Alice: Turn the Tide of The Battle

Build And Guide Alice: Turn the Tide of The Battle

Cheat Sheet
Skill Build

Pick up Friendship first off. Unlock Sunshine at Level 2, but keep dropping points into Friendship whenver Hissy Fit isn't open. Maximise Friendship and Hissy Fit with Sunshine coming in third.

Talents

Heal

Daze

Flicker

Items

Frosty's Revenge

Flashy Boots

The Aegis

Rhea's Blessing

Soaring Aura

Asterion's Buckler / Ancestral Glory

Arcana

Fill red slots with Ability Power, mixing in small amounts of Magic Pierce in higher tier Arcana. Lifesteal and Max HP should go into purple slots with green being reserved for a mix of Armor/Magic Defense. Higher tiers can start to throw Cooldown Reduction into green slots, too.

Introduction
Everybody needs Alice. That's what she'll say throughout the match, and we're inclined to agree with her. Especially in Quickplay were players struggle to comprehend the importance of a good Support hero, Alice is a great pick that can easily help your team shred through group battles, escape tricky situations, and even hold off base pushes with her versitile moveset.

She may not be much of a healer, but the crowd control and shielding she brings should help mitigate a good chunk of incoming damage. Paired with the Heal talent and some good foresight, Alice really can turn the tide of any battle – especially when synergised with a good Mage. And with a little bit of Lifesteal, her Hissy Fit ability can both reduce the opposing team's uptime while considerably extending her own.

Skill Descriptions
An adorable magical girl, Alice's short stature and 'unique' ability names solidifies her as a little kid who's difficult to tame but has a lot to offer. Any ability she casts will grant her a personal 20% movement buff – perfect for repositioning, advancing, or retreating.

First on her ability list is Sunshine. Tossed out of her staff, it lands with a small explosion that damages and stuns whatever it strikes. Shooting up before descending on the target area, this one needs to be timed well to land on where you suspect the opponent will soon be. It doesn't take long to hit, but you need to keep it in mind. The strike zone feels a little larger than it looks, too, so don't be put off if your aim isnt' perfect.

Friendship is your main line of support. The simple press of a button will have all nearby allies (and Alice herself) shielded for 2 who seconds – that's a potential lifetime in a bigger fight. Not only that, Friendship gifts a 30% movement speed boost each recipient, meaning it's not only perfect as a getaway tool, but gives your team an opportunity to give a safe chase to a retreating enemy team.

Then there's Alice's most satifying tool – Hissy Fit. Similar to Sunshine, this is a casted ability that leaves a far larger pool of damaging material on the landing zone. Almost as wide as a lane itself, this circle slows the movement speed of its victims while burning their health away over its lengthy duration. Enemies also have their Magic Defense shattered while caught, making it great for initiating team attacks, holding a lane, or simply chipping away at the whole team's health in a bigger push. Paired with Sunshine, groups of enemies can be held for the entire duration and take some pretty sizable damage in the process.

Skill Order
In most matchups, you're really going to be playing the support role rather than dishing out too much damage. With an auto-attack that hits like cotton wool, it's best to focus on putting points into her shielding Friendship ability more than Sunshine. The reduced cooldown means your team can stay on the offensive that much longer and should usually be available to help allies disengage from a questionable encounter.

Like most other characters it's best max out your Ultimate ability, Hissy Fit, as soon as possible. It serves a number of uses whether you're attacking or defending, so reducing the cooldown is a great plan. Prioritise Hissy Fit above all else, with Friendship taking second place. As tempting as it is to stun with Sunshine at the start of a match, a consistant shield in the early laning phase will benefit you and your allies more than a short stun duration with little follow-up capability.

Talents
Heal. Heal all the way. With Alice's repetoir of crowd-control and set-up, pairing her with a Heal ability gives her even more ways to keep her allies close to her chest. It's entirely possible to hold a team fight for minutes at a time if she's kept safe in the back row ready to throw out stuns, shields, and even heals from time to time.

