Introduction
“And the hunt begins.”
Night Stalker is a melee strength ganker and semi-carry. He is notable for being one of the few heroes in the game whose skillset is affected by the time of the day in the game.
During the night he becomes significantly stronger, gaining bonus move speed, attack speed, sight range, as well as more powerful actives, making him a fearsome night-time ganker.
Night Stalker's complete character profile can be found here.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Unlike most heroes, he excels during night time
- A strong ganker
- Good base damage
- Strong nuke ability that also slows
- Lengthy silence ability
- Can snowball a team to victory
- Versatile laner
- Flexible item build
- Fairly tanky
Cons
- Much weaker during the day
- Limited timing window for ganking
- Melee attack range
- No stun or hard lockdown
- Susceptible to being kited
- A very momentum-based hero – fail to achieve early momentum and you will likely struggle throughout the game
Item Build
Night Stalker is a fairly versatile laner. Usually he is played mid in order to get a quick level 7 (so that his nuke and slow is maxed out) and some early upgraded boots, but it’s not unheard of to run him in the offlane or even the safe lane.
A typical starting build for NS is as follows:
- A set of Tangos, Healing Salve, 3x Iron Branches, Stout Shield.
The Stout Shield is useful as a melee hero in order to negate a lot of the harass you’ll receive in lane and during those early engagements when you start ganking. This build also gives you plenty of starting regen and some early stat gain.
Early Game/Core
Night Stalker needs a couple of core items so that he can go ganking. The earlier you’re able to gank the better. Typically this will be:
Phase Boots – Taken over Power Treads in most cases in order to allow you to excel in your role as a ganker. Phase Boots allow you to chase and give you a great early infusion of right-click damage. They also cut down significantly on enemy kiting. Go Power Treads if you’ve been drafted not as a ganker but more as a meat shield.
Magic Wand – Core on almost every single hero in the game. NS is no different – in fact it’s even better on him thanks to his entering engagements from early on.
Bottle – For the burst regeneration (both mana and health) and to enable you to secure rune control. If you get a good rune (invisibility, haste, double damage) you can easily rotate to a lane and gank, or you can return to mid if an opportunity doesn’t present itself with full charges returned to your Bottle.
Urn of Shadows – Always a strong pick-up on a ganking hero. You should be able to get charges fairly easily, giving you even more burst health when rotating between lanes after ganks. The mana regeneration is nice to have as well, as you’ll find yourself burning through mana quite quickly.
Luxury Extensions
Armlet of Mordiggian – The cookie-cutter build. Despite the recent nerf, which made Armlet toggling slightly less effective, it’s still very much possible to toggle and still a fantastic item on strength carries. Armlet gives NS a nice damage boost, additional armour and health, and health regeneration on top of the active toggle ability.
| Tip: ‘Toggling your Armlet’ is the process by which you turn off and on Armlet’s active ability in order to quickly regenerate your health when you’re low, and effectively save your life when you would otherwise die. The key is to turn Armlet off when you’re at very low health and expect a killing blow, but to do so before such a blow hits. Then straight away turn it back on, so that your health pool regenerates. If timed correctly - between instances of damage - you will regain enough health to survive most auto-attacks/abilities. |
Black King Bar – If the enemy team is able to lock you down hard then consider going Black King Bar as your first luxury item in order to be able to actually get stuck into the fights by using the Spell Immunity active. It naturally makes you tankier and gives you some additional damage as well.
Assault Cuirass – Assault Cuirass’s attack speed and minus armour aura both make your carry potential go through the roof. The extra armour will also make you that much more tanky. And the multiple auras benefit your entire team, making it a great utility pick-up as well.
Aghanim’s Scepter – The Marmite option. Some people love this item on NS, others loathe it. It does not do much for your damage output, and this is largely the crux of the problem for many players, but the +10 all stats, +250 health and +150 mana help you tank up.
However, the main reason for purchasing it is for the buff to Night Stalker’s ultimate. Aghanims gives you unobstructed vision in the night. What this essentially means is that you see absolutely everything in a 1800 unit radius around NS at night – fog of war, trees, and all cliffs no longer obstruct your vision. Casters sometimes call it a legitimate form of map hack to convey its utility. It only works at night, however (or if it’s night time as a result of using your ultimate), but it gives you a huge vision advantage when it comes to ganking or to stymieing enemy ganks. Put a gem on NS and no ward enemy ward will be safe as Aghanims NS has unprecedented vision and map control.
Monkey King Bar – Very high damage, a small attack speed boost, and True Strike, which will allow you to counter any evasion heroes (such as Phantom Assassin), agility carries that purchase Butterfly, or strength/support heroes that buy Heaven’s Halberd.
