Garamond.Singsprocket [v1.7x]

[VoiDukkha]

Content

1. why gara
    
   
2. The aggressive mule
    
   
3. talents
    
   
4. skills
    
   
5. items
    
   
6. techniques
   

 

1. Why gara(mond)?

 

Great laning with nonstop gank, high damage, has slow and a very long range stun, not so squishy as it seems!

Gara is a _support_ hero and capable of soloing agi heros. Gara doesnt profit from attack speed but from timescale

(must read: http://www.aeonofstorms.com/index.php?/topic/1375-aos-for-dummies-the-gaming-school/page__hl__%2Btime+%2Bscale+%2Bcooldown+%2Breduction -spoiler on time/timescale);

timescale means more damage thanks to more scvs and more damage thanks to lower cooldown(cd) on skills.

 

2. The aggressive mule

 

There are not many gara players. Your first advantage when playing (/pubstorming) gara is going to be that this hero isnt much known. As an int hero he will be expected to be very squishy (at least without carapace mantle or some HP item). The key of my playing style is: use skills non stop and lockbox the enemy. The requirements are high apm of the player and high movement speed of the hero ingame. Using skills nonstop means having almost infinite energy. As a support hero, one might not get so many kills, but one will be able to bring the team many kills, although unfortunately without getting noticed; Gara's W skill will stun the enemy while he is trying to run a many times (thanks to high range) and thus allow a teammate to finish that enemy off.

 

3. Talents

 

Offensive: +5% spell dmg

Defensive: HP, spell resist, Zeal (movement speed)

Utility: Cooldown reduction, Swiftness (movement speed)

 

4. Skills

 

Note that all skills are being cast instantly, allowing them to be cast while moving (eg. running away) without having to stop/losing time! This is essential for my style!

Q: oil

it lasts for several seconds and all enemies that touch it will lose movementspeed for a few seconds; deadly when an enemy gets pulled with eg. boros, use it to prevent the enemy from running away

W: follower mines

deal damage and stun on impact, the longer the closer the enemy is to the center of the impact; use this nonstop while ganking; typically slightly behind the enemy

E: Turrets

always position them slightly apart from each other; dont just use them for laning but put them out also when ganking; remember that you can control them to target an enemy hero rather than creep; lvl 4 turrets gain a bonus

R: red scvs

scvs move slowly and take a time until they explode; combine ulti with oil or lockbox (more later)

 

usually i max out E as soon as possible since turrets are best for laning; experienced players (esp. ranged heros) might hunt down your turrets immediately, in which case you have to place them a little bit closer to you/your tower and get W and Q to stun them on their attempts to attack your turrets.

get Q lvl 1 and try to max out E and W. R at lvl 6 although you are not going to use it regularly until you get lockbox.

 

5. Items

 

sorted by importance

as mentioned this style needs as much energy it can get ;) So the two essential items are:

:KineticBattery: (no image on board it seems.) Energy recovery->Kinetic battery (Energy.)

Energy recovery->Schroedinger's Lockbox (locking for ulti use/running, energy, movement speed)

Consumables->Blinkmoth Serum: After kinetic and lockbox the most important item: it doesnt only give int, but also 10% cooldown reduction

Strength->Coat of Arms (CoA)(cooldown reduction, attack speed for scv's)

 

Optional: (usually i get)

Intelligence->Argus Crystal (more damage)

:Gravity Edge: Movement Speed-> Gravity Edge(more movement speed, more damage)

Intelligence->Yamato Reactor(more damage)

:Masamune: Movement Speed -> Masamune (15+25=40% time scale, nuff said!, movement speed, weapon damage)

 

 

6. Techniques

 

Running away

The first thing to master is how to run away form an enemy, for eg. a Shadow:

as noted earlier casting skills doesnt cost time, so while running away do the following:

• cast oil right behind you/ so that your enemy surely runs into it.
  
• cast mines right at the place you are when casting them or even slightly ahead depending on how close the enemy is to you such that they will explode right when your enemy is at that spot if he still follows you.
  
• With that stun and slow the enemy should not be able to follow you any more. else:
  
• hit R for ulti, some scv's will appear and move the same direction as you.
  
• Now lockbox your enemy (you ought to have lockbox hotkey'd like eg. at key "3" to use it quickly, always use ulti _before_ lockbox, since the scvs live longer than lockbox locks).
  
• Position your svc's at the spot where you lockboxed your enemies.
  
• Optional: pull 2 turrets right next to that spot (apart from more damage they block the enemy, so you can put them between you and the enemy to prevent him from getting to you or behind the enemy to prevent him from running away, depending on how confident you are ;) )
  
• Depending on how skilled your timing is, the scv's will explode as soon as the enemy gets out of the lock from lockbox.
  

Note that in this process the enemy took full damage from all mines, full damage from each exploding scv, and mb even some shots from turrets/you throwing scvs, that will kill an agi hero and if not, then probably wil reduce hp to about <25% in which case he will have learnt his lesson and not try to chase you again.

 

Variations: oil, ulti, lockbox, (turrets), mines slightly before lockbox lock ends, as soon as enemy gets out of lock he will get stunned, while he is stunned hit him, scv's exlode and hes dead.

 

Even vs more enemies lockbox + slow + stun should be enough to be able to run (while dealing damage);

basically ulti + lockbox is an absolute killer combo and a few more scv's in ulti can 1 hit _every_ hero (for maximal damage they need to be placed around the hero/surrounding him) so if you master the timing for that combo (which imo is quite hard) you will be a successfull mule :)

• While ganking use your skills nonstop, dont waste a single moment with your W skill (mines) _not_ in cooldown; in a fight with say 5 or more participants your mines will not be noticed (i mean nobody will see that you cast them or where) and the stun will be very precious for your team!
  

Harassing while laning

throw your scv's on creep (they will do damage on impact) and then navigate them to the enemy hero; this way you will kill creep (scv's deal dmg on impace as well as when attacking) and at the same time deal damage to the enemy, pushing him back. Always remember you have control over your scv's and your turrets!

• for eg. when killing aeon, use your one or two turrets as scouts, putting them in places where you could see an incoming ambush.
  

• Your turrets are blocking, so two turrets can be an effective block if put next to each other.
  

• If you need to "premake" a big scv army (for eg for ulti) and you have no enemy to throw them on; scv's can be thrown on your own turrets or on other scvs.
  

• Dont run from creep, it will attack your svc's first before attacking you.
  

Edited January 16, 2013 by VoiDukkha

[akanna]

You forgot armor talent, a must have ;)

 

Its a million times better than the spell resist talent, plus nullifier gives 15% spell resist for 875

 

Outside of that like the formatting, could use other builds and playstyles though.

[Aellectris]

CoA doesn't give you more SCVs.

 

Build Gravity Edge after Argus. It means you can farm more effectively (cs have 35% SR), meaning you get those other items sooner.

 

Yamato is good later on, though you'll have enough damage to kill with GE/Argus, so go Nitrogen next. It makes your towers slow thus setting up your ult more effectively, and gives you a decent amount of INT and Health.

 

Don't always place the mines where you are. Place them where the enemy will be.

 

Lockbox the other person, use the mines correctly, Shift+Click your turrets up (it makes it happen faster than otherwise possible), and then ult. The turrets increase spell damage taken by the person being attacked, thus increasing the damage from your mines/ult.

[VoiDukkha]

CoA doesn't give you more SCVs.

 

hmm didnt know that; i thought it gives as a passive 20% time scale to you and nearby allies? more timescale would mean more scvs in the same time?

[zeeeend]

I´m happy i dont see my awsome build here yet. This thread did make me started playing gara again :D silly how i forgot him.

 

My talents are different 1 fitness 4 basic util and teleport. Since once i hit 6 + lockbox i just want te rape all over map :D

[MaximuuuS]

I'd add SHC for mobility and timescale.

[Doom]

Shadowmourne is a really nice item on mule, due to you having lots of cc that will allow it to do a lot of hits, and the slows/other uniques that their hero has will now benefit you as much as them.

[akanna]

I'd add SHC for mobility and timescale.

 

I'd use it for that aoe stun myself, 1 sec buys you time to chain stun (with seeker missles) and ult (not a full doom combo but still good)

Lockbox is arguably better for setting up the combo of doom (LB->turret->ult->missles->oil), but SHC works on multiple people

 

Oh and SHC = small hedron collider, the upgraded warp shard, in case anyone reading is actually new (this is a guide after all)

[Aellectris]

hmm didnt know that; i thought it gives as a passive 20% time scale to you and nearby allies? more timescale would mean more scvs in the same time?

 

Cooldown reduction ≠ timescale. See my post in the gaming school for info on timescale vs cooldown reduction.

[heimdallr]

does gara now scale with cooldown reduction? i thought it was only timescale

 

either I missed a patch or fix.....or this thread was made by a noob who just tried gara and decided to make some guide???

[VoiDukkha]

ok, thanks Aellectris! i thought theres "Time" and that Timescale is the same as Cooldown Reduction. im going to change that part in the guide now; in retrospect i think playing gara one ought to know about timescale and cd, so i included the link to Aellectris' post in the guide

[akanna]

ok, thanks Aellectris! i thought theres "Time" and that Timescale is the same as Cooldown Reduction. im going to change that part in the guide now; in retrospect i think playing gara one ought to know about timescale and cd, so i included the link to Aellectris' post in the guide

 

To be fair this is the biggest issue with gara atm, when they removed the old "timescale" from the game, they replaced every instance of it with CDR, but they never changed gara's passive or ult. New Timescale is way better than CDR don't get me wrong, but item synergy wise it crippled him because he lost the ability to use items like COA etc and mass SCVs. Lots of items give CDR, but only like 3 give timescale.

