Undying

	Undying Zombie
Summoned Creep
Health 2 +0
This unit has no mana.
Notes	Uncontrollable; Tower attacks are considered as Hero attacks.

	Tombstone
Summoned Ancient Ward
Health 20/24/28/32 +0
	⤷ 44/48/52/56HP
This unit has no mana.
Notes	Spawns Undying Zombie within the radius.

Undying 22 + 2.1 10 + 0.8 27 + 2.5
	Grants the following bonuses per point of attribute:
	+22HP and +0.1HP regeneration; +1 main attack damage
	+0.17 armor and 1 attack speed
	+12MP and +0.05MP regeneration; +0.1% base magic resistance ;
L0	Base Hero Values
L1	⤷ + Base Attributes
L15	⤷ + Attribute Gain
L25	⤷ + 6 levels of Attribute Bonus
L30	⤷ + 7 levels of Attribute Bonus
	All values shown are without talent bonuses.
Attack Animation	0.3 + 0.3
Gib Type	Default
Internal	Not Provided

Undying the Almighty Dirge is a melee Strength Hero who serves as a formidable tank and a dangerous spellcaster. His abilities force opponents to either kill him or suffer powerful debuffs in a teamfight. Decay is a spammable ability that steals enemies' Strength in an area, making them more fragile and Undying himself more durable as the fight goes on while also being exceptionally potent during the early laning phase, leaving your opponents with mere scraps of health. Soul Rip can act as both a powerful heal or nuke, redirecting the flow of living energy to a target. By ripping some of the health of his ally or enemy in an area, the target can be healed if an ally, or damaged if an enemy. This is empowered by Tombstone, which acts as a static tank by summoning Zombies to slow Undying's foes while active. With the Zombies summoned, Soul Rip can perform to its fullest, while Decay weakens Undying's foes. Finally, Undying can transform into a horrific Flesh Golem. This transformation increases all allied damage by a significant percentage, and helps keep him alive as his team kills the enemy. Monstrous and truly horrifying, Undying finds great pleasure in keeping himself alive and vital, while his adversaries suffer as he delivers death to the field. With powerful abilities that allow him to perform well in large fights, the Dirge may never cease.

Bio

Undying, the Almighty Dirge

▶️ "Again and again, I live and die."

Lore:

How long has it been since he lost his name? The torn ruin of his mind no longer knows. Dimly he recalls armor and banners and grim-faced kin riding at his side. He remembers a battle: pain and fear as pale hands ripped him from his saddle. He remembers terror as they threw him into the yawning pit of the Dead God alongside his brothers, to hear the Dirge and be consumed into nothingness. In the darkness below, time left them. Thought left them. Sanity left them. Hunger, however, did not. They turned on each other with split fingernails and shattered teeth. Then it came: distant at first, a fragile note at the edge of perception, joined by another, then another, inescapable and unending. The chorus grew into a living wall of sound pulsing in his mind until no other thought survived. With the Dirge consuming him, he opened his arms to the Dead God and welcomed his obliteration. Yet destruction was not what he'd been chosen for. The Dead God demanded war. In the belly of the great nothing, he was granted a new purpose: to spread the Dirge across the land, to rally the sleepless dead against the living. He was to become the Undying, the herald of the Dead God, to rise and fall and rise again whenever his body failed him. To trudge on through death unending, that the Dirge might never end.

Voice:

[[Voice actors#|]] (Responses)

Gameplay

Abilities

Decay

QD

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies / Self

Damage
Magical

Undying steals strength from all enemy heroes in an area, dealing base damage as he claims the enemy's strength for himself.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 625

Radius: 325

Damage: 20/60/100/140

Strength Steal: 4 (

10)

Duration: 40

10/8/6/4

70/90/110/130

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Increases strength steal of Decay.

The strength of the living is simply borrowed from the strength of the dead.

Successive casts of Decay fully stack on the targets and on Undying.

Cannot reduce a hero's strength below 0, but Undying always gains the full amount of strength for each hit enemy hero.

The strength steal takes place before the damage.

Hit heroes lose 20 current and max health for every stolen strength point. So their health is reduced by 80 ( 200) before the damage is applied.

Heals Undying for 20 health per stolen strength. So the minimum heal is 80 ( 200).
- When hitting all 5 enemy heroes, it heals for 400 ( 1000) health.

When multiple Meepo clones are in the area, only one of them (randomly chosen on each cast) gets his strength stolen.
- The damage still hits all Meepos.

Does not steal strength from illusions.

Each status buff of Decay increases Undying's model size by 2%. This has no impact on his collision size.

Despite the visual effects, the stolen strength is gained instantly.

When Undying dies, he loses all the stolen strength, but the affected enemies do not get theirs back, and vice versa.

Soul Rip

▶️WR

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies / Allies

Damage
Magical

Undying rips health away from all nearby units and uses it to heal an ally, or damage an enemy. Soul Rip can also be used to heal Tombstone.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 750

Search Radius: 1300

Damage/Heal per Unit: 18/22/26/30

Maximum Units: 10/12/14/16

24/18/12/6

100/110/120/130

Even allies feel despair in Undying's presence.

