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Mantle of Intelligence
TangoTango
Null Talisman
Boots of Speed
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Drum of Endurance
Boots of Travel
Necronomicon
Desolator
Dagon 1
Scythe of Vyse
Shiva's Guard
Pipe of Insight
Mekansm
Satanic
Gem of True Sight
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1 | 3 | 8 | 10 |  |
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5 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
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2 | 4 | 7 | 9 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
The standard wisdom on 
Death Prophet (DP) is that you should build Bloodstone as soon as possible (of course, after getting boots and usually some early game item like a wand). I believe this is one reason she is unpopular at a high level, and the Bloodstone build is usually a poor choice.
Let me be clear: 
Bloodstone is a great item on DP. There are two problems with it however. The first and most important problem is that it is quite expensive, and its components are relatively expensive for what they give you. The second problem is that while mostly solving her mana issues, it does not provide any DPS at all.
The point of this guide is to provide an interesting alternative to the standard build, which peaks much earlier in the game but which can transition to a late game.
My alternative is to address her mana problems with a combination of stats from cheaper item, while providing her with a massive movespeed advantage over almost all other heroes. It is hard to overstate how useful it is to have a large movespeed advantage. DP is very tanky for a intelligence hero, so she can usually survive by running away. Since Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a core item in this build, it makes running away even easier.
Mobility is important for all heroes, but it helps DP more than most since her ultimate, once targeted, will continue doing massive amounts of damage to either a unit or structure as long as she is not too far away. In addition, Crypt Swarm has a large range which makes kiting easy.
This build operates on the assumption that your team will push fairly early.
The given build order is not always the best. It depends a lot on who you are laning with and against, and how the early game goes.
You might want to level up Silence a bit earlier, if you want to gank or disrupt an enemy combo, but usually it isn't that helpful during the laning phase. It is more useful later on, in larger teamfights. I sometimes don't level it up until level 8 or 9. Early levels of Witchcraft can be more helpful in providing movement speed and making Crypt Swarm cheaper.
Using Crypt Swarm early once is OK, to get a tough last hit AND harass the enemy (definitely try to do both). But you will run out of mana quickly, so wait until it is level 2 or 3 before spamming it. If you wait, you might catch your opponent more off-guard with its damage and range and get a kill.
Silence is sometimes useful early against an opponent with a spell escape when they are very low on health and you want to finish the kill. It is not worth casting early in the game otherwise - usually its much better to save your mana for Crypt Swarm.
Do not be afraid to use Exorcism when it is off cooldown. The cooldown is not that long considering the spell itself lasts 30 seconds. Using it early makes it much more likely that you will be healed during a fight.
Null Talisman helps early with last hitting, having more mana for crypt swarm, and adding some hp for survival. In the mid- to late-game, it can be either upgraded to a Dagon or 
Veil of Discord or sold. The choice is really situational.
Drum of Endurance provide the best stats for the cost while adding some move and attack speed. Again, the stats provide needed mana and HP, while also adding to her damage.
Boots of Speed are of course crucial. I used to always upgrade to 
Phase Boots for damage and most importantly burst mobility, but since they have been nerfed I tend to wait and upgrade to Boots of Travel. This is somewhat a matter of taste, there are some arguments for any sort of boot upgrade on DP. But BoT makes split-pushing and defense very easy.
Eul's Scepter of Divinity is the key item of the build. Each of its components help early in the game with mana, allowing more spamming of Crypt Swarm and Silence. The bonus movespeed is huge, and the active ability synergizes very well with Exorcism. It is one of the very few spells that will continue damaging a Cycloned unit (edit: I think this might have been changed recently, it doesn't seem to work anymore).
With Boots of Speed, Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Drum of Endurance, and fully upgraded Witchcraft, your base movement speed will be 463, much faster than most heroes. Once upgraded to Boots of Travel, you will have the maximum movement speed of 522. You can have fun chasing down and killing hasted units.
The total cost of these core items ( Null Talisman, Boots of Speed, Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Drum of Endurance) is 5395, or 5645 including the starting Tangos. Another 2000 for the BoT gets to 7395.
Lets compare this to a Bloodstone, Boots of Speed, and a Tango, which would cost 5590. This is about the same price, but would be very weak early on without additional stats items.
Bloodstone gives slightly more mana and mana regen, significantly more HP (500 versus 228 HP), and a lot more HP regen (9.75 versus 1 HP/second). On the other side, this build gives +67 movespeed (+126 with phase active!), +52 damage, +17 attack speed, and +1.7 armor. The loss of tankiness is more than offset by the fact that your enemy won't be able to catch up to you, and you hit a lot harder.
The choice of late game items depends a lot on who you are facing, and your own team composition. I often go with Shiva's Guard or Scythe of Vyse, but against lots of magical nukes building into a Pipe of Insight can be good as well.
In pub games at low and mid skill levels most teams are lacking in support role heroes. In this case, you can lean towards more team support items ( Pipe of Insight, Mekansm, or 
Urn of Shadows). However, apart from the Pipe most of those items are better mid-game, and by the time you get them they won't help much.
If you have spare inventory slots, remember to help ward. Your mobility gives you a good chance to put down offensive wards in relative safety. Again, many pub games lack true supports and then this is especially important. A ward that leads to a kill for your team more than pays for itself!!
If you are focusing on split-pushing rather than team-fighting, a Necronomicon, 
Helm of the Dominator --> Satanic, and/or Desolator are all good choices.
Against lots of invis heroes (or heroes with 
Shadow Blade you can be a good Gem of True Sight carrier.
Death Prophet is a pretty versatile hero that can fit into most lineups. She can midlane against most heroes fairly well, or do well in a dual lane. One of her only major drawbacks is the lack of a true stun, so you should have some other team members with stuns and disables. She is also not a good jungler.
Death Prophet is a very good pusher, but benefits a lot from the presence of other pushers on her team. Going for early towers and an early win with a push-oriented team is the best option, but her pushes can also be used to fuel a hard carry.
I appreciate constructive criticism. Keep in mind that this is just one way to build DP; I'm sure that Bloodstone-oriented builds are quite viable. But I do think my build is more fun!
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