The Indomitable Dragon [6.88]

I have huge issue with this guide, right from the beginning when I've noticed HoD as core item. This is terrible item on DK as first, second or third item. First of all you receive benefit of HoD if u have good attack speed and good damage since it is 15%-which is useless early because DK lacks both attack damage and attack speed. The best first cost effective damage/armor/regen item on DK is Armlet. With armlet u get huge early game damage buff, bonus regen on top of dragon blood regen and armor which sums up at around 23 HP per sec I think which is huge in early mid game, you can toggle with ease. I buy life steal on DK as 5th or 6th item when the game goes late and every good 4.5k + DK player goes the same way. Sange and Yasha although good stat item fell off since armlet buff and maim proc nerf on ranged heroes. I used to build drums before armlet buff almost every game on DK but since the drums stat nerf it kinda became support item, so after the patch, I just stopped buying it. Ether lense wut??:D I've never seen or built deso on dragon knight, its not so good, always have better options, same goes with abyssal, DK doesnt need vanguard, needs damage and attack speed, which new abyssal doesnt provide, and above all u fight in ranged form, so you dont get melee bash proc (ranged is i think 10% or even less) Rest of the items are fine, some situational, orchid is only an option if u are going to continue to bloodthorne. I have around 300 games with DK, 65% win rate, 4.5 KDA

Great guide man. Feel like I can try and play DK without being scared now ;)

Moon Shard is a very good item on DK. It was just my oversight that it wasn't included, and I'll fix that now.

I'm kinda bummed out you didn't mention moon shard. I like going armlet, SnY, BKB, daed, and then stack moon shards. It's pretty good. He has plenty of armor; ac is a bit redundant.

Well early stage <20 mins mark I think. Before that time some support will roaming more if they hit 6 and some kind offlaner ready for a gank too. I got your point about blink and stunning in early game is good as hell but what i trying to say is having Blink Dagger too early is not good since it just give a blink for 12 seconds which mean you have waste 2250 g for risky item in early (not helping at farming at all) imagine you got dagger trying to open a gank but countered by tp? or countered by Observer Ward? okay you can buy Smoke of Deceit for some ganks but is it worth for a gank with 2 or 3 people? leaving other lane for enemy farming easily? even ganking other carry might be terrible due enemy support will tp to that gank. Other point if you got ganked what u can do once hitted? you got nothing to defend yourself or at least making some time for your support come.

Hi, I like the formatting on this guide a lot more then what it started as so good job! Probably will +1 it.

As for the build:

AC - Usually Core because gives you that attack speed you need and some good team fight presence. I think it can be skipped for a DPS item as long as you're ahead. Typically you buy the HS then decide to go straight for AC instead of the Mjollnir you were planning on.

Mjollnir - Don't really like it because ti deals magic damage and I think DK should keep it too his right click. Sure its good for farming but I like to go kill-based DK instead of static farming.

Blink Dagger - People always pretend like BD and Shadow Blade do the same thing. But they're not. Blink is up-in-your-face for stuns and fast initiation. Does good because near gauranted stuns with DK, but Silver Edge is the way to go if they have annoying passives.

Silver Edge - usually what I like, breaks passives, and also that mid-fight huge right click doesn't hurt.

Daedalus - yes yes yes. Nice. Like it more that Mjollnir since I go for the kill based. Second best damage item in game next to Divine so idea why you guys are fighting it. I believe it belongs in DK's core.

Satanic - favorite late game item, makes you a god in 1v1. Tank up.

Ideal Core on my DK:

Helm of Dominator >> Sange and Yasha >> Boots of Travel >> Daedalus >> Silver Edge / Satanic / Assault Cuirass

Probably the most intense game of my life, where I used my build : lmao

everyone was level 25, and I was head to head with the Gyro and since we both had Satanic our fights were like 4 minutes of right clicking.

About the Assault Cuirass discussion: Auras are pretty good on heroes that love to be in the mid of a fight and have the ability to stay alife for extended periods of time ( Tidehunter, Bristleback etc.) this will mean that the aura benefits the team for the whole fight. Therefor this item is legit on Dragon Knight as he fullfils both of the requiremnts.

Buying a Blink Dagger early game is no waste if your allies communicate well with you.
A mid-lane Dragon Knight with an early blink can severely hurt the farm of all enemies if done right - although that is a bit out of the meta right now. You know what a 2.5 sec stun means when there are three people are punching at you, right? It doesn't even matter when two of them hit like wet tissues...you are good as dead.

Buying dagger on DK at early stage is completely waste, you cant solo kill except your team gank and pushing too hard. why no one consider a Abyssal Blade on dk? it give you more than a ****ty dmg but also extra 3 secs to stun or disable Black King Bar on Phantom Assassin during her period ? sometimes i go for vyse for full of disable.

Im also a fans of dk who loves to disable everyone in war~ since DK never in 1st carry role in my team, well I have my own funny build that I love, at late it will be like this Power Treads Abyssal Blade Scythe of Vyse Blink Dagger VLADMIR And Tp scrolls/travel boots as my 7th item is refresher if I really need to for disables more or transform more :D

DK is also one of my favorite heroes, if not my favorite. I don't know if you have looked at the second build I have in progress, but I am going to replace Armlet of Mordiggian with Maelstrom to increase farming speed.
The one reason I don't like getting Blink Dagger is that if you get it early on you end up hitting like wet toilet paper. Later on(around 25 min.) is when I usually get it even though it is not in my builds at the moment. There will be a build later on including it.
In my opinion the choice between Satanic and Heart of Tarrasque is completely based on preference.
Orchid was a core item for DK in one of my builds called Soul Burner, but I took it down temporarily for revision after getting feedback that it was somewhat weak.

Hi, DK is one of my favorite heroes and I really enjoy playing with him. I usually go for an early Maelstrom so I can improve my farming a lot. Most of the times, my late game looks like this:
Boots of Travel, Black King Bar, Blink Dagger, Assault Cuirass, Mjollnir, Heart of Tarrasque/ Satanic. I use to build Heart of Tarrasque most of the times but Satanic is really good too.
I like Blink Dagger in DK because I love the Blink+Stun+ Breathe Fire+punch you in the face combo. Besides, DK's stun has a sh**** range (at least when you are not in the Dragon Form), so Blink Dagger allows you to position yourself next to your enemy.
Once I even made a Orchid and I think it can be a good item for DK.

I've gotten Shivas' on DK exactly twice, and both of those games I just had to build for pure tank. My only job was to walk up high ground and soak everything up. So I had Pipe, Shiva's, Heart, BKB, Skadi and Linkens both games. Neither of those games are from the recent future, but it worked well enough.