Current Main - Glaive
Previous Main - Skaarf
Currently Trying - Skye

Aims: (Red = Urgent!)
1) Pictures!
2) Proper linking, coding and formatting!
3) Itemization chapter!
4) Synergies
5) Other possible builds!
6) Gameplay?!
7) Other character builds!

Name - Glaive
Species - Grangor
Difficulty - Easy - Mid
Position - Jungler/Roamer
Role - Fighter/Tank/Support
Base Stats: (lvl 1-12)
HP - 814-2046
Energy - 220-440
AD - 80-154
AS - 100%-113%
Armor - 25-64
Shield - 25-64
Range - 2.6-2.6
Move Speed - 3.3-3.3

Looking at Glaive's base stats, there is a few things to note. Immediately we see the large HP. To take advantage of this would make sense so building tanky is a naturally good exposure. However, he also has armor and shield stats equivalent to Skaarf's (Yes, the little squishy dragon). Build upon HP and only build armor or shield in situations where enemies AP/AD are high.

Lore

Well, you see, here's the thing. With the original characters from the Halcyon Fold, there is little/no lore or background. There was the short story about him and the story with Ringo, but that offers very limited information. So, to keep up with this, I have hired the minds of tomorrow (totally not me) to make a lore.

There was a cat. And a bigger cat. Now we have Glaive. TADA!

Passive - Hunt The Weak

Description - Glaive's critical strikes cleave in a cone in front of him.
Radius of Cone - 4

Ability 1 - Afterburn

Description - Glaive rockets in the target direction, damaging all enemies along the way. His next basic attack is replaced by a frightening blast that knocks his target back several meters.
CD (Seconds) - 25/24/23/22/12
Damage - 80/160/240/320/400(+1 Crystal)
Energy Required - 120

Ability 2 - Twisted Stroke

Passive - Increase critical strike chance and AOE cleave damage of basic attacks.
Active - Instantly execute a critical strike. This deals weapon damage and is treated like a basic attack, but can deal bonus crystal damage if you have any crystal power.

CD (Seconds) - 12/11/10/9/8
Critical Chance - 9%/13%/17%/21%/25%
Cleave Damage - 30%/35%/40%/45%/65%
Bonus Damage - 0 (+1.2 Crystal)
Energy Required - 50/58/66/74/82

Ability 3 - Bloodsong

Passive - Glaive will generate Bloodsong stacks from basic attacking or receiving basic attacks. Each stack grants him bonus lifesteal.
Active - Swing Glaive's axe in a wide circle, dealing massive area damage based on number of Bloodsong stacks used, but removes all stacks.
CD (Seconds) - 16
Base Damage - 225/350/475 (+0.3 Crystal)
Damage (Per stack) - 8/14/20 (+0.015 Crystal)
Lifesteal (Per stack) - 0.6%
Max stacks - 20
Energy Required - 40/50/60

OK! I'll proceed to exploring the choices for my items with possible alternatives; all situational of course. ;)

Starting Items (Standard Glaive)

Swift Shooter - Why did I choose this over weapon blade? Well. Personally, I've always preferred AS over AD. However, AS works much better than AD with Glaive's build. He builds his 3rd moves stacks better, items stacks better and with his passive, he can do AoE constantly. Also, I recorded the clearing time of each camp clear with a swift shooter and a weapon blade; Swift Shooter was majorly quicker!

Alternatives

Weapon Blade - See above. Superior in early game fights, but for camp clearing in jungle, I prefer swift shooter. Still viable

Ironguard Contract - If you're willing to sacrifice some early game damage, ironguard contract is very viable. It can allow a huge return on investment over time and help in the long run.

Sprint Boots - If your enemy only has 1 jungler, pick up some boots of speed and run quickly for some camp invades and prevent enemy farm.

Oakheart - Gives you extra jungle sustain and an advantage if your enemy is heavy damage at early stages of the game. The 200 extra HP also works well with Glaive's set up. If you intend to build tanky and you're not sure whether the enemy is AD or AP, this is very much viable.

Light Armor - Only get if your enemy is full AD. This helps with early fights and gives you an advantage to counter their heavy damage. As it only costs 250, also buy a scout trap and place next to Kraken/Goldmine.

Light Shield - Only get if your enemy is full AP. This helps with early fights and gives you an advantage to counter their heavy ability. As it only costs 250, also buy a scout trap and place next to Kraken/Goldmine.

Starting Items (Support/Tank)

Ironguard Contract

OK! First and foremost, always look at the team compositions. An ideal team is one built with a damage dealer in lane, a support and an assassin in jungle. E.g. SAW (lane), Catherine (roaming) and Taka (Jungle). This would ensure maximum damage output, sustainability and surprise. With a pre-made team, this should be aimed for and with team co-ordination, you should easily win. HOWEVER! In solo queue, we all know this is very rare. People lock in their favorite character, forgetting about positions and roles. Glaive is perfect for solo queue with his ability to fulfill multiple roles well. Following this, I will explore the different roles you may need to fulfill and how you can use them successfully.

