Death Prophet Early Builds

Got to keep the { happy :)

I was replying to this guide earlier on, and it got me thinking about why I tend to build Death Prophet the way I do. Is there a best way to do it?

It's quite tricky as you really want many early levels in Crypt Swarm, at least 1 level in Silence (for ganks) and at least 1 level in Witchcraft to make your level 1 Exorcism suck less. The mana cost reduction and speed increase of Witchcraft also make it very enticing for many players - it's really quite useful.

Ok, so lets oil up TheXyrusOmeter, cos it's maths time!

Lets look at why I usually go with this build...

Early game nukes and magic damage are pretty much king - they tend to secure the kills, deal the serious harassment and generally run the show. They often fall off the side of a cliff late game as they don't scale however.

Mana pools and regen are also a big issue early game - unless you've got access to a mana battery like Keeper of the Light or Sacrifice then you have to be pretty careful to get value from it. Clarity potions might be better, but they generally force you to play more passively if you want their benefit.

We can summarise these two things into one number by working out their "Damage Per Mana Point" - this gives us a very good idea of their general efficiency, and lets us work out good ways of levelling.

Here's the info on Crypt Swarm by itself:

Lvl \ Dam \ Mana \ DPM (Damage Per Mana)
1 \ 100 \ 105 \ 0.95
2 \ 175 \ 120 \ 1.46
3 \ 250 \ 140 \ 1.79
4 \ 300 \ 165 \ 1.82

Ok, hopefully that makes sense to you. We can also see an interesting feature of Crypt Swarm - the scaling is a bit out, almost all other nukes are waaaay more mana efficient at level 4 than at level 3 - this barely scrapes it. Obviously level 1 sucks, but we should expect that.

Ok, next up, lets bring Witchcraft into that mix, it reduces the cost of your other two spells by 10/15/20/25.

Hero Level 2-3

Level 1 Crypt Swarm with Level 1 Witchcraft:

100 damage now costs (105-10) mana = 1.05 DPM

Level 1 Crypt Swarm with Level 2 Witchcraft:

100 damage now costs (105-15) mana = 1.11 DPM

Level 2 Crypt Swarm with Level 1 Witchcraft:

175 damage now costs (120-10) mana = 1.59 DPM

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Hero Level 5

Level 3 Crypt Swarm with Level 1 Witchcraft:

250 damage now costs (140-10) mana = 1.92 DPM

Level 1 Crypt Swarm with Level 3 Witchcraft:

100 damage now costs (100-20) mana = 1.25 DPM

Level 2 Crypt Swarm with Level 2 Witchcraft:

175 dam costs (120-15) mana = 1.67 DPM

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Hero Level 7

Level 1 Crypt Swarm with Level 4 Witchcraft:

100 damage now costs (100-25) mana = 1.33 DPM

Level 4 Crypt Swarm with Level 1 Witchcraft:

300 damage now costs (165-10) mana = 1.94 DPM

Level 3 Crypt Swarm with Level 2 Witchcraft:

250 damage now costs (140-15) mana = 2.00 DPM

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With both skills maxed you reach an eventual efficiency of 2.14 DPM. Peak efficiency is actually 2.17 with Level 3 Crypt Swarm and level 4 Witchcraft.

Quick summary of those last few levels:

3CS+3WC = 2.08
4CS+2WC = 2.00
3CS+4WC = 2.17
4CS+3WC = 2.07

It's pretty clear that getting Crypt Swarm levelled over Witchcraft is far more efficient than levelling Witchcraft first. This also tends to play out in game experience - having a single more powerful nuke is generally better than more, less powerful ones. You don't generally get to cast many when ganking, and higher burst damage is generally more scary and decisive than more frequent weak damage (it gives people less reaction/movement time).

There may be circumstances where you need Silence earlier (i.e. you think either set of supports will gank mid), but generally speaking, this is most efficient early Death Prophet build: