COUNTER HEROES  Leviathan - The Tidehunter :   Life Stealer, Centaur Warchief, Magnataur, Stone Giant

GUIDE :

Early Game

Ok, so you are using the leviathan. He is by no means the "best" hero in the game. But as far as the tanks go, he is very strong. I usually save my mana, and use no spells so when I finally hit level 6 I can use my ravage. Occasionally, if an enemy hero is low, I will try a gush on him. Gush has a long range and decent damage, but you wont be pwning many heads with it.

I recommend an animal courier for this hero. I usually would not, but the Leviathan is so ponderous that you really do waste a lot of time walking back and forth, unless you’re in the middle lane.

You can grab the items needed for vangaurd in any order. Usually I get the ring of health first, then the vitality booster, then the Stout shield. The vangaurd’s damage block is very useful for keeping your hero on the front lines. You don’t have to run from a wall of creeps, you can instead stick around and get the gold and xp you need.

There really isn’t much strategy at this point in the game. Use your first ravage at the right time, when an enemy hero is weakened and out of position, or when you need to disrupt a group of enemies as they try to kill you or one of your teammates. Ravage has saved many of my buddies from certain death.

    
Mid Game:

The middle-game becomes increasingly enjoyable with the leviathan. At this stage you should be devoted to getting the Reaver. Don’t take too many risks, use ravage only at the right moment. I use it defensively at this point in the game. Building up the 3000+ gold for the reaver can be a chore, and losing 500 here, 600 there, will significantly hamper your progress.

Due to Anchor Smash + Gush, you can still hold your own (and win) against most mellee opponents. The quicker agility based hero’s can be a pain, especially the ones that disappear on you. Ranged attackers with critical strike will be the bane of your existence. Your damage mitigation does little when Mr. Clinkz is pinging 400 damage arrows off your huge butt. But that is true with almost everyone. Stay with a teammate or two when you venture beyond your towers. Sentry wards are your friend.

Once you have your Heart of Terrasque, which will be late in the mid-game, you’re pretty damn close to unkillable by anything short of a full team of enemy hero’s. Your hp regen is insane and you’re blocking tower attacks at this point. That’s right, a tower does almost no damage to you at this point, so get in there and start smashing them!

Pushing Tactics:

If your team is good, they will stay close to you and let your ravage ability damage and stun the two or three enemy heros looking for kills. Then they should focus fire the weakest and bring them down. Once one enemy hero is down, the others usually flee, gush helps keep them slow and managable.

If your team is stupid they will run away from you, or stay outside the maximum range of your ravage ability. Leaving you to die. I cannot stress this enough, if you have a Leviathan on your team, use him! He is intended to hold the front line, and kick ass in large team battles! Alone he is easily dealt with.

Late Game:

I usually go for the hyperstone at this point because I like swinging fast. More swings means more anchor smashes + more damage in general. However I have seen others go for two Heart of Terrasque’s for the hp regen and maximum health boost. Its up to you at this point. If you have gotten here, and your team hasn’t ditched the game, your chances at winning are pretty good. Watch out for disabler’s crowd controlled hurts you and your team.

 Remember to use ravage when you have back up, or when you can hit a large group of enemy hero’s with it. Don’t be dumb, Leviathan is a team player, going off alone with him will get you owned. Avoid mana-drainers if your ravage is ready. You won’t have a large mana pool and a couple drains will negate your best ability.

The item build is more of a suggestion at this point. The cranuim basher is useful, but by no means overpowering, hell, maybe you would rather get the buriza at this point, go for it. Blade mail is useful against mellee heros especially, but if you are facing a team of rangers its worthless…. Try to evalute the game at every stage and plan which items you will want for the end game. If you’ve been using the Leviathan correctly, money shouldn’t be a problem.

 
Skill Build:

1. Anchor Smash
2. Gush
3. Anchor Smash
4. Kraken Shell
5. Anchor Smash
6. Ravage
7. Anchor Smash
8. Kraken Shell
9. Kraken Shell
10. Kraken Shell
11. Ravage
12. Gush
13. Gush
14. Gush
15. Stats
16. Ravage
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats