Your Guide to Stopping Hearts

Introduction

Pros/Cons

PROS
Ranged Hero (550 range)
Can stop tanks with low health with Reaper's Scythe
Very valuable in team fights
Can be unstoppable if farmed mid/late game
Heartstopper Aura goes through magic immunity
When sadist is maxed you have nearly unlimited mana
Has a spammable AOE Nuke/Heal
Can be built in lots of different ways

CONS
If the enemy is smart will be focused down early in team fights
Reaper's Scythe is so pathetic at lvl 1
Not a good ganker
Can easily be solo ganked
Has big mana problems before sadist is maxed
Slow base movement speed (290)

Hero Stats

---

Skills

DEATH PULSE
Necrolyte releases a wave of death around him, dealing damage to enemy units and healing allied units.
Radius: 475
Damage: 75/125/200/275
Heal: 50/75/100/130
Cooldown 8/7/6/5 Mana 125/145/165/185
Combining his monk heritage with his newfound affinity for plague has a menacing result.
NOTES: Death pulse has only a cooldown of 5 seconds at 4th rank, so spam it all you can in team fights to AOE nuke/heal. You can use it to destroy creep waves as you will get the mana back with sadist
HEARTSTOPPER AURA
Necrolyte stills the hearts of his opponents, causing nearby enemy units to lose a percentage of their max health over time.
Radius: 1000
Max Health Lost Per Second: 0.6%/0.8%/1.0%/1.2%
Those who come within a short distance of the Necrolyte can feel pestilence and plague in the air.
NOTES: This goes through Magic Immunity and it also hit's invisible heroes, so if you get a hero like Templar Assassin to 30 hp or something and she goes invis, stay near her invis spot and you will eventually kill her.
This spell loses it's touch late game.
SADIST
Necrolyte regains mana for every unit he kills. At level 4, Necrolyte gains 600 mana for killing an enemy hero.
Mana Regained for a Creep: 12/24/36/60
Mana Regained for a Hero: 12/24/36/600
Poor souls who succumb to Rotund'jere's plagues are recycled for future use.
NOTES: Once you have this maxed out, you can spam your Death Pulse to obliterate creep waves and get the mana back. Also when it is maxed if you kill a hero you get a whopping 600 mana back!
REAPER'S SCYTHE
Stuns the target enemy hero, then deals damage based on how much life it is missing.
Range: 600
Stun Duration: 1
Damage Dealt Per Missing Hit Point: 0.4/0.6/0.9 (0.6/0.9/1.2*)
Cooldown 100/85/70 (70/70/70*) Mana 175/340/500 (150/340/500*)
Black King Bar: Damage is blocked; Stun is not
Can be Improved by Aghanim's Scepter (* shows the improved values).
The amount of death and suffering in the air increases the power of the Necrolyte's plague magic.
NOTES: Only use your green evil destroying bone crushing scythe of doom when you will get the kill. Because when you get the kill you will get all the mana back for using the skill (500 mana at rank 3!) Also when you have
Aghanim's Scepter you can kill any hero without magic resistance on 55% health.
But because of magic resistance look for heroes that are at least below 40% health.

Items

Starting:

For your starting items get 2 Iron Branches for the extra stats and also to take some harass damage. Get 1 Mantle of Intelligence for some extra damage that you need early game. If there are no supports or anything that should get a Animal Courier, then get one. For some regen get 2 Tangoes and a Healing Salve


Early Game:
Get your Boots of Speed straight away when you have the money for movement speed. Get a Headdress for nice HP regen, but also as it is a component of your core, Mekansm. Optional items are Magic Wand and Null Talisman for the INT boost, but if you don't want to get these, then save up for your Mekansm.


Core Items:
Rush your Mekansm straight away, even before your boots. The burst healing is good for your team and the sooner you have it you will have a higher chance of winning team fights. necrolyte is arguably the best Mekansm carrier in the game. Now necrolyte has a wide choice of boots:

BOOTS:

Phase Boots: This in my opinion is the best choice of boots for necrolyte as the burst movement speed can get you out of sticky situations and can also help you chase down fleeing heroes on low health. Now the +24 damage doesn't seem much for necrolyte, but it does help a lot (especially early game) for some extra damage.

Power Treads: Power Treads are arguably the most flexible and reliable boots you can have, and a great choice for necrolyte. Being able to switch stats whenevr you like is great. Health, Mana and physical DPS. Amazing.

