Guide for Maar

[Moo]

I played Maar for a bit, and could get every creep from every wave early game, but I normally stopped doing well by midgame and felt like I did no damage. I'd like to see how you guys play him and what item builds you use, to see what my flaws were playing him.

[ZERATUL]

You can farm exelent specialy mid-late game and then maar deals insane dmg.What was yor build?Btw if u died much i suggest to rush for impact rly soon and then continue ti classic int build.I go like this:

Power stone-impact dial-ihan-gravity-nitrogen-yamato-u can get seed here-depends on enemy team-and last sell impact for blink.Tell me if u need something else.

[ANARCHY]

fitness, spell resist, armour, youth, wealth, transport

 

lvl W then E in order but always preference W

get R as you can and do Q last

 

for the start of the game just spam up 3xW go into the creep wave, wait a few seconds then Q it down to that spot (this refreshes its timer)

stay near your tower you are squishy

use your teleport talent and ulti to shop quickly so you can farm hard

 

you want standard intel items, you dont really need CD reduction though, i normally start with a lost treasure and head straight for grav edge, yamato, ancient rune, sunflare etc

 

 

you are a hard support for your team, stand just slightly behind them but dont be afraid to go ahead if u need to, just dont stay there

most of the time you want 1-2xW ready for fireball or sap, if you need to change spells though to shield or ice wave drop 1xE for timescale aura, pop it then do your spell

 

your auras are pretty self explanatory;

timescale 2xW1xE also heals you in pool quicker

3xW dmg aura

3xE heal aura

 

spells;

1xW dont really use it, 2xW is better

2xW fireballs, aim them right at your maximum range, they will instantly explode when they get there, if you aim them short they will stand still before exploding, you can also cast them where you dont have vision

1xE barrier, great spell, use it when your weary or about to engage, dont forget your teammates

2xE ice wave, slows enemies, good to use on enemy initiator as your team proceedingly all jumps on him and the pesky run aways

1xW & 1xE sap, does huge damage, heals you, whats not to like(press E & W at the exact same time to quickly double orb) (also it works vs boros in his ulti)

[Moo]

I'd just like to point out that you can't get wealth or transport without giving up one of your defensive talents anarchy. My talents were fitness, armor, youth, swiftness, wealth, and transport. I started with 3 soul engine, which allowed me to stay in lane until 6, unless I got harassed a lot and had to go back for hp. I rushed ihan, then got gravity, nitrogen, Yamato, seeds, and I think I just got a survivability item as last item. Dying from ganks was actually the problem I think, and I think that might have gotten me far behind so that I didn't deal much damage, I think I will try impact dial on him.

[TaxHaven]

Suggest silver soul on him.

 

i go aa so i wouldnt know about this problem

[GENLORDZ]

Get a phantom menace. Try to rush gravity edge, then nitrogen, proceed to farm with your frost wave. Early game use frost wave to rid creeps. Late game to deal dmg to heroes use sap.

[SourDiesel]

I can't speak for the IHers, but I'm the only person I've seen who mains Maar. (in fact, I'm surprised you even asked because I'm just about the only one I've seen who even plays Maar since he got nerfed about two months ago). Here's my tips:

 

Talents: 0-2-4 Health/Armor/CD/Swiftness/Wealth/Transport

 

Items: Ihan, Gravity, Nitro, Yamato, Phantom, Utility Item (this item depends on the game)

 

EDIT: Phantom's been nerfed since I made this, switch it out for another item. Most games this will be some combination of Electric Mantle, Organic Carapace, Dark Steel Titan, or Parallax Generator to fill out down the stretch (Ihan obviously gets sold). If I know Parallax is in the cards based on the enemy heroes, I'll get Lost Treasure first instead of Ihan.

 

Skills: W,E,Q,Q,W,R,E,W,E,W,R,E,Q,Q,Stats,R,Stats,Stats

 

Three Key Points:

• Ihan comes first because you should be spamming skills and will be extremely energy hungry. It also provides survivability on a squishy hero. I get the first piece of Ihan at about the 4 minute mark along with two +6 intel pauldrons. From that point until about the 20 minute mark, I spam the active restore on it every time it hits its cooldown just to keep my energy pool from running out.
  

