Tapping CLiQQ for Topping Up
This is strictly for PH (Valiant server) players.
HOW TO TOP UP USING CLIQQ?
I’ve read some questions about topping up in PH so I decided to share how I do it. I’ve recently done this for the Thane Pure Gacha so I’m pretty certain it will work (unless they did changes in that short span of time).
First is you have to find a 7-11 store with a CLiQQ touchscreen thingy. There is usually one in a corner. Just ask the staff. Once you find the machine, the next steps are rather easy. You just have to look for the option with the “Load E-Pin” and tap it. There, you will be given choices for load and just choose the one with Garena in it. The machine will ask for your mobile number and the PIN will be sent to it. Set the amount that you want (as much as possible, try to get 200 shells and above), get the receipt, and pay for it in the cashier. I’d suggest waiting until you get the transaction message.
Now, it’s time to enter Garena Shop. Here, you will be given options. Of course you’d choose Garena AOV – Arena of Valor. It’s in the center so it’s impossible to miss.
From here, you’ll be given new choices. Select the one that you bound your account to. This is important. Make sure that your AoV account is bound to the one that you will choose or you will end up wasting your shells.
In my case, I chose Facebook since my AoV account is bound to my FB account. After logging in, you will return to the Game Selection screen. Just pick Garena AOV – Arena of Valor again. From there, you will be redirected to this screen.
Remember when I mentioned to top up 200 and above at least? This is the reason. 50 and 100 won’t get you the respective amounts. Heck, you even end up losing more with 100 than 50. If you want to top up 400, get 2x 200’s rather than 300+100 as you’ll end up with 10 more vouchers. In the case of 2x 500’s and 1000, the latter will give more. Once the transaction is successful, you will be sent to this screen.
Congratulations! Time to skip meals splurge your vouchers.
I am not in any way endorsing CLiQQ. I just find it an easy way to top up. I think they also have a mobile app but I have zero experience with it so I can’t comment about it.
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Quickguide: Mganga
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Tank Mganga is Neither Toxic Nor Clown
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
I took interest on Mganga after reading Zeitzbach’s tank mganga guide reddit post. Unfortunately back then, I lacked the arcana for properly testing it out. Also, a friend decided to pick him up as a main and I don’t want to overlap our hero pool so I decided to focus on other heroes instead. Mganga ended up buried under my will-try-this-in-the-future hero pile. These past few days, while checking old mails, I saw the tank mganga reddit link that I sent to myself (yeah, I do that instead of bookmarking) and that kind of rekindled my liking to try him out. It just so happened that there was another Mganga reddit guide by The_Zer0Myth that came about. Reading that finalized my decision to pick him up since I now have the arcana needed. The ideas for this writeup are from those two posts. I’d suggest reading through them as they’re very informative. Thanks to The_Zer0Myth and Zeitzbach for sharing their thoughts and for showing what the demon jester is capable of.
INTRODUCTION
Mganga is classified as a support mage. As a designated support/roam, he is hamstrung by his item dependence; while as a mage, he is limited by his lack of CC and mobility and his short effective range. Adding to these limitations are his lack of burst and his item dependence, thus needing to ramp up to late game.
Still, a properly played Mganga can singlehandedly edge out a teamfight win with his DPS and zoning potential. His sustained damage output and ability to heal teammates gives some slight advantage in prolonged staredowns.
One thing that makes him stand out is his level 1 power. With good utilization of his S1 charges and autos, he can easily cheese the opposing laner. A good jungler in the team can then take advantage of this. At levels 2-3, you and your opponent both have two skills but your passive gives you a slight edge in trades (unless you are facing a hero with an attack-enhancing passive). Just dodge skillshots and sneak in some autos, and you’re good. Otherwise, you can just play it safe especially that other mages have better burst and higher range than Mganga. If played sidelane against melee heroes, the matchup is heavily in Mganga’s favor as he can just poke with autos and zone them out with S1. He can also just drop the S1 on top of him if the melee laner decides to go hand-to-hand. Come level 4, Mganga gains some burst and outplay potential with his ult, but would still need to play safely as his lack of escape skills makes him susceptible to ganks.
