Voltron.Leo

[LATERALUS]

Voltron.Leo Strategy: Guide 1

 

 

Might, Fury, Veteran, Haste, Fitness, Swiftness

 

 

Q,W,Q,W,E,R

 

 

Note: During the Opening up until the End Game it is a good idea to invest in some potions (Health, Energy), Boundary Scanners and/or Truesight/Wards. Normally I just go Boundary Scanners/Energy Capsules/Health Capsules because the odds are pretty high that someone will have a cloak ability or rush to Phase Cloak and your Energy will be low up until TPI/Cerebro. Health is always good as well.

 

 

Edit: You are a Carry, therefor warding should not be done by you and done by a Support Hero. Only ward if no one else is doing it (Pubs), only ward if it's abosulutley necessary (Pubs). I think it can be a waste of not time, but minerals since you need to rush your items as quickly as possible.

 

 

Opening Build: 3 Fusion Blades into Duran's Machette. Stay in the jungle and kill lane creeps after killing neutrals in that area. Suprise enemies and harass them ocasionally. After a bit of farming and ganks you should get your third item which is the Lightning Rod. Next item should be Lost Treasure. Then finish your Parallax Generator.

 

 

Opening Variation: Duran's Machette then rush to a Lightning Rod and then TPI. Sometimes it's a good idea to go straight for TPI after your Lightning Rod, but since this build already includes Haste (which gives you +25% Time Scale for 6 seconds) it's not really necessary and the TPI only benefits you with time as well and a bit of INT and Energy Regen, but it is also a component of the Yamato Reactor. Once again though Haste will compensate for the loss of an early TPI. Using this logic you should have gone Durans Machette, Lightning Rod, Lost Treasure, Parallax Generator.

 

 

Opening: Durans Machette, Lightning Rod, Lost Treasure, Parallax Generator

 

 

OR

 

 

Opening Variation: Durans Machette, Lightning Rod, TPI

 

 

Once you have Parallax Generator I would recommend buying Ocelots Revolver for it's Unique. Then finish building the Atom Smasher. Next you want to buy TPI.

 

 

Mid-Game: Durans Machette, Lightning Rod, Parallax Generator, Atom Smasher, TPI

 

 

I like to get Eternity after Atom Smashser for the sustain. I can take a lot of damage with my Ultimate (-R-), Mirror Force (-E-), Energy Flux (-Q-), Cerebro, and Atom Smasher going off. Eternity has a great Unique that is not an active, so you don't have to wait for cooldowns, it's permanent. It's Unique grants you +20% Health on your damage dealt +15% Lifesteal.

 

 

End Game: Cerebro, Parallax Generator, Atom Smasher, Yamato Reactor, Eternity, (Situational)

 

 

(Situationals) When considering your Situational Item it is important to understand the game mechanics and how they work. Look at your opponents items by pressing "Tab" while in game. Looking at there Items can easily determine what type of damage you are being given. Most times I just go for Gravity Edge.

 

 

Spell Damage: Ignores Armor but is lowered dramatically by Spell Resist items such as the Spell Buffer, and the Electric Mantle. (So if the team is all spell damage it is pointless to waste money on an Armor item. A great Spell Resist item would be Galactic Defender, Phantom Menace, or Electric Mantle. I would suggest Sliptide Scythe, or Phantom Menace since it comes with Agility which means that you will gain Weapon Speed and Armor in the process. Also the added movement speed is great combined with Kittys passive speed ability. When comparing it to Electric Mantle you only get Strength which gives you little Health and Health Regen. The stacks on Sliptide Scythe are great. It's a tough decision since it only stacks when you attack someone.)

 

 

True Damage: Ignores both Armor and Spell Resist. Essentially does direct damage to the health of the target. (A good counter to this would be to consider a Lifesteal item since attacks are focused directly towards your health).

Ignore this since you should already have Eternity as your core item.