 

Ideally they will fix this at some point.....but who knows when that will be

They should make his attack speed scale off of CDR instead of timescale, and fix his ult to apply CDR + movement speed (the most useful parts of timescale for him) Yes it would be a nerf since it wouldn't make his game clock tick faster, and CDR isnt nearly as good as time scale when it comes to cooldowns, but its a fair trade for better scv production and item synergy

 

Gara used to be very strong as a DPS pusher bc he could spam SCVs like nobodys business, now its pretty much INT with Lockbox or bust ;) Although that haste patch may change things, its too soon to tell really.

 

BTW you should really get IHAN crystal in your build somewhere and sell it after 10 minutes for a permanent +350 HP and 60 INT.

 

And HASTE is really a way better talent tree since its timescale now ;)

I would go for lifesteal, spell/weapon dmg, veteran, haste, integrity, and switfness

 

EDIT:

CDR = cooldown reduction

COA = coat of arms

AA = auto attack, the thing you do when you right click someone, or hit the attack key

 

Not mentioned in this guide, garamonds heroic passive (every hero has one) is that his attack speed scales off of timescale instead of weapon speed, and he attacks with scvs instead of a normal AA. The SCVs do damage over time so technically their damage scales way better with timescale than CDR, but so few items have timescale that its hard to mass on him. Be aware when playing garamond that the attack damage displayed on him will not match the actual weapon damage you buy, because his passive also cuts his weapon damage (scvs only do a portion of what would be his normal damage, and so all you see is the amount they actually do). As I mentioned above the recent change of the haste talent to timescale is really a gamechanger for making AA gara viable again. You want to have lots of scvs on the field when you ult, it makes a bigger boom.

 

Also be aware that when silenced gara cannot AA, he is the only hero that has this weakness (total BS but will prob never get fixed)

[zeeeend]

I always cry vs a good raynor while playing gara. 6 seconds of i can't do shap but walk.

[Eliwan]

@Akanna: Cyprus can't turn to AA when silenced either.

[Rem]

cyprus still has an auto attack when silenced, hes usually not built to take very good advantage of it, but at least its possible :/

[Aellectris]

Yeah Eli, Cyprus can AA while silenced. Gara can't. Originally, Garamond had an Autoattack in addition to the SCVs dealing damage, so he could aa even while silenced. In 5.0/6.0, he was changed to have his attack solely from the SCVs, which are generated via cooldowns (old timescale). While silenced, cooldowns aren't decreased and SCVs aren't generated, so the new Garamond can't attack.

 

@Akanna: Garamond is still a crazy strong pusher, as his turrets deal insane damage to towers with their INT scaling. He's a caster, and so in my opinion, shouldn't be based on his AA. I think he's fine as is, if not a bit too strong.

 

 

Also I think teleport is better on Garamond because he has really strong pushing capabilities with instant wave-clear and setting up towers. He can tele in, set up towers, and leave instantly.

[Eliwan]

I said that Cyprus can't -turn- to AA when silenced. =V

 

When he is silenced, if he is not already facing the direction of his enemy, he cannot turn and shoot them.

 

However, you can avert that by simply moving in the direction of the enemy before auto-attacking them, and if you issue the order while out of AA range Cyprus will turn as normal.

 

Although I haven't tested that in a while (I think it was like 1.20 when I found it); so I would hope it's been fixed-- but who knows?

[akanna]

@Akanna: Garamond is still a crazy strong pusher, as his turrets deal insane damage to towers with their INT scaling. He's a caster, and so in my opinion, shouldn't be based on his AA. I think he's fine as is, if not a bit too strong.

 

 

Also I think teleport is better on Garamond because he has really strong pushing capabilities with instant wave-clear and setting up towers. He can tele in, set up towers, and leave instantly.

 

I agree with you that caster gara is just fine atm, but it would be nice to have the option to go hybrid again if you want to.

 

Fixing his attack speed would allow for more scvs when he ults, and it gives him a way to damage effectively without casting (crits are baller on scvs, most people dont seem to have realized that). He also used to spam so many scvs that it essentially created a blockade between him and his target and made it easy to surround without being dependent on Lockbox at all.

 

Also agree that teleport could be handy, I find haste to be really helpful for getting out of tight spots with casters and its nice to level faster with veteran so you get your ult before other heros, I tested it on gara for a few games the other day to see how the change to timescale worked for him and it was really helpful for spamming a bunch of scvs in a short time to help push a tower / chasing or running from people, and it really made it easy to avoid dying most of the game when combined with his other skills.

[AOSmaster]

Gara + lockbox = OP

[Mus]

Necro master is farming warning points.