All in all, what separates a good from a bad Mganga is positioning. When ahead, his fast clears can allow him to roam and make some plays. When behind, he really needs to play it safe and stay very near the turret and farm it out until he gets significant items. In teamfights, he has to build up his poison stacks for his ult burst. Thus, he needs to survive long enough to be able to accomplish this. This is why he needs to build tanky and position properly to get his stacks in.
THE LOADOUTS
Zeitzbach’s old item build was defensive boots rush, followed by Frosty’s Revenge. This was pre-rework. These items are then followed by Berith’s Agony, Frost Cape, Hecate’s Diadem, and topped off with Staff of Nuul.
The_Zer0Myth’s item build is more or less the same but has Medallion of Troy for magic resistance since Frosty’s Revenge no longer gives MDef. Aside from Medallion, Mail of Pain can also be used as a substitute against heavy AD. Holy of Holies is also a good option especially if you want to add more damage to the table.
Arcanas are as shown in the image — 10x Indomitable, 5x Benevolence, 5x Guerilla, and 10x Flurry for a good balance of early tankiness/slight sustain, attack speed, and penetration. Attack speed helps in stacking up Mganga’s passive early game and if it comes to just trading autos, you’d end up outtrading your opponent early game, which is a big advantage if you can juke your opponent’s skillshots and get some autos in.
Frosty’s Revenge is Mganga’s first item power spike in this build, giving him movespeed for roam, some beefiness, and slows which would help a lot with ganks.
Frost Cape is your early teamfight item. You can now maximize your slows with the Pool Slow+ Frosty’s+ Frost Cape autos. The armor and HP also makes you extremely difficult to kill, especially when ahead.
Berith’s Agony gives extra armor and AP. Not particularly special, but it is effective as a hybrid item. In conjunction with your slows and pools, the passive will almost always be of use since Mganga deals sustained damage anyway.
Hecate’s Diadem improves his damage. Boosts his heals too and synergizes well with Holy of Holies.
Holy of Holies was not in the list but I added it upon testing. Helps a lot if you need damage in the team while giving you HP.
Mail of Pain/Medallion of Troy are for burst protection. Choose one depending on situation. Mail of Pain is better than tThe Aegis because it has far greater EHP, and you have enough slows already.
Tome of the Reaper can be considered against a heavy healing team.
GAMEPLAY
Lane-wise, Mganga plays like a regular mage – clearing waves and roaming if able. You might want to try to abuse his early laning phase. As already mentioned, his passive gives him an edge and allows him to bully the opposing laner provided that he can close in. Trading or harassing with him is trickier against other mages since he can’t really poke because of his range. He has to step closer for Fortunate Gift (S2) and Toxic (S1), while dodging possible skillshots, and then sneak in some autos. Try to maximize the amount of time the enemy will be standing on Toxic. With Frosty’s, it would be easier. This is why it’s an important powerspike for Mganga and has to be completed as his first major item (after T2 boots) immediately. You can also drop Toxic in front of a fleeing enemy which can somehow serve as a CC of sorts as he/she has to skirt around it.
You have to be careful with positioning as Mganga lacks escapes outside of Flicker. Getting ganked deep beyond the lane’s halfline more often that not will give a kill to the enemy team, so you’d have to be wary of the map before overstepping your boundaries. It’s rather easy to get overexcited with Mganga especially when you see your opponent’s HP trickling away.
LOW LEVEL CHEESE: You can try the level 1 cheese mentioned above with S1 and autos in order to kill or send the opposing laner home. Try to position the S1 where the enemy can stay on top of it longer.
To maximize the number of hits on Toxic, wait for the enemy minions to position to attack. They stay in place when attacking and this will allow you to hit more poison ticks. Don’t hesitate to use your ult on minion waves. Just mentally count the stacks and detonate away. With its fast cooldown, it would probably be up by the time you reach a lane for a gank.
