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#how to get free dota 2 items
shuttershocky · 10 months
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Hi shutters, got a couple questions for you,
how would one go about getting into dota after playing league? i'm liking dota's design more than league's but i don't really know where to start considering the stuff i've read, it seems a lot more, ambiguous on lanes, jungles and such.
also as a side note, do you have any games similar to armored core 6 to suggest? i've gotten a runaway focus on it and there's not much for me to do outside of mech dressup, i've sorta finished it all with 250 odd hours :/ not my brightest moment i will admit
If you don't have any friends that already play Dota 2, there's three ways to learn:
1) Watch the competitive scene - Dota's competitive scene is extremely old, with the original Dota having been a Warcraft 3 custom map that grew so popular it became its own thriving, grassroots competitive scene. After almost 20 years of being known as one of the hardest games to ever learn, tournament casters have become really fucking good at describing the game in simple language without sacrificing detail, and you can legitimately learn what different heroes do and what roles there are to play by watching the best in the world go head to head. Plus, many major Dota tournaments have extremely cool plugins on Twitch where you can mouse over any abilities, heroes, or items currently onscreen and you get a pop-up with their full details as if you're mousing over them in-game. Incredibly useful!
2) Trial by fire - Finish the tutorial and the few bot matches you're encouraged to do, and then jump right into real games. Mute anybody that flames you for being new and just figure shit out as you go along. That's what I (and plenty of other friends) did when I first started out in 2012. I've played a few sessions of the original Dota mod before then, but it was only when I got access to the Dota 2 beta that I really got into the game hardcore. Take note that while you can definitely learn the game by just playing around and having fun, getting good is another matter entirely. For example, I've got 11 years in this game, and I'm fucking garbage LMAO.
3.) Purge - Purge is an analytical caster in the Dota competitive scene, but he also has a Youtube channel dedicated to him just showcasing matches where he plays as different heroes. His incredibly monotonous voice and almost non-existent sense of humor are only matched by his ridiculous dedication to explaining each and every little detail in his games, and after a match he'll even do a post-game analysis about what he could have done better. He's become beloved in the community (even for those who don't watch the competitive scene) as every new player's first teacher, and if you're somehow also suffering from insomnia you can put on his humongous 9 hour patch notes analysis (he makes one whenever a new big patch drops) where his deep, emotionless, but calming voice is also guaranteed to knock you out and keep you sleeping. You ever want to learn the basics of a hero, just type his name and the hero name into Youtube and he'll almost assuredly have a video for you.
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As for more games like Armored Core 6, I'm afraid there hasn't been too many mech games lately that feature anything even close to the level of customization and depth so I don't know any, but if anyone else wants to chime in with recommendations feel free.
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44gamez · 9 months
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Top 10 Best Free Games to Play on Steam
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With all the cash spent on presents and Christmas paraphernalia, why received’t you attempt Steam video games that may value you completely nothing? Listed here are 10 of one of the best free Steam video games you'll be able to play at present. In fact, that is all subjective, so don’t decide up the pitchforks simply but.
Apex Legends
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Picture: Respawn Leisure Let’s begin sturdy with one of the standard video games at present. Apex Legends wants no introduction, it's that standard. You get to decide on a Legend and make one of the best out of its skills to win matches. Whether or not you select to play in Battle Royale or Arenas, the quantity of motion you get to see in every spherical is past astonishing. Additionally, in case you are a fan of the Titanfall sequence, then you will note some cameos and even get pleasure from fully-fledged Legends to play. Lastly, the care that the devs have given this sport all the best way to season 19 is admirable, making it an ideal nominee for Ongoing Sport for the 2023 The Sport Awards.
Counter-Strike 2
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Picture: Valve In my nation, taking part in the basic Counter-Strike on web cubicles the place you pay by the hour and use a LAN connection to shoot one another is kind of like a ceremony of passage. The codes we screamed at one another to disclose the enemy’s location and the quantity of laughter every time a workforce received are recollections which might be merely unforgettable. Then CS: GO got here and made me revive the outdated recollections — and I grew to become obsessive about Gun Sport, my favourite FPS sport mode of all time. And now, Counter-Strike 2 is accessible for all of you with up to date and fairly spectacular graphics and the identical enjoyable as all the time. Merely put, Counter-Strike in all its iterations is a should for all of you who need to be a part of online game historical past.
Future 2
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Picture: Bungie Now, I do know that Future 2 might be one sport which will obtain a number of criticism as a consequence of how overwhelming it could possibly get — and as a consequence of current controversies — however in case you come up with the system, it's a nice and enjoyable on-line first-person shooter. It takes some time to degree up and it is best to maybe make investments a little bit of your each day time to benefit from the hardest challenges, the most important weapons, and the armor items the sport has to supply, however I can't stress sufficient how fulfilling it's to unlock a brand new milestone within the sport. Sure, there may be a number of content material to atone for, however simply be affected person and you'll be rewarded. I consider the free-to-play content material is sufficient so that you can make up your thoughts in case you are prepared to speculate time on this sport, so that you can provide it a attempt proper after you end studying this checklist.
DOTA 2
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Picture: Valve To be trustworthy, it might be a criminal offense to not embrace DOTA 2 on this checklist. I do know, it isn’t the best sport to study and its total complexity and studying curve could really feel like an unimaginable sport to understand. Nonetheless, similar to studying a brand new language, the secret's to only follow it with native audio system. Sure, that implies that it's worthwhile to suck to have the ability to stay to talk DOTA 2 one other day, and ultimately suck, however a bit bit much less. Subsequent factor you already know, you could be an energetic a part of one of the necessary and worthwhile e-sports scene on this planet. What an absolute gem Blizzard misplaced, what a disgrace.
Fallout Shelter
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Picture: Bethesda Sport Studios Online game spinoffs are oftentimes a coin toss with reward on one facet and absolute failure on the opposite. Nonetheless, who would have thought {that a} base-building sport comparable to Fallout Shelter would turn into as standard because it has and, in response to some, even outshine a number of the principal Fallout video games — yeah, you already know which of them. Not a clear slate with reference to controversies, however Fallout Shelter has remained an incredible sport to cross the time if you are not coping with big mutant cockroaches trying to kill all of your inhabitants. Now, I must improve my energy era, once more, so excuse me.
Marvel Snap
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Picture: Second Dinner Studios, Inc. With this entry, I’m in a bit little bit of a dichotomy. On one hand, I’m a giant Marvel fan. On the opposite, I’m not too keen on collectible card video games usually, not to mention video video games. Nonetheless, to say that the Marvel Snap phenomenon made an incredible preliminary impression on the gaming panorama can be an enormous understatement. It's marketed as a fast-paced collectible card sport and the gameplay justifies it with intense card showdowns the place a number of variations and area benefits will decide which participant has essentially the most energy out of the 2. Successful rounds on this sport is addicting, and unlocking your favourite Marvel characters alongside their different customs is gratifying and nearly blissful. Create your excellent deck of playing cards with Marvel Snap.
PUBG: Battlegrounds
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Picture: KRAFTON, Inc. PUBG: Battlegrounds can also be one in every of Steam’s massive three. With a concurrent variety of avid gamers taking part in, PUBG is a must-try for each participant that needs to know a bit extra concerning the historical past of battle royale video games, which this sport managed to popularize — Fortnite then got here in and, nicely, you already know what occurred. But once more, this sport is intense and rewarding, and though I haven’t eaten a Rooster Dinner, I’m nonetheless wanting ahead to the day that being extraordinarily dangerous at video video games turns into a talent and is rewarded by online game devs. Within the meantime, let’s maintain taking pictures in a sport that doesn’t depend on constructing constructions like a maniac and focuses on aiming and quick reflexes. Or a minimum of that’s what it’s purported to be — personally, I couldn’t say.
Path of Exile
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Picture: Grinding Gear Video games Are you seeking to play a basic dungeon crawler that's thought-about by many because the truthful religious successor to Diablo 4 however don’t really feel like investing cash within the newest Diablo sport — which has been getting higher since its launch? Then Path of Exile is a wonderful sport for you, and for everybody, to be trustworthy. This sport is simply a wonderful tribute to a franchise that has suffered from many controversies since, nicely, Diablo 2 got here out. Not solely is the Path of Exile a wonderful different, however it's a 10-year sport that due to its content material and gameplay, is the final word dungeon crawling expertise in response to many style aficionados. Associated: 46 finest Steam Deck video games to play proper now
Crew Fortress 2
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Picture: Valve Let’s be trustworthy. Should you haven’t performed a minimum of one Crew Fortress 2 spherical in your life, then what are you doing right here? This sport is a basic that each one gamers — no matter their preferences — ought to attempt a minimum of as soon as of their lifetime. A personality multiplayer FPS, TF2 is a sport that has been critically acclaimed for greater than 15 years and plenty of contemplate it to be the best sport of all time. Now, whereas my Ocarina of Time could chuckle at that evaluation, the quantity of enjoyable I’ve loved in King of the Hill, Seize the Flag, or Payload makes me marvel if I’m a bit biased whereas assessing this sport. Be that as it might, simply give it a go. I imply, it’s free!
The Sims 4
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Picture: Maxis If there's a sport franchise that I’ve been taking part in for a very long time, then The Sims would take the spot. I do know, the sheer quantity of DLC content material is loopy, however it’s enjoyable attending to simulate a whole life with out saying a phrase aside from mumbles and a wierd simlish language that I’m certain if I attempt to emulate in actual life would find yourself with a number of devilish entities and Lovecraftian monsters dwelling in my home rent-free. Anyway, the sport is enjoyable, what can I say? You will be something you want, and on this sport, you truly get to make {that a} actuality! Okay, that was savage, however isn’t it true, although? Effectively, what a strategy to end this checklist, huh? And there you go! I might say that you would spend just a few of your Vacation bucks on these video games, however since they're free, I suppose you would make investments a few of your Vacation minutes (?) making an attempt what may turn into one in every of your favourite video games. All of that with out spending a penny. I name that an incredible deal! Wish to play some superior Steam video games however past the “free” tag? Verify our checklist right here. Read the full article
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6 Advantages Of Purchasing Elo Boosting
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If you are a keen gamer, who is looking to improve his gaming skills and rise up the ranks in online competition games. If so, you may have come across the concept to elo boost. Professional gamers offer Elo boosting solutions to improve game ranking and help you reach your objectives. In this article, we will explore Six advantages of purchasing Elo boosting and how it will positively affect your game experience.
What is the meaning of Elo Boosting?
Elo-boosting refers to a service provided by players with high skill levels that play with other players to improve their ranking as well as their performance in competitive online games. The term "Elo" is derived of the Elo rating system that is commonly used to calculate the level of skill and proficiency of players playing games such as League of Legends, Overwatch, or Dota 2.
Elo boosting lets players make use of the knowledge and experience of top players. This ensures rapid advancement and a more enjoyable game experience. We will look at the benefits of Elo boosting.
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3. Learn from the pros
It is possible to play alongside or look at highly skilled pros when you buy Elo boosting. By observing their gameplay strategy, decisions and tactics You can gain knowledge that will improve your own skills. Experience first-hand with elite players will give you an entirely new view and more understanding about the sport.
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Many online games offer exclusive reward points for reaching certain levels. By buying Elo increasing, you'll be able to gain these rewards faster. These items are available to you and show them off to friends and family by increasing your status.
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Your game-playing skills could be greatly improved through playing skilled boosters. You are able to modify their methods and strategies for your own game simply by watching their play. In time, this experience with advanced strategies will sharpen your skills and allow you to become a competent player on your own.
6. Feel relaxed and stress-free Gaming
The competitive nature of online games may lead to frustration and stress, particularly when facing challenging competitors or going through losing streaks. You can reduce the anxiety and enjoy a more enjoyable playing experience playing with buy high elo lol account. By gaining a higher rank it allows you to play with conviction, knowing that you're equipped to compete at a higher level.
Bottom Line
Elo boosts can provide a range of advantages to gamers seeking to boost their online gaming experience. Elo boosts offer a simple way to achieve the success you desire. They can help you save time, energy as well as money, while allowing you to unlock exclusive rewards and reach better rankings. In addition, the possibility to learn from professionals and develop your abilities will enhance your gaming skills. Additionally, the possibility to play without stress by using a higher rank allows for a more relaxed and enjoyable game.
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theblogs2024 · 1 year
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More Details About Hellcase Promo Code
Despite the site’s high traffic, the network is never “overloaded,” and the user experience is always clean and fast. Hellcase offers CS:GO and Dota 2 gambling.
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Hellcase Codes & Promotions 2023 Unlike many CS:GO gambling websites that combine multiple functionalities, Hellcase focuses exclusively on CSGO case openings. Hence, there are no casino games, sports betting, or other gambling options besides CS:GO gambling.
If you are familiar with CSGO skin gambling, opening cases, and trade-ups are not a novelty. In addition to the “RADAR30“ code, users have exciting promotions and bonuses to boost the whole experience.
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How to Enter Your Hellcase Promotional Code
If you want to claim the “RADAR30” or any other promo code on Hellcase’s website, here’s how to do it:
Open your Hellcase account via Steam Make your first deposit by clicking the “Add Money” button Click on “Use promotion code or wallet code” Enter your special code “RADAR30“ After selecting this option, you’ll easily find the box marked specifically for promo codes. Enter the RADAR30 code or any other promo code and confirm it by clicking on “Apply”.
Ongoing Free Case Promotions Compared to other CS:GO gambling websites, Hellcase features better odds than average. Aligned with an efficient withdrawal system, it is a massive advantage for players. The two main types of ongoing promotions available at Hellcase are daily bonuses and giveaways, but here you have all the great benefits you will enjoy when you become a member of Hellcase!
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Play the Mixxer for Extra Promos and Bonuses Although the platform features no slots or similar games, it offers exclusive minigames available for all users. The first minigame is the “Mixxer”, a Russian roulette game where you combine your favorite cases to have a chance to win one for free.
Battle for Cases to Win Big Prizes One of the most exciting experiences available at Hellcase is “Case Battles.” This feature allows several players to open the same cases simultaneously. Once all cases are opened up, the player with the most valuable one wins all the skins.
If you are not willing to participate in battles yet, you can still enjoy them by watching players combat each other for top-tier skins.
Upgrade Your Skins in the Fun and Easy Way The “Upgrade” feature permits you to select skins you would like to upgrade and also select top-tier Hellcase skins you would like to win. If the upgrade is successful, you can win the desired skin. If things do not go as expected, you lose the skins selected from your inventory.
VIP Promotion & Player Coin Rewards There’s no tiered VIP promotion or loyalty club. Premium subscriptions let gamers join an exclusive team immediately. Premium offers a distinct user experience.
Benefits include customised CS:GO cases, freebies, and an elevated experience. Monthly premium tokens are free. They also get a 24/7 dedicated support agent.
Hellcase’s Premium team gets early access to newly announced features. Silver, Gold, and Diamond are paid plans. $5, $15, $25 per month.
We’d have preferred a V.I.P promotion, but this is still a viable alternative if you want to utilize Hellcase as your main CSGO gambling site.
To know more details visit here: Hellcase Promo Code
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tonkisim · 2 years
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Compare pokemon side by side
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COMPARE POKEMON SIDE BY SIDE FOR FREE
COMPARE POKEMON SIDE BY SIDE HOW TO
COMPARE POKEMON SIDE BY SIDE HOW TO
Dota 2 is a game focused on strategy, builds, and how to make your character as powerful as possible. Pokemon Unite’s simple and clean interface works on Switch, and you rarely have to worry about builds, which is essential in Dota 2. However, the first ranked season of the game has already begun. However, Pokemon Unite is aimed at all ages, with it seemingly to be a MOBA just for fun. They both have starkly different audiences, with Dota 2 being aimed at the esports scene, even being nominated for multiple awards in that space since 2014. The biggest difference between Dota 2 and Pokemon Unite is the complexity between the games. Pokemon Unite is Very Different from Dota 2 When I tested it out earlier, we found that despite the map being on the top left, it was still very easy to not see Pokemon coming at you, and them just appearing suddenly on screen. Although there is a map visible showing where all of the characters are at all times, it is still relatively easy to get flanked, which is mildly similar to Pokemon Unite. With Smite, you are essentially in a third-person-shooter-style camera, where you see behind the character with minimal visibility across the map. One of the biggest differences between Smite and Pokemon Unite is the camera. Smite is one of the very few MOBAs currently out on Switch, making it one of the biggest competitors against Pokemon Unite currently. These are harder to kill, and can end up contested by the other team, so watch out! Not only are there small singular Pokemon that walk around the map, allowing you to easily kill them without too much hassle, there are bigger packs, as seen in the screenshot below. Instead of bribing or killing them so that they join you in the fight, they give you XP and Aeos energy, which you then use to score a goal in the game, instead of destroying towers and the like. Oftentimes, this allows your hero to level up, where you then choose the ability best suited for the fight - which is exactly what you do in Pokemon Unite! In Heroes of the Storm, scattered across the map there are mobs which you can kill or bribe in order to gain XP and help on the battlefield. Surprisingly, Pokemon Unite has a couple of similarities with Heroes of the Storm, a MOBA that is significantly less popular than others on the market, such as Smite and Dota 2. The interface is much smaller, and takes up less of the screen, giving the player easier access to the battlefield and more vision to know what is happening. In Pokemon Unite, it’s a different ball game instead, you level up your Pokemon where, depending on the type of the Pokemon, they may evolve, which makes them more powerful. Pokemon Unite is also different in the sense that there are no item builds that the player will have to worry about. In Pokemon Unite, they are a lot smaller and take up less room on the screen, allowing the player to see more of the battlefield. In League of Legends, there are seven main buttons that you need to press, and in Wild Rift they are all cramped in the bottom right of the screen. The layout of the screen on Pokemon Unite is very minimalist in comparison to Wild Rift. Wild Rift is based off one of the most popular MOBAs on PC, League of Legends. It’s important to compare it to one of the most popular mobile MOBAs today: League of Legends: Wild Rift. Pokemon Unite is very much trying to be a mobile MOBA, as it will be releasing on mobile later this year, but for now it is on Nintendo Switch exclusively. Pokemon Unite vs League of Legends: Wild Rift It’s a 5v5 battle, and the premise of the game is to level up and store as much Aeos energy as you can before going to the enemy side of the battlefield and scoring a goal. The matches go on for 10 minutes, with a “quick” match being unlocked later down the line, where the matches are five minutes long instead. Players can expect to see some of their favorites on the battlefield: Pikachu, Charmander, Metagross, Zeraora, and Alolan Ninetales to name a few. Pokemon Unite is set on Aeos Island, where you will encounter the Unite Battle Committee, which is responsible for running the Unite Tournaments. What similarities do they have, if any, and is it a vastly different game to what is already on the market? After playing for a while, let’s look into how it compares to some of the most popular MOBAs on the market. It is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena that most people will be able to access, without needing a Nintendo Switch Online membership.
COMPARE POKEMON SIDE BY SIDE FOR FREE
Pokemon Unite is the new kid on the block, offering exciting new gameplay for free on Nintendo Switch, and it’s coming out on mobile later this year.
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freedota2items-blog · 6 years
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How to get free Dota 2 Items in 2019
Dota 2 is one of my most favorite games because of many reasons. It is multiplayer online video games. Dota 2 developed and published by Valve Corporation couple of years ago. When you are planning to play this game then you need to something very special.
Dota 2 is a free to play games but you need to purchase its items, skins, arcane, Keys, Invoker, heroes. Sometimes we don’t have money to buy these items, then we got frustrated.
You don’t need to be worry, these some good news for you!!
Gamers Nab is a site where you can get Free Dota 2 items, arcane, keys,Invoker & more.
Are you getting confused, right? HOW IT’S POSSIBLE, RIGHT??
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www.GamersNab.com is one of the most trusted site where you can get all your skins or items for free. Let’s try this site.
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gamersnab · 5 years
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How to get Free Dota 2 Items
To get Free Dota 2 Items, GamersNab can be your best place. Best of luck
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prairiedust · 4 years
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The Further Folklore of Supernatural
Here’s a little more folklore meta in light of how season 15 has been playing out if anyone is game. I genuinely thought that Moriah would be the end of the folklore stuff and tossed out “Folk the Author” as an “epilogue,” so this is probably less of an addendum than it is a waymarker as I try to continue to parse these themes into the last seven episodes.
Welp. *waves hands at everything* THIS is not how anyone expected 2020 to go. Things got a little bit big and I stopped thinking about Spn in light of needing that energy elsewhere. But I also don’t want this crapfest to ruin how I fan my favorite show, so here I go again. I will attempt a TL;DR, too!
