Hello everyone. Tonight I'm going to be taking a look at a collection of two of my personal favorite light gun games, the House of the Dead. For those of you who may have never had the chance to be in an arcade about five to ten years ago, let me fill you in... The House of the Dead 2 was an incredible rail style shooter.
I cant tell any of you how many quarters I sank into these machines. Whether it was at the boardwalk or at the movie theater or at Six Flags, it didn't matter, House of the Dead 2 was my go to game. Then came House of the Dead III (now called House of the Dead 3).
To be honest with you. I did not play much of this game in the arcades. For whatever reason it did not appeal to me as much as HOTD 2 did. Still the game was quite fun and again I spent a decent amount of money. Then nothing. House of the Dead 4 came out and was around for a little while, but then silence in the House of the Dead series. House of the Dead 2 and 3 would be remade for a few different platforms, including the PC and Sega Dreamcast, but then in 2008 The House of the Dead 2 and 3 returned to glorious form on the Nintendo Wii.
When I saw this game shortly after getting my Nintendo Wii, I nearly fell over with excitement. I hadn't kept up with was going on with the Wii/PS3/Xbox-360 at the time, so once I got my Wii and was looking at games I really couldn't contain myself. I always felt that the Wii could really excel at these rail shooting games. So I booted up The House of the Dead 2 to start and basically relived the glory that the game was back in 1998.
The game takes place in the year 2000, roughly 14 months since the Curien Mansion incident of 1998 (the events of The House of the Dead). The game starts off with AMS agent G missing in Venice, Italy. The city has become overrun with zombies created by a man named Caleb Goldman and it is up to the AMS agents to stop him. The game has multiple ending depending on if a player 1 beats the game, player 2 beats the game, if both players complete the game, if you used continues, or if you collected a certain number of points.
There are a couple game modes for The House of the Dead 2 portion of the game. Arcade Mode is the version of the game that was seen in arcades. Original Mode is a deeper version of the game. The voice acting is hilariously bad and unchanged from the arcade. Memorable quotes such as "suffer like G did?" just scratch the surface of how bad the lines in this game are. Still it's easy to put the story together despite the terrible acting. The graphics look dated, but the original game came out in 1998, and this is a port of that game with no graphical improvements which is actually a welcome sight in my eyes. The levels of the game can actually be quite interactive. Zombies will pick up and toss objects at you, you can shoot the bulbs out of lights, shoot objects to open new routes, etc etc etc.
The soundtrack is pretty good and holds up well in this port. The Wiimote acts as a perfect light gun. I mean I feel like the Wii was literally designed with games like this in mind. Pretty sure that's not the case, but still, the calibration in this game is spot on and the Wiimote is a wonderful controller for this game. Overall the House of the Dead 2 on the Wii is just as good as the arcade original. The House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return was originally priced at $30. Many people felt that this was too much for a port of two older arcade games, but I've easily poured more than $30 into the arcade machine of House of the Dead 2, let alone 3. Speaking of 3...
The House of the Dead 3 takes place 16 years after the events of The House of the Dead 4. AMS agents Thomas Rogan and Dan Taylor infiltrate Curien's EFI Facility Center to figure out what brought an apocalypse upon mankind. Along the way Rogan's entire team, besides himself, is wiped out by a massive mutant security guard, "Death". Two weeks after, Lisa Rogan sets out with AMS agent G to find out what happened to her father and rescue him while uncovering Curien's secrets.
Similar to the House of the Dead 2 port in this combo of games, the House of the Dead 3 has a couple different game modes including Arcade Mode and Extreme Mode. Arcade mode is the direct arcade port while Extreme Mode features an increased difficulty and quick motion slices.
Graphically, the House of the Dead 3 looks overall better than the House of the Dead 2. That being said, on the Wii these graphical improvements and the Wii's limited abilities cause the game to slow down when large groups of zombies are on the attack. The soundtrack is the same as it is in the arcades, but personally I think the House of the Dead 2's is actually better despite being older.
Similar to the second game in the series, the House of the Dead 3 allows the player to choose a variety of directions to get to the end of the game. Much like 2, there are several different endings for the game depending on the choices of the player along the way. Unlike House of the Dead 2, the third game does not always feature a boss battle at the end of a level. In fact, the security guard I mentioned before, "Death", basically chases the heroes throughout the level. Later "Sun", a massive plant, attacks the player throughout the level until the heroes finally discover it's layer and destroys it. After it's defeat, the players must continue through the bio-research plant. Lastly "Fool" is found towards the end of his level. I always found that to be pretty cool about this game.
