Hercules solo laning (General guide to solo laning)

Hi this is my second guide to Hercules and my take on solo laning, Hercules is my favorite solo laner since the update.

Lore:
Brave Hercules, a demigod son of Jupiter, born with impossible strength and force of will; for whom no task is insurmountable, no heroic deed unachievable. Yet, Like all of Jupiter’s illegitimate children, Hercules once drew the ire of Juno, and though he is now known as a hero, his greatest achievements might never have been done without Juno’s initial tragic involvement.

She struck Hercules mad, and he slew his own children.

Once recovered, grief stricken, Hercules sought penance for his crimes. An oracle of Jupiter advised he should pledge his service to the king Eurystheus, and so Hercules reluctantly did so. Jealous of the demigod, the king set him to twelve impossible tasks, expecting him to fail at the first, to slay the Nemean Lion and return with its hide.

The Nemean Lion captured women and devoured soldiers. Its fur was so thick no weapon could pierce it, and its claws so sharp, no armor could guard against them. Hercules tracked the lion to its mountain caves and drew it out, firing arrows that shattered against the beast’s impenetrable coat. Agilely, he dodged as the lion leapt to maul him. In the end, Hercules aimed a powerful shot straight into the lion’s roaring maw, a place the powerful fur did not protect, and slew it. Then, using the beasts own claws, he skinned the hide, wearing the mantle proudly as his new armor.

Eurystheus was aghast upon the hero’s return. Immediately the legend of Hercules began to grow. Eleven more labors the confounded king set against him, but time after time, year after year, Hercules performed what could not be done, earning fame, glory, and the peace he so desperately sought.

Pros:
Tankie
Good lane clear
Good initiator
AMAZING sustain
Great passive
Medium CC

Cons
Weak early game
Long cool downs
Mana starved till late game
Non safe lane clear (has to use dash)

September 1, 2013
-Guide started
September 5, 2013
-Guide finished & released

Hercules has great lane clear good control and can setup for amazing ganks with his abilities
Passive:

Strength from Pain
As Hercules takes damage, he gains physical power based on a percentage of his missing health.
Ability: Buff. Affects: Self. Physical Power Buff: Up to 30 (+3 * your level)
This is a passive that you need to learn to get used to, because the lower your health the more powerful you become, so if you get in a 1v1 this will be very useful because you get more and more powerful


Driving strike
This is your Dash your escape and also your lane clear tool, it also stuns your enemies and pushes the enemy to the end of your dash, this is such a powerful dash and it has good control, as Hercules I don't usually go for poke after clearing because I would be vulnerable to ganks Max this first if you are in an easy lane.

Earthbreaker
Hercules smashes the ground, sending a shockwave forward that does damage to all enemies in the path. Enemies at the end of the shockwave are thrown into the air towards Hercules. This is your pull, it sets up for the 2-1 combo, pull your enemies and then use your 1 to push them back, this combo is great early game, and if you are getting pushed to tower try to pull and stun them into tower for a very easy kill, Max this last.

Mitigate Wounds
When Hercules activates this ability, he gains health every second over the next 4 seconds. A percentage of the damage taken during this time is returned to him as additional healing over the following 10 seconds. This Is the ability that makes Hercules the most annoying god in the game, he will take a Kraken to the face and still be at full health, use this ability when you know you are going to take a lot of damage, this can be activated very quickly so if your good you can instantly hit the 3 before a huge burst hits, this will save your life early and late game, and will have you at the top of the healing boards of the match,Max this second.

