Pangolier
Pangolier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Donté Panlin, the Pangolier, is a melee agility hero. Due to his aggressive and brawling-oriented nature, he is best played in a position where he can quickly get an item advantage over the enemy. Perhaps his most iconic skill is the vector-targeted Swashbuckle, a trickster's tool for swordplay and mobility. Other tools in his kit include Shield Crash, which deals an area nuke and provides him with incoming damage reduction for each enemy hero hit, Lucky Shot, giving his attacks a chance to disarm, and Rolling Thunder, during which he curls into an unstoppable rolling ball which stuns and knocks back anything it hits, at the cost of a decreased turn rate.
Pangolier does not need to be facing towards a unit in order to move, attack, use abilities, or items.
Contents
Bio[edit]
There is no monster he won’t slay. No creature he won’t woo. No tyrant he won’t stand against. And no noble immune to his silver tongue.
Abilities[edit]
Lucky Shot has a chance to activate from this damage.
Notes:
- Casting Swashbuckle during Rolling Thunder immediately cancels Rolling Thunder.
- Pangolier dashes towards the targeted point at a speed of 2000. Can dash over impassable terrain and through trees.
- After the dash, Pangolier performs 4 slashes towards the targeted direction.
- Slashes in 0.1-second intervals, starting immediately upon reaching the target point, taking 0.3 seconds in total.
- During the dash and the 4 slashes, Pangolier is stunned, and therefore unable to act.
- Causes Pangolier to perform instant attacks on all hit enemies.
- These instant attacks can proc any attack modifiers (including Lucky Shot) and on-hit effects normally. They have True Strike, and completely ignore disarms.
- Procs Echo Sabre on all hit targets without putting the item on cooldown.
- Cleave effects are based on the hit enemies position, damaging a trapezoid area the opposite direction where the attacks came from.
- Despite the audio, the slashes do not hit ethereal units, so that attack modifiers may not proc.
- Also applies an instant attack on each enemy Pangolier directly dashes through.
- Sets Pangolier's damage to the given values. This means attack damage bonuses and reductions are completely ignored.
- Items which add a flat attack damage bonus on proc (e.g. Skull Basher or Javelin) still apply their damage.
- All slashes together can deal up to 96/168/240/312 (
216/288/360/432) damage per hit enemy (before reductions).
- The damage increasing
talent immediately updates the damage of the remaining slashes during an active cast.
- The damage increasing
Forward movement is maintained if Shield Crash is used while Rolling Thunder is active, and allows Rolling Thunder to clear walls or cliffs.
Notes:
- Pangolier jumps 225 range forwards when cast, 250 range high. While in the air, other units can pass below him.
- During the short jump, Pangolier is stunned, and therefore unable to act. However, he is not disabled when jumping during Rolling Thunder.
- The actual length of the jump depends on the terrain. This means jumping onto a higher/lower ground results in a shorter/longer jump. This does not affect the jump distance.
- The area damage hits all enemies within range, but the buff only counts hit heroes.
- Does not count illusions for the buff, but does count clones. Treats creep-heroes as creeps.
- This is how much damage reduction Pangolier has with a certain amount of heroes hit on each level.
- Level 1: 12%/24%/36%/48%/60%
- Level 2: 14%/28%/42%/56%/70%
- Level 3: 16%/32%/48%/64%/80%
- Level 4: 18%/36%/54%/72%/90%
- The five circling shields visual effect around Pangolier has 3 different states, based on how many enemies were hit.
- With one or two enemies hit, the 5 shields are small and have no extra effects.
- With three enemies hit, the shields are bigger and gain a light yellow flame-like effect.
- With four or more enemies hit, the yellow flame gets much stronger.
- When recast while still having the buff from a previous cast, it refreshes, and the damage resistance updates if more enemy heroes were hit, but not if less were hit.
- If Pangolier is stunned mid jump, he will not apply the damage or gain the damage resistance buff upon landing, but the skill will still go on cooldown.
- During Rolling Thunder and Roll Up, Shield Crash only moves on the z axis (vertical movement), and does not move him on the x and y axis (horizontal movement).
- However, due to how vertical and horizontal movement stack with each other, it does not interfere with abilities which move Pangolier on the x and y axis.
- This means when cast during Rolling Thunder, he effectively jumps in an arc, using the height of the jump and the velocity of Rolling Thunder.
- The cast backswing increases to 0.54 during Rolling Thunder.