Overall though I do prefer House of the Dead 2 to 3. I've had a lot more experience with the game and on the Wii, the game performs much better than 3 does. The random slow downs is a reminder that this is a port of an arcade game on a system that apparently couldn't muster enough power to run the game with no issues. The story of both of these games are by no means spectacular, but again I liked House of the Dead 2's more. In addition I prefer the boss battles of 2's as well. I felt that in some cases, 3's boss battles were quite long and drawn out. In particular the fights against Fool and Death seemed to go on forever in comparison to the fast paced fights in 2. Either way I think this combo of 2 classic games is worth the price tag. This was one of the first things I got for my Wii and it is still one of my most played titles on the console. Looking around on ebay it seems like the price of this game is now between 15 and 20 dollars. That is more than fair I think for the price of the game. Especially considering when one play of 4 hits costs 50 cents in House of the Dead 2 alone... You can easily blow through 15 to 20 dollars after a couple playthroughs. If you've never given these 2 classic games a chance, I strongly recommend this 2 pack for the Wii. In my opinion this is the best porting for these two games together and it will help to preserve these two games for another generation of gamer!
Welcome everyone to a different type of blog. Tonight I'll be looking at two version of the same game. So lets get right to it. No introductions are probably needed.
Similar to the Super Mario games that were released on the Game Boy Advance, the Donkey Kong Country trilogy was also remade on the same handheld system. Similar to the Super Mario games, the Game Boy Advance games came under some criticism, especially from people who love the original. Some gamers who've only played the GBA versions also criticize the game for it's graphics and other things. I'm going to take a look at both of these games here and try to see if the Game Boy Advance game is up to par with the original on the Super Nintendo and if it may even surpass the original in any aspect. First let's take a quick look at the game that started it all.
Donkey Kong Country is easily one of the best games on the Super Nintendo.
Right from the opening screen seen in the video above you know that you were in for a great experience. In fact it was Donkey Kong Country that really showed off what the Super Nintendo was capable of. Revolutionary graphics, incredible and lively looking levels, and all kinds of small effect put this game way ahead of it's time. For example, the second level of the game features a thunderstorm, later levels include a blizzard the increases and decreases in intensity, clouded waters, and misty mines. All of these little things help to add to the amazing look that Donkey Kong Country has.
Visually I really have zero complaints about the game. It's simply beautiful and if you look at the above screenshot you can even see that the game actually has layered backgrounds that look really life like. The controls are pretty tight as well. The biggest frustration I've ever had with the controls is that sometimes when I use one of my Kong's roll attacks, he comes to a dead stop breaking my momentum. It's a tick annoying, but doesn't really hamper much unless I stop at the feet of an enemy. Each Kong's got it's advantages. Diddy's quicker in all aspects, but DK himself has the power to defeat enemies Diddy cant and he also has a ground slap ability that can defeat enemies and uncover hidden goodies. There's plenty of really well hidden bonus areas to find in this version of the game so you'll want to explore high and low to find them all... You may also find yourself dropping off the level in vain hoping for a bonus barrel to appear.
Also to find in each level are the letters K O N and G. Find all of these and you get a 1-up. The game really eases you into itself as well. The first world is really simple and introduces you to a variety of level layouts including barrel canyons, caves, underwater, and the jungle. All places you'll see again. By the time you finish world 2 you'll be starting to see the difficulty rise. Personally I think world 4, Gorilla Glacier is the hardest in the game. It's here that you'll deal with intense blizzards, slipping on ice, and a crazy barrel canyon where you'll need pin point timing to carry on. From there the difficulty stays at a real good level, but I still feel that Gorilla Glacier is the biggest nightmare the game has to offer.
It's in this world that you'll also run into Squawks the parrot. This is the only of the three games that he's actually not playable. Instead he'll cart around a light for you in a dark cave. Speaking of animals... The Kongs can ride a few different animal buddies. Winky the frog, Rambi the rhino, Enguarde the swordfish, and Expresso the ostrich can all be ridden and all have their own unique styles of play. Rambi is well a rhino that mows everything down, Expresso has a lot of speed and his height allows smaller enemies to pass between his legs, Winky can jump really high, and Enguarde makes water levels a breeze. Also hidden throughout the levels are animal tokens. Collecting three of the same animal will send you to that animal's respective bonus room where you can earn a bunch of extra lives. Only downside to doing this is upon returning to the main level, you'll be starting at the nearest checkpoint and not where you collected the token.
