- 4/4/15 changed Ability leveling to Max Pulse instead of Sonic Zoom (Thanks NwK-MEDIC for the advice
http://www.vaingloryfire.com/profile/nwk-medic)
- 4/4/15 Added sections for a breakdown of Early Game play, a brief explanation of core items in build, tips for counter building opponents, and tips for approaching fights with enemy heroes.
I will continue to add new categories as well as expand upon old ones. Each update will be logged above.
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Early Game Top
When starting in the jungle I buy
Ironguard Contract &
Halcyon Potion x4. If you have a tank teammate that is willing to tank jungle camps while letting you last hit them then
Ironguard Contract might not be necessary, but if that is not the case, I highly recommend getting it.
Ironguard Contract costs 250 gold and is resold at 125 gold (250-125=125); so technically you only need to make 125 gold+ with it to break even and start benefitting. With 20 gold awarded every 5 hits a minion lands on you (with 10 second cooldown)125 gold/20 gold per activation of ability = 6.25 activations and its paid itself off (this is without even considering the % gold earned from nearby teammates kills. If you buy it first and keep it until mid-late game it will have paid for itself several times over and besides, who doesn't like a little extra gold? ;)
I chose Vox's 1st ability
Sonic Zoom over
Pulse at the start of the game purely because of my play style. I like to push to the double minion camp on the enemies side of the jungle. If no enemy is in sight I use
Sonic Zoom to quickly burn the smaller minion while pulling the bigger one into the bushes next to the jungle shop. That way if an enemy appears he might not check the bushes and just assume you already got the kill and left. If an enemy does appear and targets you I usually trade a few blows and quickly decide whether to try to kill him quick and hope his teammate doesn't show up and gank me or turn and run using
Sonic Zoom for spacing.
Best case scenario you kill the double minion camp on enemies side and turn back and kill the same double minion camp on your side immediately afterward. At this point I would buy
Sprint Boots before continuing to jungle farm on your own side. It's great to get these early for that little passive boost that helps in chasing down as well as barely escaping enemies.
Next I work towards
Crystal Bit x2 (leading to
Shatterglass) and
Swift Shooter (with
Crystal Bit increasing basic attack power due to his heroic perk, increasing attack speed perfectly compliments the overall build)
Notes:
If starting in lane I usually pick
Pulse as my first ability because it greatly assists in clearing the groups of minions.
I also don't usually buy
Ironguard Contract when in lane (judgement call... there are exceptions to everything). Instead I buy either
Crystal Bit or
Sprint Boots to start (if enemy team consists of two ranged characters that could potentially both be in lane against you I get
Sprint Boots to help with avoiding early 2v1 ganks as well as increase my kiting capabilities (kiting=basic attacking enemy as you are running away from them).
Keep in mind that my build section 'Choices for last 2 items in End Game Build' is there to counter any "rough starts" and that when I say "last 2 items" I'm not by any means referring to chronological order in which to get the items. Each game is different, but as a general rule of thumb: if your team is down 6+ kills, it might not be a bad idea to put
Shatterglass (or whatever non-defensive item you were working on at the time) on hold temporarily and build a defensive item (or two depending on circumstances)to counter-build the opposing team and hopefully stop the snowballing from turning into an unstoppable avalanche (metaphor for getting completed dominated for those who weren't following).
It's also not a bad idea to make sure you upgrade
Sprint Boots at the same rate, if not at a faster rate than the enemy team (within reason, there are exceptions to everything).
Another important point to keep in mind is that with this build Vox is designed to excel in the late game so don't get too overzealous early on and give out unnecessary kills to the opposing team without anything to show for it. In my personal opinion (which I think many would agree with) I would rather my teammates play it on the safe side early on and have very low kills and deaths than make a lot of aggressive pushes without knowing when to back off. Sometimes their aggressive tactics pay off and they get a lot of kills early and widen the lead while somehow narrowly escape death. Sadly in my experience, more often than not they are not so lucky and only succeed in digging us into a nice deep hole. Better to know when to quit (cough... Turret...cough) and let them get away with just one hit left then to suicide mission follow them past their turret that is actively shooting at you (early on turrets shred you.. just something to keep in mind) with at best just walking away with a equalizing score (+1 -1).
To summarize: play extra cautious early on (maximize on enemies mistakes for kills while trying to keep the score relatively close because you are built to excel in the late game), level up quick (don't focus entirely on enemy heroes! Support your teammates pings, but don't forget to grind out levels for yourself!) and most importantly choose your build order strategically and counter build. Help yourself and your team by noticing if the enemy is pulling ahead and taking counter measures [defense] to prevent falling too far behind and make epic comebacks possible).
