Krobelus the Death Prophet
Written by Piejonk
Krobelus spent her living days as a fervent member of a cult of Death Sayers. Her belief in the ways of death and the perfect harmony it brings has given her dead spirit a chance to wreak havoc among the chaotic living. She uses her abilities to call upon carnivorous bats and long dead spirits to lay to rest all who still pump blood through their veins. She augments her powers through the use of witchcraft, and she is able to make opponents gape in fear, losing the focus needed to cast spells. She is devoted to death in all it's aspects, and would see all turned to ash. |
Welcome to my guide on Krobelus. I noticed that there are not very many guides dedicated to this hero on playdota.com so I decided to write this guide. This guide is also not meant for competitive use as I do not play competitive dota, however some if its concepts might apply to competitive play and strategies.
Table of Contents
I. The Alt-Tab Mini Guide
II. Hero Statistics
III. Hero Introduction
IV. Skills
V. Skill Build
VI. Item Build
VII. Gameplay and Strategies
VIII. Friends and Foes
IX. Conclusion
X. FAQ
XI. Replays
XII. Credits and Changelog
Or you can try 'Ctrl+F' and search the thing that you are looking for.
The Alt-Tab Mini Guide
Skill Build:
Early Game Items:
Mid Game:
or 
Core Item Build:
or
Optional Items:
Luxury Items:
Gameplay:
1. Take part in team battles.
2. Early game, concentrate on farming your core.
3. Push whenever not fighting or farming.
4. Never sit around doing nothing.
5. Use your ultimate a lot, but only when needed.
Early Game Items:
Mid Game:
or Core Item Build:
or Optional Items:
Luxury Items:
Gameplay:
1. Take part in team battles.
2. Early game, concentrate on farming your core.
3. Push whenever not fighting or farming.
4. Never sit around doing nothing.
5. Use your ultimate a lot, but only when needed.
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Hero Statistics
Level 1 Statistics:
STR: 19+1.8
AGI: 14+1.4
INT: 20+3.0
HP: 511
MP: 260
Level 25 Statistics:
STR: 62+20
AGI: 47+20
INT: 92+20
HP: 1708
MP: 1456
Advanced Statistics:
Affiliation: Scourge
Attack Animation: 0.56 / 0.51
Damage: 39 - 51
Casting Animation: 0.5 / 0.83
Armor: 1
Base Attack Time: 1.7
Movespeed: 285
Missile Speed: 1000
Attack Range: 600
Sight Range: 1800 / 800
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Hero Introduction
For a long time Krobelus has been considered a very good hero capable of carrying, pushing, nuking. She is an excellent AOE and team battle hero. She is easy to use and will appeal to the new players. Krobelus is a very fun hero to play and I'm sure you will come to like her too.
When to pick:
- Your team needs more AOE
- Enemy team has a lot of spellcasters
- Your team needs a solid late-game carry
- Your team is using a pusher strategy
When to not pick:
- Enemy team has lots of gankers or high burst damage heroes
- Your team has other better carries that need lots of farm
Pros
[+] Strong, spammable nuke allows for easy farming and pushing
[+] 6 second AOE silence with a 11 second cooldown
[+] Excellent in team battles
[+] Excellent carry and pusher
[+] Excellent AOE potential
[+] Very strong ultimate
[+] Strong mid-late game
Cons
[-] Weak early game
[-] Fragile
[-] Mana dependent
[-] Item dependent
[-] Awful attack animation
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Skills
More detailed information on Krobelus' skills can be found here.
