I first played Heimerdinger on a free week rotation and absolutely had a blast with him, so naturally I picked him up and I now find myself playing him more than any other hero. I never had the chance to play the early Heimer when he was OP with triple turrets and grenades that killed towers so I have no idea how weak he is now in comparison. Regardless of what all the haters may think, this guy can still be game changing if played well.

Welcome to my newly updated guide for Heimerdinger. This build is meant to provide you with ideas for early to mid game lane dominance. Heimer falls somewhere between the dps mage and support categories. He offers plenty of damage as well as harass, but he really shines in team fights so long as you keep close to your team and keep them close to your turrets.

Pros:
- Best farmer in game, money is never an issue.
- Great pusher/defender.
- Great harass ability with his Hextech Micro-Rockets
- Hard to gank early assuming you stay in good position near your H-28G Evolution Turret
- Decent CC with CH-1 Concussion Grenade
- Can repair towers (slowly) with Techmaturgical Repair Bots

Cons:
- Slow. If you are out of position when getting ganked chances are you aren't getting out alive.
- Turret AI is slightly better than before but (STILL) horrible.
- Late game you lose viability as turrets get insta-gibbed by most DPS and you lack targeted offensive abilities.

Since Heimy's latest changes (1-18-11) he is a bi8t more mobile than before so I am currently trying +Move Speed Quints rather than the +HP to help me get around. I may end up changing this build to reflect that once i'm satisfied or not.

The only other rune i've ever considered change were my glyphs for more AP, but again I found that more CDR = better! and the piddly AP you get from those runes makes little difference early, mid or even late game.

I use a pretty standard 9/0/21 build. I've tried a few different changes with the skill tree, like dropping 2 points of Awareness for Greed and Blink of an Eye or even Utility Mastery for longer golem buffs, but honestly other people on my team typically can use those buffs better than I. After playing around with those other masteries i've determined i'd rather have all 4 points I have in Awareness more to get me through the early levels faster to help my farm.

IMPORTANT NOTES

So my item builds change alot on the fly, really it depends who i'm laning against and how much I am able to harass them. The items I buy rarely differ from game to game, but the order I get them in may change depending how I am doing in lane. Does the enemy team have a stealth jungler like Shaco or Eve to worry about? Then I get my boots sooner rather than later as well as a ward or two for good measure. If they have no jungler at all and I am holding my lane just fine I opt out of boots till after my Rod of Ages and possibly even the Archangel's Staff.


Archangel's Staff Great AP bonus and much needed mana/mana regen.

Rod of Ages Great AP bonus, much needed health, and a nice chunk of mana that synergizes well with the Archangel's Staff. Sometimes I get this before my Archangel's Staff, but never before the Tear of the Goddess.

Sorcerer's Shoes Duh, although I have tried and sometimes will consider Boots of Swiftness I prefer the MrPen on the Sorcerer's.

Zhonya's Hourglass This is where my build differs from most others I've seen. Many people like to go for this first or early. While Zhonya's is a great item for sure and it's active can be a lifesaver, the Rod of Ages takes 10 minutes to build full stats so the earlier you get it the better. Since the patch I haven't bought this item one time. I never find a need and I would rather be pushing AP/Health/Mana.

Rabadon's Deathcap I love the change to Zhonya's Ring. This new item is a great addition to my lineup.

After I get my 4 core items out of the way I usually go one of 3 ways:

Stack more Rod of Ages for a well rounded build.
or
Stack more Archangel's Staff for hard hitting madness (over 1100 AP)
or
Banshee's Veil and Abyssal Mask vs CC heavy or tanky teams.

Techmaturgical Repair Bots - Meh, wish Heimer had something nicer like Veigar's passive or perhaps buff this one by say 10x. Can be used to heal allied towers slowly.

H-28G Evolution Turret - I have so much to say about the recent changes to this ability prepare for a wall of text.

The new Heimer doesn't get 2 turrets now till rank 3 of this skill (level 5 at earliest). The turrets now use an Ammo system with a terribly long cooldown on gaining stacks. I went from pre-patch with CDR and level 5 turrets to placing two in under 7 seconds and having a third available in another 7 seconds to placing two in just over 1 second and not having another available for 16 seconds. Combine that with the nerf to turret health and these become nearly useless and at most a distraction come mid to late game. Lastly we have the change to tower damage. Turrets now only do 50% damage to towers. Like I stated above, pre-patch I was able to push a tower with a full creep wave and drop 2 turrets within 7 seconds doing 100% damage each to the tower and push towers down decently quick. Now I don't dare drop both my turrets at a tower or risk getting smashed by any defenders near with no turret ammo in reserve to cover my exit. So long story short, my new strategy includes only one turret till mid game. Get this at level one and forget about it until your rockets are maxed.

