Introduction
Stripped of his beard (and therefore, most of his manliness) from his DotA Counterpart (Axe), Legionnaire has to make do with most of the changes in gameplay from DotA to HoN. His main role is to tank for the team while also dishing out tons of damage when enemies attack him. Legionnaire is a decent laner, but I'm going to focus on how to jungle Legionnaire in this guide. There are several differences that are now ported from DotA to HoN:
+ Creep respawn checkboxs are now smaller (you can pull creeps a little bit later and still make it in time to stack the camp)
+ Dark Troll Warlord creep camp replaced with weak Skeletons (can tackle them earlier on for great experience and gold)
+ Replacement of Troll Priests (no more difficulty pulling that creep camp)
+ Creeps don't sleep at night (easier to creep-stack and creep-pull)
- Removal of Satyr creep camp (no more purge, but less weak creeps to deal with)
- No more Berserker's Call/Taunt functionality on neutrals (cannot manipulate their AI anymore)
Why jungle Legionnaire?
- It gives you 2 solo lanes
- You get guaranteed gold income & don't have to focus on those tedious last-hits and denies
- If done properly, you'll level up just as fast as a solo lane
- You get gold very quickly
- Legionnaire is the only jungler on your team
- You know the basics of jungling
- You have 2 good solo heroes that can take care of themselves early game
Quote:
| Originally Posted by thisisBob Axe is a hero with a theme based on judo. When somebody attacks him he gets all pissed off and proceed to kick ass until he dies from the amount of blows he has taken. I plan to exploit that. |
Taunt: What's left of Axe's manliness is now transferred to this skill. Instead of doing a loud, manly roar like Berserker's Call, Legionnaire does some weak Taunt shout. Regardless, this skill is useful for chasing, ganking, initiating and tanking all at the same time! Just note that it has a VERY TINY AoE, so anyone with an IQ above 50 wouldn't let you run up to him and Taunt him. Therefore it's best to use this skill when coming from behind, chain it after an allied disable or use it after Portal Key. Goes through magic immunity.
Terrify: An even more unmanly skill than in DotA, Legionnaire now resorts to making scary faces & raging to give a DoT debuff to an enemy. Not acquired because your mana pool sucks and because the skill sucks in general. Not to mention you're in the jungle for early game.
In the wise words of thisisBob:
Quote:
| Originally Posted by thisisBob Battle Hunger is here to take up space and **** you up. Learning Battle Hunger detracts your manliness. Learning Battle Hunger will also make Axe start listening to Vanilla Ice and let his mom cut his hair. Whats this? A 25 second duration damage spell? Women wait, pussies wait, morons wait, but not Axe. This is Icefrog's trap to turn Axe from a complete melee psycho into a hiding wuss. Battle Hunger is a damage-over-time skill with a easy-to-achieve precondition. It tempt opponents into hitting creeps so that Axe can run in and chop him up. Unfortunately, even with the buffed mana cost and cooldown, Axe cannot use this effectively if he still wants space to do Berserker Call, Culling Blade and Blink Dagger. Furthermore, unlike other DoTs, Battle Hunger doesn't have a secondary side effect such as slow or silence. It lasts too long for it to become effective and team fights and unlike other nukes, I find it only to be useful for 1/4 of the game. Thus, this strategy guide does not require Axe to learn Battle Hunger. |
Know that it procs at the beginning of the enemy's attack animation, and not after the projectile hits you.
Decapitate: Instead of purging the weak from Axe's sight, Legionnaire gets to hack off someone's head when using this skill. Not a bad change I guess. Use decapitate to finish off low HP heroes, but if you know for sure that an enemy is going to die in one of your ganks, don't killsteal with this skill. The skill has a pretty low cooldown though, so don't hesitate to use it either. Great finisher because it goes through Accursed's annoying ultimate and through magic immunity.
Skill Build
1. Whirling Blade
2. Taunt
3. Whirling Blade
4. Taunt
5. Whirling Blade
6. Decapitate
7. Taunt/Whirling Blade
8. Taunt
9. Whirling Blade/Taunt
10. Stats
11. Decapitate
12. Stats/Terrify
13. Stats
14. Stats
15. Stats
16. Decapitate
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Terrify/Stats
23. Terrify
24. Terrify
25. Terrify
Justification: Whirling Blade is maxed over Taunt (up to level 5) because you'll be jungling more than ganking. If your allies ask for a gank and there's a high probability of getting a kill or two in the nearby lane, the few levels of Taunt before level 5 should be enough. If you don't anticipate ganking, max Whirling Blade before maxing Taunt. Take Decapitate whenever it's available. Stats are acquired over Terrify because your mana pool is very small (you'll need the mana for your skill combo). Get 1 point in Terrify if there's a hero on the enemy team that has a Portal Key to disable it for a while.
