Alpha Guide

Alpha: The Blade of Enmity - A Comprehensive Guide

Alpha is a Fighter hero known for his strong sustain, decent damage, and chasing abilities. His ultimate, Beta, Charge!, provides engage and disengage potential. He's a fairly straightforward hero to learn, but mastering his positioning and skill timings is crucial.

Primary Lane: EXP Lane

Alpha excels in the EXP lane due to his ability to sustain himself in lane using Beta's passive. The extra gold and exp on this lane is also very important for him to level up faster.

Secondary Lane (Situational): Jungle

While not his primary role, Alpha can be a decent jungler thanks to his burst damage and lifesteal, allowing him to clear camps relatively quickly. However, he's less effective in jungle if the user is not that familiar with it. It's also often very situational and requires the team to have a good frontliner elsewhere.

EXP Lane Builds

The EXP lane build focuses on sustain, damage, and survivability. Alpha needs to be able to trade effectively, pressure the enemy laner, and be a threat in team fights.

Emblem: Fighter Emblem

• Talent 1: Bravery - +4 Adaptive Attack, this will give you damage that will help you trade in the lane.
• Talent 2: Invasion - +6 Physical Penetration, this will allow your damage to go through the tanky heroes in the lane.
• Talent 3: Festival of Blood - +8% Spell Vamp; each kill/assist increases spell vamp by 1.2%, up to 12%. This is your sustain and why this talent is important for alpha to survive in the lane.

Build 1: Sustain Focused

• / Warrior Boots/Tough Boots: Boots are essential. Warrior Boots for more Physical defense, Tough Boots for Magic Resistance and CC reduction.
• Bloodlust Axe: Provides Spell Vamp and cooldown reduction, essential for Alpha's sustain.
• War Axe: This item synergizes with Alpha's attack-based playstyle, granting damage, HP, and movement speed as you stack it in combat.
• Endless Battle: Provides true damage, physical lifesteal, mana regen, and cooldown reduction, significantly increasing his damage output and sustain.
• Brute Force Breastplate: Gives Physical and Magic Defense, HP, and movement speed based on stacking basic attacks.
• Immortality: Provides a second life and a shield upon revival, making you harder to kill in team fights.

Build 2: Damage Focused

• / Warrior Boots/Tough Boots: Boots are essential. Warrior Boots for more Physical defense, Tough Boots for Magic Resistance and CC reduction.
• Bloodlust Axe: Provides Spell Vamp and cooldown reduction, essential for Alpha's sustain.
• War Axe: This item synergizes with Alpha's attack-based playstyle, granting damage, HP, and movement speed as you stack it in combat.
• Hunter Strike: Provides Physical Attack, Cooldown Reduction, and Movement Speed after hitting an enemy. This helps Alpha chase and burst down enemies.
• Blade of Despair: Significantly increases physical attack and damage to enemies with low HP. A late-game damage spike.
• / Immortality/Malefic Roar: Immortality is always a good safety net. Malefic Roar if the enemy team is very tanky.

Counter Items & Situational Swaps (EXP Lane):

• Against High Physical Damage:
  • Dominance Ice: If the enemy has high physical damage output and uses attack speed, replace Brute Force Breastplate with Dominance Ice. It reduces enemy attack speed and provides mana and physical defense.
  • Blade Armor: If the enemy has burst physical damage like Clint or Layla, replace Brute Force Breastplate with Blade Armor to reflect damage back to them.
• Against High Magic Damage:
  • Athena's Shield: If the enemy team has a lot of burst magic damage (e.g., Eudora, Aurora), replace Brute Force Breastplate with Athena's Shield.
  • Radiant Armor: If the enemy team has sustained magic damage (e.g., Chang'e, Valir), replace Brute Force Breastplate with Radiant Armor.
• Against Healing/Lifesteal:
  • Sea Halberd: If the enemy has high healing or lifesteal (e.g., Alucard, Yu Zhong, Uranus), replace Brute Force Breastplate with Sea Halberd to reduce their healing.

Jungle Builds

The Jungle build prioritizes burst damage and fast clear speed to enable effective ganking.

Emblem: Assassin Emblem

• Talent 1: Agility - +6 Movement Speed, for faster roaming in the jungle
• Talent 2: Invasion - +6 Physical Penetration, this will allow your damage to go through the tanky heroes in the lane.
• Talent 3: Killing Spree - This is your sustain, each kill will give you HP regen and movement speed.

Build 1: Burst Damage

• + Hunter's Knife + Raptor Machete: Essential for jungling. Raptor Machete helps with clear speed and provides extra damage to monsters.
• / Warrior Boots/Tough Boots: Boots are essential. Warrior Boots for more Physical defense, Tough Boots for Magic Resistance and CC reduction.
• Bloodlust Axe: Provides Spell Vamp and cooldown reduction, essential for Alpha's sustain.
• War Axe: This item synergizes with Alpha's attack-based playstyle, granting damage, HP, and movement speed as you stack it in combat.
• Blade of Despair: Significantly increases physical attack and damage to enemies with low HP. A core item for bursting down targets.
• Malefic Roar: Provides Physical Penetration to deal more damage to tanks.

Build 2: Balanced Damage and Sustain

• + Hunter's Knife + Raptor Machete: Essential for jungling. Raptor Machete helps with clear speed and provides extra damage to monsters.
• / Warrior Boots/Tough Boots: Boots are essential. Warrior Boots for more Physical defense, Tough Boots for Magic Resistance and CC reduction.
• Bloodlust Axe: Provides Spell Vamp and cooldown reduction, essential for Alpha's sustain.
• War Axe: This item synergizes with Alpha's attack-based playstyle, granting damage, HP, and movement speed as you stack it in combat.
• Endless Battle: Provides true damage, physical lifesteal, mana regen, and cooldown reduction, significantly increasing his damage output and sustain.
• Immortality: Provides a second life and a shield upon revival, making you harder to kill in team fights.

Counter Items & Situational Swaps (Jungle):

• Against High Physical Damage:
  • Dominance Ice: If the enemy team has a lot of Physical DPS (e.g., marksmen), replace Endless Battle/Blade of Despair/Immortality with Dominance Ice.
  • Blade Armor: If the enemy has burst physical damage like Clint or Layla, replace Endless Battle/Blade of Despair/Immortality with Blade Armor to reflect damage back to them.
• Against High Magic Damage:
  • Athena's Shield: If the enemy team has a lot of burst magic damage (e.g., Eudora, Aurora), replace Endless Battle/Blade of Despair/Immortality with Athena's Shield.
  • Radiant Armor: If the enemy team has sustained magic damage (e.g., Chang'e, Valir), replace Endless Battle/Blade of Despair/Immortality with Radiant Armor.
• Against Healing/Lifesteal:
  • Sea Halberd: If the enemy has high healing or lifesteal (e.g., Alucard, Yu Zhong, Uranus), replace Endless Battle/Blade of Despair/Immortality with Sea Halberd to reduce their healing.