No one is doubting how much damage Aphelios can output, but many teams are finally starting to see the weaknesses surrounding the champion. Aphelios can wreak havoc on an enemy team at any given moment, but playing around his damage, and killing him when he has the wrong guns out given the situation seems to be the way to win against

Patch 7.26a has now been live in Dota 2 for a few days and we can finally discuss how the most recent changes are affecting players in both casual and competitive games. Some the changes were expected by the community in general relating to other changes from a previous patch, and it is best to consider some of these changes as an overall effort to slow down early-game level ga

Garen and his sister Lux were born into the noble Crownguard family, a family that proudly serves the kingdom of Demacia's military. When Garen was young, his uncle would tell him and Lux stories of protecting the kingdom from danger. Unfortunately, Garen one day receives news that his uncle was killed by a mage outside the kingdom. Upon hearing this, he swears a vow to never use magic or let it within the walls of Demacia. When Garen was old enough, he took his first step to honoring his vow by joining the military as a squire. Garen trained day and night, eventually building a reputation as a great warrior who embodied the very ideals that Demacia was founded upon. Garen was revered by his fellow soldiers so much so that they even nominated him to lead them. A great Champion for beginners , Garen doesn't use Mana or Sorcery, which is one less resource to manage. By having a basic skill set, a ton of passive tank, no mana to worry about, and an easy to grasp playstyle, Garen is a devastating force even in the hands of new players. Stay tuned and in this guide, you will learn his abilities, how to effectively use them, what items and stats are essential to Garen, and also how to do his famous trading patt

Shen is directly mentioned in this meme due to his ultimate, which lets him teleport to foes across the map at an unusual speed. Top laners in general will still be frequent users of Teleport, a Summoner Spell that allows them to do the same thing. Often, this can be done to return to the lane quickly, as it’s a long walk for many slow champi

This is where Yone and Yasuo's kits begin to diverge, as Yone's W is very straight forward. This ability is a large cone in front of Yone (a Yone Cone) that deals damage based on an enemy's maximum health. Yone then gains a shield based on how many champions he hit with the initial strike. Spirit Cleave is a defensive ability that requires Yone to be actively engaged in combat, so it lends itself to a very all-in playstyle if players want to get the most defensive value out of the abil

When you can afford it, build your Phage into a Black Cleaver. This will be Garen's ideal first essential item because of the extra health and cooldown reduction it provides. For your selection of proper boots, go with either Mercury's Treads or the Ninja Tabi. If the enemy team has a lot of crowd control abilities that can slow Garen down, the Tenacity from both Mercury's Treads and Courage will greatly lessen those effects. If the enemy team relies on dealing damage with basic attacks, go with the Ninja Tabi to block an additional 12% damage. You can also build the Kindlegem into a Spirit Visage which will really beef up Garen and also increase his overall healing. Next, consider purchasing a Dead Man's Plate to have Garen tank up considerably. With Dead Man's Plate, Garen can gain movement speed and attack damage just by moving around and avoiding crowd controlling effects, which is easy to do thanks to Courage and Mercury Tre

The most prominent is Doran’s Shield, a defensive starter item that’s been an outstanding part of early builds lately, even on certain ADC champions in the bottom lane. With some extra regeneration through abilities like Garen’s passive, it can make for an invincible champion at an unusually early point in the g

Speaking of Death Prophet, players may be frustrated to hear that the character has received another round of nerfs following changes only recently. Apart from his starting speed reduced from 315 to 310, Exorcism now provides a movement speed bonus of 16/18/20%, down from 20% at all times, and the mana cost at all levels is now 50 more than before. The character will likely continue to see play, but mostly by diehard fans, and we hope this is the last round of nerfs the character is subjected to rece

The top lane has changed drastically in the past few years, much thanks to a greater diversity of archetypes that can fit into each role. While the top lane used to be mostly populated by heavy tanks, this meme successfully illustrates how some of the game’s best current top laners are vicious fighters with an alarming amount of speed and dam

Garen's early game is reliant on his kit's simple and effective trading pattern. First, basic attack an enemy, then use Decisive Strike to quickly attack them again. While the enemy is silenced and you are right on top of them, use Judgement to deal a ton of damage. When Judgement is over or the target is no longer silenced, activate Courage to block any incoming damage while you retreat away from the target. Repeating this pattern over and over again is a great way to lane effectively as a Garen. Courage and Garen's healing passive, Perseverance, basically ensure that Garen will come out on top of every trade because he can easily recover the damage his opponent has dealt to him while his opponent may not. At around level 6, Garen can even begin to do his trading pattern under the enemy Turret safely, granted the Turret only hits him once or twice. Judgment and Decisive Strike are also great abilities for securing lots of last hits on minions. Last hitting minions serve a double purpose for Garen as it provides gold as well as passive resistance so be sure to focus on it during the early and mid-game. Spamable abilities and no Manacost are a deadly combination of Garen which should be exploited as much as possible. Unlike many other Champions, Garen doesn't have to suffer from having low Mana so he doesn't need to worry about using Decisive Strike and Judgement sparingly. Instead, he can unleash his fury every time the abilities are off cooldown, which is why you should build items to further decrease the cooldown. The biggest weakness of Garen's playstyle is being kited, which means to have your abilities wasted because the enemy can successfully outrun them. Instead, build movement speed and use bushes to your advantage. Also, save your abilities until you are already in close quarters with an enemy. On the other hand, Garen is great for baiting because he can use his movement speed to lead enemies into ambush positions. He can then use Courage to block incoming bursts and escape crowd control effects which can stall long enough for his team to arrive and back him up. Garen can also cause enemies to waste their mana or powerful abilities on him by using them only to have Garen block the damage and promptly heal it back. You can also cancel Judgement early by activating it again, which is good if you know you can just click the up coming article quickly confirm a kill with your Ultimate or a Decisive Strike. Conserve Courage for big burst abilities or whenever a lot of damage is incoming, also save it for when you're baiting enemies. Overall, build damage resistance and movement speed to be a great tank while also reducing cooldowns in order to deal mass amounts of damage frequen