[Hero] Zephyr

Zephyr

From the Offical Heroes of Newerth forum by Zakri


A game breaking and versatile farming machine.
This guide is currently updated for version 1.52.x
Introduction
A short introduction to our beast.

I'm guessing that you just came to the strategy section looking for a guide after watching with your mouth fully opened how a Zephyr farmed , ganked , pushed and defended just as he was an one-man-army . Perhaps you played him once and you like him but you need advice on what items to get ? what skills to level ? how to play him like the "pros" ? . Well , you're in the right place ! as we will spend the next few minutes learning how to play your Zephyr

There's a good amount of players that say that Zephyr is a "Boring" hero , some even say he is "The most boring hero in HoN" but oh god ... you wouldn't imagine how wrong they are. Playing zephyr is extremely intense because of the following facts: 1. He has 4 active abilities 2. You need to able to farm but help your team at the same time 3. You are a designated tank and everybody knows that a real tank player needs to know how react to different situations 4. You can play many roles for your team 5. Your laning phase is highly intense because you have to last hit like a monster , avoid some damage , use your cyclones , leap every now and then Etc. 6.

Zephyr is unique and versatile. He is the only Agility hero that can fulfill any role for your team. He has a supportive ultimate, the perfect tools to farm and has the ability to tank almost better than any hero in HoN. You might be surprised but I'm not lying , all this is possible with this fun and complex hero. It is NOT simple or newbie friendly because it has 4 active abilities and requires proper last hitting.

Zephyr is awesome late game and how can be good late gamers boring ? and much other reasons!

Quote:

Originally Posted by [S2]Fielding Zephyr probably has the highest learning curve out of all the HoN heroes at the moment. It's not that he's hard to play - although he is harder than many heroes - he just requires a slightly different approach than most other heroes.

That said let's get started !

***********

Quote:

A riddler, a sage, and a lover of sweets, Zephyr sadly is known in these times simply as a warrior of the winds. Though he chose not to participate in the Beast Horde's war with the humans, he has joined battle against the Hellbourne, and the powerful winds and aerial attacks he calls down upon the daemons are a welcome addition to the new Legion.

Stats:
You start with these stats. You get +X.X stat points every level .



Notes:
As you can see , He is melee and agility is his primary stat so you gotta be careful when buying STR items to him as you won't be pumping his damage , This is something you have to keep in mind as most people think Zephyr is Strength. His stats are pretty balanced compared to other Agility heroes and this is one of the reasons that makes him versatile , His skills have great synergy and his movement speed is normal [300] . You really need to know WHEN TO FARM

and always carry a TP or buy Post Haste with this hero. Your Role:
Read carefully , your team needs you to do this. or not to !

Your role as zephyr varies each game , One game you might be needed as tank , other as carry and sometimes even as support. This is a list of things you need to do as the game progresses:

You HAVE TO:

• Farm.
• Tank.
• Last hit.
• Always have a TP.
• Watch your minimap.
• Avoid Ganks.
• Keep cyclones up.
• Target/Be close to the weakest enemy in teamfights.
• Skip towers [It's when you camp between towers to kill/tank creeps while your team destroys the mentioned building].
• Finish with good CS.

You SHOULD AVOID :

• Ganking.
• Farming when your team is fighting.
• Trying to carry when there's another good carry candidate in your team.
• Harassing [You might want to If needed/able but don't let it cripple your farming].
• Targeting tanks.
• Dying early.

You MIGHT need to:

• Buy wards of sight.
• Jungle.
• Solo mid.
• Buy a Bound Eye [Gem].
• Initiate.

Skills
You need to learn what your skills do. This is the basic part of mastering your Zephyr.

Leap [Q]:

Quote:

Zephyr leaps to target location, pushing away and damaging enemies he passes.

