Learning Solo lane - Hercules

Welcome to my guide about Hercules, the champion of Rome. I will run you through the basics on how to play him and how to itemize him to be an effective warrior in the solo lane.

Why pick Hercules?

Hercules is often picked in the solo lane to deny the enemies solo laner out of an easy early game, he's especially useful against later game characters who need to survive the early game in order to farm up and reach a farm threshold where they will dominate. Almost all solo lane picks have exploitable weaknesses early on in the game, Hercules can take full advantage of this with his great early dueling and crowd control.

Pros:
Heavy early damage (365 base damage on his 1)
Displacement and crowd control
Tanky in the later stages of the game
Strong against ranged enemies
Kill pressure in lane

Cons:
Doesn't scale as well into later games as some warriors(Chaac, Vamana) and mages
Can struggle against tankier warriors with sustain
One less source of magic damage from your team

While a mage should outscale a Hercules in the late game, he can still wreak havoc with only 2 or 3 damage items, providing a much needed frontline for teams. His healing from Mitigate wounds can turn him from almost zero hp to full if used correctly, he takes a fair amount of skill.

 

Hercules is all about applying the perfect burst and finish off an opponent before they know what hit them, his skills are what allow him to do this:

Passive: Strength from Pain
This is a great passive with a lot of hidden strength in it, giving up to 30 phys power when low health at level 1, a mid health trade at level one will be applied with 15 extra Phys power, no true way to abuse this as Herc typically uses his skills early in a fight, but your auto attacks will ramp up later into the fight.

1: Driving Strike
The bread and butter skill of Hercules, incredible base damage on this skill, one of the highest in the game, and the damage is applied instantly and with a stun. The stun and damage scale with level. Be sure to know how to use this skill effectively.

2: Earthbreaker
Moderate damage, this ability is all about the crowd control it offers, the pull at the end is extremely potent when combined with a driving strike, allowing you to pull enemies into your team and then drive them further. Remember to lead your targets slightly and hit the tip.

3: Mitigate Wounds
If used correctly Hercules will be unkillable for an entire teamfight, and this is why. Time Mitigate wounds with big enemy nukes to completely dodge 90% of all the damage the enemy deals, on top of a fairly large base heal, a must max second

4: Excavate
Standard skill, CC immunity and knockup , until you look at the damage numbers, Excavate, when applied correctly does 1.5x the amount of damage stated, and has an utterly stupid base damage, allowing Hercules to dip into penetration then go tank and still shred the tankiest of foes, or burst the squishiest.

Skill order:

Take a point in excavate whenever you can and then max 1-3-2 or Driving Strike > Mitigate Wounds > Earthbreaker. It's crucial to max out driving strike for your damage. Mitigate wounds gives you the survivability needed and Earthbreaker's damage doesn't rank up highly so we leave that till last.

Combos:

Hercules only has one combo you need to truly learn which is the Earthbreaker > Driving strike combo. Useful for catching out enemies and pushing them into your team and tower, this is his basic and well known combo:

 

Item choices for Hercules are fairly straightforward with little to no disparity in his build if he is against a mage or a warrior.

Death's toll:
Tankyness; Damage; Sustain

Death's toll is a crucial early game item for all warriors, for 800 gold you will get a fair sum of health, damage and sustain. The attack speed is nice, but negligible. Don't forget this also provides mana sustain on top of the health sustain.

Hand of the Gods 2:
Clear; handy against mages

Hand of the gods is essential to take in lane, especially in solo when clearing early is incredibly important. HOG2 to be taken against mages, you can go HOG1 and boots against warriors.

2 Healing Potions for sustain in lane
Simple healing in lane, sustain is always good, no need for mana pots as you have Death's toll and Mana buff.

To begin with pick up Warrior Tabi;
Damage; Penetration; Movement speed

These are the only boots Hercules can get, as his cooldowns are too long for Ninja Tabi and he needs the upfront penetration for his nuke rotation , the movement speed allows you to catch up to people for an earthbreaker or a Driving strike.

