[Voltron.Leo - v1.144] - Guide to L-L-L-LUDAMEOWS.

[PsyOps]

Welcome to Cat 101...

 

Cat is a melee spell damage hard-carry with incredible potential to teamwipe when played correctly. Quite weak at the start and very item dependent, jungle is place to be. He is extremely fast and excels against slow heroes without escape abilities and melts squishies in a few hits, although slows/stuns/pulls shut him down hard. The idea is to rush in and take the enemy by surprise, get some kills and get out, cat is also great at cleaning up, as his main damage source ( R ) chains to 4 enemies.

 

Talents:

 

Might (+15 Weapon Damage)

Fury (+15% Weapon Speed)

Veteran (+1.5 Levels)

Fitness (+180 Health)

Swiftness (+6% Movespeed)

Youth (+180 Energy)

 

Skills:

 

Q-W-Q-W-Q-R-W-Q-W-E-R-E-E-E-Stats-R-Stats-Stats.

 

Start with Q (for it's much needed early game damage/weapon speed and farming utility), then alternate between it and W (for chasing and killing before you have movespeed items) until they are both maxed, taking R (main source of damage) whenever possible and as E (damage reflector) is relatively useless early game compared to your other abilities, max it last (before stats).

 

Core Items:

 

 

As this is an INT-focused build, you will be relatively weak when your ( R ) is not activated, Cerebro gives very nice damage based on your INT and will help a lot with farm and energy issues.

 

Yamato Reactor is the single most important item on Cat, with +50 INT, +25% timescale and spelldamage boost while active, it gives the speed and damage boost needed to deal an insane amount of damage in a very short space of time by maximizing the number of times you hit with your ( R ) and the damage output of those hits.

 

Cat is very reliant on ganks, positioning and the element of surprise. Phantom Menace gives you the mobility cross the map very quickly to get to where you need to be, before the opportunity passes, it's also a great movespeed item even while in combat and the spell resist is very helpful too.

 

Suggested Build Order (Just a starting point/general idea, best to build reactive after cerebro):

 

( sell once stacks are full) Sell Machete

 

Other Good Items:

 

If you're having problems with Physical Damage: Works well with Reflect (E)

 

If you're having problems with Spell Damage:

 

If people are still getting away from you(ie: nova vanishing):

 

Strategy:

 

Early Game: JUNGLE. First off, buy the three Fusion Blades (components of Duran's Machete) and head to the Thor Camp with a teammate. Use your ( Q ) once per camp, at the start as you will get the full weapon speed increase, which usually means you will get one or both of the marauder kills. From there proceed to the nearest Firebat Camp and do the same, rinse and repeat for the Siege Tank Camp and then the Firebat Camp on the lane. Try to stick in the lane until you have enough money to finish Duran's Machete and buy Lost Treasure, if you can time it so you're back at the first Thor camp at 6:20 when it respawns, all the better. At this point in the game you'll be quite weak and not the best in lane, but if someone has pushed close to your tower and has half or less hp, feel free to chase if you can get behind them as the speed boost from ( W ) and damage from ( Q ) will usually result in a much needed first blood/early kill.

 

Mid Game: JUNGLE/FOCUS ON BUILDING CORE ITEMS. At level 6 you get your ( R ), which is where Cat really starts to shine. Providing all goes well you should also have a Lightning Rod, this gives you a fairly good damage increase, and combined with your ( Q ) makes farming the jungle very easy. As you are still very squishy you should avoid major engagements and laning vs other heroes and focus on the jungle, but if you see someone alone and away from their tower, and you can sneak up behind them and deal substantial damage with ( Q ), ( R ) and the Lightning Rod proc, as long as they aren't tanky or fed, this initial burst is usually enough to get them close to or below 50% hp, which is when your ( W ) movespeed passive activates and you can chase with ease.

 

Late-Midgame: JUNGLE/GANK! Once you have Duran's Machete, Lost Treasure, Cerebro, Travelling Trinket and Twin Paradox Isolator, you really start to become a threat, and can participate more in teamfights and even gank some heroes by yourself, getting 2+ kills. The active on Travelling Trinket will get you quickly to where you need to be until you build it into Phantom Menace, and Twin Paradox Isolator is best activated right before you activate ( R ) and engage as you will run very fast with it on and it will give you more ( R ) hits. Once you reach your target, ( Q ) for the added weaponspeed and damage, at this point all your have to do is prioritize your targets (Usually the squishies and bursters first), keep using ( Q ) as soon as it's off cooldown and you're attacking, and also use ( E ) in the right situation. (it's great against characters that deal a lot of damage with low hp and no heal or leech).

