Night Stalker/Guide

Offlaner
Night Stalker mostly needs levels and some key items to function as he is a slow farmer without the Aghanim Scepter, but the Scepter is a costly first item to rush for. Once night begins, he becomes a tremendous ganker in the first night and should focus on getting kills.

Void should always be maxed first as the nuke damage and slow durations scales well. At level 4, getting Hunter in the Night could be a good idea if the enemy team has no way to escape from you during the night.

If you decide to farm, you have to rush for the Aghanim Scepter. This is generally not recommended because doing so waste Night Stalker's extremely strong presence in the first and second nights. If you are not making the Scepter, then you need to be careful about your item choice. Night Stalker may need a Spirit Vessel, Blink Dagger, Heaven's Halberd, Black King Bar, or Abyssal Blade to remain a strong presence in the middle game, but you won't have time to farm for all of them.

Should you get numerous kills during your early and mid-game, Night Stalker is actually a decent carry in the late game. Otherwise, you will provide air vision and silence the enemies for your teammates.

General

 * Unlike other heroes in the game, Night Stalker has below-maximum sight range in the daytime, with only 800 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 vision at night, which can allow him to use his abilities to the utmost.
 * Become active during nighttime and gank the enemies as Night Stalker is at his peak then. Save the farming for daytime.
 * On top of having high mobility, Night Stalker has high strength, making him ideal at diving towers.
 * Oftentimes, Night Stalker can play support as his abilities offer great disables during ganks and he does not need many items to work. Once he has some levels and the first night arrives, he comes online and should find kills for his teammates.
 * In occasions, Night Stalker can be a strong solo mid laner. His excellent base damage and high base health allow him to get last hits and denies reliably, and he benefits greatly from solo experience as he can take advantage of the levels once the first night hits. Furthermore, 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 quickly due to Hunter in the Night.
 * As he can be strong with just early levels, Night Stalker can be a relatively strong offlaner. His high base strength and armor, along with respectable base damage allow him to survive relatively easily in the offlane, and use his early levels to punish the enemy's safe lane once the first night comes.


 * Void deals damage and slows the target's movement speed.
 * Void has a lower slow duration during the day.
 * Max Void first as it gives you a decent way to be useful even during daytime and stronger at nighttime.
 * When laning, Night Stalker may choose to leave Void at level 1 while holding on the skill points until ganks. Doing so will preserve its low mana cost so Night Stalker can use it more to get difficult last hits.
 * Void stuns its target during nighttime, so Night Stalker can use it to cancel Town Portal Scroll to stop enemies escaping.
 * Void's low cooldown makes it a strong spell for breaking on an enemy. This can pave the way for allies to use additional disables on the target.


 * Crippling Fear is a very good silence at level 1, maxing his other spells is a very good idea first for the mobility and damage.
 * In fights with multiple enemies, try to stick Crippling Fear on enemy casters or supports in order to remove their presence.
 * While weak in the daytime, Crippling Fear can still buy a small window of opportunity if use on the right target. Even though Night Stalker is relatively weak during daytime, he can still disable the enemy with his abilities if forced to.
 * This ability is why building items such as Phase Boots on Night Stalker is a very good idea, to keep on top of people and stop them escaping.


 * Max this spell second as it gives Night Stalker much needed mobility and attack speed at night, enabling the hero very hard.
 * Hunter in the Night empowers Night Stalker's attack speed and movement speed during the night, making him a powerful ganker during the majority of the game.
 * With, max level Hunter in the Night will boost Night Stalker's movement speed to nearly haste speed of 550. Use this speed to your advantage to chase down enemies or escape with near impunity.


 * Most noticeably, this ability instantly will turn day into night for 30 seconds. Does not stack if it's already nighttime.
 * Dark Ascension 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 Dark Ascension.
 * At night, use Dark Ascension to gank for its increased attack damage.
 * Dark Ascension's flying vision allows Night Stalker to see enemies in the trees.
 * With True Sight, Dark Ascension's flying vision helps Night Stalker spot enemy wards or stealth heroes.
 * Dark Ascension enhances Night Stalker's mobility by letting him fly over cliffs.

Items
Starting items:
 * gives health regeneration to stay alive.
 * restores health in the early game.
 * restores mana so Night Stalker may use one more Void in the early game to secure kill.

Early game:
 * stores charges that restore HP and mana for Night Stalker to stay alive and use abilities during ganks.
 * , combined with Hunter in the Night, increase Night Stalker base movement speed, granting him unparalleled mobility at night.
 * fits the active Night Stalker, giving him charges that heal or hurt heroes. It also increases mana regeneration and armor so Night Stalker can stay alive to contribute to ganks.
 * grants vision so Night Stalker can set up ganks; his high mobility at night makes placing wards deep inside enemy territory easy.

Mid game:
 * provides attributes and restores HP and mana to Night Stalker.
 * gives Night Stalker solid stats all around and a powerful debuff for ganking.
 * grant Night Stalker extra movement speed and attack damage, synergizing well with Hunter in the Night's movement and attack speed boost.
 * gives useful health and movement speed, as well as ability to counter enemy healing and health regeneration which may make ganking easier.
 * grants Night Stalker a spammable area-of-effect nuke and ministun, greatly improving his teamfight presence and letting him push and farm with impunity.

Late game:
 * gives Night Stalker both offensive and defensive power. The extra armor makes him much tankier, synergizing well with his high strength growth, and the attack speed bonus combines with the enemy armor reduction to greatly improve Night Stalker's and teammates' physical damage output.

Situational items:
 * gives Night Stalker a blend of self-sustain and survivability through the health and mana regeneration. The active applies dispel which can be very useful against several heroes or just to help sustain your team. It should be noted most the time you will want something like a Spirit Vessel or even a Blade Mail.
 * helps Night Stalker get crucial kills by masking his and allies' presence from enemy wards.
 * reveals invisible enemies and wards. Combined with Dark Ascension unobstructed vision during nighttime, Night Stalker commands great vision over the map.
 * 's Damage Return can keep Night Stalker alive as enemies may choose not to deal any damage to him, lest losing HP themselves.
 * 's disarm works well with Crippling Fear's silence to completely prevent an enemy from fighting back. It also increases survivability with bonuses to strength, evasion, and status resistance.
 * makes Night Stalker immune to most disables in team fights so he can focus on using abilities and attacking the enemies without interruption; it also gives him more health and attack damage.
 * this item can be considered in anticipation of the enemies building BKB, which would allow them to cast spells under Night Stalker's 2nd ability. It's also good against enemies who depend on items like +  like Anti Mage, Spectre, etc. and since the projectile is slow Nullifier would be good to pair with  or  (If the enemy depends on his passive ability better upgrade to ).
 * gives Night Stalker bonuses to attributes, attack speed, and attack damage. Shadow Walk, combined with Hunter in the Night, allows him to gank while moving at maximum speed, inflicting bonus damage and break to ruin enemy powerful passive abilities.


 * helps Night Stalker lock down targets with stun and bash; its damage block and bonus health also add to his tankiness.
 * greatly increases the size of Night Stalker's health pool, making him much harder to bring down in fights. The extra strength gives him more base damage as well, and the passive health regeneration makes staying active on the map easy.

Night Stalker/Guia Night Stalker/Руководство 暗夜魔王/攻略