Necronomicon

The Necronomicon was an item purchasable at the Main Shop, under Magical. It can be upgraded by purchasing the recipe again.

Additional Information

 * Was removed in patch 7.29.


 * Upgrading the item improves its stats and strengthens the summons from Demonic Summoning. Can be upgraded twice.
 * The total gold cost for each level is //.

Recommended Heroes
In general, Necronomicon is best bought by strength or intelligence heroes who have abilities that synergize with the Necronomicon summons.


 * Heroes who have creep-compatible auras.
 * 's aura boosts the attack speed of all his summons, and he commonly builds more items to improve his.
 * gives a long-duration haste, as well as providing a critical strike aura.
 * Heroes who control a lot of units.
 * has no innate auras, but she can collect more Neutral creeps than any other single hero to gain many auras, and in the late game can control even Ancient Creeps, which work well with the Necronomicon units.
 * have massed to gain a better push force and benefit from summon auras.
 * is able to effectively increase the number of melee creeps in a lane to push it, and the summons can help speed up that push by clearing the wave and improving the move and attack speed of all the units.
 * can at times have dozens of and  under her control, and the necronomicon units are an effective way of speeding up her pushing power, or to burn mana with  from her targets to protect her fragile summons from radius-based spells.


 * Heroes with a castable attack speed buff. The has a very low base attack time, only 0.75. There are few ways to grant it bonus attack speed, but they are very effective in increasing his mana burn potential.
 * can cast on the warrior, and slow a target to provide lots of time for the summons to  all of a target's mana.
 * 's passive ability allows him to chase targets, and increases the attack speed and move speed of allied units attacking the same target. It also provides him with a second reliable carrier of.


 * Heroes who have channeled disables, or otherwise have spells that disable the caster.
 * can increase the damage output of his with Necronomicon units. While he grips a target enemy, the 's  will further drain mana and deal more damage along with the.
 * and both specialize in summoning powerful units with their ultimates, then channeling a disable to allow their summon to deal damage. Necronomicon provides another summon to use when their ultimate is on cooldown, or synergizes with their ultimate.
 * can control summons while casting, increasing the danger to enemies who try to attack the Phoenix Sun.


 * Heroes who have damage amplification spells, but lack damage themselves.
 * has a powerful damage amplification and multiple disables. He has the rare ability to create illusions of enemy heroes, which may in turn provide auras for necro units, as well as taking advantage of.
 * With the 2 summons and the 2 illusions spawned by, it's possible to bodyblock a trapped enemy in all four cardinal directions, effectively trapping most heroes until one of the units is killed.


 * Heroes with powerful Damage Over Time or slowing spells
 * and gain from Necronomicon units the ability to ensure that a fleeing enemy won't have enough mana to  back to the fountain before their ultimate kills them, and their slowing spells greatly increase the amount of damage and mana burn that the summons can perform.
 * 's triggers from attacks made by the Necronomicon units.


 * Heroes who can take advantage of multiple synergies.
 * can collect ancient creeps to buff Necronomicon, and can use on enemy heroes to significantly amplify the attack speed of Necronomicon units.
 * provides a hasting aura to his own summons when is active, stacking well with . Using, he can gain an aura to improve the summons further, and In the late game, he can Devour , allowing him to cast  and provide  to the summons.
 * is able to summon the units after, increasing the power of a relocate gank. Additionally, if no ally needs the , Io can the  for bonus attack speed.
 * has potentially strong kit for Necronomicon. provides  with bonus damage and attack speed,  can reduce the armor of enemies, increasing the damage of both Necronomicon units, and he has multiple strong slows and disable to provide more time to kill off targets.


 * Some heroes have unique synergies with Necronomicon.
 * is unique in that he can summon two sets of units with a single book by using his . Additionally, it extends the effective time of the double, as the summons live twice as long as the double.
 * Additionally, his other spells provide exceptionally strong slows to prevent escapes.
 * has a kit that synergizes in many ways with Necronomicon.
 * can be cast upon the to reduce its ability's cooldown.
 * can be aimed to push a target next to the summons, and provide a debuff making it harder for the target to kill the summoned units.
 * 's flying vision synergizes well with Necronomicon for dewarding purposes, and provides him a way to burn through a target's mana during his lengthy silence and slow.
 * 's spells amplify the Necronomicon Warrior. With and,  becomes an exceptionally dangerous summon.
 * 's reduces the cooldown of Necronomicon, making the item more efficient on him as it has lesser downtime compared to other heros.
 * Because a lot of Necronomicon's value is in its summons, many of the above heroes gain synergy with the item even if it was purchased by another hero. In addition, some heroes are poor carriers of the item, but benefit a lot from having the item on their team.

