Lifestealer

Lifestealer 25 + 2.4 19 + 2.6 15 + 1.8
Magic resistance	25%
Link▶️ Movement speed	320
Link▶️ Attack speed	120
Turn rate	0.9
Vision range	1800/800
Attack range	150
Projectile speed	Instant
Attack animation	0.39+0.44
Base attack time	1.7
Damage block	16
Collision size	24
Legs	2
Gib type	Default

Hero

Strategy

Counters

N'aix, the Lifestealer, is a vicious melee strength hero whose abilities give him the power to bring down durable heroes quickly, while sustaining his health by leeching the very life of his enemies.

The main role of the Lifestealer is to fulfill the job of a formidable carry, he is able to do so by restoring his life through his abilities. Feast is his signature passive ability, every attack he lands consumes the flesh and blood of his victim, dealing bonus damage and regenarating N'aix based on how much health his enemies possess. Ghoul Frenzy is another passive ability that allows Lifestealer to slow enemies with his attacks, giving high sticking power. N'aix can send himself into a bloody Rage, increasing his movement speed, while granting a short period of spell immunity. When in need, N'aix can use Infest to hide himself inside his allies or any non-hero unit, laying dormant, until he is ready to come out, devouring the flesh from the inside, killing the non-hero unit, bursting out the chunks of flesh and bones of his unfortunate host, damaging foes around him and ambushing them with carnivorous savagery.

The Lifestealer is a monstrous beast of gluttony and greed, bent on stealing the lives of every living creature he encounters, violently killing them to sate the Lifestealer's terrifying thirst and hunger.

Bio[]

N'aix, the Lifestealer

▶️ "Oh Master, behold all these lives for the taking!"

Lore:

In the dungeons of Devarque, a vengeful wizard lay in shackles, plotting his escape. He shared his cell with a gibbering creature known as N'aix, a thief cursed by the Vile Council with longevity, so that its life-sentence for theft and cozening might be as punishing as possible. Over the years, its chains had corroded, along with its sanity; N'aix retained no memory of its former life and no longer dreamt of escape.

Seeing a perfect vessel for his plans, the wizard wove a spell of Infestation and cast his life-force into N'aix's body, intending to compel N'aix to sacrifice itself in a frenzy of violence while the mage returned to his body and crept away unnoticed. Instead, the wizard found his mind caught in a vortex of madness so powerful that it swept away his plans and shattered his will. Jarred to consciousness by the sudden infusion of fresh life, N'aix woke from its nightmare of madness and obeyed the disembodied voice that filled its skull, which had only the one thought: To escape.

In that moment Lifestealer was born. The creature cast its mind into dungeon guards and soldiers, compelling them to open locks and cut down their companions, opening an unobstructed path to freedom while feeding on their lives. Lifestealer still wears the broken shackles as a warning that none may hold him, but on the inside remains a prisoner. Two minds inhabit the single form--a nameless creature of malevolent cunning, and the Master whose voice he pretends to obey.

Voice:

Bruce Miles (Responses)

Abilities[]

Rage

▶️QR

Ability
No Target

Affects
Self

Launch into a maddened rage, becoming Spell Immune, and gaining increased movement speed.

Cast Animation: +

Move Speed Bonus: 15%/16%/17%/18% (

25%/26%/27%/28%)

Duration: 3/4/5/6 (

4.5/5.5/6.5/7.5)

18

75/100/125/150

Modifiers

modifier_life_stealer_rage: Dispellable with death only.

The madness and brutality of N'aix makes him a vicious and unrelenting foe in combat.

Notes:

Interrupts Lifestealer's channeling abilities upon cast.

Applies spell immunity for the duration and a basic dispel upon cast.

During Rage, Lifestealer cannot be affected by Ghost Form. The buff gets removed immediately.

Feast

WF

Ability
Passive

Affects
Enemies / Self

Damage
Physical

Lifestealer's attacks deal damage and provide heal for a percentage of his target's max health.

Enemy Max Health as Lifesteal: 1.6%/2.2%/2.8%/3.4% (

2.8%/3.4%/4%/4.6%)

Enemy Max Health as Damage: 0.6%/0.8%/1%/1.2%

Modifiers

modifier_life_stealer_feast: Undispellable. Persists death.

After escaping from his cell in Devarque, N'aix subsisted on flesh and bones of those unfortunate to cross his path.

Notes:

Stacks additively with other sources of lifesteal.

Cannot lifesteal off of wards, buildings and allied units.

Feast's lifesteal is affected by lifesteal amplification.

