Lifestealer The Walking Dead

Introduction

N'aix is a ghoul or zombie and is very new player friendly. He is a very adept jungler, and is hard to push out of lanes do to his life steal. He is one of my main heroes and I always do well when playing with him (even in horrible games when other team is fed beyond belief I manage to remain with a positive K D A)

I however tend to disagree with what people consider to be his "core" items so I decided to write this guide. Hope you enjoy :)

Background Story

In the dungeons of Devarque, a vengeful wizard lay in shackles, plotting his escape. He shared his cell with a gibbering creature known as N'aix, a thief cursed by the Vile Council with longevity, so that its life-sentence for theft and cozening might be as punishing as possible. Over the years, its chains had corroded, along with its sanity; N'aix retained no memory of its former life and no longer dreamt of escape. Seeing a perfect vessel for his plans, the wizard wove a spell of Infestation and cast his life-force into N'aix's body, intending to compel N'aix to sacrifice itself in a frenzy of violence while the mage returned to his body and crept away unnoticed. Instead, the wizard found his mind caught in a vortex of madness so powerful that it swept away his plans and shattered his will. Jarred to consciousness by the sudden infusion of fresh life, N'aix woke from its nightmare of madness and obeyed the disembodied voice that filled its skull, which had only the one thought: To escape. In that moment Lifestealer was born. The creature cast its mind into dungeon guards and soldiers, compelling them to open locks and cut down their companions, opening an unobstructed path to freedom while feeding on their lives. Lifestealer still wears the broken shackles as a warning that none may hold him, but on the inside remains a prisoner. Two minds inhabit the single form--a nameless creature of malevolent cunning, and the Master whose voice he pretends to obey.

Pros / Cons

PROS:

• Amazing jungler
• Best lifesteal ability in game
• Good 1v1
• Hard to kill mid-late game
• Rage if timed right can block some spells
• New player friendly
• Can tank or carry (often times both)
• Easy to farm with

Cons

• Weak early game
• Low attack speed
• Item dependent
• Small mana pool

Skills

Rage
Key Bind: Q
Launch into a maddened rage, becoming immune to magic spells and gaining increased attack speed.
Attack Speed Bonus: 30%/45%/60%/80%
Duration: 2.5/3.25/4/4.75
Mana Cost: 75 Cooldown Time: 15

Tips: I use this while farming jungle at low levels and attacking enemy heroes. Awesome for escaping spells and ganks, but take a little practice with the timing.

---

Feast
Key Bind: W
Regenerates a portion of the attacked enemy's current HP and deals the same portion of damage per attack.
Life Leech: 4%/5%/6%/7%
Tips: This is a passive ability and is always active. Should always take first, other then that it is pretty self explanatory.

---

Open Wounds
Key Bind: E
Lifestealer rends an enemy, slowing the victim's movement speed and allowing allies to lifesteal on that unit, while regenerating a portion of all damage dealt. The victim recovers movement speed over 8 seconds, one step per second. All damage dealt will steal life, including damage from spells.
Casting Range: 600
Movement Speed Slow: 70%
Life Leech: 15%/20%/25%/30%
Mana Cost: 110 Cooldown Time: 24 / 20 / 16 / 12
Tips: Always open with this when getting ready to attack or gank a enemy hero as it is a good chasing or escaping tool. Do to N'aix's low mana pool I always try to make sure I have enough mana for this just in case.

---

Infest
Key Bind: R
Lifestealer will infest the body of the target unit, lying dormant and undetectable inside. When he reveals himself, he deals damage to all nearby enemy units. The Lifestealer can gain experience from units that die while he is Infesting a unit. If the unit is a creep, he will devour it first, gaining health equal to the unit's current HP. Does not work on enemy Heroes.
Damage: 150/270/400
Damage Radius: 700
Mana Cost: 50 Cooldown Time: 100
Tips: This is a good escaping tool and does damage enemy heroes that are near by, but other then that I don't really find it all that useful personally and the health you gain from feeding on the minions doesn't seem all that great to me. I normally don't put a point into this till level 11 and max it at 16 and 17, This is just my preference though and I'm sure some people will argue this. :P

Skill Build

• Feast
• Open Wounds
• Rage
• Feast
• Feast
• Open Wounds
• Feast
• Open Wounds
• Open Wounds
• Rage
• Infest
• Rage
• Rage
• Stat boost
• Stat boost
• Infest
• Infest
• Stat boost til maxed

