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Quelling Blade
Stout Shield
Tango
Observer Ward
Gloves of Haste
Hand of Midas
Boots of Speed
Armlet of Mordiggian
Hand of Midas
Armlet of Mordiggian
Maelstrom
Skull Basher
Orb of Venom
Phase Boots
Power Treads
Power Treads
Armlet of Mordiggian
Assault Cuirass
Maelstrom
Skull Basher
Reaver
Power Treads
Armlet of Mordiggian
Mjollnir
Abyssal Blade
Demon Edge
Power Treads
Armlet of Mordiggian
Mjollnir
Assault Cuirass
Abyssal Blade
Monkey King Bar
Satanic
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4 | 7 | 9 | 12 |  |
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1 | 3 | 5 | 13 |  |
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2 | 8 | 10 | 14 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
Hello everybody! My name is EEon and this is a brief build for
Lifestealer. Actually THIS IS NOT a complete build, more like guidelines for an unstoppable N'aix with emphasis on Skills and Item explanation. If you need more info on how to jungle/gameplay/friends or foes etc please read any other Lifestealer guides on DotaFire, most of them are very good (keep in mind that from patch 6.79 the medium and small camps have switched places).
Lifestealer is the well known anti-tank who melts everything in his path if he is played and farmed well. Due to his versatile skills he or it is picked or blocked in most competitive games. He is a hard carry and that is his only role, he needs to farm, get money and kill everything. Lifestealer is an excellent jungler due to his passive skill Feast but he can also be played on any lane. Great ganker, impossible to detect while he uses Infest, very hard to kill.
When to pick:
- the enemy team has many tanks
- your team has a mid-game carry like 
Juggernaut or 
Razor and needs someone to carry late-game
- when you have a good off-laner like 
Dark Seer or 
Windranger and you can jungle
Don't pick:
- the enemy team has many disables that go through magic immunity like 
Enigma's 
Black Hole, 
Faceless Void's 
Chronosphere, 
Bane's 
Fiend's Grip, 
Beastmaster's 
Primal Roar, 
Doom and Razor's 
Static Link that steals your damage
- the enemy team has 
Phantom Lancer, 
Naga Siren or any other illusionist or 
Manta Style carriers
- the enemy team has many ranged heroes like 
Viper, 
Drow Ranger, 
Sniper or 
Ursa that will melt your face instantly
Lifestealer has a great set of skills that help him stay alive a long time in fights so he can...well, lifesteal the sh.. out of everybody. The skill build is the most commonly one used in matches, but it is very flexible, I personally prefer getting level 3 in all skills before I get lvl2 Infest but that is just my OCD acting up.
Rage [Q]
Launch into a maddened rage, becoming immune to magic spells and gaining increased attack speed.
Attack Speed Bonus: 30 / 45 / 60 / 80
Duration: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
Mana Cost: 75 Cooldown Time: 19
Not much to say, Rage is an insane skill, it is a free 6 seconds 
Black King Bar with attack speed steroids.
[!] Use this when entering a team fight so you don't get stunned/disabled or to dodge certain spells like 
Homing Missile, 
Magic Missile 
Laguna Blade etc. Rage will dispel most debuffs and has no cast time. Beware of spells that go through magic immunity, they will also go through Rage (see list in DON't Pick Section).
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Feast [PASSIVE]
Regenerates a portion of the attacked enemy's current HP and deals the same portion of damage per attack.
Life Leech: 4% / 5% / 6% / 7%
Okay, this is the skill that makes you the most feared hero on the map. This passive will steal a percentage of the enemy target's CURRENT HP (very important) and deals the same amount as Damage. So the HIGHER the HP of the enemy hero the more damage you deal. At lvl4 you steal 7% of the current HP, so if you attack a 
Pudge(classic encounter) with 4000 HP, you will steal on the first blow 280 HP and deal extra 280 HP damage to him, add this to your existing damage and the target will melt. When he will be with 2000HP you will only deal 140 damage and so on, you get the point. If you get low on hp in a team fight, just switch the target to a more fleshy hero with full hp and let your teammates finish the almost dead one.
[!] Feast works on magic immune targets but does not work on Roshan. Adds with all lifesteal orbs like 
Helm of the Dominator and I think Vampiric aura, I m not sure because my team was never that ******ed to pick both Lifestealer and 
Wraith King, but you never know.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Open Wounds [E]
Lifestealer rends an enemy unit, slowing the victim's movespeed and allowing all allies to lifesteal on that unit. All damage dealt will steal life, including damage from spells. The victim recovers movement speed over the duration.
