Notes before beginning: Alpha's abilities are self-vampiric, taking her own health and exchanging it for damage or lifesteal. This effect is very minute and almost completely unnoticeable, though, so don't worry about it. Just think about the lifesteal and damage :P

I also apologise as I got lazy writing paragraphs for all the different threats, so I tried my best to condense them into universal ones that generally fit both WP and CP builds. May edit in the future when I have more time. Hope you enjoy my first guide! Now, let's begin!

Heroic Perk: Infinite Reboot

Playing Alpha, your heroic perk is Infinite Reboot. It allows you to enter a revive cycle the moment you die, effectively giving you two health bars. This revive cycle takes a while, and for its entire duration you're immobile and unable to attack. Enemies will have to try their best to terminate you before you're fully revived coupled with a fresh new supply of health, a task that can prove to be rather difficult if you've built enough health. Yes, the supply of health enemies have to deplete while you're rebooting scales with the amount you've built. A counter for Infinite Reboot replaces your energy bar. When it's full and white, it means that there's a Reboot available. Upon being taken down, the bar will begin to slowly slide to zero, indicating the time left until you're fully revived (when the bar reaches zero). The bar will then slowly slide back up to full again, showing how much time left before you have another Reboot available. Note that Infinite Reboot does not instantly charge back to full when you respawn, but the timer until a new Reboot is available does keep counting when you're dead. Infinite Reboot is extremely powerful in early game, allowing you to survive most 1v1s and rise back up to finish what you started.

A Ability: Prime Directive

Upon execution of Prime Directive, you will scan a shoulder-width line of land in front of you. Upon the line making contact with an Enemy Hero, Jungle Minion, Enemy Turret, Hostile Miner, Hostile Kraken or Enemy Vain Crystal, said target will instantly be slowed down and you will teleport behind them, swinging your sword in a full circle around you, dealing damage to the scanned target and reduced AoE damage to any enemy in the radius. This works on enemies who aren't currently visible, such as Taka when he's in Kaku and Kestrel when she's in Active Camo. Upon successful full execution of Prime Directive, all your stacks of negative Core Charge effects will also be cleared. Damage of Prime Directive scales with the number of stacks removed. When overdrived, the range of Prime Directive is increased from 10 to 12. Prime Directive is an extremely effective brush-checking ability, but exercise caution when doing so, because you really wouldn't want teleport solo right behind two enemy heroes in their brush.

Prime Directive is my favourite Alpha ability. It deals exceptional damage, especially when used with 3 negative stacks of Core Charge. With practice, it become virtually impossible to miss this. I've played Alpha for my whole account life, and I almost miss one, even when snapping to something behind a wall that I can't see. It's killer on a CP build, and offers decent damage and also a very nice method to keep connecting with enemy heroes on a WP build.

B Ability: Core Charge

Core Charge executes a quick dash towards a target, which works through walls. Upon contact with said target, you'll cleave it vertically, land a basic attack, and fracture the ground beneath them, dealing crystal damage to the target and anything that's very close around it (The official description states "small area", but what SEMC actually meant was more along the lines of "2 meter circle"). Basic attacks reduce the cooldown of Core Charge by 1 second (1.2 seconds when overdrived). Upon successful full execution of Core Charge, Alpha will be granted a stack of Core Charge. It'll show up as two stacks, but one is for the positive effects (Increased damage for subsequent executions of Core Charge and basic attack lifesteal) while the other is for the negative effects (Health cost goes up by 2.5%). Core Charge stacks are capped at 3, so make sure to use Prime Directive before they expire to get rid of the negative effects and deal additional damage. Basic attacks refresh the expiry time of Core Charge stacks.

Core Charge is extremely convenient, acting as a constant source of chase connection and crystal damage. Definitely the first ability you should learn. Use it in quick 3 burst successions, then clear them with a Prime Directive. This combo should get rid of most minions rather easily, and is great against enemy heroes, especially when they're running. But sometimes it works a little too easily, and leaves you with nothing left to use Prime Directive on, but that's alright.

