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Nyx Assassin
Strength attribute symbol
Agility attribute symbol
Intelligence attribute symbol
17 + 2.1
18 + 2.5
21 + 2.5
Level 0 1 15 25 30
Health 120 494 1132 1858 2122
+2 +3.7 +6.64 +9.94 +11.19
Mana 75 327 747 1191 1359
+0 +1.05 +2.8 +4.65 +5.38
Armor 1 4 9.83 16 18.42
Magic Resist 25% 27.1% 30.6% 34.3% 35.75%
Damage Block 16 (50%)
Damage

9
13

48
52

117
121

192
196

221
225

Attack Rate 0.59/s 0.69/s 0.9/s 1.12/s 1.2/s
Attack Range Melee 150 (600)
Attack Speed ▶️ 100 (1.7s BAT)
Attack Animation 0.46 + 0.54
Projectile Speed Instant
Move Speed ▶️ 310 (Nighttime 340)
Turn Rate Takes 0.175s to turn 180°. 0.6
Collision Size 27
Bound Radius 24
Vision Range (G) 1800 (Nighttime 800)
Gib Type Goo
Internal npc_dota_hero_nyx_assassin
This page is about the hero. For the goddess in Dota 2 lore, see Nyx.
Reflects enemy damage and stuns.
Within the colony of zealot scarabs, the queen goddess Nyx selected a single grub to answer her highest calling. And so, through designed metamorphosis, the Nyx Assassin came into being. The telepathic scarab Devours and burns his prey's minds, while sending out rows of subterranean spikes to Impale them from below. Armored with a Reflecting Carapace, he stuns attackers and reverses any counterattack. Sacrificing mobility by Burrowing into the ground, the Nyx Assassin deprives itself of unnecessary sensories, increasing its regenerative powers and resistance while greatly increasing the reach of its other powers. But the goddess' servant is deadliest when unseen. A distracted target has no chance to react as the Nyx Assassin pierces its body with massive mandibles, thereby fulfilling an unspoken Vendetta in the name of his queen.
Impale
Mind Flare
Spiked Carapace
Burrow
Burrow
Vendetta
Vendetta
Roles: Disabler Disabler Nuker Nuker Initiator Initiator Escape Escape
Complexity: Hero ComplexityHero Complexity
Adjectives: Legs ( 6 )


Bio[]

Nyx Assassin minimap iconNyx Assassin
▶️ "The blessing of Nyx gives me all the purpose I require."
Deep in the Archive of Ultimyr, shelved between scholarly treatises on dragon cladistics and books of untranslatable spells, there is an ancient tome of entomological curiosities. Compiled by scholars, the book describes the telepathic talents of the zealot scarab, a strange species of social insect with abilities unique to all the seven planes.

Unlike most grubs of his colony, Nyx Assassin did not arise from metamorphosis with the plodding thoughts and blunted appendages common to the worker caste of his kind. For his was a special transformation, guided by the grace of Nyx. He was the chosen one, selected from the many and anointed with an extract of the queen goddess herself. Not all survive the dark blessing of the queen's chamber, but he emerged with a penetrating mind, and dagger-like claws–his razor sharp mandibles raking the air while his thoughts projected directly into the minds of those around him. Of all zealot scarabs, he alone was selected for the highest calling. After his metamorphosis, he was reborn, by grace of Nyx, with abilities which shaped him for one thing and one thing only: to kill in the name of his goddess.

Abilities[]

Impale
Impale icon
Affects
Enemies
Damage
Magical
Rock spikes burst from the earth along a straight path. Enemy units are hurled into the air, then are stunned and take damage when they fall.
Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 750
Spikes Travel Distance: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 750
Spikes Radius: Affected by AoE Radius bonuses. 140
Damage: 100/160/220/280 (Talent 230/290/350/410)
Stun Duration: 1.1/1.4/1.7/2 (Talent 1.3/1.6/1.9/2.2)
Burrow While Burrowed
With Aghanim's Scepter Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 1275
With Aghanim's Scepter Spikes Travel Distance: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 1275
With Aghanim's Scepter Burrowed Cooldown: 10/9/8/7
Cooldown symbol
 17/16/15/14
Mana symbol
 100/110/120/130
Does not pierce debuff immunity.
The forced movement is instantly canceled.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_nyx_assassin_impale
All zealot scarabs possess intimate knowledge of underground pathways, using them to their advantage.

