1.Welcome Note
2.Introduction
3.Build Style explanations
-3.1:Captain,Supporting
-3.2:Weapon,Attacker
-3.3:Crystal,Nuke
-3.4:Crystal,Attacker
-3.5:Blitz,Captain
-3.6:Blitz,Weapon
-3.7:Blitz,Crystal
4.Tips and Tricks
5.Friends and Foes
6.Potential Questions
7.Extras
8.Conclusion

Welcome Back!

Hopefully you'll find this guide useful! I hope it helps

Remeber to leave feedback/comments! It helps a lot and I appreciate them :)

LIKE & SHARE!

I smell prey. This Way! Let me lead you to victory!

Here's an overview of Fortress (imo)

Pros:

-Speedy Fox with teammates nearby. Can chase down heroes easily.
- Truth of the Tooth gives speed buff, which can also help teammates chase down heroes easily
-Quite tanky late game
- Attack of the Pack can disable a planned gank by enemies. Can also be used to set up ganks
-Mortal Wound is a pain in the a**. (reduces healing, helps to kill enemies faster)
-Bonus health & attack speed from Attack of the Pack makes you unstoppable if well farmed

Cons:

-Hard to kill people without Aftershock/ Stormcrown
-Without teammates, Fortress cant escape, unless you have Boots ready
-Has mana(energy) problems
-A little more squishy than other Captain role heroes early game

===========================================================================================================

Weapon OR Crystal?

Choose Weapon if:
-You wish to take down enemies without having to worry about energy/mana.
-You want to claw your way to victory.
-Enemies don't have attack speed, and its safe for you to stick close to them for awhile


Choose Crystal,Nuke if:
-You have to take down your enemeies fast
-Tanky enemies

Choose Crystal,Attacker if:
-Someone is playing Weapon on your team, but you still want to play weapon style.


Pros of:

Weapon:
-No need to worry about mana cost
-Can get mortal wound on enemies more easily

Crystal:
-Nuke
-Surprise and take down enemies "one shot"

Cons of:

Crystal:
-Countered by Slumbering Husk if you play nuke
-Mana is a problem

Weapon:
- Atlas Pauldron

Probably the main role of this hero. Well, here we go for an in depth explanation.

=SKILLS=

Max Truth of the Tooth first so that we have a lower cooldown and be able to engage enemies more often. Can choose to go for Law of the Claw if you wish to inflict heavier damage with mortal wounds.


=ITEMS=

Either you can choose to follow the basic Oakheart Ironguard Contract build,

OR

If you need more defense, then you can go for alternate starting 1/2. Buy armor/shield depending on what the enemy jungler is playing, or just buy armor to tank jungle creeps better.

Starting 3 for better damage..

Early Game:

To be able to keep your team alive, you'll need a Fountain of Rejuvenation.

Boots to chase/flee


Mid Game:

If you and your team are getting good farm and kills, and you have a decent amount of gold, then you can go for a Stormcrown and Crucible

If you are struggling to stay alive, buy a Crucible followed by a Stormguard Banner and a Dragonheart. This allows you to have more health but you'll have lesser damage without Stormcrown.

Late Game:

Buy a Aftershock to have damage for your abilities, mainly Truth of the Tooth.

Choose either a Atlas Pauldron or a Metal Jacket depending on the situation, if enemies have a lot of attack speed then go for Atlas Pauldron

War Treads to be able to chase/flee with your team.

=Side Notes=

For Contraption, I usually don't buy this item when I play Fortress. Attack of the Pack is good enough to help scout out enemies.

However, if there are heroes who are constantly invisible like Flicker, Taka, Kestrel, then you might want to buy this and place down scout traps, to prevent getting ganked.

Don't usually use this build,I would rather use the Crystal, Fighting build instead as this helps to balance attack and spell damage.

I'm more experienced playing with Fortress and know how to manage his energy problem well(not trying to boast or anything) . If you always have mama problems when playing Fortress as a jungle hero, maybe you should try this weapon build.

=SKILLS=

In this build, skills are more balanced out. However if you need to engage using Truth of the Tooth then you can max it first. I'd usually use the speed boost from heroic perk to engage. Truth of the Tooth is my backup if they run too fast.

You can skip Attack of the Pack if you want more points in Law of the Claw / Truth of the Tooth early.


=ITEMS=

Both starting builds are fine, but if you wish to get Tension Bow faster then use the first build.


Early Game:

Tension Bow is your bread and butter to deal damage to enemies. The bonus 180 damage makes a big difference.

Bonesaw is another alternative if you feel that Tension Bow isn't going to help you during late game.

Mid Game:

We still need more damage to be able to kill heroes, so buy a Sorrowblade

At this point, you have to decide between:

1.Do you need more attack speed only?

2.Do you need more attack speed and damage?

If you answered 1, buy Tornado Trigger

If you answered 2, buy Breaking Point

--

Late Game:

If you are surviving well, and feel like skipping defense to get more damage, go for a Tyrant's Monocle. You can also choose to buy a Poisoned Shiv if you wish to inflict amany mortal wounds as you can onto the enemy.

If you wish to be more tanky, buy War Treads.

If you just need to chase, buy Journey Boots

If you need Truth of the Tooth to engage and keep running out of mana, buy Halcyon Chargers

=SIDE NOTES=

Breaking Point can be swapped for Tyrant's Monocle

Tension Bow can be swapped for Bonesaw if you don't intend to buy both.

