DotA Guides

Death Pulse FTW

Slain for sins of heresy by men who declared themselves holy, death only gifted Rotund'jere with an immense wrath for the living, that he can express by sending evil spirits at his foes. Taking pleasure and growing more powerful every time a living thing dies by his hands, each step of his reeks of death, and his very presence makes living things rot and wither. Now a master of torture and pain, the Necrolyte mercilessly slays any weaklings who might cross his path, always with a nasty smile on his dead face.

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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Hero Stats
1.2 Pro's and Con's
1.3 Skills and Comments
2.0 Skill Builds
2.1 Skill Build One (Recommended)
2.2 Skill Build One Justification
2.3 Skill build Two
2.4 Skill Build Two Justification
3.0 Item Build
3.1 Luxury Items
3.2 Rejected Items
3.3 Item Justification
4.0 How to Play
4.1 Specific Phase Usage
4.2 Specific Skill Usage
5.0 Good Allies
6.0 Bad Enemies
7.0 Final Word

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1.0 Introduction

Necrolyte can play mainly two roles within a team, semi-carry and supporter. With his Death Pulse and his surpreme ability to last hit he can easily baby-sit another ally in a lane. Later game he is pit to being a semi-carry and support.

1.1 Hero Stats

Base Stats:
Strength: 16 + 2.0/level
Agility: 15 + 1.7/level
Intelligence: 22 + 2.5/level
Affiliation: Scourge
Base Damage: 44-48
Base Armour: 1.1
Base Movespeed: 290
Attack Range: 600

1.2 Pro's and Con's
Pro's
-Good Intellect Gain
-Good Attack animation for last hitting
-Can baby-sit in a lane
-If farmed up he can push well
-Can finish people off who are low health quickly
-Can semi-carry
-Supports allies in middle of fight well
-Infinite amount of Mana, just for killing creeps

Con's
-Fragile
-He needs to farm to semi-carry
-Heartstopper aura shows his presence
-Low base armor
-Item Dependent

1.3 Skills and Comments

Death Pulse
The Necrolyte releases a wave of death from the core of his being, dealing damage to enemies and healing allies.
All levels: Nothing.
Level 1: costs 125 mana, 8 cooldown, 400 range, damage 75, heals 50
Level 2: costs 145 mana, 7 cooldown, 450 range, damage 125, heals 75
Level 3: costs 165 mana, 6 cooldown, 475 range, damage 200, heals 100
Level 4: costs 185 mana, 5 cooldown, 500 range, damage 275, heals 120
Notes: Unavoidable in any way, spammable, main skill.

Heartstopper Aura
The deathly air stills the hearts of his opponents, causing them to lose a percentage of their max health over time.
All levels: 1000 range, health take away.
Level 1: takes away 0.4% health per second
Level 2: takes away 0.6% health per second
Level 3: takes away 0.8% health per second
Level 4: takes away 1% health per second
Notes: Shows his presence when ganking, useless till late game.

Sadist
Reveling in death and pain, the Necrolyte regains mana for killing units.
All levels: Nothing
Level 1: 12 mana per kill
Level 2: 24 mana per kill
Level 3: 36 mana per kill
Level 4: 48 mana per kill
Notes: Good for spamming spells, works with denies.

Reaper's Scythe
Brings a target to full realization of its own mortality, dealing damage based on how much life the target is missing. Stuns for 1.5 seconds.
All levels: Stuns for 1.5 sec, Aghanim's Scepter upgrades this spell.
Level 1: 0.4(0.6) damage per health gone, 100(70) cooldown, 175(150) mana cost
Level 2: 0.6(0.9) damage per health gone, 85(70) cooldown, 340 mana cost
Level 3: 0.9(1.20) damage per health gone, 70 cooldown, 500 mana cost
Notes: Aghanim's Scepter upgrades are in brackets, basicly can almost always kill at 25% health at level 3.

2.0 Skill Build

2.1 Skill Build One (Recommended)

1. Death Pulse
2. Heartstopper Aura
3. Death Pulse
4. Heartstopper Aura
5. Death Pulse
6. Reaper's Scythe
7. Death Pulse
8. Sadist
9. Sadist
10. Sadist
11. Reaper's Scythe
12. Sadist
13. Heartstopper Aura
14. Heartstopper Aura
15. Stat Bonus
16. Reaper's Scythe
17. Stat Bonus
18. Stat Bonus
19. Stat Bonus
20. Stat Bonus
21. Stat Bonus
22. Stat Bonus
23. Stat Bonus
24. Stat Bonus
25. Stat Bonus

2.2 Skill Build Justification

Death Pulse is maxed early in the game because of its usefulness in lane; use Death Pulse to heal allies and harass enemies carefully to not waste too much mana so that you run out at your time of need.With two levels of Heartstopper Aura early, it is possible to limit the enemies health regeneration and slowly degenerate them until they are forced to leave the lane. Reaper's Scythe is leveled up whenever possible to maximize Necrolyte's ability to assist in fights.

2.3 Skill Build Two

1. Death Pulse
2. Heartstopper Aura
3. Death Pulse
4. Heartstopper Aura
5. Death Pulse
6. Reaper's Scythe
7. Death Pulse
8. Heartstopper Aura
9. Heartstopper Aura
10. Sadist
11. Reaper's Scythe
12. Sadist
13.Sadist
14. Sadist
15. Stat Bonus
16. Reaper's Scythe
17. Stat Bonus
18. Stat Bonus
19. Stat Bonus
20. Stat Bonus
21. Stat Bonus
22. Stat Bonus
23. Stat Bonus
24. Stat Bonus
25. Stat Bonus

2.3 Skill Build Two

This second skill build completely ignores Sadist early and max Heartstopper Auraearly with the default for if you expect a long laning phase, this would be extremely useful to limit the farm of the enemy.

