Abaddon is a very versatile hero who unlike other supports can be played very aggressively because of his amazing ability called Borrowed Time, which makes him heal all of the damage taken while under effect of Borrowed Time, more on Abaddon’s abilities later. If you would like to read the full article click here: https://blackpandagaming.com/how-to-play-abaddon-in-dota-2-the-right-way/
When to pick Abaddon:
Heroes with any sort of stunning spell, just use Aphothic Shield and you won’t feel anything. Heroes such as Bane, Batrider or mirana, all of their spells can be dispelled by Aphothic Shield. Burst damage heroes are a great opportunity to pick Abaddon against, they will almost always cause Borrowed Time to activate and it heals you massive amounts since they deal massive amounts of damage in short periods of time. One thing to be careful about is if Abaddon is silenced he can not cast borrowed time, any other type of debuff or stun it will cast automatically.
Some heroes he synchronises well with are,
Legion Commander, Legion forces the enemy to attack her after using her ultimate, this makes it perfect to cast Aphothic shield on Legion Commander as the enemy is forced to attack and they will help pop the Shield which in turn leads to securing duels.
Phantom Assassin, Phantom Assassin is a really good burst hero too, she attacks fast after using her blink strike and the extra damage from the Aphothic Shield burst will help to take that enemy down. She also benefits a lot from your Curse of Avernus’s attack speed boost.
Axe works really well with Abaddon, you can use the shield when Axe blinks in to battle, when Axe uses Berserker’s call it will force enemies to attack him and pop the shield, axe is also easily countered by Aphothic shield, protecting allies from using his ultimate on them.
Centaur Warrunner is an amazing combo with with Abaddon, when Centaur Warrunner uses his Double Edge ability, it makes him take damage so if you used Aphothic Shield on Centaur Warrunner, it will reduce the damage taken by Centaur Warrunner himself and forces the shield to explode, which makes the enemy take more damage. This makes for a great bursting combo, and speaking of burst combo’s, the next hero Abaddon synchronises well with is:
Storm Spirit, the explosion damage when Aphothic Shield Pops is amazing for Storm, bursting enemies down even quicker and it also makes him tankier, Abaddon is a great pick together with storm and will result in great kills or near saves just because of Aphothic Shield.
Heroes Abaddon is good against are,
Techies surprisingly, Techies remote mines explode in short intervals, so a big pile of Remote mines will trigger Borrowed Time since they do not explode all at once, they do it in intervals, which makes Abaddon a perfect counter pick for techies. You can also use your Aphothic Shield to protect yourself or your allies from the mines. Another thing you can do is Dispel the root from Stasis Trap on you or your ally.
Bloodseeker, when Bloodseeker casts rupture on Abaddon, Abaddon can use Borrowed Time easily and heal during the duration of Borrowed Time by simply walking around, this makes Abaddon a great counter for Bloodseeker.
Bane, both of Bane’s abilities can easily be dispeled by the use of Aphotic Shield, Nightmare and Fiends grip are no more threat to you or your allies!
Death Propet is also countered by Abaddon strangely enough, Borrowed Time will make Abaddon continously heal when Death Propet uses her Spirit Siphon or Exorcism. And once Borrowed Time is active it can not be turned off.
In General enemy heroes that have single target potential or heroes who deal burst damage in instances are bad against Abaddon, Abaddon can always use Borrowed Time To create space if there is a single target enemy hero, and burst in multiple instances will just trigger Abaddon’s ultimate again and again until the enemy changes target.
Now you know what heroes synchronise well with Abaddon here is something on the complete other side of the spectrum.
Heroes Abaddon is bad against are,
Heroes with silences, we have said it multiple times in this article but when Abaddon is silenced, he can not cast Borrowed Time or Aphotic Shield which essentially ruins Abaddon’s game. This includes heroes with long silences such as Silencer, Night Stalker and Items such as Orchid Malevolence and Bloodthorn. Also Instant cast items such as an Ethereal Blade or a Dagon are hard for Abaddon to deal with since has no time to cast Borrowed Time.
Other heroes that counter Abaddon are:
Slark, while you might think you got off lucky when you cast Borrowed Time, Slark will keep attacking you and since Essence Shift will keep stealing while you are in Borrowed Time, once it runs out you will have a Slark with a ton of stolen agility on your tail.
Doom, Doom can use Doom (funny, We know) and this renders Abaddon completely useless, unable to cast any of his abilities and Borrowed Time will not trigger when you are silenced.
