Gyrocopter

Aurel Vlaicu the Gyrocopter is a ranged agility Hero, capable of outputting a lot of single target and area of effect damage at a multitude of ranges. Early game Gyrocopter is a strong ganker, with Rocket Barrage able to output a lot of damage in a short amount of time if he and his target are alone. His second ability, Homing Missile, is a long range projectile that forces opponents to either stop and engage to take out the missile, or run to a safe location before being stunned. Thanks to his third ability, Flak Cannon, he is also an excellent pusher, and with it can farm up big items in the midgame as his spells start to fall off in damage. Flak Cannon also allows him to hit everyone in a teamfight with his autoattack, and with enough damage items he can inflict a lot of damage to the entire enemy team. Call Down is a useful ultimate with a low cooldown, providing a large area slow and nuke making it great for team fights. With the right items, he can also transition into a carry role.

Tips

 * Aurel the is a ranged carry which specializes in outputting large amounts of both physical and magical damage in fights and ganks depending on what period in the game it is. He presents an unorthodox pattern of carry, whose definition is becoming useful late game after gaining a gold advantage. He can contribute large amounts of magical damage and crowd control in every teamfight thanks to his ultimate Call Down and single-target burst Rocket Barrage. Flak Cannon allows Gyrocopter to deal his attack damage in an area around him, and benefits from damage items allowing him to potentially deal massive amounts of damage to the entire enemy team during fights.
 * As an agility hero with moderate HP pool and no escape ability, Gyrocopter is somewhat squishy and relies on items to keep himself alive in fights. His magical damage advantage diminishes as the game progresses and enemy carries build magic immunity. As a ranged hero with a limited attack range he has little advantage in direct manfight with enemy carries at same net worth level.
 * Surprisingly, Gyrocopter could play as a greedy roaming support. By leveling Rocket Barrage and Homing Missile, he can initiate a gank and take down heroes together with his teammates. After gaining an advantage he can flash farm using his skills and transition into a carry. Note that more utility items can be made other than traditional carry items here.
 * is a spell which could potentially deal heavy damage around towards a single target and generally should be maxed first.
 * Rocket Barrage is incredibly powerful against a single enemy, but its damage falls off dramatically if there are multiple targets. Position yourself far from the creeps while close to enemy to make the best use of it.
 * Since Call Down and Flak Cannon deals AoE damage to creeps/illusions/summons, these skills have great synergy with Rocket Barrage and could increase its damage on a single hero.
 * From patch 6.84, Rocket Barrage has no cast foreswing, so Gyrocopter can simply follow the enemy to release the salvo of rockets.
 * Gyrocopter can still attack when using Rocket Barrage, however the attack animation may hinder the chase towards enemy. However, with a movement speed advantage (e.g., Boots, Yasha, Butterfly - Flutter) you can remain attacking enemy while chasing, and also feel free to activate in a one-on-one fight when enemy hero has no spell immune.
 * Rocket Barrage will not cause vision when losing vision of enemy even it is still in range. Call Down and Homing Missile could potentially provide the area vision which may be critical to focus down an enemy.
 * Rocket Barrage should be spammed in teamfights, however time it well so that the damage could be inflicted on the right enemy.
 * is an unorthodox single target disable: it launches a missile which takes time to hit the target and can hit the target with surprisingly amount of damage and stun.
 * There are different strategies in leveling Homing Missile: some common ones include not leveling it until level 22, putting a single point in it in level 10 after adding up other skills then left it behind until level 23, and maxing it out right behind Rocket Barrage. The general idea is that Gyrocopter needs survivability and damage output and would focus less on control as a carry, as Homing Missile doesn’t help on farming; but as a more supportive role leveling Homing Missile may increase chance of getting a kill. The situation varies on situation in every match, so don’t get stuck in one single sequence of skill leveling.
 * Homing Missile is not a spammable skill on a heavily mana-dependent hero as Gyrocopter, and it is not an effective harass skill in lower levels. The rule of thumb is to only cast the spell when someone comes to help you gank.
 * Try casting Homing Missile where the enemy has no vision, e.g. behind the tree lines so you could surprise enemy when they actually notice and have little time to run away.
 * Because Homing Missile has a three-second stop before it starts to move, it is best to cast before the gank initiates – or the enemy could easily run away from the missile, and when it finally hits the target no allies could reach the enemy. On the other hand, the long stun and vision the missile provides gives chance for global skills, e.g. Sun Strike, Nature’s Wrath, to finish out the enemy.
 * In a team fight, it is best to cast the spell on casters with channeling skills, e.g. and . The missile could interrupt the spell if placed early and hinder their judgment to cast their spells. Remember to check whether they have  before using this strategy!
 * Homing Missile has little effect for heroes with innate spell immunity or dodge skills, e.g., and . However, the missile could force out BKB on enemy carries to avoid being stunned in dangerous places, causing them to have no spell immune in immediate teamfights.
 * acts as a lane-pushing and farming skill, similar to Sleight of Fist (without attack effects), but with a certain amount of time and a relatively high cooldown.
 * Flak Cannon could be used to harass enemy in lane at a cost of pushing the lane. Asking supports to pull creeps can mitigate the problem and give the enemy a disadvantage.
 * Flak Cannon has a 1000 search radius: when a low-health enemy gets out of range, it is possible by activating the skill and attack a nearby creep to finish off.
 * Using Helm of the Dominator to hire a creep or asking supports to pull neutral camps, especially ancient camps, and clear them up using Flak Cannon could give Gyrocopter a significant gold advantage over enemy carries.
 * By increasing Gyrocopter’s attack damage, the spell can inflict absurd amount of damage on summoned units and squishy supports, forcing them to back off. However, Flak Cannon has a 30 second cooldown and will not hit units in Fog of War. Unawareness of the timing may cause the spell on cooldown or used with no enemies around in teamfights, wasting its great damage potential.
 * Flak Cannon does not apply most of attack effects, e.g. Crits and cold attack, however it does provide true strike when holding Monkey King Bar. Because of this, players usually purchase over.
 * is Gyrocopter’s greatest teamfight ability. It provides a AoE slow and damage in a large area, forcing enemy to back off to avoid the negative effects. Its low cooldown ensures that it could be used in every single teamfight or gank.
 * Call Down provides vision of the targeted area. Together with its large area it could prevent jukes.
 * Beware of its 2 second delay: enemy could simply run away if they see your cast animation. The red indicator is only visible to allies, so it is better to predict the enemy’s movement and drop the bomb right on time, or cast it together with control on allies or your Homing Missile.
 * Call Down synergies with area control, e.g. or . Try to communicate with your teammates so the spell could be used at its best.
 * In fact, Gyrocopter relies on his ultimate so much that he has little teamfight availability until he gets his ult. Keep this in mind and gain your level as quickly as possible.
 * The slow does not penetrate spell immunity, and the damage of the spell falls off late game. Thus it is crucial to keep Gyrocopter farmed to keep its teamfight advantage.
 * Call Down could be used to clear creep waves later in the game and stacked camps together with Flak Cannon to increase Gyrocopter’s farming speed.

Trivia

 * Aurel Vlaicu was a Romanian pioneer of early flight.
 * Gyrocopter's response upon meeting Gyro ally 01.mp3 "Holy shit, it's Viper!" is a reference to a scene of the movie Top Gun.
 * Gyrocopter's helmet is similar to Gaetan "The Mole" Moliere's headgear from Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
 * Gyrocopter's death phrase "They came from behind" is a reference to the "Star Wars Episode 4" scene when the fighters are attempting to fire torpedoes into the exhaust port.