The bonus damage is dealt in one instance together with the attack damage, and counts as attack damage as well.
- It can be lifestealed off of, and is considered by crit and cleave.
- It is not affected by percentage-based attack damage bonuses or reductions, but can be reduced with flat reductions.

Does not work against Roshan.

Ghoul Frenzy

EG

Ability
Passive

Affects
Enemies / Self

Passively causes Lifestealer's attacks to significantly slow enemy movement speed for 1.5 seconds. Grants you Attack Speed.

Attack Speed Bonus: 20/30/40/50

Move Speed Slow: 10%/15%/20%/25% (

20%/25%/30%/35%)

Slow Duration: 1.5

Slow persists if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Slow on attack is disabled. Attack speed is not disabled.

Modifiers

modifier_lifestealer_ghoul_frenzy: Undispellable. Persists death.

modifier_lifestealer_ghoul_frenzy_slow: Dispellable with any dispel.

Notes:

The debuff from successive attacks does not stack, only the duration is refreshed.

Open Wounds

▶️DW

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies / Allies

Damage
Physical

Lifestealer rends an enemy unit, slowing the victim's movement speed and allowing all allies to regain health for a percentage of the damage they deal to that unit. All damage dealt will steal life, including damage from spells. The victim recovers movement speed over the duration. Deals 2% of the target's max health per attack on the target from real heroes.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 800

Lifesteal: 50%

Enemy Max Health as Damage: 2%

Max Move Speed Slow: 50%

Slow Duration: 8

15

75

Slow persists and heal works if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Modifiers

modifier_life_stealer_open_wounds: Dispellable with any dispel.

Ability Draft Notes:

Requires drafting

Infest to be unlocked.

Fresh wounds and the scent of blood often draw out the scavengers to finish the job.

Notes:

Requires Aghanim's Shard to be unlocked.

Slows for 50%/50%/40%/30%/20%/10%/10%/10%, decreasing one step per second.

Casting an instantly killing ability on a unit affected by Open Wounds heals the caster based on the target's remaining health.

Does not heal enemies damaging their affected ally, or the affected unit through self-inflicted damage.

Stacks additively with other sources of lifesteal.

Does not heal from damage flagged as HP Removal.

The bonus damage is only applied to regular attacks done by heroes, including clones, excluding creep-heroes.
- The damage is dealt in one instance together with the attack damage, and counts as attack damage as well.
- It can be lifesteal ed off of, and is considered by crit and cleave.
- It is not affected by percentage-based attack damage bonuses or reductions, but can be reduced with flat reductions.
- The bonus damage is not applied when attacking Roshan.

Infest

▶️RT

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Self
(

Enemy Heroes)

Damage

Instant Attack

Lifestealer infests the body of a target unit, becoming undetectable, and healing for a portion of his max hitpoints every second while inside. He can then explode from the host body, dealing damage to nearby enemies. If the infested unit is an enemy creep or a neutral creep, he can take control of the unit's ability to move and attack. Does not work on enemy heroes.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 150 (

500)

Target Max Health Bonus: 400/800/1200

Target Move Speed Bonus: 15%/20%/25%

Self Max Health as Health Regen Bonus: 3%/4%/5% (

6%/8%/10%)

Enemy Hero Attack Interval: 1.25

Enemy Hero Duration: 5

100/75/50 (

20)

100/125/150

Allows Infesting enemy heroes for 5 seconds, disarming them and attacking their insides once every 1.25 seconds and doubling Lifestealer's regen rate. Increases cast range to 500 and reduces cooldown to 20 seconds.

Grants a new ability: Open Wounds.

Modifiers

modifier_life_stealer_infest: Dispellable with death only.

modifier_life_stealer_infest_effect: Dispellable with death only.

modifier_life_stealer_infest_creep: Dispellable with death only.

modifier_life_stealer_infest_enemy_hero: Dispellable with death only.

With this infestation, N'aix consumes the life blood of the host, restoring him back to full unholy power.

Notes:

Applies a basic dispel on Lifestealer and disjoints projectiles upon cast.

Lifestealer is invulnerable and hidden during Infest.
- Lifestealer still gains experience and gold during Infest.

During Infest, all of Lifestealer's abilities are hidden, while Infest is replaced by Consume.

During Infest, Lifestealer is periodically moved to the host's current position. This affects multiple things such as:
- When Infest ends in any way, Lifestealer appears at the host's location.
- Every aura Lifestealer has (e.g. Gem of True Sight and Radiance) affects units around the host.
- Effects which react on heroes' presence, such as Smoke of Deceit, Marksmanship or Blur, react on the host's presence.
- Relocate forces Lifestealer out of the infested unit, dealing area damage.
- Divine Favor and Recall get dispelled as soon as Lifestealer casts Infest.

