Today we'll take a quick peek into one of S2's original heroes added to their new vision of DOTA, Heroes of Newerth. He's known as Maliken, and depending on who you talk to, he's either a great hero or a terrible one – no one seems to place him as a middle of the road selection. So how can this discrepancy exist? Let's take a look and see.

 

Maliken is a monstrous demon-man beast, whose skills can be described with a quick conversation taken from an actual game.

“Oh cool you got the new hero, what does he do?”

“He throws his sword”

“Okay, what else?”

“That's it, he throws his sword”

 

And on the surface, this quick dialogue is actually true. However the way to bring out Maliken's nasty true potential is by realizing what he is – an initiator who doesn't need a Portal Key. Since the old days where the item was called a Blink Dagger in DOTA, players have been using it to directly insert their nasties like Sandking, Earthshaker, Enigma and other heroes with point-blank area of effect spells giving their opponents no chance to deal with them.

 

Now you have another option, you can have Maliken huck his sword into a pile of heroes slicing them for a hefty sum of damage, and then comes the fun part. Maliken can teleport himself to his sword as it shoots through the air, and when he does, he'll snare all the targets around him for 6 seconds. So you port in, you've got 4-5 snared angry heroes starting you down and your team is still about half a screen away. What do you do? Pop your ultimate.

 

Maliken's ultimate turns him into a rip-roaring, fast-attacking ranged demon, with huge AOE splash damage. That's all well and good, but the really nice part is the often overlooked part of the ability – upon transformation, his skill will apply a fear effect on anything within a 400 radius from the point of his Kafka-esque morphing. This sends your opponents reeling from a horrify effect similar to the dreaded deathcoil of World of Warcraft – There's no way to stop it, not even Jereziah's anti-magic bubble.

 

So you've ported in, you've snared and feared the opposing team and you're a big nasty snarling demon with a hangover. Here's where the whole concept of Maliken either being “ownage” or “suckage” comes in. If you've built your Maliken with a few hit points so he can take a few blows while you wait for your team to come in and clean house on these snared, helpless opponents, you'll likely survive to collect some skulls. If you built yourself like a carry hero, you're probably gonna have a bad time. And worse than that, if your team watches you go in and light up the world and then sits there, lets you die, and then says “LOL Maliken sux!”

 

Maliken has the potential to be an incredible initiator, but is a hero heavily reliant on team interaction and synergy. If you're going to take a stab playing this sword-wielding superman, do it with a team you know who will have your back. Otherwise, you're just gonna be a big guy who throws a sword.

 

DanRax HoN League

 

You may be thinking to yourself that pandemonium accurately describes the vast majority of the Heroes of Newerth games you've played, and you'd be right – but now the word is taking on a whole new meaning as a new giant bamboo-wielding powerhouse steps out of the shadows. Players can now take on the persona of a quintessential kung fu Panda as they step into the sandals of Pandamonium.

 

Pandamonium is a strength hero, but he's not a “hard” tank like Armadon or Accursed – he's definitely somewhere between being a hunk of sweet and sour panda beef and being a very angry damage dealing and disabling titan, placing him among the ranks of a very solid hybrid hero. Let's take a peek at how he plays.

Like any other martial artist or panda, Pandamonium's strengths come out in his combinations of skills – they are clearly designed to work together to punish an opponent from full to zero in seconds. His major abilities include “Flicking” his opponent, which flips the opposing hero behind him and nails him with an armor and speed debuff. Even with a casual glance at this skill the huge potential can be seen, with a hulking panda charging in on the front lines and isolating a target and flinging him into his pack of hungry teammates.

Flick goes great with the aptly named “Cannon Ball” which sends our friendly neighborhood panda flying through the air and landing with a substantial stun and some damage. Great for catching runners or making an entrance, the cannon ball is a staple – just be careful, if your panda pal doesn't have anyone under him to break his fall he'll end up stunning himself!

And we come to the money move – the appropriately titled “Face Smash” This move is an ultra powerful chain of attacks that also hold and disable the opponent when you tear into him. Surviving this ability is sketchy at best – it's like being hit with a close range Succubus ultimate, only it hits much much harder and theres absolutely nothing you can do to get away. Better hope your teammates can break you free, because if you're alone, you're about to board the panda express to your base in a body bag.

Pandamonium is a great addition to the Heroes of Newerth cast, and you'll find yourself chewing on some bamboo reeds and squinting your highly trained eyes into the forests of Newerth, looking for prey. So grab your friends and spam click his portrait to be the first to get a chance to lay down a face smash on some unsuspecting noob!

HoN League 5v5 Tournament :: $500 Dollar Single Elimination tournament.

Map: Forests of Caldavar (Primary map)



Prizes
First Place:$300
Second Place: $150
Third Place: $50

Format:
- 5 players each side
- No same heroes

Draft - With no Captains mode built into the game the draft is to be done in chat before the match starts, and the Match mode is AP.

Teams can decide between themselves who goes first, if not an admin will toss a coin for them.

Each team can ban 2 heroes in alternating order: 1/1/1/1
The Team that bans first, picks first.
Teams will then do picks: 1/2/2/2/2/1



Item Limits:

-Max 2 Astrolabe per team
-Max 2 Puzzle Box per team
-Max 2 Ring of Sorcery

General Rules:

-Entering the oppositions base without a creep wave is NOT allowed
-Blocking creeps in the base with Behemoth's Fissure is not allowed
-Item drop is not enabled
-Not glitching out of the map
-No ledge glitching Kongor (like abusing slither wards to kill Kongor)
-Abuse of any bug, or glitch is considered illegal.



:: HoN League 5v5 Match Dates ::

Round 1 October 1 - 7

Round 2 October 8 - 14

Round 3 October 15 - 21

Round 3 October 15 - 18

Round 4 October 19 - 22

Round 5 October 23 - 25

Round 6 October 26 - 31

If you have any scheduling issues, please post as a comment on the Tournament Page and you can always look up your opponents on the Teams List

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) You must enter your team and get 5 people minimum on your roster, maximum is 8.

Create a team here: http://honleague.com/competitions.php?do=addteam

Make sure your team clicks the "Team List" on the left to find your team and press "Join Team"

2) Once your team fills the minimum 5 man requirement you can press "Join Tournament"

Join Tournament here: http://honleague.com/tournaments.php?do=join&id=4

3) Tournament is first come first serve up to 64 teams (EXPANDABLE TO 128 IF FILLS).

You DO NOT have to be vouched for HoN League to participate in Tournaments. If you place Top 5 teams in tournament you are Vouched for HoN League Automatically.

Payment will be given to the winning teams via PayPal 24 Hours within Tournament ending. One Paypal Address per winning team, teams are responsible for the money once it has been transferred.

Good Luck!

Contact the HoN League Tournament Admins if you have any questions, concerns, or problems! HunteR_ | Lego | d0t4bunny

Looks like the NDA was released on Heroes of Newerth, enjoy this video!

 Enjoy