Hogger Abilities and Strategy

• Staggering Blow can be used to Knockback enemy Heroes into Ez-Thro Dynamite.
• Ez-Thro Dynamite explodes immediately if thrown directly on enemy Heroes.
• Hogg Wild can be used to quickly clear Mercenary Camps between two parallel segments of impassable terrain or, when that is not possible, with the use of Loot Hoard on one side.
• Hoardapult has Vector Targeting that allows you to choose on which side of the Loot Hoard you want to land.
• Shockwave is easier to use on enemy Heroes previously Slowed with Ez-Thro Dynamite and is a great setup for using Loot Hoard right behind them for getting full value from Staggering Blow immediately after.
• Loot Hoard can be canceled before it expires to immediately collect its Meat and/or to open up a path that would be otherwise inaccessible for a few more seconds.
• Both Hoardapult and Loot Hoard can be used to interrupt stationary-channeled Abilities.

Hogger has 100 Rage (not scaling) instead of Mana, but it is not used to pay for Abilities. Instead, it gives cooldown reduction for Basic Abilities and increases the damage done with Hogg Wild.

The cooldown of your Basic Abilities refreshes 1% faster every 2 Rage stored, up to 50% additional cooldown refresh rate at maximum Rage, and Hogg Wild deals 0.5% more damage to enemy Heroes every 1 Rage, up to 50% additional damage at maximum Rage. There are some Talents that can be picked to increase the benefits you get from your Rage.

Basic Attacks generate 5 Rage and taking an instance of damage generates 1 Rage. After not gaining Rage for 3 seconds, you will lose 10 Rage per seconds, but it will not decay during Hogg Wild.

Staggering Blow is a Basic Ability that allows Hogger to damage and Knockback enemy Heroes away from him. If they hit impassable-terrain in the process, Hogger gains 15 Rage while they take bonus damage and get Stunned.

You can use Staggering Blow on Minions or Mercenaries nearby impassable terrain to quickly get 15 Rage per target Stunned with it, however, it does not work on Bosses because they cannot be affected by crowd control.

Regardless of the presence of impassable terrain nearby, you can use Staggering Blow to peel away enemy Heroes that are threatening your team. If you have good reaction times, you can also interrupt some animations (such as Shadow Charge) with it.

When there is impassable terrain nearby, you can use Staggering Blow to engage on enemy Heroes by pushing them towards it to trigger the Stun. Remember that you can use Loot Hoard or Hoardapult to create your own impassable terrain right behind enemy Heroes when needed.

Ez-Thro Dynamite is a Basic Ability that can be used to throw a Dynamite on the ground. After 1.5 seconds, it explodes. If the Dynamite lands exactly where an enemy Hero is, then it explodes without any delay and gives 10 Rage. The explosion deals damage and applies a Slow to all enemies within range.

You can use the Slow provided by Ez-Thro Dynamite to better body block enemy Heroes, especially near impassable terrain, or to increases the chance to hit them with Shockwave.

Hogg Wild is a Basic Ability with a unique design that, after a brief delay, gives Hogger Unstoppable and makes him spin in the chosen direction and damage non-Structure enemies along his path, ricocheting off impassable terrain marked with terrain outlines (for example Loot Hoard by Hogger himself) but ignoring impassable terrain without them (such as Entomb by Leoric).

When you want to clear waves of Minions, try to use Hogg Wild in a way that will hit the Minions, bounce on impassable terrain, and then hit the Minions again. In case there isn't impassable terrain nearby, you can cast Loot Hoard behind the Minions and then use Hogg Wild in its direction.

When you want to clear Mercenary Camps, you can cast Hogg Wild between two parallel segments of impassable terrain or, when that is not possible, with the use of Loot Hoard on one side. You cannot use the same trick to take down enemy Structures as they do not take any damage from Hogg Wild.

The required settings for doing Mercenary Camps efficiently are:

• set your Keyboard Scroll Speed at 100%;
• disable Camera Follow
• set Hogg Wild for casting On Release;
• and (optionally) enable Cursor Guides.

To do Mercenary Camps with the aforementioned settings:

1. put Hogger in position, on the Hogg Wild path you intend to use;
2. put your mouse cursor far from Hogger in the direction that you will cast Hogg Wild;
3. hold the [E] key to aim Hogg Wild and do not move your mouse cursor;
4. use the arrow keys to move your camera in the same/opposite direction that you will cast Hogg Wild;
5. release the [E] key to cast Hogg Wild and you can move your mouse cursor again;
6. press the [Space] key to reset your camera position to where Hogger currently is.

During team fights, you can use Hogg Wild to execute powerful engages to threaten the enemy backline with the help of at least another allied Hero who can do the same aggressive play.

If you find a good trajectory for it, you can use Hogg Wild to move from a lane to another faster than when using your Mount, however, you need to know the exact place and aim required to use this trick, else you will not get any value out of it because you will end up ricocheting in random directions.

In case you do not like your direction anymore or want to perform other actions, just press its key again to cancel it, but you cannot do it within 0.5 seconds from when Hogg Wild actually started.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Hoardapult is a Heroic Ability with Vector Targeting that allows Hogger to execute a long and Unstoppable jump, creating a special Loot Hoard at its final destination.

When hitting the ground, it deals damage to all enemies hit and pushes them away from its area where the impassable terrain marked with terrain outlines will appear. The terrain outlines allow Hogger to bounce on it during Hogg Wild. Upon landing, Hogger applies a Slow to all nearby enemies and pushes them away, a subtle effect that can interrupt stationary-channeled Abilities (such as Mosh Pit by E.T.C.).

The special Loot Hoard created via Hoardapult throws a chunk of Meat towards Hogger once every 10 seconds and leaves a chunk of Meat on the ground when it expires or gets canceled, so you can get up to 3 chunks of Meat from it. Read the Trait section below for more details about Meat.

Remember to use the Vector Targeting system to choose on which side of the Loot Hoard you want to land, else you might find yourself stuck behind impassable terrain and be forced to remove your Loot Hoard by pressing again the corresponding key, but only after 0.75 seconds of cooldown.

The special Loot Hoard created via Hoardapult lasts for up to 20 seconds, but its timer goes insanely fast if Hogger is not within 15 range—the same as Hoardapult's maximum cast range.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Shockwave is a Heroic Ability that provides crowd control. After a 0.5-second channel, Hogger will Stun for 1.25 seconds all enemies in a circular area in front of him and for 0.75 seconds all enemies across a line in front of him. They will also take damage, slightly higher in the initial impact area.

Hogg Wild can be used as a gap closer at the beginning of the sequence or as a finisher at the end of the sequence.

Loot Hoard is a Trait that can be used to throw a block of impassable-terrain marked with terrain outlines on the battlefield. When hitting the ground, it deals damage to all enemies hit and pushes them away, a subtle effect that can interrupt stationary-channeled Abilities (such as Mosh Pit by E.T.C.). The terrain outlines allow Hogger to bounce on it during Hogg Wild.

When it expires or gets canceled, it leaves a chunk of Meat on the ground. A single chunk of Meat heals Hogger for a total of 12% of his maximum Health over 4 seconds. In order to collect a chunk of Meat, Hogger has to be almost on top of it.

After 0.75 seconds from its creation, you can cancel Loot Hoard by pressing the same key in order to free the path and/or immediately collect its Meat.