The Lost Vikings Abilities and Strategy

• Stick with a passive playstyle in the early game so as not to miss out on minion experience or Regeneration Globes because of a Viking's death.
• When the opportunity arises, try to stack the damage of Spin To Win! on a single target to maximize the Vikings damage potential.
• During teamfights, Olaf's slow or stun from his charge should be used to provide peel for allied assassins. It can also be used to stun squishy enemies, if there is no threat towards your backline.
• Try to never stack the Vikings too closely during teamfights in order to not be immediately wiped by deadly AoE abilities such as Gazlowe's Grav-O-Bomb 3000 or Kael'thas's Living Bombs.
• In the mid-to-late game when a single Viking is pressuring the enemy teams structures, an individual enemy Hero can be baited away from important teamfights using Play Again!.
• Always be trying to integrate the ability to queue actions using the "Shift" key into your TLV play, as this will greatly increase the efficiency of your micro-managing.

Olaf has the most health of all the Vikings and uses melee attacks. After not taking damage for 4 seconds, Olaf rapidly regenerates his health. Olaf is able to charge his target by right-clicking, Slowing their Movement Speed by 30% for 3 seconds. This ability has an 8-second cooldown.

Olaf should be seen as more of an off-tank during teamfights over objectives. When talented into Large and In Charge at Level 16, Olaf's focus should be on peeling for his damage-dealing Assassins. Olaf is the Viking who should be present at almost every objective-based teamfight, such as those over Cursed Hollow's tributes or Dragon Shire's shrines. Due to his lack of damage and limited utility, Olaf should not be used to dive the backline of the opposing team unless there is particular reason, such as interrupting a channeled ability like Kael'thas' Pyroblast.

Baleog uses ranged attacks that deal AoE damage to enemies adjacent to and behind his target, equal to 50% of his Basic Attack damage.

Baleog's specialty is pushing in minion waves with his splash damage dealing ranged auto-attacks. Baleog is generally most effective when in lane soaking minion experience and collecting regeneration globes to accumulate stacks of Viking Hoard.

Erik has an increased attack range and moves very quickly, but has the least amount of health out of the three Vikings.

Erik's most useful quality is his Movement Speed, allowing him to zip around the battlefield pushing in a minion lane at one moment and sneaking a mercenary camp the next. As long as he is somewhat nearby, Erik should be the Viking used to stall or capture channeled objectives. Talenting into Erik the Swift at Level 4 will greatly increase Erik's survivability and harass capabilities, being able to constantly cancel the channeling of a Towers of Doom altar.

Viking Hoard permanently increases the health regeneration of each Viking by 0.5 per second for every Regeneration Globe you collect. Purple Regeneration Globes dropped from neutral Boss monsters count as well.

Always remember to grab Regeneration Globes when available as you split-push multiple lanes with the different Vikings. It is important to note that gathering these globes should not take priority to important map objectives, such as sneaking an uncontested Tribute on Cursed Hollow, or activating a Shrine on Dragon Shire. It is also key to assess the risk involved in gathering globes. Players from time to time try will try and capitalize on a lonely Viking heading towards a globe on a pushed in lane, so keep your eye on the mini-map for missing enemies.

Go Go Go! increases the Vikings' movement speed by 30% for 4 seconds.

Go Go Go! is an incredibly strong ability that tends to be regularly forgotten by newer TLV players. This ability should be used primarily as an escape mechanic, especially since the Vikings tend to be found in overextending situations from their lane pressure. Due to Go Go Go!'s relatively long cooldown (30 seconds), this ability should be used with great consideration. It is not advised to apply lane pressure without Go Go Go! being readily available, especially when an enemy character, particularly an Assassin, is missing from view.

Activate Spin To Win! to have each Viking deal damage to nearby enemies.

Spin To Win! is TLV's bread and butter damage dealing ability. Once talented at Level 7, each Viking gains the ability to independently apply significant amounts of lane pressure. When Spin To Win is cast ALL Vikings will then use the ability at that time, not just the Viking selected. This is crucial to understand, because the choice will oftentimes need to be made as to how the ability will be utilized most effectively. When in lane, it is important to try and have each Viking positioned within the minion wave in order to create the most pressure through waveclear.

