Gladiator Hero Guide - Heroes of Newerth(HON) Item & Skill Builds-I

If you played DotA and remember Admiral Kunkka, you should have an idea how to play Gladiator in HoN. Gladiator is not an easy hero to play.You can easly miss Pitfall and Call to Arms so to own with it you must have skill a practice on your side. This Gladiator tutorial should give you the basics of how to play this hero.

 Gladiator role in team will be as initiator, ganker and semi-carry. So in great part the development of the game will be your responsibility so you need to be always in the right place at the right time. As your initiation skills (Pitfall and Call to Arms) depend on your on your good fore-sight and positioning skills it is very important that you don't screw it up.

As Gladiator has some particularly difficult Spells/Skills i will give close attention at describing them.

Pitfall

Type: Magic
Range: 1,500
Radius: 225
Cast Time: 1.0 Seconds
Mana Cost: 120
Cooldown: 12.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
After a 2 second delay, any target in the radius takes 120 / 180 / 240 / 300 Magic damage while thrown in the air and then has Spiked! applied to them for 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 seconds.
Spiked! Effects
30% Movement Slow

It is very similar to Deadwood's Rotten Grasp, this skill if of a great importance, dealing both a stun and slow combined with considerable damage. The negative part is that it is pretty difficult to land accurately, having a delay of 2 seconds, it's very easy for opponents to dodge if they see it coming.

While farming creeps it is important to remember that the damage is not dealt instantly,half is dealt on impact and the other half during "flight-duration"


Tips: When in lane cast your pitfall then press H to stop the actual cast. Gladiator will move his sword as if casting and the enemy team will run around trying to dodge it.
After you do this enough times in lane, you will be able to cast it giving the opponents 2nd toughs about if you are just bluffing again. ( good players will still try to dodge, but it will for sure make your life easier since they cant last hit and run at the same time. ) ;)


Showdown

Type: Magic
Range: 500 / 650 / 800 / 950
Cast Time: 1.0 Seconds
Mana Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110
Cooldown: 30.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
Summons a Colosseum at the target’s location and applies Challenged to Fight to them for 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 seconds.
Ability is replaced with “I Have No Patience” for the duration.
Challenged to Fight Effects
Will be ported back to the Colosseum after 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 seconds

On mid/late game (since you wont be picking this skill on early game) you can combine it with Pitfall priding a sure hit. When Showdown is casted you will be able to also cast I Have no Patience giving you the opportunity to instantly port back the unit affected by Showdown at the cost of 50 mana.

Flagellation

Cooldown: 16.0 / 12.0 / 8.0 / 4.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
On Attack
Grants 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 bonus damage.
When attacking enemy units, applies 100% True damage splash in a 380 / 420 / 460 / 500 AOE and triggers cooldown.
Attacking Towers or Buildings will not trigger the splash but will trigger the cooldown. Attacking allied units will trigger neither.

Here is (in my opinion) one of the best AOE/passive attacks of the game. If you have a well equipped Gladiator this attack can cause massive damage.

Lets see how exactly this works.

When you whip a target, an invisible gadget is placed 380 / 420 / 460 / 500 in front of you. That gadget will deal the damage in a circle with a radius of 380 / 420 / 460 / 500 units. This means that in a straight line the whip will have 760 / 840 / 920 / 1,000 range. The damage done by the gadget is True damage, and cannot be blocked by Physical or Magic Immunity. The main target is not hit by this gadget; the damage that the main target takes is physical damage, just like a regular auto attack.

The amount of damage inflicted by the gadget is equal to Gladiator's attack damage. When you whip a target, your attack damage is increased by 15 / 30 / 45 / 60. A Logger's Hatchet will not affect the damage, not even to the main target. Attack modifiers and bonus damage from Manaburn, Savage Mace (and Halberds) will still apply to the main target, but not to any other targets. Any attack modifiers are placed on the main target as per a regular auto attack. The damage that the main target takes (depedent on the target's armour) does not affect the amount of damage that the gadget inflicts. Bonus damage from Assassin's Shroud increases your attack damage, and will apply to all targets. Critical damage from Rfitshards multiplies your attack damage by its multiplicand, and will apply to all the targets.

The creep in front of Gladiator was hit with a level 1, 2, 3 and 4 Flagellation. The creeps with red health are hit by rank 1, orange rank 2 and below, yellow rank 3 and below, and green rank 4 and below. The Pitfall is there for a metric.

Call to arms

Type: Magic
Range: 1,000
Cast Time: 1.0 Seconds
Mana Cost: 150 / 200 / 250
Cooldown: 100.0 Seconds
Required Level: 6 / 11 / 16
Activation
Summons a Chariot 1000 units behind The Gladiator that travels up to 1000 units infront of where he casted it. Any allies near where it passes have Call to Arms applied to them for 5 / 6 / 7 seconds.
When it reaches the end, it deals 300 / 400 / 500 Magic damage and stuns all enemies in a 400 radius for 1 second.
Rallied! Effects
10% Movement Speed
Damage taken is halved.\nPrevented damage is taken all at once at the end of the buff and is nonlethal.

The Chariot moves at 750ms, and it will always travel 2000 units. This means that the delay until the Chariot reaches its destination is 2.66 seconds. The Chariot will always travel to exactly 1000 units in front of where you were when you casted it.

This means that if enemies are all up in your face, it's going to be difficult to target them with it. This is why good positioning is extremely important with Gladiator, if the enemy gets the jump on you your skills will be a lot less effective (the same could be said of all initiators).

Gladiator Skill build:

1. Pitfall / Flagellation
2. Flagellation / Pitfall
3. Pitfall / Flagellation
4. Flagellation / Pitfall
5. Flagellation
6. Call to Arms
7.  Flagellation
8. Showdown / Pitfall
9. Showdown / Pitfall
10. Pitfall / Showdown
11. Call to Arms
12. Pitfall / Showdown
13. Showdown
14. Showdown
15. Stats
16. Call to Arms

Will continue with recommended items build on part II.

Part II (Item Build)