Items
First of all, mana pool > mana regen. I did not invent this myself, this was being told in an another guide. That guide was the starting point where I learned (in my opinion) the best way to build Heimer. You need lot's of mana pool because you need to be able to spam your skills quickly in a row. Mana regen just won't do it.
Core build:
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(also ![]()
usually)
Order:
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if you want to rush Rabadon's Deathcap
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Explanation:
I almost always start with Ruby Crystal. You could also start with Sapphire Crystal, but taking Ruby Crystal as first item just makes Heimer so beefy. When laning 1v1 with easy opponent or 2v2 with a know good buddy, Ruby Crystal can be a good choice. When laning 1v2 or drunk you especially need to take Ruby Crystal.
Then at first trip back, get Catalyst the Protector. Catalyst the Protector gives you a lot health and mana when leveling up. Early game it is a big advantage. After this, get Rod of Ages. This is important, since Rod of Ages takes time to fully charge.
Next step is boots. I always take Sorcerer's Shoes. Only rarely, for fun, I take something else. If you play right, you should not need much magic resist (at least not early game), dodge or even more speed. If you say you need more speed since Heimer is slow, you are doing something wrong. Just play safe and you have always your turrets with ulti and your grenade to back you up plus Teleport to help you move across map. Also, sometimes you might want to rush Rabadon's Deathcap, so you could just buy Boots of Speed and skip Sorcerer's Shoes for later.
Next item is Rabadon's Deathcap. Buy it in any order you seem to have the money.
What next...
After this you need to watch the other team closely. If they are heavy on magic damage, you might need to buy some magic resistance, if they are heavy on physical damage, then armor. Example Zhonya's Hourglass is a good item which gives armor and AP with a nice active too. Quicksilver Sash is good one for giving magic resistance with a very good active. I haven't really used this item much, but look at the Notes-section here: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Quicksilver_Sash. If there is example a dominating Malzahar on the enemy team and he tends to target you first with his ulti, then buy Quicksilver Sash. After that... Turret, ulti, grenade, rockets and another turret. His screwed. Side note: You should not wait to get both turrets up before using ulti, especially now, when the ulti is applied to turrets even if they are placed after activating ulti. When there was only one day from that patch, I already got into several situation where I had a huge help from this small buff.
Often you want Rylai's Crystal Scepter, since it gives you many things. Lot's of health and AP plus of course the slow is a good one for Heimer. Other good choice is to buy Tear of the Goddess before Rylai's Crystal Scepter, which can be expanded into Archangel's Staff giving you a huge AP boost if so needed. I often even skip Rylai's Crystal Scepter in order to achieve this. I have noticed that in many games where I bought Tear of the Goddess after first three core items, I can get quite nice benefit from it's passive. Usually at least 400 more mana pool late game. And after I buy Archangel's Staff I get almost 200 AP boost when combined with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Rabadon's Deathcap. This build is still expensive and does not really work in all games.
The most basic build:
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One of the most basic builds for me is show above. But I rarely build it like this mostly because usually the game ends before I can finish this build plus Void Staff is quite unnecessary in most games. The sixth slot I use for wards. If and only if I either get so fed or the game continues very long, I start taking something else than wards into the sixth slot.
Other possible builds:
If you need a huge amount of AP (and actually can afford this build somehow):
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Sometimes you might need to get more health or maybe even do a tanky build (which is fun), then buy a Warmog's Armor. Heimer is awesome in charging it. Of course you need other defensive item's also. You need to look at the other team and check out what kind of damage they do.
I will update other good builds as I come across them. I tend to play so automatically with Heimer, that I don't really remember all the good ones without looking the end game lobby :P
Gameplay
Early game before team fights
Mid 1v1
Ok, so you got yourself playing mid lane 1v1. This is imo the best position for Heimer.
Wait for the first minions to come and place your turret near where your first melee minion stops. Until lvl5, when you get your second turret, this is the best position. Though against some champions, like brand, you might want to place the turret on the side of the minions, so that the enemy can't deal damage to your turret and minions at the same time so easily. Now just sit back at last hit with your wrench. Harass the enemy champion if he comes too close or tries to take out your turret. Some are easier, some harder. Annie and Teemo are one of the easiest, Cho'gath and Urgot one of the hardest. You should also place a new turret more near the enemy minions if they are too far even if your turret is at maximum health (which is usually the case at start after first minion wave).
