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Bluestone Pendant
Axe
Health Potion
This version of the full build is an example and is not set in stone, use your best judgement to alter the item order/composition based on your given game, for example:
- Magical Solo Opponent? Go Genji's/Gargoyle 2nd.
- Need antiheal early? Go Ankh in 2nd or 3rd slot.
- Game is a stomp your way in the first 10 min? Make damage items and have some fun :)
Bluestone Brooch
Pendulum Blade
Breastplate of Valor
Stone of Binding
Genji's Guard
Stampede
Ruinous Ankh
Health Chalice
Items that you should try to fit in every game, they are crucial to your character's function:
- Pendulum for early lane dominance (see "Early Game");
- Breastplate to keep momentum and double-dip into flat CDR;
- Binding for more damage to plucked targets;
- Stampede to chase 'em down when they try to run.
Bluestone Brooch
Pendulum Blade
Breastplate of Valor
Stone of Binding
Stampede
Pick and choose these items based on a given game, look to replace items that are not Core.
Gargoyle - if they have channeled abilities that are valuable to interrupt; OR if they can leap/dash after getting 2-1'ed.
Nemean/Spectral - if they have a lot of crit. IMHO, both are kinda bad but Nemean is SLIGHTLY better since it does something when you get crit. Spectral does nothing if they have RNG on their side.
Void Shield - if they are 4/5 physical characters AND your team has physical hard hitters.
Phoenix Feather - if they have an execute AND not a lot of antiheal. Usually only relevant in high level lobbies, since in low-level games people see Herc and rush antiheal, even though the heal on the 3 is largely irrelevant.
Hussar's Wings - if they have a lot of slows that don't let you play the game. Combine with Stampede and do your best racecar impression for maximum fun :)
Purification Amulet - if you are getting hard peeled or CC chained. Press when casting your abilities to not get cooked.
Screeching Gargoyle
Hide of the Nemean Lion
Spectral Armor
Void Shield
Phoenix Feather
Hussar's Wings
Talisman Of Purification
Priority order is 1-2-4-3.
Y
B
A
X
I aim to provide a breakdown of Hercules' playstyle that carried me out of pre-diamond lobbies and is still performing well in the Diamond/Low Masters bracket. This may be a bit of an overkill for casuals, but who am I to stop you from stomping casual lobbies :)
The aim of your early game should be to get to your Pendulum Blade as fast as you can. Contrary to the popular belief, Herc in Solo is relatively vulnerable in the first few levels, since his clear is not great and his damage is easily avoidable (if they are not standing in the wave, you are not gonna hit them AND the wave). Focus on clearing, don't take unnecessary poke, split camps if you are clearing 2nd. You can look to make a cheeky "pluck 'em into tower cuz they are baaad' play, but it generally does not matter too much. Play with your jungler if they decide to gank for you, but do not jeopardize yourself if you are weaker (i.e. you are half health with no abilities and they are 80% with abilities).
Here is a rough outline of what you should look to do in the first minutes of a game (before 1st back):
1) Leave base with your starting build and walk to your T2, DO NOT level your ability yet. If your jungler wants to do blue with you - great, go there, otherwise group up with your first wave (at 0:11-0:12) and walk to your lane. This move stops a potential proxy from your opponent, since you can level your 1 and hit them if they try to do it. With your blink you have a high chance of killing them for the proxy attempt, which invalidates the advantage they would otherwise get. If you escort your minions and do not see opponent - great, level your 2 and clear the 1st wave.
2) Your farm route for the first 3 waves should be: Wave 1 -> Small creeps on Blue (usually your own, but your opponent's if they are super scared) -> Wave 2 -> Smalls on yellow camp/Small harpy camp/nothing -> Wave 3 -> Your Blue. Generally you want to wait until level 3 to do the blue buff, since only then do you have the damage to kill it in a reasonable amount of time.
3) After the first 3 waves, stick to the pattern of wave -> camp/totem -> wave. If you see a good trade opportunity (e.g. you have cleared the wave and they didn't yet), go for it. If the trade is looking bad, play back towards tower and clear on towerline. Letting a couple of creeps go under is fine if it means you can preserve your health bar, but do not overdo it.
4) Try to time your first back so you can get 2 t2 items for your Pendulum Blade and a Health Chalice. It will not always work out that way, sometimes you will not have enough - that's fine, get your resources back and continue farming. Try to avoid situations when you stand under tower on 200 hp and no heal pot - it is better to back and be strong for the next wave than trying to greed that extra 150 gold but dying for it.
C'MERE!!!. MODE. ACTIVATED.
You have backed, bought Pendulum Blade and got back to lane. Assuming you did everything well, you are now even with your opponent in levels. You are HERCULES. You are STRONGER. Make them regret they queued Solo against you. Pluck 'em with your 2, interrupt their feeble attempt to respond with your 1, hit 'em with your autos, pop your 3 and hit 'em more, ULT THEM OFF COOLDOWN. Your Pendulum Blade combined with your passive proc makes it so you basically have no downtime on your 2-1, so you can score some easy kills with your 2-smack-1-smack-3-smack-Ult-smack-Pendulum-run 'em down-2-1 sequence. Bonus points if you are using the Baseball Skin and therefore farm them with style.
For the next 10-15 minutes of the game, continue to own your opponent and use your strength to get your team ahead. Rotate to convenient fights outside of your lane (e.g. you see a fight in duo and you have your opponent squirming under tower) - TP to the fight, get some kills, do gold fury, be the gigachad that you are. Continuously pushing the advantage you have created will get your team ahead and enable you all to pull more objectives, win more fights, get more items, win the game in 25 easy-breezy.
This is the portion of the game you try to avoid, if possible, but most games go to it anyways, so lets talk about it.
Your general archetype in the lategame is the "Pick" character. You can no longer fight 5 people forever and not die, since tankiness as a concept does not exist at this point. You WILL get oneshot in 1 stun if you are by yourself. You WILL die to ADC autos if you try and walk at them for more than 1 second. The way you win fights now is 2-1'ing someone into your team and oneshotting them before they can react. Therefore, you want to do the following things:
1) Be with your team. I cannot stress this enough, but I keep seeing it in my games - DO NOT split away from your teammates for more that 5-10 seconds. If you do, you are:
a) clearing a pushed wave and IMMEDIATELY coming back;
b) flanking to set up a play WITH your team.
2) Use map terrain to your advantage. Hide in bushes and around corners. DO NOT mindlessly walk at them where they can see you.
3) Be the frontliner. Hercules CAN peel for a teammate if need be, but the best form of peel you can provide is being a problem they HAVE to deal with. If they are hitting you, they cannot hit your team.
4) Be proactive. While reacting to a play being made on you can be comfortable and grant you the false feeling of "outplaying" someone, in 99% of the cases their inability to kill you instantly is more about them being bad than you being good. In higher-level ranked matches the outcome of a game is often decided by which team can create an inbalance of numbers in their favor, and the teamfight after is most often a win for whoever made the first move. As a Hercules, you are most often the best character to make that move. Be brave, be smart, own hard.
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