  • The spikes travel at a speed of 1600.
  • With the travel distance and radius, Impale can hit units up to 890 range away.
  • Hit units are knocked up 350 range for the initial 0.5 seconds of the stun.
  • While in the air, other units may pass below hit airborne units.
  • The spike that hits the target releases some dust particles. This visual effect can also be seen in the Fog of War.
    • When Impale hits invisible units, the visual effects below the hit unit are still visible.
  • Impale first applies the damage, then the debuff.
  • While Burrow icon Burrowed, Impale can be cast without having to face the targeted point or unit.
    • With the travel distance increase, Impale can now hit units up to 1415 range away.
    • Does not reset the ability's cooldown if cast before Burrowed.


Mind Flare
Mind Flare icon
Damage
Magical
Deals damages to the enemy equal to a multiplier of its Intelligence. Additionally deals damage equal to a percentage of damage the target received from Nyx in the past 15s.
Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 800
Intelligence as Damage Multiplier: 3.5/4/4.5/5 (Talent 4.25/4.75/5.25/5.75)
Damage Dealt as Damage Bonus: 25%
Damage Timer: 15
Talent Radius: 300
Burrow While Burrowed
With Aghanim's Scepter Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 1200
Cooldown symbol
 13/10/7/4
Mana symbol
 100
Blocked by Linken's Sphere.
Blocked upon cast.
Talent
Blocked fully only when primary target.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_nyx_assassin_jolt_damage_tracker
Undispellable
The tome in Ultimyr describes one scarab with the ability to eat away at the minds of lesser beings.

  • Places a damage counter on all heroes upon learning the ability, including Nyx itself.
  • The damage counter accumulates all damage instances from all damage types the target received within the last 15 seconds, then it is dealt as another single spell damage instance to the Mind Flare target.
  • The damage counter resets once the ability is cast.
    • Therefore, subsequent casts only count damage dealt since the last time the ability was cast, including the bonus damage instance from Mind Flare.
    • Can be cast on units without Intelligence attribute symbol intelligence points (e.g. creep-heroes and Ogre Magi minimap icon Ogre Magi), dealing just the damage bonus.
  • While Burrow icon Burrowed, Mind Flare can be cast without having to face the targeted point or unit.
  • TALENT
    The area of effect Talent talent adds a radius to this ability. The ability must be centered over a unit still.
  • Since the ability must be centered over a unit, the area of effect Talent talent fully affects all units within radius around both targets.


Spiked Carapace
Spiked Carapace icon
Ability
No Target
Affects
Enemies
When activated while above ground, Spiked Carapace reflects and negates damage dealt to Nyx Assassin (max once from each source), as well as stunning the source of the damage. Activating Spiked Carapace will not break Vendetta invisibility.
While Burrowed, Spiked Carapace instantly stuns nearby enemies when cast.
Damage Reflected: 125%
Carapace Duration: 2 (Talent 2.5)
Stun Duration: 0.4/0.8/1.2/1.6 (Talent 0.85/1.25/1.65/2.05)
Burrow While Burrowed
With Aghanim's Scepter Effect Radius: Affected by AoE Radius bonuses. 300
Cooldown symbol
 23/18/13/8
Mana symbol
 40
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_item_blade_mail
Undispellable
modifier_nyx_assassin_spiked_carapace
Death
modifier_stunned
While their carapaces are relatively thin, they're guarded by a retractable field of razor-sharp spikes.

  • Interrupts Nyx Assassin's channeling abilities upon cast.
  • Successive casts do not stack but refresh its duration.
  • Only reflects player-based damage directly toward the damage dealer. A unit can only be affected once per buff.
    • Reflects incoming damage before all manipulations. However, damage manipulation on the enemy still affects the damage normally.
    • Reflects the same damage type as received.
    • Reflected physical damage is affected by damage block as well.
  • The reflected damage has the following flags:
  • Returns one instance of the same damage type as received to the source.
  • Spiked Carapace first applies the debuff, then the reflected damage.
  • Although the damage reflected to enemies is equal to the amount of damage blocked, the effects work independently from each other.
    • This means Spiked Carapace always blocks one damage instance, even when the source is invulnerable.
  • While Burrow icon Burrowed, casting Spiked Carapace immediately stuns all enemies within radius.
    • Since Spiked Carapace has no base damage, hit units are not damaged upon cast.
    • Fully affects lane creeps and neutral creeps.
    • Nyx Assassin still receives the cast buff normally, which can still reflect damage and stun enemies.
    • Enemy units stunned by Spiked Carapace this way do not trigger and cannot be affected by the damage-reflected component again.


Burrow
Burrow icon
Ability
No Target
Affects
Self
Nyx Assassin buries himself beneath the battlefield over a short duration. Once burrowed, Spiked Carapace instantly stuns nearby enemies when cast, the range of Mind Flare and Impale is increased, and Impale's cooldown is decreased. While burrowed, Nyx Assassin is stationary, unable to attack, and invisible. Nyx gains damage reduction from all damage sources.
Fade Time: 0
Max Health Regen Bonus: 1%
Max Mana Regen Bonus: 1%
Damage Reduction: 40%
Impale Cast Range Increase: 525
Impale Travel Distance Increase: 525
Impale Cooldown Reduction: 7
Mind Flare Cast Range Increase: 400
Spiked Carapace Stun Radius: Affected by AoE Radius bonuses. 300
Cooldown symbol
 0
Mana symbol
 0
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_nyx_assassin_burrow
Death
Ability Draft Notes
Ability Draft Notes:
Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter.
Requires drafting Vendetta icon Vendetta to be unlocked.
Some castes of Zealot scarab are known to create small burrows to lie in wait, ready to ambush their prey.

  • While burrowed, Impale icon Impale and Mind Flare icon Mind Flare can be cast without having to face the targeted point or unit.
    • Other targeted abilities and items still require facing toward the target, without breaking the invisibility of Burrow.
    • Burrow neither changes Nyx Assasin's facing direction, nor reduces its turn rate.
  • Applies generic incoming damage reduction on Nyx Assassin while burrowed. Stacks additively with other sources of generic incoming damage manipulation.
  • Can regenerate up to 60% of Nyx Assassin's max health and mana in one minute.


Unburrow icon
Ability
No Target
Affects
Self
Emerge from the burrow.
Cooldown symbol
 0
Mana symbol
 0
Sub-ability
Sub-ability of Burrow.
Some castes of Zealot scarab are known to create small burrows to lie in wait, ready to ambush their prey.

  • Replaces Burrow icon Burrow until the sub-ability is used, Vendetta icon Vendetta is used or Nyx's death.
  • Interrupts Nyx Assassin's channeling abilities upon cast.
  • Instantly reverts all bonuses provided by Burrow.
  • Uses a different sound when unburrowing inside the river.


