In this segment, we will be exploring the not-so-popular heroes and/or out-of-the-box builds or playstyles. While very effective, meta heroes or builds, can tend to become a little boring after some time. This led me to find fellow theorycrafters who are willing to share their guides to the community especially for those who want to try out different stuff and break the game’s monotony.
DISCLAIMER: The builds featured here are not made by AoV Academy (or SquirrelNation) unless so specified. They are either from players in the community who I contacted to have their work featured or just submitted by those who want to contribute. All credits are to the respective owners/makers, so questions should be addressed to them for clarity.
BACKGROUND
This build is from a reddit post.
I only knew u/meboz67 as THE Omega main. I stumbled upon his posts and comments in reddit some time ago and had sought his expertise when I took interest on the sentient mech. This was even before the rework. I can say he puts a lot of effort in his builds. He breaks heroes down to tiny details, taking note of significant numbers which allows him to optimize his build and play according to a hero’s strengths and maximize its potential. His focus is more on builds, mostly on not-so-popular heroes. His Gildur tips in reddit caught my attention as he has an interesting approach with the early item build.
INTRODUCTION
Gildur as a midlaner is in an awkward spot. His long cooldowns and high mana costs make him fall short compared to the more popular mages. Most mages use their skills to clear waves and are encouraged to roam after doing so, and Gildur’s slower clear and need for conservative use of skill puts him behind his other counterparts. Of course it is still possible to play him mid even with some limitations but it would require more effort to get the same results that can be easily achieved by the more popular mages.
What Gildur lacks in some aspects is compensated by his tankiness (in part due to his shield) and his array of skills with stun and knockback effects. He is practically a walking cc machine. These along with his item reliance makes him a good candidate for DS lane where farm-centric playstyle and sustained slugfest are the norms.
Mages can work in the sidelanes. A good example of this is Marja who simply asserts control by out-sustaining her opponent. Chaugnar and Arum have also seen some sidelane action. Since most AD bruisers in the DS lane build Mantle of Ra which helps offensively and defensively, having to face a magic damage dealer would reduce the effectiveness of this usually go-to item. Mages also have access to Berith’s Agony which can act as their own version of MoRa against AD warriors. On this writeup, we will be talking about Gildur in the DS lane. After all, he is labeled as tank first, mage second.
WHY GILDUR?
Gildur counters and complements a lot of the meta choices, and can successfully fill many different roles in the late game. With his near perma-stun kit, Gildur can play anti-dive. With good timing, he can just ult anyone who tries to all-in his carry. The range of his S2 also makes him a good poke hero. With these things in mind, he can function well in a protect-the-carry/poke team comp. Gildur can provide an extremely good teamfight initiate with his built in tankiness (shields) and AoE stun, so he can also fit in a wombo-combo or pick-off comp.
His flexibility makes him great. He can assassinate squishies, peel for his team, initiate fights, poke the enemy, and splitpush. He can even take core without minions by spamming his passive! At half build he can easily 1v1 the top S-tier assassins (and at full build, even 1v3), so in the right hands, he can be devastating.
If you’re not sold on Gildur’s flexibility, perhaps his novelty will. He is rarely played and those who will underestimate him are in for a big surprise. I was one of those who did. Personally, I only thought of interrupting his ult if ever I face one and he’s donezo. I was shocked with his damage output and his tankiness. Plus he’s not that easy to interrupt if the one playing him knows that he/she is doing. From then on, I started to respect Gildur.
Lastly is crowd control. Gildur’s entire kit revolves around stuns and knockbacks. If you like disabling opponents and throwing around opponents with repulsor blasts, Gildur might be for you.
THE LOADOUTS
This build will focus on attack speed early game to abuse Repulsor Blast Midas’ Touch which triggers an enhanced attack every 4 attacks. This enhanced attack has a delay of about 80 milliseconds before hitting the target which can also be reduced by building attack speed. Neat huh?
We will be getting attack speed through arcana (26% with Indomitable setup or 22% with Conjure setup) and early Warboots (25%) which would bring early AS to 46%-51% in total. We will also be getting Mantle of Ra against AD bruisers. MoRa’s 80 AD might go to waste on other mages but Gildur’s passive converts 150% of AD into magic damage while Siege (S1) has 45% AD scaling so the AD from MoRa is actually handy. The Burn passive also provides Gildur better wave clear. To top it off, the armor bonus will help mitigate physical damage to help with survivability in addition to the shields from passive.
