Loveless' Guide to Night Stalker

Introduction

Hello, I am Loveless and this is my guide on Night Stalker. Any and all of my guides are built around my personal opinion of the Hero and how they should not only be built, but played. It is built off what I have done myself, which is a mixture of my own ideas and what I have seen others do, to make it the best I will be able to put forward in game with that Hero.

I will be going over the Hero Skills, Recommended Items, my Likes/Fears and Play Style for each phase of the game. Again, these are all of my personal opinions and you can take them with a grain of salt. Start with the build and use it until you get used to the hero before you start to build differently for every match.

Hero Skills

Your first skill, Void, greatly slows down an enemy and slows them down even longer at night, while doing a significant amount of damage for relatively no mana. This is a great way to focus down a carry or a weak hero to pummel into the dirt. If they decide to turn and fight you, guess what, it also slows their attack speed! Until recently, I did not level this first, but now I see that it is mandatory.

Night Stalker's second skill, Crippling Fear, silences an enemy for a short duration during the day and a much longer duration at night that also increases as you level it up. In addition to the silence, it gives them a chance to miss which is greatly improved at night. This will completely shut down a nuker/support/disable that is giving you trouble. If the enemy has two sources of damage that you need to get rid of, throw Crippling Fear on the one with the most damage and Void on the one with the fastest attack. Generally this works in your favor, quelling their damage and allowing you to defile their faces.

What makes this hero a monster of a Roamer, Carry and Ganker, is Hunter of the Night. It greatly improves his movement and attack speed during the course of each night. The boost is extremely significant for each point you put into this, so you want to level this directly after Void.

Darkness makes up for the fact that it's not always night and Night Stalker is generally a bad hero during the day since his skills are exponentially better at night, not to mention Hunter of the Night doesn't work at all. By activating Darkness you will pause the current day/night timer and make it night for a short duration. Notice that I said pause, because a lot of people do not know that by activating Darkness as often as possible during a natural night, you can actually extend the duration of each night. This also means using it during the day just prolongs that long period of night you can access, so use it only when you really need it. In most, almost all games, you should wait until the second night to make use of Darkness so do not level it until you hit 10.

Item Recommendations

Quelling Blade and some Tango usually do the trick for you early game, so you can focus on rushing your Battle Fury. Late game, it will give you all the damage you need with your attack speed and throughout the whole game, make your farm absolutely top notch. You should finish your Perseverance before you go roaming.

Phase Boots are a godsend for Night Stalker, your movement speed is off the charts during the night and you do not want to be hindered by those slow allies of yours. Run straight through them and to your targets, you do not need the extra attack speed from Power Treads with his Hunter of the Night.

From here I usually get a Mask of Madness, which will pretty much complete my generic Carry build for any game I play with Night Stalker. It has a higher life steal than Helm of the Dominator and you really have no need for stacking ancients since your farm is going to be naturally high. Instead, the movement and attack speed bonus you get from it's active will keep you deadly during the day. It also works well in conjunction with Blade Mail which is one of my preferred items on Night Stalker.

Any items after this are pure luxury and should be built towards the situation. If I find myself being focused down, I will go for a Heart of Torrasque, Blade Mail or Black King Bar; it depends on which would benefit me most. Mix and match these items in combination with my standard build, will usually work out the best. Mask of Madness and Battle Fury will handle all of your damage needs, the rest of your gold should be spent towards keeping you alive to do that damage. In a game with two auto attack heroes or ranged carries, a Shiva's Guard is absolutely priceless.

During games where you are fighting a Doom Bringer, Bloodseeker or Omniknight, you might find a Diffusal Blade much more pleasing than a Mask of Madness. Be my guest, the active on it works just like Void and can remove those annoying buffs from enemies/allies. Your next item from here should be a Manta Style to make more use of Diffusal Blade and since they get your passive as well, they are extremely deadly.

Sorry for my foolishness, I have seen the error in my ways. Focus on getting a Bottle, Magic Wand and Shadow Urn early into the game. This will allow you to spam Void throughout most of the match, greatly increase your survivability and make it seem as though you have a walking fountain in your hands.

Late game it really is about the situation, if they have an annoying disable Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a good grab and if their whole team feels like nothing but disables, there is the option of Black King Bar. Aghanim's Scepter and Heart of Torrasque can greatly increase your survivability, both of which are fantastic luxury items on Night Stalker.

About Night Stalker

Playing Night Stalker is pretty simple, by day you want to farm like you are a Hard Carry. By Night you want to run around and rape kids like a Pedophile. In general you should think of yourself as the ultimate combination of a Carry, Ganker and Roamer. Your two nukes allow you to disable down opponents, silencing a hero with a disable and slow the one you want to focus down.

