[Bandit Artifice] Most underrated item of the game

[Itsthatguy]

Bandit Artifice is one the highest costing (or is currently) in the game. It is questionable why people don't use it. It is actually a VERY GOOD Item with certain heroes. Many heroes can do well, and it provides valid counters to almost anyone. It is almost my favorite item in the game too.

 

If you get this item, It should be the last or second last item you got.

 

1) Zeratul. With zeratul, if you use bandit artifice during ultimate, you get extra hits from clone (who can proc pyre and sliptide). In addition, if they aim stuns at your zeratul (rancor) or Lockbox you. You still have someone damaging your target, and you can even damage two diff ppl at a time.

 

2) Ironhide.Cain - Bandit Artifice Clone can actually PROC your ultimate. So your clone also deals an additional 130+35% int Per attack bonus spell damage. You can actually basicly kill anything with this deadly combo of freeze and clone shots, even soloing Teir 3 towers.

 

3) Gabriel.Tosh - Bandit Artifice Clone is effected by Mad Craving. This means that your clone will deal exact same damage as your normal tosh (who probably has pyre and sliptide and FoE).

 

4) Jakk - Bandit artifice is VERY VERY good on any AA Jakk. Your clone procs your passive Grenades (not energy Rifle), thus your bandit artifice clone not only procs pyre and Sliptide, but also you 10+25%int Spell Damage. With Max attack speed, it can be devestating.

 

5) Vorpal - If your going AA vorpal (Or i guess INT works too?) Bandit Artifice can be very useful. You Clone procs Vorpals Passive, but whenever the Clone gains a void, it is directly transfered over to the Original Vorpal, so it can be used to regain vorpal's Passive Voids for abilities at twice the speed for a short duration.

 

6) Grunty - It procs your passive, Horray 177 True Damage on your clone. Deadly vs melee heroes.

 

7) Cyprus - This is good for scouting ahead and dealing with enemies with Mossberg taser since you can scout and take them out before they silence (or they waste silence on clone). In addition, Your clone works like a Pillar, meaning Seismic will push the Clone Cyprus (Even threw walls). You can trick enemies by using seismic to push your clone threw a wall, making it look like you teleported there (since clones can't use abilities) they will assuming it is you and go after clone, while you take them from the high ground easily, or right after their final finishes.

 

Other Uses:

- Very useful in tricking an enemy with clone. Enemies may omni slash or Chronosphere this clone if you are the main threat.

- Scouting. Duran's Eye is like a scout, but Bandit's Artifice is like a Scouting thing too, except it makes it the illusion of you too.

- Ambush someone from two different sides. Bandit Artifice works best with FoE/Pyre/Sliptide/ Ranged Heroes.

- Heroes who get Gravity Edge actually deal LESS damage to the Clone than those who Don't. Even tho Bandit Artifice says it takes 200% damage from all sources, that is a glitch, True damage only deals 100% and not 200%. Because of this, Gravity edge lowers the damage casters deals to clones by about 20% or so (Take about 165% Damage). This also makes it effective for tower diving without putting yourself in danger.

- Versus Glass Cannon casters, it can be effect vs heroes like raynor, as you can try to damage them (and you still do a lot), and not be in ANY danger what so ever.

 

Warning: Do not use Bandit Artifice on Starscream. If your clone gets Lockboxed, you are screwed since you can't control your hero when the clone is lockboxed (This only happens to starscream, not other heroes).

[residente]

Seriously, with 5000 minerals I could do one million things better than this near to useless Bandits Artifice, even with the uses you posted here, that prize and stats are not worthy imo

[Yaldi]

I think you are wrong residente

[residente]

I think you are wrong residente

 

Why? With 5000 minerals you could get some very very strong items like Shadowmourne, Masamune, Galactic Defender... is this Artifice better than them?

[Yaldi]

that is 3 not a million;)

[Qlx]

I think you are wrong residente

And i think he's right. It costs too much, that's it.

[Itsthatguy]

And i think he's right. It costs too much, that's it.

It is a last item, At that point, Money isn't a Big deal.

[lOvOl]

Yah Bandits procs items, but not at full strength. For instance the pyre damage your clone does is 65% of what pyre does on your main hero which is still good, but not overwhelming. If you are going to be doing any sort of build with stun baton, I think bandits is a great item.

 

The hard thing about using bandits is maintaining target lock on the hero you are chasing since the hero won't be getting any movement speed bonuses from any actives you have like HoM, Yamato, etc. So to maintain pursuit with bandits you also need movement speed debuff items like Force of Entropy which of course take away from spots you would want to devote to actual DPS.