Casting Range: 200 / 300 / 400 / 500
Duration: 8
Movement Speed Slow: 70%
Life Leech: 15% / 20% / 25% / 30%
Mana Cost: 110 Cooldown Time: 24 / 20 / 16 / 12
Open Wounds works really well with your ultimate and it is the reason N'aix is such a feared ganker. It slows the targeted enemy unit (Slows by 70%/70%/60%/50%/30%/10%/10%/10%, decreasing one step per second) and ALL damage dealt to the target will steal life (including spells) so if you have a 
Lion on your team with low HP, he can heal himself by using 
Finger of Death which is cool.
[!] Open Wounds is great in a Roshan fight because all your team will lifesteal and heal. Don't be afraid to use this skill while farming the jungle, this is the reason I take it on lvl2; if you are low on HP, just use E on the biggest creep in the camp that has full HP and you will regen.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Infest [R]
Lifestealer will infest the body of the target unit, lying dormant and undetectable inside. When he reveals himself, he deals damage to all nearby enemy units. The Lifestealer can gain experience from units that die while he is Infesting a unit. If the unit is a creep, he will devour it first, gaining health equal to the unit's current HP. Does not work on enemy Heroes.
Damage: 150 / 270 / 400
Damage Radius: 700
Mana Cost: 50 Cooldown Time: 100
Oooh man! At lvl6 the FUN begins, time for the first gank. Be sure to have 1 point in each spell and Infest a melee creep on the lane or a friendly hero (make sure noboby saw you, shhh!), wait for him to get to the enemy heroes and press R to 
Consume, explode, bam! Surprise Motherf..ers! Press E and click one of them, Q for spellblock and attack speed and kill, kill, kill. Be sure to communicate with your teammates, ping them, let them know what you are planning and it will be a sure kill.
[!]Cool stuff about your ultimate:
-You can infest anything except enemy heroes, ancients and roshan.
-You gain experience and levels while you are inside.
-You cannot be detected by any means, unless the enemy has actually seen you jump into something.
-You can heal yourself using Infest on the creep with the highest HP (big creep in the in the jungle - not recommended) - heal yourself only when you are really low and about to die.
-Infest has an insane damage and RADIUS (700) so you can Infest and Consume a friendly hero or creep to kill an enemy hero that tries to escape with low hp by running or going invisible 
Clinkz 
Bounty Hunter etc
For a successful gank try to Infest the friendly hero that can blink or go invisible 
Riki, Bounty Hunter, 
Phantom Assassin, 
Puck, 
Queen of Pain, 
Spirit Breaker - personal favorite, anyone that uses a 
Blink Dagger or 
Shadow Blade. I had a very nice experience while inside a Juggernaut - he ultied, I ultied, killed the whole enemy team 2vs5 it was really funny.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR ULTI!! when cooldown is over go gank and kill!
Let's get to it! First of all see your team composition and choose if you want to go lane for a fast farm or jungle. Usually I go jungle because there is always someone else on the team that needs farm and XP just as much as you do. If you have trouble in the woods, check out the many guides on How to Jungle.
In the beginning start of with just a Quelling Blade, Stout Shield and 4 Tango. These items should be enough to get you going. Put one point in Feast and get to work.
When you get 500 gold, buy Gloves of Haste you will need it for Hand of Midas, Armlet of Mordiggian, Power Treads, Maelstrom so you will need some attack speed.
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.
Now, everything is going well, your team is playing ok without you, not many kills, quiet game so far? GO FOR
Midas, this will increase your farm substantially and the attack speed bonus is noticeable. Always use it when colldown is over, eat the biggest creep for XP, if you are in lane eat anything. Get Hand of Midas before 8-9minutes in the game, beyond that point it is a risk so choose carefully.
Your next item must be
armlet. This is an insanely good on any hero, I can't stress this enough: ALWAYS GET Armlet of Mordiggian!. If you have trouble with the toggle, practice, it will save your life. I usually get 
Helm of Iron Will first, then the rest of the items. I get my Boots of Speed after the armlet, that's how important it is. It gives you +9 Damage, +15 Attack Speed, +5 Armor, +7 HP/sec Regeneration and while active +31 Damage, +10 Attack Speed, and +25 Strength, but drains 40 HP per second so learn to toggle it on and off.
You will have to adapt to different situations and get the according items so you have a better chance to win the battle. Here comes your
First choice:
or
. Both of them are good on Lifestealer, I usually chose Power Treads, as I prefer attack speed over movement speed so I can Feast better. Choose Phase Boots when there are fast and ranged heroes on the other team so you can get to them and keep-up if they try to run.
Second choice:
If your team is doing well 4vs5 and you had a couple of successful ganks, go for
Maelstrom, the extra damage, attack speed and chain lightning passive will further increase your farm.
