Support Abaddon Dota 2 Build Guide

Introduction

Many people tend to plays Abaddon as a Support. And this is true, he is one of the best supports in the Dota 2, with great measure. He is one of the best in this supports role, possesing a heal that is also a nuke, Aphotic Shield that blocks incomming damage, reflects it after the cap is reached, removes debuffs, has a passive that slows and allows allies to hit harder certain enemies (by certain I mean ones that were hit by Abaddon before, and an amazing ultimate Borrowed Time that allows you to heal instead of taking damage.

Support Build Guide Dota 2 Abaddon

Abaddon Pros and Cons

Pros

• A heal that is also a nuke
• A skill that absorbs damage, removes negative buffs and returns damage in an AoE
• Attack speed steroid
• Amazing ultimate Borrowed Time
• Above average movement speed
• Durable
• Very versatile
• You cannot kill what is already dead

Cons

• Silence renders him not so useful (ultimate still activates itself)
• Not so decent casting animation
• Countered by Axe and by Lina and Lion to an extent

Support Abaddon Play style

As with other supports your main job is to assist your carries as best you can, while trying to stay alive yourself. The very nice difference with Abaddon Though is that his damage potential doesn't fall off so hard as other supports. Witch Doctor may have be nice for early game laning for abusing the other team, but no one is going to care about their right-click damage at all soon enough, where as with Abaddon if the game goes late enough your Mist Coil will often have less of an impact for the obvious reason of larger health pools and higher damage output, and your  Aphotic Shield will mainly serve the purpose of removing debuffs (still incredibly useful don't neglect using it just because the absorb value seems somewhat negligible)

But with your support items such as Mechanism / Pipe of Insight /Vladmir's Offering in addition to your one or two carry items you may have been able to build, you can be of some very nice assistance in helping take down enemies in team fights

If you can help it, try to let your carries still take as many kills as possible. Preferably most of the kills you should have should either be from enemies running away with a gap and the only way to kill them would be for you to Mist Coil them or else they would get away, or if your teammates backed out/died and you simply have to take the kills.


Just keep in mind that no matter how well you're geared, if you are neglecting to help your allies with your spells, than in nearly every circumstance you are greatly under utilizing this hero.

Abaddon Skills

 

Mist Coil

Mist Coil is a very versatile and useful skill throughout the entirety of the game. How does it work? Upon casting on an freindly or enemy unit, Abaddon will sacrifice a fixed amount of health and either heal or damage the unit you cast it on depending if it's friendly/foe for a little less than twice the amount you get hurt for. You're going to have to be mindful of your mana and if it's more important to use Mist Coil or Aphotic Shield if you only have enough for one, or even if you can do both, if it's better to save the extra mana for the near future in the same or separate engagement.

Good: This dual purpose spell makes a nice heal and nuke. Abaddon heals/nukes for 250damage. The cd is short at 6s, the mana cost is paltry at 75, and the casting range is excellent at 800range! There is also no projectile so its impossible to dodge and it acts very quickly. Abaddon can use the skill to deny himself and to burst his own Aphotic Shield.

Bad: Well honestly,as every move that requires yourself to sacrifice HP, its annoying that it also costs mana.

Things to Keep in Mind:

• There is only a 5s cooldown.
• The damage you deal to yourself is pure damage.
• You can use this to consume some of the remaining value of your Aphotic Shield, if it consumes it, you will succesfully burst your Aphotic Shield which at times can be very useful if you feel you're about to die and the combined damage of the two spells will kill the enemy rather than you getting killed (or denying yourself). Other times this is a bad idea, when you could have otherwise escaped by leaving it on.
• Spamming it can lead to you being out of mana very quickly early game, and unable to use an Aphotic Shield which could have been more helpful.
• Level one is rather lackluster and the mana and health cost for it is quite high so use only if needed. Level 2 and onward are much more efficient.
• You can deny yourself with this spell. Use this if an incoming projectile/DOT is about to kill you or you know the enemy will close the gap you have and there's not chance of you living.
• Cannot target units (including allies) under the affect of Black King Bar

 

Aphotic Shield

Is up there as one of the greatest support skills in the game possibly in my opinion. While the amount of damage absorbed or dealt at later stages of the game is often, but not always insignificant, the fact that you can remove nearly all slows, stuns, and as well as many disables, makes Aphotic Shield incredibly useful.

