Nyx Assassin - Experimental Assassin

Ring of Regen is REALLY good on Nyx now that I tested it out. When I can't get a solo offlane I like to lane with Wraith King since 1 lvl of his lifesteal pretty much makes you invincible while trading.

If you haven't tried Aghs you kind of play Nyx like Templar Assasin. Its really fun.

Thanks cpfran6. Let me know how it works out for you.

My opinion on the Dagon and E-blade matter, buy both so you don't have to decide. Great guide, I am going to try this new Nyx in the Offlane, seems he will be good for it. +1 for me good sir!

Thanks Lorgi. If you try it out let me know what you think.

I like people trying to walk new paths and I find your motivation, to keep Nyx' usefulness until the lategame, quite remarkable. The justifications are reasonable and I'm curious trying it ingame, since I cannot remember a Nyx played as kind of a rightclicker (I even sometimes forget he is an AGI-hero).

Upvote from me.

You can

Just walk into the fray and say "**** IT GUYS"

kappa

That is definitely the primary use of it in the early game. I'll try to write up a detailed explanation including the math, but just think of this example for now. Say you're lvl 3, and you're laning against a lvl 3 Mirana, she has 2 points in Sacred Arrow and you have 2 points in Spiked Carapace. If she hits you with her arrow you will stun her for 1.2 seconds, and do between 140 and 280 damage, for a cost of 40 mana. The only 3 second difference in cooldown means you can pretty much use your Spiked Carapace every time she uses her Sacred Arrow. Assuming she is part of a dual lane you also stand to damage and stun the other hero. This pretty much guarantees your Impale if you use it as well on the closer hero. If however you have your points in Impale instead of Spiked Carapace you're decreasing the duration of your setup stun, making Impale less reliable, spending a point in an ability you may not end up able to use effectively - Mirana is unlikely to be using her Sacred Arrow from so close and out in the open, and if you do use it on the other hero, it is at a cost of nearly 3 times the mana. In addition, the greater cooldown time in your Spiked Carapace means that you may not be able to use it at the same rate as the enemy hero's skills, overall decreasing your survivability.

I could talk about it more, but that's a good amount for now. I heard someone much better than I explain why he liked maxing Spiked Carapace first, and he explained it much better than I think I am, but I'll work on it in the guide.

I feel like I understand why you have Spike Carapace first. Since you're solo offlane, you need to be able discourage or punish harass/ganking, right? But I would add an alternate skill build to account for any situation where the main source of that damage is ranged.

Yes, as a Force Staff addict myself I think it is not a viable option leaving Blink Dagger out. Grabbing both if you know what you are doing is totally fine though.

Love how you did the math on the ethreal blade too.

I might agree with you if we were playing Nyx Assassin in a standard way, but it's kind of the point of this guide to try to adapt him to a different playstyle. A Force Staff makes him more versatile in the game, which is part of the goal. In that respect it is "better" than a Blink Dagger.

to be very honest, you can't play Nyx Assassin without Blink Dagger :/

Seems good so far, and i like the way you justify your item choices. Still not 100% convinced about maxing Spiked Carapace first, since your justification for maxing it hinges on the fact that everyone on the enemy team will be hitting him. Why not use a maxed impale to stun them all/most of them instead? (assuming you get a good line up). I guess if the enemy team has aoe spells, then yeah, i can see it working, but other than that....

Still, nice guide so far, look forward to seeing it completed :)