Item Build
Starting Items
(590) or 
(593)2x Iron Buckler + Runes of the Blight or Iron Buckler + Runes of the Blight + Monkey Courier + Minor Totem
Since you're going to jungle Legionnaire until you get your Portal Key (and perhaps a bit more after that), you'll require damage reduction right from the start. Putting 2 Iron Bucklers on Legionnaire is the most cost-efficient method for protection early in the game. 1 set of Runes of the Blight is taken for potential double creep-stacking (more info on that later) and provides you with a little bit of HP regeneration.
If your support teammates are too stingy/selfish to purchase a Courier for the team, purchase one yourself (follow the second option for starting items) - you will need that Courier.
Items During the Jungling Phase
Healing Potion ( 100)
Normally you'll consume ~2 healing potions until you acquire your Lifetube, so have the Courier fetch you those when you're low on HP (or before you get low on HP). Take as many as you need (2-3 is enough for most games). Make sure not to use this while you're poisoned by the Ebulas (Thanks to Anx).
Iron Buckler ( 250)
Just make sure you have 2 of these in your inventory at some point between levels 1-6.
Lifetube ( 875)
The item that will immensely help you stay in the jungle. If you're tackling some intensely stacked camps though (4 times or more), Healing Potions will be better, though you'll need this for your Helm of the Black Legion later.
Marchers ( 500)
Gives Legionnaire more mobility to move from camp to camp faster.
Wards of Sight ( 200)
If the enemies gank you in the jungle, invest in a set of Wards of Sight to avoid them (and to gain vision of bottom rune). Only do this if your support teammates are too stingy to buy some for you.
Core Items
Portal Key ( 2150)
Helm of the Black Legion ( 2225)
Power Supply ( 519)
After acquiring Lifetube, you'll have a lot of flexibility to get your core items. If you're farming relatively well and the enemies don't gank you, farm straight for Portal Key. If you don't feel like you're farming fast enough (or you want to move more swiftly from camp to camp), get Marchers before farming Portal Key. If you feel endangered/your teammates need immediate help, get Beast Heart to complete Helm of the Legion for more protection.
Whatever the case, you must be able to farm that Portal Key! It allows you to gank, disable, chase and escape much more easily. Afterward, upgrade those Marchers into Enhanced Marchers, as those give Legionnaire some needed armor as well as more mobility. Eventually you'll finish Helm of the Black Legion at one point or another to make room for other items.
Oh and get that Power Supply; it's the perfect item that takes care of all of Legionnaire's mana needs, and more.
Choice of Boots
Steam Boots ( 1490)
This pair of boots gives him more initial movespeed, +6 stats and +6 to one stat of your choice (you'll most likely be using the Intelligence version for early-mid game).
Enhanced Marchers ( 1500)
Get this if you feel the need for the Phase ability. The choice of boots could go either way now because of the removal of armor from Steam Boots.
Post Haste ( 2700)
Get Post Haste if it's late into the game and you feel the need for extra mobility.
Optional Items
Logger's Hatchet ( 225)
Get this if you want to replace 1 Iron Buckler to deal more damage to neutrals.
Shaman's Headdress ( 2050)
Get Shaman's Headdress if there are a lot of nukes flying around (especially AoE ones). Replace Helm of the Black Legion with this if you feel that physical attacks won't be a problem for a decent portion of the game.
Plate Mail ( 1400)
Get Plate Mail if you're against a lot of hard physical hitters to tank longer, and if you're comfortable with the amount of HP you have to withstand nukes.
Luxury Items
Behemoth's Heart ( 5500)
Acquire your luxury items depending on the situation: Behemoth's Heart is great for practically all situations, so you can't really go wrong with that.
Frostfield Plate ( 4700)
If the enemy has lots of physical DPS (or if you need an AoE snare), upgrade that Plate Mail from before into Frostfield Plate.
Mock of Brilliance ( 5150)
If you're confident in your tanking abilities at this point, aim for a Mock of Brilliance to have more presence in team battles.
Barrier Idol ( 3653)
Get this as an upgrade to Shaman's Headdress, especially if there are lots of enemy AoE nukes.