After you've finished boots you have two choices which is entirely dependent on how the game is going and your team composition , if your team requires a tank or you are not doing very well then take up Hide of the Urchin. If you are doing well and your team does not require an immediate tank then take Jotunn's Wrath.

Hide of the Urchin:
Health; Magical protection (+ stacks); Physical Protection (+ stacks)

Hide of the Urchin is one of the single best tank items in the game, providing a whopping 65 Mprotect and Pprotect at maximum stacks, and the stacks do not decay with death, acquiring this early is essential and will put you in good stead as a late game tank.

Jotunn's Wrath:
Damage: Physical Penetration; Mana; CDR

Providing every offensive stat hercules needs, combined with Tabi you will be mitigating 26 of the enemies flat armor, enough to cut through any mages defence, especially useful against HP stackers with Warlock's Sash. Getting both of these items by mid game is a must, after you've picked up one, take the other , this will give you a well rounded 3 item build which provides damage and tankyness.

As a rule of thumb I like to finish off with one additional damage item, another magical protection item and then a physical protection item.

There are 3 core options for magical protection;
1. Stone of Gaia:
Highest Magical protection; Lowest health; Hp5

Gaia will give you the largest in fight sustain, and allow you to heal up, especially when being poked down while sieging a tower or objectives . It's Hp5 isn't to be laughed at , as you can regenerate more HP than the other items provide considering a long fight

2. Bulwark Of Hope:
Good Magical protection; Highest HP; Godlike 50% passive

As Hercules your health will dip low in fights, and you are very susceptible to nukes, especially when Mitigate wounds hasn't kicked in yet , the 50% damage reduction from Bulwark is an additional second in which to survive damage and allow mitigate wounds to do its work

3. Pestilence:
Good Magical protection; Good HP; Decent passive against healers

I wouldn't suggest pestilence as your team should already have a creeping curse ready to cut off all healing and it reduces it by a measly 20%, not really enough to be significant. I'd rather bolster my own HP with Bulwark or get Hp5 with Stone of Gaia.

 

Again, 3 core items for Physical Protection:
1. Witchblade:
High Physical protection; DPS via attack speed; Attack speed slowing Aura

Great anti hunter or anti assassin item. allowing you to duel and dive backlines while hindering their DPS significantly , the attack speed DPS doesn't benefit Hercules that much but it's still a stat and Hercules can still use it.

2. Mystic Mail:
High Physical Protection; Health; Magic Damage Aura

The main thing about this item is it rewards you being in the carries face, whether you are hitting them or not they will take a consistent DPS from you, especially useful when your team is heavy physical damage, as they will not be building a lot of magical protection to mitigate mystic Mail.

3. BreastPlate of Valor:
Very High Physical Protection; Mana; CDR

While this is a good item on its own right and a great item for Hercules, our build makes it a bit less so. We will only be getting 15% of its 25% CDR due to Jotunn's Wrath and the mana is not useful in the late game , so this gets the backburner for if you really need the cooldowns up and often, as it will cut your cooldowns heavily with this and Jotunn's . giving them a 60% cooldown.

 

2 Options available here:
1. Titan's Bane:
Physical power
Tank shred penetration
A great item for when their front line is causing trouble to yours : I.E. a Chaac or a Vamana. The percent penetration works on all enemies however, and innate physical protection in the late game is high , even on squishy hunters

2. Shifter's Shield:
Physical power
protection
The perfect item for Hercules, gives him power when he's doing his full combo on high health, then increased protections when he is retreating and using mitigate wounds. A great all round item, designed for Hercules.

 

Magi's Blessing:
HP
Mprotect/Pprotect 

An important item to mention, if the enemy team has a ton of CC and peel to get you away from their carries, then building this would be crucial to your survival, blocking a crowd control ability is immensely important and may allow you a kill and an escape.

In summary Hercules is an amazing warrior to pick up, providing one of the best early pressures available in SMITE, being able to completely destroy most, if not all, solo laners early on. His power , CC and Tankyness allow him to be a great asset to his team and still do very good damage as the game carries on. Truly a force to be reckoned with, the impenetrable hide of the nemean lion shall fit you well as The Champion of Rome!