I wish it were easier to cancel attacks, I get annoyed as Taka when I try to vanish and he decides to attack something as soon as I stealth so I'm no longer stealthed!
I accidentally discovered a Ringo trick: Every time you leave your home base, at the same moment you first tap to walk, tap Twirling Silver as well. Since you're starting IN your base, your energy will recharge almost instantly (even though you're walking away). And the cooldown timer is short anyway. So you basically get a few seconds of completely free speed boost to reach your destination quicker. Not sure if any other heroes have an ability that might be useful as you depart your spawn base.
It's not really a trick...I've always done it. You can charge with glaive, summon your munions with petal and be completely full on energy ect there's a few heroes where it's useful for something even if it's just a tiny speed boost like taka's vanish.
Actually, it's easier on iPad. Think about it, you have two (or more) pointers. No need to move the cursor between your target and where you want to move. Just tap left, then right, then left, etc. Somebody asked a while back why Taka might want crystal lifesteal instead of a Mask. It might not be about the lifesteal. Weapon builds can quickly get starved for energy, so it can pay to get one crystal item just to keep the specials flowing. So then you look at what you can get with your energy. Taka's cooldowns are already pretty fast, and all his skills chase, so a Frostburn might not help much either. X-retsu hits pretty hard, so you might be surprised how much health that Skull returns.
Taka's abilities are made stronger by crystal power also so you could build an all crystal taka but I guess you'd be trading normal damage for added extra ability damage. But yes as you said having at least the energy battery is helpful for most if not all heroes. I use frostbourne with many heroes for the regen and its ability and also the clockwork which is especially helpful in Krul vs Krul duels which can go on....and on. I love frostbourne most with Adaigo and Petal thanks to the arcane fire being easily spread and the pets slowing is so very annoying when your trying to run off!
I had a fun game yesterday playing Glaive against a super-tanky team. They had Fountains and Crucibles and Aegis everywhere, plus Adagio heals and Joule armour. Glaive with Tornado + Bonesaw + Mask just waded right in, chewed through the armour and lifestole their piddling damage back. Still, it was a damn slow match that took about 35 mins. I had so much cash that I sold my boots so I could load up both infusions, buy back my boots, and finally put an end to it all. I was starting to feel tank builds were OP, frustrating, and dull, so I might spend more time as Glaive just to counter them. The build might also work for other heroes, but Glaive's cleaves, crits and huge base health definitely help pull it off.
I agree sometimes I feel like the damage can outdo the defence if you pick weapons instead but I know they can make a difference so I'm probably wrong. Just had an awesome game as adagio I really do love playing him but you need the setup to do so. Not to sound big headed but I singlehandedly caused the win, which is why I like adagio as he can turn the tide of battles and the whole game.
This runs awesomly well on my iPhone 5 but yet it's another game which isn't officially supported for this device although it's running extremely smooth, hmm. Makes no sense whatsoever. Must be another stupid xcode limitation. Too sad I had to find a workaround to get it on my device. So far, it's very good. I'm usually not the moba guy but this is surprisingly well made.
In my experience, defence items are generally more powerful. That's why you're starting to see people who build a Fountain before anything else, and why I'm getting frustrated whenever I see both Catherine and Krul on the other team. Weapon is a better counter, simply because both red piercing items are vastly better than the stupid Broken Myth. What surprised me about the Glaive build is that he's basically a damage tank that can dish it and take it. And unlike Krul, he actually gets stronger the more enemies are around him to lifesteal with cleaves. Just godly in team fights in the lane. And yeah, a good game as Adagio can be very rewarding. You know you've done it when you're on top of the assists. I understand he's a killer in his own right if you build him weapon, but I just can't get into the right mindset for it. Every now and then I can top kill lists against people who don't know how to handle Arcane Fire and his ultimate, but mostly I just try to weather the big "gank the healer" sign over my head and hope my allies understand teamwork.
I'm starting to see many more people using the armour piercing now too with the bone shredder is it? Especially on Krul. I agree with glaive also he is pretty awesome and as you said just better the bigger the group against him unless he's the target. I'm still enjoying adagio and Taka along with Skarrf but definitely dislike some enemies such as Catherine, Krul and Glaive.
Bonesaw. Not only does it grant more piercing (after a few swings, anyway) than any other item in the game, that piercing works for anybody who attacks the target, and it grants a hefty attack speed boost and more WP than Broken Myth grants CP. Every team should probably have one. Even if the enemy isn't stacking armour, it helps bring down turrets and kraken. I'm thinking I should learn to play Catherine next. She might be a more instrumental team player than Adagio, with her ability to lock down one target for several seconds and generally be a total nuisance to the enemy team.