Snake Bracelet ( 1800)
Get Snake Bracelet after getting sufficient HP to increase your EHP dramatically.
Mathcraft:
Iron Buckler stacking mechanics, showing why you shouldn't get more than 2 Iron Bucklers:
1 Iron Buckler: 60% chance to block 20 damage ; 0.6 x 20 = 12 average damage block from each attack
2 Iron Bucklers: 1 - (1-0.6)(1-0.6) = 1 - (0.4)(0.4) = 1 - 0.16 = 0.84 = 84% chance to block 20 damage; 0.84 x 20 = 16.8 average damage block from each attack
3 Iron Bucklers: 1 - (1-0.6)(1-0.6)(1-0.6) = 1 - (0.4)(0.4)(0.4) = 1 - 0.064 = 0.936 = 93.6% chance to block 20 damage; 0.936 x 20 = 18.72 average damage block from each attack
Items to Avoid
Whispering Helm
Legionnaire does pitiful physical DPS, thus not making use of the lifesteal. Don't even think about upgrading this to Symbol of Rage; Legionnaire gains way more benefits from Behemoth's Heart than from Symbol of Rage.
Pure DPS items (Riftshards, Runed Axe, Savage Mace, Flayer, etc.)
Once again, Legionnaire isn't a carry hero; don't play him as one.
Geometer's Bane
Having 3 spinning heroes can be fun, but this item won't do you much good in the end because it doesn't synergize with you very well. Legionnaire doesn't rely on physical attacks to do damage and his images will die pretty fast anyway.
Barbed Armor
This may look good on Legionnaire, but your amazing armor boost from Taunt makes this reflect little damage, not to mention that the damage reflected is already reduced by magic armor.
Charged Hammer
This item gives you very little benefits. Have one of your agility carry allies buy it and use it on you if you want to have the static charge buff that badly.
Other Morph Attack items (Brutalizer, Shield Breaker, Hack & Slash, Frostwolf's Skull, Elder Parasite, etc.)
Legionnaire has no need for any attack modifiers. He doesn't deal his damage to enemies by physically attacking them - leave that to the carries.
Jungle Basics
Before you jungle, make sure you know the basic information about the jungle, such as:
- "Jungling" is an act of neutral creeping starting from Level 1
- Neutral creeps first spawn at 0:30 after the lane creeps spawn.
- Each neutral creep camp will respawn their creeps every minute, at x:00, provided there aren't any corpses, gadgets (including Wards of Sight and Wards of Revelation) or other units in the creep respawn checkbox area
- The neutral creep checkbox is the trigger that will determine whether the camp will respawn or not; if the information above is true, then it will respawn the creeps.
- Creep stack camps by pulling them away from the spawn location when the timer reaches ~x:52 (the most error-free time)
- Corpses take approximately 17 seconds to decay; this means all creeps should be dead at x:43, at the LATEST, if you want the camp to respawn.
- Minotaurs, Vulture Lords and Catman Champions will use their AoE spells when there are 3 or more units in a small AoE
- Creep pulling (not to be confused with creep stacking) is the act of pulling neutral creeps into the lane, in order to draw your allied creeps' aggro to lure them in, in case you have a troublesome creep camp to deal with/you're low on HP. Pull the creeps from the camp into the lane at x:15/x:45.
- In most cases, aim for the creep with the highest HP when you're jungling with Legionnaire. Wolf Commanders prioritize themselves as targets above all other creeps, as their Damage Aura is really dangerous to Legionnaire.
- In general, Legionnaire should tackle creep camps with 5+ creeps for more efficiency and to minimize time and HP lost.
After buying your starting items, go to this spot and stand here until the clock reaches 0:30 after the lane creeps spawn. If the camp spawns Skeletons, consider yourself lucky. You will revisit this camp later if that is the case.
Regardless of the type of creeps that spawned, go walk to the easy creep camp and wait until ~x:52 to pull the creeps, as indicated in the screenshot. Walk to the creeps to draw aggro (blue arrow), then move out up or to the right (red arrows). This is how you stack creep camps. Do not worry too much if you pull the creeps at x:51 or x:53-55, you can still make it in time for the creeps to respawn.
This is what a successful creep stack looks like. Dive into it and hit level 2.
If you got a Skeleton King creep camp before, go kill that camp and hit level 3. If not, check the other high level camp for Skeletons. If there aren't any, check to see whether either of the 2 medium camps have Wolf Commanders. If they do, kill the wolf camp (s). If they don't you can attempt to double creep stack.
