Hero Discussion #1: Abaddon, The Lord of Avernus

That's a cool mechanic, didn't know that. Although a lot would just assume to not shield yourself because there's no point in casting aphotic shield on yourself when your ult is up.

Mist Coil versus Aphotic Shield, I'd say you almost always max MC first on a support build, AS first on a core build.

Reason: MC scales up nicely with levels and has almost zero game impact later on, so you may as well get it early on. Much lower mana costs, and the health sustain isn't usually a problem with Abaddon - I'm talking about a W-E-Q-Q-Q-R-Q build here.

That way, the heal actually works early-mid, you can deny yourself, you can nuke enemies, you can heal yourself under ult (probably twice), even if nobody attacks you.

Aphotic Shield - you get 30 damage + protection per cast, per level. Meh. Assuming the opposition are stupid enough to stand nearby or attack you. It's not a very big deal, and generating the mana for it is a real problem. Clarity means you have to be passive or lose it, Enchanted Mango is an expensive sustain. Soul Ring or Arcane Boots aren't achievable at this point as a support.

And you get -2cd per level. This is actually really helpful, but having the mana to keep casting it is difficult. The other main use of Aphotic Shield is farming speed - if you've got mana, it can help you wave/jungle clear a lot faster.

I max shield because I think the selfdamage on mistcoil is to high in the early game. 75/100/125/150. Abaddon has around 800 hp at level 7. If you have ms maxed you can do in theory 6 MS before you die. Of course no AS and health regen counted. That's all fine if you have your ultimate still available but when you are level 5 or your ult is down the self damage really hurst a lot. I do 2-2-1-ult on abaddon for that reason.

Neither of the spells have to be maxed first and I think you can just max them togheter. Which one you give priority is personal preference. I found out that 2 levels in Mist Coil is excellent for pulling off denies.

in party mm few weeks ago enemies picked Abba who camped mid for the first 6min or so. Gotta say it was pretty frustrating for our mid when when ember kept diving him with aphotic and flame guard.

That sounds annoying as hell.

@Frosto - isn't it better to "put all your eggs in one basket" so to speak? So you can get all the value of you level ups by casting one spell instead of two?

I just went trough some of my abadon games and conclusion: I always max shield I never do 2-2-1, always 1-3-1, hehe

But still I think that the shield gives way more potential than the heal because of the self damage. I don't want to be on terrible health the whole time and I really don't want to deny myself by accident. Shield maxing gives 200 aoe nuke damage and block. Also lower cd means more spam and less stuns. The heal at level 1 heals for 100 which is actually decent. One or 2 levels in Mist Coil allows you to heal and to deny yourself and combined with max shield you can pressure the enemy so hard. Especially tower diving becomes easier and also saving allies is better with shield. However Mist Coil has a faster cast animation and has a longer cast range so it can be used earlier. Probably both builds are good but I personally prefer shield because I don't like the amount of selfdamage it does.

I level up shield if the enemy team has cc. Coil if they have burst.

Hey guys if my first item in Lord of Avernus is battle fury is it good or bad?

If you want to play him as a carry and farm a lot, it can be good, but there are more items that can be much better on him for that gold.

NA players do a lot of offlane abaddon (that logon guy got 8k with it). I don't think it's very good though, against a decent trilane you won't get anything. I tryed it a few times before, moderate success, nothing insane. But there is iron talon now so maybe that helps.