Not a real threat to you. Remember to buy a crucible for your teammates to block his ult if necessary. Watch out for the burst from CP Ozo
4
Petal
In all seriousness, Petal is the perfect counter for melee team comps witha powerful early game. Watch our for her and buy warhorn for extra mobility in case your team is triple melee. Her CP form is also dangerous of your team does not have any form of AOE.
4
Gwen
Underwhelming as of 1.23
5
Catherine
Don't let her get to your teammates, and crucible her ult. Her kit is very good at disabling you and your teammates, making you unable to save them. (Moral: Crucible the ult.)
5
Adagio
Early game support. Avoid team fights with him early.
Beware of CP form, has great CC abilities.
5
SAW
Watch our for his WP form, since you do not have stuns. He could easily get free shots off you. Current popular push comp is also one of ardan's weakness early game, and a nightmare to deal with.
5
Joule
Both forms of joule is very powerful at bursting down your teammates. WP: Time your Vanguard to block her Thunderstrike. CP: Vanguard your carry away from the beam.
6
Vox
Vox can easily kite you out, don't blindly engage him with your teammates. Pick up a shiversteal or warhorn late game to chase him down.
6
Ringo
Same as Vox. Try to predict when he's going to hit your carry so you can vanguard the initial burst. Also, avoid giving him free hits when he has BP.
6
Glaive
Don't let him build free BP stacks on you
6
Koshka
Don't engage early game.
6
Rona
Watch out for her BP form (like Glaive). Since Ardan often clumps up with the melee carry, watch out for Rona's ult.
6
Reim
Very powerful when BM stacks up, and quite sticky to slow characters. Don't let our teammates get caught and you're good.
6
Baron
Don't bunch together, as his BP WP build will hurt real quick.
7
Krul
One of the biggest threat due to Ardan not having stuns. Try to seperate him out with your gauntlet. He can easily stick to you and stack up BP, and also harming your teammates. Avoid a straight up fight with him. Try to have a ranged in range to kill him. Invade him early.
7
Taka
Flare him when you think he's about to box. Always remember vanguard your squishiest teammate when under attack by Taka. (He's not a threat to you, but a VERY big threat to your ranged carries.)
7
Skaarf
Spitfire hurts a lot after his Brokenmyth stacks up. Beware.
7
Blackfeather
In update 1.11 Blackfeather is slightly under powered. Watch out for his CP form, do not let him stack free BM stacks.
UPDATE: In 1.12 he is a strong meta laner. Watch out for his shiversteel and BP stacking on your teammates. Vanguard them whto safety or when you predict an execute.
Update 2: He is now very powerful. His true damage from execute and mobility makes him hard to lock down, yet easy for him to chase targets. Atlas him and take him out fast, or his BP and Serpents mask will grant him immense damage and lifesteal.
7
Lyra
Her extreme crowd control and snare renders 2/3 abilities useless, be very careful when engaging her. (you will crash into her wall when attempting to vanguard an ally in it, so don't even bother)
8
Skye
Beware of her WP form. She can easily stack BP on you yet you and your teammates could not reach her due to her perk. Her CP form does more damage but is less threatful to you, but is to your squishy carry.
8
Celeste
Watch out for Helios' due to your relatively low mobility. Like Skaarf, they both hurt when Brokenmyth stacks up.
8
Alpha
Very good late game as CP, especially with BM and AS. Beware of giving her free damage and health regen from her AS.
9
Kestrel
Beware of her early game CP form. Very high poke damage. Unsure WP form as of yet.
Update: Beware or the high poke CP form early game. Late game watch out for WP form.
9
Lance
Very powerful support. His crowd control is on par with you. Side note: don't let hem know you out of your gauntlet and cancel it.
9
Samuel
Very powerful in 1.22. WHile toned down a bit in 1.23, he excels at outranging while blasting you with his malice and verdict.
10
Phinn
With his ult, he can separate you from your teammates. If timed correctly, he can even disable your gauntlet if he pulls you out.
Ardan is the second true support introduced to the game ( Adagio was still a lane carry then). He has no stuns, but comes with a high base health, armor, and shield stats. He benefits from health items.
First lets take a look at all his skills. Hover over the icons to see skill detail.
