welcome-banner
All News
article-headline

Hero Guide: Armadon


A stolid and stalwart defender of the weak, whether Man or Beast, the long-lived Armadon refused to take part in the war between the Legion and the Horde, and instead maintained a neutral haven amidst the strife. With the arrival of the Hellbourne, however, Armadon's choice became clear, and he hefted his mighty mace in the service of good. The gruff warrior is now a key hero in the New Legion.


Base Attack
Attack Type: Melee
Attack Damage: 52-62
Attack Range: 125
Attacks/Sec: 0.69
Detailed Attributes
Movement Speed: 295
Strength per level: 2.20
Agility per level: 1.80
Intelligence per level: 2.80
Defense Information
Armor: 3.30
Dmg. Reduction: 17%
Magic Armor: 5.50
Magic Reduction: 25%


icon_128.jpg
Armadon
Primary Attribute: Strength
Role: Semi-carry/Tank
Strength: 22
Agility: 17
Intelligence: 24

Introduction to Armadon
Having some of the most spammable, yet most powerful skills in the game, Armadon has potential to deal out massive amounts of damage, while escaping with plenty of health. Once players master his early game mana issues, he will become one of the strongest heroes in the game.


Quick Analysis
Armadon is a hero that isn't commonly seen in games due to his requirement of spamming skills to get powerful. However, with a few items in his inventory, he is able to get a lot of quills to stack onto enemies, increasing the damage of Spine Burst by a huge amount over time. In addition, both his ultimate and his first skill, Snot Storm, allow him to chase down faster enemies by both speeding him up and slowing them down. Despite the potential power Armadon holds in the game, his weakness is his need to spam skills, combined with his low mana pool in the early game. Although this is mitigated slightly by his very high INT gain, his skill spam is easily countered.

Pros and Cons
Pros and Cons
Pros Cons
High HP, while taking reduced
damage with Armordillo
Low STR gain despite having
STR as a primary attribute
With some help, Spine Burst is
able to harass heroes in lane
Rather item dependent
Scaling slow that also reduces
armor
Unable to catch up to blinkers
Countered easily with a
Power Supply or Mana Battery

Armadon's Role
Armadon serves primarily as a tank and potentially a semi-carry in the game. With the amount of damage reduction and HP that Armadon can get, it can become rather difficult for teams to take Armadon down later on. In addition, while most heroes with a high HP pool do minimal damage, Armadon is able to dish out a lot of damage while absorbing the attack damage the enemies try to throw at him. In rare cases when needed, Armadon can be played as an occasional ganker, as his ultimate and his first skill allow him to come from behind and from there never let the enemy get too far from him. While possible though, this route is not as recommended as going to various lanes ganking means he does lose out on a lot of farm time, meaning that he falls behind as the game progresses, making it harder to stay alive during team fights when required.

Showers the area around Armadon with quills, damaging nearby enemies. If a unit was struck by Armadon's quills recently it will take extra damage.

Range: 650
Cast Time: 0.6 seconds
Mana Cost: 35
Cooldown: 3.0 seconds

Activation
Deals 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 Physical damage and applies Spine Vulnerability to enemies in radius for 13 seconds. Adds one charge. Maximum of 6 charges.

Spine Vulnerability
30 Physical Damage per charge

Strategy: This skills is what defines Armadon. The ability to do 260 damage in an area of effect every time the quills discharge through this skill and his next skill, Armordillo, means he can rip through enemy teams with ease. In addition, this skill works well with Snot Storm, as decreasing their armor increases the damage of this skill. When running away, spam this skill to lower their health, deterring them from chasing you.

ability3_128.jpg
Armordillo
Armadon fortifies his spines, reducing damage taken from the rear and sides. An extra Spine Burst is released based on damage taken.

Passive Ability
On Damage: Reduces damage taken from rear by 10 / 20 / 30 / 40% and from the sides by 5 / 10 / 15 / 20%. Releases an extra Spine Burst whenever 200 total damage is taken.

Strategy: Armordillo increases the amount of tankiness he already provides, and also has the ridiculous ability to give an extra burst of damage after taking a mere 200 damage after reduction. This allows Armadon to escape with much greater ease when using his ultimate, and also allows for a lot of extra damage when a team targets Armadon. Naturally with this skill available, when you are fighting enemies, turn your back to them when you are being attacked, or see a big nuke coming.

ability4_128.jpg
Restless
Armadon temporarily increases his movement speed and attack damage for every spell he casts.

