Introduction Top
I have played with this build for a while, and after having a lot of success with it, I decided to share it with you guys, the Vain Glory Community. So first thing is first, I'm going to explain how this build plays to Glaive's strengths by going over why this build makes him a W.Damage/Tank/Assassin.
-Weapon Damage: Obviously, all the items are concentrated on Weapon Power. Bonesaw allows you to do a lot of damage even if someone has
Metal Jacket. Also, Tornado Trigger increases the chance for you to exploit Glaive's
Hunt the Weak, which allows you to do AoE damage along with increased damage with critical hits.
-Tank: Glaive has the highest base health in the entire game. The addition of Crucible to his build ensures that you will almost always have the most health in any match. This along with Bloodsong's lifesteal will make you incredibly hard to take down.
-Assassin: The primary reason why Glaive can be an assassin is because of his Afterburn. You can rocket out to, stun, and unleash your fury on an enemy hero. Bonesaw and Tornado Trigger guarantee that you will be doing a lot of damage quickly afterwards.
Abilities Top
Anyone not familiar with how to use
Glaive will find this section helpful. I will be going over how his abilities should be used and when you should use them so that your team can have the upper hand in any teamfight.
Perk:
Hunt the Weak:
Critical strikes will damage everyone in a cone in front of you. This allows Glaive to have great AoE damage that is especially influential in team fights. It is also good against minions in the lane.
Afterburn: This ability rockets you forward in any direction you choose, damaging enemies along the way. Your next attack launches your enemy in the direction of your strike and stuns them. This allows you to put enemies in tactically bad positions and is especially useful for isolating threats (like
Catherine) your team to needs lock down. It is useful for:
- Initiating ganks
- Locking down enemy threats
- Chasing anyone trying to flee a fight
- Revealing
Taka as soon as he disappears with
Kaku. The damage done with the dash forwards will reveal him once more.
- Quickly disengaging from fight you are going to lose
- Rocketing BEHIND an enemy and knocking them back into your team, or a turret
Twisted Stroke: This guarantees a critical strike that does significantly more damage. It is essentially a more powerful basic attack that can be used at anytime during a fight. This is especially helpful with
Krulas you can do more damage before he has time to use
Dead Man's Rush. It is useful for:
- Along with Afterburn, bursting and enemy as you initiate a fight
- Getting the last hit on an enemy hero, so you get the kill
- Quickly eliminating groups of minions, getting a gold boost as well
Bloodsong: Glaive's ultimate makes him arguably the best tank in the game. You gain 1% lifesteal every time you use a basic attack and every time you get hit with a basic attack. This stacks up to 20 times for a total of 20% lifesteal. This in itself makes you incredibly hard to take down in a teamfight with the help of
Hunt the Weak as it allows you to damage multiple heroes at once. For example, if you hit someone with 150 damage, you will gain 30 health. I recommend gaining all 20 stacks in the jungle or on minions since you want to engage a hero with as many advantages as possible. The stacks also increase the power of the ultimate itself, which swings your axe in a circle around you. However, try to refrain from using this in teamfights as the passive is very beneficial to you and using it resets all the stacks to zero, leaving you at square one. There are very specific situations when you should use it, such as:
- In teamfights, activating the ultimate when all three enemy heroes are in range, doing as much damage as you can.
- Finishing off a weak hero while there are other ones in range
- Killing an enemy trying to flee a teamfight if you don't have
Afterburn available.
- Revealing
Taka as soon as he disappears, since the radius of the circle that Bloodsong damages around you is 4 meters.
First Buys Top
The beginning of the game is all about getting as much gold as possible. Try to farm the jungle, but if one of your teammates is being a jerk and hogging all the monsters, you can alternate between the lane and jungle.
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Ironguard Contract: Grants a boost of 20 gold every time you are hit 5 times by monsters or minions. Also grants a 30% share of gold of any kill made by a teammate while you are around. This allows you to make the biggest profit possible from farming the lane and jungle.
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Halcyon Potion: Allows for sustained farming so you don't have to teleport back home every time you have low health.
Phase 1 Top
You may notice how there are repeating items in this stage. This is not a mistake as it is part of a strategy I use to effectively obtain Tier 3 items. You may notice how Tier 3 items have multiple Tier 2 items that can be leveled up to them. In this build,
Sorrowblade can be achieved through
Heavy Steel or
Six Sins. However, if you buy both items, they will later combine to form Sorrowblade. Through this method you can save gold for getting Tier 3 items by buying the items that are in its upgrade tree. This also effectively boosts your Weapon Power in the time your are waiting to get Sorrowblade.
At this point of the game, you need to stick mainly to farming and try not to confront heroes as fights are just unnecessary risks for you. This build is weaker earlier in the game, so play it safe and only go into fights with another ally at your side.
