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All Purpose Lifestealer Guide

December 5, 2013 by enganacious
Comments: 0    |    Views: 4789    |   


Build 1
Build 2

Jungle Lifestealer

DotA2 Hero: Lifestealer




Hero Skills

Rage

2 8 9 10

Feast

1 3 5 7

Ghoul Frenzy

4 12 13 14

Infest

6 11 16

Talents

15 17 18


All Purpose Lifestealer Guide

enganacious
December 5, 2013


Intro

I'm going to skip the bull and give you the skinny on what to do/what not to do.

So read on!

Starting Out, Jungle vs. Lane

I recommend the same starting items if you go Jungle or Lane. If you go lane against certain heroes, for example Bristleback. Starting with Tangos, Salve, Two Iron Branches to be turned into a Magic Wand, and a Stout Shield is entirely viable. But The same thing can be accomplished generally speaking with the items I recommend by simply buying a Magic Stick. The strength of the quelling blade is that as soon as you complete your Phase Boots, Lifestealer turns into a last hit machine. A Magic Stick can simply be added versus starting with Iron Branches and building a Magic Wand to deal with spell spamming heroes.

The skill builds are different, which I'm not sure how many pub players are aware of the importance of this. While killing jungle creeps, Feast is of the utmost importance, you can stop investing in it once you get it to lvl 3, but you may as well max it out. However in lane, the amount of health you get back from last hitting creeps is absolutely tiny, so it's far wiser to invest into Open Wounds or Rage. Open Wounds is the stronger option in most cases as it gets kills and allows you to snowball. The combo of Naix + Crystal Maiden is strong for obvious reasons, Frostbite -> Open Wounds = dead hero.

Early Game

If you're jungling or laning, you might need to get some early regen/armor. Buying a Helm of Iron Will is the best option, because it builds into Naix's core item an Armlet. This is useful if you're getting harassed or if the enemy has blocked the small camp or your farm lane needs to use the small camp to pull the lane.

If not, finish your Phase Boots first. If you're going for the Race Car Build, I'd recommend getting the Helm of Iron Will either first or after Phase Boots, then building Drums and finishing the Armlet. Otherwise, get it if you need it before Phase Boots, but then get Phase Boots and complete Armlet.

Always carry a TP Scroll after you've completed Phase Boots.

Race Car or Armor Drop

Basically there's two good ways to build Naix IMO.

Race Car or Armor Drop.

Lifestealer is highly reliant on mobility to do damage, and can often be kited by quick heroes. That and teams that are relatively squishy really fall victim to the Race Car Build. It's other merits are the Drums of Endurance really help out Naix's mana issues pretty well.

Against teams that are tanky, or lineups where you'll need to do more pushing than chasing, the Armor Drop Build is the right one. Desolator makes Naix hit like a freight train if you get it quickly. Add the Assault Cuirass to that, and you'll be laying pain.

That's really it.

Hard Carry?

If you're going to go hard in the paint, and are going to be in a drawn out game. It might be advantageous to follow my guide for a hard carry build. It's not recommended really, but there are things you can take from it.

MKB is obviously a great item for damage, interrupting channeling skills, teleports, etc.. But it's main use is as an evasion counter. Keep that in mind, because if you're dealing with heroes like PA, Riki, Brewmaster, Troll Warlord, Broodmother, heroes with evasion skills; it might be wise to skip going for more normal item picks beyond Phase and Armlet for an MKB.

Halberd is amazing at dealing with one of Naix's truly annoying counters, Ursa. Ursa can really wreck your day. But add +380 Health, +6 HP Regen, +45 damage, +25% evasion, and an active disarm; he's suddenly not all that threatening (let's also be honest, the maim is pretty much irrelevant). It's good in a couple other situations as well, so keep it in mind.

Abyssal Blade is my preferred item beyond the core pickups in either Race Car or Armor Drop Builds. +110 damage, +190 Health, +3 HP Regen, and a passive and active bash that can go through BKB. Just too good not to be one of the post-core items.

Satanic is my pick over Heart. Since Lifestealer does his work in the thick of smacking fools, the active Unholy Rage basically acts like a pocket 30 second Aegis provided you can pop off a rage and hit something once or twice.

AC for the Hard Carry Build is because the Armor, Attack Speed, Armor Drop, and relatively lack of need for anything else. Crit is not good on Lifestealer with the exception of pub stomping crazy builds, but then you can just buy rapiers.

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