Another major high point of this game is it's soundtrack. Donkey Kong Country, while I think having the second best soundtrack out of the three games, does have a very good soundtrack. I won't put it in the top three of the Super NES, but it is still very good. My personal favorite of this soundtrack is Aquatic Ambiance. The soundtrack has a few tracks that are just ok I'd say including Tree Top Town and Mine Cart Madness. That's not to say that they are bad tracks, I just don't find them adding to the experience as some of the other tracks.
One of the more common complaints people have about this game is the boss battles. I'll go out and say not a single one of the bosses are particularly difficult and a couple of them will actually in a sense, repeat. Even the final boss of the game, King K. Rool, is not really difficult to defeat at all once you figure out his basic attack pattern. Really I find the bosses probably the least challenging aspect of the game.
Lastly I want to address what I find to be a very silly complaint that a lot of people have with this game. For some reason a lot of people do not like the save function in this game. In order to save the game, the player must reach Candy's Save Point. The save point varies from world to world in it's location. Sometimes it's early, other times it's late.
In the above photo you can see it on the top right. Right at the halfway point of Gorilla Glacier. I feel like a lot of gamers today have kind of an odd mentality when it comes to side scrolling games. Not to go off in another direction here, but with being able to save constantly I felt like there was no fear of a game over in Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii. Same goes for the New Super Mario Bros series. I feel like there is no threat at all. Playing through Donkey Kong Country, and I'll even through Super Mario World in there, myself and countless others feared that game over because that meant it was back to the last time you saved. In this case that could be potentially half a world or more if you live on the edge. I almost feel like there's a lot of hand holding when after every level you just pause and save the game so if you die you lose zero progress. Yeah in theory you could do that in Donkey Kong Country as well, but in some scenarios like just entering a world, you could get to the last level before a save, get a game over, rage, and work back to it cause you had to go back to the last save point. So personally I really, really like that you don't have the option to save at will with this game.
So what do I see as the pros and cons of Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo? For starters the game is beautiful and plays amazingly. It's got a top notch soundtrack and the difficulty scales quite nicely. The cons are that the boss battles are really lackluster, difficult to locate bonus barrels where you have to take a leap of faith, and honestly the punishment of having to go back to a check point for collecting three animal tokens.
Now to look at the game that's got a bit more controversy. Donkey Kong Country on the Game Boy Advance.
Much like the remakes of the classic Super Mario games, the Donkey Kong Country remake on the Game Boy Advance gets a lot of flack and also gets ignored a great deal. Personally though I actually like the remake for what it is. Is it Donkey Kong Country? Yes. Is it different? Yes. Does it look the same? of course not. How could it when you look at what the SNES was capable of versus what the GBA could do... Does it play as well? Well..... Let's start talking about some of this stuff...
Donkey Kong Country on the GBA graphically is..... well.... great! Many people say the game looks like trash. Well if you play it on a regular GBA, yeah. The system with no back-light is a royal pain to work with in general let alone try to bring the bright world of DKC to life. Play it on the GBA SP which has a back-light and suddenly everything looks a lot clearer. Also, keep in mind the size of the GBA's screen compared to a TV... All of the other small effects such as weather are all still in the game and look very repectable for what the GBA could muster.
Does it look as good as it's SNES cousin? No, but who really expected it to? The controls do have a bit of a learning curve. If you grew up playing the game on SNES and are trying the GBA game out you might find that the controls feel almost slippery. I had several instances where I thought I had plenty for a jump but fell short, or thought I had more running room than I actually did. These things I got used to though, but it was a bit annoying when I jumped from the same location I jumped from on the SNES and made 100 times, only to miss it on the GBA. At the same time though Rare corrected the little rolling problem I mentioned earlier so you can actually keep moving after a roll that didn't hit anything. That was a real nice change to see.
Musically the soundtrack I think is again right up there among the best of the system. Here's a sample, the main theme. So this is the same song that starts off the SNES game, but on the GBA.
Does it sound as good? Some people say yes, while I think it does sound great for the GBA, I prefer the original. That being said though the soundtrack I think actually improves on some of the tracks in the game. While I feel that Aquatic Ambiance is better on the SNES, I think that other tracks such as Mine Cart Madness are actually improved a great deal. So as is kind of becoming the theme here, I feel like the soundtrack on the GBA is pretty spot on for what the GBA is capable of doing.