Core Items in Build Briefly Explained: Top
After thoroughly reading Vox's abilities and experimenting with several different builds I found the type of build that I believe to be most effective and most enjoyable to play with Vox. To narrow it down a little I played as both a Weapon Power & Crystal Power Vox and decided that the multi-targetting and team fighting capabilities of Crystal Power Vox was more appealing to my play style and focused around it. I was drawn to how well Vox's Heroic Perk works with raw Crystal Power. Nothing gives more raw Crystal Power than
Shatterglass so it became an instant first choice. With 50% of my crystal power added to each of my basic attacks as bonus damage, I concluded that an easy way to greatly improve Vox's ability to consistently deal high damage would be
Alternating Current for its attack speed, crystal power bonus and incredible effect that causes every other attack to deal 115% of your Crystal Power as bonus damage. If you manage to get both of these on Vox relatively early in the match you will get to experience first hand how well they synchronize together and with Vox's Heroic Perk
Julia's Song.
After adding:
Journey Boots,
Shatterglass, and
Alternating Current to my core build I knew that I would need at least one, possibly 2 defense items to stay alive and perform well in team fights (Hence the 'Choices for Last 2 Items in End Game Build' section so that you can choose from building extra defense or more crystal items). With
Journey Boots,
Shatterglass,
Alternating Current and 1-2 defense items (that I will decide upon in match based upon both opponents & teammates builds) I still needed 1-2 more Crystal items (depending on how many defense you choose to get) to fill out the remaining slots. I experimented with various items from
Aftershock to
Eve of Harvest when it finally occurred to me to add a second
Shatterglass.
Shatterglass greatly improves effects of both Vox's Heroic Perk and
Alternating Current (as well as other aspects of Vox such as 50% crystal ratio with
Wait for It...), having 2
Shatterglass makes Vox an unstoppable force with consistently high damage output to multiple targets at the same time thanks to Resonance bouncing.
Notes:
Typically when I decide to build 2 defense items I try to get either
Crucible or
Fountain of Renewal for one slot due to their benefits to your entire team. The second slot I fill with either
Aegis,
Metal Jacket or
Atlas Pauldron always keeping in mind what items would work best to counter/compliment my opponents/teammates builds.
The second
Shatterglass can be replaced with
Eve of Harvest or a variety of other crystal items depending upon personal preference. In my personal experience I found that if I positioned myself well in team fights (by hanging back and using
Sonic Zoom or even
Journey Boots to maintain proper spacing to kite enemies) the added benefit from a second
Shatterglass with
Alternating Current for crazy high damage per second was more beneficial than the life stealing effects of
Eve of Harvest or
Aftershock.
Tips for Counter-building Opponents Top
In an average game where the score is close I will typically try to get
Shatterglass,
Travel Boots,
Ironguard Contract and
Blazing Salvo before getting a defensive item. However thats not always the case and there will be some games that your team has a "rough start", but don't let that discourage you. With a good team and smart counter building I have been able to make some pretty incredible comebacks from situations I was ready to surrender in.
In order to counter build well its necessary to look at the scoreboard often, particularly at what your opponents are building. Look to see if they are all predominately building one type of damage (weapon or crystal). If you notice that the majority have one type then it would be wise to buy the corresponding armor/shield to counter build their damage (shield for crystal, armor for weapon). Counterbuilding is not always as simple as getting armor or shield to combat the majority.
Other key factors you should consider are things such as: Are they building a lot of health to where
Aftershock could be beneficial? Or the inverse true where the enemy builds
Aftershock causing you to go with a defense item besides
Crucible which would provide them with 800 Health to life steal a large portion of? Do the enemy characters have abilities that you/ your team would benefit from having
Reflex Block/
Crucible to escape/shield from? Do the enemy characters rely on attack speed to apply stacks or burn targets quickly? If so you might consider getting
Atlas Pauldron to directly inhibit any enemy in your range for every team fight (15 second cool down allowing you to use this in just about every fight). If Taka is on the other team you might consider carrying a couple of Flares with you to ruin his escape attempts and possibly impair his leveling in the early game... These are just a few examples of things you could look for when trying to effectively counter build against opposing teams.
When attempting to counter build against opponents its important to not only look at the enemies builds, but also your teammates builds. Is your team as a whole walking into an easy-to-counter build (example: if each person on your team goes pure crystal power then the opponent might build
Aegis to effectively reduce damage from each person in your team). Another thing to consider would be if each person on your team builds an item like
Crucible making any opponent with
Aftershock become very dangerous. However having all teammates with a shield and tons of health isn't necessarily a bad thing and it may prove too much for
Aftershock to effectively counter; again just things to consider because you know your opponents will.
