Night Stalker is a powerful early and mid game hero, especially at nighttime. He is usually played in the off lane or roams. He relies more on levels than he does farm which is why these positions fit him best. NS needs to get a lot of successful ganks off during the first night as this is the best opportunity for him to begin to snowball. His high armor  makes him very effective at tower diving in the early and mid game.

If NS buys an Aghanim’s Scepter and a Gem of True Sight, he can control the entire map by dewarding any ward he can easily find. Although the hero falls off a bit in the late game, his disables and ability to control the map remain very powerful.

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Night Stalker Item build

Starting Items

• Healing Salve
• Tango
• Clarity
• Enchanted Mango
• Boots of Speed
• Orb of Venom
• Stout Shield
• Smoke of Deceit
• Town Portal Scroll
• Observer Wards

Early game items

• Phase Boots
• Urn of Shadows
• Magic Wand
• Tome of Knowledge

Mid game items

• Solar Crest
• Aghanim’s Scepter
• Gem of True Sight
• Pipe of Insight
• Heaven’s Halberd

Late game items

• Black King Bar
• Abyssal Blade
• Assault Cuirass

Situational items

• Drum of Endurance
• Vladmir’s Offering
• Blink Dagger
• Spirit Vessel
• Nullifier

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Night Stalker Skill Build

1. Void
2. Hunter in the Night
3. Void
4. Hunter in the Night
5. Void
6. Darkness
7. Void
8. Crippling Fear
9. Hunter in the Night
10. Talent
11. Hunter in the Night
12. Darkess
13. Crippling Fear
14. Crippling Fear
15. Talent
16. Crippling Fear
17. –
18. Darkness

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Complete Night Stalker Skill guide

Void

Night Stalker mini-stuns, damages and slows the attack and movement speed of the target enemy. The slow lasts longer at night. Void has a low cooldown and each skill point increases the damage and movement slow duration. You should max Void first because it makes it easier to get kills during the first and second nights. When ganking, keep an eye on the opponent’s inventory. If they have a teleport and you lack any other stuns, reserve Void until they attempt to teleport out or if they just try to escape.

During the laning phase, you can use Void to get last-hits if you’re struggling. However, it costs quite a lot of mana relative to his mana-pool, so reserve it for the ranged creep, as it will give you more experience. If you’re in the off lane, it can be good to reserve the skill points for Void, only keeping 1 level in it to get last-hits with. This is because it will keep the mana cost low until you need to skill it to get kills.

Crippling Fear

Night Stalker silences the target enemy and applies a chance to miss. The effect lasts longer at night. This is usually delayed until level 8 because it’s not needed for the first night. However, it can be taken at level 4 if the silence will be needed to get kills. This is typically the case against heroes like Puck, Ember Spirit, Queen of Pain and more. In any case, it should be maxed lastly because only the nighttime duration increases – and 5 seconds is already a long time.

When ganking a hero with an escape spell, make sure to open with Crippling Fear, or you may miss the kill. Against heroes with invisibility it is not needed. This is because a Sentry Ward or Dust of Appearance will counter it and will allow you another skill point for an entirely different spell. It is usually best utilized on supports or casters, as it will prevent them from contributing much to the fight. However, it can also be used effectively on carries due to the miss chance it applies, especially if they lack a dispel.

Hunter in the Night

Night Stalker gains increased movement and attack speed at night. It can also be activated during nighttime to give NS unobstructed movement for 2 seconds. This should be maxed after Void as it lets him better chase down and get kills during the nights.

It can be used to cross cliffs and other terrain he wouldn’t usually be able to. This allows him to more easily chase and escape from enemies. It has quite a long cooldown so use it sparingly. However, if it is needed to get to an enemy before they escape, it should be used. If an enemy is trying to juke in the trees before you have an Aghanim’s Scepter, you can use the spell to gain vision of them for 2 seconds.

Darkness

Night Stalker turns the day to night. Darkness nights will reduce the night vision of enemy heroes and wards. Aghanim’s Scepter grants unobstructed vision in a 1800 unit area around NS at night. Darkness makes it a lot easier to gank enemies, although they will usually play more carefully when Darkness is used. You can use Darkness in different situations. You can use it to prolong the night time so that you’ll have more opportunities for kills or you can use it during night time reduce the enemy’s vision. This is helpful if you’re allies want to gank in a different lane, as the enemies may not suspect 2 fights at once.

The spell is particularly effective against heroes with far night vision such as Slark, Luna, Bounty Hunter and Sniper. Winter Wyvern during Arctic Burn and Lycan during Shapeshift have far night vision as well. This means that it can be a good idea to use Darkness when ganking these heroes. Try to keep as many wards up as possible, so that you can scout out the enemies and gank them more easily.

