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Strategy Guide for Azgalor the Pit Lord

by the_rock_rjc (as of v6.60)

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Table of Contents
How to use: Type CTRL + F [?] and hit Enter twice to reach the section you want

[1]Introduction
[2]Stats
[3]Weaknesses and Strengths
[4]Skill Information
[5]Skill Build
[6]Recommended Item Build
[7]Tip on execution of Blasted Earth
[8]Walkthrough
[9]Strategy & Team Role
[10]Complimentary & Counter heroes
[11]CREDITS
[12]Replays

[1] Introduction

Welcome to the second guide in my Elemental series! This time, it is Azgalor in the spotlight,
with his superb tri-spell combo making up the components of the Blasted Earth theme. Fire and
Earth is indeed a lethal mix.

Now, please enjoy.

Disclaimer: This guide is supposedly not for "competitive" purposes, so "competitive" players
please don't patronise or post any of your "I'm so uber" replies. Thanks.

Why "Blasted Earth"? The reason is simple, yet annoying to me. I had wanted "Scorched Earth",
but Lucifer took the copyrights to it already, so this is what I could come up with.

[2] Stats
Strength: 25+2.6/level (primary stat)
Agility: 12+1.3/level
Intelligence: 17+2.6/level
Base Damage: 62-68
Base MS: 305
Base Attack Time (BAT): 1.7
Attack Range: 100
Cast Point: 0.75
Cast Animation: 0.5 (can be cancelled)
Attack Point: 0.45
Attack Animation: 0.7 (can be cancelled)

[3] Weaknesses and Strengths

This section will also serve as a reference when explaining the item build.

Strengths

* Powerful tri-spell combo


* Superb pusher/anti-pusher
* Good Strength gain

Weaknesses

* Needs massive mana regeneration to stay constantly in the lanes


* Needs a high degree of mobility for simultaneous pushing
* Relatively low HP pool
* Low attack speed and armor

[4] Skill Information

For the usual skill description, click here

Now for the elaborations:

Firestorm

Cast Range: 750


AOE: 600(diameter)
Total Damage: 185(139), 310(233), 435(326), 560(420)

* The Damage-over-Time component of Firestorm is not removed by Purge. Level 3 & 4


Firestorm guarantees the enemy non-upgraded ranged creep(s) kill/denied.
Pit of Malice

Cast Range: 800


AOE: 800(diameter)

Pit of Malice disables movement even on heroes with magic immunity, cannot be purged and
heroes cannot Blink. It can also be used to interrupt channeling. You gain normal sight within the
AOE, which means you can use it to scout in confined areas like chokepoints.

Expulsion

Cast Range: 750


AOE: 1000(diameter)

Expulsion removes 1 corpse/second, deals damage in an AOE of 800 around the removed corpse
and ministuns for 0.1 second. It has a count-down timer of 3 seconds, and will end if no corpse
was removed during the period; the explosion of a corpse resets the timer. Can be used to
interrupt Channeling, and triggers Linken Sphere's cooldown.

Dark Rift

Allied heroes in a AOE of 275(radius) around the Pit Lord will be teleported as well. Dark Rift
can be used to gank, by targeting a target allied creep approaching an unsuspecting laning enemy
hero(es).

[5] Skill build

Lvl 1: Firestorm
Lvl 2: Pit of Malice
Lvl 3: Firestorm
Lvl 4: Expulsion
Lvl 5: Firestorm
Lvl 6: Dark Rift
Lvl 7: Firestorm
Lvl 8-10: Expulsion/Pit of Malice
Lvl11: Dark Rift
Lvl12-14: Pit of Malice/Expulsion
Lvl15-24: Stats
Lvl25: Dark Rift

I prefer maxing Expulsion 1st, then Pit of Malice, but it is your personal preference.

[6] Recommended Item Build

Phase 1 Build

* tango x 2
* Voidstone x 2
* Ring of Health => Perseverance
* Boots of Speed+Recipe => Boots of Travel

1 Perseverance & 1 Voidstone gives Azgalor more than sufficient MP regeneration to push a
lane. Boots of Travel allows Azgalor to move around the map with near impunity, and to capture
the potential gold built up in combined creep waves.

Phase 2 build

* Messerschmidt's Reaver+Vitality Booster+Recipe => Heart of Tarransque


* Hyperstone+Plate Armor+Chain Mail+Recipe => Assault Cuirass

Getting Heart of Tarransque and Assault Cuirass makes Pit Lord a significant tanker, so it is time
to push fast and hard with the Blasted Earth spell combo.

Phase 3 build

* Broadsword+Claymore => Battlefury


* Ultimate Orb+Mystic Staff => Guinsoo
* Sacred Relic+Recipe => Radiance

Now that creep clearing and pushing is a piece of cake, additional tasks for Pit Lord will be to
bring down buildings and disable/assist-kill heroes. Battlefury provides the fastest damage
progression against towers and base buildings. Hex will be used against their carry hero, while
Radiance ensures that the enemy team cannot simply ignore you and go after YOUR carry hero.
Optional Replacement Item

Instead of Radiance,

You can get Lothar's Edge as an escape mechanism right after Phase 1 build instead, if you are
not well-versed in preventive and evasive manuevers(i.e. a beginner). This will actually save
Azgalor from getting killed frequently and delaying the item build.

Or Butterfly, as the last item. Sounds crazy, huh? Not when you are up against more than 1 DPS
carry heroes.

Miscellanous Items

[7] Tip for execution of Blasted Earth


Firestorm => Expulsion
Main creep clearing combo. Will clear an enemy wave of any number, as long as they are caught
in the AOE of both.

Expulsion => Firestorm


Alternative combo, similar to above, but used only when Pit Lord is late at the scene, and corpses
are readily available.

Pit of Malice => Firestorm => Expulsion


Hero-softening combo. This is very useful at bottlenecks in a lane and/or where enemy heroes
are keeping close to their creeps, as you do damage to enemy heroes while fulfilling your
primary responsibility at wiping out the enemy creep wave.

Firestorm => Expulsion => Pit of Malice


Used either when defending and you wish to start the damage sequence and/or when enemy hero
is already disabled among his/her allied creeps, and will be caught in Pit of Malice.
[8] Walkthrough

Early game

Buy your 2 x tangoes and go mid lane. Creep-delay easily with your massive frame. Creep-pull if
necessary to last-hit; last-hitting is your priority, denying is carried out only at your complete
convenience and safety.

At Lvl 5, spam lvl 3 Firestorm and, ignoring the melee creeps first, try to last-hit the ranged
creeps. At Lvl 7, spam lvl 4 Firestorm at will. In any case, once the enemy creep wave is killed
off, retreat and creep-delay actively to buy yourself time to regenerate the mana required. Your 2
Voidstones is absolutely crucial as they can sustain the spamming of your Firestorms once you
have achieved 30 or more intelligence points.

Mid-game

Continue to lane. Complete Phase 1 build

Now, start pushing down the tower in your lane; once it is down, teleport to another lane to push
another tower of the first tier. Once all 1st tier towers are down, push down the lane to the 2nd
tier towers as safely as possible, then teleport to another lane out of sight of enemy view. Repeat
until all 2nd tier towers are destroyed. Complete Phase 2 Build.

Late-game

Call for a team push down a particular lane(I recommend a side lane), and you push down
another lane. Ensure that you push faster than your other teammates, and plant Observer wards in
front of your creep wave as you close in with the enemy base. This is called baiting, as the
enemy team will probably opt for killing you piecemeal, then rushing back to defend against
your team-push. Once you mark their approach, retreat and teleport/dark rift(if you feel that they
are likely to interrupt your teleport) to your teammates. Focus on damaging/destroying the base
tower with your physical attacks, while leaving the clearing of enemy creeps to your spell
combo. Plant Observer(and Sentry, if the enemy team has invisible heroes) wards to gain sight of
the exposed barracks. Retreat when the enemy team returns to defend.

Complete Phase 3 Build. Repeat the above procedure. Once all the base towers are down, repeat
again, except this time your goal is to destroy the melee barracks(and ranged barracks, if you
have the opportunity) of a lane as soon as possible before falling back. This gives you creep
superiority, and can be equated to an additional partial-hero in pushing usefulness.

Once the full Build is done, it forces the enemy team to aim for you, but it is unlikely that the
PitLord can be killed even under focus fire, since your own team won't just sit there and do
nothing. Continue to tank your lane and finish the push with your team; then switch lanes.
Achieve Mega-Creeps, to put the game out of the enemy team's control.

[9] Strategy & Team Role


An excerpt from a Singapore Armed Forces paper on military strategy:

"... operational art involves seizing and maintaining the initiative... the key to attaining
initiative is speed... the key to retaining the initiative is the uninterrupted conduct of
operations... the attack must move rapidly. Speed is absolutely essential to success; it promotes
surprise, keeps the enemy off balance, contributes to the security of the attacking forces,
and prevents the defender from taking effective countermeasures. Properly exploited,
speed can confuse and immobilise the defender until the attack becomes unstoppable.
Finally, speed can compensate for a lack of mass and provide the momentum necessary for
attacks to achieve their aims."

Therefore, this is the role of the Pit Lord using the specific skill and item build recommended by
me:

Push. Push. Push.

You push, you tie down enemy heroes who have to respond to you. This gives your allies ample
time and opportunity for preparation to gank-pwn them, or to push down another lane.

In a nutshell, "speed" and "uninterrupted conduct of operations"(pushing) will gain you the
"initiative" and create an "unstoppable attack" and "compensate for a lack of mass(Pit Lord),
which in turn will ensure that you achieve your desired end-state objectives(destroying the
Tree/Throne).

In simple terms, if you want to be a hero-killer or anything else but a pusher(with add-on roles)
using Pit Lord, you will simply be helping your team to lose.

[10] Complimentary & Counter heroes

Complimentary heroes

Actually, it doesn't really matter. Pit Lord can operate independently, but he is a good
complimentary hero to allied heroes who have stuns/slow and can score the kills, by providing
the Pit of Malice and softening enemy heroes via Firestorm+Expulsion.

QUOTE
Special Mentions:

These 2 heroes combo well with Pit Lord and BattleFuries(the more the merrier). Imagine:
Vacuum, Pit(+Firestorm+Expulsion), Reverse Polarity. Cleave. OMG!
Counter heroes

Technically, every hero can be a counter hero against Pit Lord. Let's face it, Pit Lord's got
nothing going for him in the form of hero-killing, until he gets his Guinsoo(which takes quite a
long time).

[11] CREDITS

Jim Raynor
Beast Pete & Baconzilla
Guyoverthere07, for his Guinsoo/Radiance build in his Doombringer guide

To the various contributors who highlighted the issue of Lothar's Edge not being necessary. After
playing extensively and gaining in-depth familiarity with my own recommended strategy, I
agree. But it is still an beginner's optional item.

To matchbox for his contribution, which led me to revise the item build after some testing.

[12] Replays

Due to some changes to the system, replays are no longer available.

Visit http://planetdota.blogspot.com/ for your Dota needs!

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