HoN Guide: Predator

Stonehide
The Predator makes his hide like stone, granting him Magic Immunity, dispelling debuffs, and increasing his Armor temporarily.
Cast Time:0.1 Seconds
Mana Cost:75
Cooldown:1.50 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation:Dispels debuffs and applies Stone Hide to self for 3 / 3.75 / 4.5 / 5.25 seconds
Other:Immunity Type: Magic Immunity
+ 3 / 6 / 9 / 12 Armor
Carnivorous
The Predator feasts on his opponents' flesh with each attack, allowing him to topple the mightiest warriors. Each attack damages opponents for a percentage of their current Health, and heals the Predator based on the damage dealt.
Action:Passive
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
On Attack: Deals Physical Damage to targets equal to 4 / 5 / 6 / 7% of their current Health and heals you for the same amount.
Terror
The Predator roars, instilling Terror in nearby enemies, reducing their Armor. Allies who attack enemies affected by Terror will receive increased Attack Speed and Movement Speed.
Type:Physical
Radius:450
Cast Time: 1.0 Seconds
Mana Cost: 50 / 75 / 100
Cooldown: 60.0 Seconds
Required Level: 6 / 11 / 16
Activation: Applies Terror to targets in radius around self for 20 seconds.
Other:-2 / -4 / -6 Armor
When attacked, buffs attacker's Attack Speed by 20 / 40 / 60 and Movement Speed by 15% for 4.5 seconds

1. How do I play Predator?

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Despite being a hard carry, predator can be versatile in laning. He can jungle, dual lane with a support hero, tri-lane as the farmer-carry, or even mid (mid only if you are sure that the enemy will be a melee solo mid hero, e.g. deadwood, keeper, pharaoh, gladiator etc.).

The skill builds are pretty much similar for each of the laning styles, except of jungling. Jungling has completely different way of playing. Item builds respectively are different when in lane and when in jungle, but item builds are generally game dependent rather than lane dependent. Each style will be explained in detail later.

2. When do I pick Predator?

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Predator is a good pick when you need a carry or even better a tanky carry, that’s the most obvious reason. But when to choose predator over some other carry? Lots of AoE disable (e.g. Keeper) s, tanky heroes (e.g. Hammerstorm), very squish heroes (e.g. Voodoo Jester), heroes without escaping mechanism (e.g. Flint beastwood) all these make a predator pick smile.

On the contrast, heroes with many single target disables (e.g. Pollywog Priest), heroes with physical skills (e.g. Pandamonium), heroes with easy escape mechanisms (e.g. Magebane) and heroes with illusions (e.g. Silhouette) will make the Predator’s life hard.

3. How to choose what laning style fits my team?

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That’s pretty easy, but it depends.

1. My team consists of 2 strong solo heroes, and a strong dual lane.
Predator will jungle.

Many argue that jungling isn’t efficient for Predator. If the conditions mentioned at case 1 are met, then jungling is essential. This is why the experience gain team-wise, will be much higher than with predator laning, and soon the total team experience will pass the enemy’s which has 5 heroes in lanes. Moreover in lanes where you get over-harassed predator will lose farm, while in jungle has a steady farm which can match a lane’s farm with a few successful ganks.

2. My team has 2 strong solo heroes but instead of a strong dual lane, has 2 support/disablers.
Predator will tri-lane.

3. My team has 1 strong solo hero, one strong dual lane, and another disabler/support.
Predator will dual lane with the support/disabler.

In some cases where you think your mid hero will be at disadvantage over the enemy mid hero, while all other lanes are balanced, you can dual lane with the support/disabler in mid instead, shutting down the enemy mid hero, but sacrificing yours as well, versus a dual side lane. This works even better when your solo hero (which in this case is at a side-lane, isn’t item dependent, but only needs levels)

4. My team has 2 strong dual lanes, and we’re sure that their mid is a melee hero.
Predator will solo mid against that hero.

4. After the laning is decided, how I chose my lane partner/s?

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Taking the 2 laning cases with allies, dual lane and tri-lane we have:

Dual lane
Heroes with supporting abilities or long lasting disables are your best friends. Some examples are:

Empath:
Deadly combo, she has whatever predator needs, block mechanisms for chasing, and her ultimate boosts your chasing to its maximum.

