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19 Votes

"Safe" Necrolyte Build

March 23, 2012 by MysteryG
Comments: 9    |    Views: 65781    |   


Hero Build

DotA2 Hero: Necrophos




Hero Skills

Death Pulse

1 3 5 7

Heartstopper Aura

2 12 13 14

Ghost Shroud

4 8 9 10

Reaper's Scythe

6 11 16

Talents

15 17 18


"Safe" Necrolyte Build

MysteryG
March 23, 2012


Overview

This guide is meant to be fairly straightforward, and really just to give a little more insight into the recommended items on Necrolyte and how to play him in a way that contributes well to your team.

I am not a pro, and I'm a fan of "safe" builds like this because there isn't much room for error. Feedback is always welcome when constructive, but keep in mind that you should always tweak builds and strategies to your team, situation and preferential play style.

Items

Early game choices really just boil down to whether or not your team needs you to pick up a donkey or not. It's more important that you buy this since you're the support character so do it when you can. (It helps both you and your team more than any item you can buy from the get-go)

Even for a hero like Necro, who has relatively few mana issues, Wand is a great item. Gets you out of sticky situations with a nice instant heal, and can help with ganks on the fly if you need a quick burst of mana.

For boots, I'm a little more inclined to go with Phase Boots rather than Power Treads since the extra burst movement has made the difference in surviving more than once for me. Feel free to swap with power treads if you're more worried about taking an extra hit or two, rather than being able to run.

Picking up a Mek compliments your main spell, and will help you out if you start taking a few more hits than you can regen on your own. The armor boost will also help your teammates stay alive, and even allow you to push towers more effectively on your own if you want.

After all this, you should start thinking about what major items to start saving for. It's about this time in the game that you should identify what you need.
1) More staying power.
- Shiva's Guard will help you take hits, and the aura/active ability will help you blow up team fights.
- Pipe is really only needed if you recognize your team is being eaten alive by spells and nasty stuns. It's pretty hard to go wrong with this one, but not all games require it.

2) More Damage.
- Scepter will be your big one here; especially if you find yourself fighting against high HP heroes like Pudge. With scepter, and full skill, you can insta-kill any hero below 55% health. The core stats will help a bit with survive and regen too.
- Scythe is a bit harder to justify in some situations, but great if your team is having issues with heroes like Ursa that need to be shut down for a few seconds. The CC can and will make a difference in your team fight.

What's next?
- Bloodstone is a fantastic support item that will up your regen and health pool, heal your allies when you die, as well as cut down the gold your enemies get from killing you! Great item if you feel comfortable with your damage and staying power.
- Boots of Travel are a pure luxury item for Necro. If you find an extra 2k in your pocket, and want to be able to jump around the map to push lanes and defend your team; go for it. This is not something you should rush for though, since your ability to gank is limited.

Skills

Death Pulse is your Bread and butter; Max this first. AOE heal for your friends; and AOE damage for your enemies. The damage and heal are not particularly heavy, but the cooldown is relatively low. Spam whenever pushing hard, or in a teamfight.

Heartstopper Aura is a handy little aoe burn (similar to Radiance) that ticks away for a maximum of 1% life every second. Since 1%(Maxed) is not much early on, I recommend skilling this only after your other skills are finished. You will see more use from this in the late game. However; if you need help harassing during the lane phase; you could try taking 1 skill in it at level 4. Any more than that is a waste, honestly.

Reaper's Scythe is what makes sure you never really need mana regen items. Every last hit and deny you get, you get mana back. Simple as that. This will encourage you to farm well, and as often as you can. You will see more money in your pocket, and will be able to spam your Pulse whenever you need to.

Your ult is the bane of heroes like Pudge, Huskar, and high HP heroes alike. It deals damage based on how much HP is missing; at Max skill with scepter in hand, you can knock off anyone sitting just under 55% health. At rank one, it's closer to 30-40%. Fantastic for finishing close fights, or removing heroes and tanks from a fight (Which will send the rest of their team running for the hills.) You can also use this as a brief stun, because the ability DOES hold your opponent in place while the scythe comes down, but it is not advised.

Playing Necrolyte

My experience with Dota 2 has mostly been pubs, occasionally with a few friends. I am not a professional player, but I've done fairly well playing like this.

Necro is a reasonably soft hero early on, so do your best to avoid taking lots of damage if you can help it. Feel free to put a little harass on your opponents in lane if you can afford it, or need to share the cash a bit with your teammate(s). Make sure to keep yourself topped off with Tangos and have the donkey bring you more if you run out; always avoid trips back to base if you can.

Focus on last hitting and getting denies when possible (remember that they give you mana back too from your Scythe passive). You want to learn your character's normal attacks and master it as soon as possible, because with only two castable spells (Only one of which can be cast with any great frequency) you will live and die by your ability to last hit/deny efficiently.

While you probably won't be involved in many real ganks, it's good to be mindful of what your team is doing and when you're alone. Without a proper escape mechanism, you'll be susceptable to stuns and slows especially, so play smart and make sure you're not alone unless you know for sure it's safe and you have an escape path planned. Wards are perfectly reasonable as a support, so don't be afraid to use them. (Your team may rely on you for them, and in many pubs, get unused completely.

Choose your items appropriately and adhere to common dota strategy;
- Carry a TP scroll to move around and help your team as you need to. Especially once you have your Mek, you will make a big difference in team fights, so make sure you're around for them.

- Pay attention to pings and MIA calls, with low HP especially, you may get targeted for early ganks.

You will win your game by gaining a money / exp edge early on, and supporting your team through consistent damage, light heals, and good auras from items.

Have fun! Please leave feedback if you liked the guide, or have constructive feedback.

Changes

3/23/12 - Edited Skill Build to add a point of Heartstopper early. I still prefer early Sadist personally, but I encourage everyone to try it out and see what you like!

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