You had to /buy/ lifesteal? - A Lifestealer Jungle Guide(In-Progress)

Introduction - Gee Bill, two lifesteal items?

Any day now..

Oh yes, welcome to my guide to the wonderful, the amazing, the handsome devil known as Na'ix! This is something of a first guide, which I hope will not be terribly obvious. Somehow this hero has caught your eye, and you were lucky enough to stumble apon this guide. Well, I won't waste any of your time! Lets get down to business. But first, a little music for you, so you can get in the right mindset. Play Video /dota-2/skill/feast-318 sustain and damage, but you aren't going to get a whole lot of healing when beating on lower health heroes. Filling in this gap is a must, in my eyes! Vladmir's Offering is cheap(For what it provides), and Lifestealer is one of the best heroes in the game to buy it on. Lets have a look at the stats that matter:

Vladimir's aura(900 radius)

16% Lifesteal on attack(Aura, only applies to melee)
15% Bonus damage
5 armor
0.8 Mana regeneration

But isn't this a bad thing? Doesn't Vlad's cancel out Na'ix's Feast? Wrong! Both are passives, despite Morbid Mask lifesteal being counted an attack modifier.

Now heres your Orb effect of the day. Satanic! Lets cut to the chase, this is the biggest lifesteal item in the game. The active gives a whopping 175% lifesteal for 3 seconds. Lets peek at the stats that matter:

25% Lifesteal(Attack Modifier)
25 Strength(475 HP)
Unholy rage(175% Lifesteal, last 3 seconds. 35 second cd)

Now that we have that out of the way, lets move on to a very important topic.

Chapter 1 - Lifestealer's Skills, and The Flesh That Hates

Na'ix's skillset is very well suited for the jungle. He has a Black King Bar on steroids, a very effective and high range slow, with the ability to heal to full health instantly off an enemy or neutral creep. I won't waste your time listing the stats of the abilities, just hover your mouse over them!

Rage

Have you ever been so close to a kill, only to have it taken away by a stun? Have you ever tried your hardest to get away from a filthy wizard, but their crowd control is too strong? Well Na'ix sure is tired of it! He gets.. So very mad.. That magic simply no longer effects him! The most you will squeeze out of this per cast is 4.75 seconds at max level. Its a tiny bit less than a 5th use Black King Bar, but with a huge attack speed buff. This skill is what allows you to disjoint unfriendly spells, continue chase, and take on much stronger jungle camps at lower levels. Bloodseeker, eat your heart out.

Feast

This is why Na'ix is the great jungler he is. The ability itself, simply put, saps a bit of what he hits for and deals the same bit back as damage. No real explanation needed here!

Open Wounds

This ability anger's your enemy's very skin, it turns your target into what I like to call The Flesh That Hates. This is a great ganking tool, but late game you want to place it on a tankier target. That is because all damage dealt to The Flesh That Hates by allies will come back to them as healing. This can turn a bad situation into your team at neer full health, in a best case scenario.

Infest

A very helpful ability, this allows you to hitch a ride when a player teleports. This includes by Town Teleport Scrolls, Relocate, Teleportation, and Holy Persuasion. Na'ix can hide in friendly heroes, and pop out for a decent bit of damage to enemy units, to gank with no need to close the gap himself. Popping out of a creep, be it a neutral or an enemy, will also heal you! 1v1, this can turn a fight instantly in your favor. Also you get to hear a cheeky line, that's a win-win!


For those who don't know where exactly The Flesh That Hates is from, please, at your own risk, turn your attention to the SCP website, SCP-610. Intense creepypasta will ensue, you have been warned :)

Chapter 2 - Lifestealer's friends, foes, and victims.

I see lifestealer's natural lifesteal as not only good sustain, but a great way to punish tankier targets just for existing. There are some heroes that will die to you endlessly, as long as you time your Rage correctly. Others will just blow you away like double ball buckshot. Still, Na'ix has a few good friends. Lets have a look at who these are:

Friends

Vengeful Spirit

Na'ix is a friend that Vengeful Spirit gladly takes shelter behind. The damage aura she provides is simply uncouth, combine that with her armor reduction which allows you to heal and deal more damage with Feast! Wrap it up in a stun, with the ability to put runners right into your claws.