Rushing Frosty’s Revenge is vital but remember to build your items according to the situation. Since you are basically a tank, try to get the defensive items first. If you need MDef, you don’t need to wait for 6th item Medallion. You can just buy its component, Belt of Clarity, to get some MDef and sustain or even finish Medallion if need be. You don’t want to get bursted down before you can Detonate your stacks. After then, you can proceed to building up your AP items.
In teamfights, utilize your S1 for zoning. Enemies will always try to avoid stepping on it. You can even place it in between the enemy’s front and back lines to divide the enemy team. This could leave their tanks in a compromised situation without covering fire. Monitor the enemies for stacks, and be patient with building up stacks. But if you have 5 stacks on enemy carries, just detonate away and don’t try to wait for the whole enemy team to max out stacks too (unless they’re standing on your S1). It’s always better to outright kill the threat on the enemy team as it also ensures the safety of your team.
Don’t tunnel vision on enemy carries. You might be tanky but that doesn’t mean that you can just simply walk in to the enemy team and take down their carries. Try to find a good spot where you can hit multiple enemies and allies with S2. The healing it provides may not be that huge but it can help some with damage mitigation. Healing value also increases with stacks. It’s okay to target the enemy tankline as Mganga can shred tanks with his build. Just drop an S1 behind their tankline to zone out their carries and cut the escape route of the tanks too.
Mganga can have troubles against very mobile heroes. His S1 requires a target to stay still to maximize its ticks. Heroes with very long ranges are also problematic as Mganga’s effectiveness is from within his auto range where he can easily build up stacks. Against these matchups, smart use of brushes can help. Also, try to ask for a gank especially if the opponent overextends. Usually, it only requires good CC to allow Mganga to kill an opponent.
Mganga excels with beefy frontliners with good CC and marksmen with slows in their kit like Tel-Annas. They can enable Mganga to quickly build up stacks. Also, Mganga’s heal can help his frontliners to shrug off some damage. I remember one game where me an Ybneth were able to 2v5 the enemy. He just kept on peeling for me while I spammed skills and autos. The opponents tried to focus me but I was too tanky to burst while Ybneth just kept on CC’ing the body blocking them. We ended up winning the teamfight because of our sheer tankiness.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As a mage, Mganga flies low under the radar and seems to be outclassed by the meta mages. I think this is understandable given his limitations. Honestly, I’ve had issues with teammates locking Mganga in the past. My initial reaction would be all is lost even though I have experienced getting teamed up with a good Mganga too. I feel that I don’t have issues with him anymore as playing him changed my views. I guess I was just one of those players that got used to mages being bursty (I still prefer burst though). Since I don’t have any midlaner, I’d probably end up going with him. It would require lots and lots of practice though.
Again, I would like to thank Zeitzbach and The_Zer0Myth for giving me the chance to gain further understanding of the death jester.
As always, observe, formulate, adapt.
For those who have some out-of-the-box builds in mind that want to get featured, you can 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!
“Gotcha Poor!” — Pure Gacha
Just sharing my Pure Gacha experience.
For the longest time, RNG has never been fond of me, but in AoV, I got my luckiest draw last Christmas event in Valiant server. I was able to get both (yeah both) Ormarr and Natalya skins. My first reaction was to ask other players if they got them too because I believed then that everyone got them. Turns out it was random. Lucky me! I haven’t played any of them up to now.
Fast forward a month later. This time, Valiant server has this Pure Gacha (I think other servers have it too) featuring Thane. I don’t really play Thane that much except in 3v3 so my win rate for him is quite abysmal. I am trying to play him more soloQ hoping to bump it up a bit (a terrible method of upping with rate, IMO). Back to Pure Gacha, I never really paid attention to it until Zlaey mentioned it in our discord. I was not really planning to get it but I had 450+ worth of vouchers from daily bounties, so I thought what the heck, I’d probably get it since I have a lot and it’s free anyway! Also, I want to see if the RNG gods are smiling at me.
So I went in for a spin and boy I got spun real bad.
It started out at 5 vouchers with each succeeding spin increasing in value. I was not able to document how much the increment was but I ended up staring at 150 and finally noticed I just ran out of vouchers.