Hextech Micro-Rockets - This is almost always my first priority skill. The harass value and potential for kills is so high in early game if you time your rockets properly. Be sure to not waste your mana with rank 1 or 2 rockets, the damage just isn't there until rank 3 which you should have by level 5 or 6 depending how soon you pick up rank 1 CH-1 Concussion Grenade. Come mid to late game, combine this ability with your grenade and you can clear an entire creep wave in a second's time.

CH-1 Concussion Grenade - This is my last priority to max out. The damage combined with e the blind/stun is great for mid to late game teamfights but in the early laning phase of the game isn't as potent as your homing rockets because of it's slow travel time and skill shot targetting. Always get the first rank by level 6 and save it for either a getaway ability or as an opener for a gank. DO NOT USE THIS ON CREEPS WHILE LANING EARLY! The cooldown is long and your enemies will know this. If they see you waste this skill they will dive on you while it's on cooldown.

UPGRADE!!! - Another "Meh" skill. The CDR bonus passive is the only saving grace to this ability. The new change to this skill allows for a single use of a 5 rocket Hextech Micro-Rockets and a single faster CH-1 Concussion Grenade which I guess is a slight buff. The missle change is defiantely nice, but i'd rather my Grenade move the same speed I expect it to move or perhaps become instant during our Ult. This is my second priority only for the CDR early on. I dont usually get the first rank till level 7 or 8. The slow can be used to help you escape a gank from a jungler, etc assuming your turrets are placed properly.

Flash: Heimer is painfully slow. I think he ties Soraka for the slowest hero in game. This is your only escape mechanism. Combine this with a CH-1 Concussion Grenade and you can get away from most anything. I also use Flash offensively. I also like to use this offensively with Hextech Micro-Rockets when the occasion rises for a killing blow on a fleeing enemy.

Teleport: This is the only Summoner Spell I consider swapping on occasion. What do I even need to say here? You are THE BEST lane presence in the game. Creep wave near an enemy tower on the other side of map? No problem TP in and push it down before they can reach you. Heimer is almost impassable as a defender in early to mid game and Teleport allows him to get where he's need the most in a hurry.


Clarity: Heimer always has mana issues, even with his masteries, runes and an Archangel's Staff. I could understand swapping this with Teleport.

Ghost: Another escape/chase ability that could combine with Flash.

Clairvoyance: You are a support class, if your team needs this you should be the one with it.

Solo Mid - I find the above ability sequence is the best route to lane dominance. Turrets just arent smart enough to dominate, especially against a decent Malz, Ashe or Kennen. Missles. Now Missles early and often will keep your enemy at bay. I dont waste my mana using them until at least rank 2, or better yet rank 3 if my turret is doing fine. But once they hit rank 3 you better believe that every chance I get to harass, I do. This is where the difference in solo's is most evident. I don't get many kills like this like other mids may, but I do force the enemy mid to recall often and lose out on vaulable creep kills and experience thus handicapping their team. I have played games like this where by level 5 or 6 they will have to recall to heal, and in under a minute of returning to lane they have to recall again. This and my "Awareness" skill will give me a level advantage quickly and allow me to push the first tower down quickly and then move on to other lanes to do the same.

Mid Heimer isn't well recieved by the community at large because everyone is expecting a ranged assassin to take mid for early ganks, and Heimer is viewed as under powered or even a feeder. While I see the merit to this thought, Heimer has his stregths too. My typical mid Heimer strategy consists of me pushing down the mid tower early, outleveling my lane enemy and me teleporting to one of the outer lanes and immediately pushing one of those towers down. Thinking about this now I find it funny because every single time I do this it starts the midgame. Never do people go back to laning after i've started knocking down towers, everyone immediately changes to group mode fighting. With a decent team at your back this is a good thing. PUSH PUSH PUSH with your towers and teammates. An early midgame is when Heimer shines. You should have the cash and level advantage working for you, so by now you should have the Archangels Staff and the starter Boots of Speed, which is plenty to get the 2nd tower down and possibly 3rd and inhib if your team can manage some kills.

Solo Top - In a 1v2 my build order usually changes to more turret heavy. My Skill order usually ends up being balanced between turrets first and rockets second. This way my turrets are able to clear the waves as fast if not faster than the 2 I am vs and I have missles to harass them both enough to force recalls. I never get the rank 1 concussion grenade before level 6, nor do I pick my ult right away most times. As you all know Heimers ult sucks and the only real use to it is the CDR which I find can wait a few levels.

My side lane strategy is to once again gain lane dominance even over a 1v2 lane with missle harass and turrets clearing waves quickly. As soon as our Mid or Jungler is able I call for a gank. Most games the enemies in my 1v2 lane will hang in lane with low health because they know I am slow and am not about to burst them to death making them easy targets for a gank. So with a gank or 2 I typically get the tower down in short order and immediately move to mid to help knock down that tower. This again starts the midgame either attempt gooing back to farming or start right into the group pushing up the mid.

Duo Laning - I avoid this like the plague.... I will write more explanation later and my strat if I get stuck in a duo lane.

01/20/2011