Arcane Boots: Great boots for necrolyte late game but once you have sadist maxed
you should never have to use this. So Arcane Boots aren't such a great choice for necrolyte but you could disassemble it if you are going for a Bloodstone ( the Energy Booster.)

Tranquil Boots: Quite a new item and the cheapest boots but not a great choice for necrolyte, unless you want more movement speed. You don't need healing because you have a spammable heal and you have a Mekansm. So Tranquil Boots are a NO

Boots of Travel: Not good boots for necrolyte as your choice early game because of the price and such. Although you shouldn't buy it early game, late game you should sell your boots and tp scrolls and buy a pair of Boots of Travel for good mobility.


Now Decide:
These items depend on the match and the heroes.
If you need a good disable to disable a carry for enough time to kill him/her, get a Scythe of Vyse.

Aghanim's Scepter: If your finding tanky heroes like Axe and Slardar and find they get on half health a lot, then go for an agh's to boost your Reaper's Scythe to kill them on half health.

Usually I like to build necrolyte to survive, as that is the key to success with him, and the golden rule to win team fights.
Bloodstone: Getting a Bloodstone would be good for the extra HP and Mana but if you want to be a lot more tanky and survivable then go for a Heart of Tarrasque: A Heart is better for mega health regen and raw HP that you need to pwn.

Shiva's Guard: This item helps a lot in team fights (the AoE Nuke and slow). Getting a shiva's is usually the best choice mid game for necrolyte.

Pipe of Insight: If you want to win team fights even more then get a pipe for huge magic resistance that will help you guys easily win team fights. But don't get it if the enemy team consists of physical damaging heroes, or else it will be a waste of money.

Force Staff: If you need more escape mechanisms than get a Force Staff. It can help you or your team mates escape and can make your enemy get dragged forward too.
Force Staff is usually a good idea but I would rather go for something like a heart or shiva's before I get it.

Gem of True Sight: If you need to find cowardly invisble heroes like Clinkz, Bounty Hunter and Riki than get a gem, or get one of your team mates to get a gem (anyone who doesn't die so easily(which should be you.).

Necronomicon: This is also a good idea if you want to find invisible heroes easier. The summons have true sight and can help you push towers, or just be your personal bodyguards. When they die, they explode.

dagon: This is good if you want more burst damage at some point. It has good burst damage to make up for your low nukes, although you shouldn't ever be trying to kill a hero by yourself, you'll probably die miserably.

Hood of Defiance: This is another magic resistance one, you will have high magic resistance which is also good for the team fight, making you last longer. Although don't get it if the enemy team has mostly physical damage dealers.

Ghost Scepter: Ghost scepter is good if you find your enemy team has a Juggernaut who uses his ulti a lot on you. If you pop the scepter when he is using his ulti, it will do no damage to you, and then you can run away, unharmed...

Eye of Skadi: This is a pretty good choice for necrolyte. The stats, HP and Mana gain are amazing but the orb effect is really good too if you have no other orbs. The cost is pretty high so I always end up with a heart before this.

Laning and Stuff

Usually necrolyte can go bot or mid lane. If there is a jungler on your team then solo bot. necrolyte is a great solo-er middle or bottom. He can harass by simply standing near the enemy with Heartstopper Aura and can auto-attack them out of the lane.
Try to get as much last hits as possible to make sure your farmed as can be mid and late game.
Winning lane control is quite easy as necrolyte unless your up against a real "Lane Winner" e.g. Huskar.

Starting

This bit is quite easy as necrolyte. Standing near your enemies will harass them and you can always auto-attack them to do more damage, but focus more on Last Hitting and Denying.
Once you've picked up a sadist at level 5, don't be scared to use your Death Pulse, but don't spam it or you'll find that you will have no mana.
If your up against a hero like Huskar. Don't go in there and get melted by him. Be careful when up against lane winning heroes and don't waste all of your regen at 1:00

Early Game

OVERVIEW:Stay in your lane as much as possible. The longer you stay in your lane, the more farm you get. This farm will result in better items and usually more damage will be done to the opponent. The ability to spam Death Pulse is average, not too high and not too low. Use your mana carefully and get those last hits to power up the Death Pulse.

