Vainglory Forums

Simple question:

When I roam, i almost always get contraption asap. I want to have an easy way to ensure vision. However, people tell me there is a better way to ensure vision in the game than spending money getting it.

How do you guys buy vision items while roaming, in general? I usually play ardan or Catherine, but I'm just looking for general advice on this.

Thanks!

I normally jungle, but I roam sometimes, so I'll try to give some advice. Normally you would rush a Fountain of Renewal first to give your team more survivability in fights, which can give you an advantage over the other team if they don't have a fountain.

In the first jungle shop, I would buy 2 flares and a scout trap. Early game does not require too much scout trap placement, so I think one is enough. I normally place it in the Tri-brush to get early warning of jungle invade/ ganks. In every subsequent jungle shop, try to get about 2 flares and a scout trap to maintain vision. Alternatively, you can get a Flare gun on your way to a fountain of renewal, or directly after it. Do this if you plan on using a lot of flares since it is cheaper to use flare gun especially with the 1.20 changes to it.

After the FoR and Flare gun, start counter building and buy some scout traps too. Once you think you are done counter building, finish a contraption since it gives nice cooldown speed and regen. And it will allow you to place scout traps, so you can save up a vision slot for something else like a stormcrown or aftershock...

As Ardan or Catherine, you might want to prioritize getting an early stormguard banner, maybe after fountain. This is because stormguard banner is fairly cheap for the cooldown speed and regen stats it provides. This is extremely good for energy hungry Catherine and an Ardan who wants to deal some more damage with Blood for Blood.

You should also try out Lance and Phinn. They have incredible CC, though Lance is hard to master and Phinn is just freakin slow. They require better positioning but are very rewarding when you manage to do something good with your CC. I felt so happy quibbling an Ardan out of his ult before but that only happened once :P

Hey thanks for the reply. Couple of questions:

-What is CC?
-How do you counterbuild? I assume when you say this, you mean that building an Atlas if you have a glaive, saw, or krul that are rocking the attack speed, and building a crucible (always get this, of course) etc.
-What are some other good counter build items? I was playing jungle and our Catherine saved us against Reim and Lance, as she just built great items that made it so Reim and Lance couldn't do anything. She had storm crown and alternating current, they couldn't do anything. I don't have the knowledge to know how to "out shop" the other team.
-What items are good against certain other heroes? How can you determine what items are good at countering other items, or even, what items are good at countering heroic perks and what not of other heroes?

Long question, I know, but it's something I'm really struggling with.

Thanks!

1) CC stands for Crowd Control. CC basically restricts the enemy's performance in a fight. An example would be Ardan's Gauntlet trapping an enemy carry, who will find it difficult to get into better positions to deal damage.

2) Counterbuild based on their biggest threat. If they have heroes with high attack speed destroying your team, get an Atlas Pauldron. If they have heroes with good CC such as Phinn's Forced Accord or Catherine's Blast Tremor, build crucible. Crucible is very hard to time properly for some skills, such as Phinn's Forced Accord (I'm just not good enough for that). If they have a Vox that is very slippery, you may want to build shiversteel so your teammates can catch up to him. The time at which you get the items depends on who is the greatest threat. If they have Phinn and SAW, I would suggest going for Atlas Pauldron before Crucible.

3) Alternating Current and Stormcrown aren't actually considered Counterbuild items. It might be that Catherine had good positioning in fights, bodyblocking damage while using stuns properly to help you lock down an enemy. However, as a Roam, you would like to have your abilities on low cooldown so you can spam it to save allies or disrupt enemies. The 3 cooldown items a Roam can choose to have (can have all 3 if you have slots) are: Aftershock, Contraption, Stormcrown. Aftershock would improve your damage on enemy heroes, Stormcrown would help increase jungle clear speeds and objective taking, contraption would be used for vision (to counter invis heroes such as kestrel and Taka). Never ever get Clockwork. Clockwork is now expensive AF and it has a CP ratio which is only good for CP carries.

4) I'll just list a few examples. Atlas Pauldron against SAW+Krul+Glaive+Vox etc., Crucible against Roamers+Vox+Ozo etc., Shiversteel against Vox+Ringo+anyone else who loves to kite (except Benjamin Franklin :P). Just in case you don't know what kiting is, I'll explain it. It's the act of attacking an enemy while they are unable to attack you, mostly ranged vs melee. This requires stutter stepping as you need to move between attacks to distance yourself from the enemy.

Reflex block or any item with reflex block counters those items with debuff actives like shiversteel and Atlas Pauldron. Against enemies building armor, build Bonesaw. Against enemies building shield, build Broken Myth. However, the last 2 are mainly for carries, since they nerfed Bonesaw for supports.

Look at what the heroic perk and the hero's kit says. If it is like SAW, revolving around attack speed, get Atlas Pauldron. If it is like Taka, revolving around invisibility/hit and run, prioritize vision. Etc etc.

-> If you have the time, watch some videos of competitive gameplay, such as the evil eight. You can watch it on twitch.tv/vainglory I think. Just see how the Roamers position themselves with respect to everything else and what items they buy at what point.

Sadly I don't think it was more of a counterbuild, but more that your opponents were terrible.

This is a fantastic response. It's exactly what I needed. I'll be looking back at it often. And I agree that the opponents I had when our Catherine built an alternating current were just bad. We did slaughter them. Aftershock, stormcrown, and contraption. I'll be looking forward to finding the best time to get and use those.

And yes, I knew what kiting was :) but only as of a couple of months ago when I played with some experienced players willing to teach me in the game. Love finding people like that that are willing to party with you.