Night time is MY time - A guide to Balanar, the Night Stalker

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my guide to Balanar, the Night Stalker!


I have been playing Dota 2 for quite a few years, and Night Stalker is one of my favourite and most played heroes. He is known for being one of the best gankers in the entire game. Once you master him, he will be a whole lot of fun to play because of his unique playstyle.

However, he is not very popular in pubs. This is probably because most people don't know how to play him properly. Most pub people think that Night Stalker is a carry, and so they play him like a carry. They stay in the lane and farm creeps at night, which is a HUGE mistake.

Most pub players like to play "pubstomping" heroes. What they don't know is that Night Stalker feeds on squishy "pubstompers" such as Sniper and Phantom Assassin.
So today, I will show you how to play Night Stalker and dominate your enemies with him. Once you master him, you will find that he is the real "pubstomper".

If you are a beginner and want to learn how to play Night Stalker, you've come to the right place. If you already know how to play Night Stalker, you can still gain some useful knowledge from this guide.

So without further ado, let the hunt begin...

Lore

Of the Night Stalker, there is no history, only stories. There are ancient tales woven into the lore of every race and every culture, of an impossible time before sunlight and daytime, when night reigned alone and the world was covered with the creatures of darkness—creatures like Balanar the Night Stalker.
It is said that on the dawn of the First Day, all the night creatures perished. All, that is, save one. Evil's embodiment, Night Stalker delights in his malevolence. He created the primal role of the Night Terror, the Boogeyman, and as long as there have been younglings, his is the specter summoned to terrify them. This is a role he relishes—nor are these empty theatrics. He does indeed stalk the unwary, the defenseless, those who have strayed beyond the lighted paths or denied the warnings of their communities. Night Stalker serves as living proof that every child's worst nightmare....is true.

Pros and Cons

Pros

+High strength gain
+Turns into a beast at night
+Tanky
+High base armor
+One of the best gankers in the entire game
+Can dive towers without much worry
+Superior early and mid game presence
+Not too hard to master
+Great at solo killing

Cons

-Very slow during the day
-Melee
-Low base intelligence and mana pool
-Low intelligence gain
-Falls off in late game
-Bad teamfight presence

An Introduction to Balanar

Night Stalker, also known as Balanar, is a melee strength hero who is known for being one of the best gankers in the entire game. He can snowball out of control if he gets enough kills during early game.
At night, Night Stalker feeds on squishy heroes, while also being able to take down tankier heroes. He has unparalleled movement speed at night, making him almost impossible to run away from. The last thing any hero would want is to encounter Night Stalker alone at night.
However, during the day, he is slow and easy to escape from. His lack of an escape mechanism also makes it hard for him to escape from fights.

Playing Balanar effectively

To play Night Stalker effectively, you will need the following:
- Knowledge of the day and night cycle
- Knowledge of your enemies abilities
- Knowledge of the map
- Teammates who are not complete idiots
- Lots of courage

If you don't have all of the above, don't worry. Keep reading and I will help you acquire them all (I can't really help you with the teammates part though).

Role of the Night Stalker

Next, I will explain to you the role of Night Stalker.
Too many people think that Night Stalker is a carry. Valve has even classified him as a carry.
That is a common misconception. Night Stalker is NOT a carry, even though he looks like one. Night Stalker is a GANKER/SEMI-CARRY. He is not a hard carry like Anti-Mage or Spectre.

So, why is Night Stalker not a hard carry? Because he falls off in late game. Hard carries are supposed to dominate the late game. Night Stalker is a ganker/semi-carry because he will "carry" the team during early and mid game. Once it reaches late game, Night Stalker will fall off and the hard carries will take over.

Believe me. I've tried playing hard carry Night Stalker once.

Once.

Didn't work out. I got outcarried by the enemy Phantom Lancer, and I couldn't do sh** during daytime, so I just kept getting killed.

Night Stalker is much more effective as a ganker and semi-carry. So don't play hard carry Night Stalker. Unless for some reason all your teammates didn't want to play carry and just picked 4 supports, then you don't really have any choice.

Skills of the Night Stalker

Void

This is Night Stalker's first skill, and his only nuke. At level 4, it deals a respectable 335 damage, and the 4 second slow coupled with your superior movement speed at night will make you almost impossible to run away from.
So, what about the mini-stun? A mini-stun may not look very useful, but it cancels channeled abilities. Enemy trying to TP away? Use Void. Caught Sand King trying to channel his Epicenter? Use Void. Pudge trying to Dismember your teammate? Use Void. Yeah, a mini-stun is actually very useful.

During the day, however, the slow only lasts for 2 seconds. Only useful as a nuke and mini-stun during daytime.

Always max this skill FIRST.

Crippling Fear

This is Night Stalker's second skill, which is his silencing skill. During the day, it only lasts for 3 seconds and only gives enemies a miss chance of 10%.

But at night, it turns into a whopping 8 second silence, the second longest silence in the entire game, and it basically causes enemies to miss half of their attacks. This is especially useful against annoying nukers and disablers such as Lina and Lion. They can do nothing but run away. You will have 8 seconds to kill them.

And what do you know? 8 seconds is also the cooldown time of Void! So if you didn't manage to take them down with your right clicks, just finish them off with your nuke.

Always max this skill THIRD.

Hunter in the Night

This skill is what defines Night Stalker. This skill is what turns Night Stalker into a feared ganker at night.
It increases your movement and attack speed at night. A level 4 Hunter in the Night combined with the speed burst from Phase Boots will give you 520 movement speed at night!

Always max this skill SECOND.

Darkness

This is Night Stalker's ultimate. You may be thinking,"It's just changing day into night. How is this even an ultimate?"

Why dont you consider this: You have the power to change the time from day into night, you can reduce the vision of enemy units to a mere 675, INCLUDING the vision of Observer Wards and enemy Towers, which will give your team a big vision advantage, and you can do all of this for no mana at all!

Doesn't seem like a bad ultimate now, does it?

Get your ultimate whenever possible

Skill Build Explanation

Now that you know the skills of Night Stalker, let's move on to his skill build.

Standard Skill Build

Level 1 - Void Level 2 - Hunter in the Night Level 3 - Void Level 4 - Hunter in the Night Level 5 - Void Level 6 - Darkness Level 7 - Void Level 8 - Hunter in the Night

Level 9 - Crippling Fear Level 10 - Hunter in the Night Level 11 - Darkness Level 12 - Crippling Fear Level 13 - Crippling Fear Level 14 - Crippling Fear Level 15 - Stats Level 16 - Darkness

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Always max Void first. Why? Because it's a nuke, slow and mini-stun all in one, that's why. A general rule of Dota is to always max your nuke first unless you have a good reason not to. As Night Stalker, you don't have a good reason not to max your nuke. So, max Void by level 7.

Next, we want to max Hunter in the Night second. Make sure you get at least one level in Hunter in the Night before the first night, because without it you will still be slow at night. If you go mid, you should have 2 levels in Hunter in the Night before the first night arrives.

We only skill Crippling Fear once we reach Level 9, then leave it at Level 1 until we have maxed Hunter in the Night. This is because it is a good 5 second silence at Level 1, but it doesn't scale well. The silence only increases by 1 second per level. Your level points are better spent maxing Hunter in the Night first.

After maxing Hunter in the Night, you can proceed to max Crippling Fear. Get Darkness at Levels 6, 11 and 16, because it will be useful if you need to fight during daytime.

Alternative Skill Build

Level 1 - Void Level 2 - Crippling Fear Level 3 - Hunter in the Night Level 4 - Void Level 5 - Void Level 6 - Darkness Level 7 - Void Level 8 - Hunter in the Night

Level 9 - Hunter in the Night Level 10 - Hunter in the Night Level 11 - Darkness Level 12 - Crippling Fear Level 13 - Crippling Fear Level 14 - Crippling Fear Level 15 - Stats Level 16 - Darkness

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This is an alternative skill build you can use. Here, instead of leaving [[Crippling
Fear]] until Level 9, we get an early level in Crippling Fear at Level 2.

This skill build is very situational. If your enemy team is filled with heavy nukers and disablers such as Lina and Lion, I suggest you use this build. Crippling Fear can be used to disable these annoying spell casters.

If you are new to Dota 2, or have never played Night Stalker before, I suggest you use this skill build. More experienced players don't really need an early Crippling Fear.


Remember, always adjust your builds based on the situation.

Item Build Explanation

Now, let's move on to Night Stalker's item build.

Starting Items

For starting items, Tango and a Healing Salve should give you enough health regeneration.

A Clarity would be useful in case you need to spam Void to get last hits.

Next, get a Quelling Blade. You seriously need to get those last hits, so that you can get your Boots of Speed and Bottle before night comes. Quelling Blade will make last hitting a whole lot easier. You can also use it to chop down trees to get more vision.

Lastly, get an Iron Branch for some stat gains. Later, you can turn the Iron Branch into a Magic Stick.

Before the First Night

Before the first night arrives, you should be getting a Boots of Speed and Bottle.

Boots of Speed will give you 50 more movement speed to go with your additional movement speed from Hunter in the Night. With a Boots of Speed and a Level 1 Hunter in the Night, you will already have more than 400 movement speed, which is faster than any other hero's normal speed.

Bottle is a must. Even if you don't go mid, you must still get a Bottle before the first night. Once you complete a gank, you will be low on health and mana. You need Bottle to heal up and prepare for your next gank. While you switch lanes, you can also pick up some runes to easily refill your bottle, which makes it a very good pick up for Night Stalker.

