Night Stalker/Guide

Hero

Strategy

Equipment

Gear

Gameplay[]

Playstyle
Night Stalker is a strong early game ganker during the night. Void is a neat ability that deals good damage and slows the target. During nighttime, the slow lasts much longer, and Void also applies a mini-stun. Crippling Fear silences all enemies near him and lasts much longer during night, making it extremely useful for ganks. Hunter in the Night gives Night Stalker bonus movement and attack speed when it's night time, allowing him to be very mobile. Dark Ascension instantly turns day to night while giving Night Stalker a large amount of extra benefits over most heroes, including the ability to fly. If left unchecked, Night Stalker can snowball by getting kills after kills in the early game and controlling the map in the mid to later stages of the game with great night vision. However, his effectiveness is heavily dependent on night, and none of his targeted spells pierce spell immunity.
Pros	Cons
Excellent night vision allows Night Stalker to control the map and scout to jump on an unsuspecting lone hero, or spot and retreat from enemy ganks. Bulky right from the beginning of the game. Very threatening presence during the night. Great for hit and run/gank tactics.	Weak in team fights due to the lack of strong area of effect abilities. Weak during daytime, forced to play around night time. Small mana pool. Poor lane phase. Has no answer to spell immunity. Has a vision range of 800 during the day compared to the standard 1800.

Offlaner[]

There are generally two ways to play Night Stalker in the offlane and both of them include a similar laning stage where you want to strive for having as much impact during the night time including with your ultimate, Dark Ascension.

Night Stalker is a noticeably slow farmer so you will want to buy items that allow you to get kills. Picking with heroes who offer a slow or reliable way of disable can be a great way to put up multiple early kills.

Void should always be maxed first as the nuke damage and slow durations scales well. At level 4, getting Hunter in the Night could be a good idea if the enemy team has no way to escape from you during the night.

Aghanim's Scepter used to be extremely good on Night Stalker as a way to stay relevant with farming, but now his Aghanim's Shard does that just as well, making it mostly redundant unless you are against very specific illusion based heroes.

Balanar suffers from a small mana pool so buying items to sustain it, such as the Aghanim's Shard and Echo Sabre, are a very good idea. The most ideal situation at night time is you can run in and the enemies cannot fight back.

Ability Builds[]

Generic Night Stalker
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	20	25

Talents[]

Hero Talents
-50s Dark Ascension Cooldown	25	+100 Hunter In The Night Attack Speed
+20 Strength	20	-5s Crippling Fear Cooldown
+25% Hunter In The Night Status Resistance	15	+30 Dark Ascension Damage
+8s Dark Ascension Duration	10	+50 Void Damage

Tips & Tactics[]

General[]

As mentioned above there are two main ways to play Night Stalker depending on what your mid game and late game goals are. You can either go down the route of building items that help your teamfighting capabilities like Heaven's Halberd, Spirit Vessel and so on. Or you can buy items such as Black King Bar, Butterfly, Satanic which make you more than just a fast hero who kills supports.
Which one you choose from above really depends on the teams. If your team lacks carry ability, it might be a good idea to be a secondary carry if you can afford these expensive items.
You will be surprised how fast you can farm with the Aghanim's Shard if you haven't tried it yet.
Unlike other heroes in the game, Night Stalker has below-maximum sight range in the daytime, with only 800 compared to most other heroes' 1800. However, he more than compensates for this by possessing 1800 night vision, a value only equaled by a few other heroes in the game and more than double the rest. This means that while Night Stalker is relatively easy to sneak up on and gank in daylight, he possesses powerful vision at night, which can allow him to use his abilities to the utmost.
Become active during nighttime and gank the enemies as Night Stalker is at his peak then. Save the farming for daytime.
On top of having high mobility, Night Stalker has high strength, making him ideal at diving towers.
Oftentimes, Night Stalker can play support as his abilities offer great disables during ganks and he does not need many items to work. Once he has some levels and the first night arrives, he comes online and should find kills for his teammates.
In occasions, Night Stalker can be a strong solo mid laner. His excellent base damage and high base health allow him to get last hits and denies reliably, and he benefits greatly from solo experience as he can take advantage of the levels once the first night hits. Furthermore, being mid gives him the option of ganking either top or bottom without the need for a Town Portal Scroll, as he can reach either lane quickly due to Hunter in the Night.
- As he can be strong with just early levels, Night Stalker can be a relatively strong offlaner. His high base strength and armor, along with respectable base damage allow him to survive relatively easily in the offlane, and use his early levels to punish the enemy's safe lane once the first night comes.

Abilities[]

Void[]

Void deals damage and slows the target's movement speed.
- Void has a lower slow duration during the day.
Max Void first as it gives you a decent way to be useful even during daytime and stronger at nighttime.
When laning, Night Stalker may choose to leave Void at level 1 while holding on the skill points until ganks. Doing so will preserve its low mana cost so Night Stalker can use it more to get difficult last hits.
Void stuns its target during nighttime, so Night Stalker can use it to cancel Town Portal Scroll to stop enemies escaping.
Void's low cooldown makes it a strong spell for breaking Linken's Sphere on an enemy. This can pave the way for allies to use additional disables on the target.

