FOREWORD:This guide is written to break the "traditional" way of playing Night Stalker, the 2 Void 1 Fear 1 Hunter in the Night build, or the 3 Void 2 Hunter in the Night build. Plus, there's this pretty girl sitting at the stairs right now, I'm feeling so.... XD

Introduction:

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You had better try to take advantage of the daylight while you can since come nightfall, you will have a powerful and adept hunter on the prowl. Balanar's passive Hunter in the Night increases his movespeed and attackspeed at night making him a feared ganker and chaser. His Void spell damages the target and slows them to a crawl allowing Balanar and his allies to deal great amounts of damage when cast during nighttime. Crippling fear is a powerful weapon against spellcasters and fighters alike as it both silences and causes a large chance of missing on physical attacks for its duration. Balanar's ultimate "Darkness" allows him to instantly transform day into night (or prolong the night), providing for the fullest effect of his other spells. However, nobody fears the Nightstalker during the day...

Stats:
STR: 23+2.8
AGI: 18+2.25
INT: 16+1.6

PROS:
[+]High MS during the night, gives better ability to chase and "tower-dive" kills.
[+]High STR gain, giving more HP and damage per level, and more reason to do tower-dives.

[+]Relatively high armor for a STR hero, and yes, more tower-diving <_<
[+]Relatively high AGI gain per level, giving increased AS and armor.

CONS:
[-]Low INT gain, reducing mana to spam his skills, which are extremely vital early game.
[-]Vulnerable to stuns, though that can be fixed with a BKB or linken.
[-]Not ideal base dmg, making early game, the most important part of the game, dangerous and hard.
[-]Useless during the day (early game).

SKILLS:

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VOID: Creates a damaging void. If cast at night, slows the target for 4 seconds. If cast at day, slows the target for 2 seconds.

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Damage type: magic
• Slows attack speed by 35% and movement speed by 50%.
• Does full damage during the daytime but only slows for 2 seconds.
• Void contains a ministun which procs at the beginning of its cast cancelling the target's channeling spell.

Cooldown: 8 seconds, Casting range: 525.

Level 1: Mana cost: 80 Slow: 2 secs(day) 4 secs(night) Dmg: 90
Level 2: Mana cost: 90 Slow: 2 secs(day) 4 secs(night) Dmg: 160
Level 3: Mana cost: 100 Slow: 2 secs(day) 4 secs(night) Dmg: 255
Level 4: Mana cost: 110 Slow: 2 secs(day) 4 secs(night) Dmg : 335

We dont max this skill first, I'll tell you why later.

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Crippling Fear: In the night, the Night Stalker can cause intense fear in enemy units, causing them to miss attacks and be unable to cast spells. This has reduced effect during the day.

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• Causes 10% miss and silences for 3 seconds at all levels during daytime.

Mana cost: 90, Cooldown: 12 secs, Casting range: 500

Level 1: Silence 5 secs, miss 40% of attacks. (night)
Level 2: Silence 6 secs, miss 40% of attacks. (night)
Level 3: Silence 7 secs, miss 40% of attacks. (night)
Level 4: Silence 8 secs, miss 40% of attacks. (night)

1 point in this early game is more then enough.

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Hunter in the night: The Night Stalker is at home at night. He attacks and moves more swiftly.

Level 1: 15% MS, 20% AS. (night)
Level 2: 20% MS, 35% AS. (night)
Level 3: 30% MS, 55% AS. (night)
Level 4: 35% MS, 75% AS. (night)

Max this first.

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Darkness: What little girls see when the pedobear catches them.

Creates a period of darkness for the Night Stalker to thrive in.

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This skill pauses the current time, so if it's cast at night it prolongs it.
• With Aghanim's Scepter the Night Stalker will get unobstructed vision at night, meaning that trees and terrain will not block his vision.
• In contrast to how Aghanim's Scepter works with other heroes, this improvement does not have anything to do with his ultimate (Darkness), but instead is active all the time.

Level 1: Cooldown : 180 secs Duration 25 secs.
Level 2: Cooldown : 150 secs Duration 50 secs.
Level 3: Cooldown : 120 secs Duration 80 secs.

Taken when possible, spammed at night.

MY SKILL BUILD, THE :FACEPALM: ONE

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Lvl 1: Void
Lvl 2: Crippling Fear
Lvl 3: Hunter in the Night
Lvl 4: Hunter in the Night
Lvl 5: Hunter in the Night
Lvl 6: Darkness
Lvl 7: Hunter in the Night / Void
Lvl 8: Void / Hunter in the Night
Lvl 9: Void / Hunter in the Night
Lvl 10: Void / Hunter in the Night (MAX)
Lvl 11: Darkness
Lvl 12: Crippling Fear
Lvl 13: Crippling Fear
Lvl 14: Crippling Fear (MAX)
Lvl 15: Stats
Lvl 16: Darkness (MAX)
Lvl 17-25: Stats

This build is for me, because I tend to tower-dive alot, hence the increased AS and MS lets me tower-dive and tower-escape with ease. Alternatively, you can follow FunnyWarfare's guide to Balanar, here

I'm sure many people here would be like

already, after seeing my skill build, thinking why would I take Hunter in the Night over Void. The reason is pretty simple, increased AS.

