[Hero] Nyx Assassin

Verrou

France193 Posts

March 24 2014 16:49 GMT

Nyx Assassin

Deep in the Archive of Ultimyr, shelved between scholarly treatises on dragon cladistics and books of untranslatable spells, there is an ancient tome of entomological curiosities. Compiled by scholars, the book describes the telepathic talents of the zealot scarab, a strange species of social insect with abilities unique to all the seven planes.

Unlike most grubs of his colony, Nyx Assassin did not arise from metamorphosis with the plodding thoughts and blunted appendages common to the worker caste of his kind. For his was a special transformation, guided by the grace of Nyx. He was the chosen one, selected from the many and anointed with an extract of the queen goddess herself. Not all survive the dark blessing of the queen's chamber, but he emerged with a penetrating mind, and dagger-like claws—his razor sharp mandibles raking the air while his thoughts projected directly into the minds of those around him. Of all zealot scarabs, he alone was selected for the highest calling. After his metamorphosis, he was reborn, by grace of Nyx, with abilities which shaped him for one thing and one thing only: to kill in the name of his goddess.

For abilities, stats, and other information, visit this hero's Liquipedia page here: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/dota2/Nyx_Assassin

Nyx Assassin, the ... Nyx... Assassin...?

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Item Builds
III. Skill Builds
IV. How to play
V. Video Guide and VODs
VI. Conclusion
VII. FAQ
VIII. Changelog

I. Introduction

Nyx Assassin, also known as Nerubian Assassin from Dota 1 and shortened NA, is a melee agility ganker hero who can play either as a support, offlaner or mid. His stats gain (average strenght and int gain, poor agi gain for an agi hero) would make him scale pretty badly if it wasn't for a very good and versatile skillset. Mostly known for his very strong 1v1 ganking potential due to both his ultimate, vendetta, and his spiked carapace that can reflect any damage dealt to him, Nyx Assassin is feared amongst CM games and pubs alike. Let's have a look at that armored bug:

Stats

18+2.00
19+2.2
18+2.1
300 ms
3.66 armor
30-34 base dmg (49-53 with agi bonus @level1)

When should I pick Nyx Assassin?
Pick Nyx whenever you want a strong ganker, when you need an offlaner or a support with a stun, against squishy lineups made of intelligence heroes and if your ennemies pick Nature's Prophet or Tinker.

When should I not pick Nyx Assassin?
Avoid picking Nyx if you are not confident on using Impale, already have an offlaner and a mid and the enemy has picked no int or mana-dependent hero, you have too much melee and/or invis heroes in your team; if you want to play him as a support with another melee support, or you're afraid of bugs. Nyx is still a very versatile hero with a lot of disables and damage, so he'll always be useful, but in these conditions there will be other heroes more suited for your team and against your enemies' team.

Advantages
- Decent strength gain;
- Insane 2.5 base hp regen that allows him to offlane;
- Two long disabling skills, Impale (2,77 maxed) and Spiked Carapace (2.4);
- Arguably the best invis skill ingame (on par with Slark and Riki);
- Very good survivability with Spiked Carapace;
- Mostly item independent;
- Nyyyyyx nyx nyx nyx nyxnyxnyx.

Disadvantages
- Very mana intensive;
- Hard to aim Impale on moving target;
- Spiked Carapace may sometimes requires psychic reflexes;
- Poor farming/anti-pushing;
- Low agi gain, which means low damage and armor;
- Level dependent.

Hero Synergy
Good Allies

Notable allies are good gankers with blink abilities like Storm or QoP; heroes with global skills that will allow you to get kills easier, most notably AA and Quas-Exort Invoker; Lifestealer, who can Infest you for a good gank. Anything that can increase his ganking threat to the point no enemy hero will wander alone.

Bad Enemies

Heroes with skills that deal damage over a continuous period of time, on whom you can't reflect a lot of damage; any silence is very bad, so beware of orchid carriers. Na'ix is fairly dangerous because you can't Carapace him when raged. Slardar and Bounty Hunter give vision of you and both deal mostly physical damage, to which you're pretty susceptible. Silencer may cause some problems if you're not careful. Most of his weaknesses can be addressed with a force staff, a ghost scepter, or even a bkb in the worst cases though, so it's mostly a question of execution and good itemisation.

Items That Kill You:

Sentries, dust and gem are the bane of any Nyx relying on Vendetta to either initiate or run. Against sentries, Blink or Force staff is your best weapon. Against dust, Blink/Force staff or Euls into Vendetta if they use it prematurely (don't rely on it though as the enemy can wait for you to use it if they chase in most cases, so don't buy Euls for this reason alone). Against Gem... kill the gem carrier with friends. There is not much else to do, sadly.
Orchid is an item you reaaaaally hate as Nyx because all your abilities are active. Blink with fast reflexes before taken damage (unreliable), Force staff to run away, Linkens to prevent it altogether, BKB or Ghost Scepter depending on the kind of damage you have to evade, Euls or Manta to dispel silence... But don't buy any of these two only to prevent silence though, there's a reason they are situational.
Scythe of Vyse, as for any other hero, gets you killed.
Desolator/Medallion of Courage/Assault Cuirass: You have poor agi gain and won't probably buy any armor item. You are thus prone to suffer from physical damage. Ghost scepter, Force staff, or a well-timed carapace with the amplified damage will help you against this.
Necro 3: as much as it helps you, it kills you. It burns your mana very quickly, turning you into a big creep; the multiple sources of damage negate the importance of carapace; they give truesight and you can't escape with Vendetta. Blink before taking damage, Force staff, or Ghost Scepter (which won't really get you out of trouble but prevent damage for some time).