Another crucial factor for effectively counter building against opponents is your timing for getting abilities. If you notice your team performing poorly in team fights then its time to stop focusing solely on weapon/crystal power and time to get some defense :). The earlier you act to improve your situation, the more effective you will be. As a general rule of thumb if within the first few minutes our team has a comfortable lead (after already purchasing
Ironguard Contract as well as
Sprint Boots or
Travel Boots and
Swift Shooter or
Blazing Salvo) I will usually aim for
Shatterglass and possibly even
Alternating Current before deciding upon a defensive item (or 2) to improve my ability to survive longer and thus put out more damage in team fights.
If after the first few minutes my team has managed to give them a solid lead (or I just feel that I'm not performing well in fights against enemy heroes) I try to quickly purchase and upgrade 1-2 defense items aimed to counter build against opponents. Sometimes just getting one defense item and upgrading it quickly up to tier 3 is enough to improve your standing. In other situations it may be more beneficial to buy 2 defensive items and quickly upgrading them to tier 2. Your ability to comeback from situations where the opposing team has a couple point lead, to situations that are seemingly hopeless, entirely depends upon your ability to detect and exploit potential holes that an opponent creates by choosing a specific build (that and some great teamwork of course!).
Listed below are enemies with abilities you might want
Reflex Block to save your a** from (
Crucible if you're a real team hero ;) ha). I marked abilities that I think
Reflex Block is most important for with a star ( * ). Note that some of these abilities occur very quickly and require a quick reaction in order to effectively block. In some cases
Sonic Zoom or even
Wait for It can also be used to dodge/prevent enemy abilities.
Ardan -
Gauntlet *
Catherine -
Merciless Pursuit &
Blast Tremor
Joule -
Rocket Leap &
Big Red Button *
Celeste -
Solar Storm *
Vox -
Wait for It
Ringo -
Hellfire Brew *
SAW -
Suppressing Fire &
Mad Cannon
Skaarf -
Dragon Breath *
Adagio -
Verse of Judgement *
Koshka -
Yummy Catnip Frenzy
Krul -
Spectral Smite &
From Hell's Heart
Tips on How to Approach Fights with Enemy Heroes Top
In early-mid game I typically approach an enemy hero with
Pulse to apply resonance and slow them down and instantly create space by following it up with
Sonic Zoom. Its best to try to kite most melee enemies in 1v1 combat because often you can deal a lot of damage to them before they can get close enough to damage you back.
Against ranged characters it is sometimes more beneficial to use
Sonic Zoom first to close in the gap between you and them and immediately activating
Pulse when you land close to them. From there you can usually basic attack them down and use either
Sonic Zoom or
Wait for It to finish them off.
A random tip that I have found extremely useful when fleeing from several enemies (if given the proper circumstances of course) is to quickly turn around and fire
Wait for It at the group chasing you. Usually when teams chase you they slowly end up in a close group due to having the same target over a set distance creating a perfect setup to hit all of them with
Wait for It at the same time! This is where "proper circumstances" comes into play. This is only an effective option if some (preferably most) of the enemies chasing you don't have full health. On 2 separate matches I have been in fleeing situations with all 3 opponents chasing me (fairly low on health but very confident in their 3v1 chase) and was able to turn and hit all of them with the sonic boom from
Wait for It as well as
Sonic Zoom +
Pulse and take down their entire team.
In later game team fights it is best to hang back and try to avoid being the enemies initial target. Often if you push too far ahead of your teammates you will end up getting stunned and burned before you even get a chance to damage them. If you maintain good positioning and face check bushes that could potentially prove fatal by using
Pulse (or Scout Mines if you had placed them earlier in the match) you will greatly improve your role in a team fight and increase your chance of surviving. If you get targeted in team fights attempt to temporarily flee from enemy heroes if possible. If you escape with enough health to survive more than a couple hits you should stop in a bush near the team fight and quickly analyze if you returning to the fight would ensure team victory of if you would just be giving them an easy burn target.
In the late game it is important to move as a unit to prevent enemies from ganking a lone helpless hero. That being said, you should keep track of the number of enemies that are stuck with a respawn timer at all times so that you don't get caught and ganked trying to solo their minion mine thinking that only one enemy was up.
If your team whole team is hiding in a bush waiting to attack, a great way to approach team fights is with a well placed
Wait for It. With your high crystal power and crystal ratio on the ability you can easily make a one sided team fight by hitting the whole enemy team, silencing them and shredding their health right in front of your teammates. With the low 30 second cooldown on
Wait for It you should be able to approach most team fights with it. Make sure to use this ability to your advantage and try not to waste it if an enemy is at the edge of its range.
Notes:
In most team fights it is best to try to quickly burst damage down one of their squishy, high damage dealing characters in order to quickly create a 3v2 situation and greatly reducing the teams chance of victory. Of course there are exceptions to everything and you will be faced with split-second decisions of which enemy hero to target, but with good instincts and teamwork you will emerge victorious.
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