• At lvl 3 and 4 you want to get despair for two reasons. First, you can't afford the extra energy cost of leveling up W or E that early and still maintain a steady stream of destruction auras. Second, those two levels on despair will save you from getting ganked by a long range pull or snipe (i.e. you will be able to see Rancor's shimmer and retreat further behind the tower before he is in range to snipe you).
  

• Always go middle lane, again, for two reasons. First, it is the easiest to protect yourself on. Why not top you ask? At top with destruction aura you'll push the creeps back to their tower so fast. You'll be stuck between choosing to sit at the tower and not collect exp/cash or going for the creep camps where you're extremely vulnerable to any AA hero with a ward. Middle, the tower forces all creep waves to engage close enough to the tower for you to quickly drop a destruction aura and retreat to cover if you're in danger. Second, you need a solo lane because Maar's skills scale harder than almost any other hero in the game which makes him very item dependent. It's difficult to get kills with Maar early so the only way you'll get the cash you need is by racking up a massive creep kill count. Fortunately, destruction aura in the middle lane makes it very easy to be the high creep killer in the game (I frequently double the creep kill count of the next highest person).
  

General Strategy:

• In the beginning, you want to just keep pressure on mid lane with destruction aura. You should be able to really put a dent in the opposing heroes creep count because they won't be able to stand in the destruction aura and you will quickly push units into the tower. As soon as you can afford the energy cost (around level 7), you should blast a frost wave after you drop the aura on the units to speed up the process. You can also use frost wave through the units to poke the hero on the other side. If they don't send help, there is a good chance you will be able to push down the mid tower all by yourself. You need to be good about calling MIAs because you won't be ganking much yourself (though a well placed frostwave can sometimes get you two assists). Instead, you should aim to support lanes that get overloaded by using transport and dropping destruction aura to clean up the push.
  

• Mid game play can vary a lot because Maar is such a diverse hero and the game can demand a wide variety of potential strategies. (i.e. you may be best acting as support or as a lane pusher, or even a hero killer) One tactic that is extremely powerful in almost every game is mass-teleporting units directly onto towers or to reinforce a push. Mass-teleport is widely underused by Maar players and is secretly one of the strongest skills in the game, especially since the respawn timer got reduced in a recent patch (heroes are back so fast now, being able to instantly generate a push anywhere on the map is incredibly powerful). What you want to do is mass-teleport a wave with an Ultra/Archon directly on top of a tower. Use your own units movement as a guide to time your teleport so that the opposing wave has just passed the tower, leaving you a full wave to attack the tower unopposed. Drop a Savior Aura (WEE) to reduce damage by 25% on your units and use shields (E) to prolong their life. Have a feel for where everyone is at on the map because you may be able to sit there and take the tower out in one drop or you may have to run or portal as soon as you drop the savior aura. It is possible to take a tower down in one drop but generally it takes two or three unless you bring another hero with you. When I play, my mass teleport is constantly on cool down because I use it as soon as it comes back up to push whichever tower is most vulnerable. The key is to let the enemy dictate where you drop. At any given time there are three towers that are potential targets, at least one of those is almost always going to be undefended because the enemy thinks the wave is too far away from the tower to be a threat. One thing you need to be careful of is that when you teleport a wave, you are removing it from the regular line. That means the enemy units will generate a push that you or an ally will need to clean up. This counter push is especially strong if you take the ultra/archon with you because it means the opposing ultra/archon is only facing regular units. If the enemy uses transport to defend, that's a win for you. Drop your savior aura and retreat, you're units will do 1/4-1/3 of the damage on the tower before he pops. Meanwhile, transport has a 3 minute cooldown and mass-teleport (lvl 3) has a 90 second cooldown. The next time you go to teleport units, his transport will still be on CD. As far as your transport goes, it should be held in reserve and used for defense; mass teleport is for offense, transport for defense.
  

