EPTFor Dummies
The Lost Vikings are mentioned as “very hard” by Blizzard, and I feel this mention is overrated. True, they have a very high skill cap; but you can have good results with Vikings with average skills.
I am personally a mediocre player (bad mouse-aiming, sloppy reactions and ridiculous apm) and I still win around 70% of my games with Vikings.
So, I’ve tried to gather here some strategies and tips that work rather good at rank 12 (my rank so far), and doesn’t require you to be a korean machine.
I don’t know if it works on lower ranks (maybe your opponents know how to counter you? not my concern for now :-) or higher ranks (because lower players don’t necessarily understand they can’t win a 4v5 fights). I feel that Vikings are strong until pretty high levels. Vikings place your opponents behind, and most players don’t know how to play against from behind.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/aO5rWiY.png)
It is good to be Vikings
Each Viking has special rules and functions :
Olaf
For a little cute Viking, Olaf is super tanky (he has more HP than squishies like Valla or Jaina). His main strength relies in his super fast regeneration . His auto-attacks sucks; don't count on it.
Baleog
Baleog has a AoE auto-attack that deals decent damages. Very useful to clean minions waves. In fact, he’s the only Vikings before Level 7 able to push a lane effectively.
Erik
Erik has a low HP (same as Abathur), deals decent damages and runs very fast. When using the Z ability, Erik can run faster than a mounted hero. You can be very annoying during teamfight, kiting your opponents to hell.
The main point of Vikings is their multiple presence on the map. It allows you to:
- soak multiples lanes like a thirsty sponge
- getting level 10 before the other team
- getting / stealing merc camps while being on lanes
- split-push lane every time it’s possible
Interesting thing to consider: when they are grouped, Vikings have the best dps with their basic attacks.
They deal more than 200 HP per second. If you want a comparison, Thrall deals 160 HP/s.
Special controls
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7tYseWt.png)
Lost Vikings have special controls to select them and handle cameras. Blizzard hasn’t described all of these controls (and maybe that’s why they feel Vikings are Very Hard: they don’t give basic details) and I met some advanced players who didn’t know them.
A SC2 player won’t see anything new here.
1, 2, 3: select the Viking you want
4: select all Vikings
Double tap on 1, 2 or 3: the camera focus immediately on the Viking
(Double 1 => select Olaf and the camera focus on him).
This is super important. Without that, Vikings would have been absolutely unplayable.
You can also do that by pressing the Space Bar (center + focus) + 1/2/3. I don’t use that control though.
You can also add a Viking to your current selection by pressing Shift+ 1/2/3.
Example: You press 1 to select Olaf and you want to Olaf to go somewhere with Baleog. Just press Shift+ 2 and they are both selected.
This is useful when dealing with a Viking who’s not on your screen.
Finally, you can queue orders with Shift.
I use that when a Viking if hurt during the first lane sequence.
- RMB behind tower to retreat
- Shift+ B
- Shift+ RBM make him back.
It just takes 1 second to execute.
Talents
This is this build I use on almost every map.
Level 1 : Viking Bribery
Level 4 : It’s a Sabotage
Level 7 : Spin To Win
Level 10 : Long Boat
Level 13 : Jump
Level 16 : Impatience is a Virtue
Level 20 : Ragnarok and roll
Reasons for talents are detailed below.
General strategy
This is my usual routine.
First, split 2-1-0
Olaf should always go mid: Olaf is super slow, and mid lane is the shortest path from the core. So, if Olaf dies, he should return to lane as fast as possible. Olaf should always be escorted by a real hero.
Give a safe A-move order to Olaf and focus on Baleog/Erik. Get a quick view on what’s happening to him on a regular basis.
Olaf's goals are:
- to ensure your team that you will soak experience, even if they leave the lane.
- to soak damages
At my rank, there is always a player that believe it is a good thing to attack Olaf instead of a friendly hero. They are so wrong. Everytime Olaf takes damages, you can fall back behind tower, regenerate to his maximum life, and come back. It takes 10 seconds to do that.
- to stack for Viking bribery.
This is the most important point of the split at this point.
During this time, Baleog and Eric go top or bot, without any other hero. Chose a lane with a siege camp on the opponent side. You will steal them with bribe during objective (see below).
Try to maintain focus on Baleog/Eric. They should face the opponent specialist. Depending on your opponent, you should be able to slow their push down (facing Sgt Hammer), or even counter them pretty badly (Murky can’t do anything against just two Vikings).