Type: Magic
Range: 550 / 700 / 850 / 1,000
Radius: 175
Cast Time: 0.1 Seconds
Mana Cost: 100 / 120 / 140 / 160
Cooldown: 20.0 / 19.0 / 18.0 / 17.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation:
Leaps to target location, dealing 75 / 125 / 175 / 250 Magic damage to enemies in radius of self and pushing them aside

This is one of those skills you would love to have under ANY circumstance . It deals damage , pushes unites aside , has a great range and let's you blink thru trees or cliffs making "Leap" a perfect farm/escape/chase tool . I'll explain later more detailed how to use your "Leap" so you can take all the advantages of this amazing skill. Don't use it early just to farm or you will run low on mana soon , It's bad for harassing early because it leaves you in a defenseless position , deals poor damage and the cyclones wont leap with you but fly at their normal movement speed towards you , try to lane with a nuker if you want to harass with this skill. You can also push a lane far away and when you feel your going to get ganked you can leap to non-pathable terrain like woods or cliffs and tp out to your desired location.
When fighting or hunting down low targets always try to push them back What I'm trying to say is - Don't forget it has the pushing effect. -

Cyclones [W]:

Quote:

Zephyr spawns a small cyclone on every kill he makes. Spawned cyclones automatically patrol around Zephyr and damage enemies they touch. Zephyr can then call all active cyclones to himself, restoring some Health and Mana.

Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 25.0 / 22.5 / 20.0 / 17.5 Seconds
Required: Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation:
Recalls all active cyclones to Zephyr, restoring 50 Health and 25 Mana per cyclone.
Can have a maximum of 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 cyclones active at any one time.
On Kill:
Spawns a cyclone which lasts 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 seconds and deals 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 Magic damage per second to enemies it touches.

The bread and butter of Zephyr , This skill is what makes your enemies stay away from you , they will let you farm if they are melee and you will be able to farm without major problems if they are range. It helps you last hit and helps you survive the early game phase . Coupled with some consumables you won't go to your base for a long time , If you are a good last hitter and with the help of Logger's hatchet you will rarely face hard laning times . You're hard to kill early thanks to your leap and heal but remember it's not always as easy as it sounds you really need to be good with your last hitting ! , I'll explain how to use it later on.

Wind Shield[E]:

Type: Magic
Cast Time: 0.5 Seconds
Mana Cost: 75 / 95 / 115 / 125
Cooldown: 45.0 / 40.0 / 35.0 / 30.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation:
Applies Wind Shield to self for 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 seconds.
This item contains Evasion properties. Evasion properties do not stack. Instead, you will automatically use the Evasion from the item or ability that grants you the highest chance to evade.
Wind Shield Effects
8 / 12 / 16 / 20% Melee Evasion
8 / 12 / 16 / 20% chance to redirect projectile based attacks back at the attacker.

This skill makes you fragile and weak. NOT !. This is the extra bacon on that baconator ! . This skill will make your enemies very - very - mad . If It's level 4 you will only have to wait 5 seconds to recast it. Activate this with a barrier idol and helm of the clack legion and see how much smacking you can take . 20% evasion & range redirection is good enough for a skill you can almost always have up , you will make that chronos miss 1/5 of his attacks. This skill is leveled in mid game for obvious reasons. Don't use it after leap , use it right before so you can save time . Tank as much damage as you can while pushing If you have this skill up.

The evasion and redirecting chances were nerfed recently[30% -> 20%], mana cost was lowered significantly .This wasn't a good change =(.

Wind control[R]:

Type: SuperiorMagic
Range: 600 / 800 / 1,000
Radius: 550
Cast Time: 1.0 Seconds
Mana Cost: 100 / 150 / 200
Cooldown: 120.0 Seconds
Required Level: 6 / 11 / 16
Activation:
Applies Uplifting Winds to allies or Harsh Winds to enemies who remain in radius at target location.
Uplifting Winds Effects
20 / 30 / 40 Attack Speed
30 / 40 / 50% Movement Speed
Harsh Winds Effects
20 / 30 / 40% Movement Slow
-20 / -30 / -40 Attack Speed

Say hello to one of the craziest support ultimates in the whole game . This skill is the last thing we needed in our arsenal , It will greatly help our allies in battle . The fact that this skill is superior magic makes it better. It is not the greatest ultimate in game because of the sad 2 minutes cooldown but it does help your team a lot so don't hang on waiting for a perfect opportunity to grab all 10 heroes. Use it every fight ! If you can hit 3 or more targets blow it, If it's needed to finish a hero or two USE IT . Use it to get your cyclones close to that fleeing target , use it in fog and be creative !

Skill Build:
You might want to follow these viable skill builds.

I'm not the kind of guy that will give you 1 skill build only because HoN is a very situational game . You won't be facing the same enemies always so you need to adapt to different circumstances , here are 3 viable builds depending on the situation:



Justification and Explanation:
Why do you get this skills?

Let's First explain the builds:
Build -"A":
Use it If you think you wont be harassed hard and you think your last hit is good. you get cyclones first for a little farming plus an early small heal If damaged , We will always get this 2 skills because wind shield wont help us with our farming or escaping/chasing also If you get wind shield your enemy will use his secret counter skill -Stop Attacking you- and focus on your lane partner. This build is the one I use because i consider I have a good timing and can get many cyclones early.

Build -"B":
This is "A" with a small variation , this time you get "Leap" as your starting skill, this is If you see that your lane has a strong combo like Electrician and Swiftblade and they can first blood you fast . Again , we don't get wind control in level 6 because this builds main focus is Farming.

Build -"C":
This build is a little bit more aggressive , you get Leap levels 2 and 3 and keep cyclones in level 2 , You can take Wind control level 6 if needed , Use this build if you are laning agaisnt weak heroes and you have an aggressive partner like a good arachna vs a Dark lady for example , this is to harass your enemy as much as you can . I personally don't like Windcontrol level 6 as It takes 100 mana from your fairly weak mana pool but in very extreme situations you could use it.

After exploring Zephyr's viable builds I have come to the conclusion that they don't change your laning too much , For your interest my core build is "A" and I've seen "B" as a very popular build too , Use your brain and level your skills wisely depending on what you need in your situation.

Alternatively you can put an early wind shield point If you find yourself under heavy "attacking-harass". Only one level is needed because your Iron shield should mitigate a good amount of this damage , healing with cyclones every now and then will also counter their harass.

Items:
You should always get these "Core" items and get the fillers depending on the situation.
Early and core items:



Initial Build Cost:
Runes of Blight - 90
Health Potion - 100
Logger's Hatchet - 225
Minor Totem x 3 - 106 (53 x 3)
--- --- --- --- ---
Total - 574 gold
===========
We get a Logger's Hatchet for easier last hits which mean CYCLONES. It grants us 32% bonus damage which translates to around 15-25 extra damage versus creeps in the first minutes of the game. As we understand this is great for last hitting. We also get +3 to all stats which increases our HP with 57 and MP with 39. We also get a good amount of Heal. This build is god for Zephyr. Works great for melee heroes in solo mid.

***********

later on we will replace one Minor totem with :
Iron Shield 550 $:



A nice initiation item. Get it after starting gear if you have problems surviving due to physical harass in early game. Gives 6 agility and 100% chance to block 20 hero damage (10 for ranged), and 60% change to block 20 creep damage (10 for ranged).

It's a great item for 550 gold , You will get your cyclones easier because now you can tank more damage, The 20 damage block is about 15-30% less damage from attack-harassing. the +6 agility also pumps little armor and attack . Will help tons If you solo mid.

NOTE: You can buy this from the "Outpost" and that's what makes It Great !

Mid Game:
What you buy depends on your late game build but there are some items that are worth the money to help you , they are self explanatory so I'll just put the image:



Late game:

There's a giant window of item possibilities for Zephyr depending on what your team needs , i will summarize your viable mid-game builds here.

Zephyr Builds:
The tank:

Information about this build:
Self Explanatory , Barrier Idol and helm of the black legion for Mitigation , frostfield plate for support and armor , Bracelets for the STR pump , STR Treads for the MS and STR Pump. After getting your Behemoth's heart you should aim for Frostfield Plate or a Shrunken head . After this , If you happen to get Kongor's token of life your enemies will lose the interest in playing . Another item that goes great with this build is "Barbed armor" , I personally like it a lot If I go tank and is the perfect solution If you want to tank fragile heroes with high DPS.

Use this build If your team needs a tank or initiator , you should be able to farm this easily.

The Farmer/Killer:

Information about this build:
This is for those hard carry players , Only go for this build if you are experienced and you can rush MoB FAST !
If you get killed early more than once don't use this build or you will get stuck farming ALL GAME long.
Mock of brilliance and Post Haste are your core items here , Nullfire blade is the next important item as It's the one that will slow your target down while your radiance/hits pwn your target , It stacks with your ultimate . It burns mana and pumps your Agility which gives you more armor and Attack DMG /Speed . It's a perfect item for this purpose. BkB makes you immune so you can roflpwn freely , bracers gotten for the extra tanking needed early as we didn't get a Helm of the black legion. You might want to get a Helm of the black legion instead of one bracelet and you can substitute the BkB with a Behemoth heart If you feel it suits you better.

You can play with this build by throwing in Enchanted marchersinstead of Post Haste for the attack speed and Unit-walk But you will need to carry Orbs of TP too keep your farming at top ~.

The All-around:

Information about this build:
You can support , you can tank you can deal damage , Overall A nice zephyr build , Again you should rush MoB As soon as possible but If you can't get you sword of the High before minute 25 ~ Don't bother get the other core items or throw in more HP or Magic resistant items then leave that Mock of brilliance for later.
All these MoB Builds are more effective If you get it before min 25 so that should be your mark.

Astrolabe helps your team mates when fighting or pushing and It's a big plus to your survivability , The scaling of this item Is horrible so you might want to replace it later. It's certainly good for early game pushing.

You might find yourself in the situation where you already have all these items , It's not as rare as you might think because zephyr CAN farm a lot . Just replace the bracers / lower tier items with the item of your choice.

Mock Of brilliance is an excellent item on zephyr as it stacks with your cyclones so you will BBQ those creeps in seconds. Mix the builds and find your favorite flavor .

Try to avoid this items:

• Geometer's bane [Not worth it]
• Sacrificial Stone [There are better items, you don't need mana regen and you need damage mitigation]
• Assasin's Shroud [Not worth it]
• Frost skull / Skadi [In theory it's good but it's too pricey so it's not worth it]
• Hellflower [Only If your team really needs the silence otherwise It's not worth it]
• Elder parasite [Not worth it]
• Savage mace [Not worth it]
• Brutalizer [Might be worth it with a DPS build with lot's of AS but It's a bad idea]
• Shieldbraker [Simply a bad filler]

Other items to get:

These items are not bad choices but they aren't as good as the build ones. You can use these as fillers and depending on the situation.

• Wing bow [Good item but very situational . Melee evasion wont stack. refer to the note below]
• Wapcleft [Decent item but won't make much changes unless there's major stunners in your team]
• Abyssal skull [You shouldn't need to leech life /the +attack , mana and health regen might come handy]
• Charged hammer/Thunderclaw [Might be good with your ult but I think there's better choices]
• Hack and slash [Average item for Zephyr in comparison to build items // he's not a right click-carry , Slow won'y proc much]
• Symbol of rage [This goes to the maybe pile , Gives life leech extra damage and STR , you will benefit from all but If you really want to carry there's better items]

NOTE: The evasion given by Wingbow works with wing shield for ranged attacks . This is because enemies projectiles will be reflected and not evaded . This item is a good counter If you happen to face farmed ranged carries but It's very situational , so I won't consider it core.

Use it against a farmed: Moon queen , Arachna , Puppet Master , Soul stealer , Maliken or Valkyrie.

***********

Before arguing builds with me:

Quote:

Please remember that Item builds are subject to change under different circumstances , Use your brain to make your build by thinking about what you NEED to help your team win. I just gave you some ideas with items that have great synergy very well with your skills and the will certainly be a good choice but you don't have to always stick to this builds , I encourage you to try and test yourself different builds so you can see by yourself what playstyle fits you the most =) .

***********

Laning and farming:
beyond the basics , advanced notes.

So your about to play your first game and you need help with your laning , First thing to figure out is who you want to lane with . The order goes like this: 1- Supporter , 2- Ganker , 3- Nuker , 4- Farmer.

Simply because a supporter will help you stay in your lane and farm and a ganker will roam so you can solo a bit and at this point we know you are able to do it. A nuker will keep your enemies back and a farmer or another tank will just make the lane harder for you - No need to go deep into this, It's simple-.

The second thing to know is how to position yourself . You should be behind and walk in to "Last hit" the dying creep , your hatchet will help you a lot and your Iron shield will mitigate damage if you get attacked , your cyclones might get an extra kill or help you last hit your target. If they are both melees try to stay behind THEIR creeps last hitting and use leap If you are in danger.

