Hero of the Week 4

Hurray the next hero of the week is here.
This time it is going to be Admiral Proudmoore.

The Captain of a ship and an Admiral in the navy, Daelin Proudmoore (AP) is a powerhouse in team fights. His huge AoE spells Torrent and Ghost Ship wreck havok in enemy lines, and Tidebringer offers yet another huge AoE cleave attack that ignores armoud (and stacks with Battle Fury :O). In the lane, Tidebringer is a major nuisance and can be used in a variety of ways. Further, X marks the Spot allows for initiation on ganks that could never fail due to the X --> Torrent combo. In addition to Ghost Ship's stun, it also offers a buff on allied units that gives them extra movespeed and take less damage from enemies, a huge asset to your team. Not only is AP powerful in team fights, he is also a capable ganker as well as a plausible carry.

A lot of players can use AP with proficiency, but one of the more famous is hyhy, who played an X - Torrent build early against a Beastmaster solo mid instead of Tidebringer, giving up lane control for ganking power later on.

Gameplay Notes:
1. Torrent Specifics
Torrent is AP's main spell, dealing 300 dmg in a pretty good AoE. Firstly, it has long cast range (like 1200), so abuse that. Secondly, it has a 2s delay, so account for that when chasing fleeing heroes. Note though, that AP's casting animation is fairly obvious, so it is always possible for enemy heroes to juke your Torrent. To counter this you may Torrent from the fog, hope your opponent fails or use X first.
Other than Torrent's slow, it has an extra 0.53s of disable (the air time while they slowly float down). Further, Torrent deals 150 damage first when the geyser of water rises up, and the other 150 damage is taken over time as they float down.
Torrent's primary uses are as a disable on heroes, as a nuke on creeps, an initiation in team fights and to chain into Ghost Ship.

2. Tidebringer
This is the main reason why AP is very powerful. A 100% cleave in a huge AoE? Yes please. +60 damage every 4 seconds? Yes please. Tidebringer makes AP very flexible in the lane. Firstly, the AoE cleave ignores armour and has huge AoE, allowing you to harass heroes at the same time while last hitting creeps. Next, it allows you to last hit creeps that are out of your reach by hitting a creep in between and killing your target with the splash damage. Third, your bonus damage is not removed when you deny with Tidebringer. Imagine denying with +60 damage. Brilliant :D
Certain pointers to note though, if you attack a building while Tidebringer is charged, you deal the extra 60 dmg to the building, using up your charge, but do not cleave onto targets behind the building. Normal rules to Cleave apply. The AoE is a circle of the specified AoE in frount of you.
In team fights, this makes AP very powerful. Hitting one hero allows him to hit all heroes behind. This allows AP to be a late game carry based on this skill alone. The idea is that AP's dps does not depend on attack speed. By simply racking up on damage, AP can just attack once every 4 seconds, but hit all heroes with a 400+dmg hit each time. That's pretty strong.

3. X marks the Spot
One of the best gank initiation skills in the game, even better than Magic Missile (since the X has no travel time). Range goes as far as 1200 when maxed. However note that this skill lasts for up to 4 seconds, and Torrent comes out in 2s. Therefore it is possible to simply learn 2 levels of X marks the Spot for easier X --> T initiation. Note though, that leveling X marks the Spot further increases the casting range, which is very useful for ganks to happen. Of course, you would need better timing as well.

4. Ghost Ship
The Ship only stuns at the place where it crashes, which is about 800 distance to 1200 distance away from where AP cast the ship. This spell is pretty easy, just throw it out immediately after a max range Torrent, and it will hit the enemy just as they land from the Torrent.
Captain's Rum is a great buff to your team, so use this spell in teamfights ALWAYS, even if you know you're not going to hit anything. The buff is still helpful.

5. As a Carry
Farming is your job, so you can use Torrent as a farming spell. But note that after the int nerf on AP, he can no longer spam out Torrents like he used to be able to. As a carry, you would want to go for items like Battle Fury and Buriza do-Kyanon for extra damage on your Tidebringer hits. If you wish, Assault Cuirass is an option to boost attack speed, but as mentioned earlier AP functions well as a carry even without any attack speed at all.

6. As a Ganker
Roam around the map, help allies with your long range Torrent and X initiation. Lothar's Edge and Phase Boots are good items to get, including Urn of Shadows. 125 dmg from Lothar's Edge is useful in team fights, and extra movespeed aids in maintaining map control.

7. Be a GOD: 1shot the entire team (just for fun)
This is very possible, just stack Battle Fury and get 1 Buriza do-Kyanon. Do your combo, and run up and hit a creep. If you're lucky and get a crit, you would crit like 1.2k, which combined with your 240% cleave, goes to around 2.9k (not reduced by armour), which would kill most heroes outright.

8. Force Staff (just for fun)
Random around with the most fun item in the game!

Thats it for this time :D