Underpicked Dota 2 heroes: Night Stalker

Night Stalker is one of the toughest heroes to play against if you’re trying to stall the game and win after the 30-minute mark. His power spikes come early and he can fight well even if his networth is below 5000. That’s because his natural abilities and stats transform him into a literal beast.

At the community level, Night Stalker is a niche hero. He only gets picked in 3% of all matches and his win rate is 49%. This is a sign that he is not properly understood. Because his strengths are very impressive.

Why Night Stalker is a strong pick

Night Stalker can be played in more than one role but he is a solid offlaner. Generally, you want to take advantage of his excellent HP and strength gain, as well as his high armor and HP regen.

When you pick Night Stalker, your goal is to put a lot of pressure on the enemy safe lane and become powerful enough to be able to make a big impact during the first night, which occurs between the 5 and 10 minute marks.

For five minutes, NS has a huge advantage over almost any other hero in the game. A player who knows what to do with that advantage will increase it even further.

Night Stalker’s passive ability, Hunter in the Night, makes him extremely fast at night, giving him 22%-40% movement speed and 20-80 attack speed. Because of that, many players like to put several points in it during the first six levels.

The ideal NS build at the early levels seems to be 2-1-2-1, with the Q and the E getting maximized before Crippling Fear.

The hero’s ultimate, Dark Ascension, gives him 30 seconds of increased power. He can fly and ignore terrain for 30 seconds and he also deals +50 bonus damage. Combined with his bonus attack speed, this ability guarantees that one or more enemies will die in most cases.

Night Stalker’s biggest weakness is his farming speed and ability to fight during the daytime. He also tends to fall off as the game progresses, which is why you don’t want to play him in the position 1 and 2 roles. He can work well in the position 2 role in some scenarios, but you need to play a high-tempo game and take advantage of every night.

Header: Valve Corporation