If you’ve read my old “folklore” analysis here about how I think fairy tales and all their baggage fit into Supernatural season 14, you know that I believe Castiel has stepped into a Sleeping Beauty type story, and that coincidentally a few themes and symbolism from Snow White kept popping up around Dean. (I hold Sam to be a Protagonist in the modern “literary fiction” sense of the word, but emotionally, thematically, and narratively he’s always been a little inaccessible to me. I finally understood him when the death-of-the-author plot surfaced, and I’ll get to Sam eventually here. And Jack, there’s a little Jack in here, too.) 
If you would rather have the TL;DR than read several thousands of words about how folklore and myth *might* be abstractly connected to an American genre show, all I can say is that I tried. The textual support is all in the folklore posts. This is as succinct a summary as I could fabricate. At least I’m not gonna talk about Sam and bricolage and freeplay! This is an almost completely theory-free post! If you don’t want to read or don’t need a refresher and just want to know how this has been working in 15, you can scroll down to “END OF TL;DR”.
So, to catch up, I’m not talking about the folklore and mythology that this show has always relied on for plot and MOTWs. I wasn’t drilling down into urban legends like Hook Man or world folk monsters like shtrigas or pishtacos. By “folklore” I mean the study of storytelling tropes and tale types that have been with us for ages. One of the many subtexts of the end of the series. I’ve been tracking this because I think it’s fun to see how fairy tale imagery and mythology might layer preconscious suggestions into the text of the show. I personally think it was loud enough to be seen easily, but more than likely viewers felt unsettled, felt cheered, or felt like they knew what was coming? I’m curious to know. Anyway.
When we found out that Kelly Kline was going to name her baby “Jack” waaaaay back in season 12, things started chiming. Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack the Giant Killer. Jack Tales. Jack is a powerful Western character, sort of a cross between a noble hero and a trickster, featuring in stories that often blur lines and boundaries. He is both the poor man’s youngest son and the equal to King Arthur’s heir. Jack is both everyman and extraordinary. Jack is so cool, I wish I had more time to parse that but his qualities are not subtle in the text/subtext, anyway.
But back to my half-crack reading of seasons 14 and 15. 
Once upon a time in Supernatural, there were two fairy tales being told. Both fairy tales are found all over the world and in many forms, but they all can be grouped together because they all contain shared elements of the same basic plot or shared themes, and these two in particular are sister stories. So when I mention “Sleeping Beauty,” I’m talking about lots of different versions of the folk tale, and the same for “Snow White,” which can be found in one form or another in storytelling traditions all over the place. It is both helpful and irritating that these are both Disney movies, too.
Jack makes an allusion to Sleeping Beauty in 14x03 The Scar while talking to Castiel-- it’s the kind of subtextual flash that in and of itself means little and proves nothing, but then beginning with The Scar we got three stories in a row that dealt with “sleepers” of some sort-- Lora in 14x03 doomed to die because of a witch’s spell, Stuart in 14x04 Mint Condition in a coma because of a ghost attack, and Sasha’s father in 14x05 Nightmare Logic under the spell of a clever djinn. It’s powerful subtext, like a soft light that bathes these episodes in the color of fairy tale and makes Jack’s Dramatic Swoon at the end of Optimism all the more Dramatic-- subtext amplifying the plot. Jack goes to Heaven, but is eventually cornered by the Shadow, who wants him in the Empty where he will sleep forever-- the Shadow being an entity who has claimed the husks of dead angels since their inception and thus implies a “curse” laid on Jack from the moment he came into being-- but Castiel, who is ever a thief in oh so many ways, makes a bargain with the Shadow and essentially takes over the consequences of Jack’s Sleeping Beauty story (hence my rarely used but hilarious tag “Castiel Thief of Endings.”)
Now that we know from 14x20 Moriah that the Shadow and Billie the Reaper are, if not allies, at least working together when Jack is awakened in the Empty, does that mean that Castiel’s deal is still on the table, or has that fate been thwarted? *pounds table* Was Jack’s death and Chuck’s rise as a “greater threat” in 14x20 enough to shift Castiel’s ending? It’s the kind of subtextual question that lends tension to the narrative and it’s what I am here for. 
Well, speaking of thwarted expectations, Dean’s arc was being shadowed by a Snow White tale type. We all know Snow White but why don’t I sum it up anyway, since Disney messed up the folktale ending lol. Snow White is cast out of her home by her jealous stepmother (and echoes of the stepmother’s magic mirror show up in 15x02 Gods and Monsters) who sends her huntsman to kill her; the dude can’t do it and turns the girl loose in the forest instead. Snow White joins a band of outsiders who live in the forest-- in the Disney movie and the Grimms’ tale they are dwarfs, in some versions she happens upon a band of robbers-- and they love her very much and we presume she’s safe for the rest of her life; Michael mysteriously turns Dean loose to join Sam’s gathering of hunters, however we know, like Stepmom, Michael is still out there. The stepmother finds out that Snow White is actually alive and contrives to kill her herself. Eventually succeeding, Snow White appears to die and is usually laid to rest in a crystal casket/glass coffin. Her stepmother’s machinations have _stolen her agency_ (further paralleling Dean’s possession by AU!Michael.) A Handsome Prince stumbles upon Snow White, is besmitten with her, and he asks her protectors if he can have her, as one does. Leaving the Disney adaptation aside, Snow White awakens when whatever item that has caused her death-like state is dislodged (piece of apple in her throat) or removed (magic corset) or withdrawn (poisoned hairpin) by her protectors. Snow White is a story about the community of the dwarves of band of robbers or adopted family caring deeply for her, and when Dean starts making his own crystal casket, the ma’lak box, in which he will ride out eternity in tormented symbiosis with Apocalypse Michael, he has to rely on his family to help him see the plan through. However, here’s where Jack-- who is as much a chaos engine as his surrogate father Castiel if not more so-- steps in and ruins the ending. Jack smites Michael. Dean Winchester is saved. Again. To put the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, Jack later destroys the ma’lek box entirely. 
That was quite the surprise ending… for one of the stories.
Was the end of season 14 the end of the Sleeping Beauty theme, also?
END OF TL;DR
I quit writing about “folklore” for a while, but that doesn’t mean it stopped being a theme. It just stopped being fun to write about as the story got more and more dark, and when it transmuted into two parallel themes of “folklore” or storytelling by the people versus Death of the Author--or storytelling by a lauded authority-- and there was so much angst about the boundaries of Chuck’s powers, I just wanted to sit back and enjoy that. I did distill my thoughts about Sam’s new arc in the DotA plot, which I thought would subsume the folktale themes but hey, we still have folktales around, too. I mean, we have Sam and we have Dean, and we have two “literary” subtexts, or maybe rather two subjects about the nature of story, something that I thought was a little bit of a surprise.
Storytelling was a Feature of 15x07 Last Call, both in the sense that Lee and Dean swap new stories and tell old tales of their adventures together as they catch up, but also in the sense that we got additional “text”-- hints of a backstory where John and Dean hunted with Lee in that swampy long-ago “Stanford era,” and again we get storytelling when _Lee recounts how he ended up keeping a marid in his basement_. There is also an allusion to the Thousand and One Arabian Nights in that episode that I yelled about in a meta that I never put on the interwebs, but the “marid” is in a specific tale in many editions of that collection, and thus calls in not only a different folktale tradition but the concept of a framed/nested narrative, which I believe will be important to understanding the last episodes of the series, but that’s an aside. In 15x08 Our Father Who Aren’t In Heaven, Castiel _tells Michael the story_ of how everyone ended up where they are now to convince him to help. And Michael and Adam’s allyship, if not friendship, was probably the best subversion of any “storytelling” expectation we’ve ever had on this show. Belphagor set us up for “room full of crazy” or something, but, no. We got symbiosis. 
That almost sums up how I’ve been viewing the last “era” of spn. This wasn’t in the master post, but I shouted a lot about underworlds before 15x09 Purgatory 2: Return to Purgatory, and then stopped shouting because I had to ferment for a while. Also, as has been mentioned, the world turned to crap. But talking to other meta writers during the ramp up to the resumption of the season helped me realize just why this reading of myth to folktales to literature feels so right.
Underworlds and Otherworlds…. Everybody has crossed into an “underworld” or three in Supernatural, it’s really nbd. It was actually surface-level plot in season 13. By the time 15x09 rolled around, our heroes are just, like, strolling in and out of “sealed off” Hell after doing a level one spell and chilling with Billie in the Empty and even that Purgatory trip didn’t have the same feeling of danger that, say, crossing into the AU did. But also, we’re at the point where subtext is leading us to a _satisfactory_ ending. Where before we had serial text, like a cumulative tale type-- “The House that Jack Built”-- which just kept adding more and more plot, we’re hurtling o’er the apex of Freytag’s pyramid now and things are getting loud.
But they’re also getting very shifty.
I wrote a little bit about Sam Winchester successfully reviving Eileen in 15x06 Golden Time and the “Orpheus and Eurydice” symbolism of him keeping his back to her. (I’m not linking it because it’s so, so rough.) But because Sam is not an underworld hero, not completely-- I see him as a modern Protagonist coming to terms in a psychoanalytical model with things like mortality, fallibility, and mastery-- maybe bildungsroman, even -- he was able to subvert the tragic ending of the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice because it is not “his” story. But if I were pressed to find a mythic or folk tale type to measure Sam against, I could. I would probably sideye “the sorcerer’s apprentice” trope (ATU 325-The Magician and his Pupil :D ) which began as a poem that entered European folklore on different fronts. (and weirdly, that story was also Disnified in Fantasia. That’s probably more my own limitation as a gen x american lol than anything coming from the writer’s room.)
Dean got his moment in Purgatory where he was able to finally come to grips with his anger and heal the rift between himself and Castiel because Purgatory is a different kind of underworld. Dean is a successful threshold-crosser, having crossed that boundary out of Purgatory before, but in 15x09, his prayer to Castiel is all a subtextual evocation of doing the emotional and mental work of therapy, which Sam, as a modern protagonist, is usually caught up in. The mythic hero also deals with mortality, failibilty, and mastery, but in different terms. I hope I’m doing an okay job peeling apart these nuances that I’m seeing.