Slither:
While he has no support skills, his harass will wreck the enemies, leaving them to a state where predator can finish them off without any danger. His slows along with your Leap will ensure kills.

Demented Shaman:
Everything on this hero was designed for Predator. Excellent compatibility, and his game-breaking Unbreakable spell makes predators game a walk in the park.

Other heroes for dual lane that work well with Predator are: Andromeda, Witch slayer, Nymphora, Myrmidon, Glacius, Plague Rider.

Tri-lane - Pretty much any 2 of the above will make a nice tri-lane with predator, but you can also add these in the tri-lane: Aluna, Behemoth, Torturer, Succubus, Pyromancer, Hellbringer, but not in a dual lane.

5. Which enemies should I avoid?

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Long time disablers and heroes with blink type spells are to avoided. Even though you have a might Stone Hide at your disposal, long time disablers with heavy slows and stuns, will make Predator useless, his mobility is low and with such spells goes to nearly 0. Heroes with escape mechanisms are not crucial threat to Predator, but they can guarantee that you will never kill them, so they harass safely, will you can’t do much about it. Last but not least are specific heroes specialized in physical debuffs. Some examples of heroes to avoid playing against are:

Long time disablers
Slither
Moraxus
Armadon
Gauntlet

Heroes with escape mechanisms
Magebane
Hag
Bubbles
Valkyrie

Heroes with physical spells
Pandamonium
Rampage

6. What should I focus on, while laning?

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Dual lane - Getting the last hits, not staying close to creeps when you don’t last hit. This means that you approach only for last hits, timing this precisely will help not only you but your ally as well that has the duty of babysitting you. When they initiate on your ally (if you are not outnumbered), always engage the squishiest hero (that if you can’t save your ally, with your slow). This disorientates your enemies often making them to abandon their attempt, or gets you a kill at the cost of your ally’s life. Pulling is always essential when you are on the long lane, and counter warding the wards that block your pull spots is a must (not by you, but if you ally doesn’t, tell him to do it).

Tri-lane - Easier than dual lanes, you just farm here. Getting all last hits is your obligation; losing even 1 creep at a wave is considered fail. Of course if the enemies try to engage your tri-lane, you engage as well, but make sure to use your stone hide wise, making the enemies waste a spell on it. Otherwise, engage after your allies, making sure you get the kill.

Skill Order for Dual Lane
Venomous Leap	1
Stone Hide	2
Venomous Leap	3
Carnivorous	4
Venomous Leap	5
Terror	6
Venomous Leap	7
Stone Hide/Carnivorous*	8
Stone Hide/Carnivorous	9
Stone Hide/Carnivorous	10
Terror	11
Stone Hide/Carnivorous	12
Stone Hide/Carnivorous	13
Stone Hide/Carnivorous	14
Stats	15
Terror	16

*Based on what you face, you level the one skill over the other. If you enemies have many disables you will need to get more levels of Stone Hide early, to make you last longer in skirmishes. If you don’t deal enough damage and enemies escape, or you are up against STR tanky heroes, you can level your Carnivorous early, to dominate the lane easier.
The explanation of this skill build is that you aim for openings while your ally harass (and you farm). You can also play it aggressively, but that sometimes reflects back, when you’re against heavy disablers or nukers. Leap is maxed for maximum nuking and slow. Carnivorous at early levels doesn’t do much damage, because it’s % based damage and triggers with every attack. Carnivorous unfortunately is useless for last hitting, but leveling stats instead of it, won’t make difference at last hitting.

Skill Order for Tri-Lane
Venomous Leap	1
Stone Hide	2
Venomous Leap	3
Stone Hide	4
Venomous Leap	5
Terror	6
Venomous Leap	7
Stone Hide	8
Stone Hide	9
Carnivorous	10
Terror	11
Carnivorous	12
Carnivorous	13
Carnivorous	14
Stats	15
Terror	16

In this setup, Carnivorous is ignored until level 10, due to the fact that you’ll be mainly last hitting stuff, you’re not the source of damage at this phase of the game. You won’t be needing to gain life by attacking someone either. Stone Hide will make sure you don’t have any unexpected deaths that will ruin the purpose of your tri-lane. Once more, stats are not advised simply because you will need the maxed skills at mid game. Leaping on the enemies engaged by your 2 allies, and using Stone Hide (either safely, before you Leap, or trying to make the enemies waste a spell on you and activate it while spell is in mid-air) will result in a kill for you.

