[S4] Cu Chulainn - "What is mana?" / Conquest Solo

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So, the new god has caught your eye, just like the many solo mains that have just found a way to solve all their problems with sustain and mana conservation. But no matter how you play him, everything seems to fall apart when you turn into the Incredible Hulk while attacking a Mana camp. "Why do you mock me, lord?!" you scream in vain, as the entire team BMs you for not knowing how to play a god that has only just entered the game. For shame! Fortunately, after i dunno about 4 games an extensive and incredible amount of games with him, I've managed to somewhat find how to make Cu Chulainn shine.

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Pros -Amazing team fight presence -Hard CC ultimate -Antiheal in the solo lane -No need for mana conservation

Cons -Hard to utilize -Not built for single target fighting -Low scaling when not utilizing passive

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Passive - Berserk

Cu Chulainn's passive is, unlike many gods, one of the key parts of his kit and is what makes him so potent. Cu Chulainn has no mana bar. Instead, he has a rage bar, which functions in it's own unique way. For starters, all mana related stats are converted into health related stats at a 10% rate. For example, if you bought
Breastplate of Valor you would receive 30 health and 1 HP5 instead of the usual 300 mana and 10 MP5. Don't prioritize this conversion though; it's not worth buying mana items just for the health.

The rage bar's cap cannot be raised. It will stay at 100. Cu Chulainn gains rage through auto attacks, taking damage and hitting abilities. He loses rage through casting his abilities and activating his passive. The rage bar will regenerate to up 25 at the fountain and slowly when outside of the fountain (A horrible 1 rage per 5 seconds). Once his rage reaches 85, the timer starts. If he spends 3 seconds without going back beneath the 85 rage threshold, Cu Chulainn goes berserk, turning into a Hulk like creature for 20 seconds and getting a health shield. During this time, Cu Chulainn has increased power, harder hitting auto attacks and all of his abilities function differently, some changing entirely and none of them requiring rage. After 20 seconds, he will revert back to his regular form, and his rage will have returned to 25.

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Cu Chulainn's first ability is a standard line ability with a few twists. It applies a 40% healing reduction to all targets it hits, which is especially good if against less conventional picks that can heal their wave, like Hades. It also stuns enemy minions for 2 seconds, allowing for you and your minions to take a break from the early game damage that minions provide. This ability costs 9 rage, but returns 6 per enemy hit up to a max of 18 rage restored, scoring a possible total of 9 rage gained. Hitting at least 2 people will result in gaining rage.

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Cu Chulainn's second ability is his own personal Mystical Mail. After activating, Cu Chulainn will deal damage to enemies around him every .5 seconds for 6 seconds, which is an impressive 12 ticks of considerable damage. It also provides 10% movement speed, and burns 16 of your rage. This is the primary use of the ability; to stop yourself from going berserk when you don't need to. Treat every other part of this ability as a bonus. Don't engage with it, and only use it to run away if your jump is down and you're not about to go into berserk mode. While the damage it provides is extensive, it's not worth preventing your berserk mode from activating just for a temporary Mystical Mail. This does make it quite useful for attacking jungle camps though, as you get free damage on the creeps and prevent yourself from going Hulk mode.

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Cu Chulainn's third ability is a short leap with a somewhat large landing radius. The leap is the shape of a circle, with a line ability out of the front of the circle where Cu Chulainn strikes down with his spear. This ability is purely damaging, and should be used much like you would use most leaps, although it is much more beneficial to hit multiple targets. Similar to Barbed Spear, the ability costs 9 rage and returns 6 per enemy hit to a max of 18 rage restored, and hitting at least 2 enemies will result in gained rage.

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Cu Chulainn's ultimate is a large damaging area knockup around him. It is similar to Sylvanus' ultimate, except the damage is instant and Cu Chulainn can still move while casting the ability. This ability costs 14 rage and returns 12 rage per enemy hit, up to a max of 36 rage restored. This allows for a total of 22 gained rage. Once again, hitting at least two people with this ability will result in gained rage. This ability is primarily used in team fights, but often finds uses in the laning stage of the game when using minions to gain extra rage.