Since Castiel accompanied Dean to Purgatory, and in the past made his own wildly successful incursion into and out of Hell with Dean’s soul, and was the one in The Trap who actually retrieved the Leviathan blossom, Castiel counts as an underworld hero, too, but you can pull the lever and send the tumblers spinning again and make him a fairy tale character in that he has made this Bargain with the Empty which is both in the “modern” tradition of subverting a fairy tale, and the tale type “deal with the devil.” Or he could be seen as a modern protagonist in that he’s lowkey grappling with questions of selfhood and identification. “I am an angel of the lord.” “I am no one.” “It’s Steve, now.” “You are nothing.” “I am an angel.”
We even got an episode that playfully explored the concept of “hero” by subverting our expectations (Sam and Dean were rescued by, of all people, an upgraded Garth.) It was called The Hero’s Journey, after the Joseph Campbell book about mythic heroes.... !!! Like, what??? !!!! I didn’t even have anything to say about that episode, it just rocked. The “meta” was just all out there in plot, like the olives and boiled eggs in a 1950’s gelatin recipe. 
Some of this slipperiness in the subtext points right at the study of folklore and the (admittedly Eurocentric at first) efforts to transform a “soft science” into something approaching scientific rigor. The Aarne-Thompson-Uther folktale index is today a codifying or cataloguing tool, with which anthropologists and literature scholars can line up stories based on the motifs found within them-- it is useful for cataloguing tales, making comparative studies, and for trying to trace these stories back through human history to find the One First Story of that type, for instance the ur-story that led to Snow White. When did people first start telling that tale, where, how did it spread, and why are we still telling it today? The danger in using the ATU index is that by stripping a story down to it’s bones, we lose the story, if that makes sense. The beauty of using the ATU index is that you find many, many more interconnected stories. It’s sort of a paradox. Some scholars criticize the ATU, claiming that one could take a random selection of these motifs and shuffle them to create a story and, you sort of could? That’s the beauty of the system. 
So that brings us to Jack. I feel like Jack, as in Jack of all Trades, is anything that the narrative needs him to be. As far as I can find, “Jack” is not a “tale type.” He shows up alongside any number of them-- sometimes as a trickster, sometimes as a hero, almost always as a kind of slippery character. In the first folklore post, I invested many words in exploring Dabb’s obsession with threes-- AU Michael asks three beings what they desire, asks his human victim to guess his name three times, then we follow three sleeper stories, and so on. The original TFW was three people. But Jack makes four. 
What is Jack’s story going to be?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And speaking for a sec about the origins of myth and folklore-- what about ALL OF THE OTHER PEOPLE in the world? Are they lowkey churning the matrix of reality on their own and generating their own content, like Becky and her AO3 stories and mackettes? 
*¯\_(ツ)_/¯ intensifies*
It all just feels so good at this point, even the peril that I feel surrounding Castiel.
I *think* this will be the last of the longform metas before the end of the series. I mean, I can only hope so. I’ll drop some stuff about individual episodes that might be applicable as I rewatch, and I might clean up my post about Last Call and drop it on here, but I just wanted to kind of hold this up as a mile marker before the Final Seven air.
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tigerkirby215 · 3 years
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5e Gondar, the Bounty Hunter build (DOTA 2)
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(Artwork made for Valve Software.)
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And here you were thinking that I wouldn’t actually make a DOTA 2 build; that’s where you’re WRONG! While this is sort of meant as my April Fools joke build I did actually play DOTA before migrating to League. I still love all the characters and I do genuinely think the gameplay has some strengths over LoL. The community...? Well, it exists.
Regardless back when I played DOTA I mained Bounty Hunter, which is rather ironic given I fucking hate League’s counterpart Bounty Hunter of Pyke. Gondar (yes his name is Gondar) was an extremely fun stealth assassin with a very unique passive to keep tabs on enemies at all times and inflate his teammates’ wallets. And apparently they magnified that even further by allowing Bounty to steal other heroes’ gold now with Jinada? Sweet Zeus Valve calm down with the feature creep...
Regardless: happy 5 days after April Fools! Hoes mad that I’m acknowledging DOTA’s existence.
GOALS
You can't fight what you can't see - DOTA is a lot more willing to give people invisibility. Helps when you can buy a gem that lets you see all invisible enemies.
The realm's justice - Jinada, que pasa? We need to be able to do big damage to critical points that weaken our enemies in a fight.
You can run but you can't hide - Your ultimate ability will be to track people down like some sort of... person who tracks people down for money.
RACE
Back in the Warcraft days Gondar was a Goblin, so a Goblin he shall be! As a Goblin you get a +2 to Dexterity and a +1 to Constitution, and Nimble Escape to get half of what a Rogue can do with your Bonus Action to Disengage or Hide (but not Dash.) And you get a nice bonus to take down big bounties (big in the literal sense) with Fury of the Small, allowing you to do extra damage equal to your level to a creature that’s bigger than you once per Short or Long Rest!
ABILITY SCORES
15; DEXTERITY - Is your refrigerator running? Well you’d better go catch it, because there’s a bounty on its head!
14; WISDOM - Wisdom is tied to tracking, and spoiler alert? We’re going to be doing a lot of tracking.
13; CONSTITUTION - We kinda don’t need anything else so may as well use that +1 from our race to get a nice boost to our HP.
12; INTELLIGENCE - Practical intelligence never hurt when tracking down gods and demons.
10; CHARISMA - You need to be able to talk to the people giving the bounties.
8; STRENGTH - You’re a small man with small knives.
BACKGROUND
Man, if only there was a background for a Bounty Hunter! We’ll be going for Urban Bounty Hunter from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide because just because the name says “urban” doesn’t mean you can’t prowl around the Radiant jungle too. You can choose your proficiencies among a small list: I opted for Insight and Stealth. You also get proficiency with two musical instruments or gaming sets: I’d maybe ask about languages instead? But honestly pick your poison.
Your feature Ear to the Ground gives you plenty of information about whatever bounty you may be tracking, as you’ve got contacts in all places to slip you information about where a giant fishman may be. “The Tidehunter becomes the hunted.”
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(Artwork made for Valve Software.)
THE BUILD
LEVEL 1 - FIGHTER 1
You level Shuriken first on Bounty, you go for CON saves first in D&D. Along with those CON saves you also get proficiency in two skills from the Fighter list: Acrobatics will help you survive and Survival will also help you survive! But it’s mainly useful for tracking.
As a Fighter you can choose a Fighting Style at level 1: for a quick Shuriken Toss Superior Technique will let you grab the Quick Toss maneuver as well as a d6 Superiority die to use on said maneuver. It doesn’t take a lot to push Q and click on someone. Remember that your superiority die come back after a Short Rest, as well as a long one.
Finally as a Fighter you can hold onto a Bottle to use for a bit of Second Wind, healing for a d10 plus your Fighter Level as a Bonus Action. “A prudent hunter knows when to strike.” This ability also resets after a Short or Long Rest.
LEVEL 2 - FIGHTER 2
Second level Fighters can up their APM with Action Surge, allowing them to take two actions in a turn. The Wiki says the trick of attacking people during Shadow Walk’s Fade Time is still a thing, so yeah pro tips from a League player!
LEVEL 3 - FIGHTER 3
Third level Fighters get to choose their Martial Archetype and truth be told I just want to be able to throw more shuriken, so Battle Master it is for four more Combat Superiority dice! You can also learn three more Maneuvers other than Quick Toss: Disarming Attack will let you knock an enemy’s weapon away with Heaven’s Halberd, and both Commander’s Strike and Distracting Strike are good to team up with your allies to play support. “My allies have earned their keep.”
But of course the most important feature is Student of War; no shmuck politician is going to hire you unless you have Calligrapher’s Supplies proficiency to fool a god to sign off his power to you!
LEVEL 4 - FIGHTER 4
How about we slow them down a bit? The Slasher feat will increase your Dexterity by 1 but also allow you to slow enemies hit by 10 feet. Additionally if you crit you cripple them, giving them disadvantage on their attacks! This only works with Slashing damage, so technically you can only slow in melee range with a Scimitar. But if your DM is cool I’d totally allow Darts that do Slashing damage to slow at range!
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(”Twin Blades Assassin” set made by motenai and T_Vidotto. Made for YYF.)
LEVEL 5 - RANGER 1
First level Rangers get proficiency in one skill from the Ranger list: increase your map awareness and buy some wards for Perception. Additionally you get Deft Explorer from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, which grants you the Canny ability for two language proficiencies and Expertise in one skill of your choice. Your languages don’t matter too much but guess what? Survival is still used for tracking down bounties!
Speaking of those bounties you can mark them with not quite track thanks to Favored Foe. When you hit a foe you can choose to mark them and make them take an additional d4 once per turn for up to a minute! You need to concentrate on this effect though so you can’t just fire-and-forget like in DOTA, and can only use it a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus.
LEVEL 6 - RANGER 2
Second level Rangers get to choose a Fighting Style and you know what’s good for tossing shuriken? Thrown Weapon Fighting, letting you draw thrown weapons for free and giving you +2 damage to said thrown weapons!
But of course the main appeal of being a Ranger is the Spellcasting! You can learn two spells from the Ranger list: for a not quite stun that certainly isn’t mini Ensnaring Strike lets you throw a shuriken (or stab with your sword) to root an enemy in place. Alternatively if you want to track people super good Hunter’s Mark gives you advantage on Survival checks to track the person you marked, and also lets you do an extra d6 every time you hit the enemy!
It’s of course worth mentioning that both these spells require Concentration which means you can’t use them along with Favored Foe, but most of the Ranger spell list is Concentration.
LEVEL 7 - RANGER 3
Third level Rangers get to chose their subclass, and I hope you weren’t expecting Hunter just because the character is literally called “Bounty Hunter.” No we’ll be going for the Monster Slayer subclass, because certainly you only hunt monsters who have a price on their head for a reason, right? Regardless Hunter’s Sense will let you know what an enemy’s weaknesses are just by looking at them (and perhaps peeking at their inventory) with your Action. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier and regain all expended uses at the end of a Long Rest.
But what we’re mainly here for is Slayer’s Prey, for more tracking marks! As a Bonus Action you can put another mark on a foe within 60 feet to make them take an extra d6 the first time you hit them! You can only have one target marked at a time with this ability, and it ends if you take a Short or Long Rest. This stacks with both Hunter’s Mark and Favored Foe, so pick your poison to do as much as you can to your foes!