Skill Order for Mid lane
Carnivorous	1
Stone Hide	2
Carnivorous	3
Venomous Leap	4
Venomous Leap	5
Terror	6
Carnivorous	7
Carnivorous	8
Stone Hide	9
Venomous Leap	10
Terror	11
Venomous Leap	12
Stone Hide	13
Stone Hide	14
Stats	15
Terror	16

Predator soloing mid lane, is rather weird sight. Respectively his skill builds is kind of weird. You need at least 2 levels of Carnivorous early, for the hit exchanges with your melee opponent (remember that it doesn’t help last hitting). One level of Stone Hide is crucial for any bad moment and to dispel annoying debuffs (e.g. Rotten Grasp from DW). Then the rest spell points are spent on Leap which will come handy sooner or later, because min never stays quiet. It’s a mixed skill builds, few points of every skill, because the variation of mid lane and its situations cannot be foreseen. Getting kills as solo will be hard regardless of what skill build you use. The most possible way to get kill over your solo enemy is by constantly harassing him when he gets near creeps for last hits, and leap when you see a chance.

Skill Order for Jungle
Carnivorous	1
Stone Hide	2
Carnivorous	3
Stone Hide/Venomous Leap*	4
Carnivorous	5
Venomous Leap	6
Carnivorous	7
Terror	8
Venomous Leap	9
Venomous Leap	10
Terror	11
Venomous Leap	12
Stone Hide/Leap	13
Stone Hide	14
Stats	15
Terror	16

*If your closest lanes, plan to harass a lot or create an opportunity for kill, you can level Leap at level 4, otherwise you continue with Stone Hide. He must inform you for that though.
When we say Jungling we mean Jungling. Leap isn’t used on creeps, that’s why you delay it. Carnivorous must be maxed out at 7 when you jungle, and Stone Hide’s armor bonus can help you losing less life in some hard neutral groups. Also stone hide will save you from unexpected ganks. Terror is delayed as well, Leap is more important at that stage because you will probably be doing a gank at lvl 6 when your solo ally is 6 as well, and your enemies are not. Terror cannot be used in jungle so it’s not essential for your farming. That’s up to level 8, where your ganking will commence again and you gonna need more ganking tools than your Leap. The build continues with maxing the Leap over Stone Hide. The reason for that is that your ganks should be speedy. You don’t plan to stay long on lanes, you appear jump and kill, 2 levels of stone hide and the maxed Leap are enough to ensure your kills. Mostly your ganks can be described as “last hitting Leaps”

7. Tips and tricks on Predator's spells

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Although his skills are too simple, there are a few tips, someone might now know.

1. Leap does magical damage, but it also does an auto attack when you land on your target (unless you cancel it on purpose by spamming a move command or stop command). That means that the total damage you do, is “mixed” (both physical and magical) so choosing targets based on their defensive stats won’t help.

2. Although Leap’s damage as spell is magical, it can be cast on magical immune targets. Furthermore the 40% slow is applied to them, even if they are immune. The only thing that doesn’t happen is the 225 magic damage from the spell description.

3. Stone Hide is another version of Shrunken Head. Wrong. Stone Hide is better than Shrunken Head. Not only it has lower cooldown, but it gives the extra armor that many players ignore/neglect or forget. An amount of +12 armor boosts your Physical Effective HP to insane amounts, especially early game.

4. Stone Hide can be also used to dispel debuffs not only to be magical immune. Sometimes it is better to wait for enemies to cast their skills and then dispel them. The best example of that, is Keeper’s Root which is superior magic and goes through immunity. So if you cast Stone Hide and after that Keeper casts Root, you are going to be immobilized. But casting it after the Root, will free you from the Root.