Nyx Assassin on Liquipedia

[image loading]

Impale
Legacy:E
Rock spikes burst from the earth along a straight path. Enemy units are hurled into the air, then are stunned and take damage when they fall.
Mana cost: 95/115/135/155
Cooldown: 13
Range: 700
Radius: 125
Stun duration: 1.27/1.77/2.27/2.77
Damage: 80/140/200/260
Impale is a very strong AoE stun that was nerfed recently so that you can't target it on heroes directly, which makes it a lot harder to use in a 1v1.Its strong points are the low cooldown (11 seconds) and a good disabled time (0.52 air time + 2.77 maxxed with a lovely 0.5 second scaling time). Its damage is rather low though, but it's a nice bonus to the stun. Use it to initiate, stop tps/channeling spells, save people from certain death, to farm when the game gets very passive, and generally to annoy the enemy team to no end. It is very important you know how to stop-cancel the animation so that you can bait a juke without using your skill, allowing you to actually land it once your enemy is forced a certain path. If you can't, or if the enemy heroes are too mobile, ask for a set-up stun first.
As of 6.81, impale's CD is increased by 2 seconds but goes through Linkens (at least!). It makes it more important not to miss impales, and nerfs Nyx's power in long skirmishes, but should be hardly noticeable in short engagements. Overall, I'd say it's more a buff than a nerf, as linkens is a popular item nowadays, and it makes Impale more reliable in the late game against Linkens carries/teams.

Mana Burn
Legacy: R
Destroys the target hero's mana equal to a multiplier of its Intelligence, and deals damage equal to the mana burned.
Mana cost: 100
Cooldown: 28/20/12/4
Range: 600
Intelligence multiplier: 3.5×/4×/4.5×/5×
Mana Burn is a very nice spell that will make all squishy intelligence supports fear you, and makes your damage relevant throughout the whole game even when behind. Its cd is very long at low levels but you don't have the mana to sustain constant spam of it then so it's not important; it does a multiplier of your victim's intelligence as damage and mana burn, so it gets stronger the stronger your enemy gets. OD, Pugna, Silencer despise this skill, any hero with limited mana pool hates it, Use it as burst in short fights and to limit the number of spells your enemies can cast in long skirmishes. It's also the skill that allows you to counter very effectively both NP and Tinker when they split push, although if they have a huge farm advantage over you they'll still kill you 1v1.

Spiked Carapace
Legacy:D
When activated, Spiked Carapace reflects and negates damage dealt to Nyx Assassin (max once from each source), as well as stunning the source of the damage.
Mana cost: 40
Cooldown 23/20/17/14
Duration: 2.25
Damage returned: 100% of negated damage
Stun duration: 0.6/1.2/1.8/2.4
Your main survivability skill, it allows you to wander proudly where no bug has ever been before, by which i mean the middle of a fight. Prevents most heroes from retaliating against you in a 1v1 gank for 2.25 seconds for fear of having you kill them even easier. Very good against slow projectile-base bursts, can be devastating with fast reflexes against any other kind. Still, requires good reaction time, and a good read of your opponent who can try to bait the carapace with a cancelable animation. Against dots heroes, forget about the damage and use it for the stun.

Vendetta
Legacy:V
Allows Nyx Assassin to become invisible and gain a speed bonus. If Nyx Assassin attacks to break the invisibility, massive bonus damage is dealt with the attack.
Mana cost: 160/210/260
Cooldown 70/60/50
Fade time: 0
Duration: 20/35/50
Bonus movement speed: 16%/18%/20%
Bonus damage: 250/400/550
This is the skill that defines you as a ganker. 0 second fade time, invisibility breaks only if the attack lands (so not if dodged), gives a good bonus speed and doesn't break tp channeling. The CD is low, the damage is high: what else? Well, you kinda need the second level for it to be really useful, because the first one gives invis only for 20 seconds, and if you really want to fish for enemies in their jungle you may need more than 20. Once you're level 11 though, you're good to go. Use it as an escape, as an initiating tool, as a chasing skill...use it to scout and kill, but don't go and try to force kills when your enemies are playing too passive, as you will probably fail to find them and get behind on both levels and farm. Don't be afraid to break invisibility with impale vs highly mobile heroes (Puck, Storm, QoP) if you know you have backup, otherwise, try to find easier targets, as these guys are likely to dodge your follow-up impale.

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II. Item Builds

Starting Items
Depending on your role and preferences; my preference goes to the following builds:

Offlane Nyx:
[image loading]

Stout shield
Tango
Salve/Tango
Iron Branch/Clarity
Iron Branch.

Support Nyx:
[image loading]

Courrier
Observer Wards (As you have no range, leave the sentries to the second support)
Tango
Clarity
Iron Branches/Clarities

Mid Nyx:

[image loading]

Into

Situational:
[image loading]

Either 2xBranches and a tango for bottle rush against easy matchups or if confident, or same as offlane. If playing against a passive melee, you can change the stout shield and the two branches for either slippers of agility or a mantle and a circlet. Some matchups may call for boots first, like playing vs Pudge or Razor, but these matchups aren't the ones you want to go for as a Nyx...

Early game

[image loading]

Boots and Magic Stick. If doing well, either accelerate your Arcanes or go for Null Talisman - Urn of Shadows, which together serve the same role of expanding your mana pool while giving you mana regen, and giving you further advantage with each kill. You can also go for this build if you're doing very poorly and can't gather the 1000gold you need for the mana booster.