Quick rule of thumb: go for it if the enemy team has evasion and you’ll be able to get the farm to finish it.
Crimson Guard – A good defensive/utility item. If you decide to opt for an early-ish Vanguard then later upgrading it into a Crimson Guard is a good way of buffing your inventory in the late game when Vanguard’s usefulness tapers off and inventory slots are at a premium.
So you get a nice chunk of flat health (250), +2 all stats, +5 armor and 6 health regeneration. On top of that you gain a passive Damage Block ability, which gives an 80% chance to block 20-40 damage, and an active Guard ability, which allows you to create a shield which applies to yourself and allies in a 750 unit radius that grants everyone affected by it +2 armor and a 100% chance to block 50 damage.
Crimson Guard is somewhat comparable to Mekanism, but more suited to heroes with low mana pools (following Patch 6.82’s hefty increase in Mekanism’s mana cost). It performs a similar protective and +armor role (albeit granting damage block rather than direct health). If you fear being unable to sustain a mana pool for Mekanism but want to add utility/tankiness to your teamfight then a Crimson Guard is a great option.
Heaven’s Halberd – Can also be worth considering. If you find the enemy carry to be a particular problem and is cutting through you with relative ease then Halberd is the ideal pick-up. Not only does it give you a nice chunk of strength and damage, the 25% evasion will allow you to dodge roughly 1 in 4 attacks, providing they don’t have a Monkey King Bar, and the active ‘Disarm’ will buy you 3-4.5 seconds of effective immunity from the carry’s physical attacks.
Abyssal Blade – Skull Basher into Abyssal Blade is a fantastic way of helping to prevent enemies kiting you – NS actually has no in-built lockdown, only a mini-stun from Void, so this is a very popular pick-up.
It also gives you a nice chunk of health and damage, and its lockdown goes through Spell Immunity – the active ability that will give you 2 seconds of stun and the passive that gives you a 25% chance of a 1.4 second stun. This is extremely useful if you find yourself being kited and prevented from doing your job of right clicking in mid and late game teamfights.
Desolator – A good damage boost at an affordable price. The minus armour from Desolator also stacks with Assault Cuirass, making it especially good if you go down that route. If your team’s main carry is a physical DPS’er then it’s a very strong pick-up.
Satanic – Very expensive but it doubles up as both a fantastic offensive and defensive weapon. You get a nice chunk of health, very handy life steal from your attacks, and the chance to heal yourself back up when low on health using the Unholy Rage active. I like to liken this to the health effects of Roshan's Cheese. As long as you're able to attack, you basically get your health pool completely regenerated.
Situational Items
Boots of Travel – Boots of Travel are great for the late game, when you need to free up a slot which would otherwise be taken up by a TP Scroll. With this, you combine your Boots and TP Scroll slot into one, allowing you to put a slot to better use. Will only become an issue in the extreme late game though.
Vladmir’s Offering – If you're providing a utility role for your team Vlad's can be a good pick up, doubly so if you opted for a Ring of Basilius in the early game. Vlad's is especially good if one of the other cores on your team is a melee hero, as they will benefit from all four auras.
Necronomicon – Great if you’re part of a pushing line-up or your team is struggling to break the base. Also a great item for teamfights and for countering any invis enemy heroes. Gives you some solid stat gain too.
Drums of Endurance – I'm a big fan of Drums of Endurance on almost any hero, and they synergise with NS well too if you feel you need some early stats or will struggle to farm a more significant item. They're cost efficient, easy to build into, and provide utility for your entire team with the move speed and attack speed auras.
Vanguard – Used to be a core recommendation but it’s fallen out of favour. Not a bad item pick-up per se, but outstripped by most other items in terms of cost efficiency. If you need the health you’re better off getting a Vitality Booster and later upgrading into a Heart of Tarrasque, or get some stat based items instead (like Drums, Heaven’s Halberd, or Necronomicon).
A lot of players like the safety net it provides though – both a good chunk of health and good health regeneration – and don’t feel comfortable constantly ganking without such an item.
Skill Build
Void is Night Stalker’s only nuke, which also slows. It is always skilled and maxed first. A powerful magic damage nuke, Void deals 90/160/255/335 magic damage to the targeted unit and also slows their move speed by 50% and their attack speed by 35% for 2 seconds (in the day) or 4 seconds (at night).
This ability allows NS to be a fearsome early game ganker. All of his abilities are more effective at no, including Void, which gains a stronger slow effect at night time. Void allows you to deal good burst damage to the chosen enemy and the slow allows him to follow-up with right clicks.