OPTION 1 - GENERAL

When To Use - When your team has a damage dealer in lane and a support/roamer who ISN'T going full tank
Position - Jungle
Role - Farmer Glaive
Build to follow - Standard Build

When your team has a large damage dealer in lane (Like SAW or Ringo ) and a support/roamer (Like Ardan or Catherine ), you have 1 goal - to farm. Seriously, just farm! Take all the jungle monsters and invade the enemy jungle for the monsters. HOWEVER! One thing to point out is to NOT die. Seems obvious, right? Every death takes time to respawn and run back. In this time, you could've sweeped the jungle and gained an extra level. While you are dead, the enemy jungler/s have the potential to kill sweep your jungle, slowing your farm. So, if you see an enemy, afterburn and run!

Remember, with a support on your team, it is not your job to help lane! Focus farming and only go lane to stop a feeder. This is vital time wasted that could be gaining levels!

Another job for you to ensure is that you always have control of minion and gold mines. Ward them with a scout trap and keep 100% control. (More on scout traps in the future)

If your support/roamer is going full tank, this may be wasteful to follow the standard build. You may focus more on weapon than tank to act as an assassin. If your support/roamer is going hybrid weapon/tank or crystal/tank this build should be perfect as it provides damage and sustainability.

OPTION 2 - TANKY SUPPORT/ROAMER

When To Use - When your team didn't chose a support/roamer
Position - Roaming Jungle/Lane
Role - Support/Tank
Build to follow - Tanky Glaive

When your team choose 2 squishy hero's, you know you're in trouble. So, to counter bad selections, YOU can be the tanky support! Change the build to the support/tank build and help your team secure objectives, take down turrets and secure kills.

Primarily, your role will be support. This means you HELP your team get fed. So no, you do not want to be farming and killing, you want to enable your team to do this as fast as possible. Once you've taken an enemy low, let your teammate get last hit for gold and XP. Take a jungle monster low, but let your teammate get last hit! Seeing a pattern?

As a support, Glaive can excel in a teamfight. With a stun/knockback and a move that enables you to hit everyone, you can easily allow your allies to pick off kills.

In a team fight, gain aggro of the enemies main damage dealer. As they're often the squishiest, stun them with your afterburn and allow your team to kill them. After that, close down on the other 2 enemies.

Yes, like in all MOBAs, warding/vision is a necessity. And, with no current proper wards or trinkets, you have to stick to scout traps . Scout traps grant vision n a small area or brush and damage the enemy if walked over. Below, I have provided an image of important areas to trap.
Key: (In case you can't read the image)

- Red ~ Necessity! Trapping these locations can be a game defining choice.
- Orange ~ Recommended. Will provide vision of some important objectives and strategic locations.
- Green ~ Optional. Trapping these locations are always nice, however they will be often set off and should only be warded with spare gold or if ahead/facing constant ambushes.

If you spawn on the other side of the image, ward inversely. The Halcyon Fold is virtually symmetrical.

Firstly, I'd like to tell you what a synergy is. A synergy (in MOBA terms) is a composition of heroes that work together well. This can be heroes who's abilities, stats or just co-operation that seem to work flawlessly to secure kills. In short, a synergy is the compositions that work well with heroes.

Possible Synergies

A Stunning Synergy

Celeste (Lane) Catherine (Tank/Support/Roamer) Glaive (Damage Dealer)

Why is this team so stunning? Their abilities of course! Personally, I LOVE this team composition. When you really hate a team, this is the build. Glaive's Afterburn , Catherine's Merciless Persuit and Celeste's Core Collapse all give stuns to set targets. Yes, of course, this is perfect for trolling an enemy team. HOWEVER-it is even better at singling and shutting out a damage dealer and killing them without even letting them move. Use all 3 stuns, 1 after another (when the stun runs out) and don't allow the enemy to move. All 3 of your ulti's aso deal AoE effect so you can shatter all the enemies. This composition is perfect for a level 1 invade and ensuring a kill. Catherine's natural beefiness, Celeste's kiting ability and Glaive's in-your-face damage also all work well together.

Right, before we go into this build, I'll tell you a short story of its origins. Are you sitting comfortably? Great. Let's begin.

Champion select; Skaarf lane, Taka Jungle. "Great," I thought, "Support Glaive it is." After playing for 35 minutes of endless killing and no pushing, I realised that there was a lack of damage from my team, as the carries had bought defensive items for the late game. So, being the completely unkillable tanky Glaive we all know and (mostly) love, I took a stroll to the shop. My Items were, Journey Boots, Crucible, Metal Jacket, Fountain of Renewal, Warhorn and a Clockwork. Of all the items, which was the most expendable? The clockwork was, to me, the least valuable as a perfectly played team fight would not require multiple cooldowns and I shouldn't need the bonus energy regen. So, I sold it! And bought an item I wouldn't often see fit for a tank. I bought a breaking point. 3 minutes later (1 team fight later), we had won the game!

TL;DR - Glaive tank with Breaking point is insane.

OK, so, let's go further into why this is great. The main negative to a breaking point is that you often don't stay in a fight long enough to build up all the stacks, right? So. When you're an absolute brute with insane tankiness, building up stacks is a piece of cake (please send cake). Not only is the enemy team focusing you and doing little damage to you, but you are retuning a ton of damage and your team should be delivering a ton. Eventually ending in an extended, but easy team fight win.