[Daily Hero tl;dr #1] Night Stalker

Welcome to my Daily Hero tl;dr, I'll jump right into it.

Nightstalker is such a great hero because he has just so much depth to him. By picking NS, you control the pace of the entire game. Early-mid game you are a powerhouse, and late game you're a major annoyance.

TL;DR:

• Skills: nuke (1,3,5,7) silence (2, max later) passive (4,6,8,9/10) ult (6/10,11,16)
• Items (start): stout shield, regen, quelling if necessary
• Items (later): bottle, treads, vanguard, Urn, Scepter, Eul's
• Tips: initiate fights, control map at night, win the early game, only use ult at day if absolutely necessary, control team fights by disabling everyone, BE FEARLESS!

Let's get into skills and items. You have a nuke that a slows and has a ministun, a silence that also causes heroes to miss, a passive that makes you stronger in night, and your ultimate changes day into night. You're going to want to max your nuke by level 7. Grab one level of silence at 2, and have your passive maxed by 9 or 10. Grabbing your ultimate at 6 is up to you - if you're leveling super fast then you won't need it. But if you want an extra 50-75 seconds the first night, you can grab it then. Also note how I said your nuke has a ministun. That means it can cancel TP and other channeling moves, making it even more useful!

Now a major problem with players and this hero is really poor item choices. I know the suggested items says Phase Boots into Mask of Madness (or at least it used to). NO. BAD. Those are bad items on NS! Your core items are Treads, Vanguard (if necessary), Bottle, Urn (if no one else has it) and Scepter. Remember, you are not an agility carry, your job is to not have over 9000 DPS. Your job is to control the pace of the game, to choose when you want to fight, to initiate fights, to basically crowd control the entire enemy team. Now, another intersting item (shoutout to Synd for really describing this) is Eul's. It sounds weird, but trust me, it works out really well. It's one more hero you can control or save yourself if you dive in too quickly. After your core, items like Heart, Sheepstick, and Basher are good.

But why Treads and not PB? Well, you already have extreme movement and attack speed, so really the MS bonus from Phase is not necessary. You get Treads because of the amazing stats it gives. You get an extra 150 HP when you need it and an extra 100 mana when you need it. Remember to switch your treads - agility when you are regenerating, intelligence when you are casting, strength at all other times. Also, life steal is NOT NECESSARY. You have such high HP anyway that you're just wasting money and delaying items that are actually useful.

When playing NS, you need to control the game during night (duh). So that means, from the beginning of the game until minute 6, you need to accomplish a few things: boots, bottle, level 6-7. That's why he's a great solo hero, besides he is a strength hero that can take a lot of hits, he also has a lot of agility and a lot of armor. Starting items should be Stout Shield, regen, and stats items (or quelling if you think you need it). For that first night, you need to control the map. That means - carry a TP scroll (like you always should) and run from lane to lane killing everything. You shouldn't be in one place for more than 15 seconds. The other team must feel your presence even if you are on the other side of the map. Remember - kill units by day, heroes by night, and feast off of squishy casters!

Now for a quick thing about his ultimate. Cast it continuously at night, but cautiously by day. Why? Because it extends the current period the game clock is on. So basically, if you cast it before 6 minutes, then the first night will not be until 6:25.

So basically, when you're playing NS, you control the movement of the game. At night, you decide when your team wants to fight. So, because you have that power over everyone else, you have to force teamfights when you see fit. Don't hold back with your spells, your silence lasts 8 seconds (holy crap), which is more than enough to take a caster out of an entire teamfight. So, once you silence that poor Crystal Maiden, you can ignore her for 8 seconds! At that point, focus your attacks on someone who isn't useless, like another support hero. Make it so they can't hit the person actually doing real DPS (your hard carry). That's the point of your hero - not to carry, but to protect the hard carry from dangerous things. You're a tank, you're there for crowd control, so don't be scared to initiate on five heroes if you know your team is behind you.

// This was a little longer than what I was hoping for, but there's so much information! I think most others will be shorter, it's just this hero has so much depth and individually impacts the game more than most heroes. I encourage all feedback and I'll answer any questions you post in the comments. Also, post suggestions for tomorrow's hero.

/// Tomorrow is going to be Ancient Apparition. He's my favorite hero and I want to do the write up. It will be shorter than this one, I can assure you.

//// I will compile a list of my threads on my profile at GG.net