One of the advantages of building attack speed on Gildur early game is you will have the edge of having better autos than other heroes. In the first minutes of the game, skills are somewhat limited so those who have auto attack enhancements have a slight edge over the others since we will be slugging more than slinging skills.
With this build/playstyle, it is important to practice proper positioning in order to maximize Midas’ Touch as this would be your bread and butter. Also, of note is that skills should only be used on the enemy laner to manage mana efficiently. Adequate waveclear can be provided with good use of passive and MoRa’s burn so no need to spam skills to clear the waves.
Late game, Mantle of Ra and Warboots may be replaced with The Aegis and Gilded Greaves, respectively. Gilded Greaves is necessary late game as Gildur needs to continuously be attacking and casting his skills in order to keep his shield up. As long as he isn’t cc’d, Gildur can keep his shields up to improve his survivability, so Gilded Greaves’ resistance is more important than Warboot’s attack speed bonus. The Aegis is a perfect replacement for Mantle as the game goes on. At some point later in the game, Gildur will be facing full build ADCs and other attack speed based heroes, so the upgrade in the armor will be very helpful. The max mana bonus and massive CDR boost will also greatly complement his full AP kit.
To complete the armory are the usual magic pickups: Boomstick provides huge burst and makes his Extravagant uhm well, more extravagant; Apocalypse adds even more burst while giving him tower takedown potential with his S1/Midas Touch/auto weaving; Hecate’s Diadem even further boosts Boomstick’s and Apocalypse’s damage while also significantly buffing S2 damage with its 1.2 AP scaling; and the last item which is Staff of Nuul gives penetration power to your magic damage.
Other items to consider are as mentioned above: Aegis and Gilded Greaves for defense. Aegis not only gives armor but provides cooldown too that would greatly help Gildur’s auto + skill weaving. Gilded Greaves late game is really a must. If Gildur gets locked down, his survivability drops as he needs to be constantly active to keep his shields up. Then why not build it early? Early game, your focus is to farm and not to teamfight so it’s better to get an item that would speed up your clear.
Against a Mage sidelaner, start with Phoenix Tear and Lapis Ring. This combo gives good mana sustain in exchange of reduced clear speed (slower clears due to lack of MoRA). Proceed with the regular build of War Boots > Boomstick > Apocalypse > Hecates Diadem > Staff of Nuul. Sell Phoenix Tear before finishing Hecates. Lapis Ring will be finished into Aegis. Most mage DS laners build Berith’s Agony, which would not be so efficient against you as you’re dealing magic damage. How about Gildur? Is Berith’s good on him? Stat-wise, it is. But its burn effect is better on heroes that deal sustained damage (unless you want to experiment a tanky, repulsorbot, but that’s another story).
ARCANA: As mentioned above, Flurry and Indomitable or Conjure, and Guerilla will be our setup for maximum attack speed. The choice between Indomitable and Conjure is player preference. Indomitable only has 4% more AS than Conjure and gives defensive stats. Conjure provides a chunk of AP which can give early ooomph to your pokes. Guerilla not only provides AS but MS as well which helps more with positioning.
TALENT: Tiger Knee Flicker is a must and is nonnegotiable. This gives Gildur not just an escape tool but a means to reposition his ult.
GAMEPLAY
Skill-wise, as indicated in the diagram, we will prioritize S2 over S1 as its damage is just too good to pass. It helps a lot with chipping away opponent’s HP for an all in. Leveling up S1 first though still has merits, providing mobility and better positioning. You may do so IF you are able to win the first duel and get a massive gold lead.
As elaborated before, we will be investing on early attack speed to abuse Midas’ Touch. Focus on farming up, building up stacks on minions and using the proc on the enemy hero. Take note that Gildur gains a shield every time (a) he uses a skill and (b) with enhanced attacks (Midas’ Touch). The next auto after using Skill 1 will proc his passive, so you can dash in with S1 behind an opponent and repulsor blast him/her to your tower. Keep these things in mind as these can make you win trades and/or outplay your opponent. Also, remember that flicker doesn’t interrupt ult channel so you can use it to reposition a botched ult. This is why flicker is nonnegotiable for Gildur. Still, be careful when you flicker while channeling because a slight joystick movement can interrupt it.
These are just some potential combos to maximize damage during various stages of the game. Many skills are interchangeable. As the game goes on longer and you build your CDR, the necessity of auto-attacks to proc the passive dwindles.
