Idris is a VERY powerful, mechanical hero in this game that’s got an incredibly well made kit, focused on generating a large amount of single target damage, while also churning out a VERY respectable AoE game.
I’m ZionSairin, in-game self proclaimed master of salt, “I’m-low-tier-but-deserve-tier-10” god, teamslayer and dreamslayer, and boosted trashlord. Note, only one of those is true. Take all the information in this guide with a grain of salt.
Now, I’ve seen people complain about the loss of Hybrid Idris, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. There are plenty of topics on that, and I’m sure they provide far better insights into a cheesy build.
I just want to emphasize, Idris is an ASSASSIN. Let us take note of that once more, just to make sure you understand. Spell it with me. A S S A S S I N. You are not your team’s front line, you are not their back line. You are behind enemy lines making their back line regret their career choices. If I see you playing CP Idris and cowering behind your ranged ninja stars I’m going to leave a box of slightly stale donuts on your doorstep. Because that’s what your playstyle is like. It’s alright, but it falls short of being truly wonderful.
Now, hybrid builds are great and all, but they do not have the PUNCH you want, and once 3.3 drops you lose the power of Shiv+Weapon Infusion to give you your second passive piece. Thanks, Niv, I know ya nerfed the WP infusion for that reason. (Can we get some WP Taka assassin style buffs now?)
Personally I don’t enjoy CP Idris because I feel he lacks the kind of high mobility teamkilling potential I love the hero for.
And why is that? Let’s look at Idris’ weapon perk.
WP Passive
At 100 WP (120 as of patch 3.3) Idris gains:
An instant blink on his primary dash. This is HUGE, as the blink gives you massive outplay potential. A lot of small area targeting abilities (kind of similar to Ardan’s Gauntlet) become completely irrelevant as long as your dash is up, and the next part of your WP passive ensures it will be.
Getting the Resets
Idris’ melee basic attacks reduce the cooldown on his A and Ult by 1s. This is HUGE, as it allows you to always have your mobility spells up. You can dance circles around your opponent, and each use of your overdriven A gives you a 50% damage amp. The barrier is really only there during an initiation, but has a cool 75% WP scaling.
Oh, and your melee basic attacks return 10 stamina. Cool. (This is actually important, your abilities are expensive.)
It’s a powerful passive that really encourages your WP mobile assassin playstyle. Take notes, Taka.
Position and Early Game Items
Okay, so I know many of you will give up on me here (acting like you didn’t give up on me when I talked down on CP Idris) but I recommend playing WP Idris in a lane (or as THE laner if you’re playing 3v3) and starting off with a book and whatever second item you prefer. Personally I like starting book and an oakheart for the defense to keep me alive through the first few levels. However, weapon blades will increase your A ability’s barrier. If you farm well enough, it won’t matter what you start with. As Idris, CP or WP, your early game farm is VITAL. If you fall too far behind early you won’t reach your power spike soon enough to snowball and you will be left in the dust.
Summary
Now, early game on 3.2 I like to go for a Spellsword because it gave me 100 WP (enough to get my passive), decent CDR, and a bit of stamina regen/max stamina. In 3.3 you will need an additional 20 WP to get your passive, but that is where you can purchase a Six Sins (30 WP, 650g) or a weapon blade and barbed needle. Idris does not rely heavily on attack speed until mid and late game, and as such you can buy massive amounts of damage early to grab some kills. At higher ranks the enemy may rush tier 2 armor; a simple Spear purchase (possibly upgrading into Tension Bow for the HUGE burst) will shut that down.
But how do I get so much gold early game, Zion?!?! That’s difficult and unrealistic!
Surviving the early game as Idris is not easy, you are correct, but you have a rather powerful kit at your disposal. If you need to, put a point or two into your B skill and harass with it while you proc your Book passive on minions. You are nowhere near as weak to ranged as older melee laners like Joule or Glaive, you have a barrier (you need to learn to use it), and you have a decent range poke ability with respect-demanding base damage. Focus on those last hits, however, as your Book will keep you healed while your B whittles away at your opponent’s health bar (and sanity).
