Bengal's advice thread

[Bengal_Tigger]

Ask and ye shall receive.

In the mean time, I'll offer some tips based on whatever comes to mind.

Today's tip is: Don't fountain trip if you can help it. Get some regeneration, get teleportation or speed to make a fountain trip faster, don't lose hit points in the first place, I don't care. I take approximately 1 fountain trip per game. I usually have about 7000 gold at that time.

[Requiem]

What speed do you gain gold and what heroes would you recomend the Golden Crown on, Pheonix Knight was my first thought, though im not sure wether he farms well enough to warrant it.
My average is about 4-5.5k gold in the first 15 minutes with a usable combo.

[Bengal_Tigger]

I don't pay much attention to how fast I get gold, and it varies depending on how I'm doing from game to game.

I'd say I typically get about 6000 gold in 15 minutes on a good day, and 4500-ish on a bad day.

The only hero I would consider Crown of Kings on is the b2.5 Alchemist, who will likely be remade in b3. Whenever I see an opponent with a Crown, I paint a big red target on their head. If given any kind of choice, I will try to kill them, or coordinate ganks on them. Crown is only viable on late-game carries anyway, so that limits the hero combinations you are likely to get it on.

Here's some math behind the Crown...

Suppose you farm 300 gold per minute. I think that's fairly reasonable. This means you will get the Crown around the 10-minute mark, give or take. Perhaps slightly sooner, but for argument's sake let's say you buy a starting item to go with your Ring.

Now, without Crown you will farm 7500 gold in 25 minutes. If you can push the envelope a bit with hero kills, you can be almost in shape to buy an Elite item (9000g in b3, 10,000 right now) - in particular, the 4000g item you buy around the 15-minute mark ought to significantly improve your farming if you can avoid being ganked.

Suppose you get your Crown at the 10-minute mark. The income function is 5% total gold as interest per minute, so if you start with 0 gold at minute 10 and farm an average of 300 gold per minute, here is your gold at each minute:

10 - 0
11 - 315
12 - 646
13 - 993
14 - 1358
15 - 1741
16 - 2143
17 - 2565
18 - 3008
19 - 3473
20 - 3962 (your income plateaus here because Crown income cannot exceed 200 per minute)
21 - 4462
22 - 4962
23 - 5462
24 - 5962
25 - 6462

So, at the 25-minute mark you have about 6500 gold, compared to 7500 without Crown. However, you have the Crown itself, which adds 5 stats. The cost of 5 stats? 1000g - the Gold Necklace. So you broke even.

If you continue to maintain a cushion of 4000g to feed your Crown, you will benefit from this point forwards, to the tune of 200 gold per minute. Lovely.

However, there are some caveats. The first is that at the 15-minute mark, which would you rather have? +5 stats from Crown, or +16 stats and 1x your energy in bonus damage on certain spells? +5 stats from Crown, or +45 damage and 20% chance for 2x critical? Buying a 4000g item provides immediate benefit.

We also haven't factored in the cost of death. Deaths with Crown are costly. You need to basically hide and farm quietly if you get one. The problem with doing this is it forces your team to play a 3v4 for 30 minutes or more, as there is no reason to play for the 25-minute lategame with Crown - you'd play for the 35-minute lategame. If you have a team that can survive 3v4 and support you later, it is worth buying the Crown to be a super-carry, but becoming a regular carry at the 25-minute mark is effective as well - sometimes more so. It depends.

However, if you have the Alchemist - basically the only hero that can significantly increase the amount of gold he farms - you will benefit more from the Crown. You can become a super-carry at the 30-minute mark easily.

A few other heroes can increase the amount of gold they farm beyond the norm (Nether Stalker, Snake Charmer, Pit Fighter) so it may be worth considering on these heroes as well.

However, I prefer to play a more aggressive game.

Of note, I rarely buy 4k / elite items. I have been known to rush Boomstick, and I readily acknowledge there are certain heroes which Wand of Elune is particularly excellent on. Occasionally I will get Vampire Fang --> Soul Edge. However, most frequently I will purchase a few unrelated smaller items. Spell Guard, Eye of Sargeras, Amulet of Spell Shield, Magician's Staff, Lunar Pendant and Bloodripper are the ones most frequently seen in my inventory. I am a great believer in survivability, as you can see. The more hit points + mana points + defensive options you have, the more you can take advantage of scrims, or pitched battles in the forest where lots of kiting ensues and the tide can turn at the drop of a hat.

Finally, here is a bonus tip:

PerSona Swap is the most important ability in the game. You probably knew this. However, it is often advisable to avoid swapping until the last possible moment. That is to say, if you swap to get out of a slowing effect, you will be hit by a Storm Bolt and killed. Don't swap. Wait for the Storm Bolt, whatever the cost.

Also, if you're really pro (read: me), you can dodge Mana Burn, Chain Lightning, Pit Fight and point-blank Storm Bolts.

[Requiem]

Also, if you're really pro (read: me), you can dodge Mana Burn, Chain Lightning, Pit Fight and point-blank Storm Bolts.

Dodging pit fights is rather amusing or annoying depending on which side of it your on , the most amusing thing is dodging pit fights early-mid game, then when your are stacked enough and if your team has kept pit underfarmed enough, he runs up to you pits and you dont dodge it- then kill him in several well placed crits and are 250g richer. Do you guys have a perSona clan channel? What servers do you use most? (Azeroth, Northrend etc). It would be my pleasure if i could have a couple of games with you guys, as most pubsters leave after the 20 minute mark.

[Bengal_Tigger]

Clan pSa on Azeroth

[Requiem]

Do you guys have enough for a 4v4? I have a few friends and clannies that would enjoy a fullhouse game with people who can actually play rather then either Inhouses or Auto bot hosts :/

[Bengal_Tigger]

Do you guys have enough for a 4v4? I have a few friends and clannies that would enjoy a fullhouse game with people who can actually play rather then either Inhouses or Auto bot hosts :/

Sure, you guys on now?

[Requiem]

Only me on right now (Azrthbnet: Shadowe) everyone else is either offline or busy :/

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