First, you'll want to know which tree to get rid of to double creep stack. Get rid of either the tree with the yellow circle or the tree with the red circle. If you're good, you can pull the top camp, eat the tree, go down a bit and go left to pull both camps. If you're not as familiar with jungling, it's better to eat the tree first and then do the pull. If the bottom creeps get stuck behind the trees, you can eat the other circled tree to make double pulling easier.
Get close to the top camp (without drawing aggro) by x:51, then draw aggro at x:51/52, go down to the tree gap you created to aggro the other creep camp. Finally, pull them to the left. Congrats, you did a double creep stack!
From now on, you can do multiple things: tackle the easy camp again, deal with the stacked camps, deal with Skeleton camps (if any of them exist) or creep pull neutrals to the lane. If you want, you can also keep on stacking the 2 medium camps and then tackle them later on, depending on the circumstances.
Note: Once you have Portal Key, you can triple stack camps by doing the above & blinking over to the hard camp nearby to pull them. (Thanks to IzvergRzgvor)
Note#2: It is possible to double stack the lower creep camp without eating the tree. The initial spawn must not consist of Minotaur+Goatar & must consist of at least one other type of spawn, the reason being is that Minotaurs do not spawn close enough to the tree in order to draw aggro. Use the same timing as you would normally use for double stacking (you should move close to the trees at around ~x:54). Here is a screenshot illustrating this (Thanks to simparoo).
Laning: Early Game (Level 1-9)
(Skip this section and go straight to mid-game if you jungled)
If you decide to lane (due to bad circumstances for jungling), grab the same starting items (maybe replace 1 Iron Buckler with some Minor Totems) and farm your way to Lifetube & your core items. Go to the safe lane (bottom for Legion/top for Hellbourne) and a ranged allied hero if possible.
If your enemies are ranged heroes (especially those with painful nukes and disables), attempt to last-hit/deny as usual and don't harass as much. Make sure to stay alive and farm that Lifetube. If you're having a hard time with the enemy lane, either switch lanes or get your team's Courier to fetch you additional regeneration items (same thing as if you were jungling).
If your enemies are melee, be a bit more aggressive to establish lane control. When they approach the creep wave, right-click on the enemy hero to draw creep aggro. The enemies will either get a last-hit and suffer some damage from Whirling Blade or back off from the creep wave, thus losing gold. When they're far from the creep wave, make sure to issue another command (such as moving/attacking an allied or enemy creep) so you minimize pushing the lane too much. If they re-approach the creep wave, rinse and repeat.
If the opportunity for a kill arises, use Taunt if the enemy is close enough. If you can get both enemy heroes and/or some enemy creeps with your Taunt, that will trigger Whirling Blade even more. Tell your ally to follow-up your Taunt. Of course if the enemy is not in range for your Taunt, wait for your ally to disable them and then Taunt them. This concept applies to allied ganks as well, so be ready. Keep your eyes on the minimap as well for potential enemy ganks.
If your lane is pushed too far, you or your ally should do a creep pull if you're in the safe lane. It's best if your ally follows the pulled creeps back to their camp while you tank the enemy creep wave to get gold and experience. You shouldn't be ganking lanes until you have your Portal Key, so stay in your lane and farm that Portal Key up.
Honestly there's not that much more I can say about laning Legionnaire. Only your lane control skills, technical skills, game experience and common sense can help you here.
Mid-Game (Level 10-16)
After acquiring your Portal Key, you should be starting to help your allies gank enemies with your Blink-Taunt combo. If there aren't any immediate opportunities, return to the jungle and farm for your Helm of the Black Legion and Enhanced Marchers. When a gank opportunity presents itself, go help your allies out. Given that both teams have been doing relatively evenly in hero score and laning experience/gold, your team should have the upper hand due to having 2 solos.
Once you got your core items, ask your teammates to push some towers down. At this point, you'll have a very good amount of HP (~1600) with decent armor and great mobility. The enemies should fear your Blink-Taunt combo (if they don't, they'll most likely pay for it). Don't be afraid to initiate once you have your core items. Your allies should follow-up after you Taunted the enemies. If some enemy heroes are fleeing after a team battle and your team looks like it still has the upper hand, chase with your Blink-Taunt combo (assuming you still have sufficient mana). If not, retreat and help draw fire from your allies with Taunt.