• Late game you can transition into being a full on hero killer in addition to an instant tower pusher. By this point, you can wander out in the open and should constantly have timescale aura up (WWE) unless you need to drop a destruction aura. You have Yamato and possibly Phantom as well. When timescale aura, yamato, and phantom are all active you will be far and away the fastest hero on the field, including leo, (+25% movement from gravity/phantom, +41% timescale from yamato/phantom/aura). This makes it easy to kite heroes and use sap (WE) to rapidly kill them (any non-tank should go down in 2-4 saps). If you have a good team, you may find you are more useful playing behind them. If that's the case, you want to drop a destruction aura at choke points during engagements to help control enemy movement. A well placed destruction aura can be useful not only for the damage but for the 20% slow off of Nitro. Use frostwave liberally to slow enemies. Heatwave can be useful too, but I've found that since the nerf, frostwave is almost always the better choice. The damage on the two skills is pretty close (heatwave does 15% intel more damage - that translates to ~75-200 more damage) but frostwave comes with the added bonus of a 60% slow (80% with Nitro) and is far easier to target. Shield (E) your glass cannon allies and don't be afraid to get aggressive with sap (WE) if an opportunity presents itself.
  

Edited November 26, 2013 by SourDiesel

[TaxHaven]

I will do an AA maar guide.

[Moo]

I would prefer energy or energy regen over cooldown reduction (im talking about talents), because his cooldowns are all short except his ult, and he is so mana-hungry early that it lets him farm without leaving lane longer. I'm talking to sour diesel btw, quoting his post would up a lot of room :), and I really, really like starting soul engines on Maar, it gives him infinite sustain until your w and e are higher level, but according to your skill order, you wouldn't have any energy or hp probs, even vs a heavy harrass hero. I am going to try out your skill order, because it seems like it would make me able to stay in lane long enough to get ihan on first back :)

[SourDiesel]

I would prefer energy or energy regen over cooldown reduction (im talking about talents), because his cooldowns are all short except his ult, and he is so mana-hungry early that it lets him farm without leaving lane longer. I'm talking to sour diesel btw, quoting his post would up a lot of room :), and I really, really like starting soul engines on Maar, it gives him infinite sustain until your w and e are higher level, but according to your skill order, you wouldn't have any energy or hp probs, even vs a heavy harrass hero. I am going to try out your skill order, because it seems like it would make me able to stay in lane long enough to get ihan on first back :)

 

Start with the energy ring. Load up three destruction orbs in the pool so you leave with full energy. If you're soloing mid and last hitting properly, by the time you're out of energy on the 6th wave (wave after the ultra), you should have 1100 minerals - enough to get the energy stone and two +6 intel pauldrons (components of Ihan). Once you have the energy stone, use it immediately every time it finishes cooling down. You shouldn't have a problem laying out a destruction aura for every wave and a frostwave when it's needed plus have energy left if you need it in a pinch. For your first trip back to pool, use your transport to get back to lane. Unless you have an absolutely awful team, you won't need it to help a tower that early and then you won't miss a single wave.

 

The reason you want the cooldown over energy or energy regen is for mass teleport and transport. Mass teleport really is his strongest skill once you learn how to use it and that extra 7% CD means you can get it off that much quicker. Energy shouldn't be a problem if you creep properly early and get Ihan.

 

As far as going against harass heroes, the tower is your best friend. You can always drop your destruction aura over the units and retreat back behind the tower. The aura alone will get you ~3 unit kills on average and totally clean up the wave. The key is to be aware of your surroundings. Use a ward if you need it, but once you get good at anticipating attacks you really won't. With despair at level 2 you can react and retreat between the two towers before harass heroes like rancor, micro, zeratul, etc. are close enough to see you. Heroes like Kerri that poke are countered well by Ihan because you're getting health regen along with energy regen every 60 seconds.

[Moo]

 

 

Start with the energy ring. Load up three destruction orbs in the pool so you leave with full energy. If you're soloing mid and last hitting properly, by the time you're out of energy on the 6th wave (wave after the ultra), you should have 1100 minerals - enough to get the energy stone and two +6 intel pauldrons (components of Ihan). Once you have the energy stone, use it immediately every time it finishes cooling down. You shouldn't have a problem laying out a destruction aura for every wave and a frostwave when it's needed plus have energy left if you need it in a pinch. For your first trip back to pool, use your transport to get back to lane. Unless you have an absolutely awful team, you won't need it to help a tower that early and then you won't miss a single wave.

 

The reason you want the cooldown over energy or energy regen is for mass teleport and transport. Mass teleport really is his strongest skill once you learn how to use it and that extra 7% CD means you can get it off that much quicker. Energy shouldn't be a problem if you creep properly early and get Ihan.

 

As far as going against harass heroes, the tower is your best friend. You can always drop your destruction aura over the units and retreat back behind the tower. The aura alone will get you ~3 unit kills on average and totally clean up the wave. The key is to be aware of your surroundings. Use a ward if you need it, but once you get good at anticipating attacks you really won't. With despair at level 2 you can react and retreat between the two towers before harass heroes like rancor, micro, zeratul, etc. are close enough to see you. Heroes like Kerri that poke are countered well by Ihan because you're getting health regen along with energy regen every 60 seconds.

To each their own, because I have tried just rushing ihan, and I prefer starting soul engines. You can use the one w orb twice per wave along with destruction aura, and if you time it right you get every creep, which means you get insane sustain from your soul engines and can even harrass a little if you want. Btw, I didn't think cdr worked on haste, fortify, or transport, although I could be wrong. Have you ever tried the soul engine start?

[SourDiesel]

To each their own, because I have tried just rushing ihan, and I prefer starting soul engines. You can use the one w orb twice per wave along with destruction aura, and if you time it right you get every creep, which means you get insane sustain from your soul engines and can even harrass a little if you want. Btw, I didn't think cdr worked on haste, fortify, or transport, although I could be wrong. Have you ever tried the soul engine start?

 

I've tried it. I found it only slowed down the intel items I needed for damage. It's a cheap item though so if you like it no reason to not use it. Also, Maar's a versatile character so if you got another way to play him that can work go for it.

 

Anyway, I've uploaded 2 replays you can look at if you're interested in actually seeing how I play Maar. I've had games with higher KD's, but these were the two out of the 25 autosaves that probably show off my play style the best (most games I'm willing to take a few deaths to get towers).

 

The first one highlights what I'm talking about with Mass Teleport being extremely strong (I got 8 of the towers solo): http://www.sendspace.com/file/fof4hg

The second one had some decent players in it for a pub game: http://www.sendspace.com/file/gmr1m2

[Apocalyptic]

Excellent guide SourDiesel. Moo, that is the playstyle you want to emulate. You mentioned you felt like you fell off mid game. With this build you will not have that problem - fully geared Int Maar is unstoppable if played properly. You will certainly not feel like you did no damage.

[Hogwarts]

Cunning, Fitness, Swiftness, Prodigy, Wealth, Teleport

 

1. Lost treasure as first item,

2. Nitro

3. grav edge

4. Paralax Ur lost treasure builds into this,

5. Stars Fury

6. Yamato

7. Dark Steel

 

Use red aura cause its a massive aoe slow with nitro thats why we get it first item. then use fire balls when they get close sap, Always be kiting with maar never be standing still. Also Always use your teleport when its up. Be it tele your team to gank some people or to tele a spawning creep wave onto a tower. Make use to use all your skills. From shielding allies to healing aura

 

Maar is probably the most difficult hero to play effectively but once you get it down its one of the strongest heroes in the game. Maar has so many skill options you need to be aware of what all your skills do and learn what orbs make what spells, and how to best use them effectively.

[Allstar]

TaxHaven played a really solid Maar with me today. I'd use that build every time. GG WIN. Post the rep.

