Focus on: Ivy

Ivy has grown to be one of my favourite characters to play in the Alpha so far (along with Smolder and War Mage who I also rate highly). Ivy is a ranged hero equipped with her bow, she specialises at taking out minions from a distance. However there is alot more to her bow than it may seem. Ivy can shoot a special arrow as part of her secondary weapon. This is a penetrating arrow that can shoot through enemy minions but also more strategically it can be used to disable traps.

When Ivy uses her penetrating arrow any traps around the area where it hits will be disabled for a short while. This allows friendly minions and heroes to pass freely over the stunned traps. This is where Ivy’s main strengths lies and it also defines her role as a “Supporter” on the battlefield. When pushing your waves forward Ivy can be great at helping them get through enemy traps.

Ivy also has some other tricks up her sleeve with two abilities she can call upon using mana. The first is the heal ability, when called a circle will appear around Ivy which heals her and any allied heroes who step into the circle. This can be very handy in the battle-field especially when fighting other ranged characters, by healing Ivy can score the extra HP she needs to stick it out.

Her other ability is “Root” and lets her trap enemies in a fixed position by roots (a bit like vines). This is easier to describe looking at the below screenshot. When players are trapped in this position they can still attack but are unable to move for a few seconds.

Believe it or not Ivy has one last trick up her sleeve. Her passive ability allows Ivy to move very fast when she is low on health. Not only that but she can pass through traps unharmed due to her speed. This is a powerful passive and can save her from death. Because dieing in OMDU results in some time you have to wait until your hero respawns by escaping the danger zone Ivy can heal and continue the fight without so much delay.

Overall Ivy is a very strong hero and her skills and abilities make her a very approachable and easy to learn hero. She is a perfect choice for beginners or for those learning the ropes of OMDU. Ivy’s strenghts lie with her abilities, but she can suffer when her abilities are on cool-down or she is low on mana as her basic bow can feel somewhat week. But hey, thats balance!

Coming up this week…

This week Robot are featuring a new hero, Blackpaw. Quite different to Ivy, Blackpaw is a strong, fast melee hero. We’ll be finding out more about him this week with the Robot stream on Tuesday, the Community Stream on Thursday and of course, the hero review right here on REF.

See you all around!