Devourer guide by FuuFuu

The Devourer – My Guide

Consuming and destroying all in its path, the corpulent,
putrid Devourer exists only to feed. No pain can match
the agony of its hunger, and so it shrugs off all attacks,
spreading its rot and disease across the battlefield like doom itself.

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Stats

Attack Type=Melee
Attack Damage=52-58
Attack Range=128

Movementspeed=285
Turnrate=320
Armor=1.96
MagicArmor=5.5

Strength=25
Agility=14
Intelligence=14

Strength per level=3.2
Agility per level=1.5
Intelligence per level=1.5

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Spells

Guttling Hook

The Devourer launches his Guttling Hook
at a target unit or location. The first targetable
unit that touches the hook will be dragged back
to the Devourer.
Level 1 : Deals 100 physical damate to target, and drags to self. 400 Range
Level 2 : Deals 200 physical damate to target, and drags to self. 600 Range
Level 3 : Deals 300 physical damate to target, and drags to self. 800 Range
Level 4 : Deals 400 physical damate to target, and drags to self. 1000 Range
Mana cost 140
Cooldown 14 seconds

Explanation: Your main-skill skill it out ASAP, this is what makes this hero so skilled. I’ll explain more later.

Decay

The Devourer allows himself to decay,
draining his Health over time and releasing
poisonous gasses that both damage and
slow nearby enemy units.
Level 1 : 20% Movement slow, 25 magic damage per second to target and self
Level 2 : 20% Movement slow, 50 magic damage per second to target and self
Level 3 : 20% Movement slow, 75 magic damage per second to target and self
Level 4 : 20% Movement slow, 100 magic damage per second to target and self
Mana cost n/a
Cooldown n/a

Explanation: The ways to use it will be explained later on.

Cadever Armor

This grotesque armor increases the Devourer’s Magic
Armor and permanently adds strength for each hero kill
and strength for each creep kill he makes.
Level 1 : +0.9 Strength for Hero kill, +0.03 Strength for creep kill. +1 Magic armor
Level 2 : +1.2 Strength for Hero kill, +0.06 Strength for creep kill. +2 Magic armor
Level 3 : +1.5 Strength for Hero kill, +0.09 Strength for creep kill. +3 Magic armor
Level 4 : +1.8 Strength for Hero kill, +0.12 Strength for creep kill. +4 Magic armor
Mana cost n/a
Cooldown n/a

Explanation: A good lategame skill, this makes you to a really hard tank.

Ultimate

Devour

The Devourer grabs a target enemy
and feasts on their flesh, dealing massive
damage for every second he feeds.
Level 1 : 75 Magic damage per second, disables target while channeling.
Level 2 : 127 Magic damage per second, disables target while channeling.
Level 3 : 175 Magic damage per second, disables target while channeling.
Mana Cost 100/130/170
Cooldown 30 seconds
Channeling Time 3.3 seconds
Devour Effects
Silenced
Perplexed
Disarmed
Immobilized

Explanation: 3.3 seconds stun on level 6. Perfect in combination with Hook and Decay. More explained later on

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Skillbuild
1. Decay – 1
2. Guttling Hook – 1
3. Guttling Hook – 2
4. Decay – 2
5. Guttling Hook – 3
6. (Ultimate) Devour – 1
7. Guttling Hook – 4
8. Decay – 3
9. Decay – 4
10. Cadever Armor – 1
11. (Ultimate) Devour – 2
12. Cadever Armor – 2
13. Cadever Armor – 3
14. Cadever Armor – 4
15. Attribute Bonus – 1
16. (Ultimate) Devour -3
17 – 25. Attribute Bonus

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Itembuild

Start:
1 x Bottle

Explanation: You need the mana, the HP. Everything about this will be said later on.

Earlygame items:
2 x Fortified Bracelet

Explanation: Great HP and STR-bonus for a low price, perfect start in a good game

1 x Marchers

Explanation: You need 2 be fast to prevent your target from getting away

You should have these items after ca. 7 – 9 minutes

Midgame items:

1 x Enhanced Marchers

Explanation: Low price, why you should get these and not Post Haste I’ll explain later

1 xShamans Headress

Explanation: One of the best items for this hero, because in 90 % of the gangs you will have Decay on. Reduces the damage you will take dramatically.