Urns+Nulls

[image loading]

Reasoning behind the Nulls-Urn is that if you're doing really well, the urn gives you mana and hp sustain while the nulls gives you some mana pool while also accelerating Dagon. However, as we will see later, Dagon is not your most important item; go for this only if you can get a very fast Dagon to hunt down valuable targets, like an SF, a Storm, or any core you couldn't kill otherwise. And if you're behind, Nulls-Urn is mostly there for the cheap cost-efficient stats with some utility; your main goal would still be to reach mana boots, but it's better to have Nulls-Urn at the 20th minute than having simple boots and dying every time you reach 500 gold. Remember though, buying Urn delays your Dagon in the first case, so it might be better to go straight for it if snowballing.

!Note!
The best choice is almost always to quicken mana boots, go for these builds at your own peril!

Boots

Mana boots are the best choice in most cases; they give you a mana pool high enough to use all of your spells once and then some, and give you a good mana sustain while roaming. The most standart boots on Nyx.

[image loading]

As a mid, you can argue that phase give you better last hits while bottle solves your mana problem. You can also use a Soul Ring then to supplement your mana and burst mana pool, or go for one of the situational items that provide you with mana.

[image loading]

Power threads on Agility can also be used in the same fashion while also providing mana with thread switching and can be considered as a middle ground.

!Note!
Remember, both these boots choices are situational and you should take them only if you are sure you can manage your mana correctly!

Do not buy tranquils, as you already have pretty high base regen, and you are more in need of mana and damage than hp regen and armor.
Lategame or vs split pushers, you might want Boots of Travel, as they give you great mobility to setup ganks and counterganks, and free one of your inventory spots, which are very limited. Remember to watch your mana usage then!

Core

Mana Boots is the only item I consider "core" on Nyx Assassin, as they solve most of his mana issues and allow him to roam the map. There is however the debate between Dagon Nyx and Blink Nyx: which one is a better first item?

Blink or Dagon? [image loading]

If you have to chose between Blink or Dagon, you have to examine what these items allow you to do.
Blink is very versatile: it gives you mobility, which allows you to engage or flee from battles. It has no mana cost anymore, so your mana isn't drained by it. It allows you to chase fleeing enemies, so you can get off more bugslaps, and maybe one more Mana Burn or Impale. It's also cheaper than Dagon. The only weaknesses of Dagger is that it only gives mobility, no stats nor regen nor survivability, it gets disabled by any hero damage which prevents you from blinking out and restrains the angles in which you blink in against aoe dots (I'm mostly thinking of radiance). All in all, it's still a very good item that allows you to get kills you shouldn't be able to, setup kills with your allies, initiate fights, and survive ganks. It helps negate the use of sentries to prevent your initiation with Vendetta too, but enemy supports will still have to buy them to prevent you from doing it, or from escaping after a blink-stun initiation.

Dagon, on the other hand, provides you with a 400 magical damage single target nuke, It gives you some intel, which helps with the added mana cost of the active. It's main use is to finish heroes you wouldn't be able to kill with your usual damage, which may scare the enemy team and make them play more conservatively, but if you get no pickoffs, it's mostly wasted. If you only get low profile pickups (starved supports), it's mostly wasted. Its main utility is then to have you kill enemy cores that are too tanky for you to kill otherwise and on which you can still initiate with or out of Vendetta: a lot more situational. It's also more expansive than Dagger, which gives a further reason to prefer Blink over it. Only a Nyx Core (mid or crushing offlance) item.

[image loading]

Force staff is also a very good pickup on Nyx if you can't seem to gather 2150 gold before dying. It gives good intel, some regen, and another form to initiate/escape. It can also help you save your teammates and is always a safe pickup on Nyx. Can be a Nyx Support first item, and should be considered as a second item after blink.

[image loading]

Lastly, Urn of Shadows is a very good, cheap item on Nyx that has a lot of utility for his team. However, if you're going the Blink route, it's very important to get a fast one, which Urn will delay quite a bit. Mostly a support Nyx item.

Late game

-Scythe of Vyse

Late game items for Nyx include a wide variety of utility luxuries. The most classic one is the Scythe of Vyse, which gives good stats, good mana regen, and a very good disable to initiate on bkb carries which can be followed with an easy Impale.

[image loading]

-Ethereal Blade

Another choice would be the Ethereal Blade, which greatly improves your solo kill potential, your survivability against physical dpsers and gives you good stats for good damage; your slaps will actually tickle some heroes with it.

[image loading]

-Dagon (upgraded)

If you didn't get it earlier, you can go for Dagon and upgrade it, as the later the game goes on the lower bkb time there will be left for carries and it will be relevant again.

[image loading]

-Necronomicon

Necrobook is also a very good item for Nyx and his team: good stats, more manaburn makes your enemies cry, you add another reason not to spam aoe spells with the necro warrior, you help your team's push, you can spot invis... a great item overall.

[image loading]

-Black King Bar

Finally, if you have to face a lot of magic damage and disable, get yourself a bkb, carapace only works once every 14 seconds.

Optional Items

Optional items for Nyx are mostly very situational, as any combination of the previous ones will usually suffice against any kind of game. However, there is always the odd one...

-Ghost Scepter
The least situational item here is ghost scepter. It gives you good survivability against right clicks and some stats; however, you'll find you don't need it some times, and other times you'd rather have a force staff that can also help you chase and/or save your allies. Still, it can be upgraded later to be an Ethereal Blade, so it's not entirely useless to your team.

