Dragon Knight/Guide

General

 * Dragon Knight is one of the few heroes with no cast time on his abilities, so abilities can be cast in between attacks on the backswing animation.
 * Creep stacking is a good tactic for Dragon Knight, as his ultimate will clear camps quickly.
 * Dragon Knight has a quick, clean attack animation, making last hitting fairly easy (especially with a ).
 * With any source of lifesteal, Dragon Knight rarely needs to return to the fountain.
 * In the early game, enemies teams may choose to ignore Dragon Knight during teamfights, due to his low damage.
 * Dragon Knight's item build varies depending on what he's facing. Good players must analyze enemies' items to make an informed decision.
 * Despite being tanky against physical damage, Dragon Knight has no defenses against magical and pure damage. Don't overestimate his tankiness against a mixed lineup of heroes.
 * Like several other carries, Dragon Knight relies heavily on to keep himself from being disabled in teamfights.


 * Breathe Fire can be used to farm and harass in lane, especially if Dragon Knight has a.
 * Breathe Fire is useful as an early game nuke.


 * Dragon Tail is the longest (guaranteed) level 1 single target stun in the game. 's can stun up to 5 seconds at level 1, but must travel at least 1500 range and as such is difficult to hit with.
 * Dragon Tail scales poorly. One or two levels is often enough to fulfill its primary stun purposes.
 * Some players may choose to level an Attribute Bonus instead.


 * A few levels in Dragon Blood helps Dragon Knight stay in the lane.
 * Dragon Blood will also allow Dragon Knight to farm the jungle if the lane is too dangerous.


 * Despite its long duration, make sure Elder Dragon Form is always ready before a teamfight. Without it, Dragon Knight is easily kited.
 * Elder Dragon Form changes attack range from melee to ranged. Keep this in mind when building items as it also changes the effect of items like, damage block, bash chance and cleave.
 * Frost Breath and Corrosive Breath are not unique attack modifiers, so they are stackable with items granting unique attack modifiers.
 * The splash damage will not trigger lifesteal.

Items
Starting items: Early game: Core items: Situational items:
 * . One is usually enough, as can keep him in lane with minimum health regeneration.
 * makes last hitting easier, which is very important for a carry.
 * is needed because of Dragon Knight's poor mana pool.
 * grant more health, and can be used to build a Bracer.
 * gives nice attributes, and can be used to build a Magic Wand.
 * are compulsory because of the early speed boost they give.
 * provides you with some regeneration while laning.
 * is a good early game item: it gives more attributes and some damage.
 * is a useful item on Dragon Knight, as it allows him to farm using Breathe Fire constantly. The extra health regeneration from Soul Ring together with the regeneration from Dragon Blood offset the health loss.
 * are useful not only because of the attack speed they give, but also because you can switch the attribute to Intelligence if you need more mana, usually just before using an ability; otherwise you can keep them on  Strength to make you more durable and to make last hitting easier.
 * provides you with more attributes and good health and mana regeneration. Also, it uses up the branches bought earlier, making room for more items while keeping their stats.
 * is a crucial item to have in most games to prevent being disabled. With the added survivability, damage and magic immunity, you become more durable and able to jump into the fight with less risk of dying.
 * is the best item to buy if you need to be more tanky. Not only it provides you with more than 1000 HP and a passive ability to gain health more quickly, but it also adds 40 damage.
 * is a good item both offensively and defensively: it gives more damage, more strength and some evasion. Its maim is nice for chasing enemies, and its disarm is a nice counter to auto-attackers and carries.
 * gives good mobility, and is a favorite for ganking players. The stealth allows you to initiate using your stun, and the bonus damage coming out of stealth is also helpful.
 * gives damage, armor and lifesteal, which means more tankiness and last hitting power. It is also useful because you can dominate a creep and use it to stack a neutral camp remotely, possibly the ancient camp. Once stacked one or two times, you can clear it to gain a burst of gold and experience.
 * solves Dragon Knight's mobility problem and allows him to initiate with.
 * However, if your team already has an initiator and you do not need to initiate, works just as well and provides more durability.
 * gives damage, attack speed, and a nice boost in strength when activated; likewise compliments a Helm of The Dominator / Satanic pickup
 * gives attack speed and armor to you and surrounding allies. It also places a debuff on enemies, making them easier to kill. It is a good item if you have many auto-attackers in your team.
 * give more survivability and tankiness for both you and your team against magic damage, the bonus health regen is also very useful.
 * allows you to chase opponents or escape from them, likewise gives you some initiating power.
 * and its upgrade supplements Dragon Knight's damage output and provides a useful deterrent against attacking enemies.
 * is the upgrade to your Helm of the Dominator: it grants more strength and more lifesteal, making you both durable and able to deal high damage.
 * makes you deal more damage, and gives you the chance to make critical hits.
 * improves Dragon Knight's tower pushing and increases his damage. It also synergizes with an pickup and creates a huge armor disparity.
 * provides you with more strength, more agility, more damage and more attack speed. Other than this, the added movement speed and its greater maim make chasing enemies easier.
 * provides a slow that stacks with lifesteal from and . It also pierces spell immunity, like the Frost Breath from your level 3 Dragon Form. Cold Attack combined with Frost Breath reduces an enemy's damage output significantly and makes it hard for enemy heroes to disengage from a fight once they are attacked by Dragon Knight. It also provides a huge health boost rivaling  and can be considered as an offense oriented replacement as it also provides intelligence that helps with your mana consumption, and agility which gives attack speed for more DPS and armor that increases your overall effective health.
 * can be considered as a final luxury when your team is far ahead.