[ZERATUL]

@SourDiesel:Good guide,i watched replay u have rly good maar,only(if i can call it mistake)is that u were putting dmg aura before creep wave arrived(in early game).I think u should w8 till creeps start fighting and put it right.

[Moo]

I just played a game against SourDiesel when he was maar, and we got destroyed. I still do not understand how you do that much damage mid game. I even tried your ihan then edge before I played you. I got a kill on the enemy jakk summers early, and was able to last hit almost every creep. Got ihan first back and continued to farm. Had to go around helping team and taking towers. Even once I got gravity edge I did only meh damage, and I didn't have any fight presence other than slow from frostwave and didn't deal enough damage to even really be counted as a person in the fight. Yet, when I faced Sour as nova when he was maar, he took 3/4 my hp with one sap. I was 1-3 and didn't have any health items, but I have never been able to even take out half of someone's hp, even when I just got gravity and sapped their jakk who was 0-5 in the game I was talking about. The only time I started to deal enough damage to be a threat was by super late game when everyone had 6 items, but I was squishy as hell. I am just going to go play someone else, I don't think maar fits my playstyle and I don't think I understand him at all.

[SourDiesel]

I just played a game against SourDiesel when he was maar, and we got destroyed. I still do not understand how you do that much damage mid game. I even tried your ihan then edge before I played you. I got a kill on the enemy jakk summers early, and was able to last hit almost every creep. Got ihan first back and continued to farm. Had to go around helping team and taking towers. Even once I got gravity edge I did only meh damage, and I didn't have any fight presence other than slow from frostwave and didn't deal enough damage to even really be counted as a person in the fight. Yet, when I faced Sour as nova when he was maar, he took 3/4 my hp with one sap. I was 1-3 and didn't have any health items, but I have never been able to even take out half of someone's hp, even when I just got gravity and sapped their jakk who was 0-5 in the game I was talking about. The only time I started to deal enough damage to be a threat was by super late game when everyone had 6 items, but I was squishy as hell. I am just going to go play someone else, I don't think maar fits my playstyle and I don't think I understand him at all.

 

Not totally certain what you're doing wrong. Once you have Ihan fully stacked and gravity you should really begin to kick out some serious damage. Depending on your level, you should have around 280 intel. Sap is a straight 150% intel damage so with those two items each sap will do roughly 465 damage (you get +20% from gravity) before mitigation. I don't recall the exact game you're referring to in this post but I probably had Nitro as well with a few more levels and was up around 380 intel which would have put the damage at 684. I'm guessing I chain sapped you (had one preloaded so that I could fire off a second one really quickly thereafter) for ~1360 and you probably had no spell resist. It's possible you're not chaining properly and don't realize how much damage you're actually capable of doing (sap has less than a two second cool down depending on talents/items).

 

The other possibility is that you're late on your timing with items. Maybe you're helping other lanes too much? You should only help a side lane if you're 100% certain you can get/assist a kill, if you can get a tower by joining, or if a tower is going to fall if you don't go. With any hero, you need to be conscious of opportunity cost. With Maar that opportunity cost is very high because every wave you miss in the middle costs you ~100 minerals (4 unit kills). It also takes pressure off of middle lane (which is valuable because you're going to limit the creep kills for the hero across from you and may even get the tower if they don't send help). To put it in perspective, an early kill is worth ~210 minerals. So, if you leave middle to kill an enemy hero and two waves pass while you're gone, you're only up 10 minerals over where you would have been.

[Hubert]

Thanks SourDiesel, I just played a whole bunch of Maar and this was very informative.

• At lvl 3 and 4 you want to get despair for two reasons. First, you can't afford the extra energy cost of leveling up W or E that early and still maintain a steady stream of destruction auras. Second, those two levels on despair will save you from getting ganked by a long range pull or snipe (i.e. you will be able to see Rancor's shimmer and retreat further behind the tower before he is in range to snipe you).
  

I thought this^ too but i wasn't sure.

[TaxHaven]

Some flober called Yukimoo or something in Exile is good with Maar. Go ask him

[SourDiesel]

Thanks SourDiesel, I just played a whole bunch of Maar and this was very informative.