You can also learn another first level Ranger spell like Snare, to set up in advance for bounties you know are coming. You get a lot more magic too: Monster Slayer Magic provides you with the Protection from Evil and Good spell, which is helpful for hunting down demons and fiends. You can also cast Speak with Animals once per day thanks to Primal Awareness, just in case you’ve been hanging around with Enchantress.
LEVEL 8 - RANGER 4
4th level Rangers get another Ability Score Improvement, but we still kinda need to be able to turn invisible? Good thing Shadow Touched lets you increase your Wisdom by 1 and gives you the Invisibility spell along with one Illusion or Necromancy spell of first level.
What first level spell will we be taking you may ask? Why if only there was a spell to squeeze more gold out of your bounties. Oh wait! Distort Value from Acquisitions Incorporated, allowing you to sparkle up your bounties for more gold! You can cast both of these spells once per Long Rest without using a spell slot, and can also cast them freely with your spell slots.
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(”Desperado in the Shade” set made by HeeJae.)
LEVEL 9 - RANGER 5
5th level Rangers finally get their Extra Attack. It’s about damn time to pick up some attack speed as a Martial Fighter.
You can also learn another spell like Locate Object, because sometimes items have bounties on them too. Speaking of spells Monster Slayer Magic gives you the Zone of Truth spell, and Primal Awareness gives you one casting of the spell Beast Sense, in case you want to ride along with Lifestealer.
LEVEL 10 - RANGER 6
6th level Rangers get Roving from Deft Explorer, increasing their movement speed by 5 and granting them a Climbing and Swimming speed equal to their walking speed, meaning you can follow your bounties through any terrain. Additionally Favored Foe increases to a d6 of damage, so while it’s still not really comparing to Hunter’s Mark it’s still helping!
LEVEL 11 - RANGER 7
7th level Monster Slayers have a Supernatural Defense against magic and crowd control. Whenever the target marked by your Slayer’s Prey feature forces you to make a saving throw or if you try to escape their grapple, you can add a d6 to your roll.
You can also learn another second level spell like Lesser Restoration, as a Dispel is never a bad thing to have.
LEVEL 12 - RANGER 8
Striking foes from the shadows is all well and good but you haven’t got many ways to keep yourself safe. (Other than using your Bonus Action to Disengage I guess.) The Mobile feat will speed you up and let you avoid hits after cutting a foe’s heels!
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(“Giant Hunter” set made by Jigglypuff.)
LEVEL 13 - RANGER 9
9th level Rangers get third level spells! This means you get:
Magic Circle from Monster Slayer Magic.
Speak With Plants from Primal Awareness.
And Revivify from the Ranger spell list (thanks Tasha’s), in case you need to help someone Buyback their respawn.
LEVEL 14 - RANGER 10
10th level Rangers are Tireless thanks to Deft Explorer. You can recover Exhaustion on a Short Rest, and can use an action to give yourself a boost of Temporary Hitpoints a number of times equal to your Proficiency bonus, which resets at the end of a Long Rest.
You also get more ways to turn invisible with Nature’s Veil, which lets you turn invisible until the start of your next turn. Like Tireless you have a number of uses equal to your Proficiency bonus, which come back at the end of a Long Rest. “Unseen.”
LEVEL 15 - RANGER 11
11th level Monster Slayers carry a ministun to deal with casters. When you see a creature casting a spell or teleporting within 60 feet of you, you can use your reaction to try to foil it with Magic-User’s Nemesis. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC, or its spell / TP fails and is wasted. You can only use this ability once per Short or Long Rest however, so be sure to stop the enemy from using a teleportation scroll.
Additionally you can learn another spell like Nondetection, for protection against wards.
LEVEL 16 - RANGER 12
12th level Rangers can grab another Ability Score Improvement: even though we have an uneven Wisdom score I’m still going to suggest maxing out your Dexterity first for the highest possible AC, damage, and dodging skills.
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(”Hunter with No Name” set made by BigTuna, Vermillion-Wlad, and Stefco. Made for Funn1k.)
LEVEL 17 - RANGER 13
13th level Rogues can learn 4th level spells. You get Banishment from Monster Slayer Magic, but much more importantly you get Locate Creature from Primal Awareness for some proper Bounty Hunting! We’ll also be taking Locate Creature as our learnt spell at this level: one may say that it’s not the most useful spell, but if you need combat magic you can upcast Ensnaring Strike for a chain stun or Invisibility to dust up.
LEVEL 18 - RANGER 14
14th level Rogues see Favored Foe increase to a d8. Is this way too late for a feature that’s still arguably doing less than Hunter’s Mark? Perhaps, but Favored Foe still doesn’t cost your Bonus Action nor a Spell Slot.
You do also get Vanish to hide as a Bonus Action but... you could already do that. Oops.
LEVEL 19 - RANGER 15
15th level Monster Slayers are masters at 1v1ing squishy spellcasters, as you master the Slayer’s Counter. If the enemy you marked with Slayer’s Prey forces you to make a saving throw, you can use your reaction attack them! You make this attack immediately before the saving throw, and if your attack hits you automatically succeed your saving throw.
You can also learn another spell but honestly? Pick your choice. We got just about all the character-accurate spells we could need as is.
LEVEL 20 - RANGER 16
16th level Rangers get their last Ability Score Improvement and while it’s probably late to do this the Resilient feat in Wisdom will make sure the enemy has zero chance to CC you.
WHY NOT ROGUE
There's several reasons I opted for Ranger levels instead of Rogue levels. Firstly Bounty Hunter can crit targets even when not stealthed, and Jinada is described as "preparing" the next attack which is much more in-line with Hunter's Mark and Favored Foe. Gondar's code language is most likely Goblin speak as opposed to Thieves' Cant. And of course Ranger was the only way to acquire tracking spells like Hunter's Mark and Locate Creature.
But above all else there were few Rogue subclasses that fit Gondar. Soul Knife is perhaps the only one that makes sense but ironically enough the unlimited nature of the Soul Knife Psychic Blades doesn't fit. (Also long-ranged teleportation doesn't fit either.) Monster Slayer meanwhile brings the backline counterplay to Gondar and allows me to work in a lot of Bounty Hunter's utility abilities.
FINAL BUILD
PROS
I didn't come here to see my enemies grow rich - You have many ways to get the upper hand both in and out of combat, with both spells and martial prowess to aid you in combat. Between invisibility, Hunter’s Mark, Ensnaring Strike, or just generally tracking your enemy down you have all the tools you could need and more to get the jump on your foes.
Watch your head! - You are very strong against magic users and other enemies who force saving throws, and you didn’t even need the Mage Slayer feat! Monster Slayer is exceptionally good at giving one enemy an incredibly tough time killing you, especially if they rely on magic to do so.
Impressive technique, but not enough - A little bit of Constitution goes a long way, and a +2 to CON along with a d10 hit die will give you quite a bit of bulk in comparison to others.
CONS
A wise hunter knows patience - It takes quite a bit to set up all your marks, with several bonus actions to operate at maximum effectiveness. In fact you have an absolutely excessive amount of Bonus Actions to choose from which can make picking the right one very tricky.
My target eludes me - You also have several Concentration spells, and while your CON saves are good many of your spells are utility based you still can’t turn invisible while tracking down your bounty.
That's going to come out of my pay, isn't it? - Your Wisdom isn’t terrible but it’s not good either, and while most of your spells don’t rely on saving throws many abilities such as Hunter’s Sense and Magic-User’s Nemesis do rely on your Wisdom. I’m not saying Point Buy would be better but your Intelligence really isn’t doing much to help you.
But a good hunter knows what tool to use in any situation, and you have the tools to take out any target... for the right price, of course. Stalk your foes, strike when they least expect it, and reap the rewards for your allies. And if they're the type to complain that you're not from Runeterra simply remember that DOTA is better than League, and a LoL player can't deny.
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(Comic by Nerf Now!)
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shuttershocky · 3 years
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As a MOBA enjoyer whats your opinion on League but like, gameplay wise?
It's been 8 years since I last played LoL so my opinion on its gameplay is likely quite outdated, but I still look back pretty fondly on my time with it. I actually still wish Icefrog would take the likes of Orianna, Lux, Viktor, RekSai (whose burrowing ability was probably inspired by Geomancer from HoN who in turn was inspired by Sand King so uh, full circle?) for Dota. I liked their concepts a lot. League was also much easier to pick up and learn than its older brother which is notoriously impossible to get into without 4 friends to teach you, and playing solos can actually be fun instead of an excruciating experience since champions are designed to be relatively self-sufficient in their jobs as opposed to Dota where heroes have extremely glaring, near unbeatable weaknesses that REQUIRE them to be covered by teammates and thus solo can become a total nightmare.
I also liked how maybe 90 percent of abilities in League were skillshots. A ton of Dota abilities are point and click lockons that you just have to deal with (there are abilities and items to reflect or block lock-ons, and most can be dodged with blinks, but still) which means sometimes if you're just a little out of position and get seen for just a moment, you WILL die and there's hardly anything you can do about it without the right build. League being really skillshot-centric meant I didn't really think I was dead until the spells were actually hitting me (or if they had Zed I guess) because I could always try to play dodgeball.
I also enjoyed having more map objectives like Red/Blue buff, Dragon, and Baron. Dota only had Roshan for almost 15 goddamn years until they introduced Shrines/outposts and neutral items. If you lost map control and Roshan got taken, you pretty much gave up on fighting most of the time and split push lanes instead to dodge the enemy.
I guess for criticisms I wasn't really a fan of how champions seemed designed for roles rather than designed to be unique among the cast which I would attribute to its business model being selling champions (thus they need multiple champs in the same roles since players don't have everybody) which Dota didn't have as a problem because everyone was immediately free. After I left though I started seeing Champions that could do shit that could build on top of fallen turrets or had like 15 different weapons which is the kind of weird I've always wanted from it, so I like that they've improved a lot on that front.
I also particularly didn't like how weak abilities in League were compared to Dota. I bought Blitzcrank immediately because I love Pudge, but his hook was like 2 and a half fucking inches compared to Pudge's chad hooks that reach all the way across the screen (and even beyond now in modern Dota with cast range extension items).