- When Rolling Thunder and Roll Up expires during the jump of Shield Crash, its duration gets expanded based on how long the jump takes, so that the velocity is kept until landing.
- However, when ending Rolling Thunder with the Stop Rolling sub-ability, the velocity is lost, so that Pangolier and falls straight down.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, Swashbuckle of the current level is applied instantly upon cast, not upon landing.
- The location of the effect is set upon cast as well, and does not follow Pangolier.
- The angle is based on Pangolier's facing angle, with the other Swashbuckles being 90° apart from each other.
Passive
Enemies
Notes:
- The proccing attack first applies the debuff, then its own damage.
- Multiple procs on the same target do not stack, but refresh the duration instead.
- Lucky Shot uses pseudo-random distribution.
Notes:
- Requires Aghanim's Shard to be unlocked.
- Applies spell immunity for the duration and a basic dispel upon cast.
- For better readability, the turn rate during Roll Up is given as degrees per second, instead of radians per 0.03 seconds.
- 175° degrees per second equal a turn rate of 0.092.
- Pangolier does not roll during Roll Up, unless the attack of an hero (including illusions and clones, excluding creep-heroes) lands on him.
- In this case, he rolls for 0.75 seconds, in the opposite direction of the attacking hero's current location.
- The rolling behaves in the exact same way as Rolling Thunder, including the colliding with unpathable terrain.
- While rolling, Roll Up applies the area knockback, damage and stun in the same way as Rolling Thunder does, based on its values.
- Shield Crash behaves during Roll Up like how it does during Rolling Thunder.
- Roll Up can be cast during Rolling Thunder without interrupting it.
- When done, causes Rolling Thunder to stop rolling and stop applying its area effects. Its duration gets paused as well.
- Casting Rolling Thunder during Roll Up immediately cancels Roll Up.
- Casting any other abilities, or any items during Roll Up cancels it immediately.
Notes:
- Replaces Roll Up until the sub-ability is used or the duration ends.
Colliding with walls or cliffs will cause a temporary pause while Pangolier reverses in direction.

Notes:
- Applies spell immunity for the duration and a basic dispel upon cast.
- During Rolling Thunder, the caster is not disabled, they can and do not need to turn to cast abilities or items.
- For better readability, the turn rate during Rolling Thunder is given as degrees per second, instead of radians per 0.03 seconds.
- 120° per second equal a turn rate of 0.063.
- The turn rate is boosted by an additional 165° upon beginning to roll, upon hitting a cliff or wall, or upon landing after casting Shield Crash.
- This boost lasts for 0.25 seconds. It effectively increases the turn rate to 0.149 for that time.
- Pangolier turns for a maximum of 1 second per issued move order. This means a single move order does not cause him to move in a circle around the targeted point.
- Pangolier's final path and direction pre-move order depends on a vector from Pangolier's position to targeted point, which is always parallel with the path.
- Upon colliding with unpathable terrain, Pangolier stops for 0.2 seconds and then starts rolling the direction he came from.
- Can also collide with the pathing blockers created by Power Cogs, Fissure, and Ice Shards.
- When colliding with trees, they get destroyed instead and Pangolier continues rolling without stopping.
- Does not collide with buildings or wards, he simply rolls through them.
- The roll speed is fixed and cannot be altered in any way.
- Every enemy (except for Roshan) coming within 150 range of Pangolier while rolling gets damaged, knocked back, and stunned.
- The damage and knockback happen immediately on contact. The stun is applied right after the knockback, although the knockback itself is disabling as well.
- Enemies are knocked 150 range away from Pangolier over 0.4 seconds. Can knock enemies over impassable terrain.
- This means the disable lasts a total of 1.4/1.65/1.9 seconds.
- The timeout debuff prevents units from getting hit by Rolling Thunder again. Its duration equals the combined duration of the knockback and the stun and cannot be altered.
- Rolling Thunder first applies the damage, then the debuffs.
No Target
Self
Notes:
- Replaces Rolling Thunder until the sub-ability is used or the duration ends.
Talents[edit]
Hero Talents | ||
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-28s Rolling Thunder Cooldown | 25 | -2.5s Swashbuckle Cooldown |
+18 Strength | 20 | +30 Swashbuckle Damage |
+3s Rolling Thunder Duration | 15 | 2.5s Shield Crash CD in Ball |
+400 Swashbuckle Slash Range | 10 | +1.5 Mana Regen |
- The strength talent effectively grants Pangolier 360 health and 1.8 health regeneration.