Late game is difficult with the build I mentioned, as you will be lacking damage to participate in sustained fights and many enemies will build defense to shut down your burst. However, fret not. If you are in a decent gold lead, you should sell your weaker items (I built a shiv and tension bow early to mid game, but late game sold them for Bonesaw and Breaking Point.) The enemy team will likely have an Atlas built but even late game your reliance on attack speed is more for your A and Ult resets than your damage output. This doesn’t mean I you won’t die; quite to the contrary. I have made a gametime decision to change my items out when we lost a few teamfights. But once I had a Breaking Point and Bonesaw, that all changed with two things. Chakram Bouncing, and Resets.
Chakram Bouncing
Chakram Bouncing is what I call Idris’ often underrated ability to dash before his Chakram returns to him, causing it to move through him and continue to stay active. This makes a HUGE difference to your damage output in teamfights and if you play your cards right you can keep the thing moving almost infinitely. And your B ability DOES scale with your WP, though not as strongly as it does with CP, and it does WP damage when you build WP meaning you can proc Breaking Point stacks with it!
Teamfights
A teamfight situation with WP Idris is deceptively simple. Your main target is the strongest carry threat on the enemy side. You must stop at NOTHING to get in their face and whack them upside the head with your Lightsaber of Uglification +5, and eventually make them disappear out of utter shame. In layman’s terms, beat ‘em until they stop moving.
But while you do so, make sure you are using your A whenever it’s up, unless there is a vital enemy ability you need to dodge. The damage amp (50%) will help you deal your burst. Throw your Chakram, dash, and just before it returns, ult your target if you can. The Chakram should voice again. That’s two bounces at least (three or four if you get off enough autoattacks before it returns. Sometimes you can dash twice or more after the Chakram throw. This is dependent on attack speed.) Now, hold your ult’s second use as long as possible and dash through the Chakram with it again. That’s a third bounce, and by now your A should be up. Rinse and repeat. By dodging the enemy Atlas and properly stutter stepping I was able to bounce a single Chakram throw at least 6 times past the initial bounce, in a single teamfight. This hit two enemies at minimum, meaning I was dealing heavy damage to the entire enemy team. This led to us winning the teamfight with only one death on our side, and the enemy team ended up surrendering as they all had nearly 50 second death timers and one turret remaining.
Chakram Bouncing and Resets are a HUGE part of WP Idris’ late game kit, and if you use them properly you can nigh-on-infinitely bounce a single use of your B back and forth, stacking Breaking Point and annihilating the enemy team.
Recent game
I played a WP Idris game last night (3v3) against a team with Ardan, Alpha, and Gwen and I could just dodge their major abilities (Gwen’s ult, Ardan’s ult, and Alpha’s A) by dashing through it with decent timing. This allowed me to close gaps as well as burning important enemy skills.
In this game, I got first blood and a second kill very early, then first time backed with almost 3.5k gold. I then bought a Spellsword, upgraded my oakheart to Reflex Block, got tier 1 boots, and made that poor Gwen cry as I bullied her with my early passive. Even Ardan camping and going full aggression couldn’t help her win (this is mid Tier 6 MMR, for the record. I’m not going to speak for high rank play, nor do I wish to.)
Hey, guys, I really do appreciate your time if you’ve gotten all the way to the end of the guide. I spent time writing this and researching some of the interactions his kit has, as well as methods to increase his teamfight damage. WP Idris may just be one of the easiest heroes in Vainglory to pick up and play, but how you use and manipulate your B skill is the true indication of skill. For all two of you out there playing WP over CP, keep doing you. Well, that’s all I’ve got. Get yer rear out there on the Fold or Rise, kill some noobs, and stay salty, Team Sairin!
Disclaimer: I don’t actually have a fan base named Team Sairin. I don’t have fans actually. And I wouldn’t want Team Siren’s trademark owners to sue me. Wait, are they even around anymore? That all-girl League esports team? Meh, whatever. Irrelevant. Thanks for putting up with my rambling mid tier trash opinions and terrible sense of humor, guys!