The only others I could recommend would be Daze if you're looking for a wider stun range, or Endure to deal with situations like an assassin breaking through your team wall or after being pulled in by Grakk's chain.

If you're a higher tier player confident in your ability, taking Flicker could be used to more easily trap enemies with Hissy Fit before blinking out of harms way.

Items
While the default Alice build isn't anything to be snuffed at, there's a few things to take away and tweak for a more tailored experience. As a support character, her auto-attacks aren't really worth thinking about. They're low damage and fairly short range – and we're going to be doing a fair amount of our work from the safety of our rear row.

The main thing to understand here is that Alice is still building Ability Power for the most part. Two of her attacks should consistantly hit a target. She may be pretty useless when farming creep or jungle monsters, but simply playing her part in a team fight will see ability power shine through. She just needs to focus on survivability outside that.

Work on picking up Frosty's Revenge first of all. It's Ability Power and Movement Speed will help a bunch, and the Magic Defense is just icing on the cake. The big deal her is that her ability hits will reduce the target's movement speed, meaning they're still susceptible after a stun from Sunshine.

Pick up Flashy Boots for the cooldown reduction soon after and start building into survivability for now; things like Asterion's Buckler and The Aegis help a bunch here with the massive HP/Mana boons, reduced Cooldown and defensive capabilities. Your aim is to stay with your team as long as possible, and their added effects of reducing Attack and Movement Speed of her assailants and boosting her team's offensive and defencing capabilities can rarely be beaten.

Soaring Aura works well thanks to its HP/Ability Power boosts and even further reduces the enemy team's Magic Defense when nearby. Mixed with the similar effect of Hissy Fit, and you'll start to see HP melt away in bigger fights.

Then you have a choice. Ancestral Glory is great if the opposiing team is fighting dirty; giving you more health and a second chance at life if you're caught out. Those able to avoid snipe attempts could really enjoy the bonus Shield and Lifesteal effect of Rhea's Blessing. Landing Hissy Fit on multiple opponents could see a good chunk of health siphoned back pretty frequently.

Arcana
Arcana choices tend to follow the same principles here. Red slots can be used almost exclusively for Ability Power for Alice. Again, her basic attacks aren't a focus, so base speed and damage really aren't necessary. Critical Chance might seem tempting, but with the nature of her abilities being used to setup team fights, taking a chance on the occassional bigger hit isn't worth the risk.



Purples should be a mix of Magic Lifesteal and Max HP for the sake of survivability. If you're not confident when it comes to staying safe in team fights, just stick with Max HP with a little bit of HP Regen on the side for good measure.

As for Green slots, I'd suggest aiming for a healthy mix of Armor and Magic Defense. Again, we're focusing on being there for the team as much as possible. Your potential damage numbers pale in comparison to your dedicated teammates. And they won't be doing anything if they're dead because you wasn't there to shield them.

When looking at Level 2 and Level 3 Arcana, purple choices stay relatively the same. Reds can be swapped out for raw Ability Power and Ability Power + Magic Pierce, while Greens can then start to offer extra Cooldown Reduction on top of Magic Defense / Armor.



Early Game
Alice doesn't really have all that much going for her in the Early Game. With a fairly strong chance of Sunshine hitting nothing but dirt paired with some relatively long cooldowns, it's best to focus on farming minions (if left alone) or supporting teammates with a shield or stun for some early harrassment.

Just go wherever you can even out the numbers on a lane. If you see a 1v2 matchup, go lend a hand – either by helping a friend escape danger with a stun or movement speed increase, or giving them an opportunity to strike back with those very same buffs.

Your focus should be leveling and gearing up to make your arsenal more readily available. Go where the money takes you, essentially, but always be aware of your team's chances of survival and be ready to lend a hand.

Mid Game
By the time a tower or two has fallen your ability power and cooldown reduction should have started to show their worth. Start falling back into your team and analyse the enemy. If they're aggressive, keep your shields for when you absolutely know an attack is coming. If you know your team stands a chance in a bigger fight, use it a little more often to let them know you're ready and that a speed boost is always there for them to use however they please.

