Pyromancer Guide

  Pyromancer



Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   • Stats
   • Pros and Cons
2. Skills
   • Skill Build
   • Calculations
3. Items
   • Starting Items
   • Pre-Core & Core
   • Luxury Items
   • Situational Items
   • Items to Avoid in General
4. Gameplay
   • Laning
   • Farming, Ganking & Pushing
   • Teamfights
   • Friends & Foes
   • Tips & Tricks

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Introduction
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Pyromancer is an extremely strong solo laner. His long range combined with having two nukes, one of which is a stun make him really hard to deal with. He is probably the best hero for getting kills without the help of allies just from the burst he has.

With the attack speed he gets from his passive, Pyromancer with no real items can output quite a bit of physical damage, which means that while anti-magic items like Shaman's Headress etc. are good against him, they aren't hard counter, which means Pyromancer can go late game against them, no problemo!
The DoT component from his passive is extremely good at killing towers and at killing Kongor.

Stats

Base Damage - 43-49
Attack Range - 600 (Ranged)
Movement Speed - 295
Armor - 1.14
Magic Armor - 5.5
Strength - 18 (1.5)
Agility - 16 (1.5)
Intelligence - 24 (3.2) Main Attribute
Cast point/backswing: 0.4/0.9
Damage point/backswing: 0.45/0.75
Missile speed: 900
Turn Rate: 0.45

Pros and Cons

+ One of the Best Solo Heroes in the Game
+ Extremely Good for Pubstomping
+ Team Independant
+ Good Farming Skills
+ High Magical and Physical Damage Output
+ Fun to Play
+ Can Fit About Any Role
- Unrealiable Stun
- Squishy and Often Focused
- Highly Level Dependant
- Not Very Mobile Without Portal Key
- Crappy Base Strength and Gain

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Skills
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Phoenix Wave

Pyromancer sends forth a phoenix that damages enemies in a line.

Activation (Q)
Target Dual - Enemy Units
Type: Magic
Cast Point: 0.5s
Cast Backswing: 0.9s
Cast Time: 1.4s
Range: 700
Mana Cost: 90/105/125/140
Cooldown: 9 seconds
Deals 100/170/240/310 Magic Damage to each target in a line.

Contents may be hot!

Your more realiable nuke. Simple an AoE Magic Damage nuke which deals the "average strong" damage. A thing to note especially later in the game is that it takes half a second for the projectile to travel, so you might need to predict the enemies a little bit.

To prove that my ranges are correct:

radiusstart="70"
radiusend="275"
speed="1200"

lifetime="500"

Radius end is 275. Lifetime is 500 = 0.5s, speed is 1200. This affector spawns 80 units in front of Pyromancer.
Radius start is 70, so it is possible for Pyromancer to miss a unit if its hitbox is <10 units from Pyromancer's front.

The affector travels 1200*0.5 = 600 units.

80 + 600 + 275 = 955 max effective range

Dragonfire

Pyromancer conjures a mighty elemental fire dragon at a target location, damaging and stunning enemies in an area.

Activation (W)
Target Position - Enemy Units and Trees
Type: Magic
Cast Point: 0.45s
Cast Backswing: 0.95s
Cast Time: 1.4s
Impact Delay: 0.5s
Range: 600
Radius: 200
Mana Cost: 90/100/110/125
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Deals 90/150/210/280 Magic Damage and stuns each target in the radius for 1.6 seconds.

Mana Cost? Check.
Cooldown? Check.
The ability to summon a dragon?
Priceless.

Your less reliable nuke, but with a stun added to it. The stun is decent, although the cast time & delay are quite long, so it is easy to dodge, and the stun lasts only 1.6 seconds, which is a bit under average. Make sure you hit this skill in 1v1 situation; Save it till you are sure it will hit.
Easiest stuns to hit are followup; Get a team mate to stun them.
After followups are surprising stuns; FoW, PK, Invis etc..
After that, you just have to predict them. Often people will be predictable when going for CS and when chasing your allies, so try to capitalize on that. Blindly running up to an opponent and trying to stun them may work against weaker opponents, but can lead to bad situations against good players.



