Gideon - Mid Bruiser Control

[brazen hearth]

Gideon remains the character I've had most success with on Pred. He has good mobility and burst potential, but most importantly - his ult turns the tide of fights.

My bruiser build focusses around his Black Hole ultimate, being able to put yourself in the air to provide you team much needed backup. What you will find, if you're used to building full mage, is that you don't have masses of mana, so being frugal with abilities when laning and taking ownership of the river buffs is important.

Focus early on last hits, and avoid running dry on Mana. You should be rotating to fights a lot throughout the game, but ideally you want to make it to level 6 as soon as you can.

So, the core build is below - I flex a LOT based on the game, so I've included a number of key options and explanations below it:

Crest: Occult > Tempest
Use this when you ult over a big fight and the additional damage and sustain is insane.

Dreambinder
My non-negotiable start item. Slows enemies damage by your abilities and does more damage to slowed enemies. Only way out of your ult now is with a blink or long movement ability Also power and health is the base of our build.

Astral Catalyst
It is not uncommon for 2+ people to die after you ult in a fight, which means your ult now has a big cooldown reduction. Early game, this is huge. You also get some mana here, which gives you a bit more to play with.

Lifebinder
Since the update, this now gives Ability Haste based on power. It also gives you additional power from a takedown. This really helps clean up after your ult.

World Breaker
Power based on your max health (Somewhere around the 60 mark), plus a scaling boost each time you deal magical damage. Your ult ticks multiple times, so follow up abilities will benefit from it.

Flux Matrix
It's rare that I get this far in a build, but Flux Matrix seems like good synergy. More health (and thus damage) and deal additional damage to enemies around you, seem pretty decent to me.

Flex Options:
Truesilver Bracelet
This item is strong, but the passive is most useful if they have CC that can reach you in your ult (you should always ult in the air). I take this as 2nd item if they have 2 of Riktor, Rampage, Dekker, Narbash. If they have 1, I just wait til I've seen the stun.

Tainted Scepter
If they have lots of Regen/vamp, this is your best bet, and try and slot it in 3rd. Heroes like Khai, Rampage, Countess, Narbash are the watchouts.

Megacosm
This is a good swap in for Astral Catalyst if they have a lot of tanky heroes as it chunks %hp.

Golem's gift/Spellbreaker
There are just some games where you need a bit of defense - Kallari won't leave you alone, carry keeps looking up, Countess is just always there. These offer armor without sacrificing damage, Flux Matrix and Warden's Faith are alternatives if you need to be tankier still, as long as world Breaker is there to convert hp to damage.

[formal wagon]

How do you deal with the heavy lack of mana

[brazen hearth]

As I said, be frugal with it - the only time I drop abilities on Minions is when I'm returning to lane and need to take out a large wave. I generally secure one of the river buffs each time.

When you start, unlock your right click first, and use it through the minions to hit the enemy hero, as this is good economy

Late game, I find I have plenty for a good fight, and then can base if I need to

[naive plover]

Really underestimated build. Conserve mana, be frugal with it as mgsmk@ pointed out and you are insanely OP. ULTs are amazing they cant escape and the cooldown reduction with astral is perfect.

[young ferry]

Amazing build

[crude delta]

@brazen hearth
What about ability order? Ty for all the info!

[brazen hearth]

At the start, RMB > Q > E
Then prioritise Q until it's maxed (obv grab your R when it allows). I then generally alternate the other 2 to reduce cooldowns. RMB gives you more damage, but the escape/engage is valuable

[cyan onyx]

ill try