The Crawling Terror: Lifestealer

Introduction:

Greetings! My name is Aditya 'Az7y' Vaidya, from India, and I play in a newly formed team 'Accelerate'. I've been playing DotA almost around two years, now. I'm not a professional or highly experienced player, but I'm good at understanding the mechanics of the game, and applying it to my gameplay; this guide is perceptional. Since I'm not an experienced player, if you do find any mistakes in my explanation, please provide suggestions in the comment box. I would like to apply that to my guide, as well as gameplay, on a trial-error basis. Open to suggestions, constructive criticism, judgement or anything which enlightens me.

MMR : 4700 ~
DotAbuff Statistics: Az7y

Introduction to Lifestealer:

Lifestealer is a strength hero which looks like terrorist who just broke alive from a prison like hell. Although, let aside visual characteristics, Lifestealer is a 'Full Fledged' carry. It's one of the very few reliant carries remaining in the competitive DotA 2 scene, as well, basically because of some factors which I will discuss later on. But usually, the more hit points an opponent target possess, the more damage & lifesteal the Lifestealer possess, while attacking the specific target. This is why Lifestealer is one of the very few Anti-Tank heros.

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Pros & Cons:

Every hero has it's upsides & downsides, this hero has a fair inclination towards more positives than negatives, which is why, it's considered a professional clan pick.
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Pros :

• Durable in team fights. Very hard to kill.
• Has a good chasing ability.
• Not easy to gank, as most other carries.
• Not extremely farm dependent as other hard-carries.
• Good animation, base damage & fair stat gain.
• Can do Jungle, although safe-lane is recommended.
• Inbuilt Magic-Immunity.
• Inbuilt Lifesteal whose impact increases lategame.

• Not mobile.
• Has a comparatively lower stat-gain than other carries.
• Fairly farm dependent.
• Can't do Safe-Lane, as well as Mid, without babysitter(s).
• Can be outcarried by true agility hard-hitting but squishy carries.

Abilities & it's usage:

What makes Lifestealer a carry? It's stat gain? It's high base damage? It's HP? No. They're the abilities which not only are good at the early, but are fairly useful at the extreme late-portion of the game.
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Rage : This ability unleashes your hidden fury, increasing your attack speed, as well as giving you magic immunity of 6 seconds at it's highest level. It's fairly as effective as holding a Black King Bar and a Hyperstone at the same time. Although most guides will focus on maxing it around the 12-14 level mark, I'll prefer maxing it in the early stage of the game. Why? Because not only you gain immunity for six seconds, you gain 80 attack speed for the duration. It's like holding 1.6x Hyperstone without any consequences. It has fairly low cooldown & low mana cost. It also can be used to dodge incoming projectiles such as a stun or nuke. You can also Rage + Town Portal Scroll and get out of a 5-man gank against you, and there is very less what they can do about it.


Feast : This is your passive, which makes you an 'Anti-Tank' as I mentioned. It can be seen as an ordinary 'Lifesteal' ability which is acquired from Morbid Mask and it's upgrades, but, it's entirely a different type of Lifesteal. It does work on all units except Roshan. The main difference between Lifesteal & Feast is, that Lifesteal is directly dependent on the outgoing damage dealt by a unit, while Feast is directly proportionate to the current health of the target, irrespective of your damage, the victim's damage, or attack speed, although, the more attack speed, the more changes of acquiring health. This is the ability which allows you to tank massive farmed strength carries without crumbling. This ability is effective early game to maintain your health, and also extreme lategame to tank against heros with higher health pools. Also, the more health pool a target has, the more damage your do to him, in percentage. Getting a level of it is highly recommended. Maxing it early or not is entirely your choice, since it percentage does not boost up very high. It is not an 'Unique Attack Modifier' and hence, it stacks with Morbid Mask, Eye of Skadi, Orb of Venom or Diffusal Blade.


Open Wounds : This ability is either used for chasing a target, or used to regenerate the whole team, or yourself. It can be very useful to initiate ganks, this slow is very high, even at the first level, and lasts for a good duration; it also allows allies to lifesteal on that particular target, by not only physical, but magic attacks like Finger of Death and Laguna Blade too. It's very useful for initiating ganks, as well as maintaining your health bar up, by tanking a target using the Open Wounds as an additional lifesteal along with Feast.


Infest : This ability is the only escape mechanism he has, but also can be used as what generally the casters call it, 'Naix bomb", i.e: An initiating nuke technique, which I will explain later. This ability basically allows Lifestealer to infest the body of the target unit, lying dormant and undetectable inside. When he reveals himself, he deals damage to all nearby enemy units & gains HP if it's a neutral or enemy creep. You can use it for initiation, or performing perfect ganks with the extra nuke, escape or to gain bonus life.