Bonesaw/Tension Bow can be swapped for Poisoned Shiv as well.

This build, requires good skill management as they are your only source of damage. (unless you buy Stormcrown)

=SKILLS=

Maxing out Truth of the Tooth first as it is our main source of damage.

=ITEMS=

Starting with a Energy Battery and Crystal Bit if you want to ensure you have mama all the time.

Start with 2 Crystal Bits if you want more damage early on. You might have to make a few trips back to base to get Halcyon Potions in order to get mana.

Early Game :

Aftershock helps you to get more damage. It's the bread and butter for damage for Crystal Fortress.

Mid Game:

Either go for Broken Myth then Shatterglass or vice versa. Both will still deal a decent amount of damage. If you are having mana problems, consider the Void Battery first.

Reflex Block for any stunners who can stop you from dealing damage.

Late Game:

I would choose to buy a Stormcrown at this point as it acts as a backup source of damage , if my skills are on cooldown or I have no mana.

You can skip this and go for a Clockwork / Frostburn if you still need skill damage.

Halcyon Chargers is mandatory for mana and I wouldn't suggest War Treads for more health as you wouldn't be able to use skills as often without the mana regeneration.

Alternative to not being able to play weapon.

=SKILLS=

Fairly balanced, just like in the Weapon build. You can choose to max Truth of the Tooth if you wish to.

=ITEMS=

We want to get our Alternating Current ASAP, so we start with a crystal bit and swift shooter.

Early Game:

Alternating Current for damage.

Mid Game:

Again, you have to decide.

Aftershock helps you to deal damage after using skills (recommended)

Shatterglass helps you to deal more skill damage, as well as increase damage output of Alternating Current.

I would suggest Aftershock as it has lifesteal + some crystal power + lowers cooldown.

=Late Game=

You can either choose to buy Tornado Trigger or a Stormcrown

A Tornado Trigger will allow you to land more hits

A Stormcrown gives you hp + cooldown as well as damage. (suggested)


=SIDE NOTES=

If enemies keep running, you can choose to swap the Shatterglass / Aftershock for a Frostburn.

I have nothing much to comment about here, item builds are just suggestions of what you should buy. Good luck, Have Fun.

(I don't usually play captain in Blitz, so there is nothing much I can say here. Apologies if you were expecting some help to he able to keep you team alive in blitz. Maybe you can refer to the description for Captain, Support build for help.)

Starting 1 is mainly for people who choose to buy Armor early.

Starting 2,3,4,5 is what I would usually buy. (Staring 2 most of the time)

Choose Starting 1 (Nuke) if you feel that people are not going to buy shield early. Otherwise use Starting 2 (Nuke)

Choose Starting 1/2 (Attacking) for more basic attack damage.

Choose Starting 3 (Atracker) if you want to deal skill damage as well.

-When playing captain, don't be afraid to engage while you have buffs from Attack of the Pack. Especially when your team is behind you, the more they'll need you to start a fight so they can follow suit. You are the most beefy one among the team.

-If you still run out of mana even after buying a battery, you might want to consider leaving an open slot for Halcyon Potions.

-The leap from Truth of the Tooth only occurs if you are in range to attack an enemy. If you are certain that you can't kill, just walk away in the midst of using Truth of the Tooth. This cancels the leap, and you wouldn't have to die.

-You can use Truth of the Tooth on an enemy to get the movement speed buff, and utilize it to run, if you have no teammates nearby. Using it on lane creeps is possible as well.

-Even if you have no intention to gank, you can still use Attack of the Pack to scout for enemies, to keep your team/yourself safe.

-Use Law of the Claw to take towers/mines/kraken faster. The burst damage helps.

Friends:



The slow from Ringo's Ability A helps you to land more hits easily.



Slow from Buckshot Bonanza



Rocket Leap stun



Can pull enemies close to you, helping you save mana, making your life easier.



His ulti prevents enemies from running, allowing you to be able to deal damage.

Foes:



Enemies with high attack speed can take you down easily if you don't have defense.



She can cause you to separate from your teammates, not allowing you to protect them.



Friend and Foe, he can keep you away from your teammates with his ult, so you can't protect them.



Just like how you can engage easily, an enemy Fortress can do the same. Is it even legal to fight your packmate? Well, one of you has to betray each other.



She can surprise you/your teammates and finish off before you can do anything.



He can nuke you/your team



Not a very large threat, but she can stun you/slow you with Frostburn+ Heliogenesis, preventing you from escaping/helping your team.



He can knock you/your teammates away, preventing protection.

Q: I can't use fountain in time and my teammates keep dying.

A:Try using it early, or use crucible. Better early than never.


Q:I still have problems even with Halcyon Chargers

A:Clockwork


Q:How do I counter someone with a slumbering husk?

A:Trigger the item, back off, engage again. You should have enough time before it becomes active again.


Q:I have to buy a lot of defense items to keep my team alive, but then I can't deal damage
What should I do?

A: Sacrifices must be made.

Can't find you answers here? Leave comments!

Once again, sorry if you are looking for detailed builds for Blitz, I don't use him that much in Blitz so I can't really write much. I might try using him more then update this build.

If you are looking for Battle Royale builds, follow the casual builds. Your item progression is just faster.

Hope this helps, good luck have fun in the Halcyon Fold.

Any comments/feedback/additions/objections/misconceptiond/misunderstandings/hate/love/***** and giggles? Leave them in the comments, I'll reply ASAP.

~xMidnightChildx