1. INTRODUCTION

Strengths:

Cons:

2. HERO ABILITIES

Summon Wolves

Summons two wolves to fight for Banehallow. Level 2-4 wolves have Critical Strike, and level 4 wolves have permanent invisibility.

Summon Wolves Duration:55s

Cooldown: 30s

Mana cost: 125

Howl

Grants bonus damage to Banehallow and all allied heroes and all units under their control.

Hero Bonus Damage: 20/30/40/50

Unit Bonus Damage: 4/8/12/16

Area of Effect: Global

Duration: 12s

Cooldown: 50/45/40/35s

Mana cost: 50/45/40/35

Feral Impulse

Increases the damage and attack speed of Banehallow and all units under his control.

Bonus Damage: 15%/20%/25%/30%

Bonus Attack Speed: 15%/20%/25%/30%

Radius: 900

Shapeshift

Banehallow assumes his true form, increasing his combat capabilities. During Shapeshift, Banehallow and his wolves move at maximum speed and cannot be slowed.

Bonus Health: 100/200/300

Base Attack Time: 1.5

Critical Strike Chance: 30%

Critical Strike Damage: 1.7×

Day/Night Sight Range: 1800/1800

Duration: 18s

Cooldown: 100/70/40s

Mana cost: 100

Early game

Mid Game

Mid/Late Game

3. SKILL BUILD

Level 1 - Summon wolves

Level 2 - Feral impulse

Level 3 - Summon wolves

Level 4 - Feral impulse

Level 5 - Summon wolves

Level 6 - Shapeshift

Level 7 - Summon wolves

Level 8 - Feral impulse

Level 9 - Feral impulse

Level 10 - Howl

Level 11 - Shapeshift

Level 12 - Howl

Level 13 - Howl

Level 14 - Howl

Level 15 - Stats

Level 16 - Shapeshift

Level 17+ - Stats

4. ITEM BUILD

Starting items

Ring of Basilius, Clarity Potions

Core items

Power Treads, Vladimir's Offering, Black King Bar

Situational Items

Desolator, Basher, Abyssal Blade, Monkey King Bar, Assault Cuirass, Heart of Terrasque, Medallion of Courage

5. CONCLUSION

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“Why is this hero so powerful?” - If you've ever played DotA public games, you've most definitely asked yourself this question. To answer it, we need to know why this hero brings so much discussions to the table. Banehallow, the Lycanthrope is basically a jungle/lane carry hero with the ability to get an enormous amount of farm in a very short time.+Very high and fast damage during the mid and late game+Buff for every allied unit+Very easy farming with Summoned Wolves, and the ability to solo kill Roshan early on.-No disable/AOE damage,-Reliant on his ultimate.All in all, this is a really solid hero. If you'd like to feel the power of the almighty wolf in pubs, we will help you to get even more powerful by giving you everything you need to know about this amazing hero.This is a very important skill for Lycan in every aspect of his game. Besides giving you the opportunity to get your farm up without losing any health points when killing neutrals, the wolves come with damage as well: 17-18 on the first level and 43-49 on the fourth level plus an extra critical strike and invisibility which makes you very aggressive from the beginning of the game.This skill is mostly picked first when Lycan is played as a jungle carry, where he farms until he gets his Vladimir's Offering so he can go solo Roshan. The wolves can also be used for their pushing potential, which is great when you want to play aggressively with your team.Lycan has two big abilities that makes the wolves even more powerful: Howl and Feral Impulse. The wolves are able to kill off supporters easily by themselves. They also provide a lot of map awareness and make it hard to gank you as their invisibility can easily spy the other team.One of the biggest AoE damage boosters in Dota 2. Howl is an aggressive buff that gives your team a big advantage in team fights. The low mana cost makes sure that you can always afford this ability. Howl fits extremely well with pushing line-ups, lasting a full 12 seconds, giving you enough time to destroy enemy towers.You can get +50 dmg for you and every allied hero but this ability has quite the big cooldown, so you need to be careful when you cast it. You'll only be able to cast it once in team-fights because of the 35 seconds cooldown.*Notes:-If wolves are summoned during the duration of Howl, they will receive the damage bonus until the duration is up.-Affects all allied player-controlled units, not just those under Lycanthrope's control.If you think that the damage from Wolves and Howl isn't enough than you're absolutely right. Feral Impulse is an insane aura that gives attack speed and damage for everyone around you. Wherever you want to go, jungle or lane, this is the ability you need to have.The fourth level gives you and all the units under your control +30% Bonus Damage, and +30% Attack Speed. The important thing is that creeps don’t get your aura so if you want to play on the lane and focus on killing creeps without pushing, this makes it very easy to last hit.Your whole game is centred around your ultimate. When you use Shapeshift, there is no getting away for your enemies.Basically what happens is that you’re transforming into an unstoppable giant wolf, giving you extra health points, attack speed, critical strike, vision and it boosts your movement speed to maximum speed without the possibility to get slowed by any ability.The usage of Shapeshift is different depending on what stage of the game you're currently in:: Level 1 with 100 seconds cooldown: Getting your sixth level on Lycan will not make you that powerful so don't expect to immediately go on a rampage killing spree, but in similarity to Drow Ranger, you'll be able to output a lot of damage which makes it possible to get your early kills. The cooldown on your first level is pretty high and most of the time you'll use it to get away when the enemy decides to track you down and try to stop you from farming. Be careful when you use it in the early game.: Level 2 with 70 seconds cooldown: Things start to change now. With some items farmed up you gain the ability to kill anyone, either join team fights or look for solo kills. The key thing when playing Lycan is not to get stunned, so pick up a BKB as fast as possible and you'll receive a lot of hate from your enemy team.: Level 3 with 40 seconds cooldown: Time to reign as a king. This is the moment you combine your good items with high levels, making you unstoppable. The ultimate has a low cooldown so it's always there for you if needed, turning you into the big bad wolf Lycan is.Lycan can be played in many ways, but the majority of the players have two different playing styles. The most famous one is jungling him but he can also be played in the lane.Below is the skill build for a jungling Lycan:Using this skill build, it's easy to get your farm up in the jungle. Summoning Wolves and Feral Impulse gives you the ability to kill off neutrals, farming at a fast rate. Once you hit level 8-10 you'll be able to output a lot of dps with your ultimate combined with the wolves making it easy to start killing people off.Time to go a bit deeper in the items you should pick up when jungling Lycan.Most important thing in the early phase is to have enough mana to keep your wolves summoned as they will tank the neutrals for you.The absolute core for Lycan. Vladimir's Offering is absolutely perfect for Lycan giving you life steal, bonus damage, health regeneration and the right amount of mana to keep your wolves up.Once you've got your Core up, it's time to pick up damage items. Desolator is the best cost-efficient item to pick up. Also, a lot of players tend to go for Basher after which is now upgradeable to an Abyssal Blade, giving your Lycan a stun. The next item of choice is picking up an Assault Cuirass for obvious reasons. As in every build, situational items are situational so don't stick to one build but adapt to the game.Most players consider Lycan a very easy hero with not much value in competitive games, this is in fact not true. The competitive usage of the hero is based on how aggressive he can be. Lycan has a lot of pushing potential with Howl and Summoning Wolves and is able to output massive damage against enemy heroes providing the right-click power shoutcasters like to refer to.Once Lycan gets his Core Items, he is a threat to anyone and the Big Bad Wolf song will most definitely play in everyone's head during the game. If you decide picking him up in competitive games, ban heroes like Beastmaster as his ultimate is the perfect counter to a Lycan using his BKB.Check out Lycan in action here Article by: PJPrevious editions: