Dota 2 Guide: Supporting With Abaddon, The Lord Of Avernus

Abaddon's Lore

The Font of Avernus is the source of a family's strength, a crack in primal stones from which vapors of prophetic power have issued for generations. Each newborn of the cavernous House Avernus is bathed in the black mist, and by this baptism they are given an innate connection to the mystic energies of the land. They grow up believing themselves fierce protectors of their lineal traditions, the customs of the realm--but what they really are protecting is the Font itself. And the motives of the mist are unclear. When the infant Abaddon was bathed in the Font, they say something went awry.

In the child's eyes there flared a light of comprehension that startled all present and set the sacerdotes to whispering. He was raised with every expectation of following the path all scions of Avernus took--to train in war, that in times of need he might lead the family's army in defense of the ancestral lands. But Abaddon was always one apart. Where others trained with weapons, he bent himself to meditation in the presence of the mist.

He drank deep from the vapors that welled from the Font, learning to blend his spirit with the potency that flowed from far beneath the House; he became a creature of the black mist. There was bitterness within the House Avernus--elders and young alike accusing him of neglecting his responsibilities. But all such accusations stopped when Abaddon rode into battle, and they saw how the powers of the mist had given him mastery over life and death beyond those of any lord the House had ever known.

Skills And Playstyle

Abaddon is usually played as a support who can sit and babysit a carry in lane and ensure that he isn't killed without great committal from the enemy team, he does this with the assistance of his nuke/heal and shield that make him a thorn in the side of any heroes that want to stop the farm of your carry.

Q - Mist Coil - This is Abaddon's heal/nuke which can be cast both on enemies and on allies (But not yourself) to either stop them getting away or to help them get back into the fight without fear of dying. This spell does magical damage to enemies but will also do half of the damage to Abaddon as pure damage so you might want to keep an eye on your own health in case you kill yourself unintentionally. This spell can be used in the same way as Pudge's Rot to deny your life to enemies so it might be a good idea to bait an enemy into attacking you while your carry gets away and then to deny them a kill by commiting suicide.

W - Aphotic Shield - This is perhaps your most useful skill as Abaddon because this shield will undoubtedly either prevent the death of an ally or allow them to be more aggressive without fear of death. This spell applies a shield to an ally that dispells most debuffs and stuns that are effecting them allowing them to either fight or run while the shield also absorbs damage done up to them until it explodes, dealing magical damage to enemies. The shield will always deal the amount of damage listed on the skill regardless of the amount of damage that was absorbed by the shield.

E - Curse Of Avernus - This is a useful passive skill to have when the enemy you were trying to kill survives the initial wave of stuns and disables as it helps to make up for Abaddon's lack of disables as a hero. This skill applies a debuff to enemies that slows them and when allies attack them with auto attacks they will gain a buff that increases their movement speed which can be useful for you to both chase them down or escape from a sticky situation. Interestingly enough if you have this skill and you start to deny a creep the debuff will be applied to that allied creep and if an enemy attacks that creep while it is under the effect of it then they will gain the positive effects of this skill. Abaddon will gain the buffs from this skill when attacking towers but allies will not, this skill also goes through magic immunity.

R - Borrowed Time - This is your ultimate "Get out of jail free" card as Abaddon. When you hit the low health threshold or activate the skill, you will dispell most debuffs or stuns and any damage that you would have otherwise taken will be converted into healing. With this it can be a good idea to run into a fight ahead of your team and tank some of the damage so that your allies have less of a fear of dying. This spell isn't immortality though because if you take enough damage to kill you before this is activated then you will still be killed. For example if Axe watches for when the spell activates signalling you are at 400 health and uses Culling Blade on you, then you will be nothing but a stain on the battlefield because you are still below the instant kill threshold of the skill. So it might be a good idea to manually activate this skill before that time if you are below that threshold to bait out the skill and get a nice big heal.

 

Skill Build

For this part of the guide I'm going to make a list of numbers and tell you which skill I recommend picking up at that time and then I'll explain my choices.

1.Aphotic Shield 2.Mist Coil 3.Aphotic Shield 4.Mist Coil 5.Mist Coil

6.Borrowed Time 7.Mist Coil 8.Aphotic Shield 9.Aphotic Shield 10.Stats

11.Borrowed Time 12.Curse of Avernus 13.Curse of Avernus 14.Curse of Avernus 15.Curse of Avernus

16.Borrowed Time 17-25.Stats

At level 1 I grab the shield on Abaddon so that just in case there's trouble I can help an ally get out of trouble or cause some. From then I like having Mist Coil maxed before the shield because early game damage isn't really that high, so a level 2 shield will probably be enough to keep important allies alive with the help of a pretty big heal. Or I can finish someone off with a good healthy 250 damage nuke. I also don't really bother picking up my passive unless I'm doing a lot of chasing because it's not particularly useful in team fights or for anything other than that, it also kind of pushes the lane slightly because your creeps will get further down the lane with the movement speed bonus.

 

Item Build

Starting Gold - 2 Tangoes, 1 Iron branch, 1 Ring of Protection and 1 Gauntlet of Strength. I like this item build because the 2 sets of tangoes give you plenty of in lane regen to use Mist Coil when you need it. Some stats from the branch also help with the mana costs of your skills in the early game and you also have a Ring of Protection and a Gauntlet so you can build an early Urn of Shadows and a Ring of Basilius.

Early Game - Boots of Speed/Tranquil Boots, Magic Stick, Ring of Basilius. These items allow you to support both the health and mana requirements of Mist Coil and Aphotic Shield.

Core Items - Phase Boots, Magic Wand, Soul Ring, Urn of Shadows. I like these items on Abaddon because you have Phase Boots to help you get in and out of fights, a Soul Ring to help with mana for casting your shield and coil (although with the coil you might want to be careful about accidentally killing yourself), it also does not trigger Borrowed Time healing or shield bursting because it's hp removal and an Urn of Shadows to further increase your ability to heal allies when they need it.

Situational Item Choices - Mekanism: If your team doesn't have a better carrier then this is a good item for you to build. Vladimir's offering - Sometimes this item is worth building to aid a carry because you're most likely going to want to babysit them a bit while they farm and it also helps out your team with Lifesteal, Armour and Mana Regen. Scythe of Vyse - Always a nice item, provides nice stats, mana regen and a much needed single target disable that your hero lacks. Necronomicon - The creeps from this item benefit from the Curse of Avernus so their usefulness is slightly increased and it's still a nice item for a support to build to help out in fights and it's good for pushing, plus the stats are nice to have.

 

Tips

- If you plan on semi carrying you might want to pick up an early level of Curse of Avernus.

- You can heal yourself with Mist Coil during Borrowed Time.

- Try not to over commit to a gank just because you have Borrowed Time. You're durable as a support but not immortal.

 

Trivia

- "Lord of Avernus" is a reference to the Avernus Crater in Italy which long ago was said to be the entrance into the underworld.

- You're one of the fastest support heroes.

- In Christianity there is an angel by the name of Abaddon who is said to rise from the abyss followed by an army of locusts.

 

Hope my guide was helpful to you, best of luck!