Ultimate Ability: Termination Protocol

Upon activation, Termination Protocol grants Alpha an acceptable amount of fortified health and briefly increases her movement speed. Soon after, she'll lose a ton of movement speed, dropping to 50% speed as of Update 1.22. I love SEMC for changing this from the original drop to 30% movement speed. After a while, or directly upon losing all of her fortified health, Alpha will stop completely and self-destruct, dealing literally ridiculous crystal damage to everything in a decently wide area around her and initiating Infinite Reboot. On a crystal build, this will absolutely decimate everything around you when it detonates. Enemies will be scared, and enemies will run. Prime Directive and Core Charge, along with basic attacks, can still be used while Termination Protocol is initiating, so be sure to utilise them properly to deal damage or latch on to all those scared enemies trying to escape. Remember to use Termination Protocol only when you're low on health, in order not to waste its potential. Enemy heroes capable of stunning can negate your Termination Protocol when you're low on health and jump you straight into your Infinite Reboot. Avoiding situations like that requires experience to time your Termination Protocol properly, so just play more!

The speed boost at the beginning of Termination Protocol is very useful for getting out of sticky situations, or just replenishing your health if you're low and don't want to go back to base. Boots do work while Termination Protocol is initiating, so don't hesitate to use them to chase enemies down. You can also activate Termination Protocol in advance then use your Prime Directive to snap behind an enemy and detonate instantly, but I'd strongly advise against it unless you're sure you can get the kill and not die immediately afterwards.

Playing as Alpha, you're ideal in the jungle. Your performance will falter terribly in lane and roam, usually proving fatally detrimental to your team. So don't instalock if both of your teammates are going jungle/roam, it just won't work. Truth be told though, Alpha is great at supressing the lane for short periods of time when needed. This usually happens when your laner is gone and you get in for a good gank on the enemy one, causing him to run after doing enough damage. You can then proceed to swiftly take out all enemy minions, but don't push, lest you get ganked and die. Just stay in lane and keep terminating minions with either your WP attack speed or CP Core Charge AoE damage, both are equally good at messing up enemy waves.

But that's all miscellaneous information which I really should have saved for later- now I'll get into actual, real-time gameplay.

When the Match Begins

The moment the match starts you'd want to get your starting items quick and head towards the 3-minion farm area in the jungle nearer to the shop. Here, you can either take on the Treant solo while your roamer begins engaging the other 2 minions, or you can pair up with your roamer to kill the 2 minions first. Immediately after this, go to the other 3-minion farm area at your team's side and farm as per usual. Make your first trip to the shop afterwards to stock up on items.

My tip for these first crucial moments of the game would be to pair up with your roamer to get the lowest 2 minions first, then take the Treant solo, leading it closer to the other farm while your roamer engages the 2 minions there. Build up your stacks of Core Charge, then use them to your advantage to finish off the work your roamer has been doing on those 2 farm minions. Proceed to kill other Treant, then head to shop.

You should avoid any fights in the first few minutes of the match unless the enemy chases you back to your side of the jungle. Though you can easily win fights with your Infinite Reboot and roamer, there's no guarantee that their laner won't come down and mess you up.

When Mining Begins

When Mining starts, you'll follow the lead of your roamer. If he chooses to engage the Minion Mine at your side, go ahead and help him out, preferably getting the last hit for that sexy 150 gold. Preferably leave the Mines alone until a few minutes later though, for your laner to get some more farm. Definitely leave the Gold Mine alone until a while after it's full or if the enemy is taking it and you're confident of getting a steal.

Mid-Game

By Mid-Game you've probably got a decently rounded build that gives your Alpha a substantial boost in most of her stats. You've probably ganked the enemy laner to harass him a few times already, and picked a little on the enemy jungler with the company of your roamers. Get your build a little past what I've stated you should get for a Mid-Game build (around 2 new items), then start to fully aggress the enemy team. You're great at supporting and initiating team fights now, and also efficient at chasing down lone souls. Secure your Minion Mine, attempt to invade the enemy jungle a few times and together with your team attempt to capture the Gold Mine at least once.