Legionnaire is at his peak during mid-game with all his HP and physical damage reduction. Therefore, you'll want to end the game sooner rather than later, so ask your teammates to push.
Late-Game (Level 17+)
If it's late game, you should have at least one of the optional items or partially completed one of your luxury items. At this point, Legionnaire isn't as tanky or dangerous than he was at mid-game, due to enemy heroes getting more physical damage to cut through your HP & acquiring more EHP to withstand Whirling Blade. Your job is the same though, initiate & tank for your team, chase fleeing heroes.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by thisisBob Tank them all. |
Predator: His Carnivorous deals damage based on the current % of your HP. Since Legionnaire is a tank with a lot of HP, he'll tear you down pretty fast while keeping himself alive.
Magebane: His Mana Combustion is the only annoying thing about him, rendering you unable to use your spells due to your innate low mana pool.
Pestilence: Amplify Damage makes you fall faster. You'll need quite a bit of armor to compensate for the -15 armor late game. (Thanks to SyyRaaaN)
Great Allies:
Accursed: He'll make your tanking job more fun with Fire Shield & Cauterize.
Jereziah: Always a great ally to have, just don't tell him to cast Protective Charm on you in teamfights. Taunt+Inner Light deals some quick and painful burst damage to enemies.
Glacius: Gives you all the mana regeneration you'll need.
Demented Shaman: Healing Wave will help keep you alive & damage Taunted enemies. Storm Cloud lets your Whirling Blade deal more damage later on, as well as buffing up your own armor. (Thanks to Mr_Kzimir)
-Any agility hero with Charged Hammer: Just tell them to cast the Static Charge buff on you and it'll help take down enemies a bit faster later on.
-Other disablers/nukers: Well everyone loves disablers and nukers, especially AoE ones to follow-up after your Blink-Taunt combo!
FAQ
Quote:
| Q: I get Runed Axe on Legionnaire to farm for more stuff like Flayer and Savage Mace! I'M SO PRO Legionnaire isn't a hero that owns other heroes by hitting them over and over again. He owns by using Taunt to tank and by using his manly Whirling Blade. None of his skills help him gain more power by physically hitting enemies, anyway. Q: No Fortified Bracers/Homecoming Stones? In general you won't have much space for Fortified Bracers. It's general knowledge to carry a Homecoming Stone by mid-game whenever possible, so I didn't include it in the guide. Q: Why no mention of the creep-skipping Legionnaire? While it can be effective against a very weak solo/dual lane (mostly melee strength/agility heroes), a few nukes/disables and/or a ranged hero will make short work of Legionnaire. Q: Why don't you ever refer to Legionnaire as "Lego"? Because he's not made of Lego, obviously. Q: Who is this thisisBob you keep on referring to? Only one of the most epic guide writers ever. He wrote epic guides to bearded heroes in DotA AND he's the founder of the famous DotA MS Paint Rage Dump Thread. Q: What's your opinion about Restoration Stone/Totem of Kuldra/Stormspirit, etc.? Use your own professional judgment to figure out whether it's good for the game you're in or not; I'm not here to discuss your item choices when you're freefarming 120 minutes into an -em game. Q: Rumors have been going around saying that Legionnaire's Whirling Blade doesn't proc on blocked hits by Iron Buckler or Helm of the Black Legion. Is this true? Not true at all. Whirling Blade still procs normally on a blocked attack. Q: I USE TERRIFY AND OWN 9000 PEOPLE EVERY GAME! YOU SUCK NUB Legionnaire's mana pool can't support Terrify. If it can, you're doing it wrong. Terrify is easily countered anyway, and it takes too long to be effective. Q: Why can't I pass through the trees when I cut it down? Make sure you are not playing a remade version of the game. In remade games, the treeline is still detected by the game-client as being there. Play fresh games and you will not encounter this problem. |
- thisisBob's Guide to Axe: http://forums.dota-allstars.com/inde...howtopic=35695
- thisisBob's Guide to Jungle Axe: http://forums.dota-allstars.com/inde...owtopic=174550
- IronFisto's Guide to Creep Pulls & Jungling: http://forums.dota-allstars.com/inde...owtopic=161875
- HoN Wiki: http://honwiki.net
- Nome - for part of his guide format
- thisisBob - for his guides & quotes. He also inspired me to write my first (ever) hero guide!
- thebadger_j - for some general information/inspiration, as well as introducing his suicidal jungling method (which I did not include in this guide, by the way)
- Anx - for his helpful insights in the finer details of Hellbourne Jungling
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