Vendetta icon
Ability
No Target
Affects
Self / Enemies
Damage
Pure
Allows Nyx Assassin to become invisible and gain a speed bonus. If Nyx Assassin attacks to break the invisibility, massive bonus damage is dealt with the attack. Nyx Assassin has 75 additional attack range and a 70% faster attack animation for this attack.
Fade Time: 0
Self Attack Range Bonus: 75
Self Move Speed Bonus: 16%/18%/20% (With Aghanim's Shard 41%/43%/45%)
Self Attack Animation Bonus: 70%
Max Mana Drain: 50%
Damage: 300/400/500
Vendetta Duration: 60
With Aghanim's Shard Spell Damage Amp: 17%
With Aghanim's Shard Debuff Duration: 4
Cooldown symbol
 80/70/60
Mana symbol
 180/240/300
Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter.
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Grants the Burrow ability.
Upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:
Vendetta now moves faster, and a successful Vendetta attack now increases the target's spell damage taken.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_nyx_assassin_vendetta
Death
modifier_nyx_assassin_vendetta_armor_reduction
The scarab kills for the glory of his queen.

  • Does not interrupt Nyx Assassin's channeling abilities upon cast.
  • The attack out of Vendetta has the following properties:
  • Grants the following bonuses while active:
    • Attack range bonus based on the caster's attack range type.
    • Reduces the attack point of the next attack to 0.138+0.54.
      • Does not reduce the attack backswing of the next attack.
    • TALENT
      Grants unobstructed movement, allowing to path through impassible terrain and trees.
      • The unobstructed pathing Talent talent does not upgrade the current instance of Vendetta.
  • The invisibility is lost upon reaching the attack point, or the cast point of abilities or items.
    • Does not break invisibility in the following conditions:
      • Casting Spiked Carapace icon Spiked Carapace.
      • Nyx can pick up, drop or attack items and runes without breaking the invisibility.
    • For Ranged ranged heroes, this is upon projectile hit. Therefore, the bonus damage will not be applied if another action was queued before the projectile hit.
  • Successive casts update the ability values to the current level and refresh the invisibility duration.
  • Grants phased movement to Nyx, may phase through wards, but not through buildings.


Talents[]

Hero Talents
Vendetta icon Vendetta Unobstructed Pathing25300 Mind Flare icon Mind Flare Radius
+130 Impale icon Impale Damage20+0.45s Spiked Carapace icon Spiked Carapace Stun Duration
+0.75x Mind Flare icon Mind Flare Intelligence Multiplier15+0.5s Spiked Carapace icon Spiked Carapace Reflect Duration
+0.2s Impale icon Impale Stun Duration10+75 Vendetta icon Vendetta Damage

Recent Changes[]

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore
Version
Description
  • Talent Talents:
    • LVL 10
       
      +6% spell damage amplification  +75 Vendetta icon Vendetta damage.
  • Spiked Carapace icon Spiked Carapace
    • Increased damage reflected from 100% to 125%.
    • Rescaled cooldown from 25/20/15/10 to 26/20/14/8.
  • Vendetta icon Vendetta
    • Reduced damage from 300/450/600 to 300/400/500.
    • Increased duration from 40/50/60 to 60 on each level.


Recommended Items[]

Starting items:

  • Tango icon Tango gives Nyx Assassin basic health sustain, allowing him to continue laning despite enemy harass.
  • Clarity icon Clarity allows Nyx Assassin to replenish his mana pool in-lane, crucial since most of his spells will consume almost half his base mana pool with a single cast. Having the mana to continue casting gives Nyx Assassin more chances to use his disables to score kills.
  • Iron Branch icon Iron Branch gives some attributes that increase health, mana, and damage.
  • Enchanted Mango icon Enchanted Mango is a strong laning item, as it provides a small boost to HP regeneration, augmenting his innate base HP regen to greatly increase his survivability in the off-lane. It can also be consumed for instant mana replenishment to be able to cast one more disable or nuke to secure a kill.
  • Observer Ward icon Observer Ward can be useful to purchase on Nyx Assassin, as he is a very heavy roamer who can place wards before or after ganks to spot out enemy movement to strike again.