-Eul's Scepter
Another situational item is Eul's Scepter, which gives you very good mana regen, speed, and a nice setup for Impale if you have trouble aiming it. It also doubles as a poor man's Scythe, as it allows you to take one enemy out of the fight for its 2.5 second duration. If you go for it, then you shouldn't need mana boots, as Eul's is enough mana and mana pool by itself for most of your needs. You can then either skip them, using only plain boots, or go for either threads or phase.

-Orchid Malevolence
I have been told Orchid can be good on Nyx, but while I agree its active is very useful against certain heroes and it helps a ton with Nyx's mana problems, I wouldn't advise it in any other case than against an Anti-Mage, Faceless Void, or Ember and with a quick timing; basically before manta or bkb. Most of the time though, you'd prefer to save just a little bit more and get a Scythe.

-Shiva's Guard
Since Nyx often finds himself in the midst of his enemies, a Shiva's Guard can be a good pickup lategame, solving his mana pool issues, giving him some nice armor and allowing him to have a stronger teamfight presence. Not a must-have, but still nice.

-Mekansm
While Nyx already has some mana troubles, he also lacks armor while he finds himself very often in the midst of battles; if noone else on your team is building it and you can afford it when it is still usefull, you can build a mek. It goes against everything Nyx stands for, but when times are tough you might have to make sacrifices for your team. And hey, free armor*.
(*and by "free" I mean "It's cheaper than shivas, get over it")

-Desolator
An item that I never used myself and made me feel all dirty inside when I heard about it is Desolator. While I understand the urge to go and one-shot squishies with vendetta, and am myself fairly frustrated by how soft Nyx's caress is to his enemies when not jumping out of ultimate, I'd rather have any other kind of ranged magic burst or utility than an orb I can only use once or twice in battle without fear of dying. Still, I can understand the thought process behind it, and I guess it can be usefull against low-armor carries like an ember spirit, or if you already have Ethereal Blade and thus quite good attack speed and survivability, so it's very situational at best.

-Medallion
Never tested it myself, but as a follow-up to blink, blink->stun->medallion->vendetta, it can be an alternative to this horrible Desolator idea. Would help with Rosh and farming too, some armor, some mana regen... still situational

-Manta Style:
Very unconventionnal, allows you to be noticed by ennemies when tickling them, chase faster, but more importantly, dispel silences while helping pushes. Confuses enemies in teamfights when they don't know which one already used carapace, gives you some stats... very, very situational.

-Linkens Sphere:
A defensive item, takes your mana troubles away, gives you stats... but no agressive power. Get it for your carry, but you shouldn't need it too much yourself with Carapace.

-Vlads:
Not a bad aura, helps a little with mana issues, a nice pickup for your carry when you're a support I guess. Buy it if noone else does, you're a support and your team is built around pushing/it's lategame.

-Rod of Atos, Skadi, Pipe, Drums, Aquilas, Veil, Heaven's Halberd, (support) Diffusal Blade: Any of these items can prove to be useful on Nyx, be it for the slow, the magic damage prevention, the stats, the active aura, the push, the increased magic damage, increased survivability and evasion, disarm, and purging ghost scepters for carry... but they're not specific to Nyx at all, and while they're not harming him, they don't play his strenghts or help against his weaknesses...

Rejected Items

-Daedalus/Crystallis
Vendetta is flat bonus damage that doesn't transfer to crits, you will never get that beautiful 2k oneshot with it.

-Assault Cuirass
I already hate the idea of spending 4100 gold on desolator, why waste even more on another minus armor item? Also you're not a carry and wouldn't get to use that sweet bonus attack speed with your gentle soft bughands.

-Radiance
SURE, GO AHEAD, TELL THEM YOU'VE COME FOR THEM.

-Shadow Blade
The enemy team is already buying sentries to prevent you from initiating on them if they're not dumb...yet you want them to have a return on their investment when you try to run from them?

-Butterfly
Silly bug trying to find a mate. Also you're not a carry and attack speed is mostly wasted on you..

-Heart of Tarrasque
There may be games where you'll think "boy, I wish I had more HP". And then you remember that bkb-force staff solves most of these problems, and if that fails, you still have Carapace...

-Battlefury
Best item. Please get 6 of them as a Nyx and send me a replay of how you one-shotted everyone with a single vendetta. #proskills #roadtoSL9

-Bloodstone:
You're not THAT mana starved.

-Divine Rapier:
Wat

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III. Skill Builds

As was mentionned before, Nyx is a very versatile hero; not only because of his skillset, which has little to no weaknesses, but also because of the way he can be skilled. Most of the time, you'll want to max Impale first, as the 3.29 disable time (0.52 air time +2.77 stun afterwards) is gamechanging. You'll also want to have at least one point in both Mana Burn and Spiked Carapace, so your skillbuild will often begin this way:

Nyx's early levels
1. Impale (Spiked Carapace/Mana burn)
2. Spiked Carapace/Mana Burn (Impale)
3. Impale (Spiked Carapace/Mana Burn)
4. Mana Burn/Spiked Carapace (Impale if it's on level 1 still)
5. Impale
6. Vendetta
7. Impale