Not only does Spin To Win! happen to be TLV's go-to waveclear ability, it also happens to be incredibly useful in both dueling and team fighting situations. Because the Spin To Win! damage from each Vikings stacks when landing on a single target, always try and group the Vikings before casting the ability. If all three Vikings manage to land Spin To Win! on a squishier enemy hero, a massive chuck of their health pool will be affected. On smaller maps, such as Tomb of the Spider Queen, the Vikings can be positioned within a choke point, out of enemy vision, and ambush any hero that happens to wander through. Although this does not guarantee a kill, this will guarantee the full application of Spin To Win! which usually turns out to be a pretty effective trade.

It is crucial to note that the Vikings should always be weighing the cost of stacking to apply full Spin To Win! damage in team fights. Sometimes, it may be more cost effective for the Vikings to stay separate and land Spin To Win! on whatever targets are available, particularly when fighting against Assassins with large AoE damage potential such as Jaina or Li-Ming.

Norse Force! causes all Vikings to gain a Shield that increases in strength for each Viking alive. Lasts 4 seconds.

Norse Force! is mutually exclusive with Norse Force!, as you need to choose one or the other (or Baleog the Fierce) when you reach Level 7.

Norse Force! is a rather straightforward defensive ability that grants the Vikings a hefty shield. There is a rather long cooldown of 30 seconds on Norse Force!, so TLV players who select this ability will really need to try and weigh the cost of when to activate it. The ability should be used rather conservatively, primarily when a Viking's death may appear imminent. That does not mean that Norse Force! should not be used preemptively to mitigate a lot of unavoidable damage from abilities such as Kael'thas' Living Bomb. When Norse Force is off cooldown, the Vikings should feel a little more confident being put into otherwise riskier situations, particularly when over-extending. When caught in a difficult spot, the Vikings prove to be quite slippery when fleeing with Norse Force! and Go Go Go! active.

Jump! makes all Vikings leap into the air causing them to become invulnerable and pass over enemies for 1.5 seconds.

Jump! is not only one of TLV's strongest abilities it also happens to be one of my favorite abilities within TLV's kit. As a TLV player there is no better feeling than being able to push in an entire lane up to the Keep, only to float away from the enemies feeble attempts to catch you. Similarly to Norse Force!, Jump! has a cooldown of 30 seconds, forcing players to really make sure they are using the ability most effectively. Again, just like with Norse Force!, Jump! can be used not only to avoid lethal damage but can also be used preemptively to avoid large amounts of damage, especially if Norse Force! was not talented into at Level 7.

One of the significant benefits of using Jump! over Norse Force! in dangerous situations is that Jump! can be used to negate any enemy body-blocking attempts. Because Jump! allows you to float over all enemies, not just enemy Heroes, Jump! Can also be used to float over summoned enemy minions, such as Mercenaries or Nazeebo's Gargantuan.

Upon activating Nordic Attack Squad, all Viking Basic Attacks deal bonus damage equal to 1% of a Heroes maximum health for 5 seconds.

Nordic Attack Squad is mutually exclusive with Jump! as you need to choose one or the other (or Hunka' Burning Olaf) at Level 13.

Since Nordic Attack Squad only effects enemy Heroes, it is an ability that should most often be used in larger skirmishes or full blown teamfights. An exception to this is when using Nordic Attack Squad may secure a kill during a duel that would otherwise elude you. To achieve the most damage from this ability, try and activate it when there is an opportunity for all three Vikings to be attacking a single target. Due to Nordic Attack Squad's duration time of 5 seconds, this ability is going to be most effectively used when Erik, who has an attack speed of 1.43, will be present in the fight.

Nordic Attack Squad has a cooldown time of 30 seconds, so when it comes to its application timing is everything. Nordic Attack Squad should never be used on targets who are currently under the effects of an ability that diminishes the effects of Basic Attacks, such as Illidan's Evasion. Also keep an eye out for enemies who have an ability that can blind the Vikings, such as Li Li's Blinding Wind or Johanna's Shield Glare. If blinded upon activating Nordic Attack Squad, the ability will be rendered completely useless as the Viking's Basic Attacks (as well as the bonus % health damage) will be avoided by the enemy target. Also, do not be afraid to use Nordic Attack Squad's bonus damage on tankier targets with large health pools, as you will actually generate the most raw damage output from them due to the bonus damage being dependent on percent health. This does not mean that the Vikings should intentionally focus targets with large health pools, as it is generally a better strategy to always use Nordic Attack Squad on your team's target of interest, most often Assassins or Healers.