So comparatively on the things the games have in common the SNES version I think is the better game, but there is some things that have changed about the game on the GBA from the SNES game that have actually improved the game. The biggest of those is that some of the boss battles have been improved... Big time... For example, in the SNES game the battle against Queen B. involves hitting the queen Zinger with a barrel, then dodging her when she turns red and flies around the screen. Rinse wash repeat until she's defeated. On the GBA though, after taking enough hits, a new phase is introduced where the Kongs have to defeat a bunch of small Zingers protecting their queen before being able to damage her. This phase is similar to the battle against King Zing in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Other boss battles including the battle against Master Necky Sr. which sees Master Necky joining the the fray. The bottom line here is that the boss battles are much improved.
For the perfectionist, there is something new collect. Now included in the game are little photographs of enemies that you'll add to an album. Some of these pictures are pretty well hidden so much like the DK Coins in later SNES games, you'll need to search high and low. In addition you'll have to play a few new minigames that are hosted by both Funky and Candy Kong. You may recall that I said that Candy Kong ran the save point. Well... Rare changed this up here and made the game a bit easier by allowing the player to simply save at any time on the world map. This save also preserves the lives a player has unlike the SNES version. Candy's minigame is basically a DDR game with the buttons on the GBA. I found it quite annoying and really a waste outside of trying to collect stuff. Funky's function has been changed in the GBA version as well. In the SNES he ran Funky's Flights which similar to Candy's Save Point could be found in one location in each world. The flight allowed the Kongs to travel to any level they had already beaten. Now that flight can be called in at any time on the world map similar to saving the game. So traveling between worlds is simply made a bit easier. Funky now runs a fishing minigame that I actually like. One Kong rides Enguarde and the other is in a boat. The Kong on Enguarde fishes and brings the catch to the Kong on the boat. Depending on the required catch, bonus time can be gained or time can be lost for wrong catches. Again this minigame is a must play if you want to collect everything in the game. Oh yeah. Both mini games are found on each world so...... Be prepared for them again and again and again.
Another improvement in the GBA version is that Rare made the bonus barrels far more visible. There is also a time attack mode that was added into the game so the speed demons can go for personal bests whenever they want. Outside of the listed changes, the game is pretty much the same that it was on the SNES.
So what are my final thoughts on all of this? I think that the Gameboy Advance game is a very respectable remake of the original. While it doesn't have the graphics the SNES game has, it does add a bit to the game while keeping the main game intact. Sure the controls are a bit slippery, but the effects and music of the game can and at times do rival those of the SNES. What's more is that the inner collector of a player is tempted with the new photo album. The increased variety of the boss battles is also a very welcome addition to the game. Despite these improvements though I give the edge to the SNES game. It really is one of the best platformers I've played and it really has stood the test of time.
If you have never played Donkey Kong Country. Do yourself a favor. Look for it on the Wii, Wii U, or 3ds virtual console. If you have an SNES or a GBA hanging around, pick the game up and give it a shot!
Hey everyone and welcome back. I actually had a lot of fun typing up my last blog on Azmodan that I decided to do another Heroes of the Storm blog pretty much right away. After this blog I'll probably go back to retro stuff for a bit. So today I want to offer up some thoughts and share my favorite build on the brood mother named Zagara.
Zagara first made her presence known in Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm as a brood mother who would defy the queen of blades until she realized that the Kerrigan was stronger than her. She would eventually join Kerrigan's brood and help lead the Zerg to many victories.
When I got into the alpha version of Heroes of the Storm I wanted to play Zagara right off the bat since her talents revolve around spawning minions and spreading creep. So I saved up the 7000 gold and got her. Since then I've basically mained her and have had quite a bit of success with her as well. I picked up a lot of what I do with Zagara from watching Grubby on Twitch. Back in the alpha/beta phase of the game he released a nice one stop Zagara guide on Youtube which is literally loaded with information on how to play Zagara well. She is one of the Heroes who has not really seen much in the way of change since her original release, but I think she is a character that needs to change a bit because there are only 2 real viable builds available to her and many of her talents just don't have much use.
The one build is a build focusing on damage, the other is focusing on utility via increasing creep tumor effectiveness. This allows for Zagara's team to see a large portion of the map which provides a big advantage. She's also got a bit of a gimmick with Abathur in which she uses her Nydus Network (R) to appear near a placed Toxic Nest of Abathur's behind enemy lines. She comes out and begins attacking the fort while Abathur clones her. So basically two Zagara's assault a fort and the real Zagara escapes before the enemy team can defend. Problem is this can be easily scouted by a team that is paying attention.
