Night Stalker

Balanar the Night Stalker is a unique Hero in that he is affected by the time of day during the game. During daytime, his vision is lower than usual, he is slower in both movement and attack speed than a hero of an equal level. Once the sun goes down, Balanar's real power is unleashed, as both his physical power and abilities are enhanced greatly.

His Void is a slowing nuke that keeps enemies crippled longer at night. Crippling Fear is a silence with a relatively low cooldown (something rare on a Strength hero) that gains even additional potency at night, later in the game it can go on to become the second longest silence in the game. Hunter in the Night is what defines the Night Stalker, gaining supernatural attack and movement speed, but only at night. Darkness literally takes back the night from the day and allows him to achieve his full potential regardless of which time of day it actually is, all the while reducing the enemies field of vision and increasing the duration of night-time if used during the night.

Tips

 * Void is the best ability to max early, as the damage increase and slow allow you to use it to kill your desired target.
 * Hunter in the Night empowers his attack speed and movement speed superbly during the night, making him the best ganker during the earliest parts of the game.
 * Night Stalker will greatly benefit from being on the same team as a Luna. Her Lunar Blessing will give him bonus damage and her Eclipse will turn the time of the day to night for 10 seconds. This 10 seconds is often significant enough for the Night Stalker to set in and go for the kill.
 * Using Darkness during night time will prolong the duration of the night, allowing Night Stalker to ultimately change the time to his favor.
 * During the night, most heroes have below average vision, rendering them to be ineffective on chases and gives enemies a chance to hide in a blind spot. Night Stalker, however, is at home in this time and has full vision, allowing him to effectively chase without getting obscured on his sight. With Aghanim's Scepter, he gains full unobstructed vision, allowing him to see through trees, and higher terrains.
 * Satanic and Helm of the Dominator can be used to help Night Stalker jungle in the mid game stage and the active of Satanic will aid him in healing a lot of damage if he has to face the enemy carry during a manfight.
 * Vladmir's Offering helps greatly with pushing towers after a successful gank and provides a vampiric aura to your allies.
 * During the day, save Darkness for when it is necessary for a fight; during the night, however, cast it whenever it is off cooldown in order to maximize the night's duration.

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 "If I ever get my claws on that bird," is likely a reference to the rooster, a bird which heralded the coming of dawn with its cry. The rooster was sacred to the sun-god Helios.


 * 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 a 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.


 * Night Stalker's ganking prowess in the early- to mid-game coincident to The United States Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as Night Stalkers with their motto "Night Stalkers Don't Quit" & "Death Waits in the Dark"