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Item Build & Significance:

Here, I'm going to briefly explain & justify how each & every item can benefit for Lifestealer:


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The Starting Build :


Quelling Blade : It's option. Lifestealer has pretty satisfactory base damage & animation, and necessarily does not require a Quelling Blade, but you can get it for better results in an uncontested laning phase.

Stout Shield : A good option instead of Quelling Blade if you gonna' be facing a dual lane, and getting harassed. You can take both Quelling Blade and Stout Shield if you are going to Jungle.

Iron Branch : You can take them up, so that you have higher stats & you can then convert it to Magic Wand during the ganking stage, i.e: Mid game.

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The Core :

Hand of Midas : It's option, considering your farm. If you're getting enough last hits & you expect the game to go late, get a Hand of Midas and secure the farming potential of your hero to it's maximum. The extra attack speed is beneficial to this hero, as more the attack speed, more the Lifesteal.

Power Treads : Pretty standard for any carry. Good attack speed. Good stats; but you can replace it with Phase Boots depending if you need a chasing ability.

Orb of Venom : A pretty solid item for any hero with a good damage & needs to chase down enemies. Orb of Venom costs very less, and is more efficient to solo-kill a couple of freebies.

Armlet of Mordiggian : A must item if you're playing Lifestealer. Armlet is actually the best item which can be acquired for a STR carry in DotA 2. You get damage, you get armor, regen, you get 25 STR (Reaver costs 3200). But mainly, you can just toggle it on/off and be invincible throughout the gank.

Skull Basher : Basher is a good item for anyone with a decent attack speed & needs to hold the enemy down for some huge rightclick damage.

***asult Cuirass : Gives you the armor you lack. Gives you the extra attack speed, gives you the armor reduction. You can swap it with a heart, but against Physical Damage, armor is what you rather need.
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Extension(s) / Situational items:


Abyssal Blade : Good extension for Skull Basher. Not worth the money, unless a carry with a Black King Bar is causing some issues for your team. Just lock him down & focus him off the fights.

Battlefury : You can get it for crowd control, i.e: If you have a Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight and Naga Siren in opposite. Alternative is Mjollnir, but Battlefury is way more effective as a farming item if bought very early.

Black King Bar : Most of the times, you don't actually need it, but if there're too many crowd control abilities & 6 seconds immunity isn't enough, getting this won't hurt.

Blade Mail : Good return damage against mass nukers. Although not very recommended, it's good against heros like Phantom Assassin or ShadowFiend with high damage and lower health pool.

Blink Dagger : A fun item & quite useful to some extent. See a weak target? Blink -> Open Wounds -> Rage -> Right click. 6 seconds is enough time to get through every ounce of HP it has if you're already up the core items.

Daedalus : Who doesn't love crits on a right click hero?

Monkey King Bar : Good damage, hold down ability, goes through evasion, hence, optional.

Desolator : Eat through any enemy in possibly 5-6 hits. Nice item to get, if you have decent attack speed & damage.

Drum of Endurance : Good stat & movement speed item, in an early stage of the game. Pretty optional. It's very common item, if you wish to fight Mid-game, instead of late-game.

Eye of Skadi : A pretty solid item to gain high stats, and movement + attack slow. Heros without non-blink abilities can be easily picked off with this item, if you have a couple of core items up your sleeve.

Sange and Yasha : Works pretty well, since it increases your speed & decreases the person whom you're chasin'. Basically, allows you to chase down enemies quicker, and ofcourse, good stats.

Shadow Blade : Shadow blade can allow easy picks up with the same ability as Blink, although, works pretty well in a pub. One hit with Shadowblade -> Open Wounds -> Rage -> Kill. It can provide as a great escape, and can make your farming comparatively easier.

Orchid Malevolence : This is extremely situational. This doesn't give you high stats, but it can be proven very useful against heros with lower HP pools, but escape mechanism, i.e: Anti-Mage, Mirana, Slark, Weaver or nukers like Zeus, Witch Doctor, Nyx Assassin.

Mjollnir : This item is pretty much an early game item, to be obtained right after the Armlet, basically boosts up your farming potential, as well as provides you with the damage & attack speed that is required.

Mask of Madness / Satanic / Vladimir's Offerings : Either lifesteal works on Lifestealer. The inbuilt lifesteal stacks with the Lifesteal items. Mask of Madness can be used nicely for catching you with the enemy, while Satanic can provide you with the tanking and regen ability in the late scenario. Helm of the Dominator is a very good mid-game item on Lifestealer, since a Lifestealer can infest a Centaur, make the Centaur stun an enemy, and deal 400 damage nuke + right clicks.

Heart of Tarrasque : Heart is an old fashion build to Lifestealer, as it becomes a mass tank very early on. You can just keep your Armlet on the entire time, without needing you to switch it off. Solid item if your main focus is on survival.

Heaven's Halberd : Very cost efficient, gives you STR & evasion required to face several carries at once. Do not get it unless there are 2+ carries in the opposite team.