There are some variations: if you play mid against an OD, you'll more often than not take Mana Burn at level 1, to try and prevent him from becoming the monster laner he is with mana later on; if you get caught in the jungle at level one, you might wanna take a Spiked Carapace to save yourself from the Soul Assumption killing blow a Visage happily sent you, same if you have a hard offlane matchup. Most of the time though, at level 7, you'll have maxed Impale and there are very few situations you'll regret this choice; but remember that Dota is a dynamic game with nothing set in stone. You have to make decisions based on what is happening in-game and what you want to do. The following to Nyx's skill build is one exemple of this: depending on whether you want to be more agressive, and how,

Mana Burn is a skill that is most effective against high intelligence heroes for damage and mana-intensive heroes to transform them into big creeps. An Ember Spirit without mana is useless; same as a Storm. Most of intelligence supports fall into both of these categories, and make excellent targets for a vendetta-impale-mana burn combo. If you want to get support kills, and render the mana-intensive useless in teamfights, level it up. If you prefer jumping with blink into the enemy team to play tidehunter with ravage-takular impale, you might want to get carapace to survive half a second longer. if done right, you can have 3 heroes stunned for 2+seconds, more than enough for any coordinated team to jump on the occasion. So, according to how the game flows, how you want it to flow, depending on your allies and the ridiculous Mana Burn - EMP - Mana Void combo your captain drafted, you'll want to skill either one of those.

Guidelines:

Squishy int supports;
Mana-intensive(/dependent) heroes;
A sufficient mana pool;
Quick, bursty skirmishes:

==> Prioritize leveling up Mana Burn.

Buff, mana independent enemies;
Low mana pool;
Long, drawn out fights:

==> Prioritize Spiked Carapace.

Note: Even then, there may be exceptions. Use your own judgement and experience. This guide, as most guides, aims only to give you an idea of how the hero works, but you'll still have to do the thinking yourself. I can't imagine each and every possible situation on a game that has more than a hundred characters, most of which can be played in different manners, but you should be able to identify what is happening and make decisions on your skill leveling depending on the situation.

With that in mind, here comes the rest of Nyx's Skillbuild:

Nyx's "Skill build" after level 7
8. Mana Burn/Spiked Carapace
9. Mana Burn/Spiked Carapace
10. Mana Burn/Spiked Carapace
11. Vendetta
12. Mana Burn/Spiked Carapace
13. Mana Burn/Spiked Carapace
14. Mana Burn/Spiked Carapace
15. Stats
16. Vendetta
17.Stats
18.Moar Stats
19.Moar Moar Stats
20.Yet Another Point In Stats
21.Wow! Free Ultimate Orb!
22.Hey! Free Circlet!
23.If I do enough of these jokes, someone will laugh eventually.
24.Eventually.
25.I am so alone

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IV. How to Play

Jungling

Jungling with Nyx is very simple: don't do it.
After level 7 and mana boots you can actually farm some neutral camps inbetween ganks, if only to make pressure by being off the map and giving a false sense of security after a minute or so of farming. However, you shouldn't farm creeps, but heroes.

Laning
Be it mid, offlane or support, your main goal is to get levels and a way to support your mana use. Mana boots and a magic wand, a bottle if you're mid. if the enemies are playing very defensively and you don't feel safe diving them or going for ganks, get a tp for counterganks and continue farming/disrupting enemies farm/getting levels. However, once you have your second level of vendetta, you shouldn't lane at all any more, and even then it's pretty late.

Ganking

Your main role. If you're mid, or if you got a bottle for roaming, go for as much runes as you can. Your favourite ones are invis, DD, and haste. Invis because you can initiate with impale (so no impale jukes), dd because you'll deal actual damage with these skinny arms of yours while your target is stunned (although it doesn't double vendetta's damage, don't forget), and haste because it makes chasing so much easier, and chasing means hitting, and maybe landing a second impale. Illu can be useful to lure enemies into feeling safe if you're microing the illus and regen is always nice to have.

Once you get either blink or dagon, get more agressive with your roaming. Go for isolated enemies in the jungle, tp to anyone that is alone and doesn't look like a bait (hint: if it's the only hero on the map and their main carry, it's a bait). Try to go for core heroes more than supports, as killing a support will use most of your mana pool all the same and guarantee some safe farm time for their cores.
Level 11 gets you a 35 seconds invis with 18% faster movement speed. Also, 400 physical damage. Use it as much as you can. Scout. Burst. Leave with a blink/force staff while cackling "Nyyyyx nyxnyxnynyx" maniacally and getting on the nerves of your enemies. The more they hate you, the better you're doing. Be proud of being a prick.

A little help for ganking:

+ Show Spoiler +

Easy Ganking Targets
Anything that has more int than strenght or low hp, that has limited mobility, that has predictable damage patterns on which to abuse carapace, high damaging slow projectiles. Examples would include early-midgame SF (low hp, low mobility, mostly predictable damage), early-midgame PA (limited mobility when alone, low hp, projectile nuke), Tinker (high Int, low HP, low mobility if damaged, predictable damage from march, projectile-based rocket). On these, you can usually proc Vendetta before going for the follow-up Impale, and you should be able to solo them if they don't have a huge farm and/or level advantage over you.

Hard Ganking Targets
Anything that has low int or high hp, that doesn't rely on mana, that has mobility skills, silences, instant nukes or disables. Some of these would be a post-6 Storm (very good mobility with mana), Bristleback (high tankability, low int, good speed->mobility), post-6 Ember Spirit (high mobiliy, tanks magic damage with flame guard, can evade stun with sleight of fist). Whereas tanks shouldn't be engaged unless very low on hp and alone, high mobility enemies can be targeted but it's safer to do so with the stun than with Vandetta, and most of them can't be soloed without an advantage and a Dagon, so bring friends under a smoke.