 

Late Game: MEOWMEOWMEOWWWWW FUUUUUUU!- Here, providing you've racked up some kills and jungled heavily to build your items, you should be a very fast, very serious threat, capable of cleaning up teams mid fight and excellent at chasing down runners. Fighting most heroes 1v1 at this point should not be much of a problem, as for teamfights, two tactics i like to use are: 1) Wait nearby for the enemy team to commit to the fight, the second they do, run in from the side or back with Yamato Reactor and ( R ) both activated and either make a huge mess that your team will easily clean up, or kill everyone yourself. 2) If you've invested in some tanky items like Organic Carapace or Darksteel Titan you can even initiate the teamfight, forcing the other team to focus you or die in 7 seconds and if you're ahead enough, sometimes you can even handle 3+ by yourself. You will get a lot of Surrenders playing Cat in public games, as you arguably deal more damage than any other hero, but if not, after everyone is dead you and your team are free to push towers and win.

 

 

NOTES:

 

- Cat really struggles breaking turtles.

 

- Stuns and slows are your worst enemy, avoid them and get Parallax Generator if you can't.

 

- With the speed from your ( W ) and Yamato Reactor you can tower-dive squishies or heroes with low hp and get away, only do this if confident you can get the kill and escape safely.

 

- Avoid prolonged fights, your effectiveness drops off dramatically after Yamato Reactor and ( R ) finish.

 

- Abuse your speed and bursty nature, don't be afraid to run in, kill a priority target and run out instead of dealing more damage and risking death.

 

- SNEAK, COME FROM BEHIND AND THE SIDE, the element of surprise and catching people out of position are your best friends as Cat.

 

- DO NOT spend all your time trying to gank in the early/midgame, jungle and creeps are number 1 priority.

 

- Parallax Generator counters Stun Knife/Timesplitter problems.

 

- Say "Meow" a lot. It increases your ( R ) damage by 10 every time you type it in game.

 

 

This is my first guide, thanks for reading!

 

Enjoy the ludakills and rage quits ;)

 

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Meow.

[TaxHaven]

Rather than phantoms, I prefer atoms masher on kitty. You will have awesome ms from passive and Yamato anyways, so slowing the enemy is better.

 

Also get parallax earlier, it's an incredible early item on cat.

 

But sweet guide thank you

[Mus]

I would put Parallax as a core item for Leo, and I would also buy it a lot earlier, like 1st or 2nd item. Depends if you are pubbing or in-housing though.

[ginosaji]

I agree with Tax and Mus, Parallax earlier is good. When there's no teamwork present, you don't need it til later, but when people are working together you need it relatively early.

 

I usually like, Lightning Rod>TPI>Parallax and or Tazer>Survivability items.

 

You will do amazing damage without rushing damage items, so I prefer to get survivability items after TPI and Lightningn Rod. Obviously, those items are always based on the enemy you face, so I can't really list them. Organic is always good on Cat because of his reflect damage. Tazer early for heroes with a blink/jump/silence/throw/stuns/etc.

 

Good guide :)

[PsyOps]

Thanks for the feedback guys :)

 

As for the Parallax issue, the Suggested Build i posted works well for pubs where usually there aren't too many stuns and you're fighting 5 AGI heroes, however if it's an IH or CC heavy game, or a particular stun or slow is causing problems, i completely agree with you guys and would get Parallax immediately after Cerebro.

[herman]

I like the guide Psy. I agree with Tax, phantom menace is overkill for me. His passive + yama is all the speed you should ever need. Also kitty is typically used to turn the tide in team fights. Kitty typically run's and takes out the other teams critical caster or squishy aa's then does sustained damage to the rest of their team with your dps finishes them off. I will give it to you that phantom is a lot of fun on kitty in pubs, but I think that if you really feel you need more speed emantle is a better way to go, because it allows you to run in on team fights using yama and your ultimate and then if for some reason a nova/darpa or other aa carry out positions you, you can turn on your emantle to stun them and have enough time to switch targets.

[TaxHaven]

You forgot one viable item which is stun knife. Get this around level 9-10 so you can land more hits with ult

[Grantypoo]

I have to agree with Tax. I tend to do very well with Leo and my 2nd item is stun knife. I get Duran's, then Lightning Rod, then stun knife. What it allows you to do is hit your active on knife, then when you get to enemy hero, hit your R, and it's a guaranteed kill unless there is a tower super close or the entire enemy team. The second of stun time you get, along with your ulti, is enough to get pretty much anyone down below 50% at that point in the game since resists are low and you've got your W kicking in and there is simply no way to get away.

 

Of course heros such as Vergil with an dodge/evade dont apply, but 90% of heros this works well on.

 

I also like having time splitter in the end as my agi item for the attack speed, the damage, the stun AND the 30% evasion.