DOTA VS HON

Introduction

This guide is mainly written for people who played the popular Warcraft 3 map Defence of the Ancients (DotA) for a while, got familiar with it and now made the transition to Heroes of Newerth (HoN). It will note most of the HoN items and heroes which have an equivalent in DotA, as well as new features of the game.
This guide is not meant for people who are completely new to both HoN and DotA.

DotA Helper Modification

One of the great features of Heroes of Newerth is the ability for users to create modifications to customize the game to their preference. The user Bangerz has created a very useful modification that changes all the hero and item icons to their DotA equivalent, as well as adding their DotA names beside their HoN names.
For a guide on how to install the DotA mod and to see screenshots of it in action, you can click here to visit the forums.

Starting out

Login Screen

The first thing you will see when you start the game is the login screen. Located along the top of the screen is the system bar (More information on that later)
In the bottom center of the screen is where you login.

Save Username will remember your username each time you start the game.
Auto Auth will remember your password and automatically log you in when you start the game.
Invisible Mode will hide you from friends and clan mates.
Create Account will bring down the account creation panel if you have not already purchased a HoN account.
Lost Login Info? will bring down a panel for retrieving your username or password if you have forgotten.

Main Lobby

Once you login you will be taken to the main lobby.
At the top of the screen you have the system bar.
In the middle of the screen you have the menu.


System Bar
In the very middle of the system bar you have your username which you can click to open a drop down box for purchasing a sub account, resetting your stats or changing your nickname. Beside that you have the View Statistics button which will bring up your personal statistics. The final button at the right is the logout button.
On the right of the system bar, you have the Notifications list. Notifications will pop up whenever a friend or clan mate joins a game (With an option to join that game), when a friend or clan mate logs in or out and when someone adds you to their friends list (With an option to approve or ignore the request). All your notifications will be stored in the Notifications List.

Menu

• Tutorial

Clicking this will load up the tutorial for learning the basics of HoN.

• Matchmaking

This will open up a visual map of matchmaking servers for you to select. You will have to complete a few provisional games at first to receive your rating. Once you've completely those games, Matchmaking will place you with similarly rated individuals.

• Public Games

This will open up the public game list. This is a list of games players have created. There are a multitude of options on the left of this list for filtering out games for your preferences. In the very bottom list is an icon key that will explain all the visual icons on the game list.

• Create Game

This will bring down a panel for hosting your own game.

• Player Ladder

This will open up a list where you can see how you match up to other players. On the left are a number of game statistics that you can choose to show or hide.

• Match Stats

This is where you can view matches at a glance, as well as download a replay of them to view at a later date. When you click this button, it will bring up your most recent game.

• Hero Compendium

This is a list where you can view detailed statistics of every hero in the game.

• Options

Clicking this will open up the options screen.

Game Lobby

You can view a list of available games by clicking the Game List button. You can apply filters to the current view by selection options on the left hand side of this panel.
Most DotA players will immediately notice the Type and game options that are indicated by icons in the games list. HoN currently supports five gametypes which are well known from DotA:

• Normal mode
• Single Draft (SD)
• Random Draft (RD)
• Banning Draft (BD) (This is similar to Captains Draft in DotA)
• Banning Pick (BP)

And the various game options:

• All Heroes: Allows both Legion and Hellbourne to pick heroes from both factions.
• Random Hero: Selects a random hero for all players (like the AR game mode).
• Easy Mode: The EM gametype from dota - awarding extra money to players and weaker towers.
• No Leavers: If this option is enabled, you can't join if your leaver percentage is too high.
• Auto Balance Teams: Automatically shuffles all players in the game lobby when the game starts, to balance the chances of victory for both factions.

The game lobby works much the same as DotA. When you join a game, you can select a slot and switch teams as you like. The host can shuffle teams and lock players to a slot (Those players will not be shuffled).
Located in the center of the screen are some details about the game such as modes and your ping to the server. It is important to remember that all games of HoN are hosted on S2's servers, so the hosts connection will not affect other players.