 

The other nice thing about bandits is it gives excellent stats so think of it as also granting you 400 health, 12% attack speed, and 6 armor. Also, even though your clone lasts only 30 seconds you need to think about keeping its health up from passive damage like AoE so that means non-active leech items like hive symbiosis or a khaydarin absorber. Parallax is also good because it makes it harder to focus fire down you or your clone as they keep phasing in and out every 6 seconds. In fact, if you get bandits, khaydarin, and parallax (all give equal amounts of int, agility, and strength), you get 95 stats in each department for a total of 950 health, 28.5% attack speed, and 14.25 armor, not to mention 95 int.

 

The question then is what items do you pair with it and that should obviously be AA items like pyre, stun baton, and hive symbiosis since it grants agility (15% attack speed, 7.5 armor) and also both your clone and yourself heal each other from the damage they deal.

[Doom]

A few uses you didn't mention:

 

1: Micro stun, bandits procs his passive as well

 

2: Biotron Civillians spawn around the clone

 

3: Darpa clones proc vendetta stacks allowing you to get maxium effect from both spider and grenade near simultaneously, as well as weaken the attack damage of multiple enemies simultaneously

 

4: Passive Auras. Both heroic, such as LZ's, Rory's, Null's, and Raynor's or item-based, such as CoA and Spell Buffer are proced by the clone. They do not stack with the original, but are helpful if you want to help creeps push a tower, yet not risk your own hero to ganks. You can also have the clone go further into the enemy team, thus procing harmful auras on every enemy, for example sending a Rory Clone into the heart of the enemy team, giving a 10% spell damage buff to all attacks against them, while keeping the real rory safe and out of danger.

[Itsthatguy]

A few uses you didn't mention:

 

1: Micro stun, bandits procs his passive as well

 

2: Biotron Civillians spawn around the clone

 

3: Darpa clones proc vendetta stacks allowing you to get maxium effect from both spider and grenade near simultaneously, as well as weaken the attack damage of multiple enemies simultaneously

 

4: Passive Auras. Both heroic, such as LZ's, Rory's, Null's, and Raynor's or item-based, such as CoA and Spell Buffer are proced by the clone. They do not stack with the original, but are helpful if you want to help creeps push a tower, yet not risk your own hero to ganks. You can also have the clone go further into the enemy team, thus procing harmful auras on every enemy, for example sending a Rory Clone into the heart of the enemy team, giving a 10% spell damage buff to all attacks against them, while keeping the real rory safe and out of danger.

 

But those aren't really enough to be worth buy the item (Exception to Darpa, I definately forgot that one).

[VasyaKot]

It is not the most underrated item.

The most underrated item is hunters hatchet.

[WhaleTits]

:/ that item... no longer exists...

[Yaldi]

i miss hunters hatchet

[VasyaKot]

:/ that item... no longer exists...

wait wut it was removed?

Nooooooo i will miss it so much... (Oh thank gods dev got rid of that crap!)

 

Ok then the most underrated item is psiblaster beacon Balancer. It is actually used only as a component for yamato

[WhaleTits]

and bandits... and parallax...

[Ironsights]

i see paralax far more often than i do spell buffer

 

 

and spell buffer is awesome!

[Qlx]

It is a last item, At that point, Money isn't a Big deal.

But usefullness at that point is. It's not that great really.

[zeeeend]

Besides Tosh and Tassadar i wouldn't get it. Tosh is due to ulti procing 100% truedmg. Tassadar because tp is better than dp someone.

For 5k i'd rather have something that deals 100% dmg from items, wont die, and deals 35% weapon dmg. Namely shadowmourne.

[akanna]

Ok but lets look at the flaws in bandits clones

 

1) they do not get truesight, so when you get TS you no longer fool anyone

2) they do not get talents or potion bonuses, so it is pretty easy to tell them apart from you

3) they die too fast to be good for anything but fast trolling/extra burst damage, you dont cant use them like tass to push multiple lanes at once

 

That aside I do like all the uses you've found for one of the least used items in game

 

Have also seen a vid where everyone rushed bandits for troll factor, and it was kinda funny to see 11 players (1 was tass)

 

I agree that bandits is rather underrated

If 1 and 2 were fixed they would be much more viable and useful.

 

Granted I have the same complaint for Tass, you cant troll ppl with your clone if you have sight, and that has always seemed unfair

[Unabsolutely]

Yah Bandits procs items, but not at full strength. For instance the pyre damage your clone does is 65% of what pyre does on your main hero which is still good, but not overwhelming. If you are going to be doing any sort of build with stun baton, I think bandits is a great item.

 

The hard thing about using bandits is maintaining target lock on the hero you are chasing since the hero won't be getting any movement speed bonuses from any actives you have like HoM, Yamato, etc. So to maintain pursuit with bandits you also need movement speed debuff items like Force of Entropy which of course take away from spots you would want to devote to actual DPS.