Fervor

Learning to control the fire within, Pyromancer increases his cast, attack, and Movement speed after casting while at the same time catching anything he hits with spells or attacks on fire for a short time.

Passive Bonuses
+10/20/30/40 Cast Speed
On any spell damage or attack damage done, applies Burning! to the target for 3 seconds.

On Ability Activation
Applies Fervor to self for 6 seconds and adds one charge, maximum of 3 charges.

Fervor Effects
+2/3/4/5% Movement Speed per charge
+20/30/40/50 Attack Speed per charge

Burning! Effect
1/2/3/4 Magic Damage per second per charge

Burn, baby, burn!

This skill is what makes pure capable to play so aggressive. The fact that you win "hit-trades" is pretty huge, as well as granting you some cast speed so you can more quickly use your nukes, especially your stun. Great for killing towers and Kongor.
Another thing to note is that while an enemy is affected by the dot, even if it is level one, it will disable their regen for the time being; They can't use Bottle or other items like that, leading to an huge advantage.

Blazing Strike

Using power granted from Sol, Pyromancer hurls a blazing hot fireball at a target enemy, dealing massive damage.

This ability can be boosted by Staff of the Master.
Staff Effect: Increases damage from 450/675/950 to 650/875/1150.

Activation (R)
Target Unit - Enemy Units
Type: Magic
Cast Point: 0.1s
Cast Backswing: 0.9s
Cast Time: 1.0s
Projectile Speed: 2000
Range: 600
Mana Cost: 280/420/680
Cooldown: 150/90/55 seconds
Deals 450/675/950 Magic Damage to target.

It's kinda like pitching a baseball. Of fire.

Simple skill which deals high amounts of damage on a single target, pretty self-explanatory.
The skill can't be disjointed, but that doesn't mean that it can't be dodged. If the projectile hits the location where the target is, but he appears to be invulnerable, the damage is canceled. This includes Bubbles' Take Cover, Madman's Barrel Roll, Magmus' Lava Surge, and couple more, such as Succubus' Mesmerize (if activated while the projectile is in the air), which are however unreliable in most cases.

Skill Build

1. Dragonfire
2. Fervor / Phoenix Wave
3. Phoenix Wave
4. Phoenix Wave / Fervor / Dragonfire*
5. Phoenix Wave
6. Blazing Strike
7. Phoenix Wave
8. Dragonfire / Fervor
9. Dragonfire / Fervor
10. Dragonfire / Fervor
11. Blazing Strike
12. Fervor / Dragonfire
13. Fervor / Dragonfire
14. Fervor / Dragonfire
15. Attribute Boost
16. Blazing Strike

• Dragonfire is your most powerful spell at level one, so that's the first one you're getting.
• The early point in Fervor for extra harassment power and tower damage is usually better than having one extra level on Dragonfire so you want to have that. Skipping it is acceptable, but I highly suggest taking one level in Fervor.
• Phoenix Wave is more reliable for last hitting or harassing than Dragonfire, so it is leveled as the main nuke.
• The choice between maxing Fervor or maxing Dragonfire is quite simple; Early burst is more important than more points in Fervor, unless you need the Fervor for pushing and/or Kongor.
• Blazing Strike is taken on chance for damage improvement
• *While playing on a sidelane, or a trilane, unless you are planning to go for early push, you should skip the Fervor and get a bit more burst.

Calculations

Considering you go with the build I suggest you to go for.
To your total magic damage, feel free to add the amount of hits you expect to get out. If you can't think of the amount, generally 3-4 hits / 7-8 hits with Sheepstick, add or take few. Fervor might deal 50 - 100 extra damage, possibly 150 if you have Sheepstick.
PORTAL KEY INCREASES THE MANA COSTS BY 75!

