Night Stalker

Balanar the Night Stalker is 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 his foes with Crippling Fear, which drastically increases in duration at night, preventing spell casters and even carries from retaliating against him. His passive, Hunter In the Night, greatly boosts Night Stalker's movement and attack speed at night, allowing him to easily move around the map and pursue and tear apart his prey. And 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.

Tips

 * Night Stalker is a strong initiator and ganker when it is nighttime on the map. As two of his abilities greatly increase in duration and one is completely inactive in the day, Night Stalker depends greatly on darkness in order to be effective.
 * Unlike other heroes in the game, Night Stalker has below-maximum sight range in the daytime, with only 1200 compared to most other heroes' 1800. However, he more than compensates for this by possessing 1800 night vision, a value only equaled by a few other heroes in the game and more than double the rest. This means that while Night Stalker is relatively easy to sneak up on and gank in daylight, he possesses powerful situational awareness at night, which can allow him to use his abilities to the utmost.
 * Night Stalker is best played as a mid hero. His excellent base damage and high base armor allow him to get last-hits and denies fairly reliably, and benefits greatly from solo experience as he can take advantage of the levels once the first night hits. As well, being mid gives him the option of ganking either top or bottom without the need for a Town Portal Scroll, as he can reach either lane easily and quickly due to Hunter in the Night.
 * is a damage nuke that mini-stuns its target upon cast and greatly reduces their movement speed, preventing them from running away easily.
 * Void is the best ability to max early, as it will deal nuke damage to the target, mini-stun them, and then slow them down to allow Balanar to easy get within attack range with Hunter in the Night. Its low cooldown also means that the spell can be used twice or more in a gank or teamfight.
 * When laning, it is best to avoid leveling Void beyond level 1 even if you have skill points to spend. The ability deals 90 damage at level 1, enough to get last-hits at range, and leveling it up will increase its mana cost. Therefore, it is wise to save the skill point until the additional damage is needed in order to deal damage to enemy heroes.
 * Remember that Void will mini-stun its target, so Night Stalker can use it to cancel channeled abilities, particularly Town Portal Scroll. Against smart opponents though, it can be wise to wait to cast it until the enemy attempts to use their Town Portal Scroll, as using it to initiate a gank can give them a window to begin channeling an escape, since Night Stalker does not possess any other interrupting disables.
 * Void's low cooldown makes it a strong spell for breaking on an enemy. This can pave the way for allies to cast additional disables on the target, or for Crippling Fear from Night Stalker himself.
 * allows Night Stalker to inflict an enemy with a powerful silence and miss chance, which increases greatly in potency at night.
 * Crippling Fear has relatively poor scaling, as it gives Balanar a 5 second silence with one point but only increases slightly in duration with subsequent levels. It is wise to only spend one skill point in the ability early on, but leave it at level 1 until both Void and Hunter in the Night are maxed out.
 * In fights with multiple enemies, it is important to cast Crippling Fear on the right target in order to prevent the enemy from retaliating. Try to target Crippling Fear on an important enemy caster in order to remove them from the fight for at least 5 seconds, as it can prevent them from hindering your team during a fight.
 * Depending on the situation, Crippling Fear can be a powerful spell to cast on the enemy's carry. While most carries will build in order to ignore disables, catching an enemy without a BKB with this spell will not only silence them, but will prevent them from easily retaliating with their attacks.
 * While it is very weak in the daytime, Crippling Fear can still buy a small window of opportunity if cast on the right target. Even though Night Stalker is relatively weak during daytime, he can still disable the enemy with his spells if forced to.
 * empowers Night Stalker's attack speed and movement speed superbly during the night, making him a very powerful ganker during the earliest parts of the game.
 * Because it can greatly boost Night Stalker's hunting prowess, Hunter in the Night is best maxed out second among his abilities. The greatly enhanced movement and attack speed is crucial for allowing Night Stalker to chase down and tear apart enemies with his attacks.