Passive Ability
On Attack Applies Restless to self for 10 seconds. Adds one charge.

Restless
10/20/30 Damage
4/8/12 Damage per charge
4/5/7% Movement Speed
1/2/3% Movement Speed per charge

Strategy: Restless has a simple job. Make Armadon run faster, and make him attack stronger. The simplicity of this ultimate means it becomes a very versatile skill, in terms of its application. It is able to be used for escaping, for ganking, for pushing and for farming (naturally). In addition, with his ultimate giving you plenty of damage, you are able to concentrate more on tank items as opposed to more damage based items.


Armadon is a hero that requires a bit of babysitting to get decent farm going, however it is not out of the question to have an Armadon solo (generally middle lane). Laning partners that allow for multiple slows, stuns, or other benefit usually suit Armadon the best. As he is rather item dependent, it is not recommended that a carry or another item dependent hero be in the same line. From the potential laning partners, Nymphora pairs with Armadon extremely well. All of her skills allow Armadon to have a very easy time farming and possibly killing enemy heroes due to her stun, as well as the ability to spam quills, something that he is unable to do with other heroes. Generally for a dual lane with Armadon, it is best to take the short lane (Top for Legion, Bottom for Hellbourne) so that the less tanky heroes can have an easier time farming their lanes near the tower.
Potential Laning Partners
9b72f6445100d2458be8a3a6d465a7a10bd6a5fae655e9c170187fa36a.jpg 94d7a956711661866f811a7595f146ddb09ceb8fd8db43db897f77fb87.jpg bc35ff28c5904de3fd17379afa0dd6a4c54cecebfaaaa62980fa50389f.jpg 4724bd4c9753503ad1313808ead95a8f5e1aa5db27eb64fe382a5811ee.jpg b08c78179f113f8315a5b78d8fb75acc1890ee6e80d9292edd69b96242.jpg 9a7fbacba57c33a367fe9467dfac9c0e39ba12208526e1d9d201165f4b.jpg f35b519a7de3f57456d7e396b0084de121229a970f9115d550e02f4434.jpg d1e449ea6e6ca4022e20486e0b21609e86f931a3284501595fe0db556a.jpg 9754139579bfb453b957f7df046aa9dbf611c3a14e884a2f49bf432873.jpg

General Guide to Playing Armadon
1853b51768ca327b6413a101b8c65da6e76c412accb6dfbf8c1a726c0a.jpg


Early Game / Laning Phase
During the early game, try to get your laning partner to assist in harassing the enemy heroes and pushing them back, allowing you to get an easy farm. The goal in this phase is to get your first tank item as soon as possible, whether that is Helm of the Black Legion or Shaman's Headdress. Early hero kills are possible in this phase, though generally difficult without the help of a hero such as Nymphora to stun and regenerate your mana supply.
Note: In this phase, be wary for enemy Power Supplies and Mana Batteries. If you see them with this item, try to avoid harassing with Spine Burst, as it helps them more than it helps you.

Mid-Game
With some tankiness from your items, it is possible to start participating in more ganks and team fights. Slowing and reducing the armor of the biggest threat on their side allows them to be easily picked off by your team, and Spine Burst is especially deadly during this phase, as heroes do not have extremely high Health at this point in the game. While there are no fights going on, it is vital that Armadon farms more items to get more protection and to become a greater annoyance to the enemy team.
Note: A Kongor attempt is possible during the earlier stages of the mid-game, with Snot Storm slowing Kongor by a decent amount, meaning the amount of damage the team will have to endure will be greatly reduced. Doing so may allow for an early push.

Late Game
As the game reaches the final stages, Armadon should be a near impossibility to take down. Combined with his Armordillo skill, expect heroes to be doing about 20% of their potential damage to you. Take advantage of this by using both your spells to catch up to them and pummel them to death. At this stage of the game, his quills will not be doing as much damage to the enemies, however it still increases his overall damage by quite a significant amount while combined with his ultimate. That is, it is possible to gain 150+ damage alone by spamming his active skills, which is equivilent to half a Doombringer. With his deadly damage output along with his ability to tank, Armadon is one of the more powerful heroes late game. In the case you do get ganked by multiple heroes, start running but be prepared to turn back and pummel them once you get enough charges and their HP has been significantly lowered through the many Spines you spray.


Armadon's weaknesses are glaringly obvious, but with some smart choices, it is possible to minimize, or even negate such a weakness. His first weakness, his low Attack Speed, which lowers his potential to easily farm compared to Agility heroes such as Chronos can be lowered by having a partner harassing the enemy heroes, as well as using a Logger's Hatchet to help in doing more damage. Another easy way to minimize this weakness is to not autoattack. By autoattacking, he is forced to go through his extremely slow animation, meaning enemy heroes can simply pop a deny in before you can acquire the kill. His second weakness is the ability to be countered with a Mana Battery / Power Supply. Early game, it is simple enough. Limiting the amount of spell spam will reduce the number of charges the get. However, another way this can be countered is to see when their Battery or Supply is full. When you see them with the maximum number of charges, you are free to spam spells (and potentially kill them) in the time it takes them to use the item and wait for it to come off cooldown. Taking advantage of this is crucial in getting some kills that others would miss due to their lack of awareness.



1138eb806af5a3d3579d290aedea2309c688154d6ccfc5bcdea475c4c7.jpg Spine Burst7

dffd2a50856a01bc804d401c3e6686383ca8a22366628a0231a7efe3b0.jpg Armordillo8

dffd2a50856a01bc804d401c3e6686383ca8a22366628a0231a7efe3b0.jpg Armordillo9

dffd2a50856a01bc804d401c3e6686383ca8a22366628a0231a7efe3b0.jpg Armordillo10

2155be80966ae31a148947419c66de569275dade03144efd423bf0266f.jpg Restless11

95c7092fc4fb19d52903b756645ab83c18973e7945cdfd23129ed6639e.jpg Snot Storm12

95c7092fc4fb19d52903b756645ab83c18973e7945cdfd23129ed6639e.jpg Snot Storm13

95c7092fc4fb19d52903b756645ab83c18973e7945cdfd23129ed6639e.jpg Snot Storm14

6274f106fa994733610fce70ead4245b5f4083a598822f59ba31c88af1.jpg Stats15
2155be80966ae31a148947419c66de569275dade03144efd423bf0266f.jpg Restless16
A point in Snot Storm at level 1 allows early ganks to happen, and is more beneficial at such a low level as you don't have the mana to stack quill damage or even to continue chasing them before you do run out of mana. Level 1 Spine Burst is a good option when no ganks come, as they allow you to make up for any missed last hits before the enemy gets the deny. Restless is acquired when available as the benefits it gives are amazing. Armordillo is generally leveled to 4 next, although you could get levels in Snot Storm instead. The reason for getting Armordillo is to further increase your tankiness in the middle game, where a lot of ganks and fights happen, so having a defensive skill will allow you to be offensive for longer. However, if it's a slow game or if your team is the one doing the initiation, then getting Snot Storm is viable. Stats should not be taken before level 15, as each ability has an important use which cannot be put off until later. In addition, the benefits will only allow Armadon to take 1 or 2 more hits, or 1 extra spell cast. These bonuses are far outweighed by the benefits given by all his other skills. The images on the right represent the build order I normally use. Always be flexible to change skill orders around.



Item Build
Starting Items


1xItem_LoggersHatchet.jpg 1xHealthPotion_128.jpg 1xRunesofBlight_128.jpg 2xMinorTotem_128.jpg

Alternate Builds
1xItem_IronBuckler.jpg 1xItem_LoggersHatchet.jpg1xRunesofBlight_128.jpg
1xItem_IronBuckler.jpg 2xMinorTotem_128.jpg 1xRunesofBlight_128.jpg 1xHealthPotion_128.jpg


Depending on what heroes you are up against, you should get either a Buckler or a Logger's Hatchet as your first item. While it is possible to get both, it isn't recommended as it will restrict you in terms of regeneration. For most games, a Logger's Hatchet would be the superior choice, but in cases where you expect to be facing heavy physical harassment, go for the Buckler first. Flexibility, once again, is key to figuring out which build is appropriate.