Every cycle of day/night lasts six minutes each. Here is a quick chart for the normal times:

1st Day 0:00 to 5:59
1st Night 6:00 to 11:59
2nd Day 12:00 to 17:59
2nd Night 18:00 to 23:59
3rd Day 24:00 to 29:59
3rd Night 30:00 to 35:59

And so on. Now, in conjuction with how Darkness pauses the time cycles, you can make the first night last anywhere from one to two minutes longer. Now there is some strategy to be played with how this all works. Depending on how long each night to be and how fast the next one comes up, you have to use Darkness accordingly. If you decide to not use it at all until the second night at 18 minutes into the game, instead of it ending at 24 minutes, you could technically make it last up to four minutes longer, at 28 minutes. This can make Night Stalker an absolute monster if you plan this out with your team correctly.

Play Style

Early Game

For the first time in any of my guides, I actually do not want you in the short lane, pulling like a ******. Instead, take the long lane and play it safe. The reason for this is when you go off to gank, you will have a wider berth in which to freely move unseen. That's later though, for now we want to focus on controlling our lane. Last hits and get every attack in on your own creeps, even beyond the denies, just make sure you leave enough health to deny it even if the enemy attacks. Your entire goal is to keep your lane moderated and don't let your farm escape your grasp. You want to get that Perseverance as soon as possible, so get the Ring of Health out of the way and followed by a Void Stone, which you should be able to get sometime during the beginning of the first Night. Once you have the Perseverance in hand, look for an ally that is being pushed or pressured and get the overextending prick. You are Night Stalker and the entire arena is your territory when that sun goes down, don't let them defile it any longer.

By the end of the first Night, whether you decided to extend it with Darkness or not, you should be somewhere between 1000 to 2000 gold short on average, if you had a good Night, 200 to 1000, from your Battle Fury. Find a safe lane to return to and farm, if there really isn't one, you can still try, but jungling is always an option to safely get your Battle Fury, it is imperative that you get it as soon as possible. The faster you get it, the easier the rest of the game will be.

With it in hand, you now need your Phase Boots, so let the farming begin. You should easily clear waves with the 12-18m Battle Fury and not even worry about last hitting at this point, you'll get it all without trying. Unless your team is in dire need of your assistance, do not use Darkness and keep farming until the second Night.

Your Goals Early Game:

• Creep Score
• Play it Safe

Things to Avoid Early Game:

• Pushing
• Being Agressive
• Taking Risks

Middle Game

The second Night hits. In my opinion, this is where Night Stalker is at his absolute best and can absolutely punish an unprepared team. An ordinary Night lasts six minutes, if you are doing at least somewhat well, you can make this Night last up to ten minutes or even more. Unless the situation is different, like your team having some annoying Buffs or Debuffs, you will be getting a Mask of Madness. This item will absolutely pummel enemies into the ground for you, granting a significant amount of life steal and an unreal amount of attack speed in combination with Hunter of the Night.

To start off the second Night, go ahead and take both of the ancient camps if there aren't any easy ganks to start off with. From here, coordinate with your team and hopefully you have Observer Ward planted in good spots, preferably one in their jungle. It's time to go hunting! If at any time, the enemy team gets wiped out or damn near it, go take down Roshan and push the **** out of lanes. With Battle Fury, Hunter of the Night and Mask of Madness, you can push with little effort on your part. Continue doing this all Night long and if you aren't winning by a land slide, try a different team composition with Night Stalker.

Your Goals Middle Game:

• Farm During the Day
• Push and Gank by Night

Things to Avoid Middle Game:

• Farm During the Night
• Push and Gank by Day

Late Game

Night Stalker is one of the few carries who will never fall off, he can be a Hard-Carry, a Semi-Carry or a Support-Carry. It is entirely dependent on how you play him and what items you get. Have your team wait for the Night to do anything if you are playing the carry, you just won't be at your full potential and it will be a waste of time. During the Day, you and your team should play passively, be defensive, prepare for the upcoming Night and then go into a full offense.

Build towards survivability and unless you have a ranged carry that is being focused down in team fights, you will be getting the Aegis.

Your Goals Late Game:

• Farm During the Day
• Push and Gank by Night

Things to Avoid Late Game:

• Farm During the Night
• Push and Gank by Day

Outroduction

Well, that sums it all up for Night Stalker. For now and forever, please leave any comments about the Guide with what was good and what was bad, it will improve this and any future Guides made by myself or even others.

If you have any guides you would like me to make, please feel free to PM me or post in this guide's comment section to discuss it with fellow DOTAFIRE members.