Skill Notes: • Damage type: Magical Skill Usage: This is your main and only damage nuke and after Witchcraft is maxed out, it is easily spammable, providing you have enough mana, and therefore it allows us to clear creep waves quickly which allows quick farming. You have to aim this skill and it damages enemies in a 700 AOE cone in front of you. |
Skill Notes: • Targets can still use items while silenced. Skill Usage: This skill is excellent! This skill is what makes Krobelus scary in team battles. A six second silence is no joke, and if well placed, your team can easily obtain the upperhand and wipe out the other team while they are busy smashing their buttons. The extremely low cooldown also means that you will be able to use this skill multiple times in battle, if needed. |
Skill Notes: • Decreases Carrion Swarm mana cost by 5/10/15/20 and cooldown by 1/2/3/4 second. • Decreases Silence mana cost by 0/10/20/30 cooldown by 0/1/2/3. • Increases the number of level 1 Exorcism spirits by 1/2/3/4. • Increases the number of level 2 Exorcism spirits by 1/3/4/6. • Increases the number of level 3 Exorcism spirits by 0/2/4/7. Skill Usage: A great passive, that improves the abilites of Krobelus. The upgrades are very significant, and we need this skill to be an effective farmer and pusher. Now since the buff in 6.65 this skill is great. In fact just because of the movement speed buff, Krobelus will probably see some future competitive play. |
Skill Notes: • Spirits do 43-48 hero type damage. • Area of Effect specifies the area around Krobelus where spirits will choose new targets. • If a spirit gets 2000 range or more from Krobelus, it will be destroyed. • After the spell ends, the spirits will heal Krobelus for 25% of the damage dealt by them, up to a maximum of 1000. Skill Usage: Once activated, your enemies have two choices. One is two run like hell, and one is to stay and fight and most likely die. Towers also go down in no time at all. Each spirit does 43-48 hero damage which is a lot. For example in a 1vs1 situation if you have your level 3 ultimate activated then for every round of attacks the spirits would do 43*23=989 damage! Don't forget it lasts for 30 seconds. Not only does it have high damage but when it ends it heals Krobelus for 25% of the damage dealt up to a maximum of 1000. This makes her a great pseudo-tank and carry late game, as she is very hard to take down. Enemies must be in a 700 AOE around Krobelus to be attacked by spirits. Getting closer to them will also result in faster attacks and more damage overall. Also if you target someone the spirits will also target that enemy. Mechanics Since this skill is pretty complicated, this section is all about how it works and interacts with the game.
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Skill Build
1. Carrion Swarm
2. Silence
3. Carrion Swarm
4. Witchcraft
5. Carrion Swarm
6. Exorcism
7. Carrion Swarm
8. Witchcraft
9. Witchcraft
10. Witchcraft
11. Exorcism
12. Silence
13. Silence
14. Silence
15. Stats
16. Exorcism
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats
Reasoning: We try to max out Carrion Swarm first as it is our only farming tool, and that is what we will be trying to do early game. Take one level of Silence early for escaping ganks or any first blood attempts. Since Witchraft helps a lot, we take it as much as we can after Carrion Swarm is maxed out. Finish with Silence and then after that Stats. Take your ultimate whenever possible.
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Item Build
Core Build
Grab a gauntlet, circlet, 3 branches and one set of tangoes. This should be enough for the laning phase. Later turn the branches into a magic wand, and the gauntlet into a bracer. After that buy a pair of boots. Now you are good to go to farm up your next item. Mid Game Once you have completed the items from the laning phase, it is time to concentrate on your next core item. I am still going to recommend the good old Bloodstone, as even after the nerf it is an extremely effective item for Krobelus. It allows her to spam her spells more easily, and she can gain kills pretty easily from Carrion Swarm + Exorcism. It also gives her some nice HP and MP that she needs badly. The other choice is to go for Shiva's Guard. It is also a great item for Krobelus, as it improves her mana pool greatly, fixes her armor problems, and adds more AOE damage. Its your choice and you must decide which one to go for. If you need more survivability and spammability then go for Bloodstone, if you need more AOE potential then go for Shivas. This is your basic core build for the game. |
Optional Core
Bottle is ok for Krobelus, but since she doesn't gank much, she doesn't benefit much from this item. It is still a viable option for her though if you find that you are having to go back to base time and time again. With the recent addition to Witchcraft, I believe that Phase Boots are once again a viable choice for Krobelus. It provides great chasing with the ghosts. You can also later decide to upgrade to BoT later on if needed. This adds to her survivability but it really strains your mana. Its your choice if you want to go for this item or not, if you think you have enough mana to support it, then go for it. This item allows Krobelus to go into the middle of the battle and wreak havoc without getting disabled (which is what we want). The downside is that it delays your core and might not be needed in some situations. If the enemy team has lots of disables, I recommend getting this item. Eul's is also a great choice for Krobelus. It gives her some nice mana regen and move speed. It alos gives her a disable which can be used offensively and defensively. Krobelus does not want to be focused. That is what Blademail will help us do. Turn this on and enemies will think twice about attacking you. This item helps Krobelus tank more throughout the game. It also helps protect agaisnt burst damage making you harder to kill for some heroes. I really dont like vanguard on Krobelus, but it does help with her tanking so it is possible to get it if you need it. |
Luxury Items
First thing is first. It's time to finish your boots on the best choice for use are Boots of Travel. It gives us much needed map mobility for easier pushing. After your boots are completed you have a choice of luxury items. Heart gives us HP and survivability allowing us to tank easier. Skadi gives us HP and MP and a useful slow that can be used for chasing with your ultimate on. Guinsoo`s gives us nice mana regen and a second disable. So it`s up to you again to choose which one will best be of use to you. Usually the game will end before or very soon after you finish one luxury item. |
Rejected Items
   DPS items are not a viable option for Krobelus, because of her fragile nature and very low agility. Seriously, there is no reason to take any of these items over let's say Heart. |
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Gameplay and Strategies
Laning: Krobelus is a viable hero for mid, however most of the time there will be someone else that will benefit more from soloing mid. If not then take it. Otherwise head bottom lane Sentinel or top lane Scourge. Last hit to the best of your ability and occasionaly harass with Carrion Swarm. Make sure that you don't have to go back to the fountain as this wastes crucial time and we need every second of last hitting and XP to be more effective mid game. By the end of the laning phase when people start to gank and push seriously, you should have finished your basic laning core items.