Venomancer

Veno's Poison Sting is often described as an infinite slow. Well, guess what, it is! Whether its ganking a lane, or hunting down a chaser, Venomancer is a best friend to Lifestealer.

Crystal Maiden

While lifestealer isn't so much a fan of her giant rack, these two are a great laning pair. Not only that, but any lane with a friendly crystal maiden that you gank will almost guarantee a kill as long as positioning is good, and CC isn't overlapped too much.

Earthshaker

You may have noticed a pattern here, Lifestealer loves any hero with disables. But generally, just one disable won't do. Earthshaker here, can seal someone away from saftey, netting you an easy and free kill with Fissure. His Enchant Totem combined with his passive also makes a short, but helpful stun if they try to loop around any holes in the wall.

Foes

Doom bringer

I have only three words about Doom Bringer. YOU ARE DOOMED! Doom Bringer's ultimate, Doom, disables your lifesteal, item auras, satanic lifesteal, and silences you! Not even the theft of life can face the furnace.

Victims

Tidehunter

Oh Tidehunter, your own guts will chum the waters now. His Gush and Ravage get alot easier to telegraph, the more you play against and with Tidehunter. A properly timed Rage will take everything tidehunter has. Then your Feast will take whats left. Who's this Kunkka punk he keeps talking about, anyway? Who cares, he is just another life waiting to be taken.

Doom Bringer(..?)

Well, guess what. You are not DOOMED! Someone else is, perhaps your support or a caster. Or even better, Doom was not cast. Doom Bringer has a very high strength gain, that means hes perfect to wail on! His health will go down fast, while sustaining you in nearly any situation, should you not get interrupted.

Crystal Maiden

Oh no! I've been immobilized, and I can no longer attack! Oh wait, I'll just press Q. Dead Crystal Maiden :D

Chapter 3 - Item Explaination, and why Armlet/Heart isn't on core.

Now, you probably saw Armlet and Heart of Tarrasque weren't on the core list, and FLIPPED YOUR **** LIKE FLIPPIN' **** WASN'T PREVIOUSLY A THING. Allow me to quell your ALL CAPS RAGE, and explain. I see these items as more of a lane thing. Those items don't benefit lifestealer as much, if at all in a situation where he is not fighting heroes, or being harassed. The jungle is a safer place, and allows Lifestealer to transition into a very safe, and heavy damage tank. If thats a bad thing, Doom Bringer is a heavy damage tank. Think about it..

The item build this guide comes with is meant for a very Safe and Hard To Kill Lifestealer.

Lets take a look at possible boots

Power Treads Are the perferred boots on Lifestealer, for three reasons. They give decent attack speed, they can assist your very weak mana pool, and they buffer your health/damage for taking on heroes, and ancients.

Phase Boots A great tool for early damage, catching up, and getting away. I personaly dislike phases on Lifestealer, but they can work.

Arcane Boots Okay, now you're pushing it with these. You shouldn't be choked for mana this badly, unless none of your teammates haven't picked a pair up and you're not the Vlads holder. A Soul Ring would probably be better, but these are viable.

All other boots don't have the kind of uses that lifestealer needs, sole exception MIGHT be a pair of Tranquil Boots to be disassembled for your Vlads.


I have already spoken a good bit about the double lifesteal item build, but I will go a bit more in-depth

Vladmir's Offering Is not only purchased for the lifesteal, but because you will become so indomitable! A Vlads holder that doesn't die, is a successful Vlads holder. You will continue to provide this beastly aura for your team, teamfight after teamfight. Don't allways count on getting this item, though! An Ursa or a Broodmother need the aura more than you do.

Chapter 4 - Creeping and Stacking(Jungle Path)

Coming very soon, still finalising. Please stay tuned!

Still in progress, sorry!

I am working on this build every moment I have the chance, apologies for any holes in the information you seek.

Changelog

Don't mind this, I needed somewhere to fill out my progress on the build guide.

(May 11th, 2012)
-Added credit, and link to SCP website for "The Flesh That Hates"

(May 10th, 2012)
-Created Guide
-Added "Introduction"
-Added finished build 1
-Added "Chapter 1"
-Updated "Chapter 1"
-Added "Chapter 2"
-Updated "Chapter 1"
-Added "Chapter 3"
-Updated "Chapter 3"
-Added "Chapter 4"