Best Night Stalker Talents

Level 15: +200 Mana or +200 Health

The extra mana will allow you to cast more spells, especially during team-fights where you won’t have much time to regen it back up quickly. This means that this is a useful option against heroes who are vulnerable to being silenced, nuked or slowed. It can also be helpful against lineups with mana burn as it will help to mitigate some of the mana loss. Otherwise, the extra HP will help to tank you up which is almost always good for Night Stalker.

Level 15: +15 Strength or +150 Cast Range

The increased cast range will most likely be helpful in more situations in Dota 2 esports. It will allow you to initiate, chase and kill from a further range. This is helpful against heroes who are hard to lockdown as well as supports who tend to stay on the back lines of a team-fight. The extra strength will give you an extra 300 HP to tank you up a bit which can be helpful against heroes that can nuke you down or if you’re dying in fights a lot.

Level 20: +50 Movement Speed or +50 Damage

Generally, the extra damage will be more helpful as it pairs well with your increased night-time attack speed. Some games will be very hard and you may find it hard to play in a semi-carry role and right-click heroes at all. These games the extra movement speed can help you to get in and out of fights and make it easier to get you casts off. It will also make it easier to chase and escape from certain spells or situations.

Level 25: +140 Hunter in the Night Attack Speed or -8s Crippling Fear Cooldown

At level 25, the reduced Crippling Fear cooldown will let you have it active on 2 targets on the same time, provided it is at night-time. It also makes Crippling Fear much stronger against heroes who are vulnerable to silences. This is because they will most likely have bought some way to dispel the initial silence but with a 4 second cooldown, you can cast a second one again almost straight away to disable the hero. This is naturally very strong against heroes with strong spells or escapes.

The extra attack speed is very strong if the silence or miss chance that Crippling Fear provides isn’t very useful for you. The attack speed will help you to transition into a relevant and significant late-game semi-carry, especially if you have a Skull Basher, or some other damage items. The attack speed should generally be the default choice, unless you are in one of the above situations.

What Items to build on Night Stalker

Starting Items

• Healing Salve
• Tango
• Clarity
• Enchanted Mango
• Boots of Speed
• Orb of Venom
• Stout Shield
• Smoke of Deceit
• Town Portal Scroll
• Observer Wards

Night Stalker is most commonly played in the off lane but can be roamed very effectively as well. Basic regeneration items and a Stout Shield let’s NS stay in lane more and a Clarity allows him to use Void to last hit more regularly. A roaming NS can make good use out of Boots of Speed and an OoV as they help NS to chase enemies in the early levels. An Enchanted Mango allows NS to use Void or Crippling Fear once or twice more if it is desperately needed. Support items such as Wards and Smokes let NS roam more effectively and gank enemies more easily. Lastly, a Town Portal Scroll let’s NS counter-gank lanes and move across the map more easily making him more effective at ganking.

Early Game Items

Phase Boots

Phase Boots are the boots of choice on Night Stalker because they provide lots of bonus damage and more importantly, higher movement speed. This goes well with Hunter in the Night and makes NS much more effective at ganking and chasing.

Urn of Shadows

An Urn of Shadows is a good item on NS because he does a large amount of ganking in the early and mid game. This makes it easy to gain several stacks and gives him a way to heal up after every gank. It will also provide some minor stats to help you in the early game, including some mana regeneration. It’s built from Infused Raindrop which is also a great item for NS as the magic shield tanks him up against magic damage when ganking and diving towers.

Magic Wand

A Magic Wand is helpful on NS as he will be ganking a lot in the early game. This will give him a chance to gain charges and to regen his health and mana when needed to survive ganks or to gain more mana for finishing off kills.

Tome of Knowledge

If the first and second nights don’t go so well for Night Stalker, you may need a Tome of Knowledge to catch up some missed XP. It’s a good pickup on NS because he relies more on levels than farm, and they can help him get back into the game for the next night.

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Mid Game Items

Solar Crest

Solar Crest will make NS a better ganker and tank him up a bit. It can be used offensively to decrease armor and increase your teams accuracy on the target, making it viable against heroes with evasion. When not activated it will tank you up with armor and evasion and also give you some mana regeneration from the Medallion of Courage. The medallion is very cheap and is a good ganking item in the early and mid game as well.

