Penta Potential (Mid wrecker)

I have been playing He Bo for quite a while, since season 4 I believe, and have been loving the new starter item possibilities for him. I have done some extensive testing and have come to the conclusion that this build is your best bet for mid-late game hard carrying. I have multiple 20+ kill games with this build, and if the game goes on for more than 30 min, I will easily have 40k+ player damage (I played one game (42 minutes) where I hit 82k player damage). Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer, this is NOT a tutorial build for He Bo. He Bo is almost 100% about outplaying the enemy. If you don't know how to play He Bo, it will be rough for the first few games as you come to understand his playstyle. Keep at it though and you will master him in now time.

EVERYTIME YOU BACK, BUY 2 WARDS AND PLACE IN THE JUNGLE AROUND MID. I DO NOT SEE ENOUGH PEOPLE BUYING WARDS!! THE 1000-2000 GOLD YOU WILL SPEND IN A 40 MINUTE GAME IS ABSOLUTELY WORTH THE VISION FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BUY WARDS

He Bo's only weaknesses are his mobility, close range, and early game. He will struggle until he gets his ult, both in fights and wave clear. Because of his cooldown, even early game, it can be a good idea to try and poke the midlaner, as you won't be able to out clear them anyway. That continuous poke will either force them to back early or will allow you or your jungler to get an easy pick. Once you get to level 5 and have your ult, DON'T BE AFRAID TO USE IT. The cooldown is relatively short and it is a great way to engage/escape/secure kills. It is also long enough that by the time you are out of it, most of your abilities should be off of cooldown.

Play slow and safe but don't hesitate if an opportunity presents itself. Even given He Bo's weaknesses, I rarely ever lose my lane in the laneing phase.

Usually, people will buy and max He Bo's 1 first, given its fantastic cooldown, however, I have found better luck maxing his 3 first. His 3 straight up does more damage (with a longer cooldown) but the real boon is the range. As He Bo, you really don't want to be up close and personal until you either have a lead or you are able to 100-0 the enemy mid/jungler. For this reason, it is much more wise to sit back and poke/farm until you are ready to smack some cheeks. At this point anyway, you will have 2-4 skill points into your 1 anyway and enough CDR to be able to spam your 3.

As previously stated, He Bo is all about outplay. Your movement and positioning is 100% the most important and the hardest things to master with He Bo. Learn how to kite will and get good at drawing fights into the jungle (where you can juke around obstacles and avoid the enemy's attacks while you wait for cooldown). Spam your 1 as much as you can but try and use your 3 a little bit more tactically. Your 3's knockup can save/kill you and your teammates and also give you easy kills/allow the enemy to escape. Learn the knockup patterns and use it to your advantage.

A great strategy early game is when being pushed into tower by an enemy, try and knock them up into tower range, 1, 2 (slow them inside the tower) and chase. Another great strategy (primarily antisolo/jungle) is to 1 the enemy as they approach you, 3 them when they are on top of you, basic and then 1 again as the fly away, 2 in the opposite direction of them, run, then kite, allowing the cycle to start again. By late game, this combo should be doing at least 1/2 of tanky god's health and should kill or almost kill squishies.

Your roll in team fights is two fold.

1) At the beginning of team fights poke anything and everything you see. Getting tanks to half health before the fight really kicks off is so incredibly beneficial for your team and can be the decider almost immediately. If the squishies get a bit too brave, knock them up into your team and say bye bye.

2) As the team fight unfolds, try to latch on to one enemy, isolate them and burst them down. If at this point an opportunity presents itself where you can blink to the backline, take it. Ult as many as you can (using your knockup to throw one squishy towards the others is a great way to achieve this) and burn down all of their damage as quickly as possible.

At the team fight stage, you should have the attention of pretty much the whole team and they will try to backline and focus you. Use this to your advantage. Isolate and pick off foolhardy solos and supports trying to make a play on you. Blink and backline their team when the tanks are trying to chase you down. If nothing else, just kite and be unintentional peel for your jungler/ADC. As long as you stay alive and keep dumping your abilities, there is little chance of losing a team fight (given your team is at least somewhat competent).