Early game:

  • Arcane Boots icon Arcane Boots are crucial to obtain in order to allow Nyx Assassin to roam for ganks. It increases the size of Nyx Assassin's mana pool, allowing him to more easily cast his full combo of spells, and boosts his movement speed slightly to provide extra mobility. Most importantly, the active allows Nyx Assassin to replenish his own mana pool in order to ensure that he is able to continue roaming without needing to return to base as often.
  • Boots of Speed icon Boots of Speed allows Nyx Assassin to chase or flee enemies more easily, and is important for getting within range to cast Impale on a gank target.
  • Urn of Shadows icon Urn of Shadows is important to get early on Nyx Assassin, as he can easily get charges from successful ganks. It provides some cheap stats and armor, as well as mana regen for sustaining his mana pool. The charges can be used to restore any HP lost during a gank, or can be used to add more damage to a future gank to increase the odds of success.
  • Magic Stick icon Magic Stick and Magic Wand icon Magic Wand gives burst health and mana, useful for Nyx Assassin to cast spells continually.

Mid game:

  • Ghost Scepter icon Ghost Scepter is a useful item should Nyx be focused by auto attacks, being usable in tandem with Spiked Carapace for additional survivability, as well as building into Ethereal Blade icon Ethereal Blade.
  • Blink Dagger icon Blink Dagger greatly increases Nyx Assassin's mobility, allowing him to jump on top of enemies and initiate without relying on Vendetta. In particular, being able to quickly re-position to cast Impale can allow Nyx Assassin to stun multiple enemy heroes at the start of a fight, and in a pinch Spiked Carapace can be used to prevent enemy initiating nukes from putting it on cooldown.
  • Dagon icon Dagon greatly boosts Nyx Assassin's burst damage, giving him much more kill potential. The item boosts his intelligence, allowing him to more easily cast his spells, while the active can be used for Mind Flare to deal tremendous burst damage to a single target to secure a kill.

Late game:

  • Meteor Hammer icon Meteor Hammer is useful on Nyx for two reasons: to speed up farming for other items, and to pair with Impale for extended slow and massive bonus damage dealt to your target of choice. The extra building damage also helps whenever your team needs to push.
  • Aghanim's Scepter icon Aghanim's Scepter unlocks Burrow, which can give Nyx Assassin a strong tactical advantage against certain enemies. It also improves his overall attributes, aiding in his survivability and buffing up his mana pool.

Situational items:

