Night Stalker

Balanar, the Night Stalker, is a melee strength hero, known for being one of the strongest initiators and gankers in the game once night falls.

Unlike other heroes in the game, Night Stalker's strength greatly changes depending on the time of day. While he is not a very great threat in sunlight, he becomes a living nightmare when the moon rises, as all of his basic abilities become much stronger. He has a mini-stun and slow in Void, which allows him to hound and nuke down lone enemies who are unfortunate enough to encounter him. He also has the ability to silence and blind his foes with Crippling Fear, which drastically increases in duration at night, preventing spellcasters and even carries from retaliating against him. His passive, Hunter In the Night, greatly boosts Night Stalker's movement speed and attack speed at night, allowing him to easily move around the map, to pursue and tear apart his prey. Finally, his ultimate, Darkness, summons instant nighttime and destroys enemy night vision, making even the strongest enemy heroes prey. A terror in darkness, Night Stalker is the embodiment of heroes' nightmares, and one of the last things they will ever wish to encounter alone at night.

Gameplay
 Strategy & Tips Counters & Matchups

Audio
 Responses Sounds

History
 Lore Old Abilities Changelogs

Trivia

 * Many of Night Stalker's responses that refer to his vampiric qualities make reference to Bram Stoker's Dracula, a film adaptation of the classic novel starring Gary Oldman.
 * Night stalker's line Nstalk dayrise 05.mp3 "If I ever get my claws on that bird." is likely a reference to the rooster that crows when the game transitions from night-time to daytime.
 * Night Stalker's deep and raspy voice is a possible reference to Batman.
 * In an earlier version DotA, there existed a hero similar to Night Stalker called Void Demon. His first ability "Time Void" had similar effects to the present ability, except it also stunned the target for 5 seconds. Void Demon also had an ability similar to Omniknight's, though it had a larger radius of 600 units. His third ability was a pushing spell called "Quake" which was useful for destroying towers. Finally, his ultimate was called "Mass Haste". This aura gave Void Demon and nearby allies benefits similar to Night Stalker's , except that it had no conditions and enabled Void Demon and his team to hunt Heroes relentlessly both day and night. Ultimately, Void Demon was replaced with Night Stalker as his skill set was deemed too powerful.
 * Nightstalker's response "In the forest of the night" is a reference to the poem The Tyger by William Blake.