Basic Guide to Using Heroes

[Cebe]

Originally Posted by Super Igor

Wow, great guide.

One thing tho, skill chains like [devastating hammer] + [crushing blow] do work on heroes, and do work well, guys know when to use them. Assassin skill chains such as [falling spider] after KD...dk...didnt test that but there was an update regarding heroes using such skills, may work now.

Ok, thanks. I'll take Goren out and see how he responds to those skills now, I was just going on when Nightfall came out and Heroes didn't even know what an attack skill was!

As for Assassin KD chains...Assassin chains are bad generally. Zenmai "thinks" for several seconds between each dagger attack usually. They need very simple attack chains if they are to be used, and the rest of the skillbar filled up with things to augment the other things they CAN do, like Hexes and general attack buffs.

Edit: Tested. Super Igor is quite right, Heroes seem much better now with "requires KD" skills than they used to. Hero Assassin would happily use Falling Spider or Falling Lotus Strike after having used a skill such as [[Shock], but seem reluctant to use them after using [[Horns of the Ox]. Perhaps this is because the knockdown from skills like Shock is guaranteed, whereas Horns of the Ox is quite conditional.

[Marty Silverblade]

Wow, great, I'll definately be linking this to my War guide. I'll PM with typos and other editing stuff.

[Shady S]

I will have to tweak a few hero builds . . . nice info, Celestial! Thanks.

[Martin Firestorm]

Excellent guide.

One question: when I put 2 wards on an ele hero, typically ward against melee plus either elements or foes, the hero casts the first one on the bar (from left to right) fairly often, but never casts the second. Any thoughts?

[Super Igor]

Strange, mine cast all at the same time. ;\

[Martin Firestorm]

My ele hero has some offensive fire spells and an attunement, so maybe he's running low on energy by the time he gets to the wards part of the bar.

[Cebe]

Originally Posted by Super Igor

Strange, mine cast all at the same time. ;\

That was what I would suggest. Within about 5 seconds of the battle starting the Hero Ele usually has all your wards up. Can't say I've noticed if they wait for Melee to be in range before they use Ward Against Melee though. I don't know why Martin's Ele is not casting them straight away, unless you have something on your bar that they prioritise over a ward - difficult to think what that might be though.

[Super Igor]

Yes because heroes have wards as top priority before battle, you can even see thios on earth henchies that no matter what would use the ward...maybe it got interrupted or something?

[Martin Firestorm]

Nah, I've noticed this consistently. Maybe I'm looking later in battle and what I'm seeing is re-cast wards by a low on energy ele hero. I'll make a point of watching earlier in battle.

[Super Igor]

always have the hero skill bar up.

[Martin Firestorm]

Are you saying you micro the wards for your heroes?

[FidLi]

thx you i hope i will manage that ^^ :-) rlly thx especially for composing builds and making "hero team play"thx dude

[Super Igor]

Originally Posted by Martin Firestorm

Are you saying you micro the wards for your heroes?

No, they use the wards fine, main problem is them staying in the wards which is sorted out with flagging.

But generally yes sometimes I disable like all key skills/spells on hero bars and use the manually, for example [protective spirit] or [weapon of warding], although they use the last one decently they still connot precast it on someone as well as a player can do it.

[Cebe]

Finally got around to amending the first post to add something about binding hero skillslots to keyboard keys. Sorry for the wait on that.

[ScythXIII]

One thing I noticed about Nature Rituals is that heroes cast [[Conflagration] as soon as it's recharged, regardless if they're in battle, however, a ritual like [[Favorable Winds] is only cast in battle. Not sure if there are any more like Conflagration, though.

[Edit] Alright, tested a bit further. Heroes apparently cast Conflagration whenever possible, if they're not under the effects of it (out of range or expired).

[Edit 2] Well, it's actually Favorable Winds that acts different, at least according to what you have for Ranger Rituals.

[Super Igor]

They would cast [winter] as soon as out of it's range too.

[Martin Firestorm]

Ok, well I did some more testing and it does seem my ele heroes are getting all their wards up, at least early in each battle.

[Cebe]

Right, I'm starting an F.A.Q. section on post #5. If anyone notices any questions which get frequently asked please post them, or PM me. If you could include a suggested response to the question that would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to end up posting loads of builds if I can get away with it. I made an exception with the Monk Hero build because it really is frequently asked, mainly due to the often heavy reliance on the Monk Heroes.

Originally Posted by ScythXIII

[Edit 2] Well, it's actually Favorable Winds that acts different, at least according to what you have for Ranger Rituals.

Thanks, I'll update the guide.


EDIT 08-07-2008: Inserted Section 4 - Notes on Rune, Insignia and Weapon Modifier Choices for Heroes.

EDIT 23-07-2008: Inserted new FAQ under Section 8 regarding Elite Choices.

EDIT 26-01-2009: Amended usage notes for the Ritualist skill [[Ritual Lord (PvE)] & added [[Ray of Judgment] to the Elite Skill Unlock table.

[papaschtroumpf]

Newer players may benefit from giving their Monks a resurrection skill (Resurrection Chant is good), but disabling it. This way you can manually force them to resurrect fallen allies, and they wont waste time doing it mid-fight.

that little nugget here is amazingly helpful. Awesome guide!

[Illoyon]

heros don't use [Power Block]...my heros don't use it...i tested it in Sepulchre of Dragrimmar and had to micro.