!Note!

Your ganking combo is usually Vendetta->Impale->Mana Burn then spam as much mana burn inbetween attacks and use carapace whenever needed. Against mobile enemies, Impale out of Vendetta then same course of action. Against heroes that deal constant damage around them or in a certain area (Radi carriers,Tinker, Batrider, Ion Shelled Dark Seer, etc) you can go for Vendetta->Carapace->Mana Burn->Impale->Manaburn/Bugslaps, as you have a guaranteed way of stunning them with carapace which sets up your stun. NP has a specific combo designed for him that is described later on in the "Specific situations to look out for" section.

Mid Game
Mid game is the moment you shine: Nyx is a good teamfighter with Blink or Force Staff, he can do nice initiations with vendetta, get pickoffs to force fights and towers. If people are trying to split push, it's your job to stop them; however, don't forget to bring some friends, as there are times when even a Nyx can't win 1v1 (Orchid Broodmother, Phantom Lancer with diffusal...).
Don't forget to get some farm and xp still. It's very easy to get caught up in a ganking danse and end up behind on farm and levels because one kill a minute is only ~300gpm. You're not very gold dependent, but more items is always nice.

Late Game
You don't fall off as much as other heroes lategame but your dynamics change. Impale becomes useful mainly for the stun, your most damaging spell is a gatling 4second cd manaburn that can deal upwards to 750 magical damage, Dagon has become mostly overrated, then comes back as bkb time fades and you get an ethereal blade; or you bought necro 3 and you're waiting on that one carry pickoff without buyback to end the game. Depending on your items, your role is now bursting down the supports and disabling the teamfight-sensitive targets and carries, with an emphasis on either of those.
As your main way of dealing damage is magical and single-target however, you don't do well with raxes down, so try to prevent it as much as possible by killing these pesky heroes.

Teamfights

Either you initiate the teamfights, you have a stronger initiator in your team do it for you and you follow him, or your team gets initiated on. You, however, shouldn't be initiated on, except when trying to scout for enemies under the cover of vendetta if they have sentries or just bought gem. And if for some reason you happen to cross the path of an enemy wandering with his smoked team inside your jungle, blink, vendetta, and force staff are your friends. That said, againt instant disables, if the enemies have faster reflexes, there's not much you can do in these situations.

When initiating teamfight, go for Blink>Impale or Impale out of Vendetta, as getting multiple heroes damaged and stunned is more important than inflicting a burst of physical damage that tells your presence to the other team and prevents you from stunning these people. Your role is to disable the heroes that have a huge impact on teamfights while bursting the paperthin int supports or preventing mana-intensive enemies from casting their spells through lack of mana. Although your cds may be low, they're not low enough so you can stay in battle while they're cooling down, so more often than not you'll find yourself darting in and out of the fight. Get Vendetta, get Impale, Mana Burn, then turn tail with Spiked Carapace if someone retaliates. If there is a particular spell you want to reflect, try to save it for it, but don't take unnecessary damage. If you're fast enough, redirect Lina's Laguna Blade (I sure can't though). Find the most valuable targets and make them hate you. When people hate you, they hit you. And as my old buddhist friends say, every pain you inflict, even on tiny bugs, will come back to you. This is especially true for Nyx's enemies.

Specific situations to look out for

People who are alone, especially int sup... I think i'm repeating myself

Any split pushing NP that wanders alone should be food for you if you're not behind by a lot and have forcestaff/dust. Go for the regular Vendetta->Impale->Manaburn->bugslap->Manaburn if he has low hp. If you think he'll survive, go for Vendetta->Manaburn->Bugslap->Manaburn until he tries to tp away, then stun him like the rat he is and feast on his rotten corpse. The only fear you may have is either an orchid that silences you before you used carapace or a Scythe of Vyse, but if he uses it only to escape that's ok, just remember to bring a friend next time. If he gets too much farm, you might want to get a ghost scepter, and if he has a shadow blade, get necrobook for vision and manaburn so he can't run anymore. In any case, if he manages to kill you 1v1, something's wrong, and that may be because you falled behind not farming enough.

I haven't yet met an NP split pushing with necrobooks as a Nyx, so if anyone would get any advice on how to deal with such an NP I would be glad to add it. For as far as I can imagine, Necro will drain your mana very fast, deal a lot of damage, and there are very few things you can do about it. You should still burst NP faster than he does yourself, except maybe with maxed necro, or with a sizeable advantage, so just be sure to have a way to run from them after the fight and you should be ok.
(Any NP that has scythe AND necro should be dealt with extreme caution and probably not 1v1'ed without linkens or bkb)

Tinker works pretty similarly, except he's easier to kill if he's not carefully blinked inside the trees.: vendetta, spike carapace (stuns him with the march), mana burn, bugslap, impale, bugslap, manaburn... if he's still alive after that and you have no other burst damage, you're pretty much screwed because you have lost a lot of hp to the marches, but any tinker that survives such a combo deserves to kill you anyway.

As Nyx you can counter Batrider in some ways (or, at least, force him to try to initiate on you). If he jumps on one of your allies with his firefly on, blink or run into the flames with carapace to prevent him from taking your ally too far. The higher his farm, the higher his mobility, and the quicker you have to react, but you should also have a blink dagger that allows you to react faster.