Can fully regenerate Lifestealer's health within 33.33/25/20 ( 16.67/12.5/10) seconds.
- Can regenerate up to 180%/240%/300% ( 360%/480%/600%) of Lifestealer's max health in one minute.

The infested unit gets its maximum and current health increased by the given value.
- The current health increase does not count as a heal and bypasses everything.

The infested unit also gets its movement speed increased by the given value.
- If the target is not a hero or creep-hero, its base movement speed also gets set equal to Lifestealer's current movement speed.

If the target is not a hero or a creep-hero, Lifestealer automatically takes control over it, turning it into his unit.
- If the target was an enemy, it retains its health bar colors, making it harder for enemies to tell that it got taken over.

Can be cast on, but cannot take control over allied heroes and allied creep-heroes.
- When on level 2 or higher, can be cast on and take control over ancient creeps.
- Cannot be cast on Roshan, Couriers, Undying Zombies, wards, buildings, enemy heroes and enemy creep-heroes.

The infested unit receives a hidden modifier, which creates the visual effect above it, visible to allies only.

Infest's cooldown starts upon leaving the infested unit, not upon cast.

With Aghanim's Scepter, Infest can be cast on enemy heroes and creep-heroes.
- Does not increase health or movement speed of such targets, but disarms them.
- Although having a limited duration on these targets, Lifestealer still may use Consume to leave the host earlier.
- Causes Lifestealer to perform instant attacks on an Infested enemy target in 1.25-second intervals, starting immediately upon cast, resulting in up to 5 attacks.
- These instant attacks can proc any attack modifiers and on-hit effects normally. They do not have True Strike, but completely ignore disarms.

Consume

▶️R/?T/?

Ability
No Target

Affects
Enemies / Self

Damage
Magical / Instant Kill

Lifestealer eats the host body from the inside out, exploding from within.

Cast Animation: +

Damage Radius: 700

Damage: 150/275/400

0

Notes:

Replaces Infest until the sub-ability is used, or until Lifestealer gets out of the host.
- If the infested target is a non-hero unit, and Lifestealer takes control over it, it also appears in the infested unit's HUD, in the next available ability slot.

If the infested unit dies before Lifestealer consumes it, the area damage is still applied.

Does not kill or harm an infested allied heroes or creep-heroes.

The damage is applied instantly in the area, it does not have a travel time.

If the infested target gets taken over, Consume's Hotkey may vary based on what unit got taken over.

Talents[]

Hero Talents
+1.5s Rage Duration	25	+1.2% Feast Lifesteal
+10% Ghoul Frenzy Slow	20	16% Evasion
+325 Health	15	+25 Damage
+10% Rage Move Speed	10	+30 Attack Speed

Notes:

The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.

This attack damage talent is added as bonus attack damage.
- Does not benefit illusions and is not affected by most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.

The evasion talent stacks multiplicatively with other sources of evasion.

Recent Changes[]

Main Article: Lifestealer/Changelogs

Version

Description

7.30c

Increased base agility and gain from 18 + 2.4 to 19 + 2.6.

7.30

Increased health regeneration from 0 to 0.25.
Reduced base movement speed from 325 to 320.
Infest
- Can no longer be cast on Undying Zombies.
- Reduced mana cost from 100/150/200 to 100/125/150.
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Infest
  - Now also disarms infested enemy heroes.
  - Now starts instant attacking the target immediately, instead of 1.25 second after the debuff is placed. [?]
Talents:

Level 10 left talent changed: +20 movement speed ➜ +10%

Rage movement speed bonus.

7.29b

Reduced base attack damage from 24-30 to 22-28.
Reduced Feast enemy max health as lifesteal from 1.8%/2.4%/3%/3.6% to 1.6%/2.2%/2.8%/3.4%.

Recommended Items[]

Starting items:

Tango regenerates health early on until you can sustain yourself with lifesteal.
Healing Salve for situations where you need to heal quickly.
Quelling Blade helps last hitting early on and allows you to cut trees
Iron Branches provide stats early on and build into Magic Wand later on.

Early game:

Boots of Speed are needed to gank in combination with Open Wounds.
Magic Stick sustains Lifestealer if the enemy has a certain number of spammable skills.
Blight Stone increases Lifestealer's early game damage, and builds into Desolator later.
Orb of Venom is a nice early game pickup if his lane has a moderate level of kill potential, as the slow helps Lifestealer to catch up with the enemy.

Mid game:

Phase Boots allows Lifestealer to close the distance on his targets in order to get within Open Wounds' short range.
Magic Wand, as an upgrade of Magic Stick, greatly improves the hero's effectiveness mostly by compensating for low mana pool.
Armlet of Mordiggian shines with the extra HP, armor, and damage from the active Unholy Strength, all of which Lifestealer wants. Feast and Open Wounds negates the health loss to some extent, while the rest of the abilities offer a chance of armlet toggling.
Heaven's Halberd provide evasion against the physical attack of enemies, extra heal from Feast and Open Wounds, status resistance as well as a disarm for the enemy carry.

Late game:

Desolator increases Lifestealer's damage output greatly as it reduces armor of the enemy, allows him to tear down supports and carries with the help of extra attack speed and Spell Immunity of Rage. The item helps with farming and pushing towers as well.

Abyssal Blade gives Lifestealer a reliable source of stun, allows him to disable an enemy long enough for him to tear down. Lifestealer has almost no damage output outside of melee range, so it is really crucial to stick to his target as a melee carry. Besides, this item improves the hero's survivability with damage block and bonus health.

Situational items:

Hand of Midas allows Lifestealer to comeback from a bad laning stage. Note that the item would delay your mid-game power spike as better items could be purchased with the gold spent.
Sange and Yasha gives Lifestealer movement speed, attack speed, and attack damage. The movement speed bonus helps Lifestealer catch up with the enemies.
Assault Cuirass compensates for Lifestealer's low base armor and gives more attack speed to use with Feast. The armor reduction allows for a faster tower pushing and stronger team fight presence.
Monkey King Bar helps with the problem of evasion. The magical damage procs also help improve damage output, but the main draw for this item is the attack damage it offers.
Maelstrom is a very good item due to the attack speed provided by Feast allowing you to get more procs from Chain Lightning. It provides extra damage, early flash farming capability and overall improve your DPS. If you're going for this item, it is recommended to get this item early on and to forego Armlet of Mordiggian.
Mjollnir can be useful against illusion heroes, as both Static Charge and Chain Lightning help dealing with them. As a frontliner, Static Charge can be triggered towards its maximum effect. Meanwhile, the item helps with farming and wave-clearing.
Blink Dagger gives Lifestealer the opportunity to close the gap between heroes who like to keep their distance from fights; or can work as an escape after using Infest. This is useful if you find yourself unable to get in range for what would otherwise be free kills. Keep in mind that with the help of allies, Infest could do the same job as well.
Radiance gives Lifestealer both physical and magical damage through Burn and its additional damage, accelerating his farming speed. Also allows for Lifestealer to have more impact in the middle of fights, providing a damaging and blinding aura.
Heart of Tarrasque gives Lifestealer immense durability and some damage. Can be a good item to pick up if Lifestealer is acting as the main initiator and/or tank for his team and needs the additional health.

Gameplay[]


Roles:	Carry Durable Jungler Escape Disabler
Complexity:	★★☆
Playstyle:	What was once a man is now little more than a husk, its mind long since departed from lifetimes of imprisonment. Or has it? Now on the loose, N'aix appears to be driven by a new purpose, although what precisely that is, none would know. The Lifestealer Feasts on raw flesh, nourishing himself with every attack while inflicting grievous Open Wounds that make escape near impossible. By sheer ferocity, or perhaps madness, N'aix flies into a Rage, intensifying his assault while defying all wizardry. For a particularly nasty surprise, the Lifestealer Infests an unhappy victim, hiding inside its body in wait for the opportunity to burst out in a gory explosion.

Strategy & Tips

Counters &
Matchups

Audio[]

Responses

Sounds

History[]

Lore

Old Abilities

Changelogs

Equipment[]

Trivia[]

Lifestealer's fun/alternate name in DotA was Gollum, a significant character in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit book series.
- The references to Gollum are kept up in Dota 2:
  Just like written in Lifestealer's lore, Lifestealer is no longer the former self he was, but rather a possessed body. Gollum has a similar story. Once being a Hobbit, his soul got corrupted by the ring, turning into the Gollum he is now.
  
  Both Lifestealer and Gollum sometimes speak from themselves in plural form ("we", instead of "I"). They also talk to or about a "master".
  
  His rivalry line towards Tidehunter ▶️ "Tidehunter…I love a bit of raw fish now and again." refers to Gollum's hate towards stewing - or the preparing in general - of fish. Gollum prefers his fish raw and "wriggling".^[1]
Ghoul Frenzy shares the same name with the passive upgrade for the Ghoul units of Warcraft 3, an Undead unit whom Lifestealer was based off of in DotA. Both abilities increase the respective user's attack speed, but the similarities end there since Lifestealer's passive has a slow effect, while the Ghoul's passive grants bonus movement speed.^[2]