I'll hold back.. It's more entertaining that way.

Hello! And welcome to my Adagio guide. Please note, it's been written for the casual player, and is only intended for competitive play if you deem it suitable yourself. Thanks!

To begin with, Adagio is a strong team supporter. He is a flexible hero, excelling in any role (of roamer, laner and jungler). He's combination-oriented and his move set has very strong potential when used well. In the lane, he can use his heroic perk's sustain to keep his energy up and his B ability's boosted damage to ensure the last hit, along with poking at the enemy laner with his Arcane Fire. As a jungler, he can heal the roamer and himself to ensure no deaths. As a roamer, he can heal himself and boost the damage of his jungler to kill monsters faster.



Side-note: There isn't a threat meter for the Roamer build because I don't really think it applies to roamers as much as it does to junglers/laners - the threat meter from the Laner build applies to the Roamer one too.

Adagio's move set centres around being able to support his team-mates/himself and being able to turn the tables around of major team fights with his Verse of Judgement.

Arcane Renewal (Heroic Perk) Whenever enemies burning with Arcane Fire take damage from any source, Adagio regenerates 35% of that damage as energy.

• 35% doesn't sound like much, but it really is, when put into practical use.
• Always ensure enemies are on fire before using your Agent of Wrath and Verse of Judgement abilities. It does more damage and stuns them respectively.

Gift of Fire (Ability A) Adagio heals a target ally and splashes Arcane Fire onto nearby enemies, dealing damage every second. If Adagio heals himself, he'll also slow nearby enemies by 70% for 0.7 seconds.

• The Arcane Fire is splashed onto ALL nearby enemies (meaning it includes minions, monsters, objectives and players alike). Because of this, rushing into the middle of the enemy team during a team fight, healing yourself and casting Verse of Judgement is a nifty strategy.
• Always, and I mean always, check your ally's health before healing yourself. They're relying on you to keep them alive.
• The slow is extremely helpful in catching fleeing enemies. Use it when you can!
• When you're in need of energy, remember to cast this near enemies/minions etc., and to attack them. Your energy comes back in no time.

Agent of Wrath (Ability B) Temporarily increases target ally's basic attack power for 6 seconds. Deals additional damage if the target is burning with Arcane Fire, and if Adagio casts this spell on himself.

• When overdrived, it only buffs 6 basic attacks. It still goes well with an attack-speed oriented ally, but.. Not as well as in previous updates.
• Remember the Arcane Fire bonus! It deals more damage to people that are alight wth the fire.

Verse of Judgement (Ability C or Ultimate) Adagio channels for 2 seconds then deals heavy damage to all enemies in a wide, rune-marked ring around him. Enemies burning with Arcane Fire are also stunned. While channeling, Adagio temporarily gains fortified health during channeling.

• This is Adagio's main team fight-altering ability. Use it wisely, because it has quite a long cool down.
• Always, and I mean always, make sure the enemy is set alight with Arcane Fire before using this - it stuns them! However, a well timed reflex block prevents that..
• When you don't get the stun in, however, it still deals a lot of damage. While channeling, though, a smart player will try to stun you, which stops you from casting it but still goes on cool down. This is why an early reflex block would help you.
• As I stated before, a common strategy of any Adagio player is to rush into the middle of the enemy team during a team fight, cast a heal on yourself, then use Verse of Judgement. It doesn't always work, but it's very strong when it does.

It's easily seen from Adagio's move set that he excels in supporting his allies and altering team fights, on both his crystal and defensive path. Overall, remember to set enemies alight before using abilities and to use Verse of Judgement wisely.

In 1.18, Adagio wasn't nerfed, but changed slightly.

• A minor bug on Gift of Fire was fixed, to ensure the full heal was given to the hero it was applied to.
• Agent of Wrath had it's base crystal ratio changed from 50% to 40%, and the Arcane Fire damage bonus crystal ratio changed from 35% to 45%. This means that Adagio can still achieve the same damage but Arcane Fire has become a more important component.

In 1.19, Adagio was nerfed slightly.

• Agent of Wrath only buffs the next 4-4-4-4-6 (levels 1-5) basic attacks, instead of buffing any amount of basic attacks for a period of time. This means that 1. Attack speed Adagio will be seen less and be less powerful, and 2. Adagio won't be as strong when teamed with an attack-speed oriented ally.
• Verse of Judgement had the damage changed from 450-750-1050 (levels 1-3) with a 140% crystal power ratio, to 500-900-1300 (levels 1-3) with a 100% crystal power ratio.

In the early-game, what you should really do as Adagio is focus on farming gold and assisting your team-mates when they need it, which includes in jungle fights, etc. Laning early isn't always easy for Adagio; it's often a challenge to last hit because of the low base weapon damage plus the fact that Agent of Wrath costs a lot of energy, relative to what you have available. Keep poking at the enemy with Arcane Fire, and focus on getting that last hit on the minion(s). When you get an Alternating Current, last hitting becomes much easier and sometimes you don't even have to try.
Until level 6, which I'll refer to as mid game, you don't have access to your ultimate. This means your presence in a team fight is much less noticeable, considering you can't nuke the entire enemy team like you can at level 6.
Like I've said elsewhere in the guide, you can optionally choose to get an early Reflex Block (or a reflex block from some other item) to save yourself from being stunned while channeling your ultimate, and for other uses too.

This is the more important part.

Here, you have access to Verse of Judgement, your ultimate. This is a game changer for everyone. Not only does it deal heavy crystal damage to everyone in the ring it marks, it stuns them if they're alight with Arcane Fire.

Farming will become easier for you too, because you should have more crystal power by now, which in turn makes the Alternating Current deal more damage. Also, in the mid game, you really need to focus on at least one defence item if you haven't already (usually, build a tier 2 defence item a few minutes in). You'll take a lot of damage if you don't, and put your whole team at a disadvantage.

Using abilities in the late game:
Gift of Fire: Use it whenever your team-mates need it, or when you do, and try to get enemies, minions or monsters in it too so you can regenerate the lost energy.

Agent of Wrath: Your best friend. As a crystal Adagio, you heavily reky in this ability to deal damage because other means of damage do nothing for you (besides Verse of Judgement).

Verse of Judgement: Always ensure the enemy is alight with fire before using it, and that you WILL get the hit on multiple heroes when using it. It has a long cool down and, because of this, you need to use it sparingly and wisely, otherwise you won't have it when you need it most.

The pros and cons of Adagio:

Roam Pros -

• Super high health (really tanky!).
• Team wide items to stop the team from dying and being stunned, like Fountain of Renewal and Crucible.
• Can take the hits while assisting his team-mates.

Roam Cons -

• His abilities/buffs don't do (as) much damage.

Crystal/Lane Pros -

• Abilities/buffs deal really good damage!
• His mass stun is accompanied by an amazing nuke to whoever's inside it.
• His basic attacks can be relied on, to kill something.

Crystal/Lane Cons -

• He's somewhat squishy.
• Requires team wide coordination for his combinations to work effectively.

Adagio is a flexible hero. What this means is that you can start him out anywhere - as a laner, roamer, or jungler. It's personal preference as to what one you choose/like best, but I go with laner or roamer most of the time, because in the lane, you can farm fast and get items quick, and his move set naturally works as a roamer - all support.

In the lane, start off with a Swift Shooter. Why? The boost of attack speed makes it easier to last hit considering, on a crystal path, it's already hard enough. It also naturally pairs with Agent of Wrath, because he can dish out the damage faster. Also, if you're partied and you have a plan, you can all go together to the enemy's jungle to take it over and get your jungler/roamer ahead at the start of the game.

In the jungle, I recommend starting with a Crystal Bit. Why? In the jungle, last hitting isn't a problem. You're not contested with anything to get that last hit, to ensure the gold (unless your roamer decides to be difficult). So, with a Crystal Bit, your Arcane Fire does more damage, Agent of Wrath does more damage, etc etc. Also, it goes without saying that you should place scout traps and use flares to your advantage as always because the roamer doesn't always do it; vision becomes more and more important to your team.

As a roamer, it's not completely necessary to start off with a contract anymore, because of what happened in the 1.19 update. However, if you expect the enemy team to be aggressive, you can counter with a Protector Contract. Or if you want to be aggressive, you can grab a Dragonblood Contract. Or, if you're just worried about staying alive (you shouldn't be, with a heal ability), then an Ironguard Contract will suit you well. Otherwise, it's not a bad idea to start with an Oakheart.

Using abilities strategically? What? Don't I just, um, spam heal the jungler?
Well, you're not horrifically wrong.

Adagio isn't a very hard hero to play, but he does require a lot of attention and thought. When you're laning, playing as crystal, it's very important that you pay attention to what's happening in the jungle. That's where Adagio shines - he has the capability to turn team fights around and assist team mates, ensuring the victory. If you're paying attention to the jungle early game, and their laner is not, you can go down and help your team win the early-game jungle fight, which gets you all a big head start item wise, with your jungler/roamer being able to steal the enemy's farm.

Gift of Fire: What you need to remember with Adagio's A is that it sets enemies alight, which recovers energy, and you should use it on the hero with the lowest health on your team. You can use this ability to combo in with both your Agent of Wrath and Verse of Judgement. For both of those abilities, enemies take more damage and, for his ultimate, even get stunned.

Agent of Wrath: This ability is very important. It boosts the damage of any hero on your team, and enemies alight with Arcane Fire take further damage. When Adagio casts this on himself, he deals even more damage to enemies but this shouldn't stop you from casting it on your main damage dealer, considering that in team fights, you'll most likely be spending your time using Verse of Judgement instead.

Verse of Judgement: Adagio's ultimate deals a lot (and I mean a lot) of damage. Not to mention the fact that it also STUNS enemies that were burning with Arcane Fire beforehand. Unless they Reflex Block it. Ugh. Anyway, you should NOT use this ability until the enemy/enemies are on fire. If, for some reason, they aren't, it's okay, but the ability only deals heavy damage. What you need to know is that a Reflex Block will help you a lot here. Smart players will stun you while channeling, which means nothing happens but it still goes on cool down. It's the most annoying thing ever, but luckily, that's what a Reflex Block is here for.


Playing Adagio's roam path is mostly the same, but slightly different. Because his ultimate, B and A are all lesser versions of their crystal alternates, getting cool down reduction is a great idea. This allows you to use abilities more often, especially your heal. That's the key component of a roam Adagio. And always remember - your allies are relying on you (yes, that's you) to keep them alive.

Oh, the Reflex Block. Such a good item, but also not.

This will be a brief section because there's not much to say, but it was worth covering. As an Adagio, you need to be mindful of:

1. Whether an enemy has a team-wide reflex block. You should know this because if they do, they WILL use it to null your Verse of Judgement, and it's annoying as hell.
2. If they've used it recently. If they have, and it's not up yet, no worries! If they haven't.. Well, there's not much you can do, is there?
3. And lastly, whether you want one or not. It's brilliant for an Adagio, because it stops stuns and other negative effects when channeling Verse of Judgement, but it's your choice.

In the Defence tab of the shop, there are three main types of defence:

1. Armour
2. Shield
3. Bonus Health

Which one you build depends on what the enemy's building. If there's 2 or more enemies building weapon items, you should probably build Armour. If there's 2 or more enemies building crystal items, you should probably build Shield.

If there's one of each, things are a little trickier. You can personally choose which one is doing more damage and build accordingly, or you can build one of each defence to counter both. Alternatively, you could build Bonus Health, which will make you a little more tankier, so you'll live longer to both types of damage. If you are trying to build only one defence item, and you're faced with, for example, a crystal Taka and a weapon SAW, you should build Bonus Health or adjust your build to have two defensive items.

So, in the lane, how should you react to the enemy laner? I'll show you how, for most scenarios.

If you're going against an Adagio in the lane, stick away from your minions to avoid being poked by his Arcane Fire, but at the same time, try to poke him with yours. Over time, it does more damage than you think. Also remember that he can heal his minion when it's about to die, which sometimes will cause you to lose the last hit. Do the same thing to your minions. Be on constant watch of where he's moving, so you know when he'll try to attack you or even stun you.