Aye I've started using the bonesaw with some heroes like Krul, with Taka though I try to be in an out so not there long enough to gain many stacks and it is pretty awesome, I think it'll get a nerf. I would think Adaigo is better team wise still, depending on the team setup of course. I only find Cathrine a pain because I can't use my abilities until the shield drops. I prefer Koshka stun wise and fun wise to Catherine. But I still I've Adaigo very much, I hope one of the 3 new heroes is a healer or support role again.
I used to have a lot of fun with Koshka, but now with Taka around, I don't know why she exists. She's the squishiest jungler, with no lifesteal or escape moves. If she gets the drop on a vulnerable enemy, she can burst him dead, but Taka could do that while stealing health, dodging specials, and bugging out if help shows up. Taka has no stun? With one second of charge up and two seconds of helplessness, Koshka's stun is easily countered and just as likely to kill her as the enemy in a team fight. Compare to Catherine's stun, which lasts almost as long, is much harder to counter, doesn't leave her helpless while it happens, and is on a 13 second timer. And finally, there's the problem that crystal damage is easier to build defence against than weapon (or rather, shield is harder to pierce). I just don't have the success with her in the hotness tier that I enjoyed in lower levels. A new support class could be interesting. Jungle healer maybe? Or somebody with Skaarf's area control could be dangerous in the jungle.
You got me there, I agree with you on the stun on reflection as there have been many times I kill Koshka while she's using her stun ability on one of my allies, but still I don't enjoy Catherine as much as I do Adaigo I always pick him if someone picks a jungles and decent laner leaving me to chose mine. As for a support I know it's not likely to happen but I remember back when I played a MOBA type game back on warcraft I think it was, use to have a goblin there that could do things like throw bombs and set mines ect, someone that could set traps would be a cool addition but I suppose hard to counter? I don't know why as I love fighting as most heroes but I get the most enjoyment out of support roles and having a good team to support, on WoW and Guild Wars I played as a healer and even BF2 when I use to play I played medic more than sniper which I also love. But with 3 heroes coming you'd think it would be support, ranged and melee anyway, from the story one of them kind of sounded like a mech type character to me and I just imagined one having a turret to deploy.
Playing Adaigo, Skarrf and Taka the most lately as my favourites. Haven't checked of ive gone up a skill tier or people are just getting better but it's getting harder lately. I seem to end up with the allies that are no help meaning I get slaughtered trying to fight the enemy team on my own : ( but generally when I'm not sacrificing myself trying to slow them down or save an ally I do very well. But I do need to find regular players to play with as I often end up against teams that work together going around 2/3 together while mine go off on their own.
Anyone else getting really really crappy teams lately? Maybe more people are playing but I've had so many afks, people just staying in jungles not moving while I and the turret gets slaughtered despite asking for help. I'm a high tier and I never afk so I know I'm not placed with those. Is it just newbies? That's fine, but read about your character choice before using. I know I suck at Catherine, so I don't use her. I wish people would be more aware. Sigh. Rant over. ^.^
It's not just you, although I rarely get afk players at karma rank 20 but sometimes still get the odd one. But there are many poor team players that don't realize you can't win on your own.
I feel like it goes in "streaks." A bunch of games where we I by a landslide, alternating with a bunch where my team is trounced badly. Or maybe that's just my human brain's craving for patterns and meaning! It does seem that way, though. For instance: I try to note whether the losing team's HIGHEST player gold is less than the winning team's LOWEST player gold. That happens a LOT. If so, it could be to do with the way they match Elo skill rankings. Maybe they find two more people who are most similar to your invisible ranking, and make you a team of 3. Then they look at all the teams of 3 and try to match two teams--but in reality, one team would be higher Elo (better matched with each other than with the other team), and so you might get these winning/losing streaks as your Elo adjusts. OR maybe they do it in a better way, where they match SIX people together and THEN shuffle them randomly into two teams. If that's the way it is (I may ask on their forums) then the streaks are harder to explain. Maybe just oscillation of your Elo, or, as I say, a false pattern that's only in my brain
I'm rank 19 and I guess I've just been unlucky with teammates the last few days. Then again, I've had some amazing ones as well. The ones that really annoy me are the ones that hide in the jungle even when there's nothing going on there and 3 enemies are on the line. I always go help out in the jungle if called or if the first two turrets are out I'll flick back and forth. But, those players that leave one or two of us against 3 in the line drives me nuts while all they are doing is hiding by the shop while it's obvious we are dying since its announced evert two minutes. ^.^ If I'm playing Koshka, I'll even come and hit the line in the start and then go back and forth when the mines are taken care of. I had a SAW who kept red blinking me to go back when there was NOTHING to do there and he was getting killed. I actually killed two while he was on timer. Then he blinked me again. So after that, I just let him die. You blink me every time I move on the lane to help your a$$ like an obnoxious jerk you'll just piss me off. So I stopped helping up there, let him die numerous times. And we lost obviously. Best loss ever.