Nyx Assassin

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Nyx Assassin 17 + 2.5 18 + 2.5 21 + 2.1
Level 0 1 15 25 30 Health 200 540 1240 1980 2260 +2 +3.7 +7.2 +10.9 +12.35 Mana 75 327 675 1071 1215 +0 +1.05 +2.52 +4.17 +4.8 Armor 1 4 9.83 16 18.42 Damage Block 16 (50%) Magic Resistance 25% Status Resistance 0% Damage 27‒31 45‒49 80‒84 117‒121 131‒135 Attack Rate 0.59/s 0.69/s 0.9/s 1.12/s 1.2/s Attack Range 150 (600) Attack Speed ▶️ 100 (1.7s BAT) Attack Animation 0.46+0.54 Projectile Speed Instant Movement Speed ▶️ 310 Turn Rate 0.6 Collision Size 24 Vision Range (G) 1800 • 800 Legs 6 Gib Type Goo Ability Upgrades Burrow Unburrow Vendetta

This page is about the hero. For the goddess in Dota 2 lore, see Nyx.

Reflects enemy damage and stuns.
Within the colony of zealot scarabs, the queen goddess Nyx selected a single grub to answer her highest calling. And so, through designed metamorphosis, the Nyx Assassin came into being. The telepathic scarab Devours and Burns his prey's minds, while sending out rows of subterranean spikes to Impale them from below. Armored with a Reflecting Carapace, he stuns attackers and reverses any counterattack. But the goddess' servant is deadliest when unseen. A distracted target has no chance to react as the Nyx Assassin pierces its body with massive mandibles, thereby fulfilling an unspoken Vendetta in the name of his queen.
Roles:	Disabler Nuker Initiator Escape
Complexity:	★★☆

Bio

Nyx Assassin

▶️ "The blessing of Nyx gives me all the purpose I require."

Lore:

Deep in the Archive of Ultimyr, shelved between scholarly treatises on dragon cladistics and books of untranslatable spells, there is an ancient tome of entomological curiosities. Compiled by scholars, the book describes the telepathic talents of the zealot scarab, a strange species of social insect with abilities unique to all the seven planes.

Unlike most grubs of his colony, Nyx Assassin did not arise from metamorphosis with the plodding thoughts and blunted appendages common to the worker caste of his kind. For his was a special transformation, guided by the grace of Nyx. He was the chosen one, selected from the many and anointed with an extract of the queen goddess herself. Not all survive the dark blessing of the queen's chamber, but he emerged with a penetrating mind, and dagger-like claws–his razor sharp mandibles raking the air while his thoughts projected directly into the minds of those around him. Of all zealot scarabs, he alone was selected for the highest calling. After his metamorphosis, he was reborn, by grace of Nyx, with abilities which shaped him for one thing and one thing only: to kill in the name of his goddess.

Voice:

Dempsey Pappion (Responses)

Abilities

Impale

▶️QE

Ability
Target Point

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Rock spikes burst from the earth along a straight path. Enemy units are hurled into the air, then are stunned and take damage when they fall.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0

Cast Range: 700

Spikes Travel Distance: 700

Spikes Radius: 140

Damage: 100/160/220/280 ( 230/290/350/410)

Stun Duration: 1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6 ( 1.65/2.05/2.45/2.85)

17/16/15/14

100/110/120/130

Spell Immunity Notes:

Deals damage if already hit enemies turn spell immune before landing.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_nyx_assassin_impale

Strong

All zealot scarabs possess intimate knowledge of underground pathways, using them to their advantage.

Notes:

• The spikes travel at a speed of 1600.

• With the travel distance and radius, Impale can hit units up to 840 range away.

• Hit units are knocked up 350 range for the initial 0.5 seconds of the stun.

• While in the air, other units may pass below hit airborne units.

• When Impale hits invisible units, the visual effects below the hit unit are still visible.

• The damage is applied upon landing, not upon getting hit.

• While Burrowed, Impale's cast range and the spikes travel distance increase to 1225.
  • Therefore, Impale now can hit units up to 1365 range away.
  • The cooldown is also reduced to 10/9/8/7 seconds.

Mana Burn

▶️WR

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemy Heroes

Damage
Magical

Destroys the target hero's mana equal to a multiplier of its Intelligence, and deals damage equal to the mana burned.

Cast Animation: 0.4+0

Cast Range: 600

Intelligence as Mana Burned: 230%/320%/410%/500% ( 280%/370%/460%/550%)

Mana Burned as Damage: 100%

 Radius: 300

20/15/10/5

70/80/90/100

Spell Block / Reflection Notes:

Blocked fully only when primary target.

The tome in Ultimyr describes one scarab with the ability to eat away at the minds of lesser beings.

Notes:

• Mana Burn first applies the damage, then the mana loss.

• Effectively burns 19%/27%/34%/42% of the target's maximum mana pool if it has no flat mana bonus.

• Despite dealing the damage first, the damage is based on how much mana the target actually lost from Mana Burn.
  • This means, when cast on an enemy who has 5 mana left, it also deals only 5 damage (before reductions).