This also tied into how mobility in League was also really scuffed compared to Dota. Like everyone had zero turn rate (which I see as the biggest complaint League players have about Dota, being that heroes having turn rate feels sluggish), but also it meant that nobody could have Dota's massive blinks and force staff pushes and all their huge mobility bullshit where they leap at you from one screen away, because if everyone had zero turn rate but had mobility like that, it would be virtually impossible to catch anyone. This lack of strong mobility also meant that picking Flash was basically required (at least in my tier), which annoyed me when Flash was on about a 3 minute cooldown and moved 2 inches across my screen when a blink dagger in Dota let me instantly move 7 times that range on a 12 second cooldown. With teleporting to turrets also taking up a summoner spell slot (Dota uses a consumable item for teleporting), I was just generally unhappy with the mobility options in League at the time.
In the end, I stopped playing because I was a broke college student at the time and I spent the equivalent of ten dollars on Jinx when that could have paid for two weeks of fare going home + a snack from Mcdonalds on friday. That plus Dota generally being dominant in my country meant all my friends were playing it rather than LoL, so I stuck with the former instead. I had some fun though! Maybe I'll try getting into it again now that I'm older and with a job that can actually buy the champs I want to play.
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corneliuseustance · 3 years
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Are gaming communities becoming less about play and more about monetisation?
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The trend for game developers to monetize their game by providing ‘loot boxes’ or ‘gacha’ features are apparent in most online games. Some players buy the gachas to get the desired items and some play the game to earn profit in various ways. This raises the question whether gaming communities are less focused on playing but more towards monetisation. Therefore, this blog will explore the motivation of players in buying in-game contents and trends in gaming career.
Player’s motivation in purchasing in-game contents
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According to Hamari et. al. (2017), most players buy in-game contents due to the social motivations. The social interaction in the game makes players want to personalize their avatars (buying character skins), to catch-up or help friends in the game (buying character experience boost) and to send gifts to their friends.
Besides, players spend the most money on in-game purchases that gives them unobstructed play experience. For example, they purchase the item to speed up their game process and to keep their achievement rewards (Hamari et. al. 2017)
Furthermore, economical rationale is viewed as the most important motivation in buying in-game contents. They are motivated to buy virtual goods that give value for money (price discount or special offers) and sometimes to support the game developers (Hamari et. al. 2017).
Lastly, some players are motivated to spend money in unlocking in-game contents as they want to unlock certain special characters or to gain access to a new storyline in the game (Hamari et. al. 2017).
Gaming as a career in the modern era
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The old definition of play in gaming is irrelevant as the current concept of gaming has changed in the modern era. For example, playing a game can be defined to six different characteristics; one of them is being unproductive in the sense that it does not create any new goods, wealth or a new form of element (Caillois 2001).
This is not applicable in the modern context as playing a game can be a legitimate career in the 21st century with the help of advanced Internet technology tools and gadgets. For example, Dendi is a professional Dota 2 player in the eSports industry who earns approximately $280,000 per year without including any tournament prize pool that his team won (Cole 2018).
Some people also make profits from playing the game by uploading or streaming their gameplay on various social media platforms. The famous YouTube gaming channel, PewDiePie earned about $13 million in 2019 from the advertisement revenue at his gameplay video and live streaming donations (Leskin 2020).
Streaming platforms such as Twitch, Facebook and YouTube opens up more opportunities to the gaming community to build their career as a professional gamer or streamer which will give a potential lucrative income once they are famous.
Final thoughts
The gaming communities are slowly leaning towards the monetisation part of gaming. It can be seen from their motivation in purchasing in-game contents that focus more in enhancing their gaming experience which is optional. This will encourage more game developers to build their game to monetize certain aspects of the game experience to the players. Additionally, streaming platforms such as Twitch allows the gaming community to make money out of their gaming activities for free which will encourage more gamers to stream.
References
Callinois, R 2001, Man, Play and Games, Void Network, viewed 14 May 2021, <https://voidnetwork.gr/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Man-Play-and-Games-by-Roger-Caillois.pdf>.
Cole, P 2018, Dendi net worth: How much has Na’Vi’s Dendi made from esports?, Final Kill, viewed 14 May 2021, <https://finalkill.com/dota2/dendi-net-worth/>.
Hamari, J, Alha, K, Järvelä, S & Kivikangas, JM 2017, ‘Why do players buy in-game content? An empirical study on concrete purchase motivations’, Computers in Human Behaviour, vol. 68, pp. 555.
Leskin, P 2020, The career of PewDiePie, the controversial 30-year-old video creator who just returned to YouTube after a 30-day hiatus, Insider, viewed 14 May 2021, <https://www.businessinsider.com/pewdiepie-youtube-felix-kjellberg-life-career-controvery-2019-9>.
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listdepot · 5 years
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Top 10 Indie Games of the Decade (10 - 6)
Boy oh boy, video games sure did happen this decade, huh? A lot of stuff with a whole lot of video games and, most importantly, the independent game scene became far more pronounced, previously just confined to PC, the increasing presence of the online marketplace on consoles has greatly expanded the scope to which indie games reach players, putting these games on the same level as AAA. Anyway this is 10 of this games that I liked this year.
An honorable mention goes out to Firewatch because I still don’t know what is Firewatch.
10. Stacking
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Double Fine are undoubtedly my favorite game company. Tim Schaefer’s company has not only created my favorite game of all time (Psychonauts), but all their games have such a fun creativity to them. Whether its a turn-based RPG where children fight based on their Halloween costumes or an action/strategy game set in a world based on hard rock and metal, Double Fine have proven to be such a company that embraces fun and whimsy, that Sesame Street of all people let them develop their most recent game.
Stacking, as you can tell from the screenshot, is a world populated by matroyshka stacking dolls, and you play as Charlie Blackmore, the smallest of all the stacking dolls, who sets out on an adventure to stop an evil Industrial Age baron called The Baron, who has enslaved his siblings. To do that, he stacks into other dolls, only able to go up in size one at a time. Most characters have their own unique abilities and Charlie uses those abilities to solve adventure game puzzles. And that’s where Stacking gets really cool.
Every single puzzle in the game has multiple solutions, if you can’t figure out one version of how to do it, there’s usually two more solutions. While you only HAVE to do one, the puzzles reset once you finish them, letting you take your time trying to figure the others. Its an adventure game that forgoes classic tropes of that genre, also replacing your standard point and click with the quick to pick up stacking mechanic that lets you pick and choose how you want to do things. Its a game that combines interesting ideas with an anticapitalist story and visually is both early 1900s set design while those sets are comprised of everyday household items. Its like playing a diorama from 1915. Not a lot of games are like that.
9. The Stanley Parable
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The story of The Stanley Parable is simple. A narrative-driven walking simulator, you control Stanley, a boring office drone that’s tasked with monitoring data on a computer, pressing buttons and not asking questions. One day, that monitor goes blank and Stanley goes to fix it, suddenly discovering the office he works in is completely empty.
But that’s not the real story of The Stanley Parable. The narrator that describes Stanley’s actions, storybook-style, doesn’t control Stanley’s narrative. You do. And you have every opportunity, every step of the story, to go against the grain of what you’re told happens.
The Stanley Parable is a game that, as soon as you do anything it doesn’t want you to, begs you to continue following the path laid out for you then berates you for not following that path then continues to just complain to you, trying to regain control of the story. Every variation of Stanley’s story is maybe 10 - 15 minutes long but each one is a fun and weird surprise and Kevan Brighting’s soft friendly British narrator is an all time great voice acting role. One so good, Valve’s DOTA 2 MOBA game features an announcer pack that fully replaces the game’s announcer with Brighting’s narrator. DIGITAL SPORTS.
8. Observer
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A digital plague called a nanophage has infected and claimed the lives of countless augmented people in this cyberpunk hellscape of Krakow, leading to war and rampant drug use. The Chiron Corporation stepped in soon after and took control, turning Poland into even more of a nightmare than it had been, condemning those on the lower rung of society to poorly kept together tenement buildings, while also creating a police force known as Observers, detectives given free reign to hack the minds of citizens. Its 2084 and you are Daniel Lazarski, an Observer who receives a message from his estranged son Adam to come to a tenement, where he discovers Adam’s body, dead from long before the call was made. And that’s when things get weird.
The more I think about it, the more I think Bloober Team’s more recent horror game, Layers of Fear 2, should take the place on the list. The only issue is I only played Layers 2 a month ago and, no matter how much I love it, my first exposure to this company was through Observer, and more than that, this was a game I did not stop thinking about for like a year and a half. While Layers 2 plays with color and black & white in a game about the early days of film, Observer is clearly influenced by classic works of cyberpunk (the most obvious being Blade Runner), the bright neon buzzing endlessly in this dark, miserable nightmare. 
Even the real stars of this game, the minds of the dead you dive into as you solve this murder mystery, embrace that look as your setting is warped around you constantly. Rooms that look normal start stretching endlessly, doors open into other memories. And as Dan gets deeper into the mystery, the line between the real of the world around him and the memories of those he’s probing begin to blend until his own memories get mixed up among them, showing what lead to the current sad life he lives. Its a game that oozes misery even as it tries to jumpscare you around every corner. And its why it still keeps showing up in my thoughts.
7. Gone Home
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What exactly is a walking simulator? Dumb, that’s what. The idea that a game isn’t a game simply because it follows more of an adventure game aesthetic without any real challenges is absurd and, frankly, a childish view of what a game can be. And no game broke gamers’ brains more than the “walking simulator” Gone Home.
In 1995, Katie Greenbriar returns from a trip overseas on a stormy night to find her family home completely abandoned, moving boxes still unpacked. The unnerving quiet of the house mixed with the constant rain and occasional thunder feels like something out of a Resident Evil game. But instead of horror, the game uses this to make you feel confused, something to make you want to solve what happened. And it turns out its not a horror story, but a love story.
As Katie progresses through her house, she finds plenty of objects she can interact with, many that often unlock other areas in this large rural Oregon home. Along with many of those unlockables comes narration from Katie’s sister Sam, who details the awkwardness of moving into this new house, frequently thought to be haunted, and her life in a new school where she can’t connect with too many other people. Until she meets Lonnie. The two young women bond and fall in love. And the more you explore the home, the more this story gets fleshed out. Gone Home is a pure delight of a video game and one that not only spawned the pejorative term of “walking simulator” but became a gold standard for them, a term that the gaming industry has since embraced. There is no shame in using interactive media to simply tell a story, and Gone Home knows it.