Level	Mana Cost	Unreduced Damage	No Extra Reduction	Mystic Vestments	Shaman's Headdress
1	90	90	68	55	47
2	90	90	68	55	47
3	180	190	143	116	98
4	195	260	196	160	135
5	215	330	249	202	171
6	495	780	587	478	404
7	510	850	640	521	440
8	520	910	685	557	471
9	530	970	730	594	502
10	545	1040	783	637	539
11	685	1265	952	775	655
16	945	1540	1158	944	798

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Items
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Starting Items

If you are playing as a trilane support (remember, never play Pyromancer as a sidelane support, only trilane), You will have to buy either Winged Courier or Wards. Also, if your team is bad and doesn't support, then you will have to do that as well.

Wards of Sight are 100 gold each

Crushing Claws

Passive Bonus
+3 Strength
Value 150

Mark of the Novice

Passive Bonus
+3 Intelligence
Value 150

Runes of the Blight

Activation
Consumes target tree, healing self for 115 HP over 16 seconds
Value 90

Health Potion

Activation
Heals target for 400 HP over 10 seconds, Dispels on damage
Value 100

Minor Totem

Passive Bonuses
+1 Strength
+1 Agility
+1 Intelligence
Value 53

Pre-Core & Core

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Bottle is the first item you will buy. It solves both your health and mana problems, and makes rune-whoring much more effective. If you are not soloing middle, then you might skip it.

Marchers are an obvious choice for any hero - But Chalice or Marchers, which one first? The rule of thumb is; If the Marchers help you get runes (enemy doesn't have any blinking skill) then get them first. Otherwise Chalice first. And by the time you buy these, get the Ward of Sight if you wish to have a lane ward.

Blood Chalice is awesome on Pyromancer. It allows him to play extremely aggressive, as well as farm with his spells. It also has strong synergy with Bottle, as you will mostly only use mana, not health.

Steamboots are the best boot choice. They have great synergy with Bottle and Blood Chalice, and provide you some extra needed health, as well as more attack speed for DPS purposes.

Post Haste is basically the only other viable option. They provide you with EXCELLENT mobility, for the cost of no hp, no extra dps, and loss of extra 1000+ gold. Generally I don't suggest these on Pyromancer, because I find Steamboots suit me better. They are decent choice though, so feel free!

Ghost Marchers are mediocre. The added movespeed is not necessary on Pyromancer, as you will be getting a Portal Key anyways. Steamboots are much better for farming, and keep you alive. Sure Ghost Marchers give damage, but Steamboots give attack speed.

Striders are the last choice. Pyromancer is not a ganker who should be roaming all around the map, he should focus on farming and only countergank, or gank if he gets a Haste or so. If you have so poor farm that you can't afford Steamboots, simply go drop couple neutral camps, get your Steamboots, and start farming quickly.

Power Supply is a great item. The mana/health for the price is way too good to skip for most of the games. But it is not necessary for your strategy, and you run out of inventory slots soon if you pick it up. However, it is so cheap, yet so useful, that you should in most cases get them.

Portal Key is your first major purchase. This item is a must have on Pyromancer, it has so much synergy. Not only does it help you hit your stun, PK is nice synergy with high burst damage, which Pyro definitely has. Basically this means you can instant-kill people and get out, or surprise them by blinking in and bursting them down quickly.

Glowstone can be taken after Portal Key to boost your HP and mana in case you are going for SotM or Frostwolf's Skull later on. 1200 Gold for what it gives is quite huge at this point of the game.

Bottle of Tears (3/3)

Must be refilled at the Well or by picking up rune
Bottle is only filled 2/3 when taken to the Well by a courier
Activation
Uses one charge, and restores 135 HP and 70 Mana over 3 seconds, Dispels on damage
Value 600

Blood Chalice

Passive Bonuses
+3 Strength
+3 Intelligence
Activation
Cooldown 35 seconds
Removes 150 HP, grants 100 Mana
If you are on 700 range of a dying enemy hero in 15 seconds after activation, you are granted back the initial life cost of 150
Requires
Crushing Claws 150
Mark of the Novice 150
Scarab 325
Total cost 625

Steamboots

Passive Bonuses
+25 Attack Speed
+10 Strength/Agility/Intelligence
Requires
Marchers 500
Gloves of Swift 500
Bolstering Armband/Fleetfeet/Apprentice's Robe 450
Total Cost 1450