Aghanim’s Scepter

Aghanim’s Scepter should be core for Night Stalker in almost every game. It gives him lots of stats for the mid game which tank him up and allow him to cast more spells and also grants unobstructed vision at night. This makes it much easier to chase enemies and to spot potential kills. Having an Aghanim’s Scepter will grant you and your team much more awareness of the enemies movements. It will give you a significant advantage when the enemies are suffering the effects of Darkness. Aghanim’s Scepter is particularly effective when paired with Gem of True Sight.

Gem of True Sight

If you have a Aghanim’s Scepter, a Gem of True Sight will allow you to find any wards that enemies have, including up-hill ones. When it turns to night, you should run around the map and look for any wards, dewarding them when you find them. This should give you a massive lead in map control and make it unsafe for the enemy team to venture far out as they will not be able to see incoming ganks.

Your team should go for ganks when you have these items and try to find as many pick-offs as possible. If the enemy plays too greedy against a NS with Agh’s and Gem, you must punish them for it. Just be aware of counter-ganks and predict the movement of the enemy team. These items will also give you a massive advantage against invisibility heroes as they you will see them whenever they are near you.

Pipe of Insight

Pipe of Insight will tank you up against magic damage. This will also apply to your team and make it safer for you and your team to dive towers against magic damage dealers. It’s good to tank NS up because he tends to chase enemies and be the front lines of his team.

Heaven’s Halberd

Heaven’s Halberd is a good item on NS because it gives him several advantages. It has a chance to slow enemies when attacked, making it easier to chase them, grants HP, damage and some evasion and allows him to disarm enemy carries. This is particularly useful against powerful right-clickers that can nuke you down quickly, such as Ursa, OD or Clinkz.

Late Game Items

Black King Bar

Night Stalker may need a BKB to survive engagements in the late game and secure Dota 2 ranks. This is especially likely to be the case against lineups with lots of magical damage or disables. A BKB will increase Night Stalker’s ability to front line and hunt squishy supports.

Abyssal Blade

Abyssal Blade is a great late-game item for a Night Stalker. It is certainly very pricey, but he may be able to farm it in games that go late. A Skull Basher should be the first component as it goes well with the attack speed from Hunter in the Night. This gives him lots of chances to proc bashes. Abyssal Blade also lets NS disable farmed carries and tanks him up through the increased strength and damage block.

Assault Cuirass

AC is a great pickup because it tanks him up against physical damage and increases his attack speed. The aura is very helpful for your allies and in particular your carry. AC lets you front-line better and increases your deadliness and utility in the late game.

Situational Items

Drum of Endurance

A Drum can be a helpful pickup if you have a lineup focused around early game aggression. Generally it is skipped because the alternatives are more valuable but the stats may prove to be helpful in the early and mid game.

Vladmir’s Offering

Vladmir’s Offering most notably gives you and your team lifesteal and increased attack damage. This is helpful when you have allies that rely more on physical damage and you are trying to get an early lead. Similarly to Drum, it is also often skipped although it can be advantageous in some situations. Vlads can also be picked up in the mid game to give your team an edge, as the passives it provide scale very well.

Blink Dagger

Blink Dagger can be a good item on NS as it gives him much more mobility. With a Blink Dagger, he can Blink and silence enemies that are waiting on the sidelines of a fight to get an important cast off, such as Echo Slam or Reverse Polarity. This is even easier when you have picked up an Aghanim’s Scepter as you can scout them hiding in the trees and such. Blink Dagger is certainly not a regular item on NS, especially because Hunter in the Night can be used to traverse impassable terrain, although it does have its uses.

Spirit Vessel

In most games you will get an Urn of Shadows on Night Stalker. A Spirit Vessel is a natural upgrade and is very effective against heroes with strong healing spells. It will also help to tank you up a bit more, which also greatly benefits Night Stalker.

Nullifier

A Nullifier can be a great item on Night Stalker because it tanks him up a bit through the armor it provides, and the damage is a quite good on him as well. It can be a very strong item against heroes with buffs that make them much harder to kill.

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Interesting Night Stalker Match-ups

Tidehunter

Night Stalker will find it very difficult to kill Tidehunter because Kraken Shell will purge the slow from Void and the silence from Crippling Fear. NS is also a melee hero which makes him vulnerable to Anchor Smash.

Tinker

A Night Stalker with an Aghanim’s Scepter will be able to find Tinker in the treeline, no matter where he hides. You should play very aggressively against him because you, along with most ranged heroes will be able to kill him if you find and disable him. Tinker has to play very safe and buy many defensive items to deal with you.

Invisibility heroes

A Night Stalker with Aghanim’s Scepter and Gem will be able to see any invisibility heroes around him at all times. In team-fights, make sure you are close enough to your allies to hunt them down.

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