Can be cast on Tombstones, but not on any other ward type unit.

When cast on an allied Tombstone, it heals it for 2/4/6/8 health. Always heals for this fixed amount, regardless of unit count.

Can target enemy Tombstone, but does not damage nor heal it.

Cannot be cast on Tombstone Zombies.

The 1300 search radius is centered around Undying, not the target.

Units within the area are selected randomly and have to pay 18/22/26/30 HP as part of the health cost. This HP loss is never lethal.

Does not count Undying, the target, wards, buildings, spell immune enemies, invisible enemies and units in the Fog of War.

Spell immune allies are counted, including the zombies from Tombstone.

Units which require a certain amount of attacks to be killed do not lose health when counted in by Soul Rip.

If there are not any valid units within the search radius, nothing happens, wasting the cooldown and mana.

The damage or heal are summed up and the target receives them in once instance.

Soul Rip can damage or heal a unit for up to 180/264/364/480 health (before reductions).

Tombstone

▶️ET

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Physical

Summons a tombstone at the target point. Zombies will frequently spawn next to every enemy unit in the area around the Tombstone, and attack them. Zombies have the Deathlust ability, which causes their attacks to slow the target, and if the target reaches below a certain amount of health, increases the attack and movement speed of the zombie.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 600

Zombie Spawn Radius: 600/800/1000/1200

Zombie Spawn Interval: 3

Hero Attacks to Destroy Tombstone: 3/4/5/7

Non-Hero Attacks to Destroy Tombstone: 6/8/10/14

Hero/Tower Attacks to Kill Zombie: 1

Other Attacks to Kill Zombie: 2

Tombstone Duration: 15/20/25/30

70

120/130/140/150

Dirge calls on his fallen brothers to fight for the Dead God.

Destroys trees within 300 radius around the tombstone upon cast.

Attacks from illusions count as Non-Hero Attacks

Zombies do not spawn for invisible units or units in the Fog of War.

Zombies do not spawn for wards, buildings, couriers, hidden units and zombies from an enemy Tombstone.

Zombies are not controllable, they do nothing but attack their set target. However, they can be boosted by allied spells or auras.
- An exception here is Howl, which does not affect the Zombies.

The first wave spawns immediately as the Tombstone is summoned.

When a zombies' target turns invisible, the associated Zombies die after 0.1 seconds.

When a zombies' set target dies, the associated zombies die instantly, unless the target was a Meepo.
- In case of Meepo clones dying, the zombies just stand around until the Tombstone is gone.

When a zombies' set target runs into the Fog of War, the associated zombies still follow it.

When the Tombstone expires or is killed, all its zombies instantly die.

Flesh Golem

▶️RF

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies / Self

Undying transforms into a horrifying flesh golem that possesses a Plague Aura. This aura slows all enemy units within 750 range and amplifies the damage they take; the closer to Undying, the more damage and slow. When a plagued unit dies, Undying is healed equal to a percentage of his own maximum health.

Cast Animation: +

Effect Radius: 750

Min Damage Amplification: 1%

Max Damage Amplification: 20%/25%/30%

Own Max Health as Heal per Hero Death: 6%

Own Max Health as Heal per Non-Hero Death: 2%

Min Move Speed Slow: 1%

Max Move Speed Slow: 20%

Duration: 30

75

100

The flesh of the recently dead add to the power of Dirge's plague.

Flesh Golem interrupts Undying's channeling spells upon cast.

Undying is healed when an affected unit dies within the effect radius, regardless of who killed it.

Dying illusions do not trigger the heal.

Both, the damage amplification and the slow are strongest within a 200 radius around Undying.
- The effects get linearly weaker the further away units are from Undying, reaching the minimum at 750 range.

Amplifies all 3 damage types.

Plague Aura's debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds.

Flesh Golem is fully canceled on death.

Undying Zombie

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Ability
N/A

There is no description for this ability.

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Ability
N/A

There is no description for this ability.

The Tombstone has this ability as well.