- Early game (1v1): Auto (on minions to stack passive) > Midas Touch (on enemy hero) > S2 to stun > S1 (dash through enemy to their back) > Midas Touch (push back towards your tower). Rinse and repeat.
- Mid game (1v1, 1v2): S1 > Midas Touch > S2 > Ult > Repeat.
- Late game (1vTeam): S2 > S1 > Midas Touch > Ult > [Flicker (to juxtaposition)] > S2
Take note that Gildur’s passive can melt towers, and with Apocalypse finished, he can be a siege engine late game.
Late game, don’t focus too much on building attack speed for passive procs. Smart opponents won’t let you build up stacks through autos. Instead, build up on CDR and use his S1 to reposition and blast away.
Gildur’s flexibility doesn’t end in playing roles in a team comp. Even in laning phase, you can usually mitigate bad match ups by changing how you lane.
Against early game burst warriors, you can sit under tower and hit them with S2 until their health is too low to fight. That includes Riktor, Florentino, Maloch, etc. Against attack speed heroes, you have more freedom because Midas Touch will allow you to stun them during their empowered attack window. For example, when Omen triggers his passive, just Midas Touch and walk away. Same goes for Kilgroth’s S2. Dueling someone like Valhein would be more difficult. Same goes for Marja. They will win close and ranged trades. Regardless, Gildur’s poke is superior and he can still last hit minions from behind tower. Still, heroes with heavy CC and burst damage are going to be difficult to duel until level 4.
All in all, Gildur’s playstyle revolves around on good positioning (with S1 or just moving) and mastery of S2 sniping. Getting good timings on these helps a lot in setting up a good ult.
WHEN TO PICK GILDUR
Gildur is a good addition into a mage support comp. There’s something to be said about having three magic dealers in your team. The big thing, though, is that Gildur can initiate the team fights and lead advances in the late game. Mage support needs that sort of off-tank back up to perform effectively. Since Gildur is heavy CC, pairing him with more heavy CC will make your team difficult to deal with. You can basically siege towers in the late game with a three-mage archetype, especially with Gildur’s tower-chunking passive and zone-out potential with S2.
Gildur also works very well into team comps that snowball the early game. With his pick-off potential with S2 and cc chains, he can set up plays for his teammates and boost his carry. Don’t forget that he can get fed himself and come online by the mid game, then carry his teammates if it unfortunately goes into the late game.
Honorary mentions for teammates are Alice, Aleister and Elsu. Alice for her massive AoE CC, Aleister for the AoE magic damage and his control. Elsu and Gildur can combo-poke squishies. Gildur acts as a spotter, snipes a squishy from afar with his S2, then Elsu takes the shot. At late game it’s enough to kill them pretty much off screen.
Be wary though of heavy cc teams as this can hurt Gildur badly (but then almost every hero gets hurt by cc anyway).
FINAL THOUGHTS
What Gildur’s kit seemingly lacks in midlane is compensated by his sidelane potential. He offers a lot of flexibility in a team which helps a lot in filling a role in a team comp or dealing with an enemy comp. Some may argue that his skill delay and longer animation makes it easy to outplay him. Yes, he has these shortcomings but mastery of his gameplay can make these almost negligible. About the build, honestly, I was surprised when I tried it some. For a player that hasn’t touched Gildur before, it helped me survive and even duke it out in lane. While some might call that anti-AD early game core item build is a bridge — something that supports a supposedly weakpoint of a hero to be able to survive to reach a stronger phase, I can say that it isn’t a crutch like what most bridges do.
Usual bridges provide sustain like how mages build Tear early game to smooth out their transition into later laning phase, just like having training wheels. In this case though, instead of just patching up Gildur’s problems like long cooldowns and high mana costs (which lead to slow clearing), we will focus on Gildur’s strengths all the while solving his waveclear speed. The result is having the ability to go toe to toe instead of just being on the defensive. I’d say this is a smart approach especially for a lane that revolves around outfarming your opponent. For those who like to try a different sidelane hero, I would definitely recommend playing Gildur.
This is just one interesting take on an unpopular hero. There are surely other builds out there but I would like to thank u/meboz67 for sharing his. Hopefully, there are other players who would experiment and share theirs too. Perhaps this would even allow some of the forgotten heroes to experience being on the spotlight.
As always, observe, formulate, adapt.
For those who have some builds in mind that want to get featured, I am just lurking at SquirrelNation. You can also reach me via my Facebook page (please leave a like while you’re at it). If you managed to reach this part and punch through my wall of texts, thank you so much!
The Omniscientist 