If the lane is very hard , limit yourself to creep denying , you will occasionally damage your enemies with your cyclones or you might get one or two creep kills while denying , eventually your enemies will stop bugging you If you get 6+ Cyclones out. If they have stunner's and **** that won't let you farm , I repeat - DENY THEM - , Chances are they will try very hard to kill you and will farm very little and you will outlevel them.

If your farming alone or under little pressure here's how you should Farm:


As you can see from that picture your standing in the middle of the creep wave , this way your cyclones are hitting both melee and range creeps.



Your cyclones move randomly , Apparently they move In Z or N patterns , It almost looks like they try not to collide with each other , I caught different cyclone patterns in blue green and red.

***********

You are an awesome jungler once you get 3 or more cyclones out .



Oh YEAH ! , we can see a Snortter's creep camp [Picture #1]. This creep camp will provide 5 Cyclones . If your enemies are about to push and you have no cyclones this is the camp you want to kill.
If you have a lot of cyclones and low health , you can attack the camp and back immediately so your cyclones kill them while your running , this is known as "Kiting" And it's very useful In situations where you can't tank all the damage [#2].


Leaping[Tips]:
A guide to advanced leaping.

The art of leaping is Mastered in few games , it's a very powerful tool and you need to take advantage of it . Look closely how I leap in these games:



This is Leaps range when It's lvl 4 , you can see how I leaped from the top of the cliff to the lowest level on the map in just one skill , this will make it impossible for most heroes to catch me now =D .



In this occasion [#1] I leaped from legions side to Hellbourne's passing the river , I left my enemies confused and they can't do anything now but to go
back .

In the next frame [#2] I show how you can quickly pass from one neutral camp to the other by leaping , this is extremely efficient as you damage the creeps and save a lot of time.

Killing/chasing:
What to do in a fight.



First ,remember that:
Cyclones don't leap with you , If you leap they will come back to you at their normal movement speed so you won't be damaging for a lot. If you heal yourself with the cyclones you will have to wait for them to hit you or you won't get the healing so If your being chases to death I suggest you heal yourself and then leap out .



Your ultimate can be used from 1000 Range ~ , Abuse this when chasing , your first priority is to be close to your target so your cyclones hit him / them. You will gain an imba advantage because you will slow them and speed yourself up , use the remaining radius in the direction your target is running [So they stay in your ult for longer]. Remember you can use your ultimate in Fog ! [#2] , It won't reveal them but it will slow them and speed you up once you get inside it , use it wisely.



In this scenario I intercepted my enemy [Voodoo jester].
The arrows indicate that I used leap to push him a little back so It's closer to my allies [Warbeast and Hellbringer] .This ensures the kill because I pushed Voodoo closer to them and they will help me finishing him because I'm out of cyclones.

When you want to kill an enemy you should always try to come from behind and start hitting him [Standing in melee range so your cyclones burn him slowly] . Leap's cooldown isn't low so It might not be a good idea to "Leap-In". Instead , try to get close to your tatrget , use your Ultimate at the very beginning and leap for the killing blow. There are a bunch of different scenarios tho, sometimes Leaping first can be effective. If your enemy is far from his tower or allies you can leap-in to get to him and then try to get the killing blow when the cooldown runs out.

An alternative [requires more advanced skill] Is to leap right behind your target and block him [Tapping the Hold command If needed " H " ]. This will block his way and slow him down while your cyclones slowly damage him . You might want to use your ulti to make it easier for you . Path blocking requires skill but It's extremely effective If your enemy doesn't has many escaping routes , It will become easier every game and you will finally get to do it. If you do it right I guarantee you will get some gj's from your team mates and maybe the opposite team .

The End . -

Last Words:
Thank you for reading my guide , I really hope it helped you . I could use some constructive criticism every now and then. I have to Give credit to SyyRaaaN because I got information from his "The Big Item" guide and I'd like to thank "dune_" because I copied some of his Pharoah guide structure.
This is a new account , I've been playing HoN for a long time and I have the experience to back up everything stated in this guide. This is all my property and it unofficial. It's just my opinion of how this hero has to be played , Grammar and spelling errors will be fixed , If you find errors please PM on the forums (I tried hard to avoid them , my native language is spanish).


Contact:
Email: GabrielDGM@hotmail.com

Thanks to everyone !