Honor of Kings Athena: Build, Synergy, Counter (Pro Guides)
Athena, a Fighter/Assassin in “Honor of Kings,” is available for 688 Tokens or 13,888 Gold. As an Assassin Fighter subclass, she specializes in quick strikes or Burst Damage and mobility, excelling in the Jungle.
Ranked as an S-tier hero, Athena is designed for the pro player. She shines in the front line, adept at navigating through enemy defenses with swift and decisive attacks, highlighting her strength across various stages of play. Her ability to dash and maneuver around the battlefield allows her to engage and disengage effectively, making her a constant threat to opponents.
Given her role as a Fighter/Assassin, Athena’s item build strategy should focus on enhancing her Burst Damage, Mobility, and Survivability. This approach ensures she can swiftly eliminate key targets, navigate through the battlefield with ease, and sustain herself in skirmishes and team fights.
This Guides covers Athena abilities, skill order, combo, optimal builds, counters and Battle Tips.
Athena Hero Profile, Position and Lane Intro
| HERO TIER | S |
| RECOMMENDED FOR | Pro Player |
| CLASS | Fighter |
| SUB CLASS | Assassin Fighter |
| STRENGHT | Dash |
| STAGES | Early Game |
| LANE | Jungling |
| FIGHT POSITION | Front Row |
| AZURE GOLEM | Highly Dependent |
| PRICE | 688 Tokens or 13888 Gold |
Athena Basic Stats and Attribute
Survival
Skill Tier
Damage
Difficulty
Health
2862
Max Mana
430
Physical Damage
162
Physical Defense
106/15%
Magical Defense
50/7.6%
Movement Speed
400
Critical Damage
200%
Attack Ranged
Melee
Health Reg./5s
44
Mana Reg./5s
15
Athena Jungle Build
Items/Equipment
- Rapacious Bite
- Boots of Resistance
- Axe of Torment
- Spikemail
- Eye of the Phoenix
- Destiny
Arcana
- Mutation 10x
- Stealth 10x
- Eagle Eye 10x
Common Skills
- Smith
Athena Skills and Abilities
Divine Awakening (Passive): Deals an additional 25% damage to non-hero units. After death, continue to move in a true form, increasing the movement speed of allies moving towards Athena by 10%, gaining vision, and being able to resurrect at the true form’s location, dealing 480(+120% physical attack) physical damage and knocking up enemies for 0.75 seconds upon revival.
Cooldown: 0s Energy Cost: 0
Tips: Athena can serve as a moving vision scout after death, providing vision for teammates. It’s crucial to choose a good location to resurrect to avoid being killed again by the enemy.
Holy Advanced (Skill 01): Dash forward with the shield, dealing 300/360/420/480/540/600(+75% physical attack) magic damage and knocking back enemies, while also gaining a 375/465/555/645/735/825(+82% physical attack) point shield for 1 second, which makes her immune to control effects during the shield’s duration.
Cooldown: 6s Energy Cost: 50
Tips: This skill allows Athena to dash a short distance, knocking back enemies in her path and generating a shield to absorb damage. If the shield breaks, Athena will be stunned, so use this feature wisely.
Unstoppable Spear (Skill 02): Leap in the specified direction and enhance the next normal attack to charge at the enemy, dealing 350/400/450/500/550/600(+100% physical attack) physical damage. Hitting the same target three times consecutively deals 25% of the target’s missing health as physical damage. The enhanced attack must be triggered within 6 seconds to activate Piercing. Hitting enemies with Holy March or Reverent Shield reduces the cooldown of Piercing Spear by 4 seconds.
Cooldown: 6/5.8/5.6/5.4/5.2/5.0s Energy Cost: 40
Tips: This is Athena’s key dash skill, allowing for a second dash with a normal attack to deal damage. It can also be used for escaping.
Immovable Aegis (Ultimate): Athena raises her shield to gain a 900/1800/2700(+100% physical attack) point shield, immune to control effects for up to 1.5 seconds. Then, she counterattacks with the shield, dealing 240/360/480(+70% physical attack) magic damage to enemies within range. Each time she’s hit by an enemy hero attack during the shield’s duration, the shield’s counterattack damage increases by 12.5%, and the cast time decreases, stacking up to 8 layers.
Cooldown: 22/20/18s Energy Cost: 70/75/80
Tips: The shield generated by this skill can absorb a significant amount of damage and deal AOE damage after it ends. It’s best used in the center of team fights after dashing in to absorb damage and apply a wide range of slow effects.
Athena Combo Sequence
Unstoppable Spear → Normal Attack → Holy Advanced → Unstoppable Spear → Normal Attack → Immovable Aegis →Unstoppable Spear → Normal Attack.
Start with skill 2, follow up with a normal attack, use skill 1 to knock back, then skill 2 and normal attack again, finishing with skills 3, 2, and a normal attack.
Athena Teammates
Dharma: Athena needs lengthy operations to execute her full combo, which has few controls, and her ultimate is a stationary skill. Thus, pairing with a melee hero with strong, long-duration control can significantly improve gank efficiency. Bodhidharma’s control fits Athena’s needs well, and while his ultimate changes the enemy’s position, Athena’s high mobility makes this a non-issue.
Ata: Athena’s mobility is strong, allowing her to catch up to enemies and use skill 1 to knock back, entering ata’s attack range. Then, Athena can unleash her ultimate to execute a full combo and kill the enemy. Both have strong burst damage and, although their control duration isn’t long, their synergy is smooth and effective.
Athena Counter
- Sun Bin’s ultimate silence effect and control can prevent Athena from casting skills after entering the fight, rendering her ineffective.
- Guan Yu He can quickly push Athena away after she enters a team fight.
- Athena’s skill 1 shield duration is short, so quickly breaking the shield can control her; during Athena’s ultimate casting, avoid using core damage skills on her.
Athena Battle Tips and Strategy
Detail 1: Use the passive to gain vision of the enemy.
Detail 2: Enhance damage by casting skill 2 multiple times.
- Since skill 1 has a short range, it’s best to cast it after dashing in with skill 2 to ensure better accuracy. The best time to use the ultimate is in the center of team fights to absorb skill damage and slow more enemies
- In team fights, Athena needs to dive into the center of the enemy formation, using her ultimate to absorb enough skill damage and slow more enemies, allowing allied assassin heroes to enter the fray more effectively. Skill 1’s knockback effect also allows Athena to flank and push back key enemy characters..