His kit lets him deal better with high attack speed low damage enemies, such as Krul early game. Otherwise, its not as useful as you might imagine, other than some health regen during early teamfights
EDIT: After the introduction of Skye, Ardan's passive proves to be useful to body block for your teammates. Due to how Forward Barrage works, Ardan will heal a bit constantly for every tick that Forward Barrage does, making it take quite a while to kill him.
Before we go into details, keep in mind that your Vanguard will: Boost speed, and slow nearby enemies.
Defensive use: The trick to using Vanguard is to use it when your teammate most needs it. You need to anticipate the enemy's movement, especally in order to block heavy hits from CP mages. Examples of moments to use it are:
Vanguarding during the fight allows allies to reposition easily, especially when slowed by Shiversteel or Frostburn. The slow also lets melee enemies have a hard time catching up. When facing CP heroes, picking up extra health also helps allies negate damage from those glass cannon mages when landing a timely Vanguard.
Offensive use: Since Vanguard boost's teammates speed and slows enemy nearby, it is also a perfect skill for offensive use. Utilize the slow wisely, and not just the speed boost on teammates. Some examples of uses are:
Chasing down enemy's: If you're standing right beside a fleeing enemy, and your allies can't keep up you have two choices. If your ally is fairly mobile, Vanguard yourself to apply a slow to the fleeing enemy (Note: The slow effect is only half as strong on yourself, so make sure the slow is enough). Otherwise, Vanguarding your ally is also a great idea to catch up.
If your allies aren't beside (dead) but the enemy is low, Vanguard yourself and use Blood for Blood to deal the finishing blow. If you can catch up with just Blood for Blood, use your Vanguard after you Blood for Blood on the enemy since it also applies a slow and deals damage.
Nothing much to say here. Use it as a gap closer, or target Heroes/mobs to jump across walls. To maximize effeciency when farming, AA (Auto Attack) » Blood for Blood(Resets AA) » AA. Blood for Blood can also proc Shiversteel or Aftershock.
The Gauntlet, the skill which makes Ardan Ardan. This is the ultimate skill for CC (Crowd Control) and zoning enemies. In higher tiers people will have a Reflex Block waiting for you, so watch out when you use it. Generally, unless ahead, do not Gauntlet all enemies in. Only Gauntlet all the enemies when you are sure you can take them all out, or you purposely Gauntlet them into a advantageous position, such as in front of a turret or the Gold mine. In a fair fight, use your Gauntlet to split enemies apart, and prioritize in trapping the enemy ranged carry in and the melee carry/support out so you can either take him out or burn their Reflex Block.
EDIT: After update 1.15, Gauntlet no longer pushes enemies away from the wall. Instead, a ground line is shown where the barrier will spawn. This allows defensive uses (but requires high knowledge of Gauntlet's radius and a bit of luck) such as stunning Ringo while he's channeling Hellfire Brew, while also allowing for a potential counter attack. In addition, instead of trying to separate the enemy team like before, try throwing it where the border touches exactly where they are (requires a bit of movement prediction) forcing them to burn Reflex Block and potentially stunning them/causing panick.
At the beginning you want to grab a Oakheart, an Ironguard Contract if jungle has low clear and low health (or others for specific uses), a Halcyon Potion, and a Flare. Start at the back camps, and be sure to leave the mobs far enough (5m) so that your carry can absorb all exp to power level (Exp share changed gold range). Transfer damage at the right moment to the carry to split damage and avoid dying due to the updated super strong jungle camps.
1.9 Meta, no longer applicable
The current meta in 1.9 (Still so in 1.13) is to start at the back camps. Here is a video of an example how to start the back camps from Cullthemeek's stream. The support will only attack one mob at the back to ensure that the jungler reaches Lv.2 by the time they get to the jungle shop. After update 1.8 EXP has been changed to share evenly among nearby allies within ~5m (slightly bigger than diameter of Atlas Pauldron. Leave your jungler when the mobs are almost dead and move on to the next camp to prevent leeching from them so they can level up faster. Use the Flare if necessary if an engagement occurs at the jungle shop.
