Arena of Valor (AoV) - Baldum Hero Guide

A guide to Arena of Valor's Baldum, the Monolith. Baldum is a tank flexible enough to either support his team or duel alone. His Wild Charge and Wild Prison are excellent tools to divide and conquer the enemy team, while Wild Stomp pulses damage and keeps him alive in fights.


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Arena of Valor Baldum

Baldum Overview

Baldum is a support tank with reasonable brawling capabilities and the ability to separate and pick off stragglers on the enemy team. Though he has a clear weakness against long-ranged heroes, his armor-damage scaling and Wild Stomp can keep him alive for extended periods in team fights.

Strengths

  • Abilities scale with armor – Baldum is the first hero whose abilities deal more damage the more armor he accumulates. Combined with a passive that grants him additional bonus armor, Baldum is able to dish out decent damage while being extremely tanky.
  • Good Crowd Control – Wild Charge is great for picking off heroes who are out of position as well as peeling for assassins who dive your back line. Wild Stomp, while somewhat short range and just an okay slow, is a very spammable ability. Finally, Wild Prison can either set up wombo-combos or split up a team, allowing your team to pick stragglers off.
  • Versatile Role – Baldum can support an ADC in the Abyssal Lane or capably solo in the Dark Slayer lane. For the former, Wild Charge can set up kills for your teammate(s), while for the latter, Wild Stomp helps mitigate the damage of bursty DS-laners like Ryoma.

Weakness

  • Weak versus long-range heroes – Though Baldum can occasionally catch a marksman or mage with Wild Charge, adept players can abuse its range and long cooldown. In addition, tanks can position themselves in front of their backline, effectively protecting them from the charge as Baldum flips the first hero he comes in contact with.
  • Unwieldy, hard-to-use ultimate – At first glance, Wild Prison seems like a great set up for a wombo-combo, or a way to split up the enemy team. However, the cast time is extremely long, and gets even longer when used at maximum range because there’s an additional travel time. In addition, the cast area is relatively small, meaning mobile heroes who see the circle can escape even if you aim at them dead-center. Finally, Wild Prison makes enemies temporarily immune to damage, meaning you’ll often end up accidentally saving a hero that you were intending to catch.

Hero Basic Strategy

Laning Strategy

  • Baldum can be played in either the Abyssal Dragon lane with a damage dealer or in the Dark Slayer lane alone
  • In the Abyssal lane, position yourself to Wild Charge the opposing damage dealer, then follow up with Wild Stomp to allow your teammate(s) to finish off the kill
  • In the Dark Slayer lane, use Wild Stomp on the opposing hero as often as possible – this is particularly important when dealing with high-damage DS laners like Ryoma. Only use Wild Charge on minions if you are desperate to clear it as quickly as possible and you are certain that no heroes are around.
  • Though experienced players will likely not fall for this, you can punish heroes trying to push your tower by using Wild Charge

Leveling Progression

  • Level Wild Stomp first, as it’s your best wave clear and hero-dueling ability
  • From level 3 on, both Wild Charge and Wild Stomp receive double benefits from leveling – the former via damage and CDR and the latter with damage and damage reduction. Though we recommend leveling Wild Charge, it’s close enough that your personal play style and/or the opposing team composition make the decision flexible.
  • As always, upgrade Wild Prison right at 4, 8, and 12, as the cooldown and additional damage make it worth your while.