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V. Video Guide and VODs

Here's a VOD of Purge coaching someone on Nyx, it's very recent and although the video is a bit choppy, it's more about the sound:

¨Pyrion apparently shares my fascination for NA's lack of name:

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VI. Conclusion

Well, here goes, this is my first Dota guide, and my first thread on TL. I didn't do it because I think I'm awesome (I actually wish I was though), but for other people to come and give me their own insight on Nyx, as there was a current lack of Nyx Guides on TL, which was quite unbearable to say the least. I tried to uphold the values of TL and provide the quality of content that is expected of us, yet I'm pretty sure there will be disagreements, criticism, all of which are welcome as long as they are reasonable and polite. I hope I didn't make too many mistakes, and I'll be pretty happy to get them straight as soon as they're pointed out to me. I hope you enjoyed my guide, and with any luck, that you actually found it useful.

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VII. FAQ

Why is Blink not given as a core?
In my opinion, Blink is one of the best items Nyx can have, and should be a core on Offlane and Mid Nyx regardless of what is your first item. However, as a support Nyx, you may not have the time to farm it, and you most probably wont be initiating for your team.

Why are you calling Nyx's hits "bugslaps"? They're fierce, damaging scythes!"
Nyx is an agi hero that builds for mobility and magic burst. Except for ethereal blade, no item gives any bonus to his damage. So even if he has decent base damage and if its growth is comparable naturally to a lot of high-hitting heroes, he has none of their physical damage amplifying skills, nor should he have any kind of item to get his hits any higher. His fearsome Prey Mantis-like sword-for-arms will thusly gently press against their victim's skins, then bend because for some reason flesh is stronger than exoskeleton in the dotaverse.

Why didn't you mention x/y? X/Y is the most important thing about playing Nyx!
I really tried to be exhaustive while writing this build; however, if I missed something specific to Nyx's play that is very important, please write about it on the thread or send me a PM and I'll get it added. However, chances are that if something is missing, it's more about general game sense and playing experience, which, even if very important and certainly useful, isn't specific to the hero. I still try to mention some of these though, so feel free to write about them on the thread, but don't necessarily expect them to be added to this guide.

Why is this guide so long?
Because I worked even longer on it. It's part of plan "become the Nyx": in order to apply Mana-Burn on Int-heavy TLers, I give them an offer they can't resist: a long write-up filled with useless jokes, with the occasional helpful information to get them hooked.

Nyx nyx nyxnyxnyx nyx?
Nyxnyx: Nyyyyyyx nyxnyxnyxnyxnyxnyx
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VIII. Changelog

Date - changes
29 of april: added a lot of images for item builds, corrected some typos, updated skills to 6.81, got rid of the double hero image/bio introduced with the standard "Hero:X" thread-type.
25 of march: linked a video, updated skillbuild with early level variations, corrected some english, used a nicer formatting. Also, lists. Added the "Items that kill you" section and some help on how to identify easy gank targets and hard ones. Gave some precision on what to do in ganks and teamfights.
24th of march: first draft of the guide.

TO-DO LIST
-Make the guide more enjoyable to read.
-Upload images of ~~all~~ the important items mentionned e: AND the important heroes mentionned, and the skills/stats in the skillbuild...
-Find some MOAR neat video guides for Nyx,
-Stop drinking tea nonstop,
-Skydive an empty swimming pool.
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Special thanks:
Everyone who contributed to this thread so far, TheYango for helping me understand when to actually buy Dagon first, Sn0_Man, Baggage, Belisarius and hariooo for pointing out some things that needed to be completed, and everyone else that took the time to read.
People from my home turf on Aeriesguard, who reminded me I have written a guide and should update it and keep my to-do list up to date (bastards

)

Sn0_Man

Tebellong44238 Posts

March 24 2014 17:04 GMT

Very nice!

A few thoughts: I'd dedicate a whole section to "When is dagon good?" since that seems to be the biggest thing most pub nyx players don't get. Since there are definitely times when a dagon is excellent, but its absolutely not a "get every game" item.

Also, emphasize somewhere that vendetta damage is awesome but sometimes you really just need to stun and not bother with the vendetta hit. Especially vs heroes with BKB's etc, if you have allies around a guaranteed ~3 second stun is worth way more than a paltry 500 damage or whatever. Also hitting 3 people with stun is more valuable than hitting 1 with vendetta plus stun in a lot of situations.

PS: I'd really advise avoiding a null talisman in essentially every situation. It's just 500g that could have been part of your mana boots. Yes, the stats are cute but they can't compare to arcanes at all and you don't need the right click damage at all. Urn, however, is a great item.

Verrou

France193 Posts

March 24 2014 17:16 GMT

I'll do that when I won't be exhausted after 6 hours spent writing a Nyx guide haha :D and thanks a lot !

While I agree that you shouldn't build a null talisman in most situations, I think that when you're falling behind and can't get arcane boots because you have no room to farm, it can be very useful for increased mana pool. Urn is a very nice item in conjunction, because it provides you the mana regen you need, is made of cheap parts, and has a lot of utility for your team which may be doing better than you. So I basically advised the nulls only on two situations: if you're really ahead, because with nulls+urn you already have a lot of mana sustain to continue pressure while getting dagon, or when you're so starved for gold you can't buy anything else.

I'll probably rewrite it so that it is clearer though, as indeed most people only build Dagon Nyx without thinking of the reasoning behind it

EDIT: Yeah, I think i'm not clear enough. I mean, the idea behind getting the nulls+urn (urn always being a good item on Nyx of course) is that it quickens your dagon while maintaining mana regen and thus pressure on the map. This is only as an alternative for a Mana boots/ blink/ (urn) which is generally better, but if you're snowballing, you might as well go for dagon first.

