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[Yoshichan]

BTW Yoshi, you probably don't remember but we played a bunch of high level D3:UEE on PS4...i wouldn't mind joining you on PC for that level 70 I never properly leveled a Monk. Only for the trophy and stopped once I hit 70.

You sure? I don't even own D3 for the PS4 :lol

 

[brian!]

Oh shit free admission tourney in laz vegaz, i was gonna plan a trip to zion natl park that month too, mebbe it will be a very hots vacation after all

 

[jaundicejuice]

Abathur should never be in the free rotation.

I shouldn't be beating an Abathur in exp gain as Kael'thas. Most are so scared of dying they won't move anywhere beyond our early fortifications. When those go down the just retreat to the next tier and then sit in fountain for the remainder of the match after those go down. I haven't played an Aba aggressively soaking in an unoccupied lane, making sure their locusts are up for longer and pushing deeper into enemy forts. Nothing but fountain Abathur's.

 

[subwilde]

You sure? I don't even own D3 for the PS4 :lol

:O well then... I thought for sure there was only one Yoshi I recognized from gaf.

Now to find out what imposter is on my friends list...

 

[brian!]

Abathur should never be in the free rotation.

I shouldn't be beating an Abathur in exp gain as Kael'thas. Most are so scared of dying they won't move anywhere beyond our early fortifications. When those go down the just retreat to the next tier and then sit in fountain for the remainder of the match when those go down. I haven't played an Aba aggressively soaking in an unoccupied lane, making sure their locusts are up for longer and pushing deeper into enemy forts.

I definitely thought the locusts could soak before i played him

 

[Rhaknar]

I definitely thought the locusts could soak before i played him

wait, what? locusts can soak, how else does he get xp

 

[jaundicejuice]

I am only installing the PTR to see the changes made to Kael.

 

[Celegus]

This Abathur thing is quite tricky. Sticking to Vs AI for the time being so that I don't incite too much rage. I don't think I'm terrible, but there's clearly a huge gap between a noobie and someone that actually knows what they're doing, probably moreso than any other hero.

 

[dmosher]

Some Slapathur™ antics from the PTR today:

 

[subwilde]

Abathur should never be in the free rotation.

I shouldn't be beating an Abathur in exp gain as Kael'thas. Most are so scared of dying they won't move anywhere beyond our early fortifications. When those go down the just retreat to the next tier and then sit in fountain for the remainder of the match after those go down. I haven't played an Aba aggressively soaking in an unoccupied lane, making sure their locusts are up for longer and pushing deeper into enemy forts. Nothing but fountain Abathur's.

Seems you have to be extremely careful pushing up with him in a Lane. Any tips to avoid dying? Some maps have decent bushes to hide in but anything else?

 

[jaundicejuice]

Seems you have to be extremely careful pushing up with him in a Lane. Any tips to avoid dying? Some maps have decent bushes to hide in but anything else?

Soka and Fine Hams are the ones to ask in this thread. Soka has a number of videos on his Abathur play.

wait, what? locusts can soak, how else does he get xp

His body, his symbiote and killing blows made with mines or locusts if his body isn't near.

 

[davepoobond]

wait, what? locusts can soak, how else does he get xp

are you sure? i think abathurs just push ahead so they can soak.

if they can soak with the locusts from behind the lanes they'd be moving up and down all of the lanes.



edit: looks like it was answered above

 

[Yoshichan]

:O well then... I thought for sure there was only one Yoshi I recognized from gaf.

Now to find out what imposter is on my friends list...

Haha are you sure it wasn't PS3 Diablo 3? I played that!

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

wait, what? locusts can soak, how else does he get xp

The locusts only get exp if they last hit something. Which is like, 15% of the time maybe? You get exp if your mines kill something too, that's another way to split push. And of course you get exp like any other hero in the middle of everything else with your Symbiote. Otherwise, you basically need to be sitting in a bush within a screen's distance (more or less) of the minion fight and in a spot where you can see the minions fighting on the screen (line of sight) to be passively soaking.

 

[subwilde]

Soka and Fine Hams are the ones to ask in this thread. Soka has a number of videos on his Abathur play.



His body, his symbiote and killing blows made with mines or locusts if his body isn't near.

I didn't get a chance to watch his videos last night. Already have them queued so I won't forget!

 

[Rhaknar]

are you sure? i think abathurs just push ahead so they can soak.

if they can soak with the locusts from behind the lanes they'd be moving up and down all of the lanes.

edit: looks like it was answered above

yeah but the locust spawn is so slow that would be viable, 1 locust would just insta die if you were trying to get all lanes. I always assumed the locusts soaked when they killed minions and shit

 

[Proven]

I don't personally play Kael, but I've heard good things. Flamethrower build still exists, and still does decent damage, but is more for zoning than being a high damage terror. The two Flamestrikes together still do like 1.5k damage, so if you're fighting in tight areas it still does work.

Backdraft works with his new Chain Bomb build, and that's the new high damage terror.

https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofth..._kaels_demise_has_been_greatly_exaggerated_a/

New map doesn't seem to disable mercenaries at any point in the game. Considering how dangerous the objective is when you lose it, split pushing might a strong answer.

 

[Yoshichan]

they should act like locusts did pre-nerf in Heart of the Swarm

kappa oh crappa

New map doesn't seem to disable mercenaries at any point in the game. Considering how dangerous the objective is when you lose it, split pushing might a strong answer.

This shouldn't have even been a change imo. Terrible decision that essentially streamlined the game even further.

 

[dmosher]

And another one, locusts + mine + bait after a big team fight for the Infernal Shrine:

 

[davepoobond]

yeah but the locust spawn is so slow that would be viable, 1 locust would just insta die if you were trying to get all lanes. I always assumed the locusts soaked when they killed minions and shit

not that slow if you got the 3-locust spawn and also the nest.


but when i say soak i was meaning passive xp generation from all minions killing stuff (like you would by being in the area and getting xp), not just killing blows which makes more sense

 

[RumblingRosco]

Seems you have to be extremely careful pushing up with him in a Lane. Any tips to avoid dying? Some maps have decent bushes to hide in but anything else?

The best tip to not die as Abathur is to just be hyper-aware of the opposing team. If at any time an aggressive hero on their team isn't visible, be ready to run your ass. If, for example, a Lili is missing, don't worry, Lili can't do shit to kill you before you run away. Otherwise, I always hide out of line-of-sight from the lane (usually in fog, but not always). Also, don't hesitate to burrow to a new lane from time-to-time. Your locusts are like breadcrumbs... but I'll often let a locust spawn and then instantly burrow to a new lane to throw the other team off. Keep doing this enough and they'll have a very hard time finding you. At the least, if they do find you and kill you, you want to make sure you've wasted a lot of their time trying to track you down.

yeah but the locust spawn is so slow that would be viable, 1 locust would just insta die if you were trying to get all lanes. I always assumed the locusts soaked when they killed minions and shit

Locusts definitely don't soak XP unless that was changed in the current PTR//upcoming patch.

Unrelated, but I uploaded a match on the Infernal Shrines battleground today. The summoned dudes are bonkers - they just royally smash everything that comes close. I'm not sure if they'll be nerfed or not, but in my replay there are a few times I'm a bit speechless / "uh... whoa." when I see the shit they start casting/doing.

 

[Rhaknar]

i just always assumed they did, and the reason you had to move up was because they only reached so far. the more you know

 

[brian!]

oo so you cant purchase heroes for gold at all in ptr

 

[Milly79]

Oh shit free admission tourney in laz vegaz, i was gonna plan a trip to zion natl park that month too, mebbe it will be a very hots vacation after all

lol

 

[Rhaknar]

Monk seems much more exciting than I expected

 

[subwilde]

Haha are you sure it wasn't PS3 Diablo 3? I played that!

Oh possibly! Didn't play much tho.

Either way mind if I join at some point?

 

[Yoshichan]

Oh possibly! Didn't play much tho.

Either way mind if I join at some point?

Oh hell yes, we'll figure out a time that me and Smooth Operator starts at. If you're online during that time, we'll start the invite(s)!

 

[brian!]

kael still seems pretty strong
nether wind is insane on him

 

[kirblar]

kael still seems pretty strong
nether wind is insane on him

The Flamestrike being upped from 50% at Gamescom to 100% on Live seems like a big deal, lets Jaina/Kael coordinate for mass damage still if you want to run the long range game.

 

[brian!]

another league pro playing hots if yall are interested
queuing w/ ex hots/league pro jintae and high level league player hafu
http://www.twitch.tv/meteos

 

[Ketch]

kael still seems pretty strong
nether wind is insane on him

Yea the stun is real.

Gp nerf is so depressing though

 

[IcyEyes]

nvm

 

[Maledict]

The Flamestrike being upped from 50% at Gamescom to 100% on Live seems like a big deal, lets Jaina/Kael coordinate for mass damage still if you want to run the long range game.

You need more than Jaina to get the effect of the second flamestrike. The patch note is slightly misleading - there's a full second gap between the first flamestrike and the second flamestrike *starting* it's animation, which then goes off approx 0.75 seconds later. So from start to finish you need someone to be stood in the area of effect for over 3 seconds. That doesn't really happen outside of chain cc or Entomb (even a normal stun like Muradins isn't enough to get the second flamestrike to hit).

 

[brian!]

i used chain bomb/slow and just played him like nazeebo
i didnt know chain bomb procced onto buildings and minions

 

[kirblar]

You need more than Jaina to get the effect of the second flamestrike. The patch note is slightly misleading - there's a full second gap between the first flamestrike and the second flamestrike *starting* it's animation, which then goes off approx 0.75 seconds later. So from start to finish you need someone to be stood in the area of effect for over 3 seconds. That doesn't really happen outside of chain cc or Entomb (even a normal stun like Muradins isn't enough to get the second flamestrike to hit).