I was left with 17 vouchers and an important decision. Should I open up my wallet?
I thought of my “loots”. Most of them were shards of shit. I got the Elsu policeman skin that kinda resembles the Jakie Chan-looking character in Tekken which I forgot the name of. I don’t have the hero though. That would be another decision left to do on top of the more important matter.
Spin or not? If I miss, I’d be getting one of the two shitty prizes, so I thought I need a reassurance. If ever I miss, I’ll probably get it with the next spin. Off I went and got purchased vouchers. I had 360ish then.
I tapped Play and I was not even surprised when I got 90 gems. The next spin after 150 was 200. I am so deep in this so I gave it a go. I was sure I am going to get Thane.
But I didn’t
The fuck! “I’m not coughing off another 400 vouchers for that!” I said to myself and then found myself going out to purchase the last 400.
I did it. Geez I hate the way he carries his briefcase.
VERDICT: Is Pure Gacha worth it? Depends on how badly you want the skin. If you really want the skin, just be ready to pay the full voucher value (1.3Kish?). If you get it in the first spin, mad props to you!
Am I doing it again? Hell no! Not even for that robo-Maloch thingy.
Yes I am sure. I don’t like robots, ninjas, and pirates. Fuckingdangit! Stop me please if it arrives in Valiant.
LESSON LEARNED: RNG gods don’t smile. They only play tricks on us mortals.
PSA
Check our guides in AoV Academy to improve your macro.
QUICKGUIDE: Maloch
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Maloch has been my go to hero in the few ranked games that I’ve played. He was the one that got me to plat the very first time. This led me to share some tips playing him. I hope you’d find this helpful.
Of course this is not the only way to play Maloch. You can do “fun builds” like AS/crit or CDR rush with boots but I just decided to go with the more stable build since most people probably want to climb ranks anyway and a consistency is vital for that.
Check Chaos Squirrel’s Maloch gameplay review for more insights.
COMMENTS ON THE SUGGESTED ITEMS:
Mail of Pain: Good against burst AD damage. This is some sort of a punisher item against AD assassins.
Gaia’s Standard: This is a good source of MRes if you need it early. This doesn’t have Medallion’s CDR but movespeed is good on Maloch too. Also provides additional sustain which helps since Maloch can’t heal from minions/monsters.
Rock Shield/Hercules’ Madness: Provides Maloch with additional Shield. Also gives some Armor and MRes. I’ve seen Rock Shield in pro play. Helps a lot when Maloch goes in. This could be a good pickup if you want to heavily engage. Herc’s is the same but gives some AD and you don’t have to worry about dealing reduced damage which Rock Shield has. You’d have to be wary of the item cooldown though.
Odin’s Will: Since MS and damage increase are both good on Maloch, this could be a good choice especially if you want additional armor, HP, and some damage. It’s easy to trigger the passive on Maloch since he’s in the middle of fights usually.
Hyoga’s Edge: A good counter for Superman. Also one of the items in the game that provide dual resistances.
These are just some items that can be used. You can even go attack item 6th if you’re heavily snowballing.
QUICKGUIDE: Butterfly
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Someone requested for a Butterfly build so I snooped around Squirrel Nation for some info. I ended up with a couple of varying armory setups but everyone I asked had the same opinion — Butterfly is not viable. My personal take on this is they are right. Butterfly is in an awkward spot. If you opt for an assassin build, there are better options and even Kriknak in his nerfed state can do more. Butterfly can go the Leviathan bruiser route but there is Zephys who does everything that a bruiserfly can do a thousand times better plus more. Still, for the sake of Butterfly fans, I did a quick guide with all the input that I’ve gotten. I guess Butterfly can function as a training wheel (especially at SEA where she is one of the free heroes) for those who want to try the jungle/assassin role. At least, mastering her will make the user knowledgeable about proper timing for engages and disengages and also trying to make do of a simple hero kit.
DISCLAIMER: The builds featured in this quick guide were obtained from different players and from the AoV discord. I DON’T play Butterfly so I have limited idea about their functionalities. Still, I trust that my sources have tried them out.