Crippling Fear[]

Crippling Fear is a very good silence at level 1, maxing his other spells is a very good idea first for the mobility and damage.
In fights with multiple enemies, try to stick Crippling Fear on enemy casters or supports in order to remove their presence.
While weak in the daytime, Crippling Fear can still buy a small window of opportunity if use on the right target. Even though Night Stalker is relatively weak during daytime, he can still disable the enemy with his abilities if forced to.
This ability is why building items such as Phase Boots on Night Stalker is a very good idea, to keep on top of people and stop them escaping.

Hunter in the Night[]

Max this spell second as it gives Night Stalker much needed mobility and attack speed at night, enabling the hero very hard.
Hunter in the Night empowers Night Stalker's attack speed and movement speed during the night, making him a powerful ganker during the majority of the game.
With Phase Boots, max level Hunter in the Night will boost Night Stalker's movement speed to nearly haste speed of 550. Use this speed to your advantage to chase down enemies or escape with near impunity.

Dark Ascension[]

Most noticeably, this ability instantly will turn day into night for 30 seconds. Does not stack if it's already nighttime.
Dark Ascension can be most profitably cast whenever it is off cooldown during the daytime. By doing so, you effectively reduce the amount of daytime there is in the game, as daytime will continue to tick down during Dark Ascension.
At night, use Dark Ascension to gank for its increased attack damage.
Dark Ascension's flying vision allows Night Stalker to see enemies in the trees.
With True Sight, Dark Ascension's flying vision helps Night Stalker spot enemy wards or stealth heroes.
Dark Ascension enhances Night Stalker's mobility by letting him fly over cliffs.

Items[]

Starting items:

Tango gives health regeneration to stay alive.
Healing Salve restores health in the early game.
Enchanted Mango restores mana so Night Stalker may use one more Void in the early game to secure kill.

Early game:

Magic Stick stores charges that restore HP and mana for Night Stalker to stay alive and use abilities during ganks.
Boots of Speed, combined with Hunter in the Night, increase Night Stalker base movement speed, granting him unparalleled mobility at night.
Urn of Shadows fits the active Night Stalker, giving him charges that heal or hurt heroes. It also increases mana regeneration and armor so Night Stalker can stay alive to contribute to ganks.
Observer Ward grants vision so Night Stalker can set up ganks; his high mobility at night makes placing wards deep inside enemy territory easy.

Mid game:

Magic Wand is very situational depending on how fast you need other items, and whether you need it in general.
Solar Crest gives Night Stalker solid stats all around and a powerful debuff for ganking.
Phase Boots grant Night Stalker extra movement speed and attack damage, synergizing well with Hunter in the Night's movement and attack speed boost.
Spirit Vessel gives great health and movement speed while giving the ability to deal with heroes with heavy healing capabilities.
Aghanim's Shard grants Night Stalker the ability to farm for only 1400 gold.

Late game:

Assault Cuirass gives Night Stalker both offensive and defensive power. The extra armor makes him much tankier, synergizing well with his high strength growth, and the attack speed bonus combines with the enemy armor reduction to greatly improve Night Stalker's and teammates' physical damage output.
Don't underestimate how strong Butterfly with Satanic can be on a hero who has a very strong ultimate with very strong talents for right clicking.
Abyssal Blade helps Night Stalker lock down targets with stun and bash; its damage block and bonus health also add to his tankiness.
Black King Bar makes Night Stalker immune to most disables in team fights so he can focus on using abilities and attacking the enemies without interruption; it also gives him more health and attack damage.

Situational items:

Lotus Orb gives Night Stalker a blend of self-sustain and survivability through the health and mana regeneration. The active applies dispel which can be very useful against several heroes or just to help sustain your team.
Smoke of Deceit helps Night Stalker get crucial kills by masking his and allies' presence from enemy wards.
Gem of True Sight reveals invisible enemies and wards. Combined with Dark Ascension unobstructed vision during nighttime, Night Stalker commands great vision over the map.
Blink Dagger allows Night Stalker to initiate easily as it enables him to pounce on unsuspecting enemies and making him a force to be reckoned with due to the swift movement speed granted from Hunter in the Night and the silence from Crippling Fear. This can be upgraded to Overwhelming Blink, applying a magical burst whilst slowing any enemies in his catch, bolstering his presence especially in the late game.
Blade Mail's Damage Return can keep Night Stalker alive as enemies may choose not to deal any damage to him, lest losing HP themselves.
Heaven's Halberd's disarm works well with Crippling Fear's silence to completely prevent an enemy from fighting back. It also increases survivability with bonuses to strength, evasion, and status resistance.
Nullifier this item can be considered in anticipation of the enemies building BKB, which would allow them to cast spells under Night Stalker's 2nd ability. It's also good against enemies who depend on items like Manta Style + Skull Basher like Anti Mage, Spectre, etc. and since the projectile is slow Nullifier would be good to pair with Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade (If the enemy depends on his passive ability better upgrade to Silver Edge).
Silver Edge gives Night Stalker bonuses to attributes, attack speed, and attack damage. Shadow Walk, combined with Hunter in the Night, allows him to gank while moving at maximum speed, inflicting bonus damage and break to ruin enemy powerful passive abilities.
Bloodthorn for a Night Stalker can be considered thanks to its high bonus attack speed whilst allowing Night Stalker to cast another silence onto a fleeing enemy and refining his hitting power thanks to its active providing 130% critical strike on every attack that cannot be missed.
Heart of Tarrasque greatly increases the size of Night Stalker's health pool, making him much harder to bring down in fights. The extra strength gives him more base damage as well, and the passive health regeneration makes staying active on the map easy.