Battle Strategy

  • Solo Battle: Check the mini-map before engaging with Wild Charge, as it’s your only escape tool and it’s on a pretty long cooldown. Otherwise, walk up to your melee opponent (don’t even try if they’re ranged), dodging their initial ability before reducing any further damage with Wild Stomp. Keep yourself glued to them to continue lowering Wild Stomp’s cooldown, fitting in attacks while kiting forward. Only use Wild Prison to finish them off if they’re under 20% health, as you’ll want to save it for team fights
    • Note that Wild Stomp will only reduce physical damage, so you’ll need to be more cautious with heroes like Arum and Xeniel.
  • Team Battle: Before the battle starts, identify whether you’ll need to engage or peel for your back line, as Wild Charge is needed for either responsibility. Baldum is particularly adept at peeling for squishy teammates, as Wild Charge physically pulls pesky assassins away and slows them, and Wild Stomp keeps them away while your damage dealer (hopefully) retaliates. Otherwise, get in the middle of the opposing team and use Wild Stomp on as many heroes as possible. As long as your team is nearby, taking the brunt of damage and even dying is okay, as the time it takes to kill you will likely be more than enough for your team to counter-wipe the enemies.
    • As for Wild Prison, use it on a clump of heroes if the opportunity is available. Otherwise, identify the least mobile hero and aim for them as the fight breaks out, giving your team a temporary numbers advantage. If you’re having trouble landing Wild Prison, try aiming it at your feet, as the cast time will shorten and the melee heroes attacking you will likely not notice quickly enough to dodge. Wild Prison is particularly useful for nullifying particularly powerful ultimate abilities like Rourke‘s Determination.
  • Escaping the Battle: Wild Charge is Baldum’s standard escape tool. If possible, try to avoid hitting a hero if your plan is to escape, as it will reduce the length of the charge. Wild Stomp doesn’t require any cast time or animation, so use it to slow pursuers whenever possible. Wild Prison can be used as a last resort if there’s no other way to escape – aim it at your feet or in your escape path to account for the long cast time.

Abilities

Arena of Valor Pocket Glaive Hulking – Passive – Baldum’s physique grants him 18% bonus armor. His normal attacks deal an additional 20 (+1 for every level) magic damage.
  • Hulking both increases Baldum’s survivability and damage due to the unique way his abilities scale
  • Baldum starts off with reasonable damage and armor, meaning you’re free to build Gilded Greaves as your first item
Arena of Valor Bloody Wild Charge – Baldum dashes forward a short distance, dealing 175/225/275/325/375/425 (+0.5 AD)(+0.3 armor) physical damage to enemies along the way. He stops when he runs into an enemy hero, then swings his totem and tosses the hero behind him, dealing additional physical damage equal to 8% of the target’s maximum HP and slowing the target by 90% for 1 second.
  • Wild Charge is Baldum’s signature ability, able to secure kills, peel for teammates, and initiate fights. However, in exchange for its power is a long cooldown for a basic ability
  • While your primary targets when using Wild Charge aggressively are squishy DPS heroes, using it on tanky heroes who get in your way can still put them in danger due to the percent-based damage it deals
  • Wild Charge is best used near towers, be they friendly or enemy. If one or two heroes are pushing your tower, charge the more vulnerable of the two and force them to take tower damage. If pushing a tower yourself, Baldum can aggressively dive a defender and throw them into your team’s waiting arms.
  • Wild Charge is one of the best peeling abilities, displacing the hero attacking your back line and significantly slowing them. Typically this gives the rest of your team enough time to punish them.
  • Wild Charge is Baldum’s most reliable escape tool, so use it wisely
    • Make sure additional enemy heroes aren’t rotating to the fight when you engage with Wild Charge, as you’ll be a sitting duck if it’s on cooldown
    • Only use it on minions if you need to clear ASAP and there are no enemy heroes nearby to punish
    • It can be used as a final bit of burst to secure the Abyssal Dragon or Dark Slayer
Arena of Valor Curse Death Wild Stomp – Baldum stomps the ground, dealing 50/56/62/68/74/80 (+0.3 AD)(+0.07 armor) physical damage to enemies nearby and slowing them by 30% Enemies affected by the stomp deal 25% less physical damage to Baldum for 1 second. The cooldown of this ability is reduced by 0.3 seconds when it hits an enemy hero. Does double damage to jungle monsters.The cooldown of this ability is also reduced by 0.3 seconds every time it hits a jungle monster.
  • While Wild Stomp is decent for wave clear, try to save it to use on heroes
  • Wild Stomp is great for sticking to heroes trying to run away – it will pulse 6 times over 3 seconds, keeping enemies close
  • The CDR on Wild Stomp is pretty significant, particularly when used on multiple enemy heroes. Using it in the midst of multiple heroes will be a big boon for your team, even if it costs your life.
Arena of Valor Bullet Storm Wild Prison – Baldum smashes his totem into the ground, causing the ground to collapse and traps all enemies in the target area for 3 seconds, rendering them immobile. They take 400/600/800 (+0.5 AD)(+0.3 armor) physical damage and are slowed by 50% for 2 seconds after they are freed from the prison.
  • Because of the travel time, it is more difficult to hit far heroes than those who are next to Baldum
  • While hitting multiple members is ideal, aiming in the middle of spread-out heroes will mean hitting none of them
    • Aiming for an immobile hero or a hero who’s already used their escape ability will increase the chances of landing
  • Wild Prison is useful for sieging towers, as it gives your team plenty of time to kill the towers, and keeps the minions alive longer
  • Enemies who are not trapped in the prison but are standing just outside its radius will also be slowed by 30%