If you are needed in teamfights you must get
Basher and
Orb of venom asap! These are really really good items, extremely cheap for what they do, I mean come on, a passive bash and 12% slow for just 3000Gold. You must always get Skull Basher, before or after Maelstrom, depending on the case.
Third choice:
Now you must ask yourself if you can withstand the incoming damage and kill everyone or if you just want to kill everybody faster.
If you have a tank on your team like 
Axe or 
Centaur Warrunner go to STEP3B a DPS build. Turn your Maelstrom into
Mjollnir and your Skull Basher into
Abyssal blade. Buy a Demon Edge to turn it into Monkey King Bar or 
Divine Rapier if you feel really confident, but really don't. MKB is the ultimate DPS item in my book: damage that does not miss,ever, minibash and attack speed. If you get these items the game is over anyway so well played!
If the other team has a 
Legion Commander or Phantom Assassin that dish-out a lot of damage, you must pick STEP3A, survivability. I usually pick this route, then adapt. In this case YOU MUST GET
AC. This is the item for you: more armor, more attack speed, more of a teamfighter. Be sure that you don't have a 
Slardar or anyone else on your team that already bought or is trying to buy Assault Cuirass, there is no point in having two auras as they do not stack.
If you still feel you are not tanky enough and still take a lot of damage (not likely), get
reaver, more strength, more damage, more HP. You can turn it into
Satanic for even more lifesteal but come on, you really don't need that much.
Either build you go, you must finish your Abyssal Blade, it gives you 100 damage and a 2 seconds stun that goes through magic immunity. You can skip Mjollnir if you don't like it, but you need that 3800 Gold for 
Sacred Relic to upgrade your Skull Basher, it's a must!
By now you are an animal eating everything in his path! Sell your Hand of Midas for some inventory space. Never sell your armlet, NEVER!
Your FINAL form should be this:
or
For your 6th slot see Other Useful Items section.
As requested by fellow players, I decided to add a short lane build for Lifestealer.
Skill order:
Max Rage by level 8 to help you with the lane harass from enemy casters in the early game, 1 point in Feast should be enough for regen, 2 points in Open Wounds, 20% is ok as lifesteal and the 70% does not increase with leveling but the range does, there is nothing more frustrating than trying to Open Wounds someone and they are just a bit out of range.
Items:
Get Tango, a 
Healing Salve for some early regen. A Stout Shield if you expect hard harass or Quelling Blade if you have problems last hitting. Get as many 
Iron Branches as you can get, they are not called GG branches for nothing, it is the best items in the early game, if I had 10 inventory slots, all of them would have been Iron Branch, or you can get 
Gauntlets of Strength for a faster 
Drum of Endurance.
If you can get Hand of Midas by 8-9 minutes in, go for it, it will delay your core items, but on the long run it will be a big plus.
As soon as possible get Phase Boots, the speed bonus and phase through units thingy is great when chasing your pray.
Rush your Drum of Endurance, this is THE MOST cost efficient item in the game: for only 1725G you get 9 to all attributes, +3 damage and an aura that gives you and you nearby allies +5 attack speed and 5% movement speed. Think about it, an 
Ultimate Orb that gives you +10 attribute points is 2100G. Activate it when chasing enemies or trying to escape a gank.
Armlet of Mordiggian, yes, get it, ALWAYS, we have talked about this before.
Sange and Yasha (see other useful items section for details) will give you some much needed movement speed and attack speed, but the best part: MAIM, yes, 16% chance to slow the targets movement speed and attack speed by 30%. Maim is NOT an orb effect/ unique attack modifier so it will stack with an Orb of Venom or 
Desolator. Once you have SnY, combined with Open Wounds and Phase Boots nobody will be able to escape your really ugly face.
Skull Basher - again it is a must on Lifestealer, we have talked about it in the Items section. Turn it into the almighty Abyssal Blade towards the end, but first
Assault Cuirass. Get it. Gives you armor, armor reduction for the enemy and much needed attack speed.
The optional section:
Get Desolator (see other useful items section for details) if you want to be more of a hard hitter and a pushing machine.
Orchid Malevolence is the only INT item you are allowed to get, it is extremely useful against casters. The 5 seconds silence and +25% damage increase will render any enemy useless. The attack speed bonus is also great, not to mention that you will never run out of mana.
I know 
Linken's Sphere is not a conventional item, expensive as hell, but, but it is great if you go against a doom bringer or Beastmaster and works very well with Rage. The only way to dispel your Linken is for them to wait 6 seconds for your Rage to expire, then cast a spell, then Doom you, but this is just for laughs, in 6 seconds you can focus the bastard down. If you have a 
Weaver or someone that already has it, ask them to apply it on you since you can do that now.
