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Heroes7 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

What we can learn from Rich's insanely effective Gazlowe

It was an average Hero League game until Rich dazzled us all with his Deth Lazor Gazlowe build. I'll stop highlighting Rich plays the moment he stops blowing my mind.

If you didn't watch it live, you need to first experience enlightenment before reading the rest of this article. The full Gazlowe game played on Rich's stream can be found here.

In this game, you will find some of the most epic Gazlowe gameplay you have ever seen:

  • Gazlowe ends the game with the most damage and most kills.
  • Gazlowe repeatedly baits the enemy team with a tactful use of B stepping and the the dance emote. Rich, of course, calls out kills before they happen.
  • Enemy heroes are sniped mercilessly to their death by Lazor after Deth Lazor. Rich yells "Laser!" each time it happens.
  • Rich blocks a fatal Nova snipe with an on-reaction turret.

For those in a hurry, the action starts here-- the moment Rich gets to level 10 and starts Grav-O-bombing the other team into the Stone Age. Just watch from there and enjoy near-constant highlight reels.


Perfection

Rich's Lessons.

As a long time Gazlowe main and fanboy, Rich has made me re-think my standard Gazlowe play in a good way. Here are the biggest takeaways any fan of the gobo should know:

1. Turrets are to be relied on in the early stages of the game only.

Turrets are great but shouldn't be part of Gazlowe's entire gameplan. When you look at Rich's build, you will notice he skips the all-powerful Engine Gunk talent at level 7 in favor of a faster charging Deth Lazor. Most Gazlowe players will call foul once they hear this, but after seeing this game it's hard to argue picking any other talent but Hyperfocus Coils. Rich doesn't cower behind his turrets in hopes of the enemy walking through them. 

What he does instead is...

2. Use Deth Lazor constantly at the safest possible distance.

Deth Lazor get's so much value in this game it makes you re-think the current tier list. We all know Gazlowe isn't a good hero, but how is that possible with a spammable ability that does upwards of 800 damage in a huge AoE at undodgeable speeds? In the highlighted game, Rich bring some invaluable wave clear and poke damage to his team. On top of this, he secures kill after kill thanks to the increased charge speed that Hyperfocus Coils provide.

3. Practice the speed of your E-R combo and make it hard to predict.

Any Gazlowe worth their salt knows how to land the Explodium Charge into Grav-O-Bomb, but Rich takes this to another level. When he lands the combo, both bombs are sent out as quickly as possible, ensuring that any enemy caught within the Grav-O-Bomb is hit by the follow-up stun.

His combos are unexpected and hard to predict, as well. My favorites are the single-hero Bombs and the "my-team-is-running-away-just-kidding-catch-these-hands" Grav-O-Bombs that punish the enemy for overextending. His Grav-O-Bomb isn't greedy or suicidal and many times is used defensively.

The Build


Shout outs to HeroesNexus

I've seen all sorts of Gazlowe builds but this one surprised me. For starters, Rich goes for maximum Mana efficiency at levels 1 and 4. More mana from Scrap and Scrap from minions ensures that Gazlowe can spam turrets in whatever lane he is in forever, which is vital to Rich's strategy of staying alive in the early game.

By ensuring he always has around 2-3 turrets in his most dangerous bush or gank path, he remains safe to fire Lazors at the minion waves and enemy heroes. Rich never goes OOM with this build and that is huge.

At level 7 he goes for the aforementioned Hyperfocus Coils and, of course, Grav-O-Bomb. I would usually never pass up Engine Gunk ,as the slow helps Gazlowe stay alive, but just staying alive isn't what Rich's Gazlowe is trying to do. True to his hyper-aggressive style, Rich's Gazlowe is about doing as much damage as possible with Deth Lazor.

Which is why it is so strange at 13 that he skips EZ-PZ Dimension Ripper, the talent that adds a 40% slow to Deth Lazor. Instead, Rich opts for X-Tra large bombs, clearly valuing more consistent Grav-O-Bomb combos over Lazor slowing. The next two talents round out the aggressive build and are self-explanatory-- they make Deth Lazor do tons more damage.

16 is the build's biggest power spike and it shows in the gameplay. No one becomes safe and it makes you wonder whether or not Tomb of the Spider Queen is one of Gazlowe's best battlegrounds. The constant minion death gives Gazlowe plenty of scrap (thanks to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and when pushing behind a Webweaver, Gazlowe starts accumulating crazy amounts of damage.

The Boss of Ratchet we deserve.

This game was a pleasure to watch and I hope Rich plays Gazlowe more often on his stream. I couldn't help but notice Gazlowe was marked as one of his pre-selected favorites on his hero pick screen. This made my bitter cold heart grow two sizes bigger.

If you can't watch the entire game, then do yourself a favor and at least watch this part. It's when Rich uses Gazlowe's most secret weapon- baiting enemy heroes into trying to kill you.

The B-stepping is hillarious and it ends with a masterful Grav-O-Bomb combo into Gazlowe dancing at 20% health while standing in the enemy Raynor's Hyperion.

You can't make this stuff up.

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