I mentioned that she doesn't have the greatest of talent choices and I'll touch more on that in my build, but there is a reason that several of her talents have over an 80% pick rate. Despite not being the most diverse hero, Zagara has hovered between a 50% to 53% win ratio pretty much since I've started playing the game. To say that she's pretty balanced I think is fair, but still I think a rework of some of her talents are needed while not crippling her current state. Though she's seen a couple small nerfs over the past few months Zagara remains a force and that force is spearheaded by her Heroic Ability, Devouring Maw (R). So those are a couple thoughts on Zagara. My favorite Hero in the game and a force to be reckoned with too. So lets look at my build...... and maaaaany other people's build cause as I mentioned earlier, there's really only 2.
Level 1:Reconstitution
Reconstitution increases Zagara's health restoration while standing on creep by 200%. Honestly I feel like this is the only viable level 1 talent Zagara has. Her other talents simply do not stack up. Corpse Feeders (E) increases roach health which is nice for tanking turret fire or getting mercs, but it does nothing attack wise and roaches do their job without this upgrade as well. Demolitionist is another useless ability. While it does take an additional shot away from structures each time Zagara hits it with a basic attack, there is a big problem. That problem is a basic attack is needed. So for the first couple minutes, sure it looks good, later when you're trying to defend yourself from enemies, not so much. Corpse Feeders (E) does Demolitionist's job better than it does I'd say. Centrifugal Hooks doubles the range of your Baneling Barrage (Q). Another talent with little point. Baneling Barrage (Q) already outranges buildings and if you are in a team fight, the double range of Centrifugal Hooks will never be used as you'll be out of range to use any of your other abilities and gives the opponent more time to dodge. Level 1 is a seriously weak spot for Zagara's talents that needs addressing.
Level 4: Envenomed Spines
Envenomed Spines increases Zagara's basic attack range by 20% while also dealing an additional 42 damage over 3 seconds. This ability I would not be surprised if they gave a small nerf to as it is easily the best choice unless you are going for a creep build in which case Tumor Clutch (decreases the cooldown on Creep Tumor (D) to 10 seconds and removes the mana cost) is better. Envenomed Spines outperforms Medusa Blades, which allows basic attacks to hit 3 targets for 25% damage, in every way. Envenom, while not a bad talent, puts Zagara, who has no escapes, into a very dangerous situation as it has a very short range. Envenomed Spines can do more damage at a much safer distance. Infest powers up lane minions by 400% damage against non heroic units for 30 seconds. Problem is they just get mowed down by heroes and again, Envenomed Spines is better. This is another talent tier that needs a rework on Zagara as there is only 1 real choice outside of the creep build.
Level 7: Rapid Incubation
Finally a level with a couple options. My favorite here is Rapid Incubation (#) which Zagara channels to restore 25% of both health and mana over 3 seconds. This talent is extremely useful in a couple situations. One is that it gives Zagara the potential to never have to go back to the base to restore health or mana. The other is that it can save Zagara from potentially fatal damage. The only downside to this talent is the channeling that needs to be done while it works. If doing a creep build, Endless Creep, which spreads creep 50% farther and gives tumors 100% more health, is the way to go in most cases. Another interesting choice here is Swarm Momentum. This ability reduces the cooldown of your basic abilities by 0.75 seconds for each basic attack Zagara performs. This makes Zagara very dangerous in battle, but also makes her a very heavy mana user with no way to recover it besides going back to the base. Volatile Acid increases Baneling Barrage's (Q) damage against non heroic units by 50%. This only slightly boosts Zagara's wave clearing ability which is quite strong already. So personally, this talent is basically useless in my eyes. Ventral Sacs also is another ability to ignore in almost all cases. This ability causes Infested Drop (E) to spawn 3 roaches instead of 2. The plus to this isn't the damage the roaches do, but the vision they grant and that they can dismount heroes.