Clicking on the colored circle or the join button below it will place you in that slot. To the left of the circle are options to add the person as a friend, mute their voice chat or view their stats. The voice chat icon will turn green when they are talking. Clicking on it will change it to red to indicate you have muted them.
The Lock Slot and Kick Player options are only available to the host of the game.

PSR stands for Player Skill Rating. When you win or lose a game, you will gain or lose an amount PSR based on your teammates and opponents PSR. The Balance button in the middle of the Game Lobby can be clicked by the host to shuffle the players based on their PSR so that both teams are evenly matched.

• Repicking allows you to put your chosen hero back into the pool of available heroes and pick a new one. This is accomplished by clicking the tiny arrow beside your hero portrait, and costs 350 gold.
• Swapping allows you to swap heroes with another player on your team. It is accomplished by clicking the arrow icon next to the hero portrait of who you want to swap with. If someone else has already offered to swap with you, their portrait will have gold arrows circling it, clicking on it will swap with them.) 

In-Game Interface

Personal stats are indicated in the top left corner:

• Hero portrait
• Level
• HP bar
• Mana bar
• Buffs and active effects

There is also a Share Courier button which will automatically give control of your courier to all your teammates.

Directly below this are small icons for each of your teammates.

Clicking the Share Control button once will change the icon to yellow and share control of your courier with them. Clicking it again will change the icon to green and will give full control of all your units to the player. Clicking one more time will return the icon to grey and remove control from them.
The Accept Help button works much like DotA. Clicking this button will prevent the person from assisting you with spells like Pebbles' Chuck (Tiny's Toss) or Andromeda's Void Rip (Vengeful Spirit's Nether Swap)
The ability indicator's give you quick at-a-glance information about that teammate's abilities. A grey circle means they do not have the ability leveled yet. If the icon is green, they are ready to cast that spell. If it is dark green, it is a passive skill. Orange means the spell is on cooldown and blue means they do not have enough mana for the spell. Finally, red means that they are disabled in some form and are unable to cast the spell.

Game statistics are displayed in the center top of the screen:

• Stats of your hero on the left: Kills / Deaths / Assists
• Your creep stats on the right: Kills / Denies
• Elapsed game time in the center.
• Kills of both factions (Legion / Hellbourne) on the bottom.

The scoreboard can be viewed in the top right corner of the screen.

There is a full size version as well as a smaller version that only displays the hero portrait and levels.

The HUD on the bottom of the screen is mostly the same as in DotA

• The purple bar around the hero portrait indicates the experience progress on the current level.

When you level up, a small button will pop-up above each one of your skills (and a plus icon for stats on the left) and you click one of these. These buttons may toggled on and off by clicking the up arrow to the right of the hero level or by pressing 'L' key (by default).