A Blackfeather in the lane is a relatively easy counter. Since he's melee, you can easily poke at him with your basic attacks and Arcane Fire. You can even use Agent of Wrath if you want, but keep an eye on your energy levels. He'll also try to poke you with On Point, but he won't hit 100% of the time. When he gets to level 6, he (probably) has access to his Rose Offensive - which means you need to be cautious now. He can use that ability to leap at you and most of the time he won't be afraid to follow you into the range of your turret to secure the kill.

A Celeste has the capability to poke at you repetively with her Heliogenesis stars, but always remember she has to keep a watch on her energy levels too. Just stay back and she probably won't be tempted, but if she is, I recommend grabbing an early Kinetic Shield to reduce her damage to you. Getting one in the early game makes you surprisingly tanky for a little while.

Like Blackfeather, Joule is melee, so keep your distance and poke at her with your Arcane Fire and you'll be fine. She'll try to poke you with her lightning prods, but that in itself is relatively short. If she does manage to keep hitting you, then grab an early defence item (like a Kinetic Shield) and you're at the advantage.

Kestrel can go on a weapon or crystal path, and the situation changes for both. When she's crystal, attack her once and her invisibility goes on cool down, which means she can't escape you as easy. She also relies on her Glimmershot to poke you and even get the last hit on minions. When she's weapon, she can always vanish so avoid her mists when you see her vanish. You'll get a stun to the face if you don't.

On the rare occasion you see a Lance in the lane, remember his attack range is very long for a melee hero. Also remember, he can land his root on you if you stand still, so keep moving and watch his movement closely, paying attention to when he wants to come in and hit you.

Lyra's basic attacks from her perk are so annoying! Remember the second one slows you so keep your distance. Also remember, that on her crystal path, she's VERY squishy, so target her first and she'll die fast. Also remember you can use her portals too! But she can use them and lay traps on either side so be wary of that. Her Bright Bulwark snare doesn't stop you from using any abilities like it does on other heroes.

Against a Petal, it depends if she's crystal or weapon. When crystal, her munions are her main source of damage so if you kill them, she's a sitting duck until she spawns more. When weapon, her munions don't do much so target her. She is also the queen of following her enemy into the range of a turret to secure the kill, because of her munions, so kill them.

Like I stated in the threat meter, all of Reim's abilities are very positional. If you keep moving, it'll be hard for him to hit you. Other than that, if he tries to get the last hit with a basic attack you can poke at him easily, because he's s melee hero. Don't forget that if he gets too close to you, he can root you which could secure the kill for him/his team.

A weapon Ringo is very strong. Get a Coat of Plates/ Metal Jacket as soon as you can, because your health will just vanish if you don't. Ringo has relatively low health, but high damage, so eliminate him as soon as you can. If he's a crystal Ringo, he will continuously poke at you with Achilles Shot. Try to avoid that, just keep your distance, and watch his energy levels; if he can't use Twirling Silver, he's much weaker.

SAW is your worst nightmare in the early and even sometimes late game. If against him in the lane as a weapon hero, get a Coat of Plates/ Metal Jacket as soon as possible, and try to get out of the slow he uses constantly. If he's crystal, his Mad Cannon deals a LOT of damage, not to mention he will keep poking and poking and poking at you with his supressing fire. He'll also finish off the job with a Roadie Run, so run and slow him when you see him use it.

Skaarf is the king of poking, with his Spitfire. If he hits you with it and you start burning, he'll come in to refresh the burn effect every once in a while. When he does this, trade basic attacks with him using Agent of Wrath, because yours are much stronger. If you want to engage with him, don't do it while you're burning. Also, stick behind your minions, because the damage of Spitfire is lessened with every minion/monster it passes through.

The mobility that Skye possesses is a killer. She can easily surprise you with a burst of damage from Suri Strike then Forward Barrage, so stay near your turret to be safe. She also mows through minions when playing crystal, so don't accidentally take damage from her Forward Barrage when all the minions die.

For a Vox, it is insanely easy for him to poke you because of his resonating damage. Especially when he's crystal. When he is, though, in a 1v1, he doesn't do much damage because his primary source of damage is from the bounces, not his basic attacks. Weapon Vox is a different story though; get a Coat of Plates/ Metal Jacket as soon as possible, you'll need it.