• Can be cast on creep-heroes, but has no effect on them, since they have no intelligence points, wasting mana and cooldown.

• The area of effect talent adds a radius to this ability. The ability must be centered over a unit still.
  • Also targets invisible units and units inside the Fog of War.

• While Burrowed, Mana Burn's cast range increases to 1050.

Spiked Carapace

▶️▶️ED

Ability
No Target

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Source Type
(No-reflection)

When activated while above ground, Spiked Carapace reflects and negates damage dealt to Nyx Assassin (max once from each source), as well as stunning the source of the damage. Activating Spiked Carapace will not break Vendetta invisibility.
While Burrowed, Spiked Carapace instantly stuns nearby enemies when cast.

Cast Animation: 0+0

Damage Reflected: 100%

Carapace Duration: 2

Stun Duration: 0.6/1.2/1.8/2.4 ( 1.2/1.8/2.4/3)

25/20/15/10

40

Modifiers [?]

modifier_item_blade_mail

Undispellable

modifier_nyx_assassin_spiked_carapace

Death

modifier_stunned

Strong

While their carapaces are relatively thin, they're guarded by a retractable field of razor-sharp spikes.

Notes:

• Spiked Carapace interrupts Nyx Assassin's channeling abilities upon cast.

• Can be cast during Vendetta, without breaking the invisibility. Breaks the invisibility of other sources.

• The buff from multiple casts of Spiked Carapace does not stack but gets refreshed instead.

• Only reflects player-based damage directly towards the damage dealer. A unit can only be affected once per buff.
  • Reflects incoming damage before all manipulations. However, damage manipulation on the enemy still affects the damage normally.
  • Reflects the same damage type as received.
  • Reflected physical damage is affected by damage block as well.
  • Reflected damage has the no-reflection flag, preventing its damage from interacting with other sources of damage with the same flag.

• Fully ignores self-inflicted damage, and damage flagged as HP Removal.

• Reflected damage cannot be amplified with outgoing spell damage amplification and cannot spell lifesteal.
  • Can be amplified by incoming spell damage amplification.

• Spiked Carapace has a global range and affects units through the Fog of War or invisibility.

• Spiked Carapace first applies the debuff, then the reflected damage.

• Spiked Carapace fully negates and reflects after all reductions, causing several on-damage effects to not trigger.

• Has a higher priority than Aphotic Shield, but lower than False Promise. It will still reflect and stun when combined with False Promise.

• Although the damage dealt to enemies is equal to the amount of damage blocked, the effects work independently from each other.
  • This means Spiked Carapace always blocks one damage instance, even when the source is spell immune or invulnerable.

• Does not work against wards, buildings and allied units.

• While Burrowed, casting Spiked Carapace immediately applies its stun to all enemies within 300 radius.
  • Since Spiked Carapace has no base damage, hit units are not damaged upon cast.
  • Nyx Assassin still receives the cast buff normally, which can still reflect damage and stun enemies.
  • However, the buff does not affect enemy units which have been hit by the stun upon cast. They can normally damage Nyx.

Burrow

▶️DF

Ability
No Target

Affects
Self

Nyx Assassin buries himself beneath the battlefield over a short duration. Once burrowed, Spiked Carapace instantly stuns nearby enemies when cast, the range of Mana Burn and Impale is increased, and Impale's cooldown is decreased. While burrowed, Nyx Assassin is stationary, unable to attack, and invisible. Nyx gains damage reduction from all damage sources.

Cast Animation: 1.5+0.1

Fade Time: 0

Max Health/Mana Regen Bonus: 1%

Incoming Damage Reduction: 40%

Impale Cast/Travel Range Increase: 525

Impale Cooldown Reduction: 7

Mana Burn Cast Range Increase: 450

Spiked Carapace Stun Radius: 300

0

0

Modifiers [?]

modifier_nyx_assassin_burrow

Death

Ability Draft Notes:

Requires drafting Vendetta to be unlocked.

Some castes of Zealot scarab are known to create small burrows to lie in wait, ready to ambush their prey.

Notes:

• Requires Aghanim's Scepter to be unlocked.

• While burrowed, Nyx Assassin is invisible, disarmed, and rooted, so that he cannot attack, move, or use blink-based abilities.

• While burrowed, Impale and Mana Burn can be cast without having to face the targeted point or unit.
  • Other targeted abilities and items still require facing.

• Applies generic incoming damage reduction on Nyx Assassin while burrowed. Stacks additively with other sources of generic incoming damage manipulation.
  • The reduction affects all damage Nyx Assassin takes that is not flagged as HP removal.

• Can regenerate up to 60% of Nyx Assassin's max health and mana in one minute.

• Burrow lasts until the Unburrow sub-ability or Vendetta is used, or until death.

• Nyx Assassin can still be moved by abilities while burrowed, without getting unburrowed.

• Losing Aghanim's Scepter instantly unburrows Nyx.

Unburrow

▶️▶️DF

Ability
No Target

Emerge from the burrow.

Cast Animation: 0+0

0

0

Sub-ability of Burrow.