When you have enough gold for Catalyst the Protector and two wards (1000g), go back to buy them. At this point, if my team does not have a jungler, I Teleport to second turret on the side lane where blue buff is. I take the blue buff and go back mid. At this point, blue buff or not, you should be around lvl6-7. If you have the blue buff, then get mad and farm/do damage as hell. If you don't, then play cool and push. Oh, I almost forgot, place those two wards in the mid lane side pushes. Especially if the enemy team has a jungler. If it doesn't, then you can wait a bit until some enemy is missing and go place them quickly. Saved me from a huge punch of ganks. And better, my team has had a lots of kills because of those wards. Example my team mate can Teleport to them, I throw grenade to the unwise ganker, he is stunned and we kill him and maybe even his friend who is mid and tries to come help trough my turrets. Never gank a good Heimer. It will end badly for you.
The usual placement of turrets after you get both of them, notice the wards too:
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Depending on the enemy champion mid, you should be able to push the mid tower quite quickly. At first, keep your turrets just enough far away so that the enemy tower can't hit them and place them on both sides of the lane. Throw grenade on the ranged minions back (so they won't do any damage even if you don't have minions taking the damage), and rocket the melee ones. Your turrets and minions should handle the rest. Replace turrets when they get killed and spam your spells on enemy minions and the enemy champion. At best you can keep the enemy champion on low health all the time and he has to stay back.
If you have two turrets in store and you get many of your own minions hitting the enemy tower, then you should place one turret so that it can make damage to the tower. Also spam your spells when the enemy minions arrive. Then go back to the original setup, with two turrets spread in the sides out of the enemy tower reach.
When you get your turrets to maxed out or you have just pushed so hard that the enemy tower is on low health, collect a big wave of your own minions to support you and push with both of your turrets to take out the enemy tower. Sometimes this takes couple of tries. Usually I get the enemy tower around half of it's health simply by killing all enemy minions quickly without even placing my own turrets near the enemy tower. After this, lvl5 turrets will put the enemy tower at rest very quickly.
Ok, I covered very little about the enemy champion there. Like he wouldn't even exist. That is because I usually feel that way. If you play right, the enemy champion really is all the time on so low health, that he can't really do anything. All he can do is trying to avoid Heimer's grenade and rockets. These champions are usually one of following: Annie, Ashe, Teemo, Karthus, Malzahar.. The harder ones are somewhat these: Nunu, Cho'Gath, Urgot.. Many others depend how the enemy guy is playing them, like Brand, Anivia and Caitlyn, though they are quite manageable even if played right. And remember, you are still just one champion among others. If I gave you an image about Heimer being unbeatable, that is because every guide always exaggerates the champion it is presenting ;)
Solo 1v2
Solo lane is my favourite. It is not the best but I like it the most. It so satisfying to keep 2 enemy champions occupied while leveling and farming yourself.
In solo lane you DON'T push, of course. Even if you could. I have played against so poor players, that I easily killed them alone in 1v2 and could have pushed the lane. Even in this case, don't. Just farm and level up. Stay near your own turret. I have, many times, made the mistake thinking I could push a little because I have a ward in that side push. It does not end well usually. Mid is so much easier for surviving from ganks, sides are not.
Normally you want to start by placing your first turret where your first melee minion stops. You should be able to do this quite safely. It wont last there very long if you are facing good opponents. But still it is worth those few minion kills. There is usually nothing better to do in solo lane =) After this play carefully and observe closely how the enemy champions are playing. Usually they try and want to push aggressively against solo. If this is the case, try to level up as fast as you can to level 5 so you get both of your turrets up. Until then, play safe and don't waste much mana. If they are very aggressive, you need to place your turret very near to your tower, so it won't get killed so easily. Use your grenade to stun the enemy champions if they come too close. You can use your rockets to get some minion kills but watch out your mana. When you get to level 5, you should keep one turret near your tower and place the other one closer to enemy minions for kills. It will get killed often, but you get minion kills easier using rockets and grenade to harass the enemy champions. If all goes well, you can keep them even below half health and they need to care a lot because of your jungling friend.
