Death Prophet
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Krobelus, the Death Prophet, is a ranged intelligence hero who excels at pushing lanes. She is often played in the mid lane, since her Crypt Swarm gives her strong magic damage that can be spammed to her heart's content. As she levels her ultimate, Exorcism, Death Prophet can deal a huge amount of damage to towers and heroes alike, while healing at the end of the duration. If Exorcism's own heal isn't enough, she still has Spirit Siphon which drains health based on the target's health and can even be used on multiple targets at the same time. Finally, her Silence gives her a powerful tool to disable enemy casters and heroes that rely on escape abilities. Because she can deal large amounts of damage over time with her ultimate and Crypt Swarm, Death Prophet is mostly built as a tank, to ensure she can continue to stay in the fight.
Contents
Bio[edit]
Death disgorged her again and again, always holding back its deepest mysteries. Her jealousy grew. Others could die for eternity—why not she? Why must she alone be cast back on the shores of life with such tiresome regularity? Why was she not worthy of the one thing all other living creatures took for granted? Still, she would not be discouraged.
Each time she returned from the grave, she brought a bit of death back with her. Wraiths followed her like fragments of her shattered soul; her blood grew thin and ectoplasmic; the feasting creatures of twilight took her for their kin.. She gave a little of her life with every demise, and it began to seem as if her end was in sight. With her dedication to death redoubled, and no client other than herself, Krobelus threw herself ever more fervently into death's abyss, intent on fulfilling the one prophecy that eluded her: That someday the Death Prophet would return from death no more.
Abilities[edit]
Notes:
- When targeting a unit, the Crypt Swarm is released towards its current location upon cast.
- Crypt Swarm travels at a speed of 1100, taking 0.74 seconds to travel the full distance.
- With the travel distance and end radius, Crypt Swarm can hit units up to 1110 range away.
- The complete area is shaped like a cone.
Target Area
Enemies
Notes:
- Applies a debuff on enemies within the area on cast.
- Entering or leaving the area afterwards has no effect.


Notes:
- Upon learning Spirit Siphon, Death Prophet instantly gains charges. However, leveling it up further does not instantly grant the other charges.
- The link breaks only when the target gets out of 750 range or dies.
- The health restored on Death Prophet is independent from the actual amount of damage dealt.
- This means even if the target takes no damage at all, Death Prophet still gets healed.
- Does not damage invulnerable or hidden targets.
- Drains 3.5 + 0.25%/0.625%/1%/1.375% (
0.45%/0.825%/1.2%/1.575%) of the enemy's max health in 0.25-second intervals, starting 0.25 seconds after cast, resulting in 24 instances.
- Can drain up to 84 + 6%/15%/24%/33% (
10.8%/19.8%/28.8%/37.8%) of the enemy's max health when the link lasts its full duration (before reductions).
- The max health drain
talent does not increase the draining of any currently active Spirit Siphon links.
- Can drain up to 84 + 6%/15%/24%/33% (
- Cannot be cast on units which already are affected by Spirit Siphon.
- Cannot be cast on Roshan.
- Does not provide vision over the target. However, the link does not break upon losing vision.
- When losing vision over the target, the link visually draws to the location where the target was seen last time.
- With Aghanim's Shard, applies fear on units if it is affected by Spirit Siphon for 4 seconds in any way.
- For example, if an enemy unit is affected Spirit Siphon, and it is hidden during its drain duration, the enemy unit will still be feared upon returning because it is affected by Spirit Siphon for 4 seconds (or more).
- However if the target is hidden exactly at the 4th second, fear is not applied.
- Enemies affected by fear run away from the caster, rather than make them run towards their team's fountain.

Notes:
- The spirits are spawned from Death Prophet in 0.35-second intervals, starting immediately on cast, taking 2.45/5.25/8.05 (
5.25/8.05/10.85) seconds for all spirits to be released.
- The spirits are not units and cannot be interacted with, or affected by anything in any way.
- Spirits move at a speed of 525, roam around and automatically attack nearby enemies within the 700 radius around Death Prophet.
- They can only turn by moving in approximately 150 radius arcs.
- They choose their target randomly, but prioritize units Death Prophet is attacking currently.
- Once having chosen a target, a spirit usually sticks to that target until the target dies, gets out of range, or until Death Prophet issues a new attack order.
- A spirit's ongoing chase cannot be canceled. A spirit only stops chasing its target after reaching it, or when the distance gets greater than 1900.
- This means when giving Death Prophet an attack order (A or
Right Click), already attacking spirits do not switch targets.