 

 

Physical Damage: Ignores Spell Resist items, but is lowered by Armor. (Barbed Plating is great to reflect 30% of all incoming damage being taken. Along with Kittys Reflect ability this is a great option against Physical Damage. Also remember that since your role is Agility along with Yamato Reactor and Parallax Generator you get +45 to your Primary Attribute which gives you more Attack Speed and Armor. This is why it is important to understand these mechanics)

Edited January 21, 2014 by LATERALUS

[hbogyt]

I thought it was impossible to have a resist > 100%, and it could only = 100% if it started at 100% as with Spell Storm.

[LATERALUS]

Of course I was assuming you had Fortify active. But I also noted without Fortify the Spell Resist is only 55%.

Edited December 24, 2013 by LATERALUS

[hbogyt]

Of course I was assuming you had Fortify active. But I also noted without Fortify the Spell Resist is only 55%.

 

Fortify is additive?

[LATERALUS]

Yes. It's effect only Lasts 6 seconds.

[Doom]

Gawh. I don't know why, maybe it's because leo players like to see lightning coming out of their hero because they wish ult was active all the time, they always go for lightning rod or even cerebro. No, no, no, no, no. It's not a bad item, but for leo you can have so many better ones..... Also, no parallax. Leo's job is to jump in when enemy has already used most of their spells, so no significant debuff would be up, and even if it were, with yamato, debuffs wear off very quickly. If I were to get a spell resist item on leo, it would be taser. Allows greater flexibility for entry time, better 1v1, and if someone is saving spells for you, then you can use it then. Also great against active items, such as galactic, stun knife, e. mantle, warp shard, impact dial, lockbox, or even sword breaker, any of which can make leo's life more difficult. Also, inform your teammates to get CoA, it really helps for the times when you cannot hit lots of people with Q to get that near-max attack speed bonus.

 

Yamato, Atom Smasher, Gravity Edge, Eternity, Darksteel Titan, Warp Shard. That's the final build, the order is up to you, though the first three are significantly more important than the latter.

 

Another thing, spell resists stack multiplicatively. As in, if you are about to take 1000 spell damage, and you have 20%, 20%, 50%, 10% spell resists, you are not going to not take any damage, you will take 1000 * 0.8 * 0.8 * 0.5 * 0.9 = 288 damage.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Doom

[atomheartman]

1000 * 0.8 * 0.8 * 0.5 * 0.9 = 288 damage.

[Moo]

Doom is correct about the spell resist equation, spell resist stacks multiplicitively, which means you multiply the spell damage by the decimal value that adds up with the spell resist value to equal one-hundred. Example: You have an item that grants you 20% spell resist, and you have 20% base spell resist. When a spell that deals 100 damage hits you, the equation to show how much damage you take is: 100 multiplied by .8 (this is the decimal form of 80%, which adds up to 100% when added with 20%, which is one of your spell resists), then the value that resulted from 100 * .8, which is 80, is multiplied again by .8 since you had a 20% spell resist item and that was your base resist, and the result is that you would take 64 damage. With linearly stacking spell resist, you would only take 60 damage, since your two 20%'s would add up to be 40% then mitigate the damage.

Summary: The more spell resist you have, the less effect getting more spell resist has.

 

As to your build and such it all looks great. I disagree with Doom, I think parallax is a core item for kitty and cerebro synergizes so well with kitty and gives cheap attack speed and intelligence.

[Mus]

Doom, most of the good players that I have seen deliberately save their CC for the Leo. Hence Parallax is a must have item on him in competitive games at least.

 

And I still can't understand why some people think that linearly stacking resistances makes any sense whatsoever. When you calculate your resist to be over 100% then you should realise that something has gone wrong.

[Doom]

Doom, most of the good players that I have seen deliberately save their CC for the Leo. Hence Parallax is a must have item on him in competitive games at least.

 

And I still can't understand why some people think that linearly stacking resistances makes any sense whatsoever. When you calculate your resist to be over 100% then you should realise that something has gone wrong.

 

In that case the threat of the leo is more powerful than the leo itself. If none of the other team will use their abilities your 4 teammates should be able to kill them with limited casualties. As for those that support Cerebro: when do you think you should get it? Personally, I go TPI, Gravity, Atom Smasher, Yamato, etc. So, which of these is worth delaying?