After you arrive at the jungle shop, flare the jungle shop providing vision in the 2 brushes to prevent ambush. Proceed to pick up a Scout Trap, Flare and a third item (usually Light Shield). The Scout Trap will be used either offensively (your jungler, such as Koshka whom is powerful early game decides to invade), or defensively (dropped in the tri-brush or jungle shop brush ). Proceed to complete your early game build (I usually grab double Oakheart before I purchase Sprint BootsEDIT: As of [1.15] due to Vanguard nerfs, just go straight buying a Fountain of Renewal and buy boots when needed). Remember to place Scout Traps at critical locations. Vision Scout Traps include anywhere there is a pumpkin (SEMC was nice enough to make places you should put Scout Traps with pumpkins in the 1.9 Autumn season map. Just in case you're reading this after the season, these places include the double back camp, middle healing camp, and double mini mob camp near the jungle shop. You could always watch the video above to see where they are.), under and in front of the gold mine, brushes (lane brush, tri-brush, jungle shop brush, and minion mine brush).
By this time you should have a Fountain of Renewal and a Dragonheart. Observe what team comp the enemy is and build accordingly. Always prefer an Atlas Pauldron over a Metal Jacket unless the enemy only has WP damage without attack speed (tsk tsk Double Tyrant's Monocle Joule). Starting from here CP carries start to deal more damage, so feel free to pick up a second Dragonheart first if needed for the extra health scaling to Vanguard allies. Rotate accordingly, and let jungle farm alone if lane help is necessary.
Also, do not forget to always keep a slot for Flares. Imagine yourself as the carry. If you are hesitant to go into a brush, that's when you flare! Remember, flaring saves lives! Another usage of Flares that people in lower tiers don't use it as is to provide vision in battle. When the enemy flees into a brush, flare the brush so your carry can continue to target the enemy, and also prevent a counter attack from burst characters that fled into the brush just to wait for cooldowns.
At the ending phase of mid-game, if your team is ahead and you feel the need of extra pushing power, Stormguard Banner is a brilliant purchase after the changes. Just remember to NOT kill steal from your carries.
Also, remember to use your items! Use Fountain of Renewal when your team's health are low for a greater effect. Crucible your teammates during critical moments such as Adagio's Verse of Judgement or Catherine's Blast Tremor. Activate Altas Pauldron when you are beside enemy WP carries to reduce their attack speed dramatically, especially on SAW and Krul.
At this point you should have your core build done. Upgrade your Sprint Boots to a Travel Boots Get a War Treads for better mobility to save your carries. After that, proceed to complete your situational item (we will discuss this next section).
After completing your 4th defensive item, you should have a full build of 4 defensive items, boots, and a stack of Flares. However, always prefer a double infusion over Journey Boots (War horn is now a type of boots.) due to the greater stat boost at the almost exact cost (Double infuse @ Lv.12 in patch 1.9: +60 armor +60 shield, +60 CP, +60 WP, +24% atk speed), but remember to get some stuff done within the 2.5 minute boost.
Note: You can no longer double infuse after patch 1.18.
If you have a lot of spare gold even after infusions, feel free to build a Contraption. This is a very rare occurrence though and don't expect have the gold to build a Contraption
*Note: In 1.9 Contraption is a very viable item. However, due to Ardan's kit, Contraption as a first or second item is a very bad idea compared to Catherine, whose kit doesn't rely on items and benefits from the CDR (cool down reduction).
**Update: In 1.10 Contraption got nerfed. It no longer provides 200 health, and increased cooldown. Still viable as mid-late item in itself, but not recommended for Ardan anymore.
If the enemy goes for double CP carries are still doing a bit too much damage after you have your Fountain of Renewal, feel free to pick up a Kinetic Shield after you built your Crucible.
If the enemy is a double WP team comp, especially one with attack speed and the other with heavy WP damage, a Atlas Pauldron is most often not enough armor. I usually pick up a Coat of Plates for the extra armor.
Note: The more armor/shield you build, the less effective it is, as demonstrated in the next section. There is no point in finishing the additional Kinetic Shield or Coat of Plates into an Aegis or Metal Jacket when the money can be spent on more health or infusions.
Grab a Stormguard Banner if your team need the extra damage on turrets for pushing.
Atlas Pauldron is listed as a situational item due to it occasionally being a brilliant pick against CP enemies such as Vox which relies heavily on his basic attacks and not skills compared to other CP mages.
Pick up a warhorn War Treads against slippery enemies that have a reliable escape (such as Vox, Rona, Glaive). Alternatively, when facing a carry that hides at the edge of the battlefield and is hard to reach, such as Skaarf, warhorn is a great tool for hard engaging.