I tried the 1-1-1 split many times during the laning phase, but it requires too much apm for me. Lots of my dudes died, it was sad stories.
Split 1-1-1 during the first objective
The first objective (Shrine, Temple, Night, etc.) generally happens after 2 or 3 minutes.
As soon as it is announced, you should split 1-1-1. Don’t forget to move safely behind your tower (because this is a perfect moment for your opponents to kill one of your beloved Vikings).
Send Baleog on the less dangerous lane. He will push that lane like crazy.
I generally send Eric on the most dangerous lane, and keep my focus on him. He is small, fast and has the best dps. Depending on the map, you can move regularly on the objective, shoot some dudes and fall back on lane. You cannot count on him to change the balance of the fight though.
You will get level 4 talent at the beginning of the objective. I generally take It’s a Sabotage. That is not a great talent, but sometimes, it gives Erik the opportunity to destroy a tower during the first objective.
Your team is fighting this objective 4v5, and should lose. Sometimes, your teammates are great (rare thing; hurray) and they win, but you cannot count on it. If they just delay, it’s good. If they win, they deserve congrats. As tons of players are not used to play with Vikings in their team, you should always remind them during draft that fights for objectives will be 4v5.
You should reach 80 bribes during the objective, meaning that you can steal the opponent siege camp. Erik is the best for that, as he run super fast. Thus, opponents are facing dilemn: if they fight their own mercenaries, they will be 4v4 on the objective and loose (because your team has higher level). If they fight 4v5 on the objective, they will lose at least a tower. And it costed you nothing to achieve that :-)
Second lane to second objective
Regroup 2-1 right after the first objective.
If you forgot to steal camps, this is the right moment to do so.
Your team should get the level 7 talent short after, and get it long before your opponents.
That’s cool as level 7 is generally a big step.
If you can, try to ask your team to get your camps while your Vikings are soaking XP.
The second objective appears 2 minutes after. You should reach level 10 during this objective. So you have basically two choices:
- Soak lanes and let your team fights alone
They are 4v5, but they have the level 10 advantage. If you feel they will crush opponents, this is the thing to do.
- Regroup and kill the other team
5v5 + level 10 advantage + nobody understand that Drakkar is op => you crush your opponents.
That’s generally what I do.
After 10
After that, the general idea is :
- Stray grouped when your Drakkar is ready and you feel a teamfight is coming.
- Split after each teamfight (or as soon as your team is largely favored)
At that point, soaking experience is cool, but it is less important than stacking bribes and pushing lanes.
- Every time you can, steal opponent camps with your bribes.
- Regroup during objective and throw your Drakkar
At Level 13, take Jump. It is a great escape ability (the second best right after Blink). The cooldown is long (30 seconds) so be careful to not waste it. If your Drakkar is destroyed during a teamfight and you are surrounded by enemies, Jump is first thing to do (then Z to retreat).
I tried to use Jump in an aggressive way; still not convinced.
At Level 16, just get Impatience Is a Virtue. Basic Attacks are reducing the cooldown of all your Abilities (even Drakkar). So don’t hesitate to attack minions, wall, whatever just to get your Drakkar back. The point of this talent is to be sure that all your Abilities are up for every teamfights.
At Level 20, Ragnarok&Roll gives a better version of the standard Long Boat.
Tactics during Lanes
It is easy to kill your Vikings, so here are few tips to not die a lot :
- Refocus immediately on any attacked Viking to make him retreat.
- Don’t focus on Viking who’ll meet a certain death.
Your focus is a sort of ressources and you should spend it on useful things. Looking the death of a Viking is not useful; it is just sad.
If Baleog is under the fire of Tychus, give him a order to retreat behind tower and focus something else. Maybe he'll live, maybe not. You can't help him anymore so look somewhere else.
- Always try to keep your Z for retreats.
- During the first laning phase, if Erik/Baleog is badly hurt, don’t hesitate to retreat behind tower and back at base. You'll still soak XP and won't take the risk of one death.
Don’t do that for Olaf, as he will regenerate in few seconds.
- If opponent team is occupied and you feel safe, you can put Olaf under one tower, take few hits and back to regenerate. You are trading tower’s ammo for nothing.
- When a Viking dies, give him a rally point for the moment he will reappear.
It is particularly frustrating to let a Viking in your base, doing nothing. This rally point should be safe, because it is even more frustrating to see a Viking coming to life and die few seconds after because you were busy somewhere else.
