N'aix - guidelines for mass destruction

wow, people still read this..thanks! I should update it since patch 6.83 modified some stuff for Naix. There is one more trick you can do: if the jungle creeps are melee (centaurs, ursas, wolfs, golems etc) you can cut/eat a certain tree and you can position yourself in that space so that only one creep will hit you at a time, the other ones will just circle around trying to hit you and then return (you can watch some clips on youtube about jungling to see what trees on what camps). Remember to ALWAYS check your map while clearing camps and carry a TP so you can help if necessary.

Thanks for the guide! Never played Naix that much in dota2 but started to see it’s fun together with a friend who only plays Bara.
Only my problem was how to sustain myself in the jungle, because I kept loosing too much hp on lvl 1. Now I understand the mechanics of the lifesteal a lot better, thanks for the explanation on that and the advice to attack the bigger creeps for more lifesteal! + from me and merry Xmas :)

"Important:If you don't have a support or he is a bastard and he is farming his own Hand of Midas, you must buy Observer Ward so you don't get ganked in the jungle."

Don't tell me you have never played a pub and you had no vision the entire game.. if you jungle, you absolutely must have vision. YOUR jungle!:)

wait what? wards?

I personally like Eye of Skadi on Na'ix as sixth item. It gives you a lot of tankiness, nice stats and slo that will make you absolute beast in 1v1 fights. If you are thinking about HoT, I would say Eye is better alternative on him.

A nice guide, but add Blink Dagger in the "Other useful items" section, cause sometimes it is VEEERY useful (escape after Infest / chasing Anti-Mage/QoP/Windranger etc).

Much better guide now, well done.

I LOVE the second build. I usually go 2-1-2-1 for level 6 since the range of Open Wounds is really low with only one point, then I max either Open Wounds or Rage depending on what I want to do: the former for ganking (maybe with a teammate I can Infest), the latter for better teamfight versus teams with heavy disables; but it's still the best guide up-to-date for a laning Lifestealer in my opinion. The first build should also be pretty good for jungling as other people say, though I don't recommend doing so with Lifestealer because he has a huge impact when laning. +1 from me.

Better? Thanks for all the help guys

About the first thing: I didn't explicitly say it either, I just implied that someone might build Mjollnir more often than the Assault Cuirass since the former costs less if you already have a Maelstrom. But we talked about it earlier, so I won't go in-depth.

About the Armlet, well it's your choice: I try to look at it as a very cost-efficient late-game item like the Desolator or Manta Style but with a higher priority than a Black King Bar (which Lifestealer doesn't need, but other Heroes that build an Armlet like Chaos Knight or Wraith King do). I think finishing Boots is better though: I do so on any Hero, from Battle Fury flash farmers like Void and AM to Linken's Sphere rushers like Weaver and Morphling; it can count as personal preference I guess, so nothing wrong with it.

And I also wanted to talk about the Hand of Midas: I think it's strictly required on a jungle Lifestealer because as he doesn't farm very quickly (and the creeps give less experience past 6.79) you would - most of the time - end up underlevelled without it. You can try to get some levels by ganking and forcing early fights, but if you don't manage to snowball you're in a really bad spot without a Midas.