6. Jazzpunk
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Its the late 1950s in the country of Japanada and Agent Polyblank must-  I’m going to be honest with you guys. I don’t know what Jazzpunk is. I’m not entirely sure what its about. I’ve played it multiple times and loved every moment of it but I’m not going to pretend its a game that makes any sense. And that’s just what it wants to be.
Heavily adopting the style of mid-century spy and cyberpunk fiction, Jazzpunk is a game that overly prefers making you laugh over any qualitative form of actual gameplay. Sure there are puzzles to solve to move the story along, but those puzzles task you with collecting giant spiders that are better rendered than anything else in this game, or hacking into a Soviet consulate which involves using a telephone to dial “Kremlin 2: The New Batch”. 
And the puzzles that make up the story stuff isn’t even 1/5th of the general dumb garbage you can do in this game. Jazzpunk exists for gags like the wedding cake that opens into a console that lets you play the multiplayer wedding-based FPS Wedding Qake. Jazzpunk exists to make you help a woman swat down flies in her store of very expensive vases. Jazzpunk will make you suddenly stop what you’re doing to do a first person version of the car bonus stage from Street Fighter 2, or suddenly put you into a cyberpunk heist in a Blade Runner-like city. 
Jazzpunk is Saul Bass on laughing gas. An intentionally stupid and disorienting experience purely designed to have you explore every inch of this weird world just so you can dig up weird crap on the beach with a metal detector and experience a pizza-themed Evil Dead 2 parody. Jazzpunk exists to be Jazzpunk. And in a lot of ways, it fully lives up to its nonsense name. Its a game of subversion in a way so impossibly dumb that it entirely feels improvised. That’s Jazzpunk.
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omdota · 4 years
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Buy Rocket League Items
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If you are interested in buying Rocket League things for resale then you ought to do so early and frequently. There are a couple things that you ought to know in regards to purchasing things from crates and trading them on auction websites. These include the value of items, common, rare, very rare, and global shipping rates. If you are not familiar with these conditions then you need to continue reading this guide to gain a better knowledge of those.
The cost of items like rocket boosts is influenced by the prevalence of this merchandise. For example, when you examine the price of a rare promo thing such as the authentic Yamaha moped bike with its red, white, and blue flames, you will discover that it sells for over $200. But if you should hunt the auction listings for these items on the e-bay site, you'd see that they have sold for as little as a buck each. This implies that there is quite a demand for this kind of item.
The cost for common items, like cups, flags, and skins, is affected by supply and demand. As we've mentioned previously, due to the popularity of the sport, a large amount of individuals desire the exclusive content accessible through these items. Because of this, it's fairly normal for a flag or cup to be bought and then sold to the auction website how to sell dota 2 items. The high demand for these promo items, but means that they may also be rather rare. When it comes to rare items such as these cups and cups, it's important to keep in mind that only ten of one hundred and twenty five distinct types have ever been generated. Consequently, if you want to have an exclusive flag or cup, then it's best to look on the rare side.
As mentioned previously, one of the very best ways to purchase Rocket League items is to do so through the in-game trading platform. One of the great things about this system is that it is free to use. Therefore, even when you're not very good at earning money in different ways, it might be worth giving the in-game trading system a go. Although the system isn't without its drawbacks, for people who have been in the know for some time, it has turned out to be a reliable approach to purchase the very best possible products.
Probably the most popular procedure to buy items is via the in-game trade system, which involves two distinct platforms. The first of these is your PC gaming platform, which will be similar to what is used for trading things between consoles. The second platform is the Xbox Live Arcade, which is a multiplayer platform designed exclusively for the Xbox 360. In the case of this Xbox Live Arcade, you will need to join a community in order to chat with other players who possess the identical interest ; nevertheless the PlayStation Network has its own in-game chat system that is integrated into the games themselves, allowing you to talk with fellow players while you play through your favourite game.
Alternatively, there are several third party trading sites that permit you to buy and sell items between the two versions of Rocket League, allowing you to build up your own private marketplace for trades. However, the majority of these sites require you to become a member of their online community, and they give no additional advantages besides being able to navigate through their listings. This is not really an effective way to get and market Rocket League items, as the majority of the deals you find on the third party sites are going to be exclusive, or just available to folks that are members of the site's community. Thus, this method doesn't actually compare well with purchasing straight from the programmers.
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Free [Steam Gift Card Generator] No Survey No Human Verification
How to Get Free Steam Gift Card Code Generator.Free Steam Gift Card Code Generator No survey Verification. steam gift card redeem.Free Steam Wallet Codes,steam gift card support number,what is a steam card used for,buy steam wallet gift card online,check steam gift card balance without redeeming,  
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tigerkirby215 · 4 years
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5e Sylas the Unshackled build (League of Legends)
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(Artwork by Riot Games)
История всего доселе существующего общества - это история классовой борьбы.
Quoting the communist manifesto aside I’m taking a quick break from Theros builds to tackle a more interesting character. Sylas is probably one of the most revolutionary characters in League of Legends, and I don’t only say that because he literally wants to kill the king. He alone has probably given Demacia the most development the region has ever gotten, and the fact that he can steal ultimates impacts League massively. The closer we get to DOTA the... better? I mean Sylas isn’t played that much so I guess it’s fine.
GOALS
Chains build revolutions - We have nothing to lose but our chains. Thankfully your chains can spin and smack anyone in your wake!
Catch me if you can! - The free development of each is the condition for the free development of all. Freedom to dash around your foes that is.
I'll give it back! Promise - Sylas’ ultimate may best be summed up with a single sentence: Abolition of private property.
RACE
Demacia isn’t exactly... welcoming of anyone who isn’t human, and magic gives you a great degree of variance that isn’t desired either. But even if you’re an outcast to some you can still find community as a Variant Human. You can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1: increase your Strength and your Dexterity because what else are you going to do in prison other than work out? You also get a skill of your choice and of course a magic man such as yourself would know a thing or two about Arcana.
Variant Humans also get to start with a Feat and you may think that because Sylas is a magic man he’d have Magic Initiate, right? Nope! Take Dual Wielder for +1 to your AC while dual-wielding and the ability to fight with two weapons even if they aren’t Light. (And the ability to draw two weapons at a time, I suppose.)
ABILITY SCORES
15; STRENGTH - Magic does wonders for your abs, doesn’t it? Despite being imprisoned for so long Sylas is ripped.
14; INTELLIGENCE - You can’t lead a revolution on ambition and anger alone.
13; DEXTERITY - Sylas is pretty nimble for a guy with giant stone chains around his arms. That and it’s a requirement to multiclass.
12; CONSTITUTION - Sylas is sturdier than the average mage, though he’s hardly a tank.
10; CHARISMA - You need to be at least somewhat personable to lead an army.
8; WISDOM - “Smash the system” is great and all until you realize that system has a giant sentient stole golem on its side.
BACKGROUND
Did you know that Sylas used to work for the Mageseekers? It’s true; read his backstory! That’s why while it may seem odd at first the Courtier background from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide is what we will be going with. You get proficiency with the Insight skill as well as the Persuasion skill, and two languages of your choice. However the main feature we’re here for is Court Functionary. Put bluntly you are fully aware of how kingdoms are truly run, and know exactly where to go and who to talk to in order to topple the monarchy. Told you courtier would make sense.
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(Artwork by Riot Games)
THE BUILD
LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1
Starting out as a Rogue for the extra proficiencies among other things. You get proficiency in four skills of your choice: Athletics and Acrobatics will keep you at the top of your physical game, and Perception and Intimidation will keep you mentally sound... sorta. You do get Expertise in two of your skills however: Arcana will keep you in the know of any spell you may take, and Persuasion will let you lead the mage rebellion proper!
As a Rogue you get access to Thieves’ Cant, which is a unique code that only Rogues know. Much more importantly however you can Sneak Attack to do an extra d6 of damage to a target. Note that even though it’s called “sneak attack” you don’t need to specifically sneak up on them: as long as your attack has advantage or an ally is within 5 feet of the target you can get your sneak attack off. Sylas does need a bit of set-up to truly be effective.
LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2
Level 2 Rogues get Cunning Action, letting them Dash, Dodge, or Hide as a Bonus Action so you can dart around the battle-field like some sort of mage-tank hybrid... oh wait.
LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3
Sylas is a mage so of course he needs to cast spells, and the Arcane Trickster is indeed a Rogue that can cast spells! With Spellcasting you learn three cantrips from the Wizard spell list, one of which has to be Mage Hand. Other than that Sword Burst isn’t quite a Petricite Burst because it’s a Sword Burst, but it will let you spin around to damage everyone near you. And a little Light from Luxana will help your human eyes see in the dark.
As an Arcane Trickster your spell list is much more limited than a Wizard, as you are only capable of learning spells from the Illusion or Enchantment school with a few exceptions. However that’s honestly more than enough for our purposes. Disguise Self is perfect for a man on the run, letting you... disguise yourself. If you want a make-shift single-target stun then Tasha’s Hideous Laughter can potentially stun someone for quite awhile if they lack Tenacity, though hitting them has a chance to knock them out of the effect. For your final spell while it isn’t the most flashy Longstrider will let you weave around the battlefield a little more with 10 feet of extra movement speed to dash around with. Remember that this means with your Cunning Action you can Dash a total of 80 feet!
Also while it perhaps isn’t too in-character you do gain access to Mage Hand Legerdemain which augments Mage Hand in a number of ways. You can now cast Mage Hand with your Bonus Action, and you can use it to pick locks, pickpocket people, or plant objects in people’s pockets from a distance. There are plenty of ways a bit of summoner magic can help you in the heat of battle... Oh wait they removed summoners from League... At least your Sneak Attack increases to 2d6 now though.
LEVEL 4 - BARBARIAN 1
You probably noticed two things by now:
We don’t have chains to whip people with.
We’re still wearing a shirt.
That’s where Barbarian comes in. For one you gain proficiency with all martial weapons which includes whips. But more importantly you get Unarmored Defense equal to your Dexterity and your Constitution modifier, so you can shrug off damage with your rippling mage abs!
Additionally you can now Rage against the system. While raging you have advantage on Strength checks and saving throws, resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and do extra damage if you attack with Strength.
