Deceitful Damsel - Roamer / Captain Malene by SinisterPixels

Deceitful Damsel - Roamer / Captain Malene

By: SinisterPixels
Last Updated: May 2, 2019
2 Votes
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Build 1 of 2

Malene

Build: Standard Skillset (All Builds)

Ability Path

Masked Ball
Heroic Perk
Light Ribbons
1
2
3
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5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Royal Amnesty
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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12
Enchanted Transformation
1
2
3
4
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6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Shadow Tendrils
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Wicked Escapade
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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12

Threat Meter

Threat
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Threat Hero Notes
1
Ardan Ardan has several dashes, but you can catch him out with Light Ribbons and easily dodge his ult with Wicked Escapade. You will need to get Crucible before he hits Level 6 to protect your team mates.
1
Fortress Has no CC and a very short range dash. Yes, he can provide his allies with a little burst of movement speed but your kit is built to handle it. Nothing special needed here.
1
Grumpjaw Slow. Boring. If you can block his ult you win. Also, avoid sustained fights with Grumpjaw because of his Living Armor. Same goes for Krul.
1
Krul Kite him for days. If your allies are having trouble playing against him and haven't purchased a Poison Shiv or Spellfire, rush Spellfire before Aftershock as your core damage item and War Treads with Contraption. His ult can be long if he's able to hit it with range, but you can dodge it with Wicked Escapade. Once Krul uses up his movement speed boost and dash, you can easily kite and peel him for your allies. Just remember to not engage in long fights with Krul ever!
1
Reim
2
Baron
2
Churnwalker You can easily dodge his hooks, just purchase Crucible so that he doesn't catch your allies out with his ult. In close quarters combat, Churnwalker always wins, so focus him down before trying to pick off his allies. He is weak if he can't heal through his hooks.
2
Lorelai Lorelai's puddles can be a pain and she has decent range, but you can kill her fast. Save Wicked Escapade to dodge her clam if she's about to catch you in it. Thankfully the animation / projectile is very slow. If she's especially good at landing these, rush your Crucible.
2
Ringo
2
Samuel
2
Skaarf
3
Catherine Crucible is all you need for this one. She only has one dash with a short duration and very low mobility otherwise, making her easy to kite with Light Ribbons and the empowered auto attack slow. Build Crucible to block her ult and you'll be golden.
3
Glaive Glaive can be a pain in the ass when played well, but so can you. You can easily catch him out with Light Ribbons, kite him, and bait his knock-back with Wicked Escapade. Invest in War Treads and Crucible to keep your allies safe and also an early contraption, as Glaive players like to spring out of brush and knock you right into their team or turret.
3
Rona
3
SAW As long as you and your team mates focus Saw, you will be able to take him down. Instead of building Fountain, you may want to focus on Atlas Pauldron, especially if he has a kill or two under his belt. Try to kill him early and force him out of lane as much as possible. If you're being terrorized by a CP Saw, grab a Slumbering Husk instead of Pauldron.
3
Tony
3
Vox Only real problem with Vox is that his bounce range can catch you off guard and his silence can really ruin your day if you don't use Crucible or Wicked Escapade to avoid it.
3
Caine Cain is pretty strong right now. You will be using Dark Escapade to cancel his targetting and move in on him when he's reloading. Punish him for blowing his load (lol) and try to catch him with light ribbons if he tries to dash away. His ult is up often, every time he dashes, so don't hang out if you're low help.
4
Baptiste Not too hard to deal with as Wicked Escapade will be up as often if not faster than his Ethereal Chains and ult. You should still build Crucible against him, making sure to save it for his ult vs just saving one ally from his B ability.
4
Celeste Her range makes her hard to pin down, but she's otherwise immobile and you can easily dodge her ult and stun. Your allies can't however, so always try and use Royal Amnesty first to block incoming stars that would otherwise nuke your allies by standing behind them! Only use Wicked Escapade if she is exclusively aiming for you. If your allies don't pick up Aegis or you're against a Celeste who is skilled with her stun, grab an early Crucible.
4
Gwen Gwen's Skedaddle is the only reason she is a considerable threat outside of her ult CC (if she lands it.) Skedaddle will be a pain to work around, but switching between forms and making use of the movement speed boost with Royal Amnesty and the slow from the empowered auto attack with Light Ribbons will eventually take her down. These abilities will be up before her Skedaddle is.
4
Joule See threats info.
4
Lance You can kite Lance, but he has a lot of utility built in that can't be matched along with his Combat Roll. Follow the usual build and get an early Crucible if your Lance is especially good at landing his root.
4
Lyra See special threats.
4
Skye Skye's mobility and low cooldown ult can be a pain for your team to deal with. Grab Crucible pre level 6 so you can be ready for it and save Wicked Escapade for if she exclusively focusing you down. Depending on her build, you may want a Slumbering Husk or Pauldron as well.
4