This is essentially where you find out whether your group is brave or not. Be prepared to stun over-extending enemies - leaving them wide open to a counter attack or to keep them away from your friends. Even in these situations, however, you should be prepared to use the speed boost of your own shield/passive to get back behind your defences. Your abilities are enablers to your team's more offensive capabilities, and it's essential they see that too.

Late Game
By the time the whole enemy team is on your case, Hissy Fit should be available during most situtions. If your group has fallen behind, be ready to use this move to cover the lane of an approaching enemy team; it'll give you all a chance to regroup while dealing some decent damage to those trapped within. This is especially useful if they're grouping up against one gate. Hissy Fit can cover the entire entrance, leaving both your team and a tower to launch a counter-offensive.

If things are relatively even, however, it's time to get creative. Carry on stunning lone wolf types for your allies to burst down and use any opportunity you can muster to land Hissy Fit right underneath the enemy team. If you're packing Lifesteal, you'll start to see the benefits here. If they're all staying close to each other, tossing in Sunshine a short while after will keep them burning away in the ring for its entire duration.

If your team is up for the fight, this is a great opportunity to plan a coordinated attack. With your enemy's speed and defense lowered by both your Hissy Fit effect and Soaring Aura item, there's plenty of time to pile in and dish out the pain. Most of the time, your opponents will be too busy struggling to escape the damaging AOE to react to a classic All-In strategy here. Using your Friendship shield will typically award both the defense and movement speed increase necessary to make the most of this kind of situation.

And if things are going really well, you can probably afford to be cheeky. Shield your friends to initiate a team fight and abuse the speed boost to land Hissy Fit just behind the enemy team. They'll either have to move forward into your army to escape its detrimental effects, or suffer crippling speed reduction and lava-like damage to fight back. Stun anything that manages to break free and go for the ace. You can even throw Hissy Fit behind a tower to slightly increase the time you're able to blast one down.

FAQ/Tips


Don't be put off by the reticule radius of Sunshine, it seems to stun those even slightly out of its percievable range.

The shield and speed boost of Friendship can be used to tell your allies to advance.

If you need to retreat, however, use it shortly after hitting the retreat button to give the signal.

Sunshine is a brillant escape tool thanks to Alice's passive. It'll grant a speed boost whether it stuns the opponent or not.

Hissy Fit won't trigger the effort of the Boomstick item with each tick, but will benefit from Lifesteal.

Sunshine stuns everything, not just a single target. This is great when setting up Hissy Fit in team situations.

Every one of Alice's abilities can be used to both initiate combat and retreat from battle. Read the situation before wasting them.

Thanks to the Magic Defense hit of Hissy Fit, pairing it with a hard-hitting Mage can cause serious damage



Matchups
Alice may look soft, but her recommeded item pickups can lead to her having a sizable healthpool. Thanks to her sheer number of potential getaway methods, it can be tricky to take her down with the help of another player.

For this reason, Alice players should ensure they never get too ahead of themselves when it comes to her promising Ability Power. While attempting to finish off a team left hurting from a well-placed Hissy Fit, she doens't have a true finisher skill to get the job done. She's best used as a Disruptor that aims to slow, stun, and reduce the effectiveness of her foes by shielding her allies.

Heroes with multiple gap-closing abilities can likely make Alice's job much harder once Hissy Fit has been taken used up. She has 0 counter attack capabilities. Paired with the difficulty of landing her stun, there's a strong chance faster opponents can break her down before her movement speed pulls her away.

Likewise, she's relatively useless against tanks. Due to the particular setup needs to maximise the effectiveness of Hissy Fit, bulkier characters will likely leave the circle relatively unscatched and typically have many ways to ensure she never gets too far away once caught.

Best paired with a Mage to make the most of of her slowed and susceptible opponents, Alice can be easily singled out in a team fight with a pull-in technique like Grakk's chain, cut off with a rear flank, or pounced at once her Hissy Fit has been used. Faster enemies will get the drop on her due to the tricky placement of Friendship, and her shield isn't all that tough to break through