General Play Top
So, if your goal when playing Ardan is to be an unstoppable damaging, wrecking, destroying, killing machine; go see another guide. Your priority number one when playing this Ardan is purely to keep you teamates alive so they can do the damaging and killing. Your kills will come naturally after.
[Insert 7/1/22 KD, 143 Minion Kills, 13144$ game here]
Start the game with an
Ironguard Contract and Jungle with your Jungler (See below for ideal Junglers to team up with). Start by going for the farthest pair of monsters, closest to the shop to discourage the enemy from invading your side of the jungle. If you get a good oppurtunity, you might be able to gank the enemy laner by using a nice Vanguard to run them down, but for the most part I'd recommend staying in the jungle until you get to level six. When you finally unlock the
Gauntlet, then you become a true factor in team fights.
Ideal Allies
The Jungle:
Glaive is the BEST Jungler you can have on your team. He has great damage output (w/AOE), and high HP. His only downside is his speed, wich is where you come in with
Vanguard to help him nab those extra kills to get those game changing Aces.
Taka is also great, he doesn't need any help when it comes to getting kills, but sometimes he needs a little extra boost to escape from their salty allies.
The Lane:
Adagio can be interesting, but you'd need a true jungle carry like
Krul or
Joule.
Celeste is always a great option with her stun and AOE. She's frail, but
Vanguard,
Crucible, and Warhorn keeps her safe.
Avoid:
Catherine (No need for two supports),
Fortress isn't much of a reliable Jungler when you're already occupying the support role.
Phinn is only here for map control in team fights, it'd be stupid for both of you to be on the same team.
Abilities Top
The description will explain it better than I ever will, but basically what you should take from this is that you should never really invest in any crystal items except for maybe
Aftershock if you're running a more offensive build.
Use
Vanguard whenever it's available. This is your most important ability for this build. Whether you use it on yourself or on a teammate, it'll provide the needed speed to kill a retreating enemy, to save yourself from a dangerous 2v1, or to gain some health to win a game changing team fight. Now, Vanguard actually deals some very underrated AOE damage. I've actually got a lot of kills with it, and it's really useful to clear up crowds of lane minions. Again, this is your best ability for this set, and remember that saving your teammates is priority number one.
Pretty basic here, closes the gap to enemies, helps to hunt down retreating enemies at low health. If you're running a more offensive set this will be your main ability you use.
Gauntlet. The real game changer. This represents Ardan in every way it can. It's used mostly for Crowd Control, or zoning enemies. Seperate enemy crowds to single out and eliminate enemies, or if you have a clear advantage, trap them all to prevent escape. You can also use it defensively, saving your teammates or yourself (Although I wouldn't recommend using your lvl. 3 just to save yourself when you already have
Vanguard, Boots, and Warhorn).
Core
-
Journey Boots, self explanatory, save yourself and general movement speed.
- Warhorn, help save your allies, also an extra boost if you need to escape. Upgrade from
Ironguard Contract about at the same time you get yourself boots.
-
Crucible's essential because it's the best for the team.
-
Fountain of Renewal makes it so you don't need to waste an item slot on potions and provides some nice shield.
5th/6th Items
- If the enemy jungler is a crystal user like
Koshka or CP
Joule, definetly invest into
Aegis alongside
Fountain of Renewal.
- If the jungler AND the laner are WP, go for
Metal Jacket for the extra Armour.
- If the enemy team is mixed, then go
Atlas Pauldron for the extra activation. It also counters hero's like Krul who rely on Weapon Speed.
As for the order of items to buy, pretty much all you got to keep in mind is what items make up your core. Generally you'd want to buy core items first, unless the opposing team is going heavy WP or something, then go Metal Jacket before the other health items. Just adapt to how the game is going.
Threats Top
Go see above for my threat levels on every character in the game. Now, the thing is, Ardan himself doesn't really have any kill threats because of his ridiculous high health, armour and shield. The threat levels above are more for team fights and threats to allies. The reason why is because that's your job as this Ardan build. Self-sacrificing, helping your teamates escaping from lost 1v1s, or making as big of an impact as you can in team fights.
Conclusion Top
Now this build is still in progress, especially with 1.10 just being released, but the basics of the build are in, so feel free to comment suggestions and feedback.
All in all, Ardan is easily my favorite character to play with. He's a real game changer when used right and I'd really recommend you try him out.
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