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3 Votes

Dirge Passive Aggressive

March 29, 2014 by DirgeDirge
Comments: 4    |    Views: 21983    |   


Passive Aggressive

DotA2 Hero: Undying




Hero Skills

Ceaseless Dirge (Innate)

Decay

4 8 9 12

Soul Rip

1 3 13 14

Tombstone

2 5 6 7

Flesh Golem

10 11 16

Talents

15 17 18


Dirge Passive Aggressive

DirgeDirge
March 29, 2014


Introduction

I rate Undying as one of the most flexible heroes in terms of build and items. You can really test all kinds of builds and different style of play. Find what is most comfortable for you and what role you like to play with him. I do find it easiest for me to play with him as passive aggressive durable hero. This is how I play him most of the times. Give it a go, you may like it too. Aggressive.

Pros / Cons

PROS:
-High Hp and damage at start
-Good mana gain per level for strength hero(in top 10 from strength heroes)
-Durable with very good killing potential early on due to his skills
-Easier early laning and pushing ability.
-Easy to last hit

Cons:
-Second worst level points gain. Only 4.9 points gained per level(worst is Alchemist with 4.8 point per level)
-Not very good ulti for lvl 6.
-No reliable burst damage and hits every other day. Very slow attack speed. only 0.8 agility gain per level. Puts him dead last in this category with Skywrath Mage.
-No escape and disables
-Bad in one-on-one situations(you need the crowd in order to be successful)
-Spells are really situational and you need good timing and the right set up to get the most out of it

Skills

I start with Soul Rip for several reasons. Low mana cost and good HP regen or damage. For the cost of 50 mana you can regain 125 hp instantly. Well, on theory. Soul rip only works if you are in the crowd while casting it. 25 HP per unit is what you get in radius 975. It is plenty to do last hitting on the front line and casting it on enemy heroes to harass or casting it on yourself to regain HP. 24 seconds cool down syncs well with 30 second creep re spawn. Every 30 seconds you can cast it and harass while you last hit. Don't be afraid to exchange couple of hits with enemy melee heroes on the front line. You have the upper hand at the start of the game.

The second skill I go for is Tombstone. This is maybe the most important skill early on. If you don't max it out early on, don't even waste points on it because later in the game is very easy to bring it down. Best way to use it is if there are creeps around. It will spawn a half body zombie for each enemy unit and neutral creeps within the radius of the tomb stone. The trick is to prolong the fight enough to get all creeps down while your army of zombies is still there to slap and slow the enemy. If enemy is trying to bring it down instead of attacking you, you can use Soul rip to heal your Tombstone.

Third I go again for Soul Rip. Same thing. Use it to harass. But maximize the damage by having full crowd of creeps. Usually it will do 200-225 damage. Pretty darn good for 75 mana cost. Yes, it needs good timing and 8-10 creeps but is totally worth it at lvl 3 while you are contesting for lane dominance. If you are in a lane with more than 1 enemy hero use it on the heroes with least HP. Really puts them in guard mode and stay well behind the creeps.

At lvl 4 I choose between Decay and Tombstone. If you are winning the lane go for Decay. Decay can give you 8 strength if you land it on two enemy heroes. This equals 152 HP and +8 damage. Also reduces the enemy heroes HP. It works like borrowing HP. You gain and they loose. Bad thing is it goes away in 40 seconds and getting this maxed out early is really mana demanding. But you can kill with it if enemy's HP is low enough. If you have trouble with the lane go for Tombstone and start using it more often, so you can keep the enemy away and still get some farm. If you are getting low on mana get some clarity and use it to have enough for Tombstone again.

After this get Tombstone maxed out.

I don't put points on Ulti Flesh Golem until levels 10 and 11. The ulti is very interesting one. You can slow enemy and you have boost in damage but you are slapping really slow. IT feels like forever until you get 3 hits in a row. And the Tombstone zombies don't really need that boost. At maxed out lvl 4 Tombstone early in the game they are nasty bunch that will bring the enemy down anyway.

Items

Good hero to start with. I go for double Gauntlets of Strength which I use later to build Urn of Shadows. One Tango and three iron branches. This makes you very chunky at the start. You have to gain momentum because like I mentioned early on the points gained per level are really bad.
So, attack is 70, hp - 739, mana - 390, Armom - 3, and your speed is 310. Good for zombie I think.

What kind of enemy do you have in your lane? If ti is heroes that are magic happy and use a lot of magic, go for Magic Wand. Good extension on your three branches. Frees up two spots on your inventory. After Magic Wand I go for Urn of Shadows. Right after Urn of Shadows I get Blademail. I skip boots early on since they cant help me much. I rely on Tombstone zombies for slow down. Starting with chain mail to make you a bit better in physical fights and build up to blademail. With Blade Mail and the skills at your disposal you can outlast most agility and intelligence heroes in mid game. It will return magic damage and physical also. You will have at least one level on decay and 2 on Soul rip. This is where the passive aggressive style comes in. You cant really chase other heroes but you can absorb damage and regain and borrow hp while melting the hp of the other heroes. Just remember and try to stay close to creeps and crowds. Not saying you should take on three enemy heroes while alone with creeps next to you. Just be smart about it.

Use Urn of Shadows to heal teammates or yourself or even on enemy when very low on hp. I guarantee you your team will love you having you around with the urn while fights are done. Keeps the momentum going.

Boots comes next and you can upgrade to whatever you feel like and whenever you think is good time. Just don't get the tranquil boots. Sometimes I upgrade early to tread boots to boost HP or phase boots to increase mobility and that little bit extra 24 damage.

If your team is leading and you are there on top with most assists and some kills, Bloodstone is not a bad idea. Building soul booster first will give the extra hp and mana to use with Blade mail. If there is too much bursts damage on the other team go for HP and strength items and avoid Bloodstone. Use this Blademail to bounce back damage and finish them off with Decay and/or Soul Rip. I use Soul Rip on myself if there is a team fight and I get hit a lot.

Always pop the Tombstone when the fight is about to erupt. The longer it re spawns zombies the better. Don't wait for the fight to start. Also put it near your towers to defend or little bit behind enemy towers to push the lane and bring down a tower. Be careful of enemy silencing you and stuns. I know that applies to all heroes but for Undying it is important to be able to use Soul Rip and Decay because your points gain per level is horrible. And you need these two to even the fight.

But remember you are not a carry and you will loose advantage in late game to most carry heroes. No matter what you buy and how much ahead you are in the game at some point Undying is loosing his edge very gradually. Especially if the enemy has fast attack and life steal. If the game goes late, you better have some good carries in your team to do the major damage at this point while your role is limited to spiky punching bag.

Summary

I play Undying like this when I am laning with support hero so I can farm and last hit. Best way is to lane with someone with stun so you can use this Tombstone better. Hardest time is when the enemy is getting their lvl 6 and all their nasty ulties. This is where things can get really ugly for Undying. No escape and no stun to help you. Your main goal is not to die and get that Blade mail ASAP. Stick with teammates and avoid being alone after enemy has their lvl 6. You need to be MAP aware and check for enemy heroes often. I hope you enjoy the guide. And please use your best judgment for your item build. Like I said you can go all kinda ways with this hero. You can end up as the best assistant in the match and even pile up some good kill count also.

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