Varya Varya can dash away to safety and has a lot of damage potential if played correctly. Thankfully, you won't see her much. If you do, try to focus her down. You don't possess any abilities that can cancel her spells or ult, so try to avoid direct combat without allies that can provide hard lockdown.
5
Adagio See Special Cases under Threats / Synergies.
5
Blackfeather Any hero with several dashes is a pain to deal with as Malene, as you can only usually catch them out on one. Blackfeather's ult also allows him to dodge any CC, so you may have trouble kiting him. Go for War Treads, Fountain, and Crucible to protect your team mates from him. You shouldn't have a problem getting away from him yourself, if not killing him outright.
5
Malene
6
Grace Grace has mobility, damage, a heal, and AoE stun. While this is all fine and good for you as you have several ways of avoiding her, it's not so fun for your allies. You will need to rush your Crucible, War Treads, and may want to pick up an early Spellfire before investing in Aftershock against Grace. You can kite her normally.
6
Idris See Immediate Threats for playing against this hero! Not a threat to Malene, but can devastate your team.
6
Reza While you may be able to easily run away from Reza, your allies will probably struggle against him and there isn't much you can do to stop him from ruining their game. Invest in Contraption to try and keep an eye on him if he isn't in lane and try your hardest to put him behind early.
6
Magnus If left to spam his skills at your team, he can be devastating, but Magnus is easily countered if you can bait his stun, which you have to be marked for, and rush at him with Royal Amnesty to combo him out of existence. Be wary of clustering or lining up in team fights as his ult can easily ace you if one team mate dies from it.
7
Flicker See Special Cases under Threats / Synergies. Not a direct threat to Malene, but can devastate your team!
7
Kestrel As utility Malene, you have everything to counter her BUT early game she does a lot of long range poke damage if she is CP. You will want to purchase a Contraption/Flare Gun to counter her traps and invest in fountain to ideally restore the health of anyone she catches with her ult. If you can root her, blow her up as quickly as you can. Kestrel only does well if she can poke at you from afar or catch you in a stealth trap, which Malene can either use Royal Amnesty or Dark Escapade to avoid.
7
Ylva The threat isn't so much against you as it is your whole team. You can root her crazy damage dash and use Dark Escapade to elude her stun and traps, but your team mates won't be so well equipped. You will most likely want to purchase a Flare Gun and play around her stun to catch her out of position or off guard with Light Ribbons.
8
Alpha Alpha is another hero with several dashes and a very long range dash that can seem to come out of nowhere. Get Contraption early on to track her through the jungle so you have an idea of where she's coming from. You can get away from Alpha easily, but War Treads will allow your team mates to follow.
8
Koshka If you can time your Wicked Escapade well then Koshka won't be too much of a problem, as her ult is the real issue aside from her Pounce and movement speed, which, with a little practice, you can learn to cancel and kite. Invest in Crucible and Contraption to keep an eye on her in the jungle and cancel her ult on your team mates, as you have no hard CC to do so in your kit.
8
Petal Petal's munions are the reason she's high up on this list. They can block your Light Ribbons and cause problems with targetting if you aren't careful. Thankfully, if you catch her out she pops quick.
8
Phinn Any hero with a lot of CC is hard to deal with as Malene, even with your multiple forms of escape. You'll definitely want to rush Crucible against a Phinn and save your Wicked Escapade for either his ult, or the following overdrive stun. Thankfully, once he blows all his skills on you you can kite him as he is incredibly slow. If you can play around his AoE, you win the game.
8
Yates Just like Ylva, the threat is more against your team than you, as you have the tools in your kit to evade him. Purchase a Crucible and focus on countering enemy vision as Yates can ult in and steal dragons or completely turn a fight around and you have no hard CC to cancel the channel of his ult BUT rooting him toward the end of the cast will prevent it!
9
Kensei See Special Cases, can be hard to handle - especially if fed early. You will have trouble peeling this one or any hero with several dashes or dodge abilities!
9
Ozo Ozo's multiple jumps and Bangarang are too much if he plays well. You can run from him, but if he's able to catch up to one of your group he can use them to bounce onto his real target, ult them back into his allies, and unless that target is you, you most likely can't save them unless you burst him down with your other allies. I would ban Ozo if choosing Malene in ranked games.
9
Taka Taka is always a pain, and it's the stealth that makes him. You can drop all the traps and throw all the flare you want, if Taka gets fed early in the game you might as well say GG. Though you have a decent chance of fighting him off if you catch him out, you're better off just banning him if you can. If you can't ban him, invest in an early Contraption or at least a Flare Gun, drop scout traps, baby sit your carry and keep and eye out for him attempting to counter jungle and farm your gold.
9
San Feng This guy is a major problem to everyone, especially once his skills are maxed. You can stop him in his tracks early with Light Rbbons and evade him with Dark Escapade, but be wary of him in counterstance as he can stun the last person that attacks him in it. Buy a Crucible before he hits level 6 to counter his ult and urge your team to grab an Aegis or Shroud.
10
  No Threat

