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Death's Toll
Hand Of The Gods (Old)
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Warrior Tabi
Jotunn's Wrath
Hide of the Urchin
Transcendence
The Executioner
Titan's Bane
Bulwark of Hope
Breastplate of Valor
Void Shield
Pestilence
Ancile
Runic Shield
Improved Aegis
Greater Sprint
Greater Purification
Greater Blink
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Hello everyone! Hercules has recently become my new favourite god, and after a decent amount of experience as him, I think I'm ready to finally share my advice with others wishing to bring the pain, and shout "Grraraarargh!" Let's get started.
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Hercules' first ability is his main way of dealing damage. The scaling on this ability is very powerful and the pushback and stun mean that any squishy character is made very uncomfortable by this, during early and mid game. However, it does have a short range and doesn't cover a wide area, so it isn't the best at clearing, albeit very powerful. Use it when you can land it to follow up from a successful Earthbreaker or when the enemy is low and retreating.
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Earthbreaker|
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This is a fantastic combo ability, as it can follow up nicely into a Driving Strike to deal a ton of damage, as well as catch a fleeing enemy, and could potentially be used for some clear but ultimately is not very effective in that regard. This shouldn't be used as a damaging ability because it really doesn't work too well as one. This is a COMBO ability, one that isn't used for damage and leads to tremendous damage if followed up right.
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Mitigate Wounds|
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This is Herc's late-game teamfight/towerdive/tankthetitan mega-steroid, that's ultiamtely quite useless early on. It provides a small amount of damage mitigation leading into some pretty decent sustain, which can be slightly useful during the laning phase. However, this ability really shines during the teamfight, as it pretty much mitigates enough damage to keep you alive, and then heals you right back up afterwards. Just remember not to think you're a literal god while using it, as you can actually die, just use it in moderation when you're in a bit of a pickle and it will serve you well. |
Excavate|
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This is Herc's amazing ultimate, the greatest Oh no you don't ability that catches squishy enemies off guard while also dealing tons and tons of damage to enemies. The best thing about it is the afterward roll, making it a lot more forgiving than you might imagine. The amount of enemies who succumb to thinking they're alright and then suddenly, BALL! HAH! There aren't any real guidelines to this ability, just don't use it haphazardly and waste it as it is very useful during certain situations. |
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As Herc, you should always start with Warrior Tabi. It gives you everything you need to hold your lane early on, and gives you enough damage and penetration to effectively deal with tanky enemies. Buy this first and hold onto it.
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Next up is Jotunn's Wrath, and god is it useful. Herc suffers greatly from cooldowns, and being caught without them is his downfall. However with this item you can gain a large amount of physical power whilst also reducing your cooldowns, allowing you to deal more damage, more often.
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Thirdly we have Hide of the Urchin, and it fits any solo lane god excellently. Its stacks aren't exactly to die for, but the initial protections against both physical and magical damage, alongside even more health and mana are certainly worth picking this item up.
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Getting into damage now, Transcendence is a fantastic item for Herc. It gives mana, which he lacks in great amounts, and physical power which he can't get enough of. There's little explanation as to why this item's needed, but remember to make the right decision depending on who you're facing and how far behind you are.
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When Herc fights a tanky enemy, it generally turns into a ping ping war until someone else shows up or some ultimates get thrown around. How do we turn the tide of battle? The Executioner, of course! It's a great item for chopping through protections like nobody's business, meaning that one annoying  Chaac or  Ymir won't be so much trouble anymore.
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This item effectively does the same thing as The Executioner only a bit differently, and honestly, it's always worth that little bit of extra penetration to get those tanky enemies down. By now, if you decided to go full damage, you should be capable to rip through enemies like you never have before. Unless you've played  He Bo before.
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This item, whilst useful, is actually very situational. It will really only help you in teamfights and escaping, but it's very good at its job to that end. Pick it up if you're going to be teamfighting a lot. |
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Out of all defensive items, this is the one I would recommend for Herc the most. It has really great defence, and lowers cooldowns, and gives you even more mana! What more do you want? If you're not going full damage build, pick this one up. |
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LOKI DIFFICULTY EASY
DecoyAimed Strike
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Tips and Tricks
Most times, if you're fighting a Loki in solo Herc is going to win each and every time, get fed and then go on a godlike rampage. Early game Loki can do virtually nothing to Herc if he's careful, then when Loki overextends just Driving Strike and Excavate and rake in the kills.
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CHAAC DIFFICULTY AVERAGE
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Tips and Tricks
Chaac is an interesting god to fight as Herc, as his sustain is more powerful than your own early on but you have the superior damage, yet he has the superior poke with  Thunder Strike A lot of times, a Herc/Chaac solo fight will result in a lot of awkward dancing around minions until someone makes a mistake. If Chaac overextends, punish him with the classic Earthbreaker Driving Strike Excavate combo, or just shove him into the tower. However, watch out for his ult. If Chaac is on high health and Herc is without abilities, he's not going to be terribly useful.
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FREYA DIFFICULTY HARD
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Tips and Tricks
Freya is Herc's perfect counter. She may be squishy, but can always catch Herc on low health with  Pulseor  Valkyrie's Discretion, can always get into the fray with  Irradiate and can set combos up with  Banish. Always be careful when fighting  Freya. Don't overextend, don't get cocky, and never try to towerdive.
