Hi I'm feather a semi decent EU player from the UK. This is my first guide so feedback is appreciated and please feel free to find me in game - I'm looking for allies!
So I picked Fortress from birth and have been trailing various builds. You notice from other fortress guides that there is a similar pattern emerging around the items chosen. For me I have found its not about how you build your Fortress but more WHEN you play him and HOW you do it. Here's what I've found!
Man's Best Beastie Top
So Fortress is an awesome jungle companion when played right. You not only aid your team but also have the ability to pick up quite a few kills too.
In the queue I tend to choose last because having the right companions is key. There are far better characters for solo jungling so I prefer not to choose Fortress if that looks like what your team are doing. Good jungle teammates are:
Koshka
Krul
Taka
Basically you need some awesome assassin style action and preferably some stun too. In lane I look for a character who can hold the lane on their own considering the current hero rotation meta.
With this set up you can achieve your ultimate goal, stick to your jungle companion like glue and hyper farm them into a level much higher than the other team are tracking. As a note here there are some other heroes that this tactic would also work amazingly for as they are really strong late game and by helping them farm up quickly, they become 'late game' quicker -
Vox would be a great example of this. I'd be tempted to try this if you are in a team match and you discuss it beforehand- otherwise
Vox might equip a second
Ironguard Contract or plan to lane.
All that said you need to farm like mad but always slow your teammate to pick up the last hit. When you've exhausted your side of the jungle, either push to the other side (if there are 2 enemies in lane) or push to lane and ambush the solo enemy (this is where that stun comes in- a three way gank ambush works great early on).
Items Explained Top
Early Game
So depending on who you're up against you can sometimes predict whether or not to try an early invade. I tend to go for it if you have squishy opposition. I build
Oakheart for sustainability and a
Scout Trap which I drop right in the middle of the action. If you can, leave the base with your shop set on the utility menu and quickly sneak a healing potion from the jungle shop before things kick off!
Alternatively if it looks like you are up against a team set to invade, take up residence at the healing minion near the central brush and double team him before retreating back into your area behind your minion mine. Now that the minion points in the jungle have changed, with this tactic you have earlier escape routes from an invade, and you don't loose too much gold. I like to get an early
Ironguard Contract and two healing potions because I'll be taking most of the minion hits.
First second tier item
Stormguard Banner and CORE build:
Whichever route you choose to build, always focus on building a
Stormguard Banner first to aid farming, and then your 2 x
Fountain of Renewal for both your own and your teams protection. I like double fountain as it adds some protection against enemy heroes who have stun and naturally favour crystal builds:
Krul ,
Celeste ,
Koshka.
Mid/late Game Options:
From this point I feel you can build in different directions depending on what your team need. I favour adding a bit of my own spice in the form of
Frostburn - if you are up against speedy/squishy assassins or trigger point for slower tankier enemies. Both items are quite cheap tier 3's so great as you are only going to be receiving contingent gold.
Final items again should be for team benefit - with
Journey Boots and
Travel Boots being used by everyone, I like a warhorn to help chase enemies down. atlas poldrain again offers boost here. In most of the games I've played however, and maybe it's personal style, I prefer an
Aftershock because it helps you hit harder in a team fight, adds crystal for your second ability and helps cool down of your ultimate.
So why no boots? So this is a trade off. For me, as long as you stick with your allies you can use their speed to move around the fold. You also have more gold in the bank for other items and I feel reaching that early core build as soon as you can is important. The problems arise when you have to retreat to base by yourself/you die because getting back into the game is SLOW! Also escaping from situations when you are last man standing is also a problem. I deal with both of these by limiting my returns to base camp (use the jungle shop), or waiting for allies to ping home and in battles be very aware of the situation, retreating slightly gives you more breathing room should the tides turn and you can always pounce back in with your A ability. I note being team ganked is only really a problem for you early game. By mid/late your jungle ally should be a formidable damage dealer.
Communication Top
So I'm not a skyper but even using the in game tools,communication is key. The Think of you and your jungle companion as predictors picking off the weak from the herd. Use the green target to call the attacks, always attack as a team. I like to target the squishy enemies first an look to styful their development-
Celeste
Taka
Krul
Vox can have devastating burst damage if they get enough gold, so keep them down as much as you can.
Also help your team mate know that you are there to help them farm by using the green target to direct them to a minion pull. Pull back just enough so the minion still target you but wait for them to get last hit. They'll get the idea!
Another farming tip- with the new irongaurd contract it's important that you always engage minions before your ally. When attacking the two minion locations, engage the first minion for one basic attack and then immediately switch to the second one. This way, both minions still fight you but when they engage you and kind of sit one on top of the other on screen, you have less chance of taking the last hit away from your team mate. It also means you can run the second minion down to a slither of health ready for your ally to finish it off.
Final point on communicating/ working together is to be really clear with your comms- you want to make it easy for your allies understand what you are asking. For example, when an ally is going off tactic, instead of troll pinging the ?, why not send them a warning followed by a green target of where they need to be? Also respond to others requests - use 'ok' or the blue running man to show your intentions. Sometimes you get team summoned to lan right in the middle killing a minion for decent bounty which you want to finish- drop an aknowledgement you're on your way. (What I would say here is if your jungle ally runs off immediatly, follow them to keep the movement perk, otherwise it'll take you all day!)
Feedback Top
So I plan on updating this guide more and realise it's a bit of a brain dump at the moment - so I need your help to refine it. What areas worked for you? What would you like more of? Drop me a comment and I'll improve it.
Stay Frosty F
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