Overall strategy Top
Vainglory is a game about getting the most gold and experience. If you are teams of equal skill level, the team who has the most gold and levels will probably win. This guide seeks to maximize the early game advantage that Skaarf has to create a deficit that most teams will have problems overcoming. To do this, you will be focusing on hero killing and jungle creep denying in the jungle with your jungle partner, followed by 3 team pushes in mid. For more examples of this strategy, I have several videos saved on my twitch stream (
twitch.tv/set6) or you can stop by when I'm streaming to see it live in action!
NOTE: this guide is not updated yet for 1.1.7 changes. With the new patch, move speed, piercing, armor and shield has been added to skaarf's ult and fan the flames, making late game more viable with a crystal build.
Playing Skaarf Top
Spitfire is what you need to start the domination. The damage of it, plus your passive ability (fan the flames), allow you to be hero killer. If you aren't good at skill shots (using your spitfire), you won't be good with this strategy. If you don't hit their heroes with your ability, you won't dominate. Try to predict where they are going and learn how to kite if you don't know how to do that (hit them, run as soon as you see the damage counters, and hit them again).
Goop is what you save for 1v1s (if they get close), if they escape (lay it right in front of them as they run away so they run right through it!) or right in the middle of team battles, for an AOE effect. You will want to save it and use it at the right time... you don't want them to run away until you've gotten your fan the flames up to max. Once goop is maxed, you can easy assassinate the towers - just lay down your goop, set it on fire with spitfire and run away if there are heroes! At it's max, it takes down the tower 1/4 of it's health with no attacks - there is no other hero that can do that, use it to your advantage.
Dragon Breath will be very, very situational for this build. If aren't attacking, you aren't increasing the damage with fan the flames. As such, it's better to not get it until late game (level 11 and 12). Once you start your ult, you are sitting duck - assassins will pick you off or you will get stunned. Best use of dragon breath is when assassins run away from a 1v1 or as an initiator (like catherine) because of the silence.
Early Game (first 2k spend) Top
Boots are a must for your starting item. You want to eliminate your competition for the jungle creeps exp and gold. Both you and your jungle partner will want to go over to their jungle and search for their heroes to start... you will typically find them a little weakened by the jungle creep - kill them! If you can't get the kill (but you should get first blood!) then go for their weakened jungle creep. Proceed to clear out their jungle and then go for them again when they come back. At this point, they should still be underleveled with no gold, watch out for mid coming to help after you go 4-0 with skaarf. Your laner will be loving you!
Note that you want to upgrade your spitfire before getting goop - this will allow you spam your spitfire without fear of running out of energy. After boots, you want to go for the ironguard contract so you get the extra gold from dual junglers followed by increasing your attack speed... shop at the jungle everytime you pass it and have enough gold for your next items. Next, go for two swift shooters, which you'll want to upgrade to blazing salvos when you get a chance. Near this time you will be starting to run low on energy, that's when you'll want to get your energy battery which you'll upgrade to void battery.
Mid game (2nd 1.5k spend) Top
After the 4 minute mark, the minion and gold creeps will appear. If you happen to be near one and have just killed a hero go for the minion/gold creep kill and gold! Your first two abilities will bring down the creep camp quickly. This now gives you vision to that camp. If you are creeping their jungle creeps, it's a great place to gank them - they will be low from attacking the minion mine and either they will die, or they will run away severely hurt and have to heal (again losing out on gold and exp)... both great options for you. During mid game, you should be a couple levels above the other team... they will start to group together - don't be surprised to see 3 heroes go mid or 3 heroes go in the jungle - they are that scared! That makes it great for you - 3 heroes in a lane means they are competing for limited gold resources and sharing the exp 3 ways. If they go 3 mid they are handing you the game, you can let your laner solo and control all 3 mines and jungle creeps. Kill off the jungle creeps as quickly as you can using only your spitfire skill - save your energy for your second skill and long(er) battles.
Mid game (3rd 2.5k spend) Top
By this point, most of the enemy team will run away from you - make sure you hit with spitfire and chase. Frostburn will help slow them down, allowing you to kill them. You'll want to start building up health after that - enemy heroes will now have their ults, so you need to survive to fan the flames. Fountain is a great item for this... most battles they will be on the defensive, until taka thinks he can solo you 1v1 - you will show him the error in his ways :) Your fan the flame is a percentage based ability so the more times you hit him, more damage will be taken. So, the longer any melee hero sticks around, the more damage they will take... backing off or staying are both bad options = enemy death.
Late Game (4th 2k spend) Top
If done right, you should have secured most of the minion and gold mines for the entire game. Also, (at the 15 min mark), team battles will be a little harder. All heroes should be sticking together in a pack. Any hero going off alone will die (that goes for both teams) so stick together with your team. Depending on how they are playing, you will want to pick your next OP item. If they are running scared, go for warhorn first. If they want to stick around and fight, go for breaking point. You'll eventually get both but your choice here and help dominate the game still.
End Game Top
Depending on the other team's skill, your game should have been over one or two chapters ago with a surrender or a vain kill. :) However, if it runs long, get bonesaw if no one has that, take advantage of the weapon and/or crystal infusions or go for another weapon item like tornado trigger or tyrant's monocle. Warhorn also is a great item for pushing since it causes your heroes and your creeps to speed up - if all 3 of the heroes are in the lane, you will get a massive speed boost and can really push against the towers.
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