Recent Changes[edit]
- Reduced turn rate from 1.0 to 0.9.
- Reduced cast range Swashbuckle from 900 to 850.
- Shield Crash
- Increased damage reduction from 9%/12%/15%/18% to 12%/14%/16%/18%.
- Reduced mana cost from 80/90/100/110 to 60/70/80/90.
- Rolling Thunder
- Reduced roll speed from 600 to 550.
- Increased duration from 8 to 10.
- Reduced damage from 200/275/350 to 180/260/340.
- Talents:
- Level 10 right talent: +2 mana regen reduced to +1.5.
- Shield Crash
- Increased damage from 75/150/225/300 to 90/160/230/300.
- Reduced mana cost from 90/100/110/120 to 80/90/100/110.
- Reduced cooldown from 19/17/15/13 to 18/16/14/12.
- Added Aghanim's Shard upgrade for Pangolier
- Grants Pangolier the Roll Up ability.
- Roll Up
- Pangolier curls up into a spell immune ball, preventing moving and attacking, only allowing to turn at a slowed rate. Can be cast during Rolling Thunder to temporarily stop rolling, without taking away from its duration. If an enemy hero attacks Pangolier, he briefly rolls away in the opposite direction, applying Rolling Thunder's area knockback, damage and stun.
- Cast time: 0.1
- Turn rate in degrees per second: 175
- Attack roll duration: 0.75
- Duration: 4
- Mana cost: 50
- Cooldown: 30
- Notes: Works identical to Rolling Thunder, and uses the values of its current level. Pauses Rolling Thunder's duration when cast during it. If Rolling Thunder is cast during Roll Up, it gets canceled. Roll Up has a sub-spell to cancel it earlier. Roll Up cancels upon casting an item, or an ability other than Rolling Thunder or Shield Crash.
- End Roll Up
- Immediately cancels Roll Up
- Talents:
- Level 10 left talent: +350 Swashbuckle slash range increased to +400.
- Level 20 left talent: +16 strength increased to +18.
- Swashbuckle
- Increased slash range from 900 to 1000.
- Reduced cast range reduced from 1000 to 900.
- Talents:
- Level 10 left talent: +325 Swashbuckle slash range increased to +350.
- Level 10 right talent: +2.5 mana regen reduced to +2.
Recommended Items[edit]
Starting items:
- Iron Branch provides cheap attributes and can combine with Tango for the extra heal.
- Tango helps Pangolier stay in lane with health regeneration.
- Healing Salve also restores Pangolier's health.
- Enchanted Mango provides passive health regeneration and burst mana for using abilities.
Early game:
- Quelling Blade helps Pangolier lasthit by granting bonus damage against creeps.
- Boots of Speed grant movement speed to chase enemies.
- Magic Wand increases Pangolier's sustainability with attributes, as well as providing burst health and mana.
Mid game:
- Arcane Boots restore teammates' and Pangolier's mana, sustaining his low-cooldown abilities.
- Javelin gives each Swashbuckle slash a 30% chance to deal 70 extra damage at a very low price. Multiple Javelins stack to increase proc chance during Swashbuckle. Javelin can be built into Maelstrom or Monkey King Bar, and if Pangolier has a really good early game, he can have both.
- Blink Dagger 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 direction he was facing after using Blink.
- Diffusal Blade 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.
- Maelstrom, built from Javelin, increases extra damage, while also hitting multiple units. Maxed out Swashbuckle with a Maelstrom usually provides enough damage to clear a whole creepwave or a jungle camp, no matter its size, with a single Swashbuckle. This allowes Pangolier to farm his items a lot faster, as well as have more damage in big fights with many enemies.
Late game:
- Monkey King Bar, built from Javelin, provides Pangolier with accuracy in addition to the bonus damage from Pierce.
- Abyssal Blade helps lock enemies down with stun; it can also proc Bash from a distance by using Swashbuckle.
- Boots of Travel allow Pangolier to get around the map quickly, aiding his team in fights with low-cooldown abilities.
Situational items:
- Clarities, if constantly shipped out early to mid game, allow for a more farming-focused style, which ensures the lanes are pushed, no jungle farm is unused, and Pangolier gets his important items in time. Due to Pangolier's relatively good mobility, he can farm quickly while staying close to his team and important objectives, so that he can always show up when needed.
