[Hero] Night Stalker - Page 3

On January 11 2015 08:40 Belisarius wrote:
So what's the optimal way to use darkness since the patch where it pauses the day/night cycle?

I don't feel like I'm using it very effectively now. I'm just dropping it on CD at night and saving it for fights during the day. Is that all you can do?

That change seemed like a massive nerf to me...

On July 29 2015 13:30 Nightmarjoo wrote:
Bottle is necessary, but leave urn for your supports. Yes it's good on him, but no, he doesn't no-shit need it.
Treads are for sure the best boots on him-- tread swapping helps his mana go a long way, and without the IAS boost during the day hitting things is extremely painful.

Your starting items are dependent on whatever is going to help you maximize your effectiveness during the first night, and by extension the early laning phasùe prior to the first night. Since he's such a shitty laner, even if you're going mid (I think he's a better offlaner if their offlane isn't too terrifying), that usually amounts to rushing your bottle and mostly last-hitting with just your nuke when you can't aggro-control an easy last-hit towards yourself. I just go naked bottle, and then boots into treads. A stout shield might be necessary in offlane, but shouldn't be obligatory in mid if you control creep aggro well. Any other extra regen or stats items don't really give you much-- you want to have treads up before the first night is over.

I really like blink after treads on him. It lets you maximize your damage during the Void slow, instead of having to catch up to them after you slow them. It lets you get out of sticky situations letting you gank with greater impunity. Lastly, being able to blink slow or blink silence gives you a way to be useful during the day.

Drum isn't terrible, but isn't fantastic either. I'm not sure if I recommend it at all or not-- maybe it's a substitute for blink in games where you're sucking early.

Don't build Aghs, it's a giant waste of gold.

If you're trying to be a consistent damage source over the course of the game (2nd farm priority and secondary damage source) maelstrom can be decent, basher is alright, and deso isn't bad. Often you have to grab BKB as your first major item though to continue to be a threat as the enemy catch up on levels.

AC, Halberd, Silver Edge, and to a lesser degree S/Y are all solid late-midgame/early-lategame pickups for a secondary damage dealer. Honestly you could probably get away with skipping the Blink to rush out Silver Edge in games you're doing well early.

For a more utility focused NS (3rd farm priority, or your team already has 2 other good damage sources) pipe, vlads, solar crest, AC again, Shiva, Halberd again, maybe Lotus?, maybe Atos, and maybe Necrobook are all good options, which you choose and in which order is entirely situational on the game.

I could see a NS going something like S/Y or Halberd, maybe Solar Crest, and then Skadi being a pretty decent anti-carry build if you already have 2 good damage sources and your 4 position support is getting some of the utility items mentioned above (as opposed to shit like force/blink/aghs), or if the enemy only has one good lategame damage source and they're not illusion based (e.g. a Sven, Lifestealer, or Alchemist in particular, but even the ranged agility carries as well).


As for skill build I definitely prefer favouring and maxing E first. Q first for csing, then two levels in your passive, and then I usually grab a second level in your first skill. Unless your supports are fighting someone fragile with a free escape spell and your 3-55 s silence could in conjunction with their nukes and disables make the difference between getting a kill and not (e.g. QoP, AM, Weaver, BH, etc), I wouldn't bother leveling it yet.

Your primary goal is maximizing your damage in the first night-- your damage comes from your IAS buff from passive on targets slowed by your nuke. The nuke scales poorly from the first to second rank, and especially if you get zoned so hard such that you're only level 3 at 4 minutes you're going to get more dps out of hitting them with an additional 15 IAS.

Not to mention that because his mana pool is so poor, even with consistent bottle use you're liable to running out of mana, so finding yourself with a slightly cheaper if weaker nuke isn't the end of the world. If you run out of mana before the first night is over your priority is still to remain a presence on the map, so you want to minimize wasting time healing and restoring mana beyond what is absolutely necessary. Therefore maximizing your MS and IAS takes priority to further leveling your nuke.

On July 29 2015 19:23 Habitus wrote:


Asks for support advice which is position 4/5 and then you talk about position 1-3 Nightstalker.

Silence is picked up if it is needed for the gank in first night, so usually as a support you pick up 1 point in the other 2 skills and then hold the lvl 3 skill point if there is a hero you might need the silence for.

Aghs is good on support to provide vision if your team has heroes to take advantage of it ie clock for hooks, blink initiation heroes and so on.

On July 29 2015 19:35 HammerKick wrote:


I find aghs really amazing on this hero, it's just insane in any situations.

I never really tested offlane nightstalker, but it probably works the same way: an utility ns with urn treads and farming an aghs.

I think pos 1/2 night stalker is a thing of the past, he gets kited way too easily and cannot do anything against gyro, qop, lesh, etc