Updates / Patch Notes Top

  • June 10th 2018- Published
  • April 30th 2019 - Updated build to patch 4,2, added 5v5 notes and threat info for Magnus, San Feng, Ylva, and Yates

Preface Top

I have been playing VainGlory since shortly after its release in 2014. Originally a Koshka main, hence the name CatnipJunkie on the NA server. I don't play a lot of ranked, but you can check my player stats by clinking my name above if you are curious or feel the need to validate my claims. :P

is a very fun hero to play and I was excited to pick her up on release. I shortly found myself realizing that she had the potential to be an interesting substitute to the standard "Captain" heroes because of the diversity in her kit. I recently experimented with Captain/Utility in Battle Royale, Ranked, and Standard 3v3 with promising results. The build I have described here I have used in most games, with some deviations. I will explain the pros and cons of picking and why playing her as a Captain or Utility hero is completely viable!

Sorry for not making the guide flashy! I was aiming for conciseness, not a flamboyant article. I plan to add gameplay videos and keep the guide updated as changes over the patches so bookmark this guide! NOTE: This guide focuses more on playing in 3v3 matches, but the build and skill order are still relevant in 5v5, where she can still be played just as efficiently as a Captain or Roamer, even more so because of her high damage output that allows her to leash jungle camps (or take them!) just as well if not better than others as well as her mobility and elusiveness making her hard to catch on the large 5v5 map!

Pros and Cons- Why Utility Malene Top

has a lot to offer in the way of Utility built into her extremely diverse kit. can be used to damage in its alternative form as well as root enemies in place, allowing her to kite and peel for her team mates as well as catch unlucky players out. She can easily escape or bait certain skills with or tank shots for her team with . The key to pulling off her kit is to constantly switch back and forth, taking full advantage of .

Pros:

  • is great for engage and disengage.
  • Her Passive affects Malene's auto-attacks. When switching to "good Malene" using , her First auto attack applies a slow which helps to land as well as peel / engage. does not need to spend a lot of gold to deal damage!
  • allows Malene to enter the battle quickly with its speed boost or leave quickly while shielded. Also good for tanking hits for allies!
  • can be used to bait ults or key skills out of enemies or to slow them down slightly if they choose to chase your allies. Using this skill will also redirect turret hits and make certain targeted ult users like or cry!
  • High damage scaling even without building towards damage.
  • Versatile- can fit into most team comps as a standard Captain or Roamer

Cons

  • Squishy inherently, especially early on in the game.
  • Has a somewhat high skill cap to play adequately.
  • Due to high cooldowns early on in the game, you must plan ahead and use escape / peel skills such as wisely.
  • Less damage than standard or Lane builds (duh.)
  • has a slow travel time compared to other projectiles, which makes it hard to land, especially when the lane has not been pushed and can easily be minion blocked or dodged.
  • can only be used to shield and not her allies. :(

As you can see, playing as a Captain or Roamer is not without its challenges, but hopefully this guide will give you the heads up as to how to play her in the Utility role so that you may be able to integrate her into matches when you require a little bit more damage than someone like or without sacrificing the utility of build in CC, personal shields, and an easily proced slow.

Quick Build Order For Lazy Players or BR Top

Standard Build Progression


*This is the quick build path I typically take for Malene. Please see the explanations under each title for why I have chosen these specific items and use your own gameplay experience to swap items out that cater your needs as Malene!