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Cu Chulainn's first berserk ability is a line ability, which is slightly wider than his regular form. Rather than providing the antiheal and minion stun, this ability instead roots the enemy for 1 second. This ability is useful for keeping enemies in place right after you use your ultimate. During berserk form, it isn't as important to hit multiple targets with abilities though it is obviously more favorable.

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Cu Chulainn's second berserk ability is the exact same as his regular second ability, except that it is active for the entire duration of the berserk form. You should be sticking to your enemies in order to utilize this, and your other abilities allow you to do this for an incredibly long time.

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Cu Chulainn's third berserk ability is a dash that pushes enemies along with him. It is very similar to Hercules' dash, except it is wider and does not stun enemies, allowing them to move freely right after the push. Use this to push enemies into danger/away from safety, especially in team fights where your allies can follow up.

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Cu Chulainn's ultimate berserk ability is similar to his regular ultimate, except the knockup is replaced by a 1 second tremble and the damage actually decreases. While this may seem strange, keep in mind you will usually be using this ability soon after your regular ultimate, resulting in an incredible amount of damage in a huge area. This mass state of panic you cause will be a huge distraction and allow you to get started on using your other abilities.

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The way Cu Chulainn's abilities work means that some combos become very situational. He loses his rage right as he starts casting them, meaning if you're on 90 rage and use your ultimate to hit 3 people, you will go down to 76 rage before rising up to 100. This will mean you were technically below the threshold and the 3 second timer will reset. To counteract this, there are different ways to use the ultimate for different engagements.

As of patch 4.12, this will change. Rage will be deducted at the end of abilities, and so many combos will be much easier. This will allow Cu Chulainn to be more versatile in both the laning phase and team fights. This guide will be updated with more information once the patch is released.

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This is the standard combo you'll be using to get the most damage out of your abilities and to allow you to chase more effectively. Seeing as the only way to use your ultimate without going beneath the threshold is when you're on 100 or 99 rage, it's best to use that first as it provides you with the most gained rage. Usually when you initiate with this combo, you'll be wanting to be on at least 78 rage. That means when you use your ultimate, you'll cap out at 100 rage and be able to use your next two abilities more freely without worrying about going back beneath 85 rage. Now that your ultimate is used and you're on max rage, you have 3 seconds between you and berserk mode. As soon as you use your ultimate, you should be using Barbed Spear on the best target, with grouped people being your ideal focus. Now, at this point, the enemies will do one of two things. They will either run to escape the onslaught you're about to unleash, or try and focus you down before berserk mode. If they run away, use your Salmon's Leap to chase the people you want to focus right before you turn into berserk form. Berserk form only begins when not channeling abilities, so if the timer runs out during your leap you will land, deal damage and instantly activate berserk mode. If they instead attempt to focus you down, you're in a primary position to do insane work for your team. Be as evasive as you can, and use Salmon's Leap on the spot to hit as many of them as possible. Now ideally, they're still all relatively grouped up and close to you, allowing your War Cry to come into maximum effectiveness by hitting a large amount of people. If they've spread out, you should've either jumped on the largest group of people or the squishiest person on their team, usually their mid laner or ADC. You can also chase them down with Furious Charge, at which point you should only use your ultimate if there's no obvious opportunity to hit more than one person in the next 20 seconds. After that you'll be wailing down on the squishy gods of the enemy team.

After using your regular ultimate, if you've capped on 100 rage, keep in mind that in order to keep above the threshold you have to hit at least one person with your Barbed Spear. Should you miss, your jump will take you beneath the threshold and the timer will reset.

Remember, turning into berserk form does not make you any more tanky than you were before hand. You will get a slight increase in power and a small health shield, but that is it. Do not expect to be invincible.