Early Game Items
PowerSupply_128.jpg
Power Supplies are extremely powerful for Armadon against any team that remotely spams their spells. Giving back 225 mana and health at max charges, saving it for a gank could mean the difference between letting them get away since you didn't have the last burst of mana to slow them down and killing them easily and making your escape.
Steamboots_128.jpg
For boots, Steamboots (Strength) are the superior choice over Ghost Marchers. As Armadon comes equipped with extra movement speed from his ultimate, along with a slow, the extra speed Ghost Marchers provide is a bit pointless and the extra damage isn't really worth it compared to extra attacking speed and (variable) stats that can prove to be versatile depending on the situation. Striders don't make sense on Armadon as he'll be casting spells all the time and so they'll always be on cooldown. Post Haste is a more viable item late game.
d5fe446666cd889a483d8f438e71a61e7ec9268ee8a470c5376b60ce93.jpgORef8de877bfe9f6d96e8d979590a0eccdd6df68aaa72b920d964bacc281.jpg
Early game, Armadon should be aiming to have one or both of the easily built tank items in his inventory. The choice between Helm or Shamans is dependent on the team, as magic heavy teams means that a Helm is pretty useless and vice-versa. While it's possible to get both, this probably won't be needed unless they have heavy magic and physical damage output, which doesn't come across too often. In most games though, the extra health that Helm provides will be more beneficial to Armadon than the extra Magic Armor. Do note that while it does help earlier on, for some teams you may be better off skipping one of these two items and going straight for a mid-game item.

be135b6daf470efc0b5c3108fb7ad18da95a05e7905c621fa19e6a8c14.jpg
Blood Chalice is another option for the early game, giving decent stats for its cheap price (650), as well as a strong ability for Armadon: the ability to turn 150HP to MP. With some HP regen and a high HP pool, 150 HP is negligible and allows Armadon to cast 4-5 more spells every 25 seconds. Given how strongly his Quills stack early game, netting a kill is also a big possibility, which then also returns the 150HP cost initially used. In games where you find yourself laning against some one or two low HP heroes you think you can kill easily, consider this a very viable option to get in the early stages of the game.

Mid-Game Items
HomecomingStone_128.jpg
Homecoming Stones. Try to always have one on you, for all the times you get ganked and you know you can't get away easily, when a tower is getting pushed and the team plans to defend, when you know a fight is going to happen you want to be ready immediately. The uses are endless, and so not having one in your inventory could be considered foolish.
fc6d69fc4ec202ee34bc397a0f626166e9f9caf791d44f339c162d6017.jpg NullStone_128.jpg ShrunkenHead_128.jpg
Any number of these three work as mid-game tank items. Barrier Idol is a natural leadon from Shaman's Headdress, and so probably isn't needed or can be picked up later if the Shaman's wasn't picked up earlier. Null Stone is one of the best survivability items, providing excellent stats and regen, as well as a spell block every 20 seconds. Its versatility is what makes it so strong and so good and should be picked up in the majority of games. Shrunken Head is alright when teams are stun/slow happy, but isn't as useful in the longterm for Armadon. Giving no regeneration and a little bit of health in terms of Strength, it doesn't increase the amount of tankiness Armadon has. Finally, after a lot of uses, Shrunken will only have a 5 second duration, which is a rather short time, after which you will be completely exposed unless you can get to safety. Null Stone, on the other hand, will probably help out once early in the fight, and once after, if you need it, which is why it is also considered superior in a sense.

5afc1be3a56bb348e22814fb364a54aa46701fdd341eb5ecfa916abb9b.jpg
Mock of Brilliance is the only offensive item I would recommend, mainly because its burning damage builds on from Spine Burst, however it doesn't provide much more than that. So while you do get plenty of extra damage, your HP pool won't be too high, and your Mock will attract enemy heroes to try take you down first, minimizing any chance you have to do any damage. However, if you are already winning by a lot, this is a good item to keep the advantage up.