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Ironguard Contract
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Weapon Blade(2x): Later upgraded to Heavy Steel and Six Sins, both of which count towards Sorrowblade
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Swift Shooter(2x): Later upgraded to Blazing Salvo and Lucky Strike, both of which count towards Tornado Trigger
Phase 2 Top
Now you can feel free to engage in more conflicts. However, still be wary as you are not quite at your full power. Enemies may have noticed your Weapon build and may be starting to build items like
Coat of Plates to counter you. This will be a problem until you complete
Bonesaw. However, you can still gank laners pretty well and will most likely help out a lot in a team fight because of your high base health.
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Ironguard Contract
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Heavy Steel
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Six Sins
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Lucky Strike: With this bought, you will be doing critical hits, which means you can take advantage of
Hunt the Weak now. This makes farming the lane more viable for you.
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Blazing Salvo
Phase 3 Top
This is when the enemy will start to fear your very sight. Feel free to engage more frequently and start pushing the lane with your team. The added armor piercing allows you to get past some armor.
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Ironguard Contract
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Sorrowblade: Combines
Heavy Steel and
Six Sins in your inventory with added Weapon Power
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Tornado Trigger: Although
Tyrant's Monocle grants a greater chance for critical hits, the 70% increase in attack speed gives you more chances to critical hit, and therefore, use
Hunt the Weak. It also lets you do deal damage at a very fast rate. (BUILD FIRST)
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Piercing Spear: Saves up for Bonesaw and gains armor piercing
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Blazing Salvo: Saves up for Bonesaw
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Dragonheart: Makes sure that you have more health than almost anyone in the match, ensuring that you will last a long time in teamfights.
General Final Build Top
At the end, you will not only be a Tank/Assassin for your team, but you will also be a pseudo-support hero with the additions of Crucible and Warhorn, whose actives can potentially win an otherwise losing team-battle. At this point, you can beat practically everyone in a 1v1, with the exception of maybe
Catherine.
- Warhorn: The energy regen and cooldown allows you to sustain longer on the field and also deal more damage, especially with
Twisted Stroke. The active, which gives you and your allies a burst of speed similar to
Sprint Boots, is useful for quickly disengaging from a losing fight, or quickly ganking the enemy team.
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Sorrowblade
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Tornado Trigger
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Bonesaw: The armor shred this provides is absolutely devastating to enemies. By reducing the armor of the target you AND your allies will do increased damage to them. Also the added boost to attack speed ensures that their armor will be torn to shreds in no time, leaving them vulnerable to being locked down by your team. This is particularly useful for taking Kraken and destroying Turrets because of the armor shred.
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Crucible: The boost to health makes you insanely hard to take down, especially with 20 stacks of
Bloodsong. The active can protect your team from the damage and effects of
Blast Tremor,
Verse of Judgement, and
Dragon Breath. With proper timing, this can save your team from a tremendous amount of damage. (Replace with
Aegis or
Atlas Pauldron if you are up against heavy Crystal or Weapon Damage)
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Flare Gun: As respawn timers get longer, it is essential that your team is aware of where enemy heroes are so you don't walk right into an ambush. Pop a flare occasionally to keep an eye on what the enemy is up to. The last thing you need is to get aced.
- You are the tank, act like one and always facecheck bushes and take Kraken hits for your team
- Always initiate a gank, since you can take the initial damage your enemies will do
- Use your
Bonesaw and
Afterburn to immediately soften up and lock down high threat targets for your team to demolish.
- Although many people don't pay attention to minions, kill groups of enemy minions with
Twisted Stroke in the late game so your minions can push up and you can start attacking turrets. The more you push lane, the better.
- Don't overcommit to a fight. If you are losing,
Afterburn out of there and get to somewhere safe. Start farming again if you can.
- Do not chase after heroes for too long. This will only cause their friends to come to their aid and all of a sudden, you have a 2v1 on your hands. The fact that someone is retreating means that they will likely TP back and be out of the action for a while anyways.
- If you are the last one on your team, STAY BY YOUR TURRETS AND STAY ALIVE!!!! The last thing your team needs is to be aced.
- Always look for something to do, and maximize your efficiency. In the early game, assist your laner only when necessary and then get out. You are best suited to farming the jungle
- If you have an assassin on your team like
Koshka, let them take most of the jungle. Your
Ironguard Contract allows you to be flexible with farming. Having a high level assassin can be incredibly useful early in the game.
Closing Remarks Top
This build makes you a cornerstone in team fights and allows you to be really flexible with your tactics. Use your
Afterburn to quickly isolate and eliminate threats and keep your finger over Warhorn and whatever defensive active you have to ensure your team's safety.
If you are reading this far, thank you for giving me your time and I hope this guide helps you out a little bit. Feel free to experiment and personalize this setup as you wish. If you find anything to be lacking, find items that go well with this build, or feel that other characters or more or less of a threat than I said, let me know in the comments, and I will gladly put your suggestions in this guide if I find them to be helpful.
Happy hunting!
- Skyflame23
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