Level 10: Devouring Maw
Devouring Maw (R) is one of the most game changing and dangerous Heroic Abilities in the game. Devouring Maw (R) devours enemy heroes for 4 seconds. Initially the ability does 307 damage (+0.03 per level), prevents your team from attacking the trapped heroes, prevents the trapped heroes from attacking, and adds an additional 43 damage (+0.03 per level) over the 4 seconds. This is one of the few abilities that can be used on unstoppable enemies as well. Devouring Maw has the ability to completely turn a game around. Even more scary is it's ability to combo with several other heroes's heroic abilities including E.T.C., Jaina,Chromie, and others. This talent also can act as an escape weapon for Zagara. Of course you'd rather use this offensively, but if needed the maw is a great escape tool. Her other heroic, Nydus Network (R) I touched on earlier. It has it's gimmick uses such as teaming up with Abathur and it can also be used to split push which can be helpful. It also gives Zagara somewhat of a global presence. It's nowhere near as effective as say Brightwing's or Dehaka's or even Falstad's but it does offer the threat of global presence. Devouring Maw (R) is clearly the better of the two in nearly all situations.
Level 13: Mutalisk
Back in alpha and beta Mutalisk played second banana to the grooved spines ability. Nowadays it is really the far and above best talent of yet another tier that needs some help. Mutalisk changes Zagara's Hunter Killer (W) into a flying Zerg called a Mutalisk (W). The Mutalisk hits the target twice. First for 60% damage, then 30% damage. The Mutalisk also lasts 50% longer than the Hunter Killer, flys over walls, and will not stop hunting the target until it dies or times out. Also in this tier is Grooved Spines and Bile Drop. The first increases the damage of Hunter Killer (W) and the second increases Infested Drop's (E) impact damage by 100%. In both cases Mutalisk ends up doing far more damage. Giant Killer is another option here, but it often puts Zagara in risky situations as once again, she has no escape and Giant Killer is solely reliant on the user's ability to auto-attack. In the end, Mutalisk is the safer option and again, the stronger talent when looking at pure damage. Spell shield is also an option in this tier, but chances are if your opponent sees you with the talent, they will be using their weakest ability to activate it. Again, this talent tier needs looking at.
Level 16: Brood Expansion
Level 16 is yet another no real option talent pick for Zagara with the exception of one. Brood Expansion adds an additional charge to Hunter Killer (W) or Mutalisk (W) depending on the build path you take. This means that you can have 2 Hunter Killers or Mutalisks on the battlefield focusing one target or going after 2 different ones, either way, it's double the damage. Also in this tier is Baneling Massacre which causes Baneling Barrage (Q) to spawn 8 Banelings This can double the damage of the barrage if all the Banelings hit. That in itself is difficult to do as they can be dodged and the talent also causes Zagara to be immobile for 2 seconds. Stoneskin (#) in general is not a bad ability as it adds 30% of your health as a shield. The problem here is that Zagara does not have much health so the shield is not that much. This talent is far better on higher health heroes. Unless you are 100% dedicated to creep, Metabollic Boost is just not viable as you will not always be on creep. The talent allows Zagara to move 40% faster on creep, which is nice for escaping, but again Zagara is often forced to be off creep. There's a reason that Brood Expansion currently has a 90% pick ratio. This talent tier needs help. Badly.
Level 20: Bolt of the Storm
Bolt of the Storm (#) is Zagara's get out of jail free card. The ability allows Zagara to teleport to a nearby location. This means Zagara can teleport out of danger or chase an enemy down easier. Bolt of the storm has a ton of uses and is one of the best talents in the game. Zagara's other level 20 talents are pretty lackluster. Fury of the Storm adds wave clearing ability, but by level 20 Zagara literally rips through waves anyway. Broodling Nest causes the Nydus Network (R) to spawn 6 Broodlings when Zagara exits the network. The Broodlings attack the nearest lane, but the ability can only activate every 20 seconds. This gives more pushing power to Zagara, but again by the time level 20 hits, pushing down keeps and forts should be close to over. Tyrant Maw upgrades Devouring Maw's (R) damage by 50% and if it kills a hero it reduces the cooldown by 25 seconds. That can stack so, 2 kills would be 50 seconds. Chances are though if you land a good maw, you'll not need a second and would probably be very close to winning. Also notable is that the death times are so long by the time level 20 hits that if you die, Devouring Maw (R) will be nearly off cooldown or at least half way through the cooldown. Tyrant Maw is not a bad talent by any means, but the sheer utility Bolt of the Storm (#) offers is way too much to ignore.
That's what I will normally do with Zagara. As I've mentioned, there are several talent tiers that need a real looking at. I don't want Blizzard to damage Zagara's current popular build much at all, but I would love to see some use in the Roach and Baneling talents to be specific. So in closing, Zagara, my favorite hero is a real monster when left unchecked on the battlefield. However, she has no escape, is squishy, and her minions can be blown away as well which I think really balances out her power quite nicely.