In-Game Interface Personal stats are indicated in the top left corner: Hero portrait Level HP bar Mana bar Buffs and active effects There is also a Share Courier button which will automatically give control of your courier to all your teammates. Directly below this are small icons for each of your teammates. Clicking the Share Control button once will change the icon to yellow and share control of your courier with them. Clicking it again will change the icon to green and will give full control of all your units to the player. Clicking one more time will return the icon to grey and remove control from them. The Accept Help button works much like DotA. Clicking this button will prevent the person from assisting you with spells like Pebbles' Chuck (Tiny's Toss) or Andromeda's Void Rip (Vengeful Spirit's Nether Swap) The ability indicator's give you quick at-a-glance information about that teammate's abilities. A grey circle means they do not have the ability leveled yet. If the icon is green, they are ready to cast that spell. If it is dark green, it is a passive skill. Orange means the spell is on cooldown and blue means they do not have enough mana for the spell. Finally, red means that they are disabled in some form and are unable to cast the spell. Game statistics are displayed in the center top of the screen: Stats of your hero on the left: Kills / Deaths / Assists Your creep stats on the right: Kills / Denies Elapsed game time in the center. Kills of both factions (Legion / Hellbourne) on the bottom. The scoreboard can be viewed in the top right corner of the screen. There is a full size version as well as a smaller version that only displays the hero portrait and levels. The HUD on the bottom of the screen is mostly the same as in DotA The purple bar around the hero portrait indicates the experience progress on the current level. When you level up, a small button will pop-up above each one of your skills (and a plus icon for stats on the left) and you click one of these. These buttons may toggled on and off by clicking the up arrow to the right of the hero level or by pressing 'L' key (by default). Heroes Ported Heroes HoN DotA Agility Andromeda Shendelzare Silkwood the Vengeful Spirit Blood Hunter Strygwyr the Bloodseeker Chronos Darkterror the Faceless Void Corrupted Disciple Razor the Lightning Revenant Flint Beastwood Kardel Sharpeye the Dwarven Sniper Magebane Magina the Anti-Mage Moon Queen Luna the Moon Rider Night Hound Rikimaru the Stealth Assassin Sand Wraith Mercurial the Spectre Slither Lesale Deathbringer the Venomancer Soulstealer Nevermore the Shadow Fiend Swiftblade Yurnero the Juggernaut Valkyrie Mirana Nightshade Priestess of the Moon Wildsoul Syllabear the Lone Druid Intelligence Blacksmith Aggron Stonebreaker the Ogre Magi Bubbles Puck the Faerie Dragon Defiler Krobelus the Death Prophet Demented Shaman Dazzle the Shadow Priest Doctor Repulsor Raijin Thunderkeg the Storm Spirit Glacius Rylai the Crystal Maiden Ophelia Chen the Holy Knight Plague Rider Kel'Thuzad the Lich Pollywog Priest Rhasta the Shadow Shaman Pyromancer Lina Inverse the Slayer Soul Reaper Rotund'jere the Necrolyte Succubus Atropos the Bane Elemental - Tempest Darchrow the Enigma - Thunderbringer Zeus the Lord of Olympia - Torturer Leshrac the Malicious Tormented Soul Vindicator Nortrom the Silencer Voodoo Jester Vol'Jin the Witch Doctor Witch Slayer Lion the Demon Witch Wretched Hag Akasha the Queen of Pain Strength Accursed Abaddon the Lord of Avernus Armadon Rigwarl the Bristleback Behemoth Raigor Stonehoof the Earthshaker Devourer Pudge the Butcher The Gladiator Kunkka the Admiral Hammerstorm Sven the Rogue Knight Jeraziah Purist Thunderwrath the Omniknight Keeper of the Forest Rooftrellen the Treant Protector Legionnaire Mogul Khan the Axe Magmus Crixalis the Sand King Pebbles Tiny the Stone Giant Pestilence Slardar the Slithereen Guard Pharaoh Rattletrap the Clockwerk Goblin Tundra Rexxar the Beastmaster War Beast Banehallow the Lycanthrope

New heroes

		Name	Information
		Arachna	Similarities to DotA "Drow Ranger" and "Netherdrake"
		Balphagore
		The Chipper
		The Dark Lady	Similarities to DotA "Phantom Assassin"
		Deadwood
		Engineer
		Electrician
		Fayde	Similarities to DotA "Nerubian Assassin"
		Forsaken Archer
		Gauntlet
		Hellbringer	Similarities to DotA "Warlock"
		Kraken
		The Madman	Similarities to DotA "Nerubian Weaver"
		Maliken
		Nymphora	Similarities to DotA "Keeper of the Light"
		Pandamonium
		Puppet Master
		Predator	Similarties to DotA "Lifestealer"
		Rampage	Similarities to DotA "Spiritbreaker" and "Batrider"
		Scout	Similarities to DotA "Bounty Hunter" and "Dwarven Sniper"
		Zephyr