HoN Begginer's Guide Part 2

Heroes of Newerth :: Beginner’s Guide :: Chapter 3, Ganking

A cornerstone of winning games of HoN is 'ganking'. It is ganging up on an opponent and killing them. It could also mean leaving your lane to attack another lane, or an opponent in the neutrals. Any unexpected kill in HoN is a gank.

There are two angles to see a gank from; you either achieve the gank, or you get ganked. Often you will find yourself being ganked, so it is important to know what your opponent is doing as much as you can. You cannot keep tabs all the time so it is best to call 'missing', 'mia', or 'gone' when an opponent leaves your lane, giving a heads-up to your team mates about a possible enemy gank. If you ever decide to pull off a gank, make sure you tell your team mates ahead of time. A hero withstuns or disables makes a gank much much easier. If they run to the tower, decide if you can kill them quickly because the tower will to you.

Usually the ganking starts six minutes in and persists throughout the rest of the game, but after twenty, or thirty minutesplayers start grouping up in one lane with five heroes in a lane. But remember, to leave your lane is to submit possible gold and experience.

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Heroes of Newerth :: Beginner’s Guide :: Chapter 4, Runes


Runes are temporary magical buffs that your hero can pick up from the ground. Though not always obvious to new players, runes play an important role in your team’s success, or failure. Actively pursuing the runes not only gives you the buffs, but also prevents your enemies from getting them.

These two spots on the map are heavily traversed. Its very common to get ganked or to gank in these spots as players are seeking runes, which is why it is important to pay attention to your minimap. If you are worried the enemy team is at the runes, bring yours. The runes spawn randomly every two minutes in one of the two places below, beginning at 0:00 game time (After the horn). There will never be more than 1 rune in a rune spawn location.

Haste: Your hero will move at maximum movement speed for 30 seconds, as well as being immune to slowing effects.

Double Damage: Your hero’s attack damage will be doubled for 45 seconds (not spells or ability damage only your auto attack).

Regeneration: Your hero will regenerate to maximum health and mana. The regeneration rate is 6% health per second and 10% mana per second. Regeneration ends when health and mana are full, you take damage, or 30 seconds expires.

Illusion: Two illusions of your hero are created next to it. Illusions deal 1/3 damage and take 3 times normal damage. Illusions last for 75 seconds.

Invisibility: Your hero becomes invisible for 1 minute. Invisibility ends if you attack. Damage taken will NOT end invisibility.

Runes can be attacked and destroyed.
Rune buffs can be dispelled with Nullfire Blade’s active ability.
Runes can be saved for two minutes in an empty bottle. After the rune is used or the timer runs out, your bottle will be full again.