Hey everyone tonight will be my first blog offering my thoughts on Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm heroes. By no means do I consider myself a pro. These Hero thoughts are what have come to my mind from both playing Heroes of the Storm and watching a probably disgusting amount of the game as well from casuals to pros to championships all over the world. So take these thoughts as you will, but just remember, these are my thoughts about a Hero and they may be quite different from your own or what they actually are... Tonight I will be looking at a hero that I think is often times overlooked and if played right can be a serious threat, Azmodan.
First appearing in Act III of Diablo III, Azmodan commands the armies of Hell. Depending on what you want to do with him, you can kinda do the same thing in Heroes of the Storm. Many people see Azmodan as a pure lane pusher. A hero that can push lanes real hard, but is basically useless in a team fight, A hero that can demolish fortifications, but get squished by almost anyone. Well there is a reason that he is currently sitting at a comfortable 50% win rate and believe it or not, it is not thanks to his builds that allow you to spawn many demons of Hell to the battlefield. I'll get back to that build in a bit though.
When I was first introduced to Azmodan back when I first got into Alpha for Heroes I was impressed. I loved the idea of spawning a bunch of minions from Hell and literally plowing down lanes unopposed. I noticed me doing that though led to a lot of teamfights where I felt like I was basically useless. I'd use Azmodan's E ability (All Shall Burn) which is basically a lazer that burns things down, only for an opponent to simply walk out or stun me and well I felt like I was pretty much useless. I feel like while Azmodan has tremendous pushing power when talented into it, his missing of other talents hurts him in fights than a lot of other heroes.
That was the first few times I played Azmodan. It was fun to play that way, but my real fun began recently from watching several streamers and pros play Azmodan and that is what I want to focus on here. That fun is in what a lot of people call his Dunk Build. Basically you play basketball and the enemy is the basket... Sort to speak...
The basis of this dunk build rests in Azmodan's Q ability (Globe of Annihilation). The level 1 Quest Talent states that any enemies killed within 1.5 seconds oh taking damage from Globe of Annihilation increases it's damage by 2, up to 500. At first it sounded like a big task with the stacks becoming meaningful late in the game until I really saw how it was supposed to be done.
Seeing Johanna and Kaelthas in particular pair up with an Azmodan early game was eye opening as to how quickly Azmo can gather stacks. With enough stacks, Azmodan is free to clear minion waves in a single shot, powering up the ability even more. I've watched Azmodans roam across all three lanes getting set up to deliver a shot to clear a wave and gain stacks. By the time the level 16 talents come into play, Azmodan can really through out some sizable numbers with his globe, especially when combined with his Black Pool heroic.By the time the game ends, that Hero who is terrible in team fights is winning them for the team with one well placed dunk that can take out multiple enemies at a time.
Azmodan's current state I think is a lot of fun. He's fun to play and it does take some teamwork to get his true potential to shine. So here is my favorite Azmodan build. It's pretty standard in terms of what a lot of people do with Azmodan. I'll also include my alternate build which again is fairly standard.
Level 1: Taste for Blood
This talent is the meat and potatoes of the build. It is the quest talent that I made mention of before that increases the damage of Globe of Annihilation (Q). With or without a partner, it is not overly hard to collect stacks quickly and really beef up Azmodan's damage. If it doesn't look like a game where I'm going to be able to stack as I want I'll sometimes trade this talent out in favor Master of Destruction which increases All Shall Burn's (E) damage to structures by 25% and reduces it's mana cost as well.
Level 4: Army of Hell
Army of Hell increases Summon Demon Warriors (W) Demon Warrior damage by 20% and reduces it's mana cost by 20 as well. Early game I like Army of Hell a lot. It does a good job at helping to clear waves and get stacks for Globe of Annihilation. The increase damage is nice, but the mana cost reduction really makes the talent usable as early game Azmodan can run into mana problems if using all three abilities due to their costs. My alternate to this talent is usually Gluttony which allows All Shall Burn (E) to heal you for 15% of the damage dealt.