The Build: Dissected and Explained Top


This build deviates a bit from the Utility build offered by SEMC for Malene. I personally prefer to build 2 damage items over 1 damage item and straight utility, but this is only a matter of preference. It is up to you to decide what items you and your team will benefit more from in each individual game and this build should NOT by any means be followed religiously under any circumstances! As with ANY build, you MUST make changes according your personal skill level, comfort level using items such as (what's the point if you normally aren't able to block the skill you're trying to prevent?}, and other factors.


Damage Items


Spoiler: Click to view


Utility and Defense Items


Spoiler: Click to view


Boots


Spoiler: Click to view

Royal Amnesty - Playing Malene as a Captain / Roamer Top

After reading the Pros and Cons you still have chosen to play and I'm happy that you did. What's that you say? You aren't familiar with how to play nor are you fluent in the role of Captain or Roamer? Well, have no fear! In an effort to make this guide as comprehensive as possible, the following will help explain skill order, combos, and how to play throughout early, mid, and late game as effectively as possible in the Captain / Roamer role. I also recommend reading up on how Jungle Clearing works or what your Jungler will most like plan to do in 3v3 and 5v5 games. Also, please check out the links for general Captain / Roamer information, such as this VGF guide on scout traps for 3v3.

Skill & Heroic Perk Explanation


Spoiler: Click to view


Early Game


TL;DR

  • Try to save your skill-point initially to see what your team mates plan to do, but you will typically start with a point in
  • If you went the with start, you may choose to use the extra gold for a or 2
  • Try to wait to back so that you can start building or at least gathering the components for . If the enemy team unlocks at lot of CC at level 6, just pick up a and start rushing your .
  • Use your Heroic Perk empowered slow auto attack when switching forms BEFORE using to make it easier to land! You can easily catch enemies out roaming. If you get the opportunity, help your jungler counter jungle and use the time to place in the enemy jungle in preparation for mid game.
  • DO NOT rush your damage items unless you get very fed in the early game!
Spoiler: Click to view


Mid Game


TL;DR

  • Be wary of big ticket ultimates after enemies get level 6! If you are facing someone with devastating AoE CC like or you will have wanted to complete your for your team! You can always use to save yourself!
  • is going to come into play more now that you have to worry about the Crystal Miner and, eventually, Kraken. Make sure you are using to give vision in crucial areas as well as the to expose enemies in brush or in stealth!
  • Try to stay grouped up. does not get a big ticket ult or special skill at level 6 unlike the rest of the heroes in the game. While everyone else gets a power spike, you are forced to play around it.
  • Try to catch out the enemy jungler or roamer so that you may take the Crystal Miner without worrying about enemies coming and taking it. In 5v5, consider pinging and initiating Blackwing. You can always use to re-direct aggro onto another team mate when they arrive!
Spoiler: Click to view



Late Game


TL;DR

  • does not suffer as much as other heroes in the late game. Having maxed , you have reached your full damage potential. also allows to traverse the map quickly and intercept objectives like
  • You should be close to full build at the start of late game. is vital now if you didn't complete it in mid or early game. You will need to place traps around , your jungle (especially if the enemy team has pushed up), and ideally, the enemy jungle.
  • DO NOT start unless your team has achieved an Ace, you have killed either the jungler or roamer, or are aware of where everyone on the enemy team is and are sure they do not have an ability that will allow them an easy steal! Keep an eye out for skills being used by or in 5v5. They will give you a heads up as to what the enemy team is doing!
  • Keep using to make plays and picks while you push up the lane! You can easily escape with either or now that you are close to full build and therefore have lower cooldowns!
  • If you are your teams only form of peel or crowd control, save your to peel for your carry, whomever that may be. Don't engage unless you are sure you are able to bring your target down quickly and safely. An ace late game can easily mean game over!

5v5 Playstyle and Build Top

So, I wanted to elaborate on how to use Utility on Malene in 5v5 now that I have played her effectively in every role EXCEPT jungle. If that day ever comes that I do, God help us all. I will continue to update this as I learn more!
Example Build:


Early Game


Spoiler: Click to view


Mid Game (What I do?)


Spoiler: Click to view


Late Game


Spoiler: Click to view


TIPS AND TRICKS (ALWAYS WIP)


Spoiler: Click to view

Threats and Synergy Top

Special Threats


Spoiler: Click to view


Team Synergy


Spoiler: Click to view

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