- Although chasing for much further, the spirits cannot damage units which are 1200 range away from Death Prophet.
- After each attack, the spirits need to return to Death Prophet before being able to attack again.
- The spirits can attack every attackable enemy unit, including buildings, wards, and units inside the Fog of War, but not invisible units.
- Spirits do not choose invulnerable or ethereal units as their attack targets, but will continue to attack the target if it turns invulnerable or ethereal after being acquired as a target.
- The spirits do not actually attack their targets, but rather Exorcism simply deals damage to the targets upon reaching them.
- This means the damage is affected by spell lifesteal and spell damage amplification, does not trigger any on-attack effects, and ignores evasion and damage block.
- When a spirit gets 2000 range away from Death Prophet, it disappears and then respawns from Death Prophet.
- Reappearing spirits are still bound to the spawn interval, so when multiple spirits disappear, they do not reappear simultaneously on Death Prophet.
- The spirits heal Death Prophet upon returning once the Exorcism duration is up. They do not heal her upon returning after each attack.
- The heal amount per spirit is based on their damage value, and not on how much damage they actually dealt.
- This means upon having fully returned, a spirit heals Death Prophet for 14.75-16 health for each attack it did, regardless of how much damage the enemies actually took.
- Recasting Exorcism causes the previous cast to end prematurely, making the spirits start returning to Death Prophet and heal her.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, the spirits spawned behave like the spirits from a regular cast, meaning they still use the same max distances, and have the same move behaviors.
- A spirit spawns for every unit hit by Death Prophet's basic abilities ( Crypt Swarm, Silence, each Spirit Siphon target) and for every unit hit by Death Prophet's regular attacks.
- In Ability Draft, spirits only spawn for enemies hit by Crypt Swarm, Silence and Spirit Siphon, but not for other abilities. They do spawn on regular attacks for any hero.
- If Spirit Siphon is blocked with Spell Block, or if her attack is evaded or disjointed, no spirit spawns.
- These spirits also spawn when attacking buildings, but not for wards or allies.
- These spirits deal 88.5-96 damage, and therefore also heal for 22.13-24 health upon returning.
- These spirits can chase their targets for up to 20 seconds before giving up and returning to Death Prophet.
- A spirit spawns for every unit hit by Death Prophet's basic abilities ( Crypt Swarm, Silence, each Spirit Siphon target) and for every unit hit by Death Prophet's regular attacks.
- These upgraded effects are bounded to Exorcism. This means Morphling cannot use the upgrade, while Rubick can, but mainly with his attacks.
- With proper timing, it is possible for Rubick to spawn Exorcism's spirits with Crypt Swarm by using the projectile's travel time.
Talents[edit]
Hero Talents | ||
---|---|---|
+8 Exorcism Spirits | 25 | -20s Spirit Siphon Replenish Time |
-3.5s Crypt Swarm Cooldown | 20 | +400 Health |
+6% Movement Speed | 15 | +0.8% Max Health Spirit Siphon |
+12% Magic Resistance | 10 | +30 Damage |
- The magic resistance talent stacks multiplicatively with other sources of magic resistance.
- The magic resistance talent increases Death Prophet's magic resistance to 34%.
- This attack damage talent is added as raw attack damage, so it does not benefit illusions, and is not affected by most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.
- The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.
Recent Changes[edit]
- Reduced <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a> mana cost from 85/110/135/160 to 80/95/110/125.
- Reduced attack point from 0.56 to 0.5.
- Reduced base damage from 27-39 to 23-33.
- Reduced base movement speed 335 to 320.
- Reduced <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a> cast backswing from 0.87 to 0.5.
- Reworked <a href="/wiki/Aghanim%27s_Shard" title="Aghanim's Shard"><img alt="Aghanim's Shard icon.png" src="
" decoding="async" width="20" height="15" class="noprint" /></a> upgrade:
- Old: Causes <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a> to drain 0.75 armor per second from the target. The armor gain/loss lasts 14 seconds, starting from cast begin.
- New: Increases <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a> charges by 1 and cause enemies to be feared for 2 seconds if they are siphoned for 4 seconds consecutively.
- Old: Causes <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
- Talents:
- Level 15 left talent changed: +150 ➜ +6% .
- Level 20 left talent: -3s <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a> cooldown increased to -3.5s.
- Increased movement speed from 310 to 335.
- Increased from 0.5 to 0.8.
- <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a>
- No longer increases/reduces the caster's/target's movement speed by 4%/6%/8%/10%.
- Reduced charge replenish time from 45/40/35/30 to 36/34/32/30.
- Increased <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a> spirits movement speed from 500 to 525.
- Added <a href="/wiki/Aghanim%27s_Shard" title="Aghanim's Shard"><img alt="Aghanim's Shard icon.png" src="
" decoding="async" width="20" height="15" class="noprint" /></a> upgrade for <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="Death Prophet minimap icon.png" src="
" decoding="async" width="20" height="21" class="noprint pixelart" /></a> Death Prophet:
- Causes <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a> to drain 0.75 armor per second from the target. The armor gain/loss lasts 14 seconds, starting from cast begin.
- Causes <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
- Talents:
- Level 25 right talent changed: <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a> grants 550 speed haste ➜ -20s <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="noprint" /></a> charge replenish time.
- Level 25 right talent changed: <a href="/wiki/Death_Prophet" title="Death Prophet"><img alt="" src="
Recommended Items[edit]
Starting items:
- Clarity allows Death Prophet to keep using Crypt Swarm.
- Tango provides health regeneration to keep Death Prophet in lane.
- Healing Salve also restores health.
- Iron Branch gives intelligence that boosts mana pool and attack damage to last hit; Death Prophet can use it with Tango to heal more.
Early game:
- Boots of Speed allows Death Prophet to be more efficient at ganking early.
- Magic Stick is generally good to pick up because even minimum charges can mean the difference between casting a spell or not.
- Null Talisman increases Death Prophet's mana pool, as well as giving some extra health and damage.
Mid game:
- Phase Boots have strong synergy with Death Prophet's movement speed.
- Magic Wand is a fairly inexpensive upgrade to the early Iron Branches and Magic Stick that provides an extra heal.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity is an amazing item on Death Prophet because it gives movement speed, mana, and a way to disable an enemy or herself. When paired with Exorcism, Death Prophet can be kept out of combat while her spirits do massive damage to enemies.
- Aghanim's Scepter gives Death Prophet bonus damage and sustain for a relatively cheap cost, lessening her dependence on Exorcism.
Late game:
- Octarine Core is essential item for Death Prophet because it heals her through spell lifesteal and reduces cooldowns. It also gives her enough mana to sustain during teamfight.
- Black King Bar gives a boost to HP as well as the ability to get in the middle of team fights, giving Exorcism the most damage potential.
Situational items:
- Drum of Endurance gives good attribute boosts for the price as well as even more movement and attack speed for her team, and generally should have one person buy this item on your team in almost any situation because the buff can win team fights.
- Pipe of Insight is a notable pick up because of the health regeneration as well as magic resistance, and when paired with Mekansm, Death Prophet can turn around a losing fight, or create a strong initiation.
- Solar Crest slows and makes Exorcism do a lot more damage to a single target, as well as providing mana regeneration, armor, and attributes, which Death Prophet wants.
- Assault Cuirass is fairly easy for Death Prophet to farm because of Crypt Swarm being a fast farming tool, and her ability to take towers in seconds with Exorcism. Assault Cuirass gives a lot of armor and attack speed to herself and her team, as well as reducing the enemy's armor, allowing Exorcism to do even more damage in engagements and pushes.
- Shiva's Guard gives Death Prophet another nuke, as well as a larger mana pool and a lot of armor, both of which she needs.
- Scythe of Vyse gives a full disable as well as a larger mana pool.
- Heart of Tarrasque allows Death Prophet to stay in team-fights much longer.
- Kaya improves Death Prophet's damage output and lessens the strain on her mana pool. Can be built into Kaya and Sange.
- Rod of Atos gives bonus stats, keeps enemies within range of Death Prophet's spells, and makes it easier to land Silence.
Gameplay[edit]
Roles: | Carry Pusher Nuker Disabler |
---|---|
Complexity: | ★☆☆ |
Playstyle: | Denied her own death time and again, Krobelus returns from the grave with skills acquired from the beyond. Gathering a Crypt Swarm, she sends forth a flock of winged beasts to harass the living. A pall of Silence falls over the land, stifling any objection as she Spirit Siphons her enemies dry. Mortals beware. The Death Prophet performs an Exorcism, unleashing the banshee remnants of her previous lives to turn the battlefield into her own haunted ground. |
Audio[edit]
History[edit]
Equipment[edit]
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Trivia[edit]
- At some point, she, along with Io and Silencer, had her costume and ability color palettes changed. Before, Death Prophet's garments and ability icons were more purple in color.
- The icon for her old ability, Witchcraft, shows a pentacle, a symbol that became associated with magic in the Middle Ages and traditionally used in witchcraft.
Gallery[edit]
The International 2014 artwork