Ancient Apparition, Ice Blast is one of the hardest counters to Abaddon except for silences, being unable to heal makes Borrowed Time completely useless.
Other heroes include Lina, for her Laguna Blade which is almost instant cast can kill Abaddon before Borrowed Time triggers. Outworld Devourer also makes for a great counter His intelligence steal and already way higher intelligence than Abaddon makes his ultime Sanity Eclipse able to kill Abaddon before Borrowed Time can trigger, and just like Slark if you do trigger Borrowed Time Outworld Devourer will keep stealing your intelligence while you are in Borrowed Time.
Playing Abaddon as a support,
The main goal of Abaddon is to protect your carries from hard disables such as lion stuns, shadow shaman hexes and more by using Aphotic Shield. You can also heal your carries by using Mist Coil, more on the abilities later. Since you are likely to play as a support Curse of Avernus can be quite useless, however do not skip the ability entirely, it is decently useful for pushing towers and if you happen to get into a fight where you are right-clicking hero’s you will wish you have atleast 1 point in it, it’s a good passive but not on a support Abaddon. Make sure to max Aphotic Shield as fast as you can, Mist Coil has second priority, Curse of Avernus if you have to and skill ultimate if you can.
Purchasing items with aura’s are great on Abaddon, items like Buckler into Mekansm, Vladimir’s Offering or a Crimson Guard with Headdres and Buckler. Drum of Endurance is also an amazing item to have on Abaddon because it can enable your carry to safely escape or hunt down the enemy. Do not forget to purchase a Blink Dagger or Force Staff if necessary.
Playing Abaddon Aggressive.
Getting an early point in Curse of Avernus will entirely change the way Abaddon can be played, the Curse will allow you to effectively trade last hits with enemies, the slow helps your other hero in your lane easily catch up to the enemies and if you happen to have bought an Orb of Venom it makes for even greater slow since it stacks with Curse of Avernus.
Picking up some early Mist Coil points can really change the way the enemies approach Abaddon, It can self trigger your Aphotic Shield which is great if you are hunting down enemies and want that extra burst damage from it. It also enables you to heal your partner effectively or harrass the enemy on a very low cooldown.
Even though you’re playing Abaddon aggressive, he is still an awesome Aura Carrier, Items like Radiance, Vladimir’s Offering, Assault Cuirass, Scythe of Vyse and Shiva’s Guard make great additions to his item build. Blade Mail is a very good item on Abaddon, returning damage will make you more of a threat to enemies.
Tips & Tricks,
Mist Coil can be used to secure creep last hits on range, beware though, both Mist Coil and Aphothic Shield have extremely long cast times.
You can deny yourself using Mist Coil, the self damage inflicted is pure damage.
Using Aphotic Shield on an allied creep and using Mist Coil to heal the creep can push lanes very effectively.
You can dive towers safely by using Aphotic Shield on yourself or on your allies.
Use Aphotic Shield on yourself or your ally to secure bounty runes, if you used it early enough you can even use it 2 times when minute zero rolls.
Block incoming damage by using Aphotic Shield to use Blink Dagger.
You do not need to complete an attack animation to get the Curse of Avernus Buff on Abaddon himself, you can start an attack and cancel it so you don’t deal any damage but you do get the attack and movement speed bonus, this also means you can buff yourself without breaking Transquil boots.
If an enemy attack deals more than 400 damage in a single instance, and Abaddon was in the hp range to die from that 1 attack Borrowed Time will not be triggered.
If Abaddon is under the effect of Break, Borrowed Time will not cast automatically and it has to be done manually.
Abaddon’s abilities,
Mist Coil,
Abaddon using Mist Coil, as you can see every time Abaddon casts Mist Coil, he takes self damage which is pure damage. You can also cast Mist Coil to heal yourself during Borrowed Time.
![mist coil.gif]
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Aphotic Shield,
Casting a second instance of Aphotic Shield on yourself or an ally who is still under effect of Aphotic Shield will force burst the current instance and replace it with another once. Use this to your advantage when hunting down enemies.
Curse of Avernus,
As you can see, before the attack hit Axe, Abaddon already got the Buff on himself, use this to your advantage, we mentioned this in the Tips & Tricks list above.
Borrowed Time,
Everything heals Abaddon for a small period of time while under the effect of Borrowed Time, use this time to create space for your allies.
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