Here's the latest class spotlight for Heroes of Newerth. This time it's the Revenant, a ghostly reaper type character. His attacks don't deal as much damage outright but sap the enemy's strength while buffing allies. He might not seem too intimidating when he first shows up, but the Revenant's ability to progressively drain an entire army's magic armor makes him a uniquely dangerous support class.
Revenant Skill Set:
• Defile: Buffs an ally's next two attacks to deal an extra 40/70/100/130 magic damage as well as apply a stacking 20% movement speed slow.
• Mortification: Attaches a 300 unit area of effect state to target unit for 6 seconds. Enemies in the area take 15/25/35/45 magic damage per second and have their magic armor reduced by 1/2/3/4.
• Essence Shroud: Grants target ally stealth for 10/15/20/25 seconds. Attacking out of this stealth reduces enemy's armor by 1/2/3/4.
• Manifestation:
· Level 1: Allows the Revenant to cast spells while he is affected by Essence Shroud. Grants a 10% movement speed bonus to units affected by Essence Shroud.
· Level 2: Abilities cast on allies are also cast on yourself.
· Level 3: Abilities cast now to a third target in range of the ability.
Playstyle and Tips:
Revenant's damage is based 90% off of his ranged attacks and his ability to enable his teammates. In the early-game, it is best to max his Defile ability and use Essence Shroud to get into position to slow enemies and get a lot of attacks off. Steamboots' attack speed boost make them a great pickup for Revenant.
In the mid-game, Revenant should be roaming and ganking as much as possible. At level 6, Revenant can cast all of his skills while he is in the stealth of Essence Shroud. This enhances his ganking abilities because he can open out of stealth with Defile already cast on him, immediately slowing his target. What abilities Revenant levels first is very dependent on his team composition. If he is in a very heavy caster team, it is best to max Mortification first in order to lower enemies' magic armor, and vice versa for Essence Shroud.
Once Revenant hits level 11, all of his abilities may be cast on two targets, essentially doubling his effectiveness. At this point it is very important to stay with at least one other teammate to maximize your abilities. All of Revenant's abilities have a stacking property, making them even stronger when they are doubled: the slow of Defile, damage of Mortification, and armor reduction of Essence Shroud all stack when cast on multiple units.
In the late-game, when Revenant is able to cast all of his abilities on a 3rd target, he can use Essence Shroud as a great initiator for team fights, as you can enter a team fight with three invisible heroes. If all three heroes attack out of stealth, they can reduce a single target's armor by 12! All the while putting out solid damage with three instances of Mortification going off at once.