5. Carnivorous deals physical damage and triggers with each attack. This means that if you want to scale it better while the game proceeds , you need items for attack speed and armor reduction, rather than plain damage. Best example is Demonic Breastplate.

6. Carnivorous doesn’t work on Kongor, meaning you can’t solo him.

7. Carnivorous isn’t attack modifier, and stacks with any attack modifier you want to use.

8. Terror is an aggressive spell that can be also be used defensively combined with Stone Hide. When getting ganked, using Stone Hide, Terror and one auto attack on a target afflicted by terror, will grant you increased movement speed and immunity, the 2 things you need to escape from a difficult situation.

9. Even though Predator has very low base INT and gain, his skills require minimal amounts of mana, you won’t need to think about mana regeneration items or worry about spamming skills.

10. Stone Hide will not help you against physical spells, but it can dispel physical debuffs. The most important spells that will go through your Stone Hide are : All Pandamonium’s skills, Tremble’s Impalers, all Legionnaire’s skills, all Deadwood’s skills, Succubus ultimate, all Rampage’s skills and Kraken’s ultimate.

8. Items

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Starting items on predator depend purely on the lane style you chose. Jungle requires hatchet and Iron Buckler + some regen, Laning requires hp regen+mana regen, and stats.But starting items differ from player to player depending on how aggressive/defensive they play. The real item issues on Predator start now. Let's state some basic facts about Predator and item builds. Predator is one of the most versatile heroes regarding items, and more than one builds are correct, regardless of what items you are used to see and what you are good with. Items on predator must focus on increasing your total dps and your survivability a bit. With these criteria taken into consideration there are 3 different CORE builds that any predator can follow. On all 3 builds one remains the same and is considered MUST from anyone’s point of view or playstyle. This item is Insanitarius, the main carry STR item that increases dps drastically.

The 3 different core item builds are:

Build A – Insanitarius, Steamboots, Frostburn (the FB build)

Build B – Insanitarius, Steamboots, Shieldbreaker (the SB build)

Build C1 – Insanitarius, Steamboots, Elder Parasite (the EP build)

Build C2 – Insanitarius, Ghost Marchers, Elder Parasite (the alt EP build)

Some will rush to say “where is the Frostwolf build”. I’d answer that there is no core build with Frostwolf, you can split the Frostburn later if you wish to go Frostwolf, but the core build remains labeled as Frostburn. More about Frostwolf will be explained later.
Here are some stats from all 3 builds A,B,C, taken from a 11 level Predator when attacking an enemy under the terror effects, and by using Stone Hide (Leap doesn’t affect those stats). Also the spells on predator are like that: 3 levels on Leap, 2 levels on Stone Hide, 4 levels on Carnivorous, 2 levels on Terror

Notes
- Chp is Current HP of the target
-Insanitarius is activated in all cases, and Elder Parasite as well in build C.
- Physical HP on Elder parasite build is calculated with the 15% extra damage taken.
- Magical Effective HP isn’t mentioned because you’re under the effects of Stone hide.

9. Conclusion about the three builds

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Frostburn build
Compared to the other builds seems the most defensive build of all. It provide a solild 4200 PEH under the effects of Stone Hide, a decent attack speed and movement speed allowing to chase enemies for a bit longer after the effects of Leap have disappeared. While it doesn’t lack significantly to any aspect, it doesn’t have any major bonuses as well, except of the highest PEH. This build allows you to go into Frostwolf skull later on, if you really need more HP and more slow. To sum up:

Pros: Highest survivability, a bit of extra slow, good for long battles.
Cons: High cost for its DPS, no extra armor reduction.

This build is suitable in games where, predator except of carry needs to initiate as well, and he is subjected to heavy damage while doing that. Is the best build for prolonged battles, as it has the same advantages from start to end.

