Lumburr: Elemental Linebacker

Build and Guide Lumburr: Elemental Linebacker

Cheat Sheet
Skills Quick Level: Rampage > Earth Splitter > Shattered Earth

Talent:

Heal

Items:

Gaia’s Standard, Sonic Boots, Asterion’s Buckler, Shield of the Lost, The Aegis, Hyoga’s Edge

Arcana:

Indomitable, Colossus, Mythril

  Introduction
In American football the linebacker’s job is to line up just behind the frontline, read the enemy team, and charge forward where they need him most. Lumburr, the giant elemental rock monster, personifies this role by charging into battle while shielding his allies along the way.

As a Support/Tank you’ll probably be the least threatening hero on your team. It’s not Lumburr’s job to kill, it’s his job to keep his fellow killers alive and out of harm’s way. He’s a true protector tank, and a good role if you enjoy supporting your allies while still mixing it up in melee combat, though he requires a hefty amount of team coordination to use effectively.

Skill Build
Shattered Earth (Lumburr smashes the ground and shatters stone, dealing physical damage to enemies in a frontal cone. Heroes hit by the stones are weakened, reducing their attack damage and ability power by 15% for 3 seconds). Leveling improves damage and debuff amount.

Shatterd Earth is your basic melee ability with an added debuff effect. It has a decent range and offers a very wide frontal cone, letting you catch several heroes in front of you.
Shattered Earth is particularly effective against enemy melee assassins, negating much of their burst damage potential.

The short 6-second cooldown means you can, and should, constantly spam Shattered Earth to reapply the debuff effect on enemies. Be wary that Lumburr can into mana problems this way, but it’s always better to win the fight than worry about your mana levels.

Due to his pitiful damage output Lumburr isn’t super great at laning, but Shattered Earth will help clear minion waves. For that reason I recommend grabbing it at level 1, as it’s more immediately useful than Rampage, though ultimately you’ll want to max Rampage first as his more signature ability.

Rampage (Lumburr charges in the target direction, dealing physical damage to enemies in this way and knocking them into the air for 1 second. Affected enemies are slowed by 50% for 1 second after they land. Friendly heroes on the path will receive a shield and gains 15% movement speed for 3 seconds). Leveling improves damage, increases shield amount, and reduces cooldown.

The reason Lumburr is rated as a fairly difficult hero is because of the unique positioning that Rampage demands. Rampage is obviously Lumburr’s initiator, but it has a fairly close range (the same as Shattered Earth) and grants the unique shielding feature when charging through allies.

Effective use of Rampage will dictate his entire playstyle. You need to stay flexible and pay attention to positioning, whether in front acting as the tank, or charging through allies to give them shields and slow enemies.

Rampage also allows you to effectively peel better than most tanks: charge into your vulnerable ally and their aggressor. You may have just turned the tables doing some damage, slowing the enemy, shielding your ally and providing them a significant speed boost, so they can either flee to safety or catch their breath and re-engage.

Because of Rampage’s usefulness you’ll want to level it up ASAP to lower its cooldown - at max level the cooldown is lowered by a third. The damage obviously increases, but more importantly so does the shielding, which scales even better.

Earth Splitter (After a short charging period, Lumburr tears the ground apart with great strength and knocks enemies on the path into the air, dealing physical damage. The earth stays torn for 5 seconds, and enemies within suffer a 60% movement speed reduction, as well as taking additional physical damage). Leveling improves burst damage, activation damage, and reduces cooldown.

Lumburr’s ultimate ability can be frustratingly difficult due to its horribly long windup time. That ‘short charging period’ is about three seconds, which is an eternity during a late game teamfight.

Due to its lengthy windup and damage over time effects, it’s better to launch Earth Splitter too early rather than too late. If you’ve closed ranks with the enemy team, chances are it’s too late as Lumburr is vulnerable to enemy stuns and crowd control effects.

The actual damage of Earth Splitter isn’t very impressive even when maxed out, but the speed debuff and damage over time effects can add up quickly, especially if you can snare multiple heroes in the line.

Earth Splitter works beautifully in tandem with mages who possess damaging area effect abilities, such as Mganga and Diaochan, forcing their victims to remain in those deadly areas for longer.

PASSIVE: Protect (When there are friendly heroes within 500 units of Lumburr, both Lumburr and the hero with the lowest HP gain armor and magic defense).

The range on Protect isn’t great, ‘500 units’ is less than half a screen length. The defensive bonuses are massive, nearly doubling a hero’s armor at level 1 and more than doubling magic defense.

Protect shows up visually as a floating yellow armor symbol above both you and your closest, weakest ally, indicating that it’s currently active on both of you. Use it as a guide to remain close to your team.

Protect, along with Rampage’s shields, are the reasons why Lumburr should never be in a lane by himself. You need to stick as close to your allies as possible. Don’t be afraid to tank, but be prepared to pull back and peel for allies. Your goal should be to have Protect active at all times.

Due to Protect’s very limited range, Lumburr plays exceptionally well with allied Warriors and melee Assassins.

