Dota Item Vanguard General Tips
Damage Block
- gives a 70% chance to block 40 attack damage
Special cases
- if the wielder has more than one damage block source, they are individually checked in reverse order of acquisition, and only one can trigger
Example: if the wielder has bought a Stout Shield first, then a Vanguard, if the latter's block succeeds, then Stout Shield will not be checked anymore.
Careful! This is especially true for Tidehunter, because if you bought a Stout Shield THEN learned 1st level of Kraken Shell, your Stout Shield will never be used. Kraken Shell was acquired last and is thus checked first, but since it always goes off, the Stout Shield never has a chance to kick in!
In that case, the optimal order would be Kraken Shell, Stout Shield then Vanguard. Even if your 2 items fail, Kraken's 100% chance will act as a safety net, taking effect no matter what.
- for multiple Vanguards, Damage Block amounts DO NOT stack
- chances to block incoming damage stack dimishingly (the damage blocks are checked in reverse order of aquisition; the amount of the first one which procs is used and all others will be ignored)
- the chances for 2 Vanguards to block incoming damage are calculated as follows:
Dota Item Vanguard Usage Conditions
- Vanguard is best used against physical damage, DPS heroes
- best for heroes that need to negate creeps attacks, tower hits when diving, etc