Be unconventional. Defeat noobs using Ring of Sorcery | Panda and Hammer Storm Discussion

What kind of Sorcery is this? LOL ARE YOU DAMN SERIOUS NOOB! WHAT A BUILD NOOB! - these are some of the reactions when I use this build.

Well to be honest, I'm no longer playing in a very competitive manner but I'm a bit challenged to raise my MMR. I started to play public games again without mates. It was fun. My new favorite item is Ring of Sorcery.

It's a noob build but it was effective when I played Panda and Hammer Storm. Here are some of the reasons why:

1. Goodbye mana problems! The main problem with Panda and Hammer is that both of these heroes don't have much mana. Buying Ring of Sorcery eliminates that because it will greatly improve your mana pool. Hammer can now use his stun 2x-3x in a clash while panda can do most of his combos without fret. 
2. More Experience for you! Because you can buy health potions in the secret shop and you have unlimited mana, you won't go to the fountain most of the time. You will gain more xp when you stay at the lane but just make sure that you have wards. :)
3. Gank more. Unlimited mana means continuous ganking. If your team have three support heroes, you can supply them with mana and you can roam and kill anyone you can encounter.
4. Farm more. You can stack creeps and use your spells on them without thinking that you won't have mana for stunning if you will gank later. You can also use your spells in creeps at the lanes for faster pushing.
5. Ring of Sorcery vs Blood Chalice. Well, you may say that why go for the ring where you can save when you buy blood chalice. The answer gentle men is that chalice gets a portion of your life. The main objective here is to gain more xp while not being prone at being ganked. You will think twice to use chalice because it drains health for mana, therefore, you still won't spam your spells etc. A hammer or a Panda with half health early game would be normally around less than 800 health and can be killed by 2 heroes easily.

Cons:

We can say that ring of sorcery is a luxury item to begin with. Since Hammer and Panda are both semi tanky heroes, you can't tank that early because your item is for your mana. But through teamwork, it can win you a public game.

Again, this is effective against noobs but not for pros unless you played it very well. What do you think? Let me know if you used this unconventional build for other heroes.

Cheers!

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Posted in: HoN strategy,HoN Tips

Kinesis joins Newerth - HoN Hero Spotlight

It's great to see new intelligence heroes being introduced. Kinesis has lots of AOE power. I'm excited to see the actual stats of this hero. He has a tournament potential!

I'm thinking that this hero would be so squishy but needs a lot of mana to become effective. Therefore you need to make a perfect balance between being tanky and having lots of mana.

Anyway, here's the basic hero spotlight! Enjoy!

The Prophet teaches that energy flows through all things, we must only harness it for ourselves. The mages invoke incantations, the priests call upon gods wicked and just, but for the truly powerful, the power is harnessed from within. These are the Disciples of the Way and among them there is one known for his mastery over all -- Kinesis. Let the Hellbourne beware the power of his mind.
 Kinesis relies heavily on the manipulation of the nearby units so that he may lift and launch smaller objects as projectiles. Being a ranged, intellect hero, his mind is a powerful asset, and also allows him to absorb much of the incoming damage by being offensive. Early game items such as Power Supply, Grave Locket, and a Bottle are great for keeping him powered up and buff with stats. Steamboots fit well, providing additional health, or a clutch swap to int for the bonus mana to launch one last assault. Nullstone is an extremely effective item, further boosting his defensive prowess and providing much-needed mana regeneration. As he fights with his mind, and not fists, most attack modifiers will pale in comparison to helpful gear like Frostfield Plate, or Kuldra's Sheepstick. Inherent defense works by providing a shield for all damage attempted, and not actually done, so Spellshards won't further increase his tanking capacity, nor reduce the cooldown on his Telekinetic Lift charges, but it still may prove a valuable tool for offensive damage. Stormspirit fits in nicely, adding another disable, high mana regeneration, and allowing Kinesis to set up properly. In the end, Kinesis may wish to build for stats, defense, and mana regeneration over attack damage. When fully geared up, Kinesis can become hard to kill while also being very powerful in attacking.

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Posted in: hero spotlight,HoN,HoN updates,kinesis

Draconis Lane Phase Annihilation

I was browsing in Youtube and I've seen this video about Draconis who did an Annihilation while in the laning phase. Well, this guy did a good job in doing it. But perhaps we don't know the MMR of everyone here. And maybe because not everyone is not yet used to the damage of his spells. The range of the 1st skill is also annoying.


Again this kind of thing happens once in a while. I personally hate people posting stuff like this in youtube without saying more details like what's the mmr level etc.
If I remember it correctly, (I'm playing in 1700 MMR), I was playing Flux against Draconis at Mid. I can't really own that reptile because his skills' damage is a pain. I'm not even sure how we won but yeah, I just continued farming at mid, controlled the rune and ganked when there's a chance.

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Posted in: Draconis,Heroes of Newerth,HoN,HoN Videos

Google Panda InfoGraphic

This infographic says it all. Just take a look at it and it's one of the best ways on how to explain the Panda update by Google. Thanks to www.singlegrain.com for this infographic.

So as you can see, the bottom line now is all about quality links and relevancy.  Which is actually hard!

