Hades Hybrid Build

Title: King Of The Underworld
Pantheon: Greek

Inevitably, death sends everyone to Hades, God of the Underworld. In the end, he always gets his way.

Eldest son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, Hades was swallowed by his father as an infant along with five other siblings. Zeus, the youngest brother, escaped this fate and freed them once he'd grown strong enough to battle Cronus. Together, the six siblings defeated the Titans and banished them to the dark realm of Tartarus. Now the reigning Gods, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades drew lots for dominion. Hades drew the Underworld.

Of the few that have entered the Underworld and come back, all speak dismally of the place, never wishing to return. Yet Hades, himself, rarely leaves the subterranean realm, constantly seeking ways to grow the numbers of the dead.

When he desired a wife, Hades captured the radiant Persephone, daughter of the Goddess Demeter. Concealed in the Underworld, none could reach her, so Demeter cursed the land with a great famine. The other Gods pleaded with her to end it lest she destroy mankind, but she would not relent until her daughter was returned. Hades finally let Persephone leave, though not before feeding her pomegranate seeds. Having consumed the fruit, she was bound forever to Hades and required to return to her husband once per year to eat of the seeds again. This, it is said, is a time of mourning and the cause of winter.

While many fear death and view it as evil, in truth, Hades endeavors only to keep balance. He is stern but fair. As God of the Dead and the Underworld, he views his authority on this matter absolute, forbidding anyone to leave his realm and growing wrathful when disobeyed or when someone tries to cheat death or steal from him.

For everyone, death is unavoidable and service to Hades inevitable. Even the Gods.

Blight (passive)
Hades' normal staff attacks apply a debuff to the enemy, called Blight. This debuff stays on the target and can be refreshed. If an enemy is afflicted by Blight, each of Hades' other powers have an additional effect.

Ability: Debuff Affects: Enemy Duration: 5s

Death From Below
Hades descends into the ground and erupts from below at his ground location, doing damage to all enemies in the area. If the enemy is Blighted, they are also slowed. Applies Blight.

Ability: Ground Target Affects: Enemy Damage: Magical Radius: 20 Damage: 50/90/130/170/210 (+70% of your magical power) Slow: 20/25/30/35/40% Slow Duration: 2s Cost: 50/55/60/65/70 Cooldown: 12s

Shroud of Darkness
Hades silences all enemies in a cone in front of him. If the enemy is Blighted, they are also feared. Consumes Blight.

Ability: Cone Affects: Enemy Silence: 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2s Cost: 80 Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11s

Devour Souls
Hades devours the souls of his enemies, dealing damage in a radius around him. If the enemy is Blighted, the enemy explodes dealing damage to nearby enemies and healing your allies. Consumes Blight.

Ability: Area Affects: Enemy Damage: Magical Radius: 20 Damage: 75/110/145/180/215 (+60% of your magical power) Detonated Damage: 20/27/34/41/48 (+50% of your magical power) Detonated Healing: 30/40/50/60/70 (+15% of your magical power) Detonation Radius: 20 Cost: 65/75/85/95/105 Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11s

Pillar of Agony
Hades calls to all enemy souls nearby, pulling them closer to him over time, doing damage every .5s for 4s. If the enemy is Blighted, their protections are reduced.

Ability: Area Affects: Enemy Damage: Magical Radius: 30 Damage per Tick: 50/65/80/95/110 (+35% of your magical power) Protections: 40/50/60/70/80 Protections Debuff: 10/15/20/25/30 Protections Debuff Lifetime: 4s Cost: 100 Cooldown: 90s

Pros
+ Strong early, mid and late game
+ Good initiator
+ Great pusher in lane
+ Midigates damage quite well
+ Great team fighter
Cons
- Under leveled/under farmed = rough time
- 1v1 fights are usually an uphill battle
- Playing mid on this build is okay at best

If leveled properly and you have an ally nearby, Hades is a beast.

"I am just getting destroyed by this Hercules and I've followed the guide down to the T, what should I do?"

Well you need to ask yourself these two questions:
1) Is this Hercules, (or whoever it might be), building a glass canon-y build?

2) Can you take hits from magical damage?

In this scenario, you are taking too much damage from physical. Say this Hercules is building a damage based build and you are in lane with him. You are likely to change up the order of items you buy. Above, I have it listed to get Boots of the Magi, Void Stone and Wall of Absolution. Instead of getting the Void Stone second, grab the Wall of Absolution instead...then Void Stone after.

If you are still have problems with Hercules and need more protection, you can skip the Gem of Isolation and grab either the Midgardian Mail or Sovereignty chest piece. At this point, you'll be more tanky than damagey...but that is okay.

The next item will have to be the Gem of Isolation because the damage boost, hp, mana and the passive slow, it's second to none when it comes to this particular build.

The second question was, can you take hits from magical damage? If you're getting rocked by physical but you can take a good amount of magical hits, just follow the previous sections. If you're not doing well with either, then the build takes a bit of a turn. Keep in mind, this is scenario is around mid game so a lot of builds are starting to develop at this time. You need to prepare for what they're cookin up.

If the team you're facing is tearing you apart no matter what you do, you are somewhat forced into a tankier build. Replacing the Wall of Absolution with Midgardian Mail, Warlock Sash with Stone of Gaia, you should have no problems taking damage from anyone. Now if you use this tank version of this build, the Rod of Tahuti might sound nice but I think penetration from the Obsidian Shard would do this tankier version more justice.

Broad Early Game
When going back and forth from lane, always hit up the XP camps.

If you find yourself leveling well, break off from lane and hit up the red and blue buffs.

Keep more mana pots than health pots.

Laning Phase
I tend to initiate and harass once I reach level 3 or 4 because I'll have an escape, silence/fear, and heal by then.

It's usually best to have a bruiser or tank with you to help take some of the heat off you.

Keep in mind what the opposing gods have as items and escapes. If one or both of them have no escapes and/or low magical protection, once they get to 3/4 health, you and your lane mate can likely push them both and get easy kills early.

This goes in part with the last bullet point. The best skill combo is use Death From Below to get into position, then use Devour Souls and finally your ultimate. If they aren't dead at the end of Pillar of Agony, they are nearly there. This is where your teammate comes in.

To deal better deal with opposing gods that have escapes, you can alter the previous combo and just replace Devour Souls with Shroud of Darkness. They are likely to still get out of your ultimate but have your lane mate ready with their assault to perhaps finish them off since they blew their escape on you.

When you need to escape from a nasty situation, chances are you are on cooldowns for everything so it's usually best to pop your aegis when you have 2-3 seconds left on your Death From Below so as soon as you're out of aegis, you can DFB away and hopefully get away or find some backup.

Team Fights & Late Game
When it comes to team fights, you are The Initiator. Death From Below in, Shroud of Darkness, Devouring Souls, Pillar of Agony. Sounds like a simple combo right? Well not exactly. You have to make sure your teammates are actually behind you and attacking with you or you'll just get melted. Even if you do get all of that combo off, you are likely to either not enough damage or die during your ultimate. You NEED your team behind you in order to be 100% effective.

On the flip side, you can also play the roll of savior. I've saved so many teammates by jumping in and using Shroud of Darkness. It usually buys my teammates enough time to get away safely. This role also has to be timed properly. You expect to save your teammate if they are surrounded by four enemies, you'll but get melted (most likely). It's best to use this technique when a teammate is only getting chased by an enemy or two.