Feast is always maxed first, take Rage at level 3 to help with kills, faster jungle farm and to escape spells from ganks then go back to putting points into Feast and Open Wounds. Put a point into Infest at 11 mainly for a escape tool, like I said earlier the health gain and damage you get from consuming minions doesn't seem worth it to me. After that just go back to maxing Rage taking stat boosts at levels 14 and 15 then Infest for 16 and 17 and back to maxing your stats

Items

Starting items: N'aix is a very good jungler and as such you will be spending time between the forest farming neutral creep camps and in lane helping push and scoring kills.

This will give you some survivability while farming neutral camps and a bit more sustain in lane as feast alone is not enough at low levels and ranged heroes can be pesky early game.

---

Early game:
(or if farming and kills/ganks have been good) and

Now here is where some people might argue my build. Most people think that getting Armlet is essential for N'aix due to helping his low attack speed and also giving him some hp regen, damage and armor since he has a low starting armor as well. I personally feel that for the cost (2600g) there are better things to spend my gold on. Your and Rage should be more then enough to boost your attack speed and rushing since it is a core item, will help you with your chasing issues and give you some nice extra damage.

---

Mid Game: Now at this point if you have yet to complete your and then do so now. Other wise start working on

A will vastly help your attack speed and will be used towards making end game or if you're still having issues with chasing
then make first for the maim.

---

End Game:


Not much to say about these items should be self explanatory. is a bit pricey though and normally a is more then enough but if you have been raping face then meh why not I say.

---

Extras: Now if farming and kills have been really good and you have the extra gold then I like to build a whats not to love about this item? Extra damage and a small aoe damage as well good for farming or just being annoying to any one dumb enough to get close to you at this point. Another great item is 40 str, 300 hp and a imba hp regen just makes you more tanky and harder to kill.

---

Situational Items: If your going up against a lot of big nukers or high damage/ big crit heroes then you might want to consider or a If for some reason you're still having trouble chasing a might be a good choice, but this really shouldn't be an issue.

---

In ending this might seem way to expensive but in reality it's not. I on average farm about 400-500g per minute with N'aix and find myself with more gold then I have space for items.

Gameplay

Early Game: N'aix should ALWAYS be top lane for Scourge or bot lane for Sent, and should NEVER!!!!!! go mid lane. The reason for this is you're going to be spending as much time in the jungles as you can farming neutral creeps as in lane pushing / defending. N'aix is one if not the best farmers in game and you should be trying to do this as much as possible when not needed in lane or for a team fight due to his item dependacy.

---

Mid Game: At this point you should be looking to gank, pushing lanes and helpng with team fights which will be starting to break out. Watch for ganks and farm jungles as much as possible going for the large neutral creep camps. Don't be afraid to farm enemy's jungle looking for a gank and or easy kill. If you're farming and early game phase went well you might be able to solo Roshan at this point, but this depends on items. Use Rage to burst towers down if you have the mana for it.

---

End Game: In team fights focus enemy carry's and squishy's first. Rage can save your life and help you resist enemy spells so try to time it right.

Hero Opposition Heroes

Recommended Allies:

• Stunners

Skeleton King
Laning with these heroes make picking up early kills very easy. Let them stun first while you run in and start whacking away at them, when stun wears off use Open Wounds to slow them down and pop Rage to finish them off.

• support

or any type of range since N'aix can easily be harassed by ranged heroes.

---

Worst Enemies:

• Stealth

Most of these heroes I find more annoying then anything else, though a few of them can do some stupid burst damage to you if caught unawares. and can easily counter them. Try not to buy a however. The reason being if you die you drop it and more often then not (especially in pub games) teammates will fail to pick this up leaving it for enemies to take or destroy thus wasting the 700g you spent on it or giving the enemy an advantage over any stealther's you may have.

• Mana drainers

N'aix has a very small mana pool and these heroes can make life tricky, especially if trying to Rage or Open Wounds to escape a gank.

In Closing

So This is how I play and build my N'aix and it works pretty well for me. Nothing is set in stone however and every game is different. I hope this helps new and old players with Lifestealer and is informative enough. This is only my second guide so be gentle when passing judgement. :P

Keep on Dota'n
-Dedish