- Orb of Venom works with Swashbuckle and allows Pangolier to trade hits in lane, as well as chase enemies easier. It stacks with Lucky Shot, applying a 50% slow, which gives you time to deal a lot of damage. However, it costs a lot and delays Pangolier's other items timing, so make sure to be laning against someone Pangolier can harass.
- Power Treads provide the right attributes with tread switching, giving intelligence to help with abilities usage or giving strength to stay alive.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity sustains Pangolier's mana and combos with Rolling Thunder for more stuns.
- Crimson Guard increases Pangolier's durability both in offense and defense. Paired with the damage reduction from Shield Crash, Pangolier becomes even more durable in clashes. The cast ability also aids teammates within the buff area as well as structures.
- Vladmir's Offering increases both Pangolier's and his team's sustainability and damage, especially when said team has a lot of physical damage. Considering Pangolier always needs to show up to fights, this item can have much value. Pangolier is quite hard to kill while he uses Rolling Thunder, which insures the team will have the aura active during the fights, even if supports die. Lifesteal synergizes well with Pangoliers abilities: disarmed or stunned enemies are easier to focus and kill, while lifestealing at the same time.
- Vanguard grants health and damage block, coupling with Shield Crash's damage reduction to increase Pangolier's survivability; it builds into Abyssal Blade.
- Black King Bar protects Pangolier from enemy disables when he is not using Rolling Thunder.
- Linken's Sphere may protect Pangolier from spell immunity piercing abilities that cancel his Rolling Thunder.
- Manta Style counters silences and provides illusions that can apply Diffusal Blade's mana burn.
- Blade Mail discourages enemies from attacking Pangolier and often gives him some extra time to escape.
- Radiance 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.
- Shiva's Guard applies a huge area slow during Rolling Thunder.
- Eye of Skadi works with Swashbuckle, slowing all enemies hit by it.
- Mjollnir has a good chance to proc up to two times during Swashbuckle, greatly increasing damage output.
- Battle Fury helps clear out waves of creeps, and procs on all four instances of Swashbuckle.
- Octarine Core improves Pangolier's skills as it allows him to cast more often and deal both magical and physical damage in short cooldowns.
Gameplay[edit]
Roles: | Carry Nuker Disabler Durable Escape Initiator |
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Complexity: | ★★☆ |
Playstyle: | Fond of wine, women, and danger, the gallant Donté Panlin goes wherever adventure calls. Dropping into the fight with a Shield Crash, the Pangolier Swashbuckles his way to glory as he fends off attacks with his scaly plates. His rapier's pointed tip finds the weakness in any defense, delivering Lucky Shots cripple and maim. Curling up into an impenetrable ball, the rascally rogue's Rolling Thunder plows through the battlefield, slamming foes aside and clearing the path to victory. |
Audio[edit]
History[edit]
Equipment[edit]
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Trivia[edit]
- Pangolier is sometimes labeled in the game files as Armadillo, and other times as Pangolin.
- Pangolier speaks some French phrases, and has a French accent.
- A swashbuckler is an heroic archetype in European adventure literature that is typified by the use of a sword and chivalric ideals.
- Pangolier's character was likely partially inspired by The Three Musketeers' D'Artagnan (for his mannerism, hot-hotheadedness, and French phrases) and Zorro.
- Some of Pangoliers abilities have different names in the game files:
- Swashbuckle: Swash
- Shield Crash: Thump
- Rolling Thunder: Shell, Gyroshell
- Stop Rolling: Shell Stop
- Rolling Thunder was the name of an American bombing campaign during the Vietnam War.
- Pangolier's response to killing Kunkka ▶️ "What to do with a drunken sailor? Simple. Stab him in the heart." refers to the famous folk song/sea shanty Drunken Sailor (Also known as What Shall We Do with a/the Drunken Sailor?).
- Pangolier's response to meeting Death Prophet as ally ▶️ "Try to look on the bright side of life." is a reference to Eric Idle's famous song Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, featured in the classic Monty Python movie Life of Brian IMDB.
- Pangolier's response to meeting ally Lion ▶️ "Which level of hell is your favorite, Lion? I prefer the second. Or perhaps the seventh." alludes to Dante Alighieri's famous work: Divine Comedy. There are Nine Circles of Hell in Dante's work: the second is Lust, and the seventh is Violence, indicative of Pangolier's personality. Pangolier's name Donté Panlin also bears resemblance to Dante Alighieri.
- Pangolier's rivalry response towards Witch Doctor ▶️ "In my professional opinion? You're dead." is a direct quote from the Medic from Team Fortress 2.[1]