Farming: Since Carrion Swarm is your only real nuke, this is the skill that we will be using to farm. 2 swarms will destroy a creep wave, but usually one together with your normal attack is enough. Remember we need to conserve as much mana as we can early game, and once we get enough mana and regen, then we can start spamming this skill to farm. So before you have the mana only use one swarm per creep wave, and last hit to farm.
Late Game: Late game our job is to go around the map pushing, stopping pushes, and fighting in team battles. Since we should have BoT at this point of the game, those things are pretty easy for us to do. Go to one lane push one tower quickly, then switch over to another lane and push there. Since teams stick together at this point, it is also a good idea to stick with your team. Counter pushing is easy for us, 2 swarms take care of creep waves easily. So during this part of the game, you want to push with your team, push by yourself when not pushing with your team, and counter pushing the enemy team's pushes.
Team Battles: Our role in team battles comes after the initiators. Once they go in and disable the enemy team, it is our turn to go in. First of all turn on your ultimate immediately. Then use your silence on the most heroes possible. After that you are free to spam swarm. Use one more silence if needed, but that really won't be necessary as the enemy team should be dead by then. So to sum it up, here is what we do in massive team battles:
1) When the initiators on your team have disabled the opposing team, go in.
2) Turn on your ultimate.
3) Silence the other team. Always try to silence their most dangerous spell caster/disabler.
4) Spam Carrion Swarm/use Shivas if you have it.
5) Use Silence again if necessary/chase fleeing heroes down with ultimate turned on.
Aiming Carrion Swarm: It may sound easy, but it can sometimes be tricky to do. Never aim at a hero or creep, always aim at the ground. Get used to doing this always, even when farming. First of all, here is the max range of Carrion Swarm:
Whenever aiming Carrion Swarm, always try to aim somewhere in the middle of the max range (in the case of the picture, the marked spot). Aiming Carrion Swarm is similar to aiming Dragon Slave or Sonic Wave. The arrows signify where the spell will go and hit. The line signifies the max aiming range before you move, if you click beyond the black line, Krobelus will move in that direction and when she reaches the casting range, she will fire off a swarm.
Carrion Swarm has a max range of 700. Anyone in a 50-100 AOE of the black line will get hit. Anyone that is inside the black line will get hit no matter what.
Now we always want to maximize the damage by hitting the most enemy heroes possible at once. Always try to aim so that you catch as many heroes possible. Here is an example of how to aim Carrion Swarm to maximize it's potential:
Quite clearly a large team battle is taking place, between me, Rylai, Seer and Void, Leoric, Balanar and Razor. Void just managed to chrono us, but he also chronoed Balanar, so NS dies from my spirits.
Void killed Seer, but I managed to get a great silence off together with Rylai using her ultimate. How I have a choice of where to aim my swarm. If I aim to the left, I will surely hit Leoric and Razor and possibly kill the former. If I aim to the bottom-right I will hit Void, and I might but probably won't hit Leoric. So I decide to aim my swarm towards Razor.
Success. I hit them both and Razor dies almost instantly. If I had aimed the other way, I wouldn't of it as many heroes, and Razor would of probably ran away or he could of continued fighting by using his nuke.
Void manages to Time Walk away, and Leoric with his ultimate quickly falls twice to the swarm of spirits.
Aiming Silence: Using Silence to it's maximum potential is similar to using Carrion Swarm effectively. Again it's important that you try to catch as many enemies as possible with your silence. If enemies are very spread apart, then try to silence the most dangerous spell caster that they have. Disables such as Reverse Polarity and Blackhole are excellent and allow you to place a perfect silence without too much problems. Here are some examples of using Silence well:
Using Silence to Avoid Ganks
Me and Leoric are very low on health and we are trying to defend a tower to the best of our ability. It turns out that Axe and Lion have come to gank us, but as we shall see things will not go so well for them...