Shieldbreaker build
This is the most extreme build compared to the other two. It involves high cost, but high damage as well. It had decent survivability of 3300 PEH under Stone Hide. The best parts of this build is the -12 armor reduction that will shread to pieces any INT hero and most STR at these levels. Armor reduction works much better when the target has already low armor, meaning that AGI heroes with high armor values will take much less dmg than the squishy INT heroes. The bad part of this build is that it offers no extra mobility, that is needed to chase the 2nd target (the 1st target would die fast). It’s peak is at the start of the fight, where the most disables will land, while losing power the longer the fight lasts.To sum up:

Pros: Insanely high damage vs INT heroes and most STR heroes
Cons: No mobility, loses power over time in fights, high cost

This build is suitable where you face multiple squishy INT heroes and STR heroes like Pebbles for example. You need heavy disablers in your setup, to make sure enemies won’t run around, because your mobility is very limited. It’s the best build when you have 1-2 targets on the enemy team that must die really fast.

Elder Parasite build
This is the most hated build by the community, often labeled as “noob” build. These are misconceptions proven wrong by the stats above. This is the highest DPS build, at the cost of the lowest survivability. But the major advantage of this build is the cost/DPS value of it. 326 damage and 14% of the victims HP damage per second for the cost of 6100 is insanely high. It also offers the best mobility of all builds, not depending on a targeted slow (frostburn). The bad part of this build is the lowest PEH of all, 2805 (with 20% increased damage taken from Elder Parasite). What is more is the build that requires skilled player and good judgement. It’s pretty easy to mess the whole gank with this build. A 1 or 2 wrong clicks on the activation order of the items/skills can turn around an easy gank to a massacre. This is the reason that this build is most hated by the community.

You’ll see many players failing with this build just because of the wrong clicks on activations. While it’s the build that requires the most skill, if performed correctly, its advantages are huge. Even the lowest PEH (2805) would be enough to wreck enemy teams with correct play. The extremely low cost of this build will allow players to have it ready before any other build, making their Predator useful at earlier stage of the game, saving you 2500 gold which is not small amount by any means. Last thing about this build is that its peak points are in the start and in the end of the battles. This is because when the Stone Hide is over you will need to be careful in order not to die from spells under the EP effects, but as the battle tends to end, and few heroes remain alive, the effects of Lifesteal will keep you alive when facing few enemies.

Pros: Highest DPS of all, highest mobility, lowest cost, lifesteal
Cons: Very easy to destroy yourself, lowest survivability

This build is suitable when your team doesn’t have heavy disables, and enemies do not have many ways to nuke you down or pin you down(if they have a few, you can easily kill those heroes 1st). Generally works on most of the games if used correctly.

Alternative Elder Parasite build with Ghost Marchers
Most will claim that Predator needs the attack speed from steamboots. Absolutely correct, predator needs attack speed. However in the Elder Parasite build you will find that you got more than enough attack speed early-mid game. In some cases you will see that enemies escape due to some of their skills (e.g. a Valkyrie leaping), and that there is no chance of covering that ground in a good time. The activation of Ghost Marchers+Elder Parasite+Terror, practically gives you a Haste rune for 6 seconds, along with unit-walking. Enemies can’t escape that. On the other hand, ghost marchers over steamboots will decrease your HP even more, so this build is not advised unless you are really confident about your skills as a player (remember that the Elder Parasite build relies purely on the player’s skill to succeed).

10. Luxury items to fill the slots

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After choosing on of the core builds, the rest items fall into the “Luxury” category, regardless of what build you chose from the above, the 3 remaining slots, should be filled like that: 1 slot for dmg item, 1 slot for survivability, 1 slot for attack speed. This a general rule though, which often doesn’t apply when situational items are needed.

Demonic Breastplate
A very good choice that provides attack speed and extra damage (through the –armor debuff), suitable for all 3 builds. The only reason that you should avoid this item, is if the enemy team consists of many heroes with high armor values, which makes armor reduction less efficient.

Wingbow
Sounds weird, strange or w/e but wingbow is still a good choice to replace Demonic Breastplate when you face AGI carries or enemies that rely much on auto attacks. While providing no damage, through the 60 atk speed bonus it increases your dps, and boosts drastically your PEH through armor and evasion. Most useful on the Shieldbreaker build that lacks atk speed the most, not so useful on the Elder parasite build and decent on the Frostburn build.