You can be your teammates only hope of being saved by removing such spells as Fiend's Grip,
Dismember,...

You should always have your whole team in mind and think of saving it for a possible slow/stun/disable you see coming instead of instantly using it on yourself. Saving Aphotic Shield cooldown a few seconds so you have it when a likely used disable or slow is coming is far more important for instance than giving yourself a shield just for extra survivability or to get rid of a slow.

Don't underestimate the absorbance of the shield either. Many times even in the later parts of the game using an Aphotic Shield ->Mist Coil repeat, has saved many carries or supports even in the later stages of the game where these skills fall off some. Unless your positive a teammate will die don't neglect to attempt to save them, as using a quick Aphotic Shield followed by a Mist Coil can be more than enough in conjunction with a teammates stun to save someone that likely seemed doomed.

Good: One of the most unique moves in the game, Abaddon can cast a protective barrier around his buddies. The barrier will protect that ally from 200 damage. And, after it has reached its 200 damage limit, the shield bursts and damages everything in a nice 675 aoe for that same 200.

Bad: The casting range is decent in 475,but its much lower than the 800 range that  Mist Coil has.

Things to keep in mind:

• Replacing an existing Aphotic Shield will burst the original one, you can use this when you or a teammate is chasing down an enemy who is slightly faster if you think the AOE will kill them.
• Regardless of how much of the shield was "used up" it will always deal the same damage for a particular rank.
• Cab be purged by a Diffusal Blade
• Cannot place on heroes under the affect of Black King Bar, although if an ally had it on beforehand, it will not be removed.

 

Curse of Avernus

This is a really interesting and all around great passive. It works by placing a buff on Abaddon as he attacks his target, meaning that even on the first hit he will receive the buff. Then, once the enemy target is hit they receive a the proportional debuff (exact affect Abaddon gets but negatively) and all units that attack the enemy receive the same buff as Abaddon. Pretty cool right?

It's very useful for slowing escaping enemies, and making sure that those who attack them can keep up with them even if their movement speed is lower, as well as also increasing the attack speed on friendlies and decreasing the attack speed of enemies affected. It's great for increasing damage output of your carries or lowering that of the enemies carries.

You'll really start noticing the difference at around level 3 of this skill and once you or your allies have a higher attack speed, as once you have the buff you can ramp up to a very quick rate.

Many of you probably know this, but Curse of Avernus can often effectively be used to slow one or two enemies chasing down your team mate. Often an Aphotic Shield and a Mist Coil may help save them, but doing a quick hit and run will allow them to get to the tower often enough, and may even allow you to kite the enemy(s) in the lane if the other hero you're laning with is ranged.

Good: This is such a cool idea for a passive. Everytime Abby attacks a unit he slows them by 20% for 2 seconds. In addition to that he also gains 40% attack speed and 15%ms. What's really cool is that the bonus moves onto any allies who attacked the marked unit.

Bad: The lowest slow value is 5%, that is kind of small.

Things to keep in mind:

• Effects magic immune targets.
• Creeps benefit from attacking a target with the debuff.
• Can be purged.
• Abaddon will still get the buff when attacking structures, inluding towers, but the structure will receive no debuff, so it will only apply to you.
• Slowing effects stack with those of Orb of Venom or Eye of Skadi. Curse of Avernus should stack with the proc of Sange and Yasha afaik but I never build it on him.

 

Borrowed Time

A really great ultimate that adds to the versatility of this hero. It greatly increases Abaddon's survivability which which is useful regardless of what role you're playing. It works by simply returning any what would normally be received damage, as health instead. You can manually activate it, or if you reach the HP threshold of 400 it will automatically activate.

Upon activation it removes many debuffs on Abaddon as well as activating through most silences (NOT Doom though )

Good: The ultimate survival move, Abbadon can face the full fury of The Fountain and come alive. Once Abbadon is place on Borrowed Time, any damage he takes, magic, physical, pure, whatever, will heal him. That's right. You are invulnerable for the next 5s.
Bad: It's worth noting that there is ONE single counter toBorrowed Time, and that's Axe'sCulling Blade.