Late Game Items
f8f69b26364a14f99bf857f9b559383ff9bfd8f81af1c6c2e54108dfb7.jpg a830d391aae7072089a5d9b432802b576be7f203bed61fb61fb737426d.jpg a93e9581db8e5f1144e4a59e3343859d1d363117e4dac9e95e328f36e7.jpg cf396b5b46184b8264851c59e100970ac7aa980cdb6dc204602d570d49.jpg
Lategame is pretty simple in terms of items to get. HP and Armor are what Armadon looks for, and the items he can get later in the game to achieve this are any of the above. Behemoth's Heart gives Armadon ridiculous amounts of health and regeneration, which suits him perfectly so it's the prime lategame item. In the case you don't want to get that, Frostfield Plate further slows enemies down when you activate it, and it gives a lot of armor, making it a decent lategame choice. In the case you want to max out on your armor, Demonic Breastplate is the way to go. While it overall gives the same armor as Frostfield to you (+15), it also has the benefits of helping your teammates with 5 armor to them, and -5 armor to enemies. In addition to that, all allies and yourself will be attacking faster, and with a tank such as Armadon holding it, this aura will last a long time before it comes down. Finally, the last late game item isn't so much a late game item, but is generally taken later in the game when required. Giving you armor and the all important damage return ability, not only are you able to tank a bit more, you'll be returning all that damage back to those who try to hit you, bringing them down faster than you would expect. Combined with your natural burst damage with Spine Burst, you can potentially dish out fatal damage to multiple heroes by making them bring themselves down in 5 seconds.

Tips For Armadon

Armadon is a fairly straightforward hero to play, with only a few tips that could be given that will help you win the game.

Tip 1: Turn around!
c296420f483cfcb638d6d3d38e21e357ab0d751f0e968015637063df51.jpg

When you're in a fight, if you're not able to do anything - maybe due to a snare, or maybe due to the fact enemies are a bit far away, turn your back to them. When a team decides to nuke you at that point, you will absorb 40% of the damage that comes in, so you'll hardly feel it. As an example in the picture above, I nuked myself while my back was turned with a Pyromancer ultimate. This allowed me to eat it with a lot of HP remaining. Note that picture was also taken with no items, so a Shaman's would have reduced it by even more. If the enemy focuses on you and you successfully turn your back to them when they use spells, your team will easily be able to clean up.


Tip 2: Turn around!!

In case you have not read it in the guide, turning around to fight multiple enemies chasing you is always a good idea once you have worked out you've damaged them enough with your quills to do so. Combining your extra powerful attacks due to your ultimate, along with further Spine Bursts, you will be doing enough damage in an area around you that taking down 3 or 4 heroes by yourself is not out of the realms of possibility. The best time to do turn around depends on the heroes of course, but in general, once their health drops to about 1/4-1/3 of their maximum health pool and you've casted enough Spine Bursts through the skill and Armordillo so that they are taking the maximum they can from the spell, you'll be able to deal with them swiftly. Turning around earlier is possible, but the earlier you do, the riskier it is, however constant casting of Snot Storm and Spine Bursts should bring down at least 1 or 2 heroes before you go down (if you do).

Tip 3: Pre-emptive Bursting

8a4c986106828032107e67facecef39aa063485393f1ea9528671754be.jpg
When going for a gank with a decent mana pool, you should aim to start increasing your Restless level before your team initiates. By doing this, you'll be running faster so you don't need to speed up and potentially let them slip away, and you'll also be hitting for more damage from the start of the battle to the end. While this seems like common sense, many players will forget that having their ultimate charged up is always a huge benefit. The downside to doing this though is that you have to be weary of anyone who is holding a Power Supply, as increasing your Restless level will also show up as a charge on their Supply if they are too close to you. This will tip them off that you are nearby, and they will probably return to safety of their tower.

Tip 4: Invisibility means nothing

As can be seen from the pictures below, it's easily possible to track down invisible or fogged units. In the set of three pictures below, it is seen that when a unit is in the radius of Spine Burst, it will track the unit down to hit it. While invisible, they are still affected by Spine Bursts so the Spines will still extend out to them. In an actual game, if you are able to keep within range of them (Restless helps you do this), you can trace where they are going, damaging them along the way, and possibly even getting a kill if you can track them for long enough, though care should always be taken when traveling deeper into the enemy's side of the river.
cf1ed7d9619f1071d743e85653db3c1f100b7006a928ced8801453e27c.jpg 4b8f8830fa10e84dfe37ec14d4fa2e9ff17a0cdc4de71ccdc45e451f57.jpg 10f5aff242322303f67424d5debdc1f898b7ce1f99987c27f6c8283abc.jpg

Comments will only be allowed if they are directly relevant to the actual strategy in the article.

All Esports

Entertainment

GosuBattles

Account