Divine Rapier : Last but not the least, this item is fairly viable on Lifestealer. Lifestealer can stay alive throughout the ganks & isn't as affected as other heros, since, it's each & every ability helps him survive the ganks. Getting a damage-lifesteal with Divine Rapier can be useful. Do not get this item unless you're extremely confident in yourself.

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Why is Lifestealer picked or banned in every single professional games, in the current metagame?

The answer is simple. Let's conclude the question, "What does a carry truly need to be in a comfortable stage to carry the game?"

- Farming ability.
- Good damage.
- Survivability.
- Escape.
- Chase.
- Magic immunity.

Lifestealer has almost everything. He doesn't have the extra capability to farm, like Gyrocopter, Anti-Mage or Phantom Lancer, but he has Magic Immunity, Lifesteal, Chase, Escape, 400 damage nuke, an ulti which potentially can heal you in a mili-second, good damage, it's like a perfect carry to pick. It might not be the hardest carries in the game, but definitely is one of the few carries which are dependable. Picking a Lifestealer for your team is seldom risky.

Jungle vs Lane?

People can be very perceptional about this question. Some people prefer the lane, while some people prefer the Jungle, for Lifestealer. I personally would like the Lane much better. Here're some characteristics from both sides:


Jungle :

- Jungling is way safer than Laning is.
- Jungling gives your solo more experience & farm, than a dual-lane. Hence, not just you, but someone else is getting the gold-advantage, if he can sustain the lane without a tower sacrifice.
- Jungling can't be easily countered, since he can have his space to farm; and Lifestealer is a very good Jungler, since the tankier the creeps, more HP he leeches.
- With Jungling, you can reach specific items & specific times, which can make you very analytical about your gametime.

Lane :

- Laning is harder, since you can miss some creeps, or get some creeps denied by the offlane, but, it gains way more experience & gold than Jungling.
- The kill obtaining possibility in Laning is higher than it is with Jungling, since, with Laning, your HP pool is always high, ganking is always an option.
- Lifestealer can simply trade hits with anyone on the lane because of it's Feast ability, which gives him an upper advantage against his usual opponents.
- Participation in ganks & team fights is way easier, and can provide you extra gold through assists, as well as kills.

Friends and Foes:

I'll talk about some heros that help you, and some heros you should be more concerned about, because of their abilities which can destroy you.


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Friends :

To know which heros can help us, we first need to know about what a 'Naix Bomb' is.
A Naix Bomb is nothing but making a Lifestealer infest a unit, and the unit jumps right in the middle of the battle, where Lifestealer pops out dealing 400 nuke damage & destroying the opponents. Your friends are basically the heros which can help you carrying out the Naix bombs on the enemy team. The heros are as follows:

Storm Spirit & Queen of Pain : This is the most well known combo. With Ball Lightning, Storm Spirit he can easily make you jump right into the battle and pick off any isolated heros, while with Blink, Queen of Pain takes you all the way.

Bounty Hunter, Riki, Nyx Assassin etc : These invisibility heros are also capable of pulling out Naix bombs, by using their stealth as an initiation.

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Enemies :

Bane : Bane's damage reduction works through your Rage, as well as his ultimate, works through. Bane is considered the most dangerous counter for Lifestealer in the pub, as well as competitive scene.

Magnus : Reverse Polarity can lockdown your Rage very easily.

Batrider : His other spells drain out, but his ultimate, Flaming Lasso works through immunity.

Faceless Void : Although you're a badass carry, you're not worth the trouble for a Faceless Void who has cronosphere up his sleeve, or either way. His bashes lock you down & are impossible to evade.

Troll Warlord : The legend of an Anti-Carry, Troll, makes you miss most attacks, while bashing you to death in an instant, using his ultimate. Both, very painful for a rightclicker such as you.

Templar Assassin : You have nothing to counter a Templar Assassin, and will have to work a lot to get through her refraction charges to even let her feel a piece of you.

Huskar : Yes, he's not as great of a carry as you, but, without you having a Basher, this guy is just impossible to kill. Mainly because, the lower his HP, the lower your health gain. The lower his HP, more his attack speed, lifesteal & damage. Do not engage Huskar in a 1v1 battle, before your Skull Basher or a support.

Ursa : Nobody loves this bear. Although he has good amount of health pool, his attack speed & damage is way more than you can handle. Do not feed the bear. Get some evasion, like H.H, perhaps & lock him down.

Meepo : You might say, "What?", but yes. Although Meepo-Micro is quite difficult, a propher Meepo can always out-carry, out-push, and take a Lifestealer 1v1. His extremely slow & poofs are extremely painful & there's not much you can do about it, after the rage.

Phantom Lancer, Naga Siren & Chaos Knight : Illusions are pretty hard to deal with, if you're a Lifestealer, you die out till you figure out which the real one is, Battlefury and Mjollnir are a couple of items to deal with them.

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