 

The other nice thing about bandits is it gives excellent stats so think of it as also granting you 400 health, 12% attack speed, and 6 armor. Also, even though your clone lasts only 30 seconds you need to think about keeping its health up from passive damage like AoE so that means non-active leech items like hive symbiosis or a khaydarin absorber. Parallax is also good because it makes it harder to focus fire down you or your clone as they keep phasing in and out every 6 seconds. In fact, if you get bandits, khaydarin, and parallax (all give equal amounts of int, agility, and strength), you get 95 stats in each department for a total of 950 health, 28.5% attack speed, and 14.25 armor, not to mention 95 int.

 

The question then is what items do you pair with it and that should obviously be AA items like pyre, stun baton, and hive symbiosis since it grants agility (15% attack speed, 7.5 armor) and also both your clone and yourself heal each other from the damage they deal.

Full dmg. Lrn2Mch.

[Itsthatguy]

But usefullness at that point is. It's not that great really.

 

In ever game I've used it, I found it to be a great help. Especially when I play a AA Hero. At any point I get shrapneled, i drop a Clone and can still deal Damage.

In addition, if I am being chased by a team, I can Drop the Clone which has FoE to slow my persuer and damage him at the same time. He will have to kill the clone and let me escape, or take massive damage.

The Clone is weak vs AoE Effects. Vs another AA hero, they could be screwed since they can focus on one target. If you have pyre, your damage can go from 100% Weap +5% Enemies max hp per .35 seconds to 165% Weap +10% Enemies max hp per .35 seconds. Especially if your being chased, it is kinda like having a free Dark Titan (In regards to slow at least).

 

Galactic Defender isn't always enough to counter enemies. 1050 shields is a lot, but you have to active it at the perfect point. If you find a Cyprus or caster, You Bandit Artifice clone is actulaly more than enough to kill the caster by itself. If they use an ability on the clone, Now their abilities are on CD and you can take them out. In addition, Clones take LESS damage from heroes with Gravity Edge. Because of this, I find that majority of casters actually can't kill my Clone as easily, having to use mutiple spells just to kill.

 

If you get Pyre, Sliptide, and Force of Entropy. Right there you have a fairly tanky AA build that also can counter Shrapnel and other things (Right there is 50+ 5% Max Hp Spell Damage per hit). It is a great item to not put yourself in danger from ranged casters. It is actually a decent counter to Gravity Edge, because like i said, the Clone actually takes less damage if said enemy has Gravity Edge by about 20% or so

 

FoE Is a great item. It counters all movement speed items, and It prevents enemies from escaping. It also gives +20 Weapon damage and +1000 Hp, which gives you great tanky stacks. Majority of people go FoE especially since it not only slows movement speed but also slows attack speed. In addition, if you get sliptide, it gives you +10% movement speed per attack.

 

Bandit Artifice clone works exactly like shadowmourne. Spell damage and True Damage deals 100% Damage. Not reduced. I feel the item would be used a lot more if it Proced Shadowmourne (The only item it currently doesn't proc).

 

Zerg Symbiosis is kinda a waste. It is kinda like a worst version of Khalidyrin absorbers, but for AA heroes. It is only great when you get to the point where you have 50 creeps shooting down final tower.

 

Especially with Jakk, Your clone alone will deal about 200 or more Spell Damage Per attack (10+25% INT, +5% their Max Hp, +50 Spell Damage from sliptide).

 

And Tosh should should get it. You basicly DOUBLE your output damage if you get it as a final item for tosh. His final makes Clone deals EXACT same damage as Tosh (Dealing the 80 True damage and procing item effects and also gainning +100% Attack Speed and Flat movement Speed I believe).

 

A Cain with bandit artifice and full items can take out a Teir 3 tower byhimself with no Spawn within 7 seconds too.

[Spooky]

Bandit's doesn't work with Cain ulti, its only slow clone missiles but doesn't do any additional damage. I don't like Bandit's on Tosh. It makes even harder to micro him correctly, perma stun target, put terrazine and so on.

[heimdallr]

I like the itsthatguy idea of using it to bypass some counters like shrap or allow escape via slow....hadnt really thought about it since i dont mainly play aa heroes...and to think about it many of those heroes wouldve benefited with that use against me many times....surprising it doesnt see that kind of use often...i guess dps aa really reigns supreme but this idea might be worth the slot for heroes with no natural escape mechanism

[Itsthatguy]

Bandit's doesn't work with Cain ulti, its only slow clone missiles but doesn't do any additional damage.

Test and True. But it still helps if you have Nitrogen Round [Q], as you still do +65% Weap damage physical without damaging the freeze. So still deals a lot.

[sTeveN]

i rly miss resonator, def the best item in game.