Crippling Fear is a silence which also causes the target unit to miss their attacks. A single value point is recommended early on (either at level 2 or 4) but it is usually maxed last, depending on your lane opponent and the skills that the enemies you’re ganking have access to (lots of mobility/escape abilities? Get it early and consider extra points early on. Also be sure to use it when ganking to prevent escapes).
Crippling Fear silences a chosen target for 3 seconds (during day time) or 5/6/7/8 seconds (at night). It also gives the target a 10% chance to miss with their attacks during day time or a 50% chance to miss at night – a large discrepancy which again highlights the importance of ganking during night time.
Hunter in the Night is a passive which increases his move speed and attack speed at night. It is usually maxed second, ahead of Crippling Fear, although consider the enemy line up and whether a lengthier silence duration would be of more use to you during early ganks first – a single value point in Hunter in the Night will often be the better route to take.
Hunter of the Night increases NS’s move speed by 20/25/30/35% at night, and increases his attack speed by 45/60/75/90 at night. During the day time he gets no bonuses, so Hunter in the Night is perhaps the starkest example of how NS is that much stronger and intimidating during night.
Darkness is Night Stalker’s ultimate. It is usually always skilled (levels 6, 11 and 16), but there’s a lot of flexibility regarding this and it’s very situational, as I’ll explain shortly. Darkness is an active ability which allows Night Stalker to summon night time, or to extend the night time if it is already night when he uses it. It lasts/extends for 50 seconds, and has a cooldown of 160/120/80 seconds.
Because Night Stalker is so much stronger and more threatening during night time, you always want to gank or engage in fights during the night. Some times, of course, you will not be able to pick and choose the timing of these fights, and this is where a point in your ultimate can be crucial, as it allows you to call on the night at will.
Furthermore, as it extends the duration of night if used at night, you can also use it to effectively reduce the length of daylight each day to 140/140/90 seconds compared to 240 seconds of normal daylight.
Gameplay Tips
The moral of the skill descriptions for Night Stalker is clear: gank at night and aim to fight only at night. NS is simply that much more powerful and intimidating a force if he fights during night - each of his actives is buffed substantially, he gains much greater move speed and attack speed, and he has the edge in terms of sight range.
When ganking, leading with Void is often the best idea. You deal good burst magic damage and slow for up to 4 seconds, which will allow you to close the distance between yourself and your prey and get in some right-clicks. You can then follow up with another Void if necessary, as its cooldown is a low-ish 8 seconds.
| Note: Void has a mini-stun effect. Thus it can be used to interrupt channelled abilities or TP Scrolls. |
If the enemy you are attempting to gank has an escape ability (such as Mirana’s Leap, Windranger’s Windrun, or Anti-Mage’s Blink), or they have an ally with a stun/lockdown (such as Vengeful Spirit’s Magic Missile, or Ogre Magi’s Fireblast), it’s best to lead with Crippling Fear on that hero.
The range on Crippling Fear is slightly shorter than that of Void, which means you may not get in range to cast it on the hero in question in time, but Void will often give your gank away anyway. When deciding which ability to initiate a gank with be sure to keep in mind the skills the enemies you’re jumping on have access to – if they have a reliable escape mechanism lead with Crippling Fear.
In teamfights, use Crippling Fear on high-impact enemy spellcasters. Heroes with important teamfight abilities like Tidehunter or Enigma make for great targets as you will severely disrupt the enemy team’s teamfight coordination.
Later on, when physical damage dealers come on line, remember that Crippling Fear doesn’t just silence – it also debuffs the enemy hero by giving them a chance to miss with their attacks. At night this is a 50% chance, so unless they trigger spell immunity you will be able to limit their damage output substantially.
Always remember that Hunter in the Night only takes effect at night time. If you fight during the day you will not gain its significant bonus move speed and attack speed passives.
At level 1, Darkness should be reserved so that you always have access to it in case of an emergency – if you are forced to fight or come to an ally’s aid you can use it to summon darkness and grant yourself all of the benefits that come with it.
At levels 2 and 3 you can use Darkness more liberally – the cooldown is reduced substantially, so it’s a good idea to use it at the start of night in order to increase the duration of night time.
| Note: Darkness causes enemy vision to be reduced to 675 units, and this applies to enemy heroes, wards, creeps and structures. |
When the second night time takes effect in the game you should be looking to gank one of the side-lanes. I cannot emphasise enough two things:
1) NS is significantly stronger during night time, whereas almost every other hero in the game is hindered by it, and you need to take advantage of this.
2) NS needs to make his impression felt early on. The first night is too early to do this, but by the second you should have most of your early game item purchases and will be in a position to gank and try to snowball from there.
Last Updated - Patch 6.83.
