Authors Note: xVintage Top
Hello! My name is xVintage and I am the owner and founder of the Vainglory Community Premiere League! I'm ~PoA Silver and I am a self-proclaimed Alpha God. Today I will be giving you my in depth guide to CP Alpha Jungle, a hero that is often overlooked and considered weak due to her lack of early game strength. I'm hoping this guide will bring some popularity to the pick, and will help you have a better understanding of alpha and her mechanics! Hope you enjoy the guide!
Chapter One: The Build Path Explained Top
**An important note for the build is that when I put one halcyon potion, I really mean ONE halcyon potion! Do not start with two, save yourself some gold! **
As far as I have seen, I am the only player in NA who runs this build path. Many people will try to rush aftershock, but in my opinion that's wrong on several levels. What good is having a strong dueling item, if you can't hold your own in a 1v1? Let alone a 2v1 / 3v1.
I start with armor and one potion because those two items alone will help you immensely throughout the early game, where Alpha is considered weak. Getting a level 1 armor will let you take on jungle camps by yourself without any real worry if your roamed goes to start the next camp. If you get invaded, this will help you upon escaping/dueling for that heal camp, too.
Having both defensive tier 1 items will give you a strong amount of tankiness. Even without damage items, you will actually be able to put out a strong amount of damage to your enemies in skirmishes, and you'll already be tough to kill!
I prefer rushing Alternating Current over Aftershock because I feel A.C offers more overall damage per second, and thus burst damage too. With the recent changes to AC's attack speed stat, you will find that once you're at this point in the build path, you will be extremely tanky and you will be able to hit like a truck. At rank 5, your B ability will be off cool down ~every two seconds! Once you try this build you will be able to see for yourself!
Chapter Two: Abilities and How to Use Them Top
Prime Directive: This ability is great because it can be used as both an engage and disengage tool! However, I do see many people use this ability the wrong way. You should NOT purely focus on using this ability to engage a target. This ability is BEST used as a gap closer. You should try to engage the fight using your already fast base movement speed (3.3) and your B ability. The reason for this is actually two things.
1) Prime Directive gains more damage on impact based on how many stacks of Core Charge she removes! To get the most of this ability, use this after wacking your enemy with your Core Charge at least two times! (Caps at 3 charges.)
2) Prime Directive REMOVES THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF CORE CHARGE! This effect matters more in the early game, where core charge also uses 10% of your HP as resource cost. However even in the latter game, using this ability to remove the negative effects of 3 charges can actually save you a lot of HP, and could even save the fight/game.
It's important to note that to use this ability as a gap closer, you can only attach yourself to enemy heroes, jungle creeps, jungle bosses, and towers. Don't try attaching yourself to lane minions, don't be that guy. :(
Core Charge: This ability is your main source of damage on alpha. Always maximize this ability first and try to have it at rank 5 when your hero is level 8. In the early game it's important to remember that each cast of this ability uses 10% of your HP! However, in skirmishes this doesn't matter too much because Core Charge also has a unique passive! When you recently activate a core charge, you get a buff that actually heals you the more you use the ability and the more you auto attack! This huge sustain is overlooked when using a "Aftershock rush" build tree, but when you have a blazing Salvo and are building in a AC, you will easily be able to notice the sustain in skirmishes and jungling.
This ability gains a huge power spike at level 8, because when it's overdrived it actually costs you NO HP! The HP cost is removed, and will allow you to finally go super agreesive on the Storm guard and your enemies!
Termination Protocol: Well, we've all seen it. And chances are you were probably watching YOURSELF when you saw it happen. Alpha begins her ultimate, but just before you blow up: your enemies move/kite out of range. You then kill yourself as your enemies feed off of your cold, lifeless, robot body. Its a sucky feeling, but I'm here to help that not happen!
For me, one of the problems I had when learning this ability was the gap close. The second your enemies see you activate this ability, they will most likely start running far out of range of the boom. As youre reading this you are probably thinking to yourself, "thats why you use your A to close the gap." However for me as an Alpha novice, I would screw up by using my A to lock onto the enemy carry, THEN activating my ultimate, and then the enemy vox would jump his way to victory, or I would get punted by a glaive, or slowed by an Adagio; the possibilities were endless really.
It took alot of practice for me to finally master the use of Prime Directive and all of its forms. The only advice I can really give to you on this ability is: Activate it first, then use Prime Directive, and if your target tries to run, stay attatched to them using your Core Charge.
Some notes about this ability:
1) If your enemies (or anyTHING) destroys your huge barrier you get upon activation, the timer will speed up and detonate yourself ahead of schedule.
2) Dont stop fighting the enemy just bc you activated this ability! You can fit in 1-3 core charges by the time you actually detonate, do all the damage you can!
3) Be VERY careful activating this ability under turrets. Unless the aggro is on another team member, just, dont do it often.
Chapter Three: Items + When to Get Them Top
Journey Boots: Great stats that give Alpha some extra bulk, and awesome move speed on top of her 3.3 base! Always get, ALWAYS.
Alternating Current: I recommend you rush this item if youre going to be using this build. Plain and Simple.
Aftershock: Its a great second core item. It will give you a major burst of damage when using your Core Charges, and some extra small sustain for your Core Charge passive. Just buy it, its core, man.
Broken Myth: Once you get this item, your damage will amplify IMMENSELY. Always get this item, especially if you're looking at a match with a length of 20 minutes or more.
Aegis: It offers an insane amount of shield and some minor armor stats, as well as the reflex block active ability. Always get this, as it helps to ignore CC effects from supports trying to stop you from sticking to their allies.
Atlas Pauldron: Ok, now were getting situational! Get Atlas as your second defensive item if you are going against an enemy time with a high amount of attack speed/kiting ability. Activating this item the second before you use your Prime Directive will allow you to apply the atk speed slow almost immediately upon impact if done correctly! Get this against: Ringo, Vox, Blackfeather, Krul, Glaive, etc.
Metal Jacket: If your support already has an atlas, just get yourself a Metal Jacket. This + Aegis makes you near unkillable.
Fountain of Renewal: Get this as your last defensive item if you're against a team with a double CP composition, or if your enemy CP carry is just ridiculously fed. (Skaarf)
Eve of Harvest: If you're already super ahead in the game, and Aegis is enough defensive stats for you, you can always pick up an Eve. This item will give you crazy sustain late game, but at the sacrifice of raw defensive stats. I suggest only buying this item if you are for sure ahead and can use the extra damage to shut down the game. I recommend buying this item LAST if you do.
Conclusion + Coming Soon! Top
This is the conclusion of my first installment for my CP Alpha Jungle guide on VaingloryFire. I will be updating this guide from time to time with more information, and I wont stop updating it until this is by far the most in depth guide to Alpha to ever exist! (I'm being super serious.) Expect to see more of the following segments added in the future:
+ Alpha's ability + Math?! What is actuaally worth it?
+ Alpha's Role in Teamfights, and how to secure them
+ How to solo Kraken with one defensive item!
+ Many, many more!
Thanks for checking out my guide! Every complete read is much appreciated! Good luck on the Fold, I hope this gets you some ELO!
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