How to Counter Baldum

  • If you’re drafting, marksmen and mages are particularly adept at harassing Baldum
    • Make sure to stay outside the range of (or dodge) Wild Charge, as getting by hit by it is near certain death for squishies
  • As a tank, protect your back line by positioning yourself between them and Baldum, absorbing his Wild Charge
  • Don’t engage while Wild Stomp is pulsing, as it will give Baldum cooldown reduction
  • Don’t clump together for Wild Prison

Hero Item Build

The Monolith
Arena of Valor Mantle of RaMantle of Ra Arena of Valor Gilded GreavesGilded Greaves Arena of Valor The AegisThe Aegis
Arena of Valor Medallion of TroyMedallion of Troy Arena of Valor Mail of PainMail of Pain Arena of Valor Hercules' MadnessHercules’ Madness
The Monolith
Arena of Valor Mantle of RaMantle of Ra Arena of Valor Gilded GreavesGilded Greaves Arena of Valor The AegisThe Aegis Arena of Valor Medallion of TroyMedallion of Troy Arena of Valor Mail of PainMail of Pain Arena of Valor Hercules' MadnessHercules’ Madness

This build brings Baldum up to 73% armor, making him a beefy deer while giving him more damage on his abilities. Meanwhile, the magic defense on Gilded Greaves, Medallion of Troy, and Hercules’ Madness prevent him from getting immediately getting burst down by mages. Baldum also gets some decent pushback with Mantle of Ra’s Burn passive, Mail of Pain’s Riposte passive, and Hercules’ Madness’ Berserk passive. Further, he gets to 30% CDR, allowing him to use Wild Charge and Wild Stomp more often. If the opposing mages are getting out of control a bit too quickly, then build Medallion of Troy before The Aegis.

More Baldum Item Builds

Hero Arcana

  • While armor increases Baldum’s damage, he’ll eventually need magic defense, so there are a few options, particularly among the green level 3 arcana
  • Indomitable, Benevolence, and Bastion are standard, though the case can be made to substitute Assassinate (purple), Mythril (green), or Crusader (green).
  • If you want to deal as much damage as possible early (if you’re going to be in the Dark Slayer lane, for instance), then Onslaught and Skewer are possibilities as well.

Hero Counters

Arena of Valor Tank Tank

Tanks can be used as fodder to increase cooldown reduction for Wild Stomp; otherwise, it’s best to ignore them. That said, if they’re a bit out of position, Wild Charge can serve them up on a platter for your team.

Arena of Valor Warrior Warrior

Baldum can reasonably duel warriors due to Wild Stomp and the percent-based damage of Wild Charge. In team fights though, it’s best to ignore them outside of using them for Wild Stomp CDR.

Arena of Valor Assassin Assassin

Baldum is one of the most effective assassin stoppers, ripping them off of your team as they dive your back line. In addition, heroes with few escape tools like Batman and Butterfly can easily be picked off if you catch them out of position.

Arena of Valor Mage Mage

Long-range nukers and harassers are particularly annoying for Baldum, while hit-and-run heroes like The Flash and Zill can be disrupted with Wild Charge after they jump in. Otherwise, wait for them to use an ability with a cast animation so you can close the distance with Wild Charge, or aim Wild Prison at them to take them out of the fight.

Arena of Valor Marksman Marksman

Similar to mages, Baldum can have a tough time with marksmen. Flicker in to pick them off, use Wild Prison on them, or use cunning and guile (ie wait for cast animations) to close the distance and charge them. For the most part, however, you’ll want to stay away despite your heavy armor.

Arena of Valor Support Support

Other than their crowd control abilities and their ability to keep allies alive, supports don’t really bother Baldum too much. Like with tanks and warriors, get up nice and close to use them as Wild Stomp CDR fodder, and displace them into your team if they’re particularly out of position.

▼ Hero Class Guides
List of Item Builds
AoV WarriorWarrior AoV TankTank AoV AssassinAssassin
AoV MageMage AoV MarksmanMarksman AoV SupportSupport

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