The AS of Night Stalker is increased by 55% at level 3, which means during the night, you can munch your laning opponents up. Void at level 1 provides the 4 seconds slow you need during the night, and Hunter gives you additional 30% MS. Crippling Fear is kept at level 1 because Void and HotN is our main priority here, and a 5 seconds silence is already wtf-ing enough for spellcasters.

Another reason why Void is kept at level 1 is because of manacost. At level 5, you can use void 3x, which means a 12 secs slow in total, plus 55% increased AS, plus 30% MS which gives you the iron balls to tower-dive and run away slightly charred. Level 3 Void gives gives you 8 secs slow, but only 20% MS and 35% AS, which reduces your chasing abilities, which reduces your kills, increase travelling time, etc etc etc *oh, the pretty girl T_T*

CORE ITEMS

SITUATIONAL ITEMS

LUXURY ITEMS

ANYTHING GOES!

NOT ENCOURAGED ITEMS

Well you know the rest...

STARTING ITEMS
For me, its a standard build. Feel free to try out others.

PLAYING STYLE
SENTINEL: BTM LANE
SCOURGE: TOP LANE

EARLY GAME:

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1. GRAB EVERY SINGLE LAST HIT THERE IS. BEG YOUR ALLIES FOR IT IF YOU NEED TO. YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO RUSH OUT A POWER TREADS OR PHASE BOOTS BEFORE LEVEL 5.

2. Use Void to farm. Void @ level 1 during the day deals FULL 90 damage, and cost the bare minimum of 80 mana. Mana regeneration is free, just use it to rush your choice of boots.

MID-GAME:

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3. When you are level 5, it should be turning night. Get ready to hunt. You have 30% more MS than all of them, and 55% more AS, pick the weakest hero, go munch on him. Power Treads recommended, because it gives you extra AS, and makes you slightly tankier. Power Treads can also be converted into INT treads, giving you the little mana you need for a last void.

4. When you get your ultimate, Darkness, use it. Keep using it during the night, because it prolongs it. If you use it during the day, the day is prolonged as well, so dont use it during the day unless necessary.

5. When engaging in a 1-1 battle, silence the enemy first, before you Void. Stunners, disablers or heroes with escaping mechanism may be able to react fast enough to do w/e shit to you after they receive the nuke dmg from Void. Always remember to cancel casting animation by moving immediately after you cast the spell.

6. If you have enough hp, dont be afraid to tower-dive. Hunter of the Night lvl 3 + Power treads will give you enough speed to kill the enemy and get away safely. However, please be wary constantly of stuns/disables near towers.

7. After treads, the next item will be the cranium basher. With the cranium basher, you gain some threat during the day as well. Agahim's, if I'm not mistaken, only provides YOU with unobstructed vision, so its weightage is lesser then cranium basher.

8. Orb of Venom provides you with a 4% slow for ranged heroes and 12% slow for melee heroes, giving you more hits and chasing capabilities. Coupled with the Agahim's scepter, it is vunderful. Please do not tell me that Void solves all, because Void has a manacost, and most of the time, during the most important duel of the match, the god of dota makes you realise you do not have enough mana.

LATE GAME:

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9. By this time, you should have Power Treads, Cranium Basher, Agahim's scepter and 1 or more situational / luxury items.

10. Keep pushing those towers, Night Stalker is not a very good late-gamer compared to most other agi heroes. It cannot be said that he will 100% lose against agi carriers, because of item-compensation, but still plan out your game before getting this far.

GOOD ALLIES:
Stunners, disablers of that sort. Slowers work well too. I've only listed a few, please dont limit yourselves to that

GOOD ENEMIES:
Theres still more, but these are some of the more prominent ones.

Slow+Kite, its not easy to kill this bitch.

STR sapping.

Oh yes, a well played invoker can total ANYBODY. Try using invoker, get ICE WALL and FORGE SPIRIT, plus a dagger. Just focus on Quas and Exort. Blink infront of the enemy, ICE WALL, FORGE SPIRIT and whack the enemy. Enjoy the results.

Guidelines:

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1. Plan out your every item. Use -ma to check your opponents hero.

2. Against High DPS-ers.- Never underestimate the beauty of STR heroes with a Blademail.

3. Against Stunners/disablers, MANY OF THEM.- Black King Bar is the only way to go. Then knock out the main DPS in their team.

4. Against a well co-ordinated team.- Use teamwork against them. If they have many stunners/disablers, plan out your battle. Every second when BKB-ed counts. When you BKB, there is no turning back. If they have many dps-ers, still, the tactic remains. Use good judgement to play to game.

Well, that about sums it up, feel free to leave comments on what you think of this build, send me replays of you playing with this build @ ryuji.toradora@yahoo.com, and tell me how different it is from the usual NS you guys play.

Balanar the Night Stalker
Author: phonypk
Map Vers.: 6.71b

Guide to Balanar, the Night Stalker

Dota's pedobear.

Date Posted: 03/05/11
Last Comment:18/04/2012
Total Votes: 22
Current Rating: 7.05
Views: 62123