Just had to creat a account to comment this guide.
First its super short, provides needed information, and after reading tons of guides for the first time i find math. I love math, and its a really crucial thing, that you have to take into account when u pick your talents. Most player say i pick that talent over that talent in that situation because it feels better. With math you can either correct their choice or have a good way to prove them plain wrong.
Id love to see a updated version and more math. I just startet playing Heroes after i left short after Beta. I could also help with the math when i got more into the game again. Just message me for that.
Anyways good graphics, nice guide, super research and a pretty little guide.

It's Vikings free week again... what is it, like every 6 months they're free to play? Anyways, I've been slowly climbing the ranks. Sometimes I do great being split, other times I'm getting pushed hard. What's the best way to play Vikings in this modern era? I usually send Red off to soak a lane/hold it/push it a little and then use Blue & Green to do objectives or push. I mostly go with the auto attack build.

All of that said, I'm still constantly hit with criticism/hatred from team mates... I feel like when I was learning to play Aba all over again (although people are now more aware of how helpful Aba is, I don't think the same can be said of Vikings.) Little to no praise on Vikings but tons of hatreds, how can I cope? haha.

I am under the same impression. The two heroics are dependent on how the game goes, the map and the opposing team. By the way, I posted my findings on the Vikings on a published guide here, and referenced yours in the final chapter.

Keep it up.

@HidaHayabusa

Nordic Attack Squad is definitely underwhelming by itself, but with a full build focus around Auto Attack with Baleog the Fierce, Viking Fury of the Storm and especially Executioner it can do some nice damage. If you think about the amount of damage it adds -- and if you take Baleog the Fierce or not -- you are essentially doing your normal damage plus 17-19% of a Heroes health. My main concern with the duration is that it needs to be used at a very precise time to be able to get all of those attacks off.

I know this may sound a little weird. The old talent Hardheaded Redhead could be a potential ability on E, maybe a targeted stun similar to Large and In Charge. The only odd thing about that would be making an ability that only one Viking could use. Anyway, just ranting.. :P

Play Again! vs. Longboat Raid! is a hard choice -- in my opinion, that's great. I like Play Again! for the Auto Attack build because of the soaking opportunities it allows and because I do kinda like playing without Jump! -- for the reasons mentioned above regarding Nordic Attack Squad. Longboat Raid! is still great and does good damage; it's instant cast which is great for surviving just as well.

Click3r, it's not kind words, it's the truth. People would just drive away from a nerfed, hard to play hero, let alone that they would never update a guide concerning it. So Kudos.

On the topic, I've been toying a lot with Play Again! and I am unsure if it's better than Longboat. It's a different heroic, it requires some form of viking formation, so that you let Erik run away and revive all at a safe place and you need to make sure that your team gets the most out of you. Sometimes it can be amazing, sometimes it can be underwhelming. However, same goes for the longboat, so I guess it's whatever works for the current map.

What annoys me though is that with the current variation of skills, you end up one ability short in your action bar, so I'd certainly add an activated skill past 13 to cover our E. Probably an innovative skill would work wonders in here, but I am not the developer, so that's just ideas.

Personally, I got them to QM and solo queue HL (i am rank 9 at the moment), and I played both Longboat and Play again in 50-50 of my games. Initial talents were Baleog's enhance, then Spin to Win/Jump and Impatience. I am too attached to Jump to let it go, and I also thing that Norse Assault Squad was quite underwhelming in the same tier.

@HidaHayabusa

You're welcome and I agree with you. The Lost Vikings are still very good at what they do -- soaking experience, letting their team roam, taking vehicles while sparing 2/3 of a Hero -- however; I feel they've now been pushed into a certain role they have to fill. Specifically, I feel they have to be played across multiple lanes to give the experience advantage. On top of that, they really have to be watched. Picking up Longboat Raid! and losing some of your Vikings in the late game feels so completely devestating.

No longer do The Lost Vikings bring great team fighting damage so they really have to help their team in the unique way they do. I will say though, despite the nerfs I do really like the variation of talents and the options you have now. With the old TLV talent tree there was very little variation, and even then, a lot of people did not care for anything but the standard QWE build.

