Pangolier/Guide

Initiator
Pangolier's strength lies in his early power spike when he hits level six. His ultimate grants spell immunity and hits enemies several times, making him a dangerous ganker and initiator, while Swashbuckle and Shield Crash allow him to quickly clear creep waves and catch up on farm. Shield Crash gives him insane amounts of survivability that allows him to safely disrupt team fights, while Swashbuckle lets him catch up on fleeing targets to finish them off.

His flexible item choices make him a great hero to have on any team. He can choose to buy sustaining items like and  to help his team in fights. Or, he may fancy some more disables with and. When the situation calls for, Pangolier may even consider offensive items like and  to take advantage of the mobility and sustainability from Swashbuckle and Shield Crash to deal reliable damage.

Carry
As a carry, Pangolier can choose to go full glass cannon build, featuring 2 or even 3 s that dish out burst magical damage on top of Swashbuckle and Shield Crash, capable of melting almost all heroes in the early to mid game. With just those items, Pangolier also farms and pushes fast because he can usually clear creep waves with just one Swashbuckle.

General

 * Pangolier works best as a dual or solo offlaner. Upon reaching level six, Rolling Thunder gives him a chance to play aggressively and potentially kill his laning opponents.
 * Due to longer cooldowns, Pangolier is not mobile in the early game. Play safely in lane. He can catch up on farm later with maxed out abilities that deal heavy damage to creeps and heroes.
 * Pangolier should play actively on the map, looking for heroes to gank and paying attention to incoming team fights, as his presence may completely break the enemy formation.
 * Map mobility is particularly important for Pangolier. With his short cooldowns, Pangolier is almost always ready to contribute to team fights, and can swing battles at any stage of the game (though less so before level six). Keep an eye on the map and be ready to teleport if needed.
 * Pangolier does not need to turn to move, attack, or use abilities and items.
 * He may use items like or  to disable enemy chasing behind his back without wasting time to turn around, allowing him to keep on running forward.
 * He does not need to face the right direction before using, allowing for more precise initiation and reliable escape—comparing to other heroes.
 * More tips needed.


 * Swashbuckle counts as four instant attacks, all of which can proc Lucky Shot and some attack modifiers.
 * Use Swashbuckle for a high chance to proc Pierce from or . Each of the 4 hits have a chance to proc it; and, multiple Javelins will stack, but multiple Monkey King Bars will not.
 * Use Swashbuckle to proc stuns from and . However, due to the cooldown of Bash on those items, it can only proc on one target. So, Pangolier better uses Swashbuckle on only one target if he wishes to bash.
 * Use Swashbuckle to evade area abilities, especially those with long cast animations like.
 * Use Swashbuckle to dash through impassable terrain such as over cliffs and through trees.
 * Swashbuckle can hit invisible heroes.
 * Use Swashbuckle to get behind enemies in fights, exploiting the delay from their turn rate.
 * Use Swashbuckle and Shield Crash together to clear creep waves.
 * When chasing, use Swashbuckle to get ahead of target so that Pangolier can follow with attacks and Shield Crash.
 * When running away, use Swashbuckle to hit the enemies, hopefully proccing Lucky Shot's slow and put more distance inbetween, because Pangolier does not need to turn to use abilities or to move.
 * As a comparison, other heroes will have to turn around if they want to target abilities on enemies, then turn around to run away again, adding more time for enemies to catch up.
 * More tips needed.


 * Shield Crash's radius is bigger than what its visuals suggest.
 * Use Shield Crash to jump over terrain, surprising enemies or escaping danger.
 * Use Shield Crash early in fights to gain its protection as soon as possible, helping Pangolier survive longer.
 * Shield Crash will always hit an enemy if used right after rolling into them with Rolling Thunder.
 * Leveling Shield Crash early not only increases your survivability in the face of heavy harassment in lane or ganks, but also gives Rolling Thunder more potential burst damage at level 6.
 * Using Shield Crash right before the end of Rolling Thunder will extend its duration for the time it takes Pangolier to land, allowing you to catch up to and stun a fleeing enemy who is just in front of you.
 * With the talent that reduces Shield Crash's cooldown during Rolling Thunder, Pangolier can refresh Shield Crash buff on himself if he keeps hitting enemies.
 * Shield Crash keeps the highest value of the buff upon refreshing, meaning the value will never drop even if Pangolier keep landing on fewer heroes than before.
 * Shield Crash can evade some abilities, such as, even after being bound.
 * More tips needed.


 * Use Swashbuckle's multiple hits to help proc Lucky Shot.
 * Getting one level of Lucky Shot early on can help Pangolier harass or dive an enemy during the laning phase due to its slow, disarm, and armor reduction.
 * Proccing Lucky Shot again on affected target will refresh the duration.
 * More tips needed.