Punish in the Sidelane
Punish in the sidelane isn’t actually unconventional but rather more of unpopular due to lack of awareness of some players regarding its use. In some of my soloQ games, I get flamed whenever I take Punish for sidelane. Worst case scenario is the would-be jungler changing role, forcing me to jungle instead (no matter how I spam “not jungling just want jungle item”) while I get flamed and reported for “trolling”. The sad thing is most laners that can take Punish aren’t optimal junglers. Because of this, I usually just pick Heal and switch Talent in the last seconds of hero select. Though this allows me to pick Punish, I have a feeling that some of my teammates get tilted at the start of the game (which is very bad for a team game). Because of this, I decided to make this writeup to spread awareness about Punish in the sidelanes. For this, I will be citing some of the pros and cons of taking Punish in sidelanes.
PROS
Map control. Having Punish allows you to secure “last hit” on nearby monsters. The usually heavily contested scoutbird can be easily stolen if you time it correctly. Having full control of vision in enemy jungle is very beneficial to your team’s jungler. It can also give you information whether it would be safe to invade. Speaking of invade, you can also try a level 1 sneak buff steal. This would be incredibly backbreaking to the enemy jungle and will force them to look for plays early on just to recover. Late game, you also have the ability to properly secure slayer and dragon.
Double Burn. For tanks, this opens up the double burn build option. The combination of Leviathan and Mantle of Ra provides very fast clearing speed which could allow the laner to better rotate around the area. Thus, proxying becomes a possibility which can further give you control of the map.
Pseudo-Harass. The tier 2 jungle item changes your Punish to Frostbite. This gives a 30-second-cooldown spell that deals damage and slows the target which could be useful to heroes with limited cc like Arthur. You’d have to time it though with monster respawns, so keep in mind that normal monsters resp every 1:10 secs, seagle at 1:00, and spirit sentinel at 2:00.
CONS
No “combat talent” early game. Pre-Frostbite, Punish doesn’t give any combat potential. Basically, using Punish is like announcing to the opposing laner that you will just farm. Good players can abuse this window and even bully you out of the lane.
Suboptimal item stats. Jungle item components give poor stats, making them awkward early game. Let’s compare Gnoll Cleaver and Heart of Incubus. Heart gives 180 armor and 50 (+2/lvl) per sec burn passive, while Cleaver gives Frostbite active and no stats. In dueling, Cleaver is like having a burst every 30 secs while Heart gives a potential 1500-damage output for the same duration. Even tier 3 jungle items, by themselves, have meh stats. If fully stacked, they often give higher stats but then, this would require time.
Bad when behind. Since they don’t provide early combat power, it feels awkward being shoved by the enemy and forced to towerhug with Punish. Forcing to finish a jungle item is even worse, especially without the ability to get stacks properly since your jungle might end up getting taken by the enemy.
Stacking system. Since the item requires killing jungle camps to stack, you might end up competing with your jungler for them You’ll be put in a dire situation especially if you’re behind and your jungle gets cleared by the enemy. You will end up with a very expensive item for its raw stats. If you can somehow find a way to steal some from the enemy’s camps, you can sort of mitigate this disadvantage and somehow pass it to the enemy jungler. The jungle change could make stacking even harder as the stat values from stacks would decrease in exchange for larger max stacks.
CONCLUSION
Punish in lane has its merits, but you have to be able to take advantage of its use. If your playstyle and hero pick revolves around dueling and trading with the enemy laner, take something with combat/outplay potential instead. Taking Punish means that you will be taking a more farm-centric type of play. You should try to take enemy camps but avoid fights and being collapsed upon. With good execution, you’ll not just be outfarming your enemy laner but gimping the opposing jungler as well. Take note though that if you’re going to take Punish in lane, NEVER EVER TAKE YOUR JUNGLER’S FIRST BUFF. Heck, don’t even touch even the neutrals unless you’re certain that they have spawned once your jungler rotates to the area. If you do, you’ll just end up being a liability to the team.
As always, observe, formulate, adapt.
The Omniscientist 