Dirge, the Undying

Introduction

Dirge is an extreamly powerful team fighter/pusher. his ability to slow and turn nearly any foe into a squishy mess. he is incredably hard to kill with all his heals and if your lane partner knows what hes doing. Hes also really hard to gank because of that pesky tombstone, and if they dive past it the zombies will be too great in numbers to get away from. Also note this is my first guide and the items may be a little.... lacking, but i tend to try to support with this hero.

Pros / Cons

Skills

Decay is an extreamly good early game nuke. it may appear weak if you look solely at the damage, the reason its good is it takes an enemies strength. 4 strength at level 4. imagine a squishy hero like venomancer, he has 18 starting strength take 4 away, and hes just a big pile of fail. If you level this even once it weakens them significantly. At level 4 its cooldown is four seconds, so this is a spell that should be spammed. It is also the main reason dirge has mana problems.

Soul rip is a nuke/heal that does more the more creeps/heroes/zombies are around. this skill synergises very well with tombstone, literaly doing twice as much damage when its placed. There's not to much to go into when it comes to this skill, i use it mostly to heal and to catch fleeing enemies. If theyre dumb and let zombies build up i use it aggressively, but i usually prefer to use the heal.

Tombstone. This is dirges bread and butter spell. when this tombstone rises a smart foe would run or destroy it, good thing most foes arn't smart. The tombstone should be used early game to counter gank to dive/chase or to counter push. Now I warn you, it is very easy to **** up this spell. Most new players just slam it down and think theyre good. its all about positioning. For example, if you are being chased slam this thing down right behind the enemy. Even if you die its likely they were too busy chaseing you to destroy it, and are now being chased by a literal ****load of zombies. If they realized there mistake and are on the run, catch up to them and use the zombies to heal. The reason i max this first is because i want the zombies to be as strong as possible as fast as possible and I want the spawn area to be huge.

Flesh Golem is dirges ult. It is extreamly useful, but is often misused. I often see noobs think that you use it to do more damage with your standard attack and you become the ultimate tank. this is partially true, but the real power behind this spell is that t amplifies damage of all spells. ALL SPELLS. imagine comboing this with a luna or lina. The slow is also very useful for chasing if you dont see a team fight happening anytime soon. I skip on this spell for a little while only because in lane its not as useful as tombstone, and I want my tombstone to be as beast as possible.
(FUN FACT: IT AMPS RADIANCE TOO!)

early game/ laneing

Early game is where dirge can really shine with quick first blood and many kills. You want to lane with someone who has a stun or a slow. my personal favorite lane is with venomancer. You want to go for a fast first blood. have your lane partner slow or stun and then span decay. you will weaken them, so at that point you chase. diving at level 1 is risky, but i have done it with a trusted lane partner. After you get some sweet first blood gold you basically spam decay when the opposing laners are near each other to keep harass up. Be wary of your mana though and always have enough for a tombstone. If someone tries to gank make the zombies rise and pray they chase you. If so then the zombies will do your dirty work and they might even get blocked in. Just clean it up with decay and soul rip, then some auto attacks. Soul rip might not even be necessary.

mid game

Mid game you want to be there for every team fight. The second that it starts place your tombstone and ult. They will be way to busy to focus on a lvl 4 tombstone and your zombies will tear it up. If you need to initiate this is way different. You will initiate with tombstone, but its likely that they'll destroy it. Mid game is where you start to fall off the radar though. zombies are really only useful in mass, and decay starts to weaken. try to finish the game. Just use your tombstone to push by cutting the wave.

Late game

you really cant do anything amazing accept amp damage and slow. all your skills really start to fall off the map, and your heal/nuke is only useful if there are max creeps. you must end the game as fast as possible.

Summary

Please be nice when rateing this guide, it is my first one. I just wanted to make an early dirge guide for everyone wanting to enjoy this hero but find the spells confusing. Good luck all you undead warriors.
If you want a demonstration leave a comment and feel free to add me on steam. id be happy to show new players how i play.
steam name= R1up