• At lvl 3 and 4 you want to get despair for two reasons. First, you can't afford the extra energy cost of leveling up W or E that early and still maintain a steady stream of destruction auras. Second, those two levels on despair will save you from getting ganked by a long range pull or snipe (i.e. you will be able to see Rancor's shimmer and retreat further behind the tower before he is in range to snipe you).
  

I thought this^ too but i wasn't sure.

 

Lately, I've only been getting despair at level 3 and not at level 4. Sometimes, I'll hold off using the skill point I get at 4 until I can afford the additional energy cost, but I will save it rather than use it. The reason for this is that I want to level mass teleport at level 11 and that means that means waiting until level 12 vs level 10 to level creation orb to 4. That two level difference can matter a lot one teams start grouping up and you want to spam frost wave. That ebing said, I would never not get despair at level 3 for all the reasons outlined in the original guide.

 

Anyway, a lot of that guide is outdated now. Rather than spend a lot of time rewriting stuff, I'll upload the replay of the league game we (EXILE) had against NFAM last weekend when I get back to my house later tonight. I played Maar and you'll be able to see some of the things that have changed in my playstyle to adapt to the nerfs that have come to Maar since I wrote the guide.

Edited March 20, 2014 by SourDiesel

[Yaldi]

Pro tip you dont have to level your ulti at level 6. You should only do that if

 

a) you need to go base and back

 

Or

 

b) you are planning on using it to gank with a team mate

[Moo]

I met a very good Maar who I had never seen before. He was in the clan vape, which I had also never seen before. I think his name was kakashi.

[SourDiesel]

Here's the link to the promised replay between EXILE and NFAM: http://www.sendspace.com/file/5fqdd6.

 

Couple things of note:

 

1. I've switched the wealth talent for overlord

I do this for a few reasons. First, it guarantees you dominance of the middle lane. Without overlord, Jakk and a slew of other heroes with the overlord can kill the creeps faster maar can mid. With overlord the creeps will survive for the full duration of destruction aura - destruction aura does more damage over it's full course than any other spell in the beginning of the game. So, while Jakk can beat Maar when neither have overlord, Maar will beat Jakk if both have overlord. Second, I feel that overlord effectively denies over eight creep kills to the enemy hero over the course of the laning phase - which means the enemy will lose more than the 200 minerals you would have gained from wealth. Third, your creeps hit the tower with more health which gives you a great chance to push the middle tower down early. If you watch the replay above, you'll see that third point is exactly what happened in the game.

 

2. In the replay I go Ihan-Nitro-Gravity rather than Ihan-Gravity-Nitro

I do that because my team had nova-cain-rory-zera. With that much damage output and dependable teammates, the CC on Nitro was a far more pressing need than the extra damage from Gravity. If it had been a pub where I couldn't depend on my team for damage output, I would have gotten those items in reverse.

 

3. Personally, I would never skip getting Mass Teleport at level 6,11,16

Mass Teleport is one of the strongest skills in the game, even after all the nerfs. The thing about it is, you never know when you'll need mass teleport until the game breaks a certain way and suddenly you need it to gank, take a tower, or save a tower. Usually those opportunities don't present themselves as early as level 6, but if an opportunity does present itself, you don't want to miss it because you passed up on Mass Teleport. Besides, what else are you going to do with that point? Level your orbs faster? Energy is in short supply at that point of the game. An extra point in despair? Nice to have, but not at the expense of an ability that can give your team a huge early advantage if the game breaks right.

 

4. By no means was my performance perfect in the replay above

I sped through it real quick just before I uploaded it and noticed several things I wish I'd done differently. Most notably, the first kill I get at the tower, I should have gotten back close to aeon but my orbs were wrong and my positioning on our team wipe towards the end was embarrassingly bad. If someone out there does watch it and is trying to learn Maar, try to spot the errors as much as learning from what I did right.

[TaxHaven]

Wow NFAM did bad. I need to be unbanned.