Strategy

 * The Necronomicon units have a very large xp and gold bounty and a long summon cooldown, avoid getting them killed unnecessarily.
 * Necronomicon is a great alternative to for heroes with low attack speed who desire a source of mana burn.
 * In an exceptionally long game, one way to effectively use built up gold is to have a Necronomicon to carried in their backpack.
 * When using Necronomicon units to push, it can be worthwhile to move one behind the tower to intercept the incoming creep wave to make sure allied creeps continue attacking the tower.


 * Against certain heroes, Necronomicon can be an exceptionally strong counter.
 * relies on her to survive fights, which can be quickly destroyed with the fast attack speed of the two Necronomicon units.
 * has a naturally small mana pool, and can only attack a single target at a time. Necronomicon units make it harder for him to fight the summoner, and reduce the chances that he'll have the mana be able to trigger.
 * Heroes with a small health pool, and strong but indiscriminate nukes, like, , or , are especially vulnerable to being killed by.
 * Heroes that can enter ghost form (immune to physical attacks) e.g., , or heroes that purchase and  can be purged off by Necronomicon Archer's debuff.
 * Necronomicon is a good long-term investment against an team with invisibility, because when upgraded to maximum level, it gives your team a mobile source of True Sight without the risk of a losing a in a fight.
 * With a freely-targetable spell that provides vision, a support can easily check cliffs for wards with a Level 3 Necronomicon Warrior, saving on the need for.
 * Necronomicon is a good purchase to help counter an enemy with a or a similar ability which retaliates directly, because damage is reflected back to the summoned units, and it can force the target to kill the Necronomicon Warrior, taking up to 800 magical damage.
 * The 's ability is a valid spell to pop.
 * Some heroes are exceptionally strong against summoned units, and are able to deal with Necronomicon units easily. A user should avoid fighting those heroes with the summons.
 * Heroes who have strong Cleaves such as and  are able to clear out both summons, tank, and continue fighting.
 * While Necronomicon units are immune to and, they are vulnerable to all other forms of instantly killing or conversion spells, allowing the caster to turn back the threat of  and  against the original owner.
 * Of particular note is who can  to avoid, and  can be used on the summon to either instantly kill, or to take control of the unit.
 * Heroes who have spells which gain more effectiveness the more enemy units around, eg. or.
 * Heroes who can deal damage while spell immune or invulnerable in order to kill off the warrior safely, such as, or.
 * Heroes who have their own summons or illusions are able to easily avoid taking the damage.

Item Synergy

 * : gives the highest DPS per gold for the necronomicon when active, the bonus movement speed stacks with the archer's movement aura.
 * : for the attack speed aura, as the Necronomicons have one of the lowest base attack times in the game so they benefit from it a lot. In addition, the armor aura doubles their physical damage resistance and it reduces the armor of enemies around. Greatly improves your pushing potential.
 * 's active reduces the armor of your enemy by 8 and applies 35% Accuracy. You can also get a to apply a similar effect.
 * : allows you to clear creep waves faster, synergizing with the typical push style that this item encourages.
 * : make your necronomicons tankier with the aura attack slow and gives a powerful area movement slow to catch your enemies.
 * and : grants sustainability to your summons, preventing the enemy from gaining the gold bounty.
 * : amplifies the damage the summons deal to the target, while rendering them unable to use spells to kill the summons typically allowing them to live longer to cause more impact. It is useful against damage block.
 * applies a mute so the enemy won't be able to use his items. It removes every positive buffs and each hits applies a slow synergizing well with the fast attack speed of the summons and the Purge movement slow of the Archer.
 * : is used to surprise and summon the necronomicons directly on your enemy.
 * : enables teleportation to the Necronomicon summons.
 * : grants the summons lifesteal, 4 bonus armor and 15% bonus damage.
 * : protects you and your summoned units from magic damage, though the Necronomicon level 3 grants 400 health and the Necronomicon Units have 40% magic resistance.
 * : allows casting the Necronomicon more often, enabling greater uptime on the summons to deward and split push while there is no team fight.

Counter items

 * : almost fully blocks the damage of the Necronomicons if they don't do critical strikes.
 * : because their base attack time is low, the aura attack slow of 45 reduces a lot their damage.

Trivia

 * This item is based on the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire created by horror author H. P. Lovecraft. The summoning ability of the item is similar to the original book's role in summoning the ancient cosmic Old Ones in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
 * The coloration of the two units may be a reference to the Japanese tradition of Oni being either Red or Blue, with the Red Oni traditionally more aggressive, emotional, and extroverted, while Blue Oni are traditionally more serene, intellectual, and introverted.

Recent Changes
Necronomicon Necronomicon 死灵书