3.0 Item Build

Starting Items

2x Circlet of Nobility (185g ea)

2x Ancient Tango of Essification (90g ea)

1x Ironwood Branch (53g ea)

After Starting Items

1x Circlet of Nobility(185g) + 1x Gloves of Ogre Strength(125g) + 1x Bracers Recipe(175g) = 1x Bracers(510g)

1x Boots of Speed (500g) + 2x Blades of Attack (500g) = Phase Boots (1500g)

1x Magic Stick(200g) + 3x Ironwood Branch (53g) + 1x Magic Wand Recipe (150g) = Magic Wand (509g)

1x Point Booster (1200g) + Vitality Booster (1100g) + Energy Booster (1000g) = Soul Booster (3300g) + Void Stone (875g) + Ring of Health (875g) = Bloodstone (5050g)

What Your Items Should look like

3.1 Luxury Items
I basicly listed one Luxury item for each role of Necrolyte then below it, are optional follow ups of the first item

Offensive Support

Shiva's Guard

Base item for offensive support, provides slow and anti physical.

Orchid Guinsoo Linken's Skadi Aghanim's

Basicly disables of different offensive disables/snares.

Defensive Support

Mekansm

Extra healing is always welcomed

Pipe Shiva's Linken's Aghanim's

These items are to help allies survive fulfilling a full support role

Carry

Eye of Skadi

With Skadi you start using your normal attack more = giving you the power to start carrying

Heart Radiance Shiva's Linken's Aghanim's

All these items will help you survive while focusing on deal decent amount of damage

Tank

Heart of Tarrasque

Necrolyte has a lot of health along with a constant heal, he can make to be a supportive tank.

Radiance Shiva's Linken's Aghanim's

These items either produce a constant threat to the enemy team while giving Necrolyte good stats to keep keep alive.

3.2 Rejected Items

Monkey King Bar

True strike doesn't stack with Skadi, also its really overkill. DPS you don't need

Buriza-Do Kyanon

Your damage is not high enough to utilize the Critical really well

Lothar's Edge

You survive well enough already you don't need this.

4.0 How To Play

Necrolyte is a semi-carry and also a supporter. With Death Pulse he can heal and also damage allies even at more hectic times. Also he can take a hero by surprise and kill them with Reaper's Scythe. Combining all this he is a feared character through the game if played correctly.

4.1 Specific Phase Usage

Early Game

This is sooo simple, you have superior lane staying power, all you have to do is perfectly last hit and deny. As you last hit and deny you will start gaining mana, so feel free to use Death Pulse as much as you want as long as you can last hit and deny correctly if you have Sadist. You can also harass with Death Pulse, just wait for melee heroes to go in for the deny and then use Death Pulse on them they will start getting worried and stop last-hitting. For ranged heros you half to get a bit closer to them although this is a bit risky against really aggressive players cause they can deal back damage at you really easily, use this strategy with caution. Stay alive, keep your ally alive <--Your Goal.

Middle Game

In Middle game you farm and assist in team fights and ganks. If you have Heartstopper Aura careful because it could tip off an enemy that your near by. Unless you find one person really weak don't try a gank alone, always help your allies. Careful not to killsteal with Reaper's Scythe because some of your allies might really need those kills ie. Carries. Try to heal as many allies that are hurt with Death Pulse after a while your allies will love you.

Late Game

Late game is very situational for Necrolyte, if he was played well in Middle Game he will have a lot of fine if not all he will be is a finisher and a healer but if you didn't fail you can semi-carry! *yay!* You can make some good dps and can roll a few people if you allies are good too. Simply use your items and spells like you always do and you can't fail.

4.2 Specific Skill Uses

Death Pulse

Death Pulse is a very useful skill, it can be damaging and also supporting allies, although the range starts off low but gets higher and becomes very useful, from pushing to ganking to assisting to surviving, Death Pulse has it all.

Below is the max range of Death Pulse

As you can see the range is quite large and you don't need to get to heart of battle to make yourself useful with Death Pulse try to spam it when in fight with allies to keep them healed.

From early game you can harass melee last hitters, by timing when the hero is last hitting you can effectively hurt them while they are last hitting.

You can use this strategy on ranged heroes but it requires some more aggresive playing. Simply run close enough to the target to Death Pulse and then BAM! You get health they get drained. All is well for Necrolyte.

By combining Shiva's Guard and Death Pulse you can effectively stop pushes and push back and still farm very well.

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MONEY!

Reaper's Scythe
The following information was provided by 4 73h W1n.

At level 3 Reaper's Scythe will always kill anyone that is under 42% health at 25% Magic Resistance

Below is a chart of what percent health is needed to kill a target.

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Above it shows from level 1 Reaper's Scythe to level 3 Reaper's Scythe with Aghanim's Scepter.

It ranges from 10% Magic Reduction to 80% Magic Reduction.

5.0 Good Allies

Almost every hero enjoys having Necrolyte around, his heals are just super. But there are a few that especially Necrolyte will benefit from.

Protectors