Sneak in an 
Aegis of the Immortal when you have the time.
This build is more risky and thus more rewarding, you must have a good knowledge of the game and Lifestealer's skills and a good support on the lane, but it is much more fun than farming half an hour alone in the jungle.
Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions and for improving the game.
Okay, now you have one free inventory slot and you don't fell like carrying a 
Town Portal Scroll or you don't like Aegis of the Immortal?
Here is a list of situational items that are good on Lifestealer that can fill that empty 6th slot:
MKB - (personal favorite) like I have said before, it is the ultimate DPS item it gives you +88 damage and 15 attack speed and a 35% chance to minibash (stun the target for 0.01 seconds) and deal 100 bonus Magical damage on attack, so actually it deals 88+35 mean damage, more than the Abyssal Blade, and you don't miss.
Satanic - +25 Strength, +20 Damage, +5 Armor and 25% of damage as lifesteal that stacks with Feast, while active (increases lifesteal by 175% for 3.5 seconds) it will make you impossible to kill so good item overall, expensive, kind of redundant on N'aix, but what can I say : lifesteal.
Desolator - +60 damage and -7 armor for the target, useful against high armor targets, works very well with Assault Cuirass. This is an orb effect (unique attack modifier) and does not stack with other orbs like Satanic, Orb of Venom 
Diffusal Blade etc. Don't worry, Mjollnir is not an actual orb effect because it only overrides the other orb when chain lightning occurs.
SnY - I really like this, the 16% item (since patch 6.79) it gives you +16 Agility +16 Strength +16 Damage +16 Attack Speed +16% Movement Speed and 16% chance to slow the target's movement and attack speeds by 30% for 4 seconds. I saw Sange and Yasha being picked on N'aix in pro games where speed is essential.
HH - +25 Damage +20 Strength +25% Evasion, it is extremely useful against hard hitters like Ursa or Phantom Assassin due to the 4 seconds disarm (3 seconds if melee). In 3 seconds you can easily destroy anyone 1vs1
BKB - pick this up only when you feel that the 6 seconds of magic immunity from Rage is just not enough and the whole enemy team has 
Lina Lion and all the intelligence heroes in the world. The +24 damage and 10 strength is okay too.
Blink - really useful when trying to catch really fast heroes ( Windranger, Weaver, Razor, 
Bloodseeker etc) or other blinkers or bastards with good escape mechanisms like 
Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, 
Spectre, 
Nature's Prophet, 
Morphling and so on, you know them. You can also use it to escape ganks or dire situations, just Infest a creep, wait 3 seconds if you were hit, burst out and blink to safety.
Skady - it is an excellent item on any hero, no doubt about it. I personally never ever got it on N'aix, maybe I will try it out. It gives you a hole lot of stats (25) and HP that make you tankier than you need to be, but hey it is your choice. The thing that makes Skadi work on Lifestealer is the SSLLOOOOWWW, I mean 5 seconds of 35% attack speed and movement speed loss is insane. If you have already bought Orb of Venom, it is only one small step to Skadi:)
Daedalus - come on, more damage? and criticals, it's too much. But a great item on any carry, I never bought it on N'aix, but if you like to see >1500 crits, go for it
Divine Rapier - the ultimate damage item, +300 damage. No, just no. It is a very risky item, if you die and the enemy gets it, you would have farmed for nothing for 40 min. But if you can afford it as a 6th item, I guess the game is already won so.. your choice.
HoT - Lifestealer is not the hero that needs the 2% Hp regeneration from its passive. The +40 strength is OK I guess, but for 5500 Gold you can get Assault Cuirass which is much much better on N'aix
Okay guys, this was it. Hope you have enjoyed reading my Guidelines for mass destruction with
N'aix. Try this build and let me know how it went. Please feel free to make any suggestions or criticize my build in any way and point out any mistakes I may have made.
I leave you with these TIPS and TRICKS:
- ALWAYS CARRY A Town Portal Scroll with you
- ALWAYS HAVE 
Dust of Appearance if you go against invisible heroes
- BE NICE to your fellow players
- GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN
May the GG always come from the other team.
Thanks to Nubtrain for his Guide to making a guide and Dr.D for his Guide formatting and you and DOTAFIRE.
- 09.01.2014 - build created
- 14.01.2014 - added N'aix Lane/Speed build - ty guys
- 22.01.2014 - added Blink Dagger and Eye of Skadi- ty for suggestions
- 19.08.2014 - modified the skill sequence
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