As soon as they are ready to unleash their disables and kill us, I cast a silence on both of them.
With a timely stun from Leoric, Lion dies from the tower and Axe manages to run away. A well placed silence completely turned a gank around.
Using Silence In Team Fights
We just finished pushing down the first mid tower. The Sentinel were trying to defend it with fewer numbers, but now more of them come.
They try to engage us. My main priority here is to silence Leoric, as he is the one with the main disable. Since we have a small casting delay I aim my silence so that when Razor enters it he will be silenced. Of course Leoric and Balanar will be silenced as well.
Turns out that only Razor and Leoric were silenced, and Balanar avoided it by trying to be more aggressive.
However he soon also gets disabled, and he falls quickly together with his team.
Using Silence To Escape
Me and Leoric are very low on health and we are trying to defend a tower to the best of our ability. It turns out that Axe and Lion have come to gank us, but as we shall see things will not go so well for them...
As soon as they are ready to unleash their disables and kill us, I cast a silence on both of them.
With a timely stun from Leoric, Lion dies from the tower and Axe manages to run away. A well placed silence completely turned a gank around.
Using Silence In Team Fights
We just finished pushing down the first mid tower. The Sentinel were trying to defend it with fewer numbers, but now more of them come.
They try to engage us. My main priority here is to silence Leoric, as he is the one with the main disable. Since we have a small casting delay I aim my silence so that when Razor enters it he will be silenced. Of course Leoric and Balanar will be silenced as well.
Turns out that only Razor and Leoric were silenced, and Balanar avoided it by trying to be more aggressive.
However he soon also gets disabled, and he falls quickly together with his team.
Using Silence To Escape
Most of the time this strategy is very easy to pull off. What you need to do is silence the enemy first, so no stuns come your way, and then simply TP out of there. If they have bashers then you are most likely out of luck. However most of the time, this method of escape works.
Using Exorcism Effectively: Since there is no need to aim your ultimate, it is much easier to use than your other skills. However it is still important to know when to activate it. Always, always activate it whenever close or in a team battle. If the enemies focus you, then you can try silencing them, or just running around while your team attempts to rip them apart. Also when close to an enemy tower while pushing, activate your ultimate, and even if you don't manage to take the tower down, you should of dealed significant damage to it, so that you can come back later and finish it off. Your ultimate can also be effectively used for backdooring. This can only be done late game when you have enough health to take shots from the tower. Just turn on your ultimate and focus the tower down. If any creeps come, then level them with Carrion Swarm. Remember your ultimate has a very short cooldown so try to use it a lot! Here is a little backdooring trick:
Another great thing about Eul's is that it helps us abuse our great backdoor ability. For example in the picture I notice that the creep wave had just passed the tower so I turn my ultimate on and go attack the tower.
After I take some shots from the tower I cyclone myself to avoid taking more damage, while my spirits still attack the tower. This a good technique that can be used to maximize our backdooring potential. Note that this trick can be done with any self-disable such as Astral Imprisonment.
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Friends and Foes
Friends
Massive AOE
These guys synenergize very well with Krobelus. Massive AOE + Massive AOE usually equals in enemy team rape. These heroes together with some disables and Krobelus can easily wipe out an opposing team in a matter of seconds.
AOE Disablers
A long disable allows Krobelus to freely wreak havoc on the enemy team. They also help you land your Silence and Carrion Swarm. Not much more you could ask for?
Foes
High-Burst Damage
Since Krobelus is very fragile, these heroes just eat you for breakfast. Just try to silence them before they take you apart, and if not possible then just avoid them as best as you can.
Silence and Disables
A Krobelus that can't cast spells or do anything is just useless, and food for the enemy. Silencer is especially annoying, he screws up your nukes and even your silence! Beware of these heroes.
Special Mention
Nerubian Assassin
Not only does this annoying bug have high-burst damage, he likes to gank heroes that farm. Try wards or sticking with your team to prevent him from killing you that easily. Late game you will easily be able to kill him, but we have to get there first.
Doom Bringer
Doom Bringer is a counter to any hero, as a hero that can't do anything is less useful than a creep. You go into the midst of battle ready to unleash your full force when you start spamming your hotkeys only to realize that you've been doomed. The next second your hp is in red and you die. Make sure to silence him always before he dooms you or one of your teammates, and try to kill him as fast as possible.
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Conclusion
Krobelus is a great hero with excellent AOE and pushing capabilities. She should be played with great energy; you should never be just sitting around doing nothing. I hope that this guide has taught you a lot about Krobelus and how to play her.
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