Kraken Emergence

When the Kraken emerges, go weapons free. Initiate team fights within the proximity of your teammates using a 3 stack Prime Directive, then just play normally once the fight begins, slashing up enemies and occasionally chasing them down. Be warned when using Prime Directive in the jungle though, since you'll often get blocked by jungle minions, making it a little inconvenient to chase enemies down sometimes. However, they also serve as a great means of escape back into your jungle if you're about to die. Remember to activate Termination Protocol when you're low on health during a team fight, as you'll either deal good damage to enemies or force them to run.

Ideally after an Ace or when only one enemy is left and you're sure you can take them down quite easily, start capturing the Kraken. You should have a close to full build by now, and be able to dish out a constant supply of rather potent CP or WP damage. Alternatively if the enemy team somehow manages to begin capturing before you do, you can snap in after activating Termination Protocol, use Core Charge to get some damage on the Kraken and hopefully get the steal with a Core Charge or Termination Protocol detonation.

End Game

End Game is pretty straightforward. Stick with your team, initiate team fights and push their base and lane. If the Kraken is in your possession, wait for your team then follow it to push into the enemy base. If the Kraken is on the enemy's team, wait for your team, assemble around the furthest Turret and pile damage onto the oversized turtle or camp at your Minion Mine to get some sneak attacks on the enemy. Trust me when I say that your instinct will take over during End Game. You don't need a guide; it'll feel all natural. Become one with Alpha.

Combos

Combos with Alpha are really fun. The one you'll be utilizing the most is called a stacked Prime Directive, whereby you build up to 3 stacks of Core Charge by using Core Charge then execute Prime Directive for increased damage. When chasing with this, it can prove useful to be able to change directions and targets (Very much like Attack On Titan). Let's say you're chasing an enemy back into his Turret. You use Core Charge 3 times, and realise that he gets out of safe chasing range. You then spot their laner further away from the Turret, and now you can use your 3 stack Prime Directive to escape the range of the Turret completely and start dealing damage to him at the same time.

You can also experiment around with Termination Protocol, activating it in advance then using either Prime Directive or Core Charge to snap to a target and detonate instantly. I heavily discourage this on a WP build or unless the situation is perfect for it though, since doing so leads to immediate death in most cases.

Always have map awareness. This applies to most heroes, but as Alpha, although you're a damage dealer it also makes you a great enemy deterrent. If your laner or roamer needs help, immediately head up and you might save his life. Then everyone will think you're an even bigger carry.

Practice, practice, practice! I'll admit it- though the official description states her difficulty level as medium, she's by far one of the hardest heroes currently available to play. Landing those Prime Directives and timing those Core Charge executions will take a VERY, VERY long time to get right. So if you're planning on playing Alpha long-term, be warned that it will be a huge commitment. You don't want to be a burden, now do you?

Be familiar with all the ability and item effects. You'll want to be able to adapt your playing style to properly counter the effects of the abilities and items your enemies possess, in order to max out your efficiency. For example, you'll want to know only to use Prime Directive AFTER Taka uses his Kaku. This will allow you to provide way better support during team fights, and trust me, your teammates will be very grateful in return.

Help out your teammates. I really can't stress this enough, especially with Alpha. When someone's in trouble and you can see it, get there as fast as you can and try to avert a death. Ping properly and responsibly to call your teammates to certain locations where you think their presence is needed. If they don't listen, then improvise, because it's everyone's game and you're not the one calling all the shots. And don't be dumb- if there's only two of you left and your teammate is stuck in a 1v3, don't rush there to try and help him out. you'll both die, get Aced, and your teammates will most likely start pinging inherently angry question marks all over your corpse.

Thanks so much for reading my first guide! I hope you've learnt something useful from it. Please give feedback if you have any, and point out typos if you can find them (I really hate typos). Maybe even comment something useful you've learnt or something useful that you think can be added to this guide?
I'll probably be updating this soon when I have the time, so stay tuned.

Happy Hunting on the Fold!