What you need to know:

If you use Mist Coil when you're low on health the health loss can make you proc Borrowed Time effectively wasting it. Although, don't be afraid to do so at times if it will save your teammate and you're confident you're far enough away that you can gallop away and both live.

There are still ways to die even with this great Borrowed Time "active".

Axe will kill you with Culling Blade if you are at the HP threshold for that ability, if you see this coming and are very close to it, try to manually popBorrowed Time and shoot off a quick Mist Coil /heal from Mekansm if you think/know that the amount healed by using either will get you over the threshold for the amount of health you have remaining (which you should always be aware of, especially as Abaddon!!!) to not be instantly KO'd by Culling Blade

Ancient ApparitionIce Blast will keep you from receiving any health returned, so if you're running away while under it's effect and feel you may die, the best thing to do is to just throw an Aphotic Shield on yourself, as that will absorb some of the damage.

Borrowed Time will still activate if you areDuel'd by Legion Commander

If Doom Doom you, before you are at Borrowed Time's threshold, it will not activate, at which point you're pretty much screwed like every other hero in the game.

Lastly, if you have Aphotic Shield on you, don't worry, you will still receive health even if it's up. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I'm guessing that it still keeps track of the damage it normally would have absorbed, meaning it can still burst during Borrowed Time.

So for your starting items I highly suggest always grabbingTango and a Ring of Protection. The Tango for obvious reasons and the Ring of Protection because you're going to use it to form a Ring of Basilius / Tranquil Boots

You should Always being purchasing either an Animal Courier or Observer Ward to start off with as well (at times both). If you get the Observer Ward Makes sure you give one to whoever will need it for whichever side lane you will not be in, or wherever it needs to be depending on your team's and the other team's heroes.

For the Skill Sequence, it's really difficult for me to just put down any one build. I change it up or moderately every game and really don't have a "go to" build or one that even varies in the placement of one or two points.

The skill build I listed I doubt I ever even use often, but it serves the purpose for being a decent enough skeleton. For one, I would highly suggest starting most every game with your first point in Aphotic Shield, it's great for saving you and your lane parter(s) from slows/burst damage and certain disables as well as removing stuns from your lanepartner(s). It also allows your lane to be very aggressive if your lane suits that.

At level 2 Mist Coil is what you're going to want to pick up. Curse of Avernus is a nice ability but levels one and two are simply not very useful on their own and I would suggest most games waiting until at least level 3 to grab it. One option I particularly is waiting to see if you can get an early kill, and if so purchase aOrb of Venom. The Orb of Venomis slightly better for slowing enemies than a level 2 Curse of Avernus which can be a very enticing purchase for only 275 gold, allowing you to put those early two skill points elsewhere.

From level 3 onward, this is where it's really up to you to decide where to skill. Does the opposing lane have a lot of stuns/slows where the decreased cooldown on Aphotic Shield can be crucial? Are your lane partner(s) trying to be very aggressive and you think the added health (or damage) fromMist Coil is lucrative? Do you have a really nice lane dominance in every way except something to hold them down or slow the enemies and feel that even 1 or 2 points in Curse of Avernus is heavily needed? You're just going to have to judge it game by game and hopefully after a little but have a very easy time deciding what is most needed.

Items for Abaddon

ABADDON Starting Items

No debate over this one, you need to get the courier and to upgrade it,if you're supporting.
If you do not, you can buy .Both are helpful and make you fill up really well the role you are playing.

ABADDON Core items

Urn of Shadows: This is a mean bad boy. First of all, it boosts your STR by +6 and it gives 50% mana regen. Now the funny part is that, it also gains charges while killing people, and you use HP while using  Mist Coil(assuming you didn't cast Aphotic Shield on yourself in the beggining). You can essentially become The Fountain for your allies, but mind your own HP while casting  Mist Coil. You might want to have 1 urn charge just for yourself,after healing somebody with death coil.Or you might as well just use the urn...

Mekansm: More heal! What's not to love? Oh but wait, we also get extra armor, stats and a regen aura. Holy mother of God this is a good bargain. You will be the uncrowned king of teamfights early game wearing this bad boy. However, it also costs a lot of mana...

Arcane Boots: Did anyone call for the koolaid man? Wearing this snazzy footwear gives our rider here +55 movement speed, an extended mana pool (as your skills are extremly spammable) and a way to replenish people's mana.

ABADDON CORE EXTENSION ITEMS

Vladmir's Offering: This green soothing mask will make all of the allied melee units arround you lifesteal and an mana regenerating aura that also gives armor! This is really good for 5 manning because it will give your team an advantage that is not to be overlooked during the entire game.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity: gives you the power to invoke the power of the wind god Eul, and to cyclone somebody up in the air for several seconds. You can choose between yourself and the enemies, yourself for dire situations and enemies in ganks or to stop channeling abilities like Witch Doctor's Death Ward.

Drum of Endurance: The drums that when carried,increases the attack speed and movement speed of everyone arround the user! But wait,it also has 4 charges that can be effectively used to double its potential for several seconds. Also builds up from a Bracer which stats are beneficial for every support in the game.

Necronomicon: The book of dead. Allows you to summon 2 necro warriors,one that is melee and one that is ranged both with manaburning capabilities, that also have an aura that further boosts attack speed and movement speed as well as the punishment for killing the melee one, the painful at all levels 600 true damage. It also gives some STR and INT that are beneficial for Abaddon, as his spells are highly spammable and the STR increases his durability.

ABADDON LUXURIES ITEMS

Aghanim's Scepter: The most powerful wizard of all times created a sceptre that carries forward his power to its user. Aghanim's Scepter increases the potency of your ultimate skill, in this case Borrowed Time, by a hefty +2 seconds. While that doesn't seem that much,it also gives some decent stats and raw HP.

Shiva's Guard: This heavy armor boosts your intelligence. How is that possible? It may be encrusted with gems from the Mystic Staff. Neverthanless, it is heavy and it boots your armor by 15 and your intelligence by 30. It also has an active part that damages by 200 and slows people in its AoE.

Heart of Tarrasque: The heart of a fallen beast,whoever bears it gains the fortitude of the dead beast. But no, really, this item boosts your HP pool by a raw value of  300+40 STR. The Reaver might be expensinve, but all in all, a solid item for Abaddon

Scythe of Vyse: This staff has the power to turn people into chicken! Also boots your intelligence by 35 and all other stats by 10. It gives an impressive 150% mana regen that is not to be overlooked. Moreover, hexed units cannot dodge attacks by evasion or gain experience.

ABADDON SITUATIONAL ITEMS

Blade Mail: A freaky armor that returns all the damage you receive,but as magic damage. The funny part is that while under the effects of Borrowed Time, you still return damage. Also boosts intelligence and armor.

Force Staff: This can be used to manipulate your surroundings. Its a fun item that also increases regeneration and intelligence.It can be used while damaged, that is why I dislike Blink Dagger on non-initiating heroes.

Pipe of Insight: Increased magic resistance,and a 400 magic absorbing barrier. This is kind of good, combined with Aphotic Shield you can,theoretically, absorb 600 magic damage. It is also cheap, and its components have a decent use during the build-up time.

Veil of Discord: Now this item does not benefit Abaddon directly, but is half decent if your team is composed mostly of magic damage dealers. Also gives +5 armor and 5 HP reg/sec.

Orchid Malevolence: An all in all good item,with decent stats. Attack speed, mana regen, damage and a silence. Decent if you are facing Anti-Mage, Storm Spirit, Queen of Pain or Mirana.

Early game

You should focus on helping your carry last hit, by occasionally casting Aphotic Shield on him, or on the creep that is tanking the other wave, as the shield would burst unsuspectingly. Usage of  Mist Coil should be minimised in early game, as you take damage from using it,although you might use it to burst your Aphotic Shield(if cast on yourself).

Mid game

You should be involved in every fight that occures, raking up that assist gold everywhere. Borrowed Time will make you durable, so try to sacrifice your life for your carry, as most of times, you will both escape(lol then how did you sacrifice). Mekansm + Urn of Shadows + Mist Coil can instantly revigorate any wounded teammate.

Late game

Keep up the good work. Now that you are more durable,you can actually run head first into teamfights or play the role of a bait. Your healing/protecting combo still helps in teamfights, and your extreme durability will turn the tide of fights in your favor, mostly due to Borrowed Time.