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.

Tips

 * 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.
 * During the night, most heroes have below average vision, rendering them ineffective in chases and giving 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, as well as easily escape enemies due to being able to see their pursuit paths. With Aghanim's Scepter, he gains full unobstructed vision, allowing him to see through trees, elevated terrain and even inside Roshan's pit.
 * is the best ability to max early, as the damage nuke and slow allow you to use it to deal burst damage to a target, as well as slow them down enough to catch up to them and deal tremendous right-click damage. Its low cooldown also means that you can potentially use it twice or more in a gank or teamfight.
 * When laning, it is best to avoid leveling Void beyond level 1 even if you have a skill point 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 you are ready to begin ganking and need the damage to kill an enemy hero.
 * Remember that Void will mini-stun its target, so you can use it to cancel channeled abilities. Against smart opponents, it is wise to wait to cast it until the enemy attempts to use their Town Portal Scroll, as using it to initiate a gank can cause them to teleport immediately, ensuring their escape if you do not have the DPS to kill them or an item that disables.
 * is a very powerful spell with only one level, as it can silence and induce miss on a target for 5 seconds during nighttime. As such, you should always get one point in it during the laning phase but wait to max it out until after Void and Hunter in the Night are both at level 4.
 * 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.
 * 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 it costs no mana to cast, you are 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 Luna and Slark will have their vision reduced by almost two-thirds, giving your team a significant advantage against them.
 * Because time continues to pass for the duration of the ultimate, you should cast it whenever it is off cooldown during the daytime. By doing so, you effectively reduce the amount of daytime there is in the game, as it will be night when it should be day while time passes. 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, you should reserve your ultimate for until your team is preparing for a gank. While the enemy will suspect that your team may be up to something, 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 your team to move under the cover of darkness and bypass Observer Wards that do not explicitly cover travel paths.
 * Night Stalker will greatly benefit from being on the same team as 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.
 * Night Stalker can benefit from building other items not noted under Situational 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 his 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.
 * is an extremely powerful item on Night Stalker, as it greatly extends his 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 many strong benefits. It gives him 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.