Excavate
Hercules rips a huge boulder from the ground. Throwing the boulder does damage and knocks back all enemies where the boulder lands. The boulder continues rolling, doing the same damage to all enemies in its path. Subsequent hits on the same enemy do 50% less damage per hit. This is an awesome ultimate to use in team fights, especially in the jungle where it is narrow and it can bounce around, and the fact that it does 300 damage with 1 level makes it very powerful, it also scales with 100% physical power Level this whenever you can

Level 1-5
This is the hardest part of 2v1. When soloing a 2v1 you have to know what you are against and how to play against them. When you are Hercules it is hard to clear against 2 aggressive players, Hercules can take a 2v1 just don't go for the last hits because its way to dangerous it puts you closer to the enemies and makes you easier to gank, at the level 1-5 stage just stay behind your ranged minions, you will get the gold and xp from the other minions, plus at this stage if they poke you the minions will hit back and they will take more damage than they dealt. Sooner or later you will get pushed to tower, When that happens you should try taking all the ranged AD's attack by standing infront of the tower so the tower doesn't take damage, if the AD hits you inside the tower, the tower will instantly agro and hit the AD dealing more damage to the AD than he hit you with plus that will force him to run.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO LOSE GOLD People when you solo your only objective is to survive not to try poking or anything else, so do not be afraid to lose any cash.
Keep doing this till you finish your first item
Level 5-15
If you still haven't died that is amazing you should be above them in level, if you went for mystical mark then the rest is easy because you are above their level and you are very tankie compared to them you can easily lane clear and then go for some poke, be as annoying as possible to the enemy ranged AD make him waste his escape and keep him from getting farm.

Level 15-20
This is where Hercules Shines, he is so tankie and can still dish heavy damage, you can start a fight by just walking into the enemies and poping Mitigate wounds, if they blew their ults on you they will be useless because you will just heal it all up, you should try grabbing an enemy with your 2 and just get your whole team to focus them down, if people try to escape use your 2 to bring them back and push them into bad situations that they would not like.

Level 1-5
1v1 side lane is just farm farm farm, their is noting to it, just clear the wave, do not push up and try to go for poke or you might get caught out, early levels its easy to get ganked.

Level 5-15
This is when you go for poke, this is where Hercules is starting to get very annoying, as Hercules can control so well, plus his gank setups are amazing, pulling his enemies and putting them out of position, but focus on last hitting you will get a huge gold lead, it doesn't seem like it when you get 1 creep but when you hit late game and you last hit everything you will have so much more gold.

Level 15-20
Laning is over, keep a TP with you and you will be good, stick with your team until you hear a tower is getting hit just TP over.

Chang'e
She is a very annoying match-up because of her poke, but she is easy, she has a slow lane clear, so just clear your lane then poke her, she will be taking heavy damage forcing her to go home and lose xp and gold

Guan yu
He is very easy for Hercules, because his lane clear is a very long channeling ability, when he starts his Taolu assault just stun him so it is canceled out making it a nightmare for him to lane clear

Hades
Hades is kind of annoying because he has fast lane clear and if your escape is down, you will take a lot of damage, against him just quickly clear and then get to your tower before he can do anything with his ult. Get wards early because with that ult he has great gank setups

Loki
This is a newer Meta where he just spams his decoy and he get Heart seeker stacks, against a Loki just poke him as much as possible, lane clear as fast as possible, don't let him roam, follow him round like the police, don't give him his freedom.

Sobek
Sobek solo isn't used much, but it is easy, he has slow lane clear, but very good gank setup, just clear the lane, then just keep auto attacking till the next wave, against a sobek get Wards earlier then usual, because you will probably get ganked a lot.

Tyr
His lane clear is weak until later, you should lane clear and just hit him as much as possible, tell your jungler to gank early, because if he gets farm he is very dangerous.

Vamana
Vamana is a very good solo laner, but for his clear to work he has to hit the enemies twice, so just shoulder tackle him as soon as he throws his umbrella, be sure to push him to the right or left, and not backwards or it will still hit the minions and you would have wasted your knock back.

To finish off, Hercules is a very good solo laner, he is weak early but one of the most powerful gods late game, he can be built as a full tank and will never get killed.

Thanks for reading my guide, be sure to tell me about gramatical mistakes and other things such as that.

Upvote this please, it took a lot of time.