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Now, if you've been paying attention, you'll be thinking "Hey, hang on a minute. How am I meant to keep above the threshold with this combo?". If you're not thinking that, then you've either thought ahead or you really don't care about this guide. As the name suggests, this is only to be used in certain situations where you're feeling confident that you'll be hitting 3 or more enemies with both Barbed Spear and Salmon's Leap. To start this combo, you need the enemy gods to be grouped up and you need to have auto attacked your way up to 85 mana. You will start by hitting 3 or more people with your Barbed Spear, bringing you up to 94 mana and starting the timer. You will then need to hit 3 or more people with your Salmon's Leap, putting you on 100 rage without taking you beneath the threshold when you jump. The timer will almost be up, allowing for you to use Spear of Mortal Pain, go berserk, and then War Cry for a large amount of damage. To be specific, the combination of the two ultimate abilities will do a grand total of 835 + 115% of your physical power. And this is an AoE ability, meaning this will apply to everyone. The rest of your kit should be used to focus down squishy enemies.

There is actually another way to pull off this combo in a 1v1 situation which is mainly used during the laning phase. Use the exact same combo, but make sure to hit the wave minions as well as the enemy god. The combo is actually much easier to land this way as minions will be grouped up for you. It's important to note that this may become less effective in the mid game, as your build may allow you to one shot weaker minions with
Barbed Spear, completely messing up the entire combo as you will not be able to use any more abilities without going beneath the threshold, making the berserk transformation much less effective. You could instead attack the swordsmen and the archers with one ability each, but you will be sacrificing important damage on the enemy god.

Keep in mind that once you have used your Barbed Spear and Salmon's Leap, you will be on 100 rage. This means you don't even have to hit a god to stay above the threshold, so be wary that if they dodge your ultimate, you will need to use Vent Anger to prevent yourself from going berserk on absolutely nothing. Also remember that this combo means that you have less potential to chase enemies with Salmon's Leap, so you should be looking to use this combo when the enemy's escapes are down.

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Bluestone Pendant is a vital pick up should you be prioritizing early wave clear. With multiple AoE attacks, Cu Chulainn combined with Bluestone Pendant can result in instant wave clear.

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Mark of the Vanguard works extremely well with Cu Chulainn. Cu Chulainn is an aggressive warrior, needing to hit multiple targets for his passive to work with him. As such, he will often find himself diving into the middle of a minion wave to hit an enemy god and gain rage, so it's important that he can block the early game minion damage.

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Without the need for Mana Potions, Cu Chulainn finds himself able to pick up a Chalice of Healing and some Healing Potions, which can be activated at the same time for 20 health gained per second over 25 seconds, resulting in a total 500 health restored. Considering his base health at level 1 is 557, he can recover from near death twice with these items in the early game. If feeling confident however, if may be wise to replace the
Healing Potions with Wards.

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Warrior Tabi is the best choice of item for Cu Chulainn, with the only other real option of boots being
Reinforced Greaves. You simply don't need to build the attack speed focused Ninja Tabi due to his potential ability damage with Berserk, and Talaria Boots in the solo lane is an obvious no no.

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Mystical Mail will provide you with a surprising amount of constant damage, especially combined with Vent Anger. While this is a great pickup for every game, getting it early against magical gods will not provide you with the protections you need to win your lane.

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Masamune is a great item for warriors who want to be in the middle of the enemy team, which compliments how Cu Chulainn works in general. With massive AoE around him, Mystical Mail as both an item and ability and his general need for multiple targets means that Masamune is going to help him stay where he needs to be while still dishing out plentiful damage.

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Brawler's Beat Stick is a valuable pickup specifically against gods with a healing ability. Combined with Barbed Spear, this will instantly apply 80% healing reduction, almost completely cancelling out their healing. The raw penetration and power from this item is also much more beneficial than Jotunn's Wrath's stats, which will only give Cu Chulainn 15 health and cooldown reduction that he really doesn't need.

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Frostbound Hammer helps Cu Chulainn with his chasing. His kit lacks a slow, which can be one of the most important tools to lock an enemy down as people will rarely use their beads on a slow. With Frostbound equipped, Cu Chulainn can stick to his opponent, an important factor for him especially when in berserk mode.

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Cu Chulainn is always in the middle of the fight, and such lowering the enemies protections around him with Void Shield will allow him and his team to deal much more damage once he runs into the fray. Power, protections, and AoE penetration all in one item? Nice.