No wonder it feels so slow.

 

[Ketch]

i used chain bomb/slow and just played him like nazeebo
i didnt know chain bomb procced onto buildings and minions

Yea he's definetly a lot more nazeebo then he's ever been. He's lost a lot of burst for more utility from stun range and sylvanas lvl of wave clear.

I want convection to make more sense because the promise of comboing his abilities is the most appealing part of the hero.

Maybe a lvl 16 tslent that reduce the delay before flamestrike pops off. Or just move stun duration to 16 instead of 13.

But the long range 3 man stun is pretty powerful already

 

[Dice]

Most satisfying thing as Abathur is putting mines on the entrance to the bone mines. Putting them inside the mine can hurt people going in and that's kinda okay I guess, but the real annoying thing is always when they manage to escape with a sliver of life. Putting the mines on the outside while they are down there takes care of this problem in a most satisfying manner.

 

[Savitar]

Got Leorc to level 10.

Time to work on someone else.

 

[jaundicejuice]

I actually like Fury of the Sunwell, it's great for when you lock down a single target with Lapsed Gravity, you can get off a nice double nuke. Fury of the Sunwell makes Flamestrike more useful for nuking waves with Mercs and damaging structures in general. Fury of the Sunwell might create a positive feedback loop between Lapsed Gravity and Flamestrike where Energy Roil or Convection and Gravity Throw are more appealing talents to choose in conjunction with Nether Wind and Fury of the Sunwell but that's doubtful. People will probably just look at the old Flamestrike cannon build, find it's not as useful and gravitate back towards Chain Bomb or just drop the hero outright. I think the change to Gathering Power's baseline damage bonus and how it scales is bigger than having Ignite replaced by Fury of the Sunwell. The changes to GP make it an even greedier pick than it already was. GP is still the same power spike it was but it's so much more risky to take. You could just be wasting your level 4 talent pick with GP some games. That already happens, but now it will be worse.

I like the increased cast range on Pyroblast, you can be a little safer with where you start to channel and it can be harder to get out of the cast range but Al'ar will probably still be the gimme pick most make.

The new map is completely ridiculous, it will be hilarious if what's on the PTR is what gets released to the public. Those Punishers are completely absurd. I gotta admit though, i like that better than BoE's glass cannon Immortals. Kael can farm the shrines so easily with Flamestrike alone. I need to try it out with Al'ar to see how much easier it is. Sylv will probably break that map as much as she does Haunted Mines.

 

[Maledict]

Dunno what I'm doing wrong but even gravity lapse isn't enough to get someone to be hit by the second flamestrike unless they were stationary at the start or another cc hit thm,. The time delay is so long it feels like it's best use might be when people forget there's a second one coming and wander into that space...

I think the bigger issue with the flamestrike build is that with Ignite, you were building up to 26 and a huge power spike. Fury of the Sunwell is no where near that big a damage boost, so it feels like you're gimping yourself by not grabbing chain bomb or pyromaniac at 13.

 

[kirblar]

Dunno what I'm doing wrong but even gravity lapse isn't enough to get someone to be hit by the second flamestrike unless they were stationary at the start or another cc hit thm,. The time delay is so long it feels like it's best use might be when people forget there's a second one coming and wander into that space...

I think the bigger issue with the flamestrike build is that with Ignite, you were building up to 26 and a huge power spike. Fury of the Sunwell is no where near that big a damage boost, so it feels like you're gimping yourself by not grabbing chain bomb or pyromaniac at 13.

Kinda feels like it's now a build you use if you end up in a comp situation where going into range for Bomberman KT is way too dangerous given how the draft turned out, instead of being the go-to.

 

[sobaka770]

Best thing about the new patch:

New UI for health bars. It's so much better now that the spell impact is clearly visible. I mean it's such a little thing, but what a difference.

 

[jaundicejuice]

Since you're throwing out an empowered Flamestrike, lead with that and then throw out Lapsed Gravity.

 

[Yoshichan]

Best thing about the new patch:

New UI for health bars. It's so much better now that the spell impact is clearly visible. I mean it's such a little thing, but what a difference.

link?

 

[sobaka770]

link?

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog...torm-ptr-patch-notes-august-10-2015-8-10-2015

PTR Patch notes under User Interface.

 

[Milly79]

Kael definitely feels better to me now. Sucks you're still kind of waiting for that power spike at 13, but a tonnnnnn better early game.

 

[Alur]

Kael definitely feels better to me now. Sucks you're still kind of waiting for that power spike at 13, but a tonnnnnn better early game.

And after all them q's you q'd about his nerf...

Nazeepo plz.

 

[Milly79]

And after all them q's you q'd about his nerf...

Nazeepo plz.

 

[kirblar]

So, this one we may not have been expecting- those Raynor buffs may be real.

Also, I will need some help at some point with an image of ETC, Diablo and Stitches in the rain outside the LVCC before the Americas championship.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

the struggle is real

bunch of sucktards in HL