The following item is a luxury item, only get it if you really have that much gold!!!

1 x Sacrificial Stone

Explanation: A very good item. With my roarming-strat you gonna have MANY kills, the HP and MP-reg helps roarming.

You should have these cheap items after ca. 16 minutes. You won’t need more midgame items. And now at last the

Lategame items

1 x (or later on maybe 2 x ) Behemoth’s Heart

Explanation: An item made for this hero mass HP and HP-reg, what you want more?

The following item is a situational item, only get it if you really need it!

1 x Shrunken Head

Explanation: If the enemy team got many dissables you can really think of buying this, because disabling an enemy for 3 seconds can be the point of turning an entire game.

The following items are luxury items, only get them if you really have that much gold!!!

1 x Mock of Brilliance

Explanation: You are a tank in the late game, so 35 damage per second to every enemy around you can beat the shit out of them. Only buy it if no one else wanna buy it in your team.

1 x Daemonic Breastplate

Explanation: Only get this if none of your teammates already got one!

This was the itembuild, it may look easy, but if you can’t get all of the needed items you won’t have a chance in the game.
And btw always have at least one of this in your inventory:

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Skill-explanation

Guttling Hook: Your main-skill. It moves very fast the direction you click, grappling the first enemy or friend that comes in range of the hook. It comes back if it hits a hero or unit. That means the enemy hero will stand in front of you after getting hit by a hook. But the fact that the range on level 1 and 2 there won’t be many situations to use it. The level 3 range is good, but with hero-level 5 you don’t have that many options to hold the enemy next to you, so in most situations they just walk away. Level 4 (hero-level 7) is where the real power of this spells comes out. 400 damage on a range of 1000, this is a lot, but in combination with your ulti you can hold the enemy next to you for 3.3 seconds, while damaging him with Decay, too. How much damage this deals will be explained later. First I’ll show you a map with some good hookspots, but remember: The entire map is a good hook-spot, if you don’t try out new spots you will never learn this hero. Because training hooks is the alpha and omega!!!
They are subdivided in 3 categorys, simple spots (yellow), medium-hard spots (orange), hard spots (red)
The Map:

How you can see the most spots are at the river or at the lanes, because this is where the most enemys are.
I’ll explain some of the spots here.
The most used spot is the one in north-east of the first sentinel-mid tower. Easy to get an enemy standing at the tower with a level 4 hook.
Also often used are the yellow ones in the sentinel and in the scourge forest near the side-lane-towers.
The orange spots are only examples, you can start a hook on every cliff that faces the river in hope to get a low-health enemy.
The red spots are mostly lucky-ones, because you don’t have sight to the spot u want to hook. Either place wards near the first sentinel / scourge tower or have an ally there. But if you hit a hook there enemys have nearly no chance to get away.
Hooking Allys: Remeber that you can either hook enemys or allies. Allies won’t take damage if getting hit by a hook. With this you can save your mates from a gang or from dangerous situations. Hooking allies is one of the best saving possibility for the guy beeing chased. But be carefull, if the hook fails it can happen that the enemys will chase you after chasing your mate.
Remember: You won’t hit every hook in your first game. You have to learn to calculate the movement of you enemys.

Decay: 100 DPS on level 4, much, isn’t it? Well it damages you too, so use this skill wisely. But the damage it gives to you brings a nice small advantage to you, the option to kill yourself. Don’t underrate this aspect, you enemys won’t get gold or exp this way, so if there’s no chance to get away turn on Decay and hope it kills yourself. In the midgame you can also use it to lasthit creeps, but don’t use it to much. Most time you will use it in combination with Cuttling Hook. Hook somebody then turn on Decay and the target hero will take a lot of damage.

Cadever Armor: Everything said in the explanation in the spell-section.

Devour (Ultimate): The last puzzle-piece in your skill-combo. Using it disables the enemy for 3.3 on every level, but also deals a lot of damage. Most of the time you’ll use it in combination with hook and decay. Hook somebody, turn on decay and use devour on the hooked hero.

How you see Devourer has one of the best spell-combos in the game. Hook, Decay and Devour. Get a good spot where enemys can’t see you, wait until an enemy hero comes in your hook range, wait until the way between him and you is free, then hook him, turn on decay immediately after the hook starts, if the hook is a success, use devour on the hooked hero.
How much damages does this combo deals?
On level 4 of hook and level 4 decay and level 1 / 2 devour it deals:
400 + 4 x 100 + 127 x 3 = 1.025 magic-damage
400 + 4 x 100 + 127 x 3 = 1.181 magic-damage
A lot, isn’t it? Now you know why this is one of the hardest skill-combos in the game

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Strategy

Start and earlygame:
Ok, let’s get ready to pwn some newbs with one of the skillest hero in the game. First buy a bottle and tell your mates to go solo mid.
Why to get a bottle: You need a level-advantage ASAP and this items helps staying on the lane or killing your enemy.
Why to go mid: I think a bottle is wasted if not going mid! And you will need to have an level-advantage to start roarming ASAP
Don’t try to harras your enemy with level 1. Stay in the back ( if its possible even stay in the shadow ) and only go in front to get a lasthit or to denie a creep. Always look for runes, if you find one you can harras your enemy a little bit and maybe playing out a small level-advantage. If you know your enemy is low HP and he’s standing good you can try to hook him. If it’s a success you will have a gold and a level-advantage, what means you can kill him even easily.
All in all: Try to farm and reach level 7 ASAP.

Midgame and roarming:
When you reach level 7 the game starts for you. Leave the mid lane and go harassing the enemys on the up- and downlane. They should be level 4 or 5 and should still have their starting items. The best situation is, if an enemy hero (or 2 – if one of them is low) is near your first tower. You won’t even have to hook, just come from behind and devour on of them, while your mates keep damaging him with their attacks, he should die within the 3 seconds devour lasts. If the other enemy is still in range you can try to place a hook. If it’s a success turn on decay and follow him. Your allys should do the rest =) Easy double-kill.
Another situation would be if you hide in the forest and try to hook out one of the 2 enemys on the sidelanes. He should die within the 3.3 seconds of devour. After roarming always move near the middle-lane and try to kill the on there, else he will get freefarm and will be overfed soon…
Repeat those 3 steps as often as possible.
All in all: try to kill as many enemys as only possible.

Lategame:
The lategame is completely different to the midgame. You won’t be able to kill enemy – heroes on your own. So try to stay with your allys and try to initialize a gang by hooking an enemy hero to your team. Your main function in the lategame is as gang-initializer and semi-tank.
All in all: You will have to change tactic from aggressive to defensive, but you’re still a useful teamplayer.

Good Allies / Bad enemys
This is an easy one.
All good allies should have either stuns or slows.

All bad enemys have either a blink or another spell to get away from you.

Now you know the basics of my tactic, but the key to a good Devourer is to bring in your own aspects you won’t be a good player just by coping those steps 1 by 1.
Now at last I will do some kinda FAQ, because I know which questions you will ask =) I hope i can answer some of them here.

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FAQ

Q:Why do you go mid with bottle instead of going up with Runes of the Blight, Minor totems and some potions of mana?
A:Well, this tactic is based on the fact Devourer is one of the best roarmers in the game so you have to always need to have a level-advantage or you won’t be able to kill enemy heroes solo.

Q:Why don’t you buy Helm of the Black Legion?
A:You are no tank in the early-game so it would be wasted gold. Why do you need to block physical damage, when no enemy ever attacks you? They don’t chase you, you chase them! Got it?

Q:Runed Axe would be nice, much +dmg and much mana-reg, wouldn’t it fit perfect in your tactic?
A:NO! You don’t attack the enemys, because while disabling them your are disabled on your own. And when they try to walk away you still don’t have the time to attack them. Again: Wasted gold…

Q:Why don’t get Symbol of Rage?
A:Again: You don’t use your physical attacks that often.

Q:Why you get Enhanced Marchers instead of Post Haste?
A: Well let’s face the fact: you only need fast movement speed while chasing your enemys. Post-Haste gives permanent +90 MS, Enhanced Marchers give permanent +60 MS + 10 % MS means sth. like 30 MS and 60 + 30 = 90 same as Post-Haste for 6 seconds. And don’t forget the price: Enhanced Marchers 1550; Post-Haste 2700 means a difference of 1150. I hope now you know why i prefer Enhanced Marchers.