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Penetration is always nice, and you're going to need it in the solo lane. Titan's Bane provides you with penetration that is going to help you take down tanks faster than flat penetration, and so while definitely useful, is not always required considering you're going to be focusing on the squishier enemies in team fights.

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A very situational option. If the enemy team has a lot of gods with no way of escaping from you, The Crusher combined with 40% cooldown reduction actually allows you to pull off your ultimate twice in berserk form. This item will still be rarely picked, as in order to use your ultimate twice in berserk you must use the ultimate right away, then be able to hit auto attacks on someone constantly for the next 20 seconds. Plus, the items required to get 40% cooldown are not really useful to Cu Chulainn, and cooldown reduction doesn't really compliment him anyway. However, the stats it provides are somewhat decent for Cu Chulainn's kit, though not as potent as other forms of power and penetration.

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Bulwark of Hope has always been an amazing item, giving you plentiful protections, some health and some crowd control reduction. The health shield you gain at low health is what really sells it for most players, but on Cu Chulainn this is going to help you insane amounts when you engage in a team fight. When you go berserk, you get a small health shield from your passive to counteract the damage you'll have taken from jumping in. Combined with Bulwark of Hope, you'll find yourself with a huge shield to block incoming damage and help you stay in the fight longer.

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Mantle of Discord will be picked for similar reasons as Bulwark of Hope; survivability. However, instead of a health shield, everyone around you will be stunned for 1 second when you are on low enough health. Not only does this give you time to position yourself correctly, it gives you a chance to retreat should the situation require you to fall back.

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Gladiator's Shield is quite an under-appreciated item, but it's not hard to see why Cu Chulainn can make such good use of it. With 8 abilities up for use and 7 abilities commonly used on enemy gods, Cu Chulainn can restore up to 20% health in very rare situations and 17.5% in more likely situations.

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Pestilence is a good early option when against magical gods. The majority of magical gods will build health and lifesteal in the solo lane, and so your Barbed Spear combined with Pestilence will give them a hard time keeping up with you. The raw stats are also incredibly beneficial, as Pestilence boasts the largest magical protections of any item.

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Spectral Armor is a possible option against gods that want to get in your face. This can be especially useful if you get ganked, as both gods may be feared allowing you to hit both of them relatively easily with your abilities. The 300 mana is provides is somewhat wasted though, as 30 health is not much of a reimbursement.

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Hide of the Urchin is a cheap option that, over the course of the game, begins to provide you with a large amount of protections, which is very helpful for Cu Chulainn who will always be tanking a lot of damage. If building this item, remember to finish building it as team fights start happening, as there will be more opportunity for its passive to start stacking.

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Teleport Glyph is a reliable option for many solo laners. It helps you keep up with enemies that are pushing you hard and helps you get around the map late game with the use of wards.

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Bracer of Undoing is probably the best relic as of the release of this guide, taking 3 seconds off all cooldowns and restoring a hell of a lot of health (and mana, though this is slightly useless for Cu Chulainn). This is especially useful if you get focused down while going berserk, as you can gain the health shield from the passive, plus a large portion of your health back.

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Shield of Thorns is an option that will keep people panicked during a team fight. Using this while waiting for your berserk to activate will prevent people from attacking you, allowing you to stay in the fight and keep the high damage enemies from wanting to hurt you. You can also use it as soon as your berserk activates to make yourself even more of a threat. If their escape is down and they can't attack you during berserk, they are almost a guaranteed kill.

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Blink Rune is a risky relic to pick as it is not guaranteed to help you. The primary use of Blink Rune would be to engage in a fight much more easily, instead of just running in and hoping they don't foresee your plans. However, if used right, this relic can start a chain of death and even cause deicides with the surprise engagement you make, and can prove much more useful than the other relics mid to late game if you are ahead.

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In conclusion, Cu Chulainn has the potential to be a huge threat. He really shines in the mid game and is fairly good in the other stages of the game. He has a bit of a learning curve but once you get past that you will have a better time playing him. Remember, this guide is a general guide, and does not cover everything. There will always be situations you get put in where this guide will not be of use, and it's up to you to take initiative and adapt to those situations, as is the warrior's role.

Thank you for reading my first guide. If you have any questions or advice, please feel free to comment!