*This guide does not represent how she should be played every game, this is just the general build that I usually do. It has been successful 80-90% of the time. Also I couldn't find an appropriate size for the icons, so deal with it I guess.*
*Taken from the HoN database*Fayde
Agility / Hellbourne
Primary Role - Ganker
Secondary Role(s) - Bait/Carry
Attack - Melee/51-55 dmg/128 Range/.71 Attacks per Second
Summary
So you're trying to get good at the newest melee agi hero to HoN(as of the creation of this guide)? I feel like I've played her enough to get a grip on who she can/can't be, and here's a guide of my strat and item build for the new gank lady in skanky under-armor. She's a fast and versatile hero, but I rarely see her played well. Hopefully this will help some of you new guys out, as (according to her playtime graph) she's getting a lot more playtime now than when she was released.
Skills
Cull - 10 second cooldown - 100/110/120/130 Mana cost - .6 second cast time

Description - Does a melee style slash in a 325 radius in front of Fayde, deals 100/150/200/250
magic damage regardless of stance. While under
scythe stance does 1/1.5/2/2.5 second stun, where under
shadow stance it does 6/12/18/24% mana burn. (spreads evenly among multiple targets, I.E. no 24% burn on three heroes if you hit them all at the same time. It is also reduced by 1/2/3/4% per hero)
Use - To nuke. It's good for early levels but it's only worth the stun/manaburn late levels, just like any other nuke.
Burning Shadows - 12 second cooldown - 85/105/125/145 Mana cost - 1 second cast time

Description - Fayde launches a shadow of herself toward an target area for 500 range. When a target is reached her shadow morphs into a copy of the target hero(es) and attacks them for 1/2/3/4 times. Each attack deals 70
magic damage. While under
scythe BS burns mana like
cull's shadow stance, and vice versa.
Use - To range nuke. Useful when chasing people down or finishing them off. Get used to targetting on the ground and predicting enemy movements, because like Sand Wraith's sand nuke it can hit multiple targets. Definitely the priority skill during team fights and for chasing people down.
Stance Change - No cooldown/manacost, but cannot be changed while
either of your spells are on cooldown

Description - Fayde is agile and adept at preparing for the differences that each battle may hold. Each stance gains charges when not attacked every 10seconds for a max of 1/2/3/4 charges.
Scythe stance blocks 50 damage per charge of being
physically attacked.
Shadow blocks 50 damage per charge of taking
magic damage. However, the ability
does not block unless the damage itself is over 25 and comes from a player controlled unit.
Use - Defense and to swap ability effects. It's nice to see someone try to attack/nuke you and you take no damage for the first couple spells/attacks. Make sure you realize what stance you are in before you go into a fight, it will help you plan the fight.
Ult - Reflection - 90/75/60 second cooldown - 150/200/250 Mana cost - instant cast

Description - Fayde makes a duplicate image of herself and goes invisible with 0 fayde time (lool@pun). The image does 100% attack damage, but takes 300% incoming damage. Fayde herself, can move with 10/20/30% movement speed increase for 30/35/40 seconds before becoming visible again. The image disappears when fayde attacks or becomes visible. When fayde attacks from invisiblity, her
initial attack does 75/125/175 damage per second for 3 seconds. Based on the stance active she will do either
Physical(Scythe) or
Magical(Shadow) damage.
Use - Your bread and butter. Go invis and
use the copy to control lane while you scout woods/go ahead of the rest of the team. Used for ganking primarily but can also be used to bait teams into wasting their spells on your image before your team gets there.
General Skill build
1- Cull
2- Stance
3- Burning Shadows
4- Burning Shadows
5- Burning Shadows
6- Reflection
7- Burning Shadows
8- Stance
9- Stance
10- Stance
11- Reflection
12- Cull
13- Cull
14- Cull
15- Stats
16- Reflection
17-22 - Stats
23-25 - Stats
Explanation -
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Your default stance before you get the stance ability is Scythe, which means that it's cull that does the stun. Burning Shadows is your primary ability and you want to max it by 7. I favor stance over cull because you are glass. I've killed people on shadows and auto attacks alone and never needed cull that early. Ult when you can is a necessity because it is your ganking ability. I used to do stats before cull because I thought that the extra damage/hp/mana/etc... was more important earlier on, it's really based on opinion. I now feel that the 250 damage/24% mana burn that cull can do at mid game is a huge advantage when ganking people.
Strategy/Core items
Early game (1-8) - Your primary goal early game?
DO NOT DIE. As is the goal for all heroes, dying multiple times in the beginning of the game can seriously hinder your performance throughout the rest of the game. It makes the game less fun for you, and persuades you to make more dangerous decisions to get back some of that gold. Also tower diving is not worth it,
even if the hero is <150 hp.
Glass, remember?
Do not do it.Here are some options for early items. (will update with icons later) -





(530 gold/73 change)
This is my usual build as there are ints on the team to get wards for us. If there is no one willing to get wards/chick then you can do it.