Only buy Contraption when you have too much gold to spare. While Contraption is a very popular early item now, it does Ardan no good (it synergies very well with Catherine). Get it after the base core items if absolutely nessesary.
===BELOW ARE VERY SITUATIONAL ITEMS DO NOT BUY UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING=== A fair warning to building items in this section: I do not recommend building them 99% of the time. Due to the extra damage you deal, you might also steal some kills from your carry and result in letting get less gold to build up even more. Do not build these items before you have at least 3 defenses.
Pick up a Breaking Point if your team is ahead, but team fights are lasting way too long for your liking, or the enemy tank such as Phinn build so tanky he's almost unkillable.( Breaking Point nerfed)
Due to the Bonesaw nerf, you alternatively can pick it up and help stacking it on heavily armored enemies so your WP carry can have a easier time dealing damage.
If your team is ahead and your team needs the extra burst on squishy characters, pick up an Aftershock if you have no CP carries to diverse the damage type forcing them to build both armor and shield.
This section used to maintain a list of counterting items, but it got really tedious. You can still look at the list for my opinions, but note that the items are recommended for countering heores before [1.20]. Any new modified/updated heroes kit will not be considered in the list.
Instead, a general guide will be provided.
The general counter item to buy is the item that will help your team the most. More advanced players will know which items to prioratize from experience. However, this may be more difficult for newer supports to compreend. For example, new players might not think Phinn is a bigger threat than that "OP" WP Taka and may build an Atlas Pauldron + Contraption over a Crucible. While this may work in some cases, if the enemy team had a mage- Phinn combo, the Taka will probably be the least of your worries. This easily leads to frustration for newer player. Here is a general prioritization guide:
In the current meta, the first buy is usually a Fountain of Renewal. However, at the extreme case of attack speed reliant heroes, an Atlas Pauldron may be considered.
Next, identify the bigger counterable threat. Usually, this means the WP carry. As of now, there is no real "mage counter" items (with the exception of Crucible to block skill effects). While at higher tiers most allys are more sensible and will get a Reflex Block to block stuns, if the enemy has a mass crowd control comp, it may be in your best interest to buy a crucble to block mass crowd control skills, such as Phinn's Forced Accord. At higher tiers, it is an unspoken rule that the roamer is in charge of blocking the mass CC skill, and the carry is responisble for their own single target block. However, there are also cases where a premature Crucible may be nessasary.
Some heroes have skills that are simply hard to counter. If in a coordinated party, War Treads can be used as an escape to burn enemys' skills while reengaging when the danger is over. Another use of War Treads is to hard engage on a hard to reach carry, killing him first preventing him from dishing out too much damage.
In addition, some items can be used creatively. For example, atlas pauldrom can also be used to counter CP Vox since he is a basic attack centric hero.
List No Longer Updated
List of items to buy to counter specific heroes.
*Note: These are counter items, NOT necessarily first buy, utility or helpful items. Counter items aren't definite and are often situational, this list only provides the counter considering the heroe's kit.
N/A means heroes 99% don't build this path, thus counter items for these categories are suggested by experience and are not actually tested in real battle.
I/C means indirect counter (e.g. warhorn is not a direct counter for fortress. It does however buff ally speed to escape from enemies with the speed buff.). Indirect counters are often very situational and sometimes inferior in certain situations.
WP: Atlas Pauldron CP: Crucible, ( Atlas Pauldron(situational) ) Support: N/A Crucible
For CP Vox, ready your crucuble. Mash it constantly if you see him ult, and it happens to line up perfectly with your team. You'd be surprised how much damage you negated. Otherwise, wait for him to use both his Pulse and Wait for It and then Crucible to cancel the resonance, rendering him single target only.
Stall (tank) the lane minions if possible if your laner isn't at lane, don't let it reach turret range. DO NOT steal at any cost unless it's certain the minions are going to get killed.
While babying the lane carry, stay 5m away from lane minions to prevent leeching exp. Staying in lane also allows the jungle carry to hyper level even quicker.
Work in Progress...
