Sakura Hanabishi - Flame Caster

Rating: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Discussion:

First of all, i got the idea from Flame of Recca, but I tweaked the story a bit that Recca was killed by the lich king...

Pros :

1. Very strong skills

2. an evasion skill that also increases movement speed

3. has a mini-stun skill

4. has a suicide skill

Cons :

1. nadare may be spammable but sakura hasn't that much int either.

2. needs mana regen items to be able to spam skills.

3. too low HP at the start to have setsuna early in the game.

4. low range for a ranged hero (400)

6. last skill is a channeling spell

7. No AoE spell for defending (Flame Dragons' Fury is used for heroes, not for creeps just to defend!)

As you can see there are more cons than pros, so, why bother play her then? Because the pros are much more significant than some of the cons that can be countered by items. (BKB, mana regen items, HP items)

Skill Discussion :

1. Nadare - Spammable with a cooldown of 7. Strong nuke, burn is just an extra, and most of all, there is a mini-stun at level 4! The downside is that it uses up 200 mana at level 4.

2. Setsuna - Incredible damage, high cooldown, high manacost, has a chance to miss, AND hurts yourself.. Although you can use that to your advantage, use it also for suiciding..

3. Hokage Evasion - Great synergy with Resshin's Fury. good movement speed.. makes up for the low movement speed of sakura.

4. Resshin's Fury - Woah, great effects, though, easily countered with a stun if you didn't get the evasion skill. The only difference with freezing fields is that it doesn't slow, but freezing fields does.

Items :

Expensive build (buy these if you are a VERY good farmer and hero killer)

Cheap build (well, it's cheap, but not as effective as the others)

Spammer build (normally this build is a little support like since this type just spams nadare to damage the enemy, and stop channeling spells)

add some HP items if you have extra money, like vanguard or HoT if ur rich.

Support type (this type, well, supports, scratches the enemies and your teammates do the job..)

you can also get vladmir's offering if your allies are mostly melee, though, vladmir's is better bought by them than you. though assault cuirass is a good aura item, the most effects aren't, and it's expensive, so, your allies also should buy that if needed.

Early Game items:

before you go to your lane, buy at least some of these:

1. get 2 of these then turn it to a hood of defiance if your enemies are nukers, if not, then don't bother buying 2 of 'em, get 1 instead.

2. buy as much of these to get the most stats you can that early, these are the most cost-efficient item in the game .

3. buy more of these when your enemy has higher range than you since most probably your enemy will harass when that happens. it just gives you enhanced regeneration.. and it really helps your "lane-lasting power".

4. buy 1 of this if the fight is 2 on 2, since the starting money on 2 on 2 is 1750 - 250 since you will pick your hero = 1500 - 500(bracer) = 1000 money left for tangoes, branches and 1 ring of regen. if it is a 1 on 1 fight, maybe you can buy 2 and add a boots to your starting shopping list.

5. well, really helps early game because of the +6 damage, extra mana regen, and armor.. costs exactly 500 gold.

AND WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T BUY BOOTS OF SPEED EARLY GAME EXCEPT IF IT IS A 1 ON 1 FIGHT! the 500 gold is better spent on a ring of basilius or a bracer.

Mid game items:

if you are a good farmer you should have this.

just before late game starts you should have finished hood of defiance.

Late game Items:

or

the second one is more safer type, but the 1st one is the offensive type.

Survivability :

both builds have kelen's dagger of escape, and boots of travel, which are both escape mechanisms if there are no stunners, though blink is still in use.. the 1st build has aghanims which gives +500 HP, but the 2nd build gives +10 strength(190 HP), +3 armor aura, and has avatar. when the enemy has nukers, the 2nd build will win because of the avatar. but though sakura has madoka, which gives +25% spell resistance, avatar isn't that useful avoiding damage, avatar is much useful when using it while channeling ur ulti..

Winner : 1st build

Price :

the 1st build costs nearly costs 20000, the 2nd build costs something like 1000-2000 gold less.

Winner : 2nd build

Offence:

probably the 1st build because of the aghanim's scepter that greatly increases the damage of your ulti.

Winner: 1st build

Defence:

the 2nd build wins because of the avatar, armor, and hex.

Winner: 2nd build

They may both have 2 wins, but in the end it all depends on your enemies and the circumstances, you should find other great comboes to her, which are similar to rylai's build.

something like this:

+ your ulti will pawn almost any hero (except perma-bashers, still they can still stun you.)

Early game strategy :

You should keep away from several high ranged enemies since they'll probably harass you earlygame since you only have 400 range compared to other heroes which have 500-600 range. techies won't bother you even if they have 650 range since techies' damage is just as powerful as the creeps at level 1... the key in early game is not to kill already, but to farm and deny since sakura is much stronger mid game with items, and you won't get items when you don't farm right? Early game it's alright if you don't kill the enemy, what's important is that you harass them more with your skills so they would go home early to their fountain.

Mid game strategy :

Now you have several skills at your disposal, Sakura needs teammates to make multiple kills since she needs her enemies to be at their place so the dragons will turn them to dust. when you get harassed more if your enemy is somewhat a nuker too, eat a tree and fight at least some neutral creeps so you could gain experience before you go back to the fountain, so you would not be outleveled by your foes, keep this going and late game will usually come.

Late game strategy :

in late game, heroes tend to be with their allies so they can have a higher chance to kill.. not much to say since late game you aren't that strong anymore since your enemy heroes might have been bothered by your skills that they bought HP and spell reduction items... the key in this part is to kill the enemy heroes then after they are waiting to be revived, you already pushed the world tree/frozen throne.. just be careful when you are alone since you might get ganked.

your FRIENDS :

probably anyone with skills that can stop enemies from doing their job.. probably disablers and stunners are your best friends, such as:

your FOES :

probaby all the heroes above since they have stuns and disable that can stop ur ulti..

Conclusion :

For me, Sakura hanabishi is a very balanced hero, skills may be spammable, but high mana cost, setsuna strong, yet requires your own HP, etc etc.

I wish my hero idea has a high score (at least 4stars, hehe)

thank you all for spending your time reading this hero idea!

Changelog:

• 2007-04-14: • Changed madoka to Hokage training. Changed Flame Wielder to Flame Caster. Changed ultimate skill name and icon, Nadare no longer has burn. Extra 1 str and 1 agi, higher str gain(by 0.1), higher agi gain(by 0.1). Completely changed story. Lower movement speed to 290 due to hokage training
• 2007-04-03: • Nerfed Nadare and Madoka. Fixed some typos and added a sentence at the end.