Post Haste

Passive Bonus
105 Movement Speed
Activation
Mana Cost 75
Cooldown 60
Target ally non-hero unit/structure. After 3 seconds of channeling, teleports to the target, and applies 200 movement speed buff for 5 seconds.
Shares cooldown with Homecoming Stone
Requires
Marchers 500
Recipe 2200
Total Cost 2700

Power Supply

Passive Bonuses
+3 Strength
+3 Agility
+3 Intelligence
Activation
Restores 10 Health and 15 Mana per charge.
Aura
Radius 1200
Aura Effects
1 charge every time an enemy hero on the radius casts a spell. Maximum of 15 charges.
Requires
Minor Totem 53
Minor Totem 53
Mana Battery 200
Recipe 240
Total Cost 546

Portal Key

Activation
Target Position
Range 1200
Mana Cost 75
Cooldown 14 seconds
Teleports self to target position. Cooldown of 3 seconds is applied to Portal Key if damaged by a player controlled unit.
Value 2150

Luxury Items

After your core items are finished, just look at the game and see what you need. Generally, if you have a real carry, and you are not having terrible farm, Sheepstick is the first choice to go for.

The item is just too strong to skip on Pyromancer. Pretty self-explanatory.


Hellflower should generally be built if the person you bought Sheepstick for farmed a Nullstone, or your team needs more disable, on top of adding vast amounts to your damage. Provides you with basically infinity mana on top of that. If you ONLY want to proc the Nullstone off, consider getting Tablet of Command or Stormspirit.


Frostwolf's Skull provides you with huge amounts of extra stats, especially HP. On top of that, it is a great counter to opposing Shrunken Heads, Swiftblades and Predators.


Shrunken Head is a great pickup if you need to be reckless, the enemies have lots of magical nukes / disables. It doesn't help if the enemies are initiating on you (well, unless they don't stun you, which never happens). It allows you to blink in with Portal Key and bring down key targets uninterrupted. Even if your team has a main initiator, Shrunken Head is always a good item on Pyromancer if you're facing a cast-heavy team.


Savage Mace adds huge amount of DPS to your attacks. If you are dominating, and / or your team has no real carry, feel free to get this item. The true strike is great against opposing Wingbows, and also mitigates the annoying uphill miss which may cause low hp escapes. To explain you how this item is good on Pyromancer; Fervor gives you attack speed, Savage gives you damage. Figure the rest yourself.

In general, if you need more of defensive items, get Frostwolf's Skull, not Savage Mace. On the other hand, if you need offensive items, you might not want to get a Frostwolf's Skull.

Sheepstick

Passive Bonuses
+10 Strength
+10 Agility
+35 Intelligence
+200% Mana Regen
Activation
Target Enemy Unit
Type: Magic
Range: 800
Mana Cost: 100
Cooldown: 35 seconds
Applies Transfigured to target for 3.5 seconds
Transfigured EffectsSilenced
Perplexed
Disarmed
Movement Speed set to 100
Requires
Acolyte's Staff 2700
Manatube 875
Blessed Orb 2100
Total Cost 5675

Hellflower

Passive Bonuses
+20 Intelligence
+51 Damage
+30 Attack Speed
+225% Mana Regeneration
Activation
Target Enemy Unit
Type: Magic
Range: 900
Mana Cost: 100
Cooldown: 25 seconds
Applies Hellflower to target for 5 seconds.
Hellflower Effects
+20% Damage taken
Silenced
Perplexed
Leaves a visible trail behind afflicted target
Requires
Arcana 1575
Arcana 1575
Arcana 1575
Total Cost 4725

Frostwolf's Skull

Passive Bonuses
+30 Strength
+15 Agility
+15 Intelligence
+200 Max Health
+150 Max Mana
+10 Damage
On Attack Impact
Applies Freeze to target for 3 seconds when attacking or casting a single target spell
Freeze Effects
20% Movement Slow
20% Attack Slow
Requires
Glowstone 1200
Icebrand 2200
Blessed Orb 2100
Recipe 700
Total Cost 6200