Enemy Minions or captured Mercenaries killed near your Vikings will grant you stacks of Viking Bribery up to a maximum to 200. Using 40 stacks on a targeted Mercenary will instantly defeat them. This does not work on Bosses. If a Mercenary Camp is completely captured using Bribe, the camp respawns 50% faster.

Viking Bribery is an incredibly sneaky ability that can be quite troublesome for your opponents to deal with. One of the strongest features of Viking Bribery is that the Vikings will generated stacks around three times faster than most other Heroes with a similar ability. This is due to the nature of the Vikings play style; splitting into three independent lanes to apply pressure and soak experience from enemy minion deaths. The Mercenary camps should be “bribed” when it is most commonly appropriate for that specific camp on that specific map. This is usually when a contestable objective is about to require attention and will distract the enemy team from defeating your allied Mercenaries. It may sometimes be more effective to take a Mercenary camp when available than to wait for the “ideal” time, especially when on the enemies side of the battleground. Even if the Mercenaries are immediately killed, taking a camp in enemy territory will prevent your opponent from utilizing it for the duration of the camp's cooldown. The 200 stack cap will allow a single Viking to take a "hard" camp immediately, also causing it to respawn 50% faster. Players will need to decide how to most effectively juggle the camps for each specific Battleground.

Longboat Raid! summons an Unstoppable Longboat at the currently selected Viking's location, placing all Vikings in it for 15 seconds. The Longboat has a separate health pool from the Vikings and gains a flat amount of max health per Viking in the Longboat. The Longboat attacks the nearest enemy every second, prioritizing Heroes and giving you an additional ability Mortar, which shoots an explosion at the targeted location, damaging all enemies hit. If the Longboat is destroyed, all of the Vikings are Stunned for 1.5 seconds. Longboat Raid can only be activated if all living Vikings are near each other. If no Viking is selected when summoning the Longboat, it will default to Olaf.

Longboat Raid! is the Viking's go-to ability whenever caught up in a team fight situation. The damage output of this whimsical floating boat is nothing to bat an eye at, and can easily turn the tide of a losing team fight. Although the only way to control who is damaged by the longboat's passive cannon fire is through positioning, Mortar has a relatively long range and should be constantly targeted at whomever is your team's primary focus. It will rarely be worth trying to position the longboat near the enemies back line in order to force the passive cannon fire to hit your target of focus. This strategy will most often end up in the Viking's boat being focused down by the enemy team and immediately destroyed, especially since it still has a rather deceptively small health pool for how powerful it is.

In some situations, Longboat Raid! may actually be used as a defensive ability when trying to flee impending death after having exhausted all other means of escape. Although the Vikings inside will not have their current amount of health effected, using the Longboat to soak otherwise lethal damage may buy the Vikings crucial time to either escape or allow your team to provide you assistance. For the most part in team fights, Longboat Raid should be used AFTER the Vikings have put out their maximum amount of potential damage on the enemy team (such as having already used Spin To Win! and Nordic Attack Squad). This will allow the rather long cooldowns of your Basic Abilities to at least somewhat expire while the Vikings remain to be an asset to their team.

Play Again! places a pylon at the target location that summons, fully heals, and revives all Vikings after any Viking channels for 2 seconds.

Although not quite as flashy and heroic as Longboat Raid!, Play Again! can prove to be equally as effective in securing a TLV victory. Play Again! is much more of a strategic ability than Longboat Raid, requiring players who select it to have a strong understanding of each specific Battleground in order to be utilized proficiently. Play Again! focuses more on map control, allowing the Vikings to constantly make “riskier” plays when it comes to applying lane pressure and overextending.

It is important to take advantage of Play Again!'s more offensive capabilities. This could include a scenario such as drawing away an opponent or two to a faraway map location while immediately grouping with your team to force a fight over an objective with the remaining enemy Heroes. Or perhaps once drawing an isolated player away from the enemy team with a single Viking, gang up on them using Play Again!, potentially resulting in a kill and number advantage. Play Again! does also allow TLV players to recover from what could be otherwise game throwing mistakes, such as getting caught out and losing a Viking or two. The versatility of Play Again! is quite impressive and should never be subjected to only one strategy, especially since every match contains many differing variables including team compositions and the selected Battleground.