Core Items

Magic Stick is a core item for every hero. Night Stalker is no exception. In fact, Magic Stick works better for Night Stalker compared to many other heroes. If you need a little more mana to cast a Void and finish off your enemy, Magic Stick is your solution. Plus, none of Night Stalker's skills cost more than 150 mana. So a Magic Stick with full charges will ensure you will always have enough mana to cast a spell.

Urn of Shadows is definitely a core item. When you gank, you will be diving towers and getting aggro from creeps, which means you will be losing A LOT of health. You need to quickly replenish all that lost health to prepare for your next gank. Urn of Shadows will be the perfect item to heal you up.

A golden rule of Dota is to always carry a Town Portal Scroll. So please, always carry a Town Portal Scroll. You can use this to get across the map in 2 seconds, which will really help you to save time, instead of having to run across the map to gank another lane.

Boots of Choice

Both Phase Boots and Power Treads are great boots for Night Stalker.

Phase Boots basically turns you into a race car at night. Phase Boots' active plus a Level 4 Hunter in the Night will increase your movement speed to 520, just shy of the maximum 522. Also, Phase Boots give you +24 attack damage, making you hit harder.

Power Treads give you more attack speed and survivability. Also, you can tread switch, which is extremely useful in certain situations. Need a little more mana to cast Void? Switch you Power Treads to Intelligence, and there you go. Free mana!

Both boots are great boots, but just pick one.
Choose if you want more movement speed and attack damage, or more attack speed and tankiness (and tread switching).

Early Game Options

Orb of Venom is a great item for all melee gankers, including Night Stalker. The slow from Orb of Venom stacks with the slow from Void. In total, you would be slowing the enemy for a total of 62%!

Later in the game, you can sell your Orb of Venom to make way for other items.

Ganking Essentials

If you know the enemy team has wards around, use Smoke of Deceit to bypass all the wards unseen. If you think you will waste gold buying this, trust me, if your gank succeeds, you will be more than rewarded for buying it.

Only buy Dust of Appearance if your teammates don't already have it. As you know, you can't place Sentry Wards under the enemy Tower. So, Dust of Appearance will be needed to kill invisible heroes like Riki or Broodmother.

Mid Game Options

Armlet of Mordiggian
A good pickup since it gives you extra health regen, attack speed and an additional 4 armor to your already high base armor. You can simply heal with Urn of Shadows after using the Armlet's active.

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Aghanim's Scepter
Aghanim's Scepter on Night Stalker is just broken. It gives you unobstructed vision at night, meaning you can see through trees and higher terrain, making you impossible to juke. Take note that it doesn't affect Darkness in any way though.

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Blink Dagger
This is a viable pick up since it allows you to Blink right next to your enemy and start bashing their face in. However, it doesn't give you any stat gains whatsoever, so I'd prefer to pick up Shadow Blade over Blink Dagger

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Heaven's Halberd
This item in conjunction with Crippling Fear will allow you to completely disable your enemy. Plus, the extra strength, damage and evasion is good too.

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Helm of the Dominator
A good item to provide you with some good lifesteal. It works well in conjunction with Armlet of Mordiggian. Can be later built into a Satanic.

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Skull Basher
I almost always pick this up on Night Stalker. It completely solves the problem of enemies trying to TP away from you after you cast Void. Also makes you impossible to run away from. Can be later turned into Abyssal Blade.

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Shadow Blade
A great ganking item. It allows you to sneak right up to your enemy unseen, then start bashing them. Provided the enemy doesn't have Sentry Ward's or a Gem of True Sight around, I always pick this up over Blink Dagger.

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Black King Bar
A pretty situational item, but a very good item. Pick this up if the enemy team is full of heavy nukers and disablers and spell casters. This item, coupled with your high armor, will make you almost impossible to pin down and kill.

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Sange and Yasha
Seriously, I don't know why so many people hate on this item. Sange and Yasha, a Level 4 Hunter in the Night and normal boots will give you more than 500 movespeed at night. Coupled with that, you have a chance to slow your enemy, making you impossible to run away from. It also gives you more agility(armor), strength(HP), damage and attack speed. What's not to like?

Late Game/Luxury Items

Abyssal Blade
An upgrade of Skull Basher that gives you a 100% chance to block 40 damage(more survivability), more HP regen and a stun that goes through BKB(which is always useful). A good pickup.

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Heart of Tarrasque
What can I say? It turns you into an absolute tank. Also, it gives you ridiculous HP regeneration.

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Moon Shard
+120 attack speed? Coupled with your ridiculous attack speed from Hunter in the Night? This item will give you steroids. Plus, more night vision, added to your already huge 1800 night vision.

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Silver Edge
Basically an upgraded Shadow Blade. More damage from breaking Shadow Walk, and +15 to all your stats. A good pickup.

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Satanic
Satanic is the item that all strength heroes dream of having. A whopping 25% lifesteal, plus Unholy Rage is just so good. A great item for Night Stalker.