  • Eul's Scepter of Divinity icon Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a strong casting item that boosts Nyx Assassin's ability to roam and gank. The increased intelligence and mana regen help to sustain his spell casting, ensuring that he doesn't have to return to base to replenish mana, and the increased movement speed gives him more mobility for hunting down enemies. The cyclone can be used to dispel debuffs from Nyx Assassin while providing temporary invulnerability, or can be cast on an enemy as a further disable.
  • Force Staff icon Force Staff is a handy utility item that grants Nyx Assassin many strong bonuses. It provides more intelligence for increasing the size of his mana pool, as well as health regeneration for sustaining his health pool. The active greatly improves Nyx Assassin's mobility, allowing him to re-position for casting his spells, or chasing and escaping more easily. In a pinch, it can also be used as a cheap way to break an enemy Linken's Sphere prior to landing other disables and nukes, and can even be used to re-position Nyx Assassin during Burrow.
  • Aether Lens icon Aether Lens will increase Impale and Mana Burn's cast range, which is good to offset their terrible cast animation. It can be built by recycling the Energy Booster icon Energy Booster you got from Arcane Boots icon Arcane Boots.
  • Daedalus icon Daedalus greatly boosts Nyx Assassin's damage from Vendetta, giving him much more kill potential while also allowing his attacks to deal critical damage to enemies.
  • Abyssal Blade icon Abyssal Blade will allow Nyx Assassin to instantly stun an enemy hero with Vendetta, making it much more easier to set up Impale and finish them off faster. Abyssal Blade icon Abyssal Blade will also allow Nyx Assassin to stun an enemy hero who tries to protect himself/herself with Black King Bar icon Black King Bar while also providing Nyx Assassin with damage block.
  • Ethereal Blade icon Ethereal Blade is a strong nuke booster that improves Nyx Assassin's ability to burst down enemies. As his primary attribute is agility, the bonus agility will increase the damage that Ether Blast deals, which will also greatly slow its target's movement speed while weakening their magic resistance, leaving them wide open for Impale, Mana Burn and Dagon.
  • Bottle icon Bottle is a very strong self-sustain item that allows Nyx Assassin to replenish his HP and mana, increasing his autonomy. As he constantly roams, Nyx is able to easily pick up runes to refill his Bottle, and utilize the runes during ganks as needed.
  • Scythe of Vyse icon Scythe of Vyse gives Nyx Assassin an instant ranged hard disable, useful in many situations. Also, it gives him stats across the board, particularly improving his intelligence for more mana and providing powerful scaling mana regeneration to allow him to roam independently.
  • Lotus Orb icon Lotus Orb allows Nyx Assassin to further use the enemy's spells against them on top of Spiked Carapace. Echo Shell gives Nyx Assassin a tool to reflect enemy spells, and even though it doesn't block the damage done by these spells it can reflect debuffs and stuns rather than just the damage. It also provides armor, increasing Nyx Assassin's survivability, and HP and mana regen for self-sustain.
  • Orchid Malevolence icon Orchid Malevolence provides Nyx Assassin with a soft disable that can greatly improve his ability to gank and kill enemies. By silencing an enemy during a gank, Nyx Assassin can prevent them from casting retaliatory disables to get away; as well, his high burst damage can take advantage of the burn damage at the end of the silence to increase the odds of getting a kill during a gank. The item also provides increased intelligence and mana regen, further improving Nyx Assassin's ability to roam independently.
  • Drum of Endurance icon Drum of Endurance is a useful stat booster that is easy to build. It gives Nyx Assassin all-around attributes, improving his HP, attack damage and mana. The active can be very useful, as it boosts Nyx Assassin's movement speed, allowing him to chase down enemies quickly.
  • Linken's Sphere icon Linken's Sphere greatly improves Nyx Assassin's survivability, and allows him to engage and gank enemies through single-target disables. The Spellblock allows Nyx Assassin to ignore any targeted disables that enemies may try to hit him with, allowing him to continue pursuit and kill the enemy.

Dota Plus Progress[]

Main Article: Hero Challenges

Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.

Relics Voice Lines
Relic Rare icon
Three Hero Impale icon Impales
Relic Rare icon
Spiked Carapace icon Spiked Carapaces Leading To Kills
Relic Rare icon
Damage During Burrow icon Burrow
Relic Rare icon
Vendetta icon Vendetta Impale icon Impale Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Mana Burn". Combos
Relic universal icon
Dagon icon Dagons Leading To Kills
Relic universal icon
Mana Reduction
Relic universal icon
Damage From Invisibility
Relic universal icon
Courier Kills
Relic universal icon
Blink Dagger icon Blinks Leading To Kills
Relic universal icon
Channels Cancelled
Relic universal icon
Triple Kills
Relic universal icon
Mega Kill Streaks
Relic universal icon
Kill Assists
Relic universal icon
Kills
Plus Hero Badge 1
Bronze
Plus Hero Badge 2
Silver
Plus Hero Badge 3
Gold
Plus Hero Badge 4
Platinum
Plus Hero Badge 5
Master
Plus Hero Badge 6
Grandmaster

Equipment[]

Trivia[]

  • Nyx Assassin's original name was Anub'arak, and he was titled "Nerubian Assassin". Both were changed in the transition to Dota 2 due to copyright reasons.
    • Anub'arak is a character of Blizzard's franchise "Warcraft", who first appeared in the campaign "Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne". He was the king of the Nerubians, a race of malevolent arachnids who were slain and raised as undead.
  • Nyx Assassin's fun name in DotA was Anoob'arak.
  • In Disruptor minimap icon Disruptor's splash art you can see the silhouette of Nyx Assassin in the background.

Gallery[]

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