 * With +50 movement speed from most boots, level 4 Hunter in the Night will give Night Stalker a movement speed of 465. A 16% movement speed bonus added on top of that, whether from Phase Boots' active ability or Sange and Yasha, will boost his movement speed to 520, nearly Haste speed. Use this to your advantage to chase enemies down or escape with near impunity.
 * will reduce the enemy's vision range for its duration, affecting heroes as well as buildings and wards.
 * As Darkness costs no mana to activate, Night Stalker is free to use it whenever the situation requires it.
 * Remember that Darkness will reduce all enemy vision to a maximum of 675. This means that heroes with abnormally high night vision such as and  will have their vision reduced by almost two-thirds, giving Balanar's team a significant advantage against them.
 * Because time continues to pass for the duration of the ultimate, Darkness can be most profitably cast whenever it is off cooldown during the daytime. By doing so, you effectively reduce the amount of daytime there is in the game, as daytime will continue to tick down during the darkness. At level 16, the enemy team will only have 90 seconds of daylight out of the 8 minute cycle, effectively reducing daylight to 18.75% of the time.
 * At night, reserve Darkness for until Night Stalker's team is preparing for a gank. While the enemy will suspect something once the ultimate goes up, reducing their vision range will also affect any Observer Wards that they have placed, meaning that they will be only barely more than 40% effective. This can allow Night Stalker and his team to move under the cover of darkness and bypass Observer Wards that do not explicitly cover travel paths.
 * Night Stalker's role as an initiator and ganker means that he can build many powerful items.
 * is a must for Night Stalker if he is played as a mid. As he has a small mana pool, getting a rune will replenish a large fraction of his mana, allowing him to cast his spells to their utmost during a gank. Even in the late game, his high mobility from Hunter in the Night and superior night vision allows him to spot and grab both runes in quick succession while roaming.
 * is a good early item for Night Stalker. The damage greatly increases Night Stalker's DPS due to . The mana regeneration allows him to use  for ganks more often. The armor also makes him tankier.
 * can be a useful attack modifier to build on Night Stalker, as adding 12% movement speed slow to Void's 50% can greatly reduce the target's chances of escaping.
 * can be useful to consider on Night Stalker over Phase Boots, as attribute switching can allow Night Stalker to extend his mana pool and improve the value of his Bottle, as well as retain some measure of attack speed during the day when Hunter in the Night is not active.
 * greatly extends Night Stalker's reach when initiating. As he has abnormally high night vision, Night Stalker can spot targets from very long distances, allowing him to instantly close the gap on a foe who isn't even aware of his presence.
 * is a good mid-game support/utility item to pick up for your team, as it augments the attack power of all nearby allies and gives them armor. As well, it can provide lifesteal for your team, giving you more survivability in a teamfight. As an item for Night Stalker himself, it gives him mana regen and allows him to maintain his HP by lifestealing when farming neutral camps.
 * is a strong utility item that gives Night Stalker armor and evasion, hardening his resistance against right-clicks, as well as mana regen to sustain his mana pool. The active can significantly reduce a gank target's armor and induce a miss chance that stacks alongside Crippling Fear, reducing their ability to fight back and increasing the damage they take from Night Stalker's right-clicks.
 * provides many useful benefits, as it increases Night Stalker's attack speed, damage, health, and movement speed by large amounts. In particular, the constant 16% movement speed bonus means that he can move at almost maximum speed at night without relying on Phase Boots' active ability, which can only be active for 3.6 seconds out of 8.
 * is a strong ganking item that gives Night Stalker a good combination of bonuses, and is particularly useful against enemies with powerful passive abilities. It gives him more damage output from his right-clicks, as well as more HP and a Lesser Maim proc. The Shadow Walk, combined with Hunter in the Night, allows him to gank while moving at 522 speed, inflicting bonus damage and a break on any enemies he finds.

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 Tiger tiger by William Blake.