Recommended items

Template:Recommendeditems

Counters

Template:Counters

Equipment

Tips

Decay is very useful even if left at level 1. Max it when team battles begin to start: you can spam it even more and make enemies squishier.
Undying can be played in many ways: if you are going for a more supportive role, use your Tombstone and your Flesh Golem to slow the enemies while spamming Decay, then let your lane partner get the kill. Otherwise, use Soul Rip to finish a Hero while there are many creeps nearby: this way it deals more damage.
Do not use Soul Rip to harass, but use it to heal a friendly hero or to finish off enemies. This is more effective if there are many units nearby, such as creeps if you are laning, or heroes if you are initiating.
While initiating, use Tombstone and Flesh Golem, then Decay/Soul Rip: this way these abilities deal more damage.
Though his spells are individually quite cheap, you have almost always mana problems since both Soul Rip and especially Decay are very spammable. Consider getting Arcane Boots during the laning phase, then disassembling it once you have enough to buy the remaining pieces of a Bloodstone. You can then convert your standard boots to Phase Boots allowing you the mobility and chase power to keep Flesh Golem's powerful aura on the right targets during a teamfight.
Another good item for Undying in the early game is Soul Ring. After using Soul Ring, you can cast decay for free. If you hit 2 or more Heros with this spell, you make up for the HP cost for Soul Ring.
If you do not have enough money to buy a Bloodstone in time or you would prefer cheaper items, try to make yourself as tanky as possible: if you are initiating, enemies target you first. That is why you need an early Vanguard and/or a Hood of Defiance if the opposing team has a lot of nukers. Other useful items that increase your HP are Rod of Atos, which solves most of your mana problems too, and Heart of Tarrasque.
If a ward spot is nearby at the outset of a fight, remember that you can cast your Tombstone on top of it, making it invisible to enemy heroes (unless they have a ward up there). You can also use the Tombstone as a temporary ward anywhere thanks to its long duration, but this is not usually advised as it has a lengthy cooldown.
Should the enemy team have an Earthshaker, it is unwise to place a tombstone at the beginning of a teamfight. Each zombie causes the echo to deal extra damage, likely obliterating your entire team (or at the very least severely injuring them).
Zombies are spell immune and require a certain amount of attacks to kill. Therefore they are unaffected by most AoE spells but take full damage from multishot-type abilities. Be aware of heroes with these abilities that can easily deal with your Tombstone zombies, such as Gyrocopter's Flak Cannon.
Attacks from illusions will count as hero attacks for the purposes of destroying the Tombstone. Keep that in mind when placing the Tombstone if the enemy team has heroes like Phantom Lancer or Naga Siren.
If Naga Siren is on your team, be aware that Tombstone summons zombies even when the enemy targets are sleeping and untargetable. This can be used to your advantage.
In a fight, Broodmother's Spiderlings can be a valuable weapon. The mass amounts of spiderlings easily brings your Soul Rip to maximum effect, making her a powerful partner to gank with.

Trivia

In DotA, his hero name was Dirge, and his hero title was Undying.
Undying was originally an intelligence hero. He became a strength hero as he got reworked in the 6.58 gameplay patch. All his abilities, but Soul Rip got reworked. His old abilities are explained below.
Undying makes several references to the Left 4 Dead series, saying names of special infected, campaign names, and even the title itself in his dialogue.
- One notable reference is Undying's line, ▶️ "No dead are safe from Blueheart Bob."; this phrase is highly similar to the famous Left 4 Dead "Chicago Ted" graffiti line ("No zombie is safe from Chicago Ted").
Undying also references the Half Life series in a rival line towards Tinker (▶️ "For Lamarr."). Dr. Kleiner, who shares his voice actor with Tinker, has a pet headcrab named Lamarr. Headcrabs are small, parasitic creatures that attach themselves to the head of their victims, after which the victims turn into zombies.
Undying's taunt against Kunkka ▶️ "Where is your ex-parrot?" is a reference to the famous Parrot Sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Undying's taunt against Invoker ▶️ "Carl? Is that you?" is a reference to the 6.72's leaked changelog (which turned out to be a fake), where Invoker's name "Kael" was mistakenly translated into "Carl".
A dirge is a sombre song of mourning or grieving, typically performed at a funeral.
Undying's line, ▶️ "Shop smart." is a reference to the Army of Darkness movie.
Undying has the lowest agility stat growth of any hero, along with Skywrath Mage.

Update history

Template:Update History

Balance changelog

Template:Update History

Replaced abilities

Living Dead

Creep

Health 400 +0.25

This unit has no mana.
Level		?
Duration		30
Armor		0
Magic Resistance		33%
Attack Damage		Unknown 37 ‒ 45
Attack Range		128
Acquisition Range		600
Attack Animation		0.3+0.3
Projectile Speed		Instant
Move Speed		375 (100)
Turn Rate		0.5
Collision Size		8
Vision Range	(G)	1400
Bounty		?
Experience		?
Model Scale		1

Raise Dead

QD

Ability
N/A

Damage
Physical

Calls the Undying's fellow zombies out of the earth to fight. Once a zombie attacks six times, another one will rise alongside it. When a zombie dies, its reanimating life force returns to Dirge, healing him by 50 hp.

Cast Animation: +

Number of Zombies: 1/2/3/4

Attacks to Multiply: 6

Heal per Zombie Death: 50

Zombie Duration: 30

30

100/120/140/160

Dirge calls on his fallen brothers to fight for the Dead God.

This ability got replaced by Decay in the 6.58 gameplay patch.

The zombies spawn all right in front of Undying.

Zombies multiply upon finishing 6 attacks.
- A projectile emerges from the zombie, flying towards a random location within a tiny radius. The new zombie appears once theprojectile stops.
- The new zombie's duration is equal to the remaining duration of the zombie it was spawned from.