Shrunken Head

Passive Bonuses
+10 Strength
+24 Damage
Activation
No Target
Cooldown 80 seconds
Applies Shrunken Head to self for 10 seconds and dispels debuffs from self.
After each time Shrunken Head is used, the duration of Shrunken Head is reduced by 1second and Shrunken Head's cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds. The duration of Shrunken Head will not go below 5 seconds, nor will the cooldown go below 55 seconds.
Shrunken Head cannot be removed or dispelled
Shrunken Head Effect
Magic Immunity
Requires
Mighty Blade 1000
Warhammer 1600
Recipe 1300
Total Cost 3900

Savage Mace

Passive Bonuses
+88 Damage
+15 Attack Speed
True Strike (you can't miss your attacks)
On Attack Impact
35% chance to deal 100 Physical Damage to target and stun for 0.1 seconds.
Does not propagate to illusions.
Requires
Slayer 2200
Warhammer 1600
Warhammer 1600
Total Cost 5400

Situational Items

Nullstone is taken to counter strong single target spells. So this is the reason why would you get in on Pyromancer. Keep in mind, that if the spells are magical, you are usually better off with Shrunken Head.


These items are great, if you are enjoying bad farm or are forced to play more supportive. They have easy buildup, cheap cost, and also solve your mana problems. They can both be used to proc an enemy Nullstone on top of that.
Tablet of Command can be used multiple ways; You can use it to yourself to escape or initiate, or on an ally to do the same. While using it on an enemy, stunning him on the spot he lands to is quite easy.
Stormspirit can be multiple ways as well; Save an ally / yourself by dodging a skill with it. Or, use it on an opponent to make him easy target for your stun when he lands, or to escape his wrath. Keep in mind, with Stormspirit + PK, if you don't take damage in 0.5 seconds, use Stormspirit and you can PK away after.

Nullstone

Passive Bonuses
+15 Strength
+15 Agility
+15 Intelligence
+10 Damage
+6 Health Regeneration
+200% Mana Regeneration
When not in cooldown, negates a single targeted spell.
Cooldown 20 seconds
Requires
Blessed Orb 2100
Sustainer 1750
Recipe 1000
Total Cost 4850

Tablet of Command

Passive Bonuses
+14 Intelligence
+4 Strength
+4 Agility
+10 Damage
Activation
Target Hero
Range: 800
Mana Cost: 50
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Pushes the target hero 500 units in the direction it is facing
Requires
Major Totem 540
Neophyte's Book 1000
Recipe 500
Total Cost 2040

Stormspirit

Passive Bonuses
+10 Intelligence
+150% Mana Regeneration
+25 Movement Speed
Activation
Target Hero
Range: 600
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Applies Cyclone to target hero for 2.5 seconds.
Cyclone Effects
Invulnerable
Stunned
Requires
Neophyte's Book 1000
Manatube 875
Scarab 325
Recipe 600
Total Cost 2800

Items to Avoid in GeneralThe following 3 items are bad pickups for any game.

Assasin's Shroud is not even comparable to Portal Key. Sure the invisibility might provide a decent escape mechanism, but the enemies WILL buy revelation and counter it. It is also much more expensive than Portal Key.

Sacrificial Stone is in general a bad item for basically any hero. As for Pyromancer, the mana from it is completely wasted. Need HP? Get Shrunken Head or Frostwolf's Skull. Sac. Stone is just inferior compared to other possible items.

Codex, while does increase your burst, also leaves you with no hp, and upgrading the Codex takes 7000 gold away from you. That could easily go for Hellflower AND a Blessed Orb.

The following 7 items are extremely situational

Spellshards make you deal much more magic damage, for the cost of no HP. But in some games, it actually works. If you are sure that you will stay alive without extra health items, then you may get them.

Staff of the Master is the same as above, except it trades off some damage for some health, which is IMO preferable.