or

(590 gold/ 13 change)
I usually go bot on legion or top on hellbourne with an extra player to take over lane while I pull neutrals(see spoiler).
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For those who don't know how to pull, wait for your incoming creep wave to get to that little path just past your first tower, then pull the closest neutral creep wave towards your team creep wave. The neutrals will run back to where they first were and your team will fight them for you, allowing you and your team mate to get solo XP. Be careful when doing this because you are endangering your team mate by leaving them completely alone by the tower.
Stick close to creeps and gain experience and
last hit some gold/denies. If you're fighting melee don't be afraid to harass, but beware the ranged harassers,
they can and will hurt you. Once you hit level 3 you can swap stances to
Shadow. I alternate stances depending on who I'm fighting but when I engage it is
almost 100% of the time on
Shadow because the ranged stun is a lot more effective. Once you hit level 5, you can engage with your ally hero. I usually lane with another disable to keep the enemy disabled for an easy
FB. Be sure to coordinate with them on who is going to stun who and when. Pay attention to ganks and be prepared to use
reflection as an escape mech if it gets too crowded.
The goal by level 8 is to get atleast 2 kills and a decent farm of creeps. Anywhere from
1500-2500 gold is good enough. If you get more, great job! While farming I usually quickstash items as I get the gold(see spoiler)
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The idea of quick-stashing is to buy while you're on the field. This way in case you get killed, you have secured your items already before losing that 300-500 gold. You can use the chick to send items to your hero as you get them, or leave them in stash until your next visit. I highly suggest doing this.
Mid Game (8-15) - The general items to have before mid game are



(str) and

. The str items are to equal out your
poor survival rate. Once you get these items, you should be pretty balanced until your stat leveling. If you have a poor farm, go steam boots first. The extra attack/movement speed
are more important. I also keep a good supply (usually a set of 3) of tree runes for healing because I don't buy permanent healing items. Although I've seen people get sustainer, which isn't a bad idea. I'm just
not sure it's worth the
1750 for it.
Keep the same strat from early game. If your team needs help, don't be afraid to
homecoming stone down and
reflection some ganks for them. Be a team player and help the team out, don't be selfish and farm the whole game by yourself. Once you get that second level of
reflection, time to start ganking the woods. Attack out of invis under
shadow stance(unless they have extra magic armor), and then stun them with
BS(be sure to be on shadow stance when using BS). While they're stunned get some auto attacks in, but before the stun runs out use
cull as a finisher. Chase as necessary but be careful of wandering team mates, you're vulnerable until your stun or stance charges come back. By level 14 you should be a ganking champion. Buy
wards of sight as necessary and plant in various wood places so you know when they're neutraling. Go in after them and finish them off, but do it smart and don't be reckless. 1v3 is never a good idea, and knowing what their heroes items are is always useful. If they get
dust/wards/eye like any smart player, it's a safe bet that they're going to gun for you now. So keep the ganking to a minimum until they can't see you anymore.
Your job in team battles is to cut down the running soldiers from the battlefield. You can also initiate due to invisibilty/image and your range stun, however I would vary it up as to keep the enemy team guessing. Most likely you have someone better on your team who can initiate and get away without getting pummeled. Farm your way into getting



(str) and

. Afterwards congrats, you hit my core set and you can start working on luxury items.
End game (15-25) - Games for me usually don't last past level 20, but every now and then I get a decent one that takes me all the way to 25. Playing Fayde to level 25 is really dangerous because your utility
weakens as the game goes on. Unless you consistently gank heroes and pick them off by themselves, chances are that you won't be able to kill them under 3 seconds anymore. Your team fight capabilities are null because you do barely any damage compared to hard carries, and all you can do is stun/take mana and run away.
Always play smart during end game battles, and by that I mean you're back to being glass once everyone is 25. Never go alone and always be prepared to use
reflection as an escape. When your team is ready, they will call you to push with them to take the tree/throne.
So what do you build? Personally I suggest going a slight carry build late game, nothing fancy like a wingbow or a savage mace, but something to help you out as the levels go on and make you more of a team fighter. By the time I finish the game I usually have two other definite items. I finish

and go for a

. I like geometers because the extra images provide an ability to mind game enemy players into guessing which is the real one. Also it helps with damage while ganking and fighting and provides easy stat gain. Thunderhammer is like the only item I get on every carry because it stacks with orbs (for whatever reason). It gives great attack speed and the thunder charge activates at a decent 20-25% of the time.
That brings my complete core build to

(str)


and leaves 3 extra spaces to build whatever you want.
I'd recommend

after thunderhammer, and if you want you can even start building for it before thunderhammer. It gives great aura abilities and helps out your team as well as yourself with lifesteal. I've also gotten

which is great after thunderhammer because the crits just keep coming. If you plan on going

pleeeease please please, get it early on. Don't even get a firebrand, just go straight for
Codex. However, be aware that you are making your hero more of a nuker and less of an attacker. Once all of your skills are on CD, run away. If you are not skilled of using hot keys and would prefer attacking afterwards, I would just stay away from
Codex.
Items that I've seen gotten but have different opinions on:

- Sounds like a good idea, but never really tried it.

- Sounds like a great idea and meshes really well with sustainer builds, I've tried it once and it worked well.

- Late-late-late game I can understand, not worth it early on.

- What are you scout? Get real. No way. Don't even bother.

- Like the wingbow, only get if the other team has tons of evasion because of true sight.
Tank items - I think items like
Helm, Heart, Breastplate, Symbol of Rage, Idol, etc... are all a waste of money. Let the tanks get the tank items.

- Not that worth it because you'll have 511 ms with
geometers and
reflection.

- Way to give yourself away when you're trying to scout/gank people. Not worth it.
In b4 the trolls come - I understand that this build will probably be criticized and so forth, I'm just offering my two cents and putting out my playing style. I do play regular mode, no easy mode games at all. I usually play pubs because I can't find a serious enough clan, and most of my friends aren't that serious when they play. Suggestions are welcome, but please keep the /b/ in /b/.
Thanks, enjoy, and
Happy Hunting!!!