 * Take advantage of Rolling Thunder's low cooldown to initiate ganks and team fights.
 * Rolling Thunder's spell immunity may help Pangolier run rampant among the enemies and escape dangerous situations.
 * Initiate Rolling Thunder behind trees or from the fog of war to surprise your enemies.
 * Use Swashbuckle to dash to a safe place (such as behind trees) before using Rolling Thunder.
 * Alternatively, use Swashbuckle right on top of the targets to proc Lucky Shot's movement speed slow, lowering the chance of enemies escaping from Rolling Thunder.
 * Pangolier can use all items during Rolling Thunder.
 * preserves Pangolier's orientation. Blink next to an enemy after its stun has worn off to hit and stun them a second time.
 * slows the target to keep them in the path of Rolling Thunder.
 * 's Cyclone keeps Pangolier's position, allowing Rolling Thunder to stun for a second time.
 * lets Pangolier teleport away without interruption.
 * may help sneaky Pangolier as it keeps him invisible while he rolls over the enemy team. Though, the invisibility ends if Pangolier uses Shield Crash.
 * Pangolier cannot make sharp turns during Rolling Thunder, and may continuously bump into walls when rolling in narrow space.
 * Use Rolling Thunder on enemies near walls, as bumping off the walls will land extra hits on them. Enemies cannot avoid getting bumped if Pangolier is still on top of them when their stun wears off.
 * Narrow areas such as ramps, the river, and Roshan's pit allow Pangolier to stunlock the enemies by continuously bouncing into them.
 * Bump and stun enemies before using Shield Crash to give them less time to react and avoid Pangolier. Shield Crash's large radius guarantees a hit when Pangolier lands.
 * Use Shield Crash at least 150 units before an obstacle to jump over it.
 * Since Pangolier will briefly reverse direction when bumping into a wall, using Shield Crash too late will cause Pangolier to jump backwards.
 * Using Swashbuckle cancels Rolling Thunder.
 * Pangolier can use Rolling Thunder while rooted; however, he will roll on the spot, until the root duration ends.
 * When rolling, Pangolier may use Shield Crash then immediately use Swashbuckle to land on top of the enemies, causing them to receive damage from both Shield Crash and Swashbuckle.
 * Use Stop Rolling to halt Rolling Thunder so Pangolier can finish off low-HP targets with attacks instead of continuing rolling far away.
 * After stunning the enemies for the first time with Rolling Thunder, use on Pangolier to hold him in place to stun them a second time, then shift queue Shield Crash so Pangolier will jump in place to stun them the third time, finish with a  on top of the enemies again for the fourth stun.
 * More tips needed.

Items
Starting items:
 * provides cheap attributes and can combine with Tango for the extra heal.
 * helps Pangolier stay in lane with health regeneration.
 * also restores Pangolier's health.
 * helps against early lane harassment.
 * provides passive health regeneration and burst mana for using abilities.

Early game:
 * helps Pangolier lasthit by granting bonus damage against creeps.
 * grant movement speed to chase enemies.
 * increases Pangoliers sustainability with attributes, as well as providing burst health and mana.

Mid game:
 * restore teammates' and Pangolier's mana, sustaining his low-cooldown abilities.
 * gives each Swashbuckle slash a chance to deal  extra damage at a very low price. Multiple Javelins stack to increase proc chance during Swashbuckle.
 * allows Pangolier to position on top of enemy heroes, use Shield Crash, and Swashbuckle away.
 * Pangolier can use it with Rolling Thunder to initiate or blink back to enemies for a second stun.
 * Pangolier maintains the position he was facing after using Blink.
 * adds extra damage and mana burn to the Swashbuckle slashes, and gives Pangolier a slow to keep targets in range of Rolling Thunder and Swashbuckle.

Late game:
 * , built from Javelin, provides Pangolier with accuracy in addition to the bonus damage from Pierce.
 * helps lock enemies down with stun; it can also proc Bash from a distance by using Swashbuckle.
 * allow Pangolier to get around the map quickly, aiding his team in fights with low-cooldown abilities.

Situational items:
 * works with Swashbuckle and allows Pangolier to trade hits in lane.
 * provide the right attributes with tread switching, giving intelligence to help with abilities usage or giving strength to stay alive.
 * sustains Pangolier's mana and combos with Rolling Thunder for more stuns.
 * grants health and damage block, coupling with Shield Crash's damage reduction to increase Pangolier's survivability; it builds into Abyssal Blade.
 * protects Pangolier from enemy disables when he is not using Rolling Thunder.
 * may protect Pangolier from spell immunity piercing abilities that cancel his Rolling Thunder.
 * counters silences and provides illusions that can apply Diffusal Blade's mana burn.
 * discourages enemies from attacking Pangolier and often gives him some extra time to escape.
 * deals magical damage during Rolling Thunder and gives enemies a miss chance; coupling with Shield Crash's damage reduction, enemies will find themselves facing a resilient Pangolier capable of doing sustain area damage.
 * applies a huge area slow during Rolling Thunder.
 * works with Swashbuckle, slowing all enemies hit by it.
 * has a good chance to proc up to two times during Swashbuckle, greatly increasing damage output.
 * helps clear out waves of creeps, and procs on all four instances of Swashbuckle.

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