TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Role and Playstyle Dirge´s Skills Skill Build Item Builds Allies Enemies General Strategy

Hi to everyone, Dirge is not a very common pick since hes not really a tank, nuker or carry, he can actually play a very flexible game adapting to really hard situations. I´ve been reading many guides in my 2 years as a dota player. Why? because i like to learn and read but in this 2 years i didnt see a single guide for dirge at all, that´s why i want to make this guide(Actually i wanted to make an Ogre Magi guide but there´s a really good one already) to one of my favorite heroes. In this guide you will find a very easy way of play for Dirge, this is a pub guide because i don´t play in clan wars or anything like it.





Dirge
The undying

Strength-22+[2.1]
Agility-10+[0.8]
Intelligence-27+[2.0]




As you can see here, his stats are not that good(they actually suck) this means you need to get some items to become a killing machine, yes dirge IS a killing machine. With a high starting damage and a really short attack animation, you can easily last hit. Above average ms and not bad starting armor, it could be worse.








As i said it before, dirge is a very flexible hero who can adapt to any kind of situation, he can easily babysit, push, def, gank, carry and be a tank, at same time! the bad part is that he can´t babysit like warlock, push like nevermore, gank like venge, carry like spectre or tank like centaur. you might be a little confused but think like this: when you are in battle and the enemy kills your tank, carry OR healer/babysitter Dirge can take his place.

Roles:
Carry: 3/5
Tank: 3/5
Babysitter: 3/5
Pusher: 3/5
Ganker:2/5


And this is where the items take place, you can make it tank adding a vanguard and a hood, make him carry with a nice radiance, babysit with a mekasnm or just an urn of shadows, pusher/tank with shivas, ganker with dagger. See? That´s why i love this hero, it´s always fun to play him because its not just right click or repeat this again and again.





Pick Dirge when:

1. you like to play different roles in the same game
2. you hate right click heroes
3. you love no-nukes spells

Don´t pick Dirge when:

1. you smell mana burners
2. you smell silencers
3. you smell a moving avatar like omniknight

1.Soul rip
2.Tombstone
3.Soul rip
4.Decay
5.Tombstone
6.Flesh golem
7.Tombstone
8.Tombstone
9.Decay

Justification:
A normal player can see that soul rip is Dirge´s main damage spell and since it makes magic damage it must be max first. WRONG! if you read the skill information(which im not putting in this guide yet because i dont know how to make it look really good like other guides, sorry) you will see you can deal up to 500 damage to a single target every 10 sec as long as 20 units are in the area of effect. that´s the problem, even with your zombies spawing every 3 sec it´s gonna be really hard to make those 500 damage since one hit is enough to kill them. Now tombstone is max first at lvl 8 because those zombies can help you a lot pushing, gankin(7% slow) and even killing paper heroes like puck, vs or trax. the lvl 4 deathlust is 400 hp, thats a little more than half hp of a no-tank hero and this looses its power in late game so don´t waste it.

10.Soul rip
11.Flesh golem
12.stats
13.stats
14.stats/Decay
15.stats/Decay
16.Flesh golem
17.Decay/stats
18.Decay/stats
19.Soul rip

Justification:
You guys maybe ask why we should get stats instead of decay since decay is one of the most imba skills in game when maxed.True, but there´s a little problem, when lvl 4 it costs 130 mana! a naked Dirge at lvl 10 will have 585 mp, add(in the best of case) 2 nulls and arcane boots=911 mp. Now (911 + 115)/130=8 decays or 5 decays and you can use the rest of your skills once leaving you with 50 mana in the best case. i hope you guys get my point here, it´s all about mana issues, ok you won the battle but now you have to return to fountain to recover your mp because you cant stay in lane with 200 mp. Besides it´s always good an almost free ultimate orb isn´t it?

5.ITEM BUILD

As i said it before Dirge needs items to make it to late game or to improve any role you are playing. In early game, the only problem you might have is mana, you can easily get some kills but you need mana items to stay in lane.


The Starting items:







Necronomicon:
this can help you against invisible heroes and especially techies you can clean the area without a gem, use it to destroy wards too!

Ghost scepter:
damn ursa is here, thanks god i got ghost scepter

Force staff:
I think the creator of this item was fan of star wars, this item can help you escape as a pseudoshort blink and also place heroes in a good(or bad) position.

Orchid Malevolence:
A good pick if you are facing OD or nerubian weaver, the mana boost is pretty good but the damage and attackspeed is wasted. Nothing is perfect.





He is not a dpser, he can semi-carry but he doesnt need damage from items, his attacks are really slow(even with a short attack animation) and he doesnt have the stats nor the skills to right click a lot. Doble ult sucks i tried it, either they are all dead already or you are.


The Orb Effect
In my opinion Dirge doesnt need any orb effect at all but in case you are one of those pubby heroes who "must" get an orb effect with every hero he plays, the best one might be desolator because this can help you, your team and your zombies to deal some extra damage. It´s up to you, not bad after you got your core items.





Vlads, in every game there´s always(in pubs ovbiously) at least one vlads
and since this is a pub guide i must say something about this questionable item. If there´s no vlads in your team i dont see why you shouldn´t get it, besides, it´s aura can help you and your zombies a lot since they got 0 armor and you need mana reg, the lifesteal is good for your carry because you dont really make normal damage. But if someone already has one, sell your RoB asap because you maybe want to upgrade it.







Moving mana fountain

Really good lane partners, in this case feel free to skill your decay first because you got a lot of mana.

Special cases

kinetic shield+ Static storm+ Flesh golem + tombstone= 2 enemy heroes killed in the worst case.


He places them, you suck their str


Midnight pulse+ Black hole+ Tombstone+ Flesh golem= rage quit













Mana burners

Well, a 0 mana Dirge is nothing but a bitch

Special cases

He can destroy all the zombies in the area, slow your whole team and stun you for 2.5 sec, do i need to say more?



23 spirits attackin for her+ silence


The more zombies in the area, the stronger his ult gets


A little pain in the ass, your zombies increase his chance to dance.