LogFAQs > #964631882

It's been a few days. I apologize. I've had this one written up and just not been home to do much, and I'm editing a training manual at work so it's sort of taking priority of my free time.

79 - Clockwerk (melee Strength) (aka Rattletrap)
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/3/AAAACbAADLZZ.jpg
Basic Abilities: Battery Assault, Power Cogs, Rocket Flare, Hookshot
Shard Ability: New Ability "Jetpack", which disarms Clockwerk but gives him flying vision, flying movement, and bonus movement speed. Clockwerk's turn rate is reduced to 0.039 while active (75 degrees per second) and he is forced to move forward, but does not need to turn to cast his abilities. Lasts for 6 seconds or until Rattletrap lands a Hookshot and is pulled.
Scepter Ability: New Ability "Overclock", which refreshes all of Clockwerk's other ability cooldowns and gives him 8 seconds of 30% increased movespeed and 200 additional attack speed. At the end of the buff, he is unavoidably stunned for 4 seconds.

Jeez, I'm just getting rid of all the initiators that don't need Blink Dagger this month, aren't I?

Clockwerk is another personal victim of "one of my favorites but it doesn't play well in solo queue" picks. By themselves, each ability is inadequate, but their team utility speaks wonders.

If an enemy cannot outrun Clockwerk, Battery Assault is almost a guaranteed first blood as Clockwerk runs alongside his victim and occasionally slaps them with an autoattack or bodyblock. The constant ministuns it provides pisses off strength casters with slow cast points in particular, such as Earthshaker, Earth Spirit, Omniknight, and Doom, and it also hurts quite badly against squishy intelligence heroes that can't outdamage Clock in a fair fight early.

Power Cogs is still one of the most consistent lane-blocking abilities in the game to reset creep equilibrium, early. It also functions extremely well at blocking off a chokepoint or escape route even late into a game, with the sizeable mana drain and damage per cog collision if they aren't taken out - with the obvious downside of also potentially blocking off your own teammates. Of course, there's also the obvious use as a getaway tool. If you're getting chased, drop cogs and slap down one of the barriers (Clock gets to destroy them in one hit.) Pursuers will be forced to take a hit if they try and leave normally.

Rocket Flare is an amazing scouting tool. It doesn't help much versus Smoke ganks, but it's very handy for psychological damage, if not magical damage. The travelling rocket will indicate that you were just seen if it passes overhead. If he launches it close to himself, he gives himself free vision to launch a hookshot from a bunch of screens away.

And oh, what fun Hookshot is, working exactly like its Legend of Zelda counterpart: if it collides with a unit, friend or foe, Clockwerk will irrevocably launch himself towards it, stunning and damaging any enemy in his path. This leads to almost idiot-proof initiations where you hookshot into the backline save support, cog them in, and start slapping them with Battery Assault up.

And then die.

See, solo queue Clockwerk is a whole other beast than playing with a friend or a team. Clockwerk needs a certain amount of communication to thrive, because true to most strength initiations, his base levels and growths in agility and intelligence are doing him no favors - and UNLIKE certain ones already mentioned prior (PB, Magnus) he is hampered a whole lot more by an empty mana pool than most. If Clock doesn't get his early picks down, he becomes a big weighty liability as the game goes on, and given Rocket Flare has lost a lot of its damage over the years, it won't be useful for much beyond being a 6 second mobile ward when talented any time after the 15 minute mark - and we all know just how often pub allies don't pay attention to the map.

I'm also completely neglecting his Shard and Scepter. They're fun in *concept* but again play into the "need a teammate to be on board." Jetpacking through a fight and dropping Cogs in the middle of it is chaotic then shitting out a Rocket during your escape is fun and all, but it's more a meme than anything. Scepter, meanwhile, used to be a necessary pickup BEFORE it was changed to Overclock, because Hookshot once didn't attach to allies and it gained a decent cooldown reduction. Since then, Hookshot's cooldown is overall lower (not QUITE to the level it was when sceptered) and latches to *anything* it collides with but a ward. Overclock, meanwhile, acts like a miniature refresher orb on a hero that doesn't exactly have the spell potency to make refreshed abilities work, and the bonus move/attack speed haste doesn't do much unless he's already overwhelming his enemy - plus, the whole elephant in the room of an unavoidable 4-second stun when it expires. But at least that stun is dispellable if you have someone to communicate wi- oh. Oh no.

Next hero hint: the most common playstyle for this hero is very at odds for how I play - farming to the exclusion of all else.