Understanding Damage Mitigation - How much armor/shield should I build? Top
<Damage vs. Total Armor/Shield Graph || X-Axis: Total Armor; Y-Axis: Damage Recieved>
Assuming the attacker has 300 WP/CP, after ~73 total armor/shield each armor/shield starts to mitigate less than 1 damage per 1 armor/shield. At ~144 total armor/shield (a typical Fountain of Renewal build) it becomes 0.5 damage per armor/shield. At ~246 total each armor/shield (a typical Aegis/ Metal Jacket build) provides mitigation only as much as 0.25 damage per armor/shield, and thus there is no point stacking armor/shield beyond this point. This is why after building one defensive item of 1 type, it is usually recommended building health instead if more defense of that type is needed.
In the next graph, the Red function is the same as above. The Blue function is the derivative (slope) of the Red function. The dots on top show the points where slope=(-1),(-0.5),(-0.25). The dots on the bottom is used on the derivative (Blue) function to calculate X-values of where the slope of the Red equal to (-1),(-0.5), and(-0.25)
Lastly, I would like to point out every game is unique. This guide, is after all only a 'guide', and doesn't cover all sorts of situation. The more you play and encounter, the more you will understand what to buy at different situations. The best buy is always what will help your team the most, even sometimes temporary items could help win a fight.
I hope this guide helped you a lot! Give it an upvote if you like it. Took me 5 hours to finish this guide.
PDF file of guide in case any images go missing (outdated info, just use it for images):Link
Update 1.23
Updated threat list to match meta. Discontinues countering heroes secion (list still available in spoiler), and replaced with general info instead.
Update 1.20
Updated new items. Slight edit to threat list.
Update 1.18
Sorry for the lack of updates. College life has consumed me and I no longer play Vainglory aside from an occasional game or two on weekends.
Edited double infusion information. Added Alpha and Lance threat. Other hero threat levels may no longer be accurate due to me not playing as much anymore, but you should get the idea.
Update 1.15
Edited many meta errors and old information. Adjusted threats to current meta.
Update 1.13
Apparently Vanguard ratio was actually nerfed to 25% scaling :/ I feel cheated. Kestrel OP.
Update 1.12 Stormguard Banner is now an important meta item to rush in higher tiers where clear speeds is the key to success. (If enemy is playing passive don't bother.)
Unfortunate for us, our health scaling for Vanguard got nerfed from 50% ?? 35%. This makes building health first less desirable and more so to build a Fountain of Renewal first. Prioritizing health items such as warhorn late game for the extra health is more essential now.
Do not get blinded by the increased CP ratio for our Gauntlet. Even a Shatterglass provides provides barely increased damage compared to pre-nerf values due to the the nerfed damage. CP is not a desirable build path this patch.
Update 1.11 Stormguard Banner just got better! While I still do not recommend getting it too early, it is certainly a viable item late game now, given that it provides a small amount of true damage now.
EDIT:
11-05-2015: Added Counter items for heroes. Updated 1.10 Contraption info.
11-16-2015: Corrected inconsistency of EXP info.
11-30-2015: Added 1.11 SGB info.
12-10-2015: Added 1.12 info (excluding Kestrel, too new for verdicts.)
12-28-2015: Corrected Blackfeather threat level, added Kestrel threat. Adjusted threat levels according to recent patches and meta.
01-12-2016: Added other heroes I play (builds only). Major item list redone (builds aren't changed).
01-19-2016: Removed builds only guide, realized they were quite pointless in here. Will think about creating guides for them seperately. Added some Reim info.
02-05-2016: Initial 1.14 info.
03-24-2016: 1.15 info + many fixed old information/meta error.
08-10-2016: Updated any outdated info.
10-17-2016: Updated threat list and countering hero section.
VaingloryFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite VG hero’s build and strategy.
Ardan
Forward Barrage
Click to expand list
Hellfire Brew
Spectral Smite
Heliogenesis
Solar Storm
Spitfire
Rocket Leap
Reflex Block
Thunder Strike
Yummy Catnip Frenzy
Verse of Judgement
X-Retsu
Suppressing Fire
Suri Strike
Bloodsong
Frostburn
Kaku
Shadows Empower Me
Sprint Boots
Metal Jacket
Tyrant's Monocle
Blast Tremor
Journey Boots
Kinetic Shield
Coat of Plates
Aegis
Twirling Silver
Breaking Point
Forced Accord
Pulse
Wait for It
Shatterglass
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