TheYango

United States47024 Posts

March 24 2014 17:34 GMT

Quoting myself from the SQSA thread:

On March 25 2014 02:32 TheYango wrote:
If you're buying Dagon just to one-shot supports, you're simply unlikely to get that much value out of the item. On a support Nyx it's very rare that a Dagon will come out fast enough for it to really be useful, and it's not really an item you should buy that often.

On a mid Nyx, an early level/gold advantage from laning or ganking can warrant a Dagon depending on the game. The key point here is you have to have a sense of what it lets you do. Specifically--a Dagon is good if your level and item advantage mean that a Dagon allow you to threaten solo kills on IMPORTANT heroes (carries, item-dependent cores like Storm Spirit). If this is the case, the pressure you put on the enemy team to play tight and protect those heroes creates a lot of space for your team that can outweigh how the item becomes much less useful once enemy heroes move beyond solo kill range.

EDIT: Also, while fairly rare, Phase+Soul Ring has some situational utility as an alternative Boots option.

Sn0_Man

Tebellong44238 Posts

March 24 2014 17:37 GMT

On March 25 2014 02:34 TheYango wrote:
Quoting myself from the SQSQ thread:

Show nested quote +

The Simple Questions, Simple Questions thread?

Firebolt145

Lalalaland34486 Posts

March 24 2014 17:55 GMT

Gonna use this for our official Nyx thread if it's alright with you. Thanks for the contribution!

Verrou

France193 Posts

March 24 2014 21:37 GMT

No problem with me! I'm happy I actually contributed, it's been so long I've been lurking on TL =)

Mafe

Germany5966 Posts

March 24 2014 22:01 GMT

Oh, what sad times are these when passing assassins can nyx at will to young crystal maidens.

Names

Canada328 Posts

March 24 2014 22:38 GMT

On March 25 2014 01:49 Verrou wrote:
soft Nyx's caress

i died

GtC

United States546 Posts

March 25 2014 00:56 GMT

#10

I find it kinda saddening all the great bug-like heroes like Nyx Assassin and Sand King (yes I know he's a scorpian) have such pathetic animations. Nyx's animation looks so powerful and aggressive until he actually touches the target, and then you just hear a soft tap. Sand King's animation just looks sad from start to finish. He just kinda pokes them...

Belisarius

Australia6222 Posts

March 25 2014 01:53 GMT

#11

It's worth pointing out that carapace's stun scales fantastically well, and there are certain DoT/AoE heroes on whom it's essentially a guaranteed 2.4s stun at level 4. Batrider is the primary example, and hates nyx with a burning passion as a result.

Often this is the primary factor for maxing carapace second. Blinking into the middle of them and hoping they're stupid enough to ravage themselves is not reliable, nor would I advocate maxing carapace with that outcome in mind.

Nyx's skills are also very flexible from levels 1-3 depending on what lane you're in. Carapace first seems common in harder offlanes, as does manaburn first in easier ones. However, my offlane Nyx is awful so I'd hope someone else can provide insight there...

Kerm

France467 Posts

March 25 2014 09:54 GMT

#12

Cool guide, thanks a lot

Baggage

Hong Kong593 Posts

March 25 2014 11:51 GMT

#13

Urn of shadows really ought to be mentioned. You'll be involved in fights, constantly getting charges and the bonus mana regen tops it off.

Logo

United States7542 Posts

March 25 2014 17:28 GMT

#14

On March 25 2014 09:56 GtC wrote:
I find it kinda saddening all the great bug-like heroes like Nyx Assassin and Sand King (yes I know he's a scorpian) have such pathetic animations. Nyx's animation looks so powerful and aggressive until he actually touches the target, and then you just hear a soft tap. Sand King's animation just looks sad from start to finish. He just kinda pokes them...

In Sand King's case I like that a lot because he pokes things a few times then everything explodes.

hariooo

Canada2830 Posts

March 26 2014 16:29 GMT

#15

Great guide but I wouldn't walk into SF's ult even with Carapace.

.yo

United States29 Posts

March 26 2014 16:56 GMT

#16

On March 27 2014 01:29 hariooo wrote:
Great guide but I wouldn't walk into SF's ult even with Carapace.

Why? Shouldn't it reflect the damage? Or is it multiple instances of damage?

Sn0_Man

Tebellong44238 Posts

March 26 2014 17:03 GMT

#17

Multiple instances. 1 per 2 souls.

Verrou

France193 Posts

March 26 2014 21:38 GMT

#18

Oh yeah forgot about that. I'll correct it asap.
E:Done!

HammerKick

France6190 Posts

July 21 2014 22:41 GMT

#19

Hello boys, I'm bumping this because I want to discuss something.
Why is this hero ignored in this meta?

I feel like he can still be effective in the offlane or mid, granting good presence with vendetta on other lanes if not shut down, a great initiator if you can land impale, etc... And he's tanky for an initiator, with that carapace and the base armor he has.

What do you think of Nyx actually? Maybe a small buff could get him back in the meta?

Verrou

France193 Posts

July 21 2014 23:08 GMT

#20

I don't think Nyx needs a buff, he's a strong ganker as it is. What happened (I think, but I'm no authority on the subject) is that the offlaners in this TI were mainly teamfighters: void, tidehunter, even venomancer, which fill a niche Nyx doesn't: the 5v5.

I could go and try to analyse right now but I just saw this before going to sleep so here's my quick answer

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