Behemoth's Heart is not necessarily bad on Pyromancer, just that the other items mentioned are better. But if you really want extra HP, and don't want to / already have Frostwolf's Skull, feel free to get it.

Shieldbreaker and Daemonic Breastplate are one thing. If you are dominant, and your team has no real carry, you might need to get true DPS items and carry the game. The minus armor, as well as the attack speed/damage from these items make you hit like a beast.

Frostfield Plate is a quite mediocre item for Pyromancer. It should only be taken if you really, really, REALLY need the armor, and the enemies need to be slowed. i.e. the enemies have Deadwood + Madman + Maliken, or something similiar.

Harkon's Blade. Sure, it skyrockets your damage output when the enemy physical armor increases. But, considering the opposing Shrunken Heads, they do make it much less effective. It does cost quite high amounts of mana to use the effect (believe it or not), and you may run out of mana very quickly. If your team is in need of more DPS over an extra disable from Hellflower or so, then you can think of getting this item. Savage against Wingbows though!
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Gameplay
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Laning

Pyromancer should generally be played solo middle. But in pubs, especially SD, AR or BD, Pyromancer is forced to lane with someone. But he should not support in terms of buying Wards / Courier etc.. at least too much, as he needs to get farmed in order to be useful.
If you go to a sidelane, you wan't to lane with another stunner so you can combo your stuns for easy kills.

But as Pyromancer is generally played middle, I am going to explain you how to. First of all, every time there is no creep to last hit, try to harass the enemy; Pyromancer has capablity to play extremely aggressive, and if you are not harassing, you are not taking advantage of that, thats why you harass.
Another thing to remember when playing middle lane is to look at the enemy's items. Count how much his items cost. If he buys gold with near 600 gold, he won't be getting a quick bottle. If he won't be getting his Bottle swiftly, play extremely aggressive and don't let him have his bottle.

"Fake" your stun, ie. Cancel the animation a lot. If you click the stun, but notice the enemy dodging it, quickly press the Stop button (S by default) to cancel it. Hitting your stun is the most important part of your hero. In 1v1 situations, you don't have to stun right away. Stun when the enemy can't dodge it.

A good way to trick your opponent is to play passive for a short time, and then if the enemy gets too cocky and tries to play aggressive because he thinks "He is forced to play passive because im in the upperhand", simply turn the tide around, drop your skills and autoattack him to death.

Every time a rune spawns, use your nuke to push the lane quickly, so that you don't lose creeps when going for the rune. This is basically how the middle lane is won.

Keep up the aggressive play, whore runes, and call for a gank if it is necessary.

At level 6, basically if you hit your stun, you will kill anybody. But if you miss your stun, they might be able to kill you. So only stun if you are sure it will hit.

Having a Ward on the opposing hill is extremely powerful, you can see incoming tp-ganks and they can't set up anything from fog, and you can also harass uphill. In higher level games people buy counterward to counterward it, so be aware.

When you are getting ganked mid, you want your allies to help as much as possible by teleporting.

Sidelane

In general, if Pyromancer is on a sidelane (2-1-2), he should be taking the farm. As for your lane partners, you want to have initiating stunners who make it easy for you to land stun, and finish them off.

Pyromancer can either take farm, or can support a trilane. This is because he is capable to farm quickly after to maintain some important items, such as the PK.

The previously mentioned tips apply here, except for the ones which mention rune-whoring / hill advantage. Aggressive play and cancelling your stun is the key to win a sidelane.
Oh, one thing; Don't use your stun right away when an ally has used his, use it after his stun has ended / is ending to get the full potential out of it.

Farming, Ganking & Pushing

This goes for almost all the time when you solo middle - don't blindly gank side lanes because they are asking for it/need it. Nothing is worse than wasting a full minute to walk to a side lane so the enemies can just run away because of a ward or otherwise escape while your middle opponent freefarms. Ganks should come when they have a high chance of success (AKA, you just got a haste rune or it's really a countergank).

With that said, you aren't ganking the whole game, you are mostly farming at least before you get your Portal Key;
Use your nukes to slay creep waves instantly once you hit level 9/10, and use the extra time to do the same to neutrals (try to stack them before killing them as this takes advantage of your nukes' AoE) and to grab runes.

