill build requires high mana. A simple Perseverance will suffice your mana need.
Firestorm
Pit of Malice
Firestorm
Pit of Malice
Firestorm
Dark Rift
Firestorm
Pit of Malice
Pit of Malice
Stat
Dark Rift
Expulsion
Expulsion
Expulsion
Expulsion
Dark Rift Stats – Lvl 25
Early Game: Tactic, Pushing, Harassing and Killing
First, let's have a brief overview on the primary goal of playing DOTA. For me it’s simple, you'll just need to rax and bombard your enemy's defense up to the Frozen Throne or Tree of Life in order to win the game, right? You play coz you wanna win. No matter how you accomplish it, early game, mid game, late game and even the frustrating backdoor, lolz :-)! Just kidding, backdoor is an art I believe. Hence, DOTA is not just all about hero killing and something like that. DOTA is all about team play, tactic wise and outsmarting the opposition paired with your gaming skill and lots of different factors to mull over. If those attitudes were successfully put into action, certainly bacon is next :-). Okay, proceed to early game stage.
Farming
Do the usual art of creep blocking at the start of the game. This will help you level up faster. Prioritize last hit than deny. I found Pitlord very good when it comes to last hitting and denying coz his default damage early game is around 69-75 with some cheap but helpful items. If you have mastered last hit, you'll be stuffed earlier than the rest. Plus you have firestorm to increase your opening for last hitting. Your objective is to farm and push towers as early as possible to prevent your opponent from obtaining their dream items. This will assist your team mates augment their pots as well. Don't worry about the tower hugging style coz your firestorm will keep your enemy from a safe distance and at the same time, gold keeps on popping up. There are different scenarios or lane match-ups which you'll need to be aware of.
You Vs 1 Melee - Deal with it. Last hit and deny is not your problem, it's theirs, as well as harassing is at your stake therefore don’t take risks, utilize your harassing skill gapping your opponent’s level and farming.
You Vs 2 Melee – Conditional, if both are stunners and skill casters, it’s a pain however, back off a little and do the timing for last hit and deny. If you have played with Insane AI’s, you will notice how superb they are when it comes to last hit and deny no matter who and what attributes their opponents are. They are backing off a little to confuse you that they are not there coz they are hidden by the fog of war but then suddenly, they will come forward like thirsting for last hit and deny and it’s almost always perfect. Well, they are bots and they are supposed be that pro. But then for us solely humans, practice makes perfect thoughJ.
You vs. 1 Range – Typically, some pro players will use their range advantage and will totally harass you. I managed to pact with it. All you need to do is ignore first the last hit / deny, and proceed to attacking the hero. Of course you know his creeps will attack you, but then, your creeps will back you up, combo it with firestorm and his creeps will be wiped out faster than yours thus you have now the creeps advantage. In addition, you have higher damage and higher HP. Tendency is they will use their healing consumables otherwise a constant trip to fountain. That makes you home alone for farming.. J
You vs. 2 Range Types – Simple, just pray that both of them are noobs hehehe. Just kidding! This scenario validates your ability as a “real” DOTA player. This will not affect your farming skill coz you have firestorm. By level 3 firestorm, it can wipe out a single creep wave. This will help you level up faster as well. If you haven’t mastered the art of last hit and deny, better let your hero sit or dance next to your range creep just to progress your level. Best alternative is to ask for lane partner.
You vs. 1 Melee and 1 Range – Roughly similar to 2 range types above. Use Firestorm as your primary harassing tool keeping your opponent off range from last hitting your creeps. Ask for lane partner if you’re facing aggressive and harass-maniac foes. Farming is the easiest ability of Pit Lord. When your Firestorm reached level 3, you can wipe out every creep waves.
That’s a clear 200 plus gold per creep wave. Like what I've said, Firestorm is your source of income. Without it, last hit is your alternative. Wait there's more.
Pushing:
Don't hesitate to hit their towers every after creep wave. You're one of the ultimate pushers. Be aggressive in a smart way.