And for all melee characters in general, pay attention to your minion's health. You can stop them from getting the last hit plus poke at them if you know when they need to move in for it! You can't do that with ranged heroes though.

Who does Adagio team well with? Obviously, you can team with anyone, but here you can see who works especially well with Adagio, in no specific order.

Her basic attack slows plus your slow and stun is absolutely perfect. She can heal as well, which means the lucky third member of your team shouldn't die too much..

With a Krul on your team, you can repetitively heal him so he doesn't die when he takes all the hits, or you can heal yourself to slow the enemy so he can stick onto them easily. It makes him undefeatable! Not to mention when he builds some weapon power + Agent of Wrath he does quite the damage.

Catherine can use her Merciless Pursuit to stun people in your Verse of Judgement! It's especially useful for squishy and move-y heroes that normally would be able to escape quickly, such as Taka and Vox.

A nifty combo for Glaive and Adagio is for Adagio to start channeling Verse of Judgement and Glaive to use Afterburn to hit someone into the circle, that previously wasn't in it. Plus, Agent of Wrath on Glaive is SO GOOD!

Skaarf poking his little heart out with Spitfire and Adagio poking with Arcane Fire is amazing! It's especially useful if Skaarf constantly refreshes his flames.

Let's have a look at why I chose to put these items in the build paths for Adagio..

The Alternating Current is a key item for almost any Adagio player, as long as they're crystal. The attack speed fits perfectly with Agent of Wrath on yourself, and the 'every other basic attack' effect from it is very helpful for last hitting and killing too.

The Broken Myth is a key component of the build for a CP Adagio, especially for his Verse of Judgement ultimate. Without, all it takes is an Aegis to counter his damage. If the enemy isn't building shield, though, it can optionally be replaced with something like a Frostburn or Shatterglass.

The Shatterglass is just there to ramp up crystal power, which makes your abilities do more damage and the Broken Myth becomes more useful with this. Why else?

The Frostburn isn't always necessary to get, but it's a great help on heroes that are normally able to move around very fast, like Vox, Skye and Taka. You can repeatedly slow people with crystal damage, which comes from your basic attacks, etc.

The Fountain of Renewal is a very useful item for all roamers alike. Bonus health and shield are helpful, but the activate effect is what we're really after; it saves heroes that were about to die all the time.

Like the Fountain of Renewal, I find the Crucible is a necessary item for any roamer ever. The team-wide Reflex Block activate is extremely helpful against stuns such as Skye's ultimate or from other negative effects like Ringo's ultimate.

Why the Stormcrown? The cool down speed, bonus health and bonus energy it grants is amazing for any spell-based roamers like Adagio and Lyra. Also, it grants bonus true damage to a limited amount of basic attacks after using an ability. And using abilities is what Adagio does best.

Replacing the Warhorn item, the War Treads are useful for engaging, and fleeing from, the enemy team. The bonus health makes Adagio tankier and it's a good replacement for where you would normally have Journey Boots or Halcyon Chargers.

The Halcyon Chargers were made especially for heroes that use their abilities often (..like Adagio..). It offers sustain plus good movement speed and it's personal opinion as to whether you think extra movement speed is necessary anyway. In my opinion, it is, for any hero besides ones such as Fortress that already move fast.

Use the Aegis for a quick reflex block or to counter primary crystal damage, of course! It helps a lot to reduce the damage from heroes such as Celeste and Skaarf.

Use the Metal Jacket to counter primary weapon damage, of course! This is especially needed against strong WP heroes such as SAW, Glaive and Ringo. A lot of the time, you'll find it necessary to build it extra early too, to stop dying so fast.

Use the Atlas Pauldron in place of a Metal Jacket if you are 1. Facing attack speed based heroes such as SAW and Ringo, and 2. Able to get close enough to them to use it. It's not always necessary.

Thanks for reading my Adagio guide! I hope you got a better understanding of the hero and learnt how to use him better.

If you find any typos or incorrect information, feel free to let me know and I'll fix it ASAP! Thank you!


- inVain