By now you should have your ultimate, the mighty Reaper's Scythe. I don't suggest going for too many ganks, as you should stay in your lane and farm until your swimming in cash. Although you shouldn't go for ganks, try and get your team mates to come gank in your lane, as the extra experience and gold (if you get the last hit), especially if your in the bot lane. Also, be careful of ganks from the enemy team. If one of your team mates call "mia" or "ss" or something be careful and stay back until they are announced returned.
Remember, you have a heal. If your ally in your lane is low on health, simply Death Pulse
near them to heal them up.
Keep farming and stuff

Mid Game

OVERVIEW: Here is the stage where you start to peak. At this point, you should be pretty tank-y. If you're lucky you will have a Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse, which allows you to basically spam Death Pulse without stopping. Use your ultimate on weakened heroes, if possible don't kill them, leave that to the carry. Remember, there's a 1.5 second stun on your ultimate. However, don't try to always let your carry get the kill if you're afraid that the kill might be missed.

At this point start raiding towers and destroying them all one by one, as well as defending a push. In team fights, spam your death pulse to destroy and heal allies/enemies. Only use your green scythe of death when can get the kill yourself. The idea is to get the mana back from using the skill first by killing a hero. Be there whenever your team is doing a push, as your Mekansm and Death Pulse can mean the victory for your team in fights.
Maybe if your team is up for it go and kill the ugly big fat roshan and let the hardest carry get the aegis or whoever your team chooses to. Your Heartstopper Aura loses it's touch mid game because the health drain isn't that much to heroes mid game.
Don't try to go for ganks by yourself. Your not a good ganker, only go with your team mates to gank.

Late Game

OVERVIEW: Try to end it around here if possible. Anything too late and you will become weaker, however your ultimate will scale really well. Remember to buy those BoTs if it gets too late. The Death Pulse and Shiva's Blast should be able to clear massive creep waves.

This is when you should be feared as the brutal Necrolyte. Now you should be doing huge pushes straight through a lane to barracks or vice versa and should be defending. Be careful of hard carries and don't try to go 1v1 with them, you'll die terribly and don't go for ganks by yourself. Farm if you need gold for an item you desperately need or else assist your team in pushing. Remember to spam Death Pulse in team fights as well as Mekansm when needed. If roshan hasn't been conquered yet then by all means get your team and go for it. If your hungry then grab the Cheese.
Only let rip your green dominating hungry scythe of doom when you can get the kill or you will have lost tonnes of mana as well as your ulti. Try not to farm by yourself in lanes. Your very vulnerable and could easily be ganked. Stay with your team to prevent that.

Allies and Enemies

ALLIES:
: He can babysit you and keep you alive if your with him in bottom lane. He is a great protector and late game make your chance of winning team fights even higher.
: Another great protector. Dazzle has good skills to keep you alive in random ganks and you will find him saving you a lot if you lane with him.
: His combination of stun and nuke can you leave enough room for you to unleash your crushing scythe to get the kill. Not that you want to kill steal though....
: The Anti-Tank. Go gank the tank with him. Let him knock the tank down to low HP and BOOMULTI and the victim is dead.

FOES
: Well he is very annoying playing against him with any hero really, but since the damage of reapers scythe is dealt at the end of the stun, he can heal your target before the damage is done, making him get more HP = Less damage. Also makes your chance of winning team fights LOW. SO basically you want him on your side.
: If he targets you, your dead. Simple, eh?
: He can easily gank you when your alone (which you should never be) and can kill you before you put up a fight. To counter this is to stay with your team, get a gem and find him.
: His hook and his ulti will leave you on either low HP or Dead. Although if you your dead by the end of his combo use Death Pulse + Mekansm and RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!


IMBA:
: At level 16 his Life Break with your Reaper's Scythe against someone with little magic resistance = KILL!

GODLIKE!!

Screenshots

Well here are the screenshots. Most of these matches were so short I didn't get much time to get my items (the shortest one there is 29 minutes). My most common boots were Treads although one of them I got Phase.
Every match I got a Mekansm and a Shiva's, but one of them at the end I sold my boots (you see I have no boots in one of the screenshots) to go for Boots of Travel but I didn't get enough time to.



They're not exactly screen shots, but matches I played: https://dotabuff.com/players/98029993/matches?hero=necrolyte&lobby=normal

Summary

Thank you for reading my guide to necrolyte even if you did not enjoy it. ALTHOUGH if you didn't like it leave some CONSTRUCITVE criticism for me to help me improve. I hope if you were new to necrolyte that you got an idea of how to play him or if you aren't new then I still hope you got the idea of it and all that.

Thank you for reading,
~wild