ExpAT A GLANCE
Strengths
- Hard control: Contract: Explosion (stun)
- Mobility: Contract: Chase Fate
Weaknesses
- No protection from crowd control
- Long ultimate cooldown — 60 / 55 / 50 s by level
SKILLS
Contract: Transform
Cooldown: 5 s
After every 2 attacks, Aldous gains a 500 (+3 × stack count) for 3 seconds on his next Basic Attack.
This effect can only be triggered once every 5 seconds.
Contract: Soul Steal
Cooldown: 4–4 s by level
Aldous unleashes his inner energy to enhance his next Basic Attack to kill enemies and absorb their soul each stack gives to deal Physical Damage equal to 200–450 (+100% PA) physical damage plus 5 times the number of Soul Steal stacks.
If this attack kills an [Lord/Turtle/]enemy hero/[enemy turret/]Siege Minion/other-non hero unit, Aldous will gain [12/12/10/10/10/4] stacks of Soul Steal (up to 650 stacks).
The enhanced Basic Attack deals 300% extra Base Damage to Minions and Creeps. Aldous gets extra 5/2 stack) when a nearby enemy Siege Minion/other non-hero unit dies.
Contract: Explosion
Cooldown: 12–9.5 s by level
stundamage reduction
Aldous assumes a defensive stance, gaining 30% Damage Reduction and 20% extra Movement Speed for 2 seconds or until manual cancellation. He then deals 100–200 (+20% PA)–200–400 (+40% PA) physical damage to nearby enemies and stuns them for 0.5–1 second(s) (scales with defensive stance duration).
Contract: Chase Fate
Cooldown: 60 / 55 / 50 s by level
knockbackblinkdashonly interrupted by: suppression
Aldous gains vision of all enemy heroes for 5 seconds. During this time, if Aldous uses this skill again, he can dash toward an enemy hero [of choice]. When Aldous hits that enemy hero, he will deal 400–750 (+8% max HP) physical damage and knock back the target for 1 second. (Aldous can interrupt target's Recall [and Arrival] during the dash.)
[Use this skill once again to cancel the dash, and will blink to the designated direction instead.]
WHO COUNTERS ALDOUS
Pick them when the enemy has Aldous · score is their advantage
Dyrroth9.4
You punish Aldous long before the scaling matters.
Roger9.4
He closes the gap and tears them apart at the range where they are helpless.
Masha9.3
Howl Shock disarms him, and Soul Steal is a basic attack — no attacks means no stacks and no damage.
Argus9.2
Eternal Evil makes you immune to death through the whole punch window, then you heal it all back and kill him.
Akai9.1
Heavy Spin locks him the instant Chase Fate lands, and a punch that cannot reach anyone does nothing.
WHO ALDOUS COUNTERS
Pick Aldous into them
Kalea11.1
Your burst deletes Kalea before they can respond.
Sun11.0
One stacked punch removes the real Sun regardless of how many clones stand.
Yve10.5
Yve has no way out once you reach the backline. Your burst deletes Yve before they can respond.
Valentina10.3
Your burst deletes Valentina before they can respond.
Diggie10.2
The ultimate finds him anywhere on the map and one hit removes him from the fight.
BEST TEAMMATES
HOW TO PLAY ALDOUS
Farm stacks in the early game. Use your Ultimate to provide vision of all enemies and target low-HP heroes.
HOW TO PLAY AGAINST ALDOUS
- Only suppression interrupts Contract: Chase Fate.
- No protection from control — a stun before the engage wins the duel.
- After the ultimate you have 50–60 seconds without it — force fights then.
HIDDEN MECHANICS
What the in-game descriptions do not tell you: crowd-control rules and verified skill quirks. How crowd control works →
Contract: Soul Steal- The enhanced basic attack lasts for 5 seconds or until it is consumed.
- Cooldown starts upon casting the skill, but the skill cannot be used again until the enhanced basic attack is consumed or expired.
- Aldous charges towards a target when attacking using his enhanced basic attack.
- The enhanced basic attack's base damage and extra damage do not critically strike.
Contract: Explosion- Stun — basic-level control: interrupts only some skills, not most channels; blocked by control immunity.
Contract: Chase Fate- Only these interrupt it: suppression.
- With the perfect timing, it is possible to interrupt Aldous from dashing using Grock's Earthen Rampart or Yin's My Turn.
- The dash can only be interrupted by suppressed.
- Inside Yin's domain, he cannot lock on enemies outside and ongoing travel is cancelled. Likewise, he cannot select targets inside the domain, and does not pursue further when arriving in the target's last location.