Each time Hera deals damage to gods with her Abilities or Basic Attacks Argus, The Defender's cooldown is reduced by 1s, and Divine Shroud's cooldown is reduced by 0.33s. If Argus is active he is instead healed.
Argus Heal: 20 + 5 per level
Hera damages enemies in a cone in front of her before opening a portal for Argus to attack through. Enemy minions hit by this cone are knocked into Argus' path. Argus then slams his fists at the target location dealing heavy damage. If both of his fists connects with an enemy, it deals 15% extra damage.
Cone Damage: 30/40/50/60/70 (+15% of your Magical Power)
Fist Damage: 80/135/190/245/300 (+80% of your Magical Power)
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Simplified Explanation
This ability simultaneously does damage in a half-circle directly in front of Hera as well as a rectangle that you can position up to 45 units away.
The half-circle is in a fixed position as well as a fixed size so no matter where you aim the rectangle damage will always be done directly in front of Hera. If enemy minions are in front of Hera, they will be knocked into the rectangle, wherever you positioned it.
The animation that plays for the rectangle is 2 fists coming together in the center to do damage. If you clip an enemy with the left or right of the rectangle, they won't take as much damage as if they were in the center, because they were only hit by 1 fist and not 2.
The primary use for this ability is wave clear first and then damage. Its a little sus vs. certain comps because you have to be on top of the enemy melee minions to fling them back to the archers and clear, vs. someone able to use a straight line ability from the left or right side.
So if you were laning against Thoth or Raijin it would be very difficult to clear lane with this ability and avoid poke at the same times.
Hera weaves magic in front of her before sending it out. Enemies hit by this ability take damage. If this ability hits a god it causes their form to shift into a monster.
Damage: 80/120/160/200/240 (+80% of your Magical Power)
Polymorph Duration: 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2s
Slow: 20%
Cooldown: 14 seconds
Simplified Explanation
This is a really long straight line ability that damages everything it passes through + slows and polymorphs enemy gods.
Polymorph means they shift into a creature momentarily and they can't auto or use abilities. They can still walk around but they are slowed.
Polymorph can be beads at any point.
This ability is primarily used for CC and poke damage due to its long range, but you will also be using it for wave clear and dps.
Hera shrouds herself in her divine power, granting her a shield from damage and temporary movement speed that lasts as long as the shield remains.
If Argus is active, Argus shines with the same Divine power as Hera, causing him to deal radiant damage and move at an increased rate.
Shield Health: 70/110/150/190/230 +17 per Hera's Level
Shield Duration: 5s
Movement Speed: 15%
Argus Aura Damage: 7/11/15/19/23 (+7.5% of your Magical Power)
Argus Speed: 50%
Cooldown: 16 seconds
Hera brings Argus crashing down at a location, damaging and knocking up enemies. On landing, Argus will attack the nearest target. Hera can control where Argus moves by refiring this ability onto an enemy or if he has a target, to recall him. While recalled Argus will defend Hera and attack anyone that gets close. Argus has a hit chain that starts with a normal basic attack, into a ground circle AoE slowing enemies by 20% for 1s, into a line attack.
Damage: 100/150/200/250/300 (+55% of your Magical Power)
Argus First Hit: 30 (+35% of your Magical Power)
Argus Second Hit: 30 (+35% of your Magical Power)
Argus Third Hit: 45 (+45% of your Magical Power)
Argus Health: 700/1400/2100/2800/3500
Argus Movement Speed: 440/455/470/485/500
Argus Protections: 25/30/35/40/45
Argus Lifetime: 40s
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Simplified Explanation
Hera's ultimate differs from other ultimates in that it is a pet ability; after the initial damage from Argus crashing down occurs he hangs around for 40 seconds or until he or Hera are killed.
Once Argus is down, you can manually target enemies by pressing 4 and clicking an enemy (he will target gods, minions, towers, objectives, etc.) and you can also press 4 again to recall him from the enemy. If no enemy is targetted, Argus will attack any enemies that are near Hera, whether that is a minion or god.
Since Argus, the Defender is around for 40 seconds he is pretty relevant throughout any team fight unless he is killed early, which he is sometimes but remember that your damage as Hera heals Argus so you can recall him and heal him.
Also! Argus doesn't go on cooldown until he dies or despawns.
Also none of the builds are bad, and Pendant / Focus is meta, but i'd maybe suggest trying out a few builds with Pendulum, Blood-Soaked, Magus, and Estaff (not all in one build necessarily) on Hera, even if you don't end up adding them here.
Pendulum, Coin, Magus / Divine, Estaff / Reaver, Reaver / Estaff, Tahuti (Can also do Magus / Divine then Coin)
Pendulum, Coin, Magus, Soul Gem, Reaver, Tahuti / Typh (Can also do Magus then Coin)
Pendulum, Coin, Divine, Soul Gem, Reaver, Tahuti (Can also do Divine then Coin)
Pendulum, Doom Orb, Soul Gem, Coin, Reaver, Shard
Sac Shroud, Pendant, Magus / Soul Gem, Shard / Coin, Reaver, Typhon's
Sac Shroud, Pendant, Divine, Shard / Coin, Reaver, Typhon's
Blood-Soaked, Pendant, Magus / Soul Gem , Shard / Coin, Reaver, Typhon's / Estaff
Blood-Soaked, Pendant, Divine, Shard / Coin, Reaver, Tahuti / Estaff
etc...