Heroes of Newerth: Ok, who has Chipper's nuts?

In the midst of all the Nomads, Emerald Wardens, Scouts and Flint Beastwoods, where did Chipper go? This is just one of those heroes that fell to the wayside with a dismal (current) 70th ranking on the HoN most played. Why? Maybe it's the stream of new shiny heroes flowing into HoN every two weeks. Or, maybe it's a general lack of knowledge on how the hero operates. Either way I'm going to try and spotlight Chips and give the old favorite some much needed attention.

Now I wont bore you with descriptions of Chipper's skills, as you can go anywhere and find the descriptions of those. It's the combination and execution of his skills for maximum damage and slow that I will concentrate on. Now the very basics is that Chipper's "Q" skill, Tar Toss, burns enemies that are hit with a rocket for an extra 50 magic damage per second at max level. This nifty bonus just adds to the pile of spike damage he can toss out at any level and at any stage of the game.


Combining Tar Toss "Q" and rocket barrage "W":
This is the backbone of chipper's damage. The general idea is a 4 hit combo with these two skills. Both of these skills have aiming mechanism making them skill shots to a certain degree. With Tar Toss, your objective is to hit your main target directly in the center of the AOE targeting circle. This creates a maximum slow allowing for easier hits with Rocket Barrage. If done correctly you will see your target blackened as if covered by tar, funny how that works eh? Anyways, this is where the glorious rocket spam is most effective. Nail that target with all three rockets for max effect, providing some awesome burst damage. You are going to want to hit fast as the extra burn damage only last as long as the Tar Toss debuff is in effect. You should have another rocket ready about a second or two after the last one is fired.

Sawblade Showdown!!!!!!!
Chipper's ult works as an aimed AOE, but only in a straight line. Early on it will be hard to keep targets in the AOE as they can easily escape it's linear animation. It's best early to use it as a single damage nuke, partnered with Tar Toss or with stuns and large holds like Keeper of the Forest's ultimate. The 65 second cooldown usually means you can only use it once per fight, but its short enough to use multiple times in sustained pushes or multiple encounters.

Item Flavoring!

 I generally use a high damage oriented item build on Chipper, as I like the most bang for my nut....ahem.  My first item obtain is a Blood Chalice. This effectively allows you to use your Tar/Rocket combo more frequently in the early game. This is important for mana upkeep for rocket harass and kill opportunities. Then I usually grab a bottle, this with Blood Chalice will increase your ability to maintain sustained fights as Chipper uses a majority of his mana pool quite quickly. Throughout early to mid game I start working on my Staff of the Master. In my humble opinion, this item is key on any Chipper! Aside from
 the obvious Strength, Intelligence, Heath and Mana boosts, It increases your ultimate cast range to 1000 and slows any enemy caught in your ultimate by 70%! This is huge when combo-ed with your Tar Toss. Enemies literally crawl out of your ultimate taking large amounts of continuous sustained magic damage. My last core item I usually pick up is Spellshards. The negative magic armor effect makes all your damage output even more effective. In addition with Ghost Marchers you have a fast and hard hitting auto attack as far as non-carry heroes go, and your ultimate cooldown is reduced 6 seconds to 59 seconds with level 3 Spellshards. All in all an effective Chipper item. All combined making Chipper a hard hitting, agile and sustainable hero throughout the entirety of the game. Also check out my Chipper Kill Video for your viewing pleasure! Skit out.....