Thanks again for the kind words :)

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I am playing them a lot lately, after the patch. They definitely got nerfed, but they are far from unplayable, like they said some days ago.

Done updating for the night but my updates are not complete. I have completed the most important parts -- the builds and talent discussion -- but expect to see some subtle updates as I play The Lost Vikings more and expect some layout updates (no ETA).

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. Expect an update late tonight, once I'm off work. I have a lot of stuff to change in this guide so a lot of code has to be rearranged or completely redone. :)

Hey clicker for your Easy solo merc Camps build i think it should be spin 2 win instead of pain dont hurt this is just from my experince in playing them (lvl 10 i main them) personally i see it just as a better pick because of how its an aoe and olaf will tank most of it including to start off with they all ahve enough health to take a few shots from them. Spin to win is just a more usefull ability too in the end. but good guide :D keep up the good work ^just my thought

Hey guys,

Wanted to leave a quick update here. PTR is up and some big changes coming to TLV. Here are the notes:

-Olaf’s out of combat healing reduced from 10% to 5% of his Health per tick.

-Erik’s Movement Speed reduced by approximately 5%

- Fast Restart (Trait) removed

-New Trait: Viking Hoard
Gather Regeneration Globes to permanently increase The Lost Vikings' Health Regeneration by 0.5 per second

- Go Go Go! (Z)
Movement Speed reduced from 40% to 30%

- Longboat Raid! (R)
Duration increased from 12 to 15 seconds
Damage per second reduced from 30 (+14 per level) to 25 (+11 per level)

Mortar (Q)
Will no longer instantly explode when self-cast, or when cast very close to the Longboat



Talents
Level 1

- Viking Hoard has been removed and repurposed as The Lost Vikings’ new Trait.

- Spy Games
Time needed to enter Stealth reduced from 5 to 3 seconds

-New Talent (Level 1): Explosive Attacks
Baleog’s Basic Attacks deal 100% splash damage to non-Heroic targets

-New Talent (Level 1): Viking Bribery (E) -- Bribe
The Lost Vikings earn Viking Bribery charges from nearby Minion deaths, up to a maximum of 100
Use 40 charges to order the nearest Viking to bribe a Mercenary
All Vikings can earn charges, but each Minion death only grants 1 charge

Level 4

- Hardheaded Redhead removed

- Pain Don't Hurt
Healing received is now doubled for damage dealt against Heroes

- It's a Sabotage!
Erik’s Basic Attacks also deal 100 (+10 per level) damage over 10 seconds against Structures; this effect does not stack

- Spin To Win! (Q) moved from Level 4 to Level 7
Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
Damage reduced from 50 (+10 per level) to 42 (+9 per level)

Level 7

- Erik the Swift moved from Level 7 to Level 4
Now also increases Erik’s base Movement Speed by 10%.

- Jump! (W) moved from Level 7 to Level 13

Level 13

- Speedrun removed

- Impatience Is a Virtue moved from Level 13 to Level 16

-New Talent (Level 13): Nordic Attack Squad (W)
Activate to cause each Basic Attack to deal 1% of an enemy Hero’s Health as damage for 5 seconds. 30 second cooldown

Level 16

- Executioner added at level 16

- 64 KB Marathon
No longer causes The Lost Vikings to become Unstoppable during Go Go Go!, and instead removes Slows and Roots
Movement Speed bonus decay rate reduced from 10% to 5% per second for 4 seconds.

- Norse Force! (Q) moved from Level 16 to Level 7
The Hotkey for this Ability has been changed from E to Q
Duration reduced from 7 to 4 seconds
Cooldown reduced from 60 to 30 seconds
Shield amount reduced from 100 (+20 per level) to 40 (+10 per level)

Level 20

- The Sequel!
Now reduces The Lost Vikings' death timers by 50%

____

This is PTR, for testing, so these *may* not go live 100% the way they're posted now but know that this guide will be updated ASAP for the patch -- though it may take a couple days for accurate testing of abilities, etc.

Just wanted to give you all a heads up, thanks again for checking out my guide. :D