If you happen to get an invis / haste, or the enemies are playing over-aggressive, capitalize on that; Get pickoff, or preferably, gank multiple heroes at the same time (with the help of allies) and then proceed to push the tower on that lane, or even better, push 2 or 3 lanes at the same time, if possible.

Teamfights

Don't expose yourself in teamfights. Your hero is extremely fragile (unless you have lots of defensive items) and has extremely high damage output, so the worst thing that can happen is for you to get focused.
What you want to do, is jump on the enemy initiator, or the enemy carry and drop him down as soon as possible. To help this at this quest, you need to surprise them with your Portal Key, and preferably have a Sheepstick.

Friends & Foes

You best allies are heroes with stuns, such as Behemoth, Hammerstorm, Magmus or Blacksmith; They let you use your stun easily, and help you burst down the enemies.

Your worst enemies are heroes who can burst you down, or mitigate your burst damage, as examples of the first one, Pebbles, Kraken, Gauntlet or Witch Slayer, and for the later one, Predator, Swiftblade, Chipper, Accursed, or heroes with Shrunken Head.

Vindicator?
Vindicator does counter Pyromancer, but Pyromancer also counters Vindicator later in the game. Now you are thinking "WTF?!", but let me explain. Pyromancer's typical luxuries are Shrunken Head, Hellflower and Sheepstick. Vindicator is shut down by disabling him, or by dispelling his silences with Shrunken. He will **** you up early to mid game however.

When to pick Pyromancer?
- Enemies have a melee mid / short range hero / squishy solo hero
- Enemies have squishy targets
- Allies have good initiation and / or followup with stuns

When not to pick Pyromancer?
- Enemies have a stronger mid hero (see: Chipper, Pollywog/Soulstealer are tricky opponents as well)
- Your team already has strong solo hero
- You have no initiating stuns
- Enemies have lots of tanky heroes (especially their carry, see: Maliken, Pestilence)

Tips & TricksTell your team about things you see, In case they aren't paying attention and don't see themselves

If you are killing Kongor (and in some cases tower), Time your spells so that the Fervor attack speed buff never disappears, i.e. cast stun, after 5-5.5 seconds cast Wave, after 5-5.5 seconds cast Stun etc...

Sheepstick is instant cast while your stun has a nonzero cast time, so lead with sheepstick against opponents who are likely to stop your stun (bubbles/swiftblade/predator/people with shrunken head)

Cycle your Steamboots; About to cast spell / need more damage? Intelligence. About to regen hp / mana? Agility. About to cast Chalice? Strength. Generally keep them on Strength

Abuse Fog of War. Nothing is as easy as hitting your skills from fog, and then PK'ing out.

Practice stunning a lot. And I mean, a lot. Especially the PK --> Stun. It is EXTREMELY important to practice stunning.

Cancel the backswing in your spells by clicking another command right after you use a spell (don't wait for the animation to end after the spell is out)

If the enemy goes to fog, try to predict him and use your stun + wave. If you have an attack, or your ally's attack, or tower's attack even, following the opponent, it will show the direction he runs to even in fog.

You don't need to land the stun in the middle, catchingthem on the edge is just fine. Also, if you try to land on the edge when juking, it is very likely that they will run into the center of the stun by themselves, while if you try to hit it in the middle, they will dodge it regardless of what direction they go for.

When pushing towers, you can use your skills just to gain attack speed. Keep some mana for at least a stun with you however.

When being pursued by a melee hero, and you are running away, Dragonfire (stun) over yourself. A melee hero rushing in for the kill will be hit almost every time and you'll have a better chance of escaping.

If you are in a sidelane in the early laning phase, using Dragonfire (again, your stun) to destroy some trees, while keeping a tree barrier to harass with. Warding close to the tower can give helpful vision.

Pyromancer can easily stack 2 neutral camps at once by using Dragonfire or Phoenix Wave, but also stack the Hellbourne Ancient Camp from the river by using a skill on the camp.