Savage Mace
The most profound item choice when it comes to predator and DPS. Gives a high damage boost while giving a small attack speed boost as well, but its major feature is that you never miss, which is crucial to Predator that relies on each hit to regen his hp as well as damage. Suitable to all 3 builds.

Rifthshards
A rare item to see on Predator, simply because it doesn’t boost directly any of Predator’s skills. It’s only suitable for the Elder Parasite build, because the build lacks raw damage and lifesteal with criticals will save your life often.

Behemoth’s heart
The best item to increase your surviveability more. It doesn’t offer much dps, but will compensate whatever survivability you lost in the Elder Parasite build. Suitable for Elder parasite and Shieldbreaker builds.

Charged Hammer
Increasing damage and atk speed make this item look good on predator. However it doesn’t not give any surviveability that Wingbow and Demonic Breastplate give, while it’s dmg is minimal. For this reason it should be only bought along with Behemoth’s heart. Suitable only for Shieldbreaker build along with Behe’s heart.

Symbol of Rage
Unfortunately it’s an attack modifier we cant afford. HOWEVER if you are really skilled on microing, you can buy it on the Shieldbreaker build (switching attack modidiers manually after 1st hit). Also if you need more lifesteal desperately, you can get it on the Elder parasite build, even if you lose “a lifesteal” in the process, not so cost-effective though.

11. Situational items

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Brutalizer
Very situational item, only to be picked when you need to interrupt channeling abilities on heroes with shrunken head, or when you have long battles with enemy carries, after most heroes are dead.

Nullstone
If you have troubles with single target spells or items (e.g. Sheepstick), despite your Stone Hide, nullstone can replace your slot for survivability.

Shrunken head
Some games just need more immunity than you got. Then it’s time for Shrunken head. Use it wise, after your Stone Hide, and when it’s over you can use Stone Hide again. Possible of ~20 seconds immunity. Shrunken head should replace the item for surviveability.

Frostwolf
Frostwolf has 3 main features: nice stats boost, good slow on attack, slow on single target spells. One of these 3 key features (the 3rd ) is useless on predator. That leaves us the other two. While predator needs AGI and STR boosts, the INT boosts is useless on him. Now the last property of frostwolf, the slow on each attack. While it’s the best slow you can keep an enemy under, it doesn’t last long. A common skill nowdays is “juking”, and this common skill will make chasing with frostwolf less effective than you think it will be. Another drawback of an early frostwolf is that it makes Predator more of a initiator than a Carry. The DPS provided by Frostwolf is not much and this denies your role in game. If you decide to split Frostburn to Frostwolf and Geometer’s Bane, you waste one slot of a dps item for geometer’s which isn’t that great on predator. While by no means it’s not bad item to get, it’s not cost efficient and tries to change your role in game. If you picked predator for carry, avoid it, but if you need to initiate and live long enough, you can get it.

12. Gameplay tips

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If you have followed the Frostburn build...
The build order should be Steamboots, then Insanitarius. After those, complete the icebrand first, it will help you survive in whatever lane you chose to play (even jungle). Complete your firebrand and when frostburn is ready focus completely on ganking, before the frostburn starts to lose power.

If you have followed the Shieldbreaker build...
After getting steamboots, you need to judge what you need 1st, insanitarius or shield breaker. The answer will come based on your enemies and the items they have started to make. If you see armor giving items, rush shieldbreaker asap before they get more armor. If you see them ignoreing armor items, complete your Insanitarius first.

If you have followed the Elder Parasite build...
It’s recommended to finish Parasite before even steamboots, this give you regen through lifesteal and burst dmg that cannot be handled by the enemies in that stage of game. Again I have to remind you, to be careful of how you use it. Wrong use will lead to massive failure.

Regardless of the item builds you chose, unless you do exceptionally well in early game, your aim is to get the game to late game. Your core items will help you get kills through early-mid game, and might seem you got the upper hand. Don’t overdo it though if all your team doesn’t go well like you. Steady farming and successful ganks will ensure a late game win. On the other hand, if the enemy team has far greater late game potential, after you finish your 3 core items, you will need to aggressively push to achieve victory.

This concludes the Predator guide, I hope it will help you.