[OPReN]

it's not additive

55% and forify is

1-(1-0.55)*0.50=0.775

so it's 77.5% dmg reduction fyi

[hbogyt]

Some CC such as FoE and Nitrogen don't need saving.

[Moo]

 

 

In that case the threat of the leo is more powerful than the leo itself. If none of the other team will use their abilities your 4 teammates should be able to kill them with limited casualties. As for those that support Cerebro: when do you think you should get it? Personally, I go TPI, Gravity, Atom Smasher, Yamato, etc. So, which of these is worth delaying?

I would get lightning rod right before or right after TPI, depending on if you are still farming (lightning rod) or if you need better hero-killing ability (TPI).

[SmittyGFunk]

As noob i noticed my bad positioning gets me in trouble/cost me kills often. I found ways in pubs to overcome that starting durans, stun, phase cloak then yamato. After that i base my build off of the other team. If their tank is wreaking havoc i go sliptide, if they have no tank or he is weaker then i use phantom menace for massive mobility. Its hard to run away from voltron with phantom/timesplitter/upgraded cloak/yamatto. If i need survivability i take ihan for cheapest health int, if i am against a team of mass squishies i go grav for insane damage. If i even get 6th itejim its usually the agi leach. Honestly in pubs within 10 min of getting yamatto 1 to 2 ppl have ragequit and pressing an advantage is pretty easy. On a side note i played one IH with GiJoe vs PCOBRA and ih is far more fun since most deaths at that point are being outplayed or your own fault. Pubs are also more abusive to mistakes, even if you are new troll mumble and aos chat in game for ih games. Your learning curve will be much faster and non ih pubstars are not remotely as helpful. Most ih clan members have been extremely helpful along the way.

[herman]

Lightning + machete + TPI early game is outrageously powerful on kitty ... especially powerful if you are jungling (allows for all kinds of ganks)

[LATERALUS]

Lightning + machete + TPI early game is outrageously powerful on kitty ... especially powerful if you are jungling (allows for all kinds of ganks)

 

I agree. Warp Shard is good as well. You kill a squishy and ninja to the next and retreat. Utilizing your rally points are really good for this. I'm still weeding out the build order. So this Topic will be edited when I find new strategies and variations. So far, Machette, Lightning Rod, then Parallax, then Atom Smasher is overall better then rushing an early TPI since Haste can compensate for the loss of early TPI. But TPI after Atom Smasher then Eternity. So far this build order has benefited me best as kitty.

Edited January 21, 2014 by LATERALUS

[herman]

I agree. But the build order should be Machette, Lightning Rod, then Lost Treasure into Parallax, then Ocelots Revolver into Atom Smasher skipping an early TPI since Haste can compensate for this early loss. Then after Atom Smasher I would recommend TPI, then Eternity, then finish Yamato, then finish Cerebro, then Gravity Edge. FInishing Early Cerbro is fine as well if so it would have to be before you finish Parallax so it will add more damage along with Atom Smasher and the loss of early TPI. Warp Shard is good as well. You kill a squishy and ninja to the next and retreat. Utilizing your rally points are really good for this.

 

Haste is a waste on Leo... you don't need the other attack talents ... just weapon damage and maybe speed if you want .... should be 2-1-3 or 2-3-1 depending.

 

Build should be:

 

Machete, Lightning, TPI, Parallax/Emantle ... then situational. Personally atom smasher isn't necessary because Nitrogen fits so well into your INT damage.

 

End game: Should look like

 

Gravity, Yamato, Cerebro, Nitrogen, Parallax, Emantle/Lifetech/Organic ... other items work for the last slot but the first 5 are really Kitty's core items

Edited January 21, 2014 by herman

[TaxHaven]

Everyone has their own build.

 

For example I run 1.4.1 with fortify and build tank int. E reflect is broken shap

[herman]

Everyone has their own build.

 

For example I run 1.4.1 with fortify and build tank int. E reflect is broken shap

 

Yea 1-4-1 fortify/tank is fun

Gravity,Yamato,Nitrogen,Lifetech,Organic,Parallax