- You can achieve good results with Baleog and Erik when fighting 1 opponent.
Give a A-move command to Baleog and let him destroy the minions wave. Take control of Erik and attack the opponent.
If you are fighting 2 opponents in lane, you can’t do anything. So, just go back behind tower, ask for help and focus on Olaf.
Tactics during Teamfights
- As soon as the assault begins, activate your Z, charge the squishiest dps (jaina / KT / valla) and throw your Spin To Wind.
The Spin deals very good damages and you can take him 25% of his HP.
- Try then to bodyblocks the dps.
Bodyblocks are super effective: your three little men create a big real living wall. And you can create that wall pretty fast when your Z is activated.
- When you see your HP are low, trigger your Drakkar immediately.
Drakkar deals good damages (specially after 20 ; you can top damages, even with a Jaina in your team), has good range, is immune to CC and it lasts 15 seconds (the longest ultimate). The only thing you have to be careful is its HP, as it is not that good. Generally, as soon as my Drakkar starts, I go back behind the front line, singing, shooting mortar and saving HP. If the opponent team is disbanding, you can chase them (squishies first) with your mortar. There is nothing more fun than singing while shooting a Jaina or Kael'Thas to death.
- If your team has lost the fight, it is ok to sacrifice your Vikings to save other people.
Vikings don’t fear death, and it gives the opponent team only 25 % of a standard death. In fact, you can sacrifice your 3 Vikings to save just 1 guy, it is still worth it.
- The same idea can apply to chase (losing a Viking to kill someone). You have to be careful though, as the individual dps of Vikings are bad.
What can possibly go wrong ?
**famous last words
Two major things
1/ Some characters counter you hard.
- Kael'Thas can nearly one-shot Erik with his bomb. He can one-shot your 3 Vikings after 13.
- Jaina deals terrible damage to you.
- Zeratul/Nova are painful and frustrating. And painful.
- Kerrigan can burst/kill any of your guys.
- Abathur can kill Eric with his mines, and deny your soaking.
- The Q of Sylvanas can hurt you bad if she burst her 5 arrows on one Viking.
- Falstad can chase a running Erik easily with his Lightning Rod.
I tend to not go for Vikings if I see two or more of these heroes in the opponent team.
Interesting point: Vikings tends to do good with Nova (you basically compensate her not being present on lanes). I’m not saying that it is a good combo, but now, when I see a player first picking Nova (when will we be freed from these players ?) I go Vikings instead of raging. I have decent results that way.
2/ Teamwork
Sometimes, your team doesn’t understand they can’t take 4v5 fights (that should remind some of your worse games). So they are basically blocked in a cycle of charge objective => die => revive => charge => die, etc.
You will be behind in XP very quickly.
I don’t have any clue to help you, sorry.
Sometimes, you can grab victory back after 10.
That’s an exception.
Maps
Garden of terror
This is the best map for Vikings.
As Vikings, you have to take every terrors, preferably with Olaf. While you are pushing one lane with the terror, just push another one lane with Baleog and Erik. Baleog will destroy minions and Saboteur Erik will crush towers.
Your team should group and attack the last lane, but whatever they do is ok at this point.
Sky Temple
Very good map for Vikings too.
Olaf can almost take a temple by himself.
Infernal Shrines
Very good map for Vikings.
Split 1-1-1 during shrines, with Erik near the shrine.
It is good. Really good.
You can steal camps during punisher, which makes Vikings more effective on this map.
Battlefield of Eternity
Not sure this is a perfect map for Vikings.
I feel there is a strategy during immortal, splitting 2-1 and asking your team to just defend and not doing the objective. They should lost this 4v5 fight, but they should be able to delay their lost if they stay under your immortal. The goal is to defend the longer possible, and go for the enemy immortal when you have a big level advantage.
I don’t know if that’s even possible to do.
Dragon Shire
OK map for Vikings.
Tomb of the Spider Queen
This map relies on heavy roaming and should be avoided. It requires too much APM to save all your Vikings. When I play Tomb in QM, I group my Vikings as 3 and practice my micro on the bot lane. Vikings can still be a pain to deal with when they are 3.
Haunted Mines
It was a pain to play this map with Vikings (only two lanes and the camera was doing weird stuff when entering/exiting mine). We are now free from this hellish map.
That’s all folks.
I hope this guide helped you.
If you have any idea / tips / whatever, feel free to leave comments. As I first said, I am far from being good and anything that can improves my games or this guide will be appreciated :-)