Equipment
Gaia’s Standard (+180 Magic Defense, +1100 Max HP, +5% Movement Speed, Unique Passive: When taking damage regenerate 8% HP over 2 seconds, 10 second cooldown).
Gaia’s Standard remains one of the best overall defensive items in the game. It has solid stats and a very helpful passive that gives you some much-need self-sustain, whether fighting or laning or jungling.

Sonic Boots (+110 Armor, Unique Passive: Movement Speed +60, Unique Passive: Reduce normal attack damage by 15%).
You don’t really need the speed, but you do need to keep pace with everyone else who’s grabbing a pair of boots. As a tank you’ll want the defense-oriented Sonic Boots.

Asterion’s Buckler (+1000 Max HP, +60 HP/5s, Unique Passive: War Cry - Increases damage dealt and damage reduction of nearby friendly units by 5% and 10% respectively).
The Buckler doesn’t have the best stats but its War Cry passive synergizes nicely with Lumburr’s goal of sticking neary teammates. Why not add a damage boost and reduction on top of your Protect? Best of all, unlike protect, War Cry isn’t limited to one ally.

Shield of the Lost (+360 Armor, +1200 Max HP, Unique Passive: Reduce attack speed of nearby enemies by 30%).
Lots of HP, tons of armor, and can help ease the pain from nasty, commonly picked auto-attackers like Valhein, Yorn, and Violet. Lumburr is great at debuffing the enemy team, and this makes him even better.

The Aegis (+20% Cooldown Speed, +400 Mana, +360 Armor, Unique Passive: Spirit Bond - When taking damage, reduces the attacker’s attack speed by 30% and movement speed by 15% for 3 seconds).
If you’re doing your job as a supportive tank correctly, you’ll be getting hit a lot, which will constantly proc the Spirit Bond effect of The Aegis, further adding to your debuffing capabilities. The additional mana will help alleviate your mana woes when spamming Shattered Earth as well.

Hyoga’s Edge (+100 Armor, +100 Magic Defense, +1200 Max HP, Unique Passive: Normal attacks increase your movement speed by 10% and reduce target’s movement speed by 25% for 2 seconds).
Hyoga’s Edge has a solid mix of defensive boosts. Biting Cold will help you slow enemies down even further when you close in, giving your allies more time to deliver the goods.

Talents
Heal (120-second cooldown: You and nearby teammates instantly recover 15% HP and gain 15% movement speed for 2 seconds).
You’ll be getting hit, a lot. No other talent comes close to raising your overall survivability in more situations than Heal. Plus, since Lumburr should always be near allies, they’ll benefit from it as well.

Arcana
Red: Don’t try and turn Lumburr into something he’s not. We’re looking for HP and maybe some Armor. Talisman (I), Pummel (II), Indomitable (III)

Purple: Hit Points and lots of ‘em, though you could raise regen here as well. Life (I), Vigor (II), Reinforce (II), Colossus (III), Undying (III), Benevolence (III)

Green: Lots of good choices for a supportive tank, including Armor, HP regen, and Magic Defense. Guard (I), Willpower (I), Fortify (II), Enchant (II), Endurance (II), Bastion (III), Mythril (III).

Early Game
Without someone by his side Lumburr’s potential is wasted. Even in the early game, Lumburr should never be by himself. Ideally pair up with a melee hero to make Protect easier to apply, or pair off with the squishiest mage or assassin to give them a much needed armor boost.

Mid Game
While certain heroes and classes can find success doing their own thing, Lumburr needs to stick with the bulk of his allies, which usually means hanging around the middle lane. You can still roam and ambush lone enemies or head into the jungle, but make sure you’re with your team regardless of where they’re going.

Late Game
Lumburr’s role as a team player is easiest here, as almost everything comes down to big 5v5 teamfights.

Identify your weakest and most vulnerable allies and keep them out of harm’s way. Stay nearby to grant them Protect’s bonuses but don’t be afraid to engage the enemy. Carefully target Rampage to grant as many shields as possible and use Earth Shaker and Earth Splitter to slow and weaken groups of enemies to allow your damage-dealers to finish them off.

FAQ/Tips
You really have to remain a team player with Lumburr. Only charge into a fight when your team is fully committed with you, and be prepared to break off to help defend them against aggressive threats.

Lumburr deals pitiful amounts of damage; don’t try and take on anyone 1v1 unless your target is already knocking on death’s door.

Lumburr can be the only tank and the only support on a team, fulfilling both roles effectively, but as always pay attention to the lineup analysis and include a Warrior

Matchups
While Lumburr is technically bulky enough to solo tank, if all your allies are dancing back behind you and out of range, that prevents your passive from turning on. Lumburr does best when paired with at least one other melee hero, preferably a Warrior. Squishy melee Assassins and offensive-oriented Warriors will greatly appreciate being near Lumburr.

Like most Tanks, Lumburr can struggle against nimble ranged heroes who can simply kite him, like Valhein and Yorn. Rampage doesn’t have a long enough range to close in, and you can’t rely on Earth Splitter to do all the work. Lumburr’s main tactic when facing these heroes should be the buddy system - never go alone.