How to place your turrets early game 1v2:
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If the enemy is not very aggressive, don't be fooled. They probably try to get you pushing thinking they are not very good (or they actually suck, but still, play safe). At some point they have to kill minions and push even a little, if they don't and neither do you, they are 2 against one. They loose much more than you that way. You level up more quickly than they and they have more hard time getting any money since there are two after those few and rare last hits when not aggressively pushing and killing minions. You can use your grenade to harass them when they try to get those last hits. When you level up enough and get your turrets to level 5 (plus hopefully some items), you can put up a camp with both turrets around middle of your and the enemy towers. You should be now quite ahead in level compared to your opponents. Stay back and harass them carefully and if they dare to attack you and start coming behind your turrets, pop your ulti, throw a grenade, use rockets and start running away to your tower. If they are squishy or just don't do damage, you could even stay to fight them (but you have to be sure about this before they attack). I usually try to harass them to attack, then pop my ulti, flash away, then check if they still chase me and decide from there how to fight. Quite often it is possible to turn back after flash to fight because they are slowed by ulti.
1v2 later, if you dare and can do it (don't push farther than this alone!):
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That's about it, you can't do much more than that alone. If your jungler is good in ganking and actually will gank, then you go in and attack with him. Though this is not usually the case with random players.
2v2
Later.
Team fights
Something every champion should know
This is the most important part. Early game is just preparation for the later. Your champion kills won't really matter at this point. I have been in games with 1-10 or 10-1 "home team"/"enemy team" total scores and even worse when the team fights begin. Still the team "loosing" that score has won the game with a good team play. If you are a good player, you DON'T start whining when your team has less kills. Instead you start to play team and maybe even try to lift up the team spirit by saying something funny or nice.
One second global note is, that later in the game even 10 minion kills can be worth of one champion kill. Dragon and tower are more worth than two or even three kills (plus they give gold to everyone), so don't be a fool and go chase one unsure kill if you have the change to take out the dragon or tower. You should always prioritise taking down towers over the dragon. Dragon is just an extra, killing towers weakens the enemy and takes you closer to victory. I have seen too many players going for dragon after a team fight that has been won when there would have been easy tower to be taken out. That is, in my opinion, just stupid (remember to tell this to your team mates if this happens, it always lifts up the team spirit). Like I noted in introduction, be a team player, League of Legends is a team game.
Heimerdingering with the team
Many people seem to think, that Heimer is not good for the team later. If you think this way, you probably haven't played with a good Heimer, or your team's Heimer has not been a team player. Heimer is imo kind of a mixed support/offtank/ap dps.
Before team fight is initiated, harass the enemy with rockets and grenade. Try to get them on low health from far away without taking any damage yourself. Don't waste too much mana though, but if you have example blue buff, you can spam as much as you want and can. You should also place wards into pushes. If you see the opposing team going into push for a big gank, otherwise notice a good position for your turrets or notice a team fight beginning, place your turrets and prepare. You should try to spread your turrets a bit, so that AoE damage wont kill them too easily.
Sometimes you can try to initiate a team fight by placing your turrets and harassing the enemy into a attack. But at this point you need to have example flash and you need to be able to take the stuns/CC and damage they throw at you before you can flash away etc. Usually the only place you want to do this, is in a push where you see them all coming into. Place both turrets, wait for the first enemy to come, grenade him, flash away and pop ulti and rockets. At this point, hopefully your team is wise enough to attack them. With your turrets at ulti, at least one enemy stunned/blinded by your grenade and so on, it should not be too hard for your team to be victorious in that fight.
Usually, as Heimer, you should always stay little behind and not initiate team fights. Earlier was just a rare example differing from this. Your usual role is to support the team, stun/blind the enemy so that either your team can go and make damage or if your team is retreating, help your team mates get away. Heimer can do insane damage with good amount AP, but still you are not a carry. You should make the damage you can little before or at the start of the team fight so that your team has an easier job of killing the enemy.
When team fight is initiated, try to grenade/rocket at least their carry (dps is best, because of the blind). If there is a fiddle/ashe/veigar/etc squishy carry in their team, try to hit them. So if you have at least a decent amount of AP, you should be able to drop them below half health even with a single grenade/rocket-combo. Next thing is to place one turret, pop your ulti and place the second one (if you didn't place your turrets earlier). You should try walk very near or even middle of the battle for placing the second turret, but still, try to be as unnoticeable as you can. After this, spam your rockets and grenade as much as you can and wrench carefully but still stay behind. You are not worth anything to your team in "hand to hand" combat. Your thing is to stun/blind people with your grenades and doing damage with rockets. Plus of course replacing turrets when possible.
That is mostly it, I will expand this section when I have the time to do it. But for now that is what I think you should know about playing with the team in general and as Heimer.
Love