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Posted in: Google,Google Panda,seo,seo stuff

A better way to play Scout | Scout HoN Hero guide

Scout is one of the favorite Heroes of noobs in HoN. Why? Because it's one of those famous right click heroes. But the question is are you playing it right? Some would say scout is a heavy weight early game. It's true! But, before you say something else, I would like to point out some good points that you might want to understand.

Some reasons why scout is still useful early game?

1. Early Wards / Free ward / Early Dewards - If you want to be useful in early game, pick your 2nd skill first - which is called Electric Eye. Choosing this at the start of the game would help your team mates gain map control and rune control. Some mid heroes would certainly own with the help of these runes. For example, Deadwood or Pebbles or Fayde would own mid if they have vision in the runes. (Actually most heroes would own mid if they have the rune.) It's that simple. In a way, you helped mid, and you also help the side lanes because they're not prone of being ganked early. You also helped your support heroes because in a sense they saved 200 gold because they didn't buy 2 of those wards. And lastly, you can deward the enemies ward because your electric eye can see those wards. In a way, if you're successful in dewarding you stole 100 from the enemies' support hero and gained 50 gold!
2. Silence Kills - Most people ignore this but do you know that a level 4 Electric Eye has a 6 second silence? 6 Seconds is long enough to kill a squishy caster like Pyromancer, Witch Slayer, Myrmidon etc.
3. Maximizing the use of Invisibility - Though you have a small burst damage at early levels, don't underestimate the power of invisibility. This can happen anywhere. Usually at early game, sometimes one normal attack is needed to kill someone. So fucking gank early!

Maybe you're beginning to get the point right? I'm playing a ganking scout early game. It's very useful. The skill build at early game would be:

1. Electric Eye
2. Vanish
3. Vanish
4. Electric Eye
5. Vanish
6. Marksman Shot
7. Vanish
8. Electric Eye
9. Electric Eye
10. Disarm
11. Marksman Shot
12. Disarm
13. Disarm
14. Disarm
15. Stats
16. Marksman Shot
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats

Explanation:

This skill build in my humble opinion is the most helpful build for a scout. Do you know what a scout does in real life? Do that and you will be successful. Roam and kill.

Early electric eye would be useful for warding the runes. Maxing Electric eye and Vanish would give you your early game burst damage. You can gank mid early if you're level 4. Abuse the use of silence. You get XP and assists which equates to gold. And since you're moving around, you're unpredictable. You're like a shadow. Eventually, since you've invested your early game at helping your team mates, you can farm by mid game. :)

Early items would be:

1 Hatchet, 1 Health Potion, 3 runes of blight

Explanation:

Hatchet is very good for farming. Notice that I'm just maximizing all the money for consumables. Why? I want to get as much xp as I can get as well as to farm as much as I can.

Suggested Items:

Many people asked me what's the best boots for scout?  There's no definite build for him but for me, Ghost marchers work most of the time. Early game, you gain +24 damage, not fantastic, but good enough. And it's nice coz you have a sudden movement burst + unit walking. Very ideal when you have more melee in your team.

If you're having fun in ganking, then try to get an early Sustainer  then transform it to Runed Cleaver if you want maximum damage. If there are too many single targeted powerful spells like the punch of Deadwood or the ultis of Pyromacer or Witchslayer, then get Null Stone. 

If there are simply too many disables, then don't get null stone. Get Shrunken head instead.

For damage items, it still depends. I personally love Shield breaker as my primary damage item. It can easily rip off support heroes that are really annoying. Strength heroes can also be weakened by this item.

Getting Brutalizer would be useful if the carry of the opposing team is a great hitter like MageBane/Madman. You got disarm + Bash, so you would totally win 1v1. Unless he has more powerful items.

Runed Cleaver + Geometer's Bane would be excellent for push towers. It's also useful to nullify some ultis like KOTF's Root or Bloodhunters Rupture.

Savage Mace for me is one of the best damage items that you can get. Mini stun + bonus damage + True strike. What can you ask for?

As for lifesteal, sometimes just ask your team mate to make an abyssal skull for you. If they don't have much cash, then go buy one. :)

Nullfire blade by the way is also nice especially if your team doesn't have much disable. But if you're rich enough then go buy a Sheepstick! :)

So that's about it. Happy playing! Hope this guide will help you to become a useful Scout. PM me if you have other suggestions for the play style. 

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Posted in: Hero Guides,HoN hero guide,Legion

Team TrollCasting giving away Legacy Keys

Damn! I was 30 seconds late and everything was used up! This is how people are crazy about getting those Legacy Accounts!

Team TrollCasting has been very generous in giving away free Heroes of Newerth Legacy Keys! They said they're doing it to reciprocate the support that we're giving them in their Facebook page. And I quote:

"Remember guys.. every 50 likes we will give away a bonus 20 keys.. so 3200, 3250 and 3300 likes.. GET US THERE!!!"

This is what they said. So I guess we just have to wait for the next release. Here's what their Facebook Page looks like a few minutes a go:

And to those who were wondering what's the importance of getting a Legacy account, well, the first thing that goes to my head is that you got access to all of the old heroes and that's about it!

So there. If you're tired of using the heroes that were 'free' to use in the game, then go and like Team Trollcasting's Facebook page and wait for them to release another set of keys.

Cheers!

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Posted in: Heroes of Newerth,Heroes of Newerth News,HoN,Legacy Keys

Draconis: New hero in HoN | HoN Hero Spotlight

After Berzerker, another gimmicky hero is being introduced to Newerth - Draconis. Everyone thought that Berzerker was so IMBA/OP. Well, to be honest, yes and no. The bottom line is you can shut him down at early game. He doesn't have AOE spells to farm fast at the early game.

Draconis on the other hand seems to have a potential in quick farming. Very promising. His spells are also deadly. I'm assuming this hero would have mana problems at early levels. His ulti is very item dependent so you need to farm fast in order to own.

I would like to try this hero myself. I might play it like nomad or something. A bit tanky with damage..

Here's the video and enjoy!

The fiery dragon, Draconis, has awoken. As searing flames lick the charred scales accenting his face, a roar is let loose - the World Tree must be defended! Even Pyromancer would be scared of all the fire brought forth. As a ranged agility hero, Draconis can lay waste to his enemies with attacks, and should focus on doing damage and increasing his attack speed.

Draconis would benefit the most from Steamboots, as the attack speed and defensive capabilities are the most fitting. Ghost Marchers can be nice for the damage, but Blazing Flight already grants a great movespeed boost along with unit walking, so they're redundant. Frostburn has proven to be a great item for the bonus damage, health, and snare needed to keep the barrage of Cataclysmic Assault going longer. Since most of Draconis' spells are low mana cost, a chalice provides all the mana needed, if you opt to go for a heavy Q build for ganking. Since Cataclysmic Assult propegates attack modifiers, items such as Savage Mace and Frostwolf Skull synergize nicely for huge damage and a giant slow. Charged Hammer will only proc on the main attack, however, with the increased attack speed boost and AoE damage, it's still a viable alternative to Savage Mace. Wingbow can be used as a tech item for the defensive stats it grants through evasion and armor, but Shrunken Head is the ultimate defensive item to allow full use of Cataclysmic Assault and maximum damage.

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Posted in: hero spotlight,HoN,hon guides,HoN Videos

SEO Outsourcing and Careers in the Philippines

I decided to revive this old blog of mine just to test my SEO skills. This blog was supposed to help noobs in Heroes of Newerth but then, HoN decided to integrate tutorials in the game so I guess this site isn't much of use for gamers like me. But yes enough of the rant.

 I was browsing through Craigslist and Jobstreet yesterday. To my surprise, there are a lot of SEO postings everywhere! The company I've been working for started in 2008 and I guess there were only a few back offices in the Philippines who do real SEO. Now, I guess there's a lot of companies doing it. It sounds great!

I've read a few articles way back when Google Panda was released and most of them says that SEO will be dead. At first I was scared because I thought I would eventually lose my job. But apparently, based from what I've observed, a lot more companies are needing SEO help and would like to join the battle in the online arena.

The Philippines is indeed one of the best locations to outsource SEO services. There may be a lot of reasons why companies want their back offices here. First and foremost, the operating costs here are much lower - office space, electricity, internet, man power etc. Second would be language. Most of us Filipinos have English as our second language and we're very adaptive in accents. This is the same reason why the call center industry flourished in our country. Lastly, we Filipinos are very industrious and reliable. Once we set a target, we'll never miss it.

 I'm just happy that SEO has grown for the last few years and I'm looking forward to see more and more online action soon. To all Filipinos doing SEO, cheers to all of you! :)

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Posted in: jobs,seo,seo stuff

Blizzard DOTA Trailer

I haven't blogged for a bit. Anyway, here's something new - Blizzard DOTA. What do you guys think? I do hope EA would do the same thing but create some sort of 1st person view. LOL Here's the video:

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Posted in: blizzard dota,dota

Heroes of Newerth Hero Spotlight: Cthulhuphant

This hero was release last week in HoN.Garena. The first time I was able to play with this hero was totally amazing. This hero was our enemy and we're having a hard time because of his advantage early game which proved useful until the end game. He's so rich so I think his shield is so Imba.
Here's the hero spotlight from HoN:

The Cthulhuphant is a tanky strength beast that can charge into a battle almost fearlessly, wreaking havoc on nearby enemies with his crippling passive slow and large area effect damage. At early levels he's able to kill difficult neutral creep camps with use of "Hook 'em", and gain an early level advantage that he can gank frequently with, using "Trample" for the burst damage and stun. If playing him in the lane, he can charge into creep waves and send projectiles flying to stun enemy heroes from a far distance--giving allies an opportunity to follow up with additional disables and damage output.

Cthulhuphant's greatest weakness is keeping up with his foes and dealing lethal damage. After using Trample, he has no other disables aside from his passive aura and may find himself falling short of killing an enemy. However, even with no survivability items early on, he can withstand a great deal of damage. For this reason, ghost marchers are an important pickup to help boost his attack damage and allow him to keep up with his prey.

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Posted in: Heroes of Newerth News,HoN hero guide,HoN updates,HoN Videos