Level 7: Infernal Globe
Infernal Globe causes Globe of Annihilation's (Q) cast time and traveling speed to increase by 40% in addition it causes enemies hit to burn for 4 seconds, taking damage over that time. This talent is awesome. Without this talent, the globe travels pretty slow and takes a while to cast, so the increased speed ramps up it's effectiveness. The key is to master both speeds to be able to deal with the early game casting speed and then the faster version at lvl 7. Level 7 is one of the more interesting levels for Azmodan as there are a few talents I think are worth picking here. While Infernal Globe is my go to, if I'm not dunking, I'm looking at Bound Minion or Infused Power. Really the choice is based on how the game is going. If I feel like there are a lot of fights with little to no stuns I'll take Infused Power which increases All Shall Burn (E) damage to 150% after channeling for 4 seconds. If there's a lot of stun (such as Muradin, Tyrande, Uther for example) I'll often pick Bound Minion which allows a minion Azmodan casts General of Hell (D) on to take 75% less damage from non heroes and deal 75% increased damage to non heroes (including structures).
Level 10: Black Pool
Black Pool (R) is a pretty unique Heroic ability. It creates a pool for 5 seconds at a location of your choice (hopefully under Azmodan). For those 5 seconds all damage Azmodan or any of his minions does while in the pool increases by 75%. What that really does is turn Globe of Annihilation (Q) into a powerhouse. With Black Pool (R) you should be able to clear minion waves on your own mid game leading to fast accumulating stacks. There is little need to worry about a cooldown on this ability as it holds 2 charges and it only takes 20 seconds for a charge to become available again. The combo of pool and globe is what makes Azmodan so dangerous, especially late game where you can do just a ton of damage to enemy heroes. At this point I'll only use the other heroic, Demonic Invasion (R), if I'm just going for an all out push build and am not worried about team fights at all.
Level 13: Hedonism
This is probably the one talent I prefer that many people opt out of. Hedonism simply reduces Globe of Annihilation's (Q) mana cost by 30. While it seems kinda lackluster by looking at it, I've found that the mana reduction further allows me to spam Summon Demon Warrior (W) more often and make more plays before needing to hit a fountain for mana. In general though, this is not the favorite of most people and I admit that Hedonism is probably not the best talent out of the options that there are, but it really works for me. The most popular one is my alternate one called March of Sin. This ability allows Azmodan to move at 75% speed while channeling All Shall Burn (E). This talent is really good and allows Azmodan to keep pressure on enemy heroes by slowly chasing while damaging or maneuvering around mercs or structures. The pick rate for me is really close prolly like 48%-51% in favor of Hedonism for me lately. Both are good, March of Sin has more impact while Hedonism gives you a bit more freedom.
Level 16: Battleborn
Not going to lie here. I think all of Azmodan's level 16 talents have some form of use. The two most useful I find though is Battleborn, which causes Globe of Annihilation (Q) to spawn a demon warrior on impact. This basically turns the globe into a 2 for 1 which there is nothing wrong with at all. This talent really wraps up the whole dunk build. By the time level 16 hits you should have enough stacks to be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield between your globe talents and the effects of Black Pool (R). The other ability that I'll pick is Demonic Smite. This talent allows your demon lieutenant spawned by General of Hell (D) to blast non heroic units with strong demonic energy. This turns the lieutenant into a mini hero, allowing him to quickly break through waves, allowing minions to eat up the ammo on turrets and forts. If you're looking for more global presence, Demonic Smite is the way to go.
Level 20: Fifth Circle
Azmodan has a few pretty good level 20 talent choices. My favorite is Fifth Circle. This talent powers up Black Pool (R) in that Azmodan's basic attacks and abilities while he's in the pool cause enemies to be slowed and reduces their attack speed by 40% for 3 seconds. This gives Azmodan some really nice crowd control and allows his allies to get a big upper hand if a well placed dunk can hit multiple heroes. If you take the level 16 talent, imposing presence, it's possible to reduce the opponent's attack speed by a great deal. There are a couple other really good choices here. Bolt of the Storm (number) is a great get out of jail free card as Azmodan doesn't have another quick escape. It can also be used offensively as well. Overall I feel that Fifth Circle provides a similar effect in many situations, though Bolt is certainly the better escape option. Forced Recruitment adds a ton of global pressure by reducing the cooldown of General of Hell (D) by 10 seconds and giving it a second charge. When used with Demonic Smite it can be really, really strong.
So there you have my Azmodan build. Like I said before it's pretty standard. Despite that though it is a lot of fun and if you have Azmodan, give it a try if you haven't tried something like this yet and if you haven't played Azmodan, then give it a try on a free rotation week! He's certainly not going to be for everyone, but personally I think Azmodan is one of the more fun heroes in the game.