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RA DIFFICULTY AVERAGE
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Tips and Tricks
 Ra is a difficult god to tackle, as the battle in solo can slide either way very easily. Both  Hercules and Ra have the potential to shut their opponent down early on, and never allow them back up. So early on, you NEED that advantage in order to gain an advantage. I'd recommend being careful and hanging back, attempting to catch him off guard with the classic Earthbreaker Driving Strike combo, and towerpulling him. If you get that first kill you'll most certainly have the advantage. However, remember that Ra can punish you in the lane if you overextend early on, so be careful.
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TYR DIFFICULTY MEDIUM
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Tips and Tricks
Tyr is an interesting god to fight in solo, because, for the most part, he's relatively easy to counter if you can get your combos right. However, the thing that makes  Tyr a pain in the balls is  Fearless. I cannot stress how important it is to do everything you can to avoid this ability, so here are some tips on how. First method is buying Magi's Blessing, however this will only mitigate the damage slightly. You will still get caught by the first hit, but not the second, so that's why this option is the lazier yet less effective one. The next two methods require lightning reflexes. Firstly, Fearless does not make Tyr CC immune, and that means that you can Driving Strike him for the duration, due to Hercules being immune to knockback while using it. The other method is getting Greater Blink and quickly blinking to avoid Fearless. This is incredibly hard to do and can only be done once every 60 seconds with Greater Blink, so only try this one if you're sure you'll succeed.
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ANUBIS DIFFICULTY EASY
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Tips and Tricks
Honestly, if dealt with correctly,  Anubis poses no threat to the mighty Herc. Firstly, he can only deal crazy amounts of damage if he lands  Mummify, and there are two ways of dealing with that. Firstly, Magi's Blessing. Makes the wraps go right through you, allowing you to mitigate the damage from  Grasping Hands and  Plague of Locusts with Mitigate Wounds, before destroying him with the classic Earthbreaker Driving Strike combo. You can also buy Greater Purification, but this is less reliable. Just remember to build a little more defensively when fighting Anubis, and you'll do just fine.
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Ah Muzen Cab DIFFICULTY HARD
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Tips and Tricks
 Ah Muzen Cab may seem easy to the untrained eye, but AMC is a great counter to Herc. All of his abilities are designed to catch Herc off guard at every turn, and punish him for it. Use the same strategy with Freya as you do with this crazy opponent.
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This is Herc's towerpull combo, meaning that if landed can drive an enemy into a tower without trouble. Early game this is extremely effective if the enemy overextends.
This is Herc's bread and butter combo that's easy and reliable. Catch the enemy at the end of Earthbreaker and they're in for a world of pain. My only tip is to never drive the enemy into a wall, as Excavate can't get thrown at those, and will allow the enemy to escape most of the time.
Herc has two ways of escaping. They are:
Whereby you pop Mitigate Wounds and fly away, and
Whereby you drive your enemies away and turn to run with Mitigate Wounds while they're stunned.
ORDER
Firstly you'll be in right lane, meaning you should go with your mid mage and take out the mid camps. Then go for the mana buff next to left lane and take it. Then get the damage buff for the jungler. After that you and your jungler should stay in the right lane until either the enemy jungler leaves, or your jungler recalls for the first time after reaching at least level 3.
CHAOS
When going chaos, you'll be in left lane, meaning you and your jungler should go to the speed buff and get that for the jungler before securing the mana buff for you. Then go into the solo lane and do the same as in the order guide.
During the laning phase you should stay in your own lane for most of it, remembering to refresh the mana buff whenever it runs out. Try and steal the enemy mana buff when possible for obvious reasons, and just do what makes sense honestly. Not a lot to say, although if a teamfight breaks out you should try and get involved around level 10-15.
You should now have around 3000 HP and have Mitigate Wounds either fully or nearly fully upgraded, so you are now relatively the ultimate tank, dealing hefty damage and taking heavy punishment. Always throw yourself into teamfights and intervene whenever possible, throwing enemies toward your team with the ol' Earthbreaker Driving Strike combo, and using Mitigate Wounds to stay fighting for as long as possible.
Thanks for reading my first ever guide. I worked hard on it and appreciate any feedback. Please let me know what you think. I'd really appreciate some comments as I'm really interested in whether I've done this right or not, and remember to upvote if you like. Thanks!
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Can you please explain to me why you put deaths toll and not bluestone pendant? Cause i've always heard it was better for solo laners.
It's because
Thank you for the guide.
I tryed it and i rekt ppl from the start :D
in the item tab explain every item not only a main build.
also if your going for
also on the match ups.
the overextending isn't sch a problem (depending on the jungler) because his push is so good even if you manage to kill him a couple of times he can easily out farm you by keeping you pushed under the tower (and a good solo lane
In a 1v1 early game ra will have the upper hand (if played right off course) because you need to be close and that's good for the heal+damage 3 and in close range he can easily hit his 1. (unless nuke combo herc) in late game herc will dominate it more.
oh also a mistake in skill order you should lvl your ultimate when possible and you can lvl it on 13. you put it on 14
Beautiful build, this build is easy to use and with a grand slam vp you're op
+1
Way to step up to the plate!
+1