This is where I need to get into the nitty-gritty of 5e mechanics: Sneak Attacking only works if you’re using a Finesse weapon, but it doesn’t specify that you have to use Dexterity to attack with it. The extra damage from Rage meanwhile only applies if you attack with Strength, but you can still use a Finesse weapon with Strength. Henceforth rules-as-written if you attack with Strength using a Finesse weapon you can get the extra damage from both Sneak Attack and Rage. And guess what’s a Finesse weapon: whips! Such as chain whips!
I will quickly mention right now that if you want a build with better armor but less damage prioritize Dexterity instead of Strength. DEX Barbarians work and especially considering that you can’t cast spells while Raging it’s quite likely that you won’t be raging too much with this build, so it might be better to focus on DEX. I opted for strength in this build though for the sake of demonstration but your free to adapt this build as you wish.
LEVEL 5 - BARBARIAN 2
You probably also noticed that I didn’t take the Stealth skill despite being a Rogue. Well that’s because second level Barbarians get a Reckless Attack, allowing them to get advantage on their attacks at the cost of giving enemies advantage to hit them. Thankfully you get a lot more use out of advantage than your enemies because of Sneak Attack, and the reach with your chains allows you to keep at a distance to back off without provoking attacks of opportunity.
On subject of DEXbarian: You can’t Recklessly Attack unless you’re using Strength, so keep that in mind if you wish to use DEX over STR.
In addition you get Danger Sense, giving you advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects you can see, such as a spark from the nice girl who kept visiting you in jail. "Let's use that spark to light a fire!"
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(Artwork by Jobsclebson on DeviantArt)
LEVEL 6 - ROGUE 4
It’s straight down Rogue from here on out. Level 4 Rogues get an Ability Score Improvement: increase your Strength for stronger lashings with your chains.
You also learn another spell at this level and you may find it exceptionally hard to pick appropriate spells when you’re limited to two schools of magic. So eh take Sleep because it’s just generally a good spell.
LEVEL 7 - ROGUE 5
5th level Rogues get Uncanny Dodge. When an attacker you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you. Consider it an item active coming to save you, or just some evasive maneuvers. "I had worse beatings in prison." Your Sneak Attack also increases to 3d6.
LEVEL 8 - ROGUE 6
6th level Rogues get Expertise in two more skills: Athletics is obvious for someone lugging giant stone chains around all the time. Other than that you can honestly make your choice on whatever’s useful for the party. (Thieves’ Tools is never a bad thing, though it may make people question why you didn’t just lockpick your way out of those chains.)
LEVEL 9 - ROGUE 7
At 7th level Rogues get Evasion, allowing them to take no damage if they succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or half damage if they fail. Considering that Danger Sense gives you Advantage on Dexterity saves it’s quite likely that you’ll be able to dodge and weave your way around most damage sources.
You also get another spell known, and what’s more is that you can now learn second level spells! Second level is where it gets particularly good for Arcane Tricksters but for now grab Hold Person to finally give yourself a stun. What’s particularly good about Hold Person is that it gives you another way to guarantee a Sneak Attack, which now increases to 4d6!
LEVEL 10 - ROGUE 8
At 8th level you get another Ability Score Improvement so cap off that Strength score to swing those chains like they’re made of... leather, like a whip usually is. Instead of giant rocks.
You can also learn another spell at this level, and at level 8 it can be from any school of magic too! Now this is going to sound weird but the spell you want is  Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm. Why do you want a small AoE of cold damage that forces a DEX save? Simple: Chain Lash’s detonation point. But yeah there’s a ton of spells that are probably better to take.
LEVEL 11 - ROGUE 9
At 9th level you get Magical Ambush. If you are hidden from a creature when you cast a spell on it, the creature has disadvantage on any saving throw it makes against the spell this turn. Ganking from bush is pretty effective, and this is probably the only reason you’d have to hide. But that being said you’re still not that good at hiding, and you only really have two spells that a target would have to fail a save against so... But regardless of how you choose to gain the upper hand a 5d6 Sneak Attack will make sure you hit hard!
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(Artwork by minnhsg on DeviantArt)
LEVEL 12 - ROGUE 10
10th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement, and now that your Strength is maxed out it’s time to increase your Intelligence for better spellcasting.
And speaking about spellcasting you learn another spell at this level, as well as another cantrip! None of the cantrips are really in-flavor so grab Message for some team chat. For your leveled spell again there are a lot of choices, but I’m actually going to suggest Nystul’s Magic Aura to hide your magic from the crown. At least for a time.
LEVEL 13 - ROGUE 11
11th level Rogues see their Sneak Attack increase to 6d6. They also get Reliable Talent, meaning that the lowest you can roll on an ability check you’re proficient in is a 10. To show how strong this is, here’s the minimum roll you can make in every ability you’re proficient in:
25 on Athletics
23 on Arcana
20 on Persuasion
17 on Acrobatics
15 on Intimidation
14 on Insight / Perception
And another spell added to the list? Why not? Seeing as you’re already pretty sturdy when raging as Barbarian how about making it even harder to hit you with Mirror Image? When a creature attacks you, roll a d20 to hit you. If you have three duplicates, you must roll a 6 or higher to change the attack's target to a duplicate. With two duplicates, you must roll an 8 or higher. With one duplicate, you must roll an 11 or higher.
A duplicate's AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier. If an attack hits a duplicate, the duplicate is destroyed. A duplicate can be destroyed only by an attack that hits it. It ignores all other damage and effects. The spell ends when all three duplicates are destroyed, and a creature ignores this spell if they don’t rely on sight to attack.
Since this spell doesn’t require Concentration it works while you’re Raging, which means that on top of essentially having three free hits against you you’ll also take half damage when attacked.
LEVEL 14 - ROGUE 12
12th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement, so how about more Constitution to increase your AC as well as your health bar.
Of course if you want better spellcasting feel free to opt for Intelligence instead.
LEVEL 15 - ROGUE 13
Level 13 Arcane Tricksters get Versatile Trickster, allowing you to use your Mage Hand to give yourself Advantage to attack someone. This is of course a better option over Reckless Attack while you’re not raging, but remember that you can’t cast spells while raging so you can use your Mage Hand while raging. But regardless of how you get your advantage you can use it to Sneak Attack for 7d6 damage!
But you do learn another spell, and you can now cast 3rd level spells! There aren’t that many third level spells we’d really want though, so grab Hypnotic Pattern for a big AoE stun that you can’t normally do. Maybe you stole Morgana’s chains? “Chains for everyone!”
LEVEL 16 - ROGUE 14
At level 14 Rogues get 10 feet of Blindsense, allowing them to locate any hidden or invisible creature within 10 feet. Oracle Lense is always useful!
You can also learn another spell, and this will be the last spell that you can get from a school other than Illusion or Enchantment. There’s a ton of good spells but I’m going to go with an old favorite of mine and grab Misty Step for Flash. Now would be a good time to remind everyone that you don’t have to follow my guides point-for-point, and you’re allowed to swap out your all-school spells for something else, such as Longstrider for... something more useful.
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(Artwork by Riot Games)
LEVEL 17 - ROGUE 15
At level 15 Rogues get Slippery Mind for proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. Yup that’s literally it. I mean, beyond your Sneak Attack doing 8d6 damage.
LEVEL 18 - ROGUE 16
Level 16 Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement so now would be a good time to increase your Intelligence for even harder spells. "I'll show you magic!"
And you can learn another spell, but like I said there isn’t much I really want from the third level so bounce back to second for Suggestion. You suggest an action that sounds reasonable and if the target fails a Wisdom save it has to follow the action. So no suggesting that the king give up his crown, but you can certainly suggest him to look away while you strangle him with chains.
LEVEL 19 - ROGUE 17
It’s about time we got our ultimate! Level 17 Arcane Tricksters finally get Spell Thief! Immediately after a creature casts a spell that targets you or includes you in its area of effect, you can use your reaction to force the creature to make a saving throw with its spellcasting ability modifier against your spell save DC. On a failed save, you negate the spell’s effect against you, and you steal the spell and are able to cast it!
For the next 8 hours, you know the spell and can cast it using your spell slots while the creature can’t cast that spell until the 8 hours have passed. Certainly an upgrade from Hijack, which is why you can only try to steal a spell once per long rest. But much like in League this should be your trump card to try to take something truly powerful for your own. Just don’t pick fights with a creature you can’t steal and run from.
And to top if off your Sneak Attack is now 9d6!
LEVEL 20 - ROGUE 18
Our final level is the 18th level in Rogue for Elusive, making it so no attack can have Advantage against you. This includes attacks against you after you used your Reckless Attack! But you probably won’t be raging much with 18 levels in a half caster...
FINAL BUILD
PROS
Magic cannot be caged - Let’s start with the obvious: you’ve got a good supply of magical tricks to help you both in and out of combat. Spell slots going up to third level, and the obvious ace up your sleeve of Spell Thief. And you’ve got some really good ones in your list despite the spell school limitations, including Sleep, Hold Person, and Suggestion.
And that's how we slaughter swine - Barbarian mixed with Rogue is remarkably powerful. Along with the fact that you can consistently get Sneak Attack with Reckless Attack, expertise in Athletics along with Rage giving you Advantage on Strength checks practically guarantees that you’ll succeed at anything Strength related.
Might is wasted on the mighty - You know what the other good thing about being a Barbarian is? You’re really sturdy with Rage allowing you to tank some hits, a positive (or at least neutral) modifier to all saving throws, and a decently large health bar for a Rogue thanks to a decent investment in CON.
CONS
A walking monument to ignorance - Your AC really isn’t fantastic. This build gets 15 total due to 2 from DEX, 2 from CON, and 1 from Dual Wielder. You’d honestly probably be better off just grabbing Medium Armor instead, or focusing more heavily on DEX.
Well, this is going to be confusing - Your big Achilles's Heel is your Wisdom modifier. While your Wisdom saves aren’t awful thanks to levels in Rogue you’d best hope you aren’t asked to take care of any horses.
What do you do with this? - Mixing Barbarian with a spellcaster (even a half-caster like Arcane Trickster) is always an odd choice, seeing as you can’t cast spells while raging. Honestly if only for the whip proficiency you would’ve been much better off taking some levels in Fighter instead of Barbarian; Versatile Trickster already lets you get Advantage on your attacks.
But the perfect man doesn’t need to rebel. Your chains are what define you and your cause, and your army can work together to shed your chains no matter who your opponent may be. With the might of muscle combined with might of magic there are countless ways to light a spark. And all you need to start a fire is a single spark.
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(Artwork by Nazori on DeviantArt)
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