Some castes of Zealot scarab are known to create small burrows to lie in wait, ready to ambush their prey.

Notes:

• Replaces Burrow until the sub-ability is used, Vendetta is used or Nyx's death.

• Interrupts Nyx Assassin's channeling abilities upon cast.

• Instantly reverts all bonuses provided by Burrow.

• Uses a different sound when unburrowing inside the river.

Vendetta

▶️▶️RV

Ability
No Target

Affects
Self / Enemies

Damage
Pure

Allows Nyx Assassin to become invisible and gain a speed bonus. If Nyx Assassin attacks to break the invisibility, massive bonus damage is dealt with the attack.

Cast Animation: 0+0

Fade Time: 0

Damage: 300/450/600

Self Move Speed Bonus: 16%/18%/20% ( 41%/43%/45%)

Self Attack Animation Speed Bonus: 50%

Vendetta Duration: 40/50/60

 Enemy Incoming Spell Damage Amplification: 17%

 Debuff Duration: 4

90/75/60

180/240/300

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

New Ability

Grants the Burrow ability.

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Vendetta now moves faster, and a successful Vendetta attack now reduces the target's Magic Resistance.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_nyx_assassin_vendetta

Death

modifier_nyx_assassin_vendetta_armor_reduction

Any

The scarab kills for the glory of his queen.

Notes:

• Vendetta does not interrupt Nyx Assassin's channeling abilities upon cast.

• The attack out of Vendetta cannot miss.

• The attack first applies the debuff, then the Vendetta damage, then the attack damage.

• The bonus damage is dealt in a separate damage instance, and counts as spell damage.
  • This means it is not affected or considered by anything that works with attack damage.
  • This also means that it fully works with spell damage amplification and spell lifesteal.

• The damage and the debuff are not applied when attacking wards or buildings.

• The invisibility is broken upon landing an attack, or upon reaching the cast point of abilities or items, except for Spiked Carapace.
  • Nyx can pick up, drop or attack items and runes without breaking the invisibility.

• Vendetta allows Nyx to phase through other units, including wards, but not through buildings.

• The unobstructed pathing talent does not upgrade the current instance of Vendetta.
  • Fully grants unobstructed movement for its duration, allowing to path through cliffs and trees.

• With Aghanim's Shard, applies generic incoming damage amplification on the target. Stacks additively with other sources of generic incoming damage manipulation.
  • The amplification affects only spell damage the target takes that is not flagged as HP removal. Attack damage is not amplified.
  • Since it uses incoming amplification, it does affect the damage of abilities that ignore outgoing amplification (e.g. Damage Return and Moon Glaives).
  • Effectively increases Vendetta's own damage to 351/526.5/702 damage (before reductions).

Talents

Hero Talents
Vendetta Unobstructed Pathing	25	300 Mana Burn Radius
+130 Impale Damage	20	+0.6s Spiked Carapace Stun Duration
+0.5x Mana Burn Inteligence Multiplier	15	+250 Health
+0.25s Impale Stun Duration	10	+8% Spell Amplification

Notes:

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

Recent Changes

Main Article: Nyx Assassin/Changelogs

Version

Description

7.31c

• Impale
  • Increased spike radius from 125 to 140.
  • Reduced mana cost from 105/120/135/150 to 100/110/120/130.

7.31

• Increased Impale cooldown from 14 on each level to 17/16/15/14.
• Mana Burn
  • Reduced mana burned from 350%/400%/450%/500% to 230%/320%/410%/500% of the target's intelligence.
  • Rescaled cooldown from 28/20/12/4 to 20/15/10/5.
  • Reduced mana cost from 100 on each level to 70/80/90/100.
• Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
  • [U] Reduced Burrow incoming damage reduction from 50% to 40%.
• Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
  • Vendetta
    • Now amplifies incoming spell damage by 17% on the target, instead of reducing their magic resistance by 20%. [?]
    • Now applies the debuff first before dealing its damage. [?]
• Talents:

Level 15 left talent changed: +20 movement speed ➜ +50% Mana Burn intelligence as mana burned.

Level 25 right talent changed: +80 agility ➜ 300 AoE Mana Burn.

7.30

• Reduced base strength from 18 to 17.
• Reduced base agility from 19 to 18.
• Reduced health regeneration from 2.5 to 2.
• Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
  • Reduced Burrow max health/mana as regen bonus from 1.5% to 1%.

Recommended Items

Starting items:

• Tango gives Nyx Assassin basic health sustain, allowing him to continue laning despite enemy harass.
• Clarity allows Nyx Assassin to replenish his mana pool in-lane, crucial since most of his spells will consume almost half his base mana pool with a single cast. Having the mana to continue casting gives Nyx Assassin more chances to use his disables to score kills.
• Iron Branch gives some attributes that increase health, mana, and damage.
• Enchanted Mango is a strong laning item, as it provides a small boost to HP regeneration, augmenting his innate base HP regen to greatly increase his survivability in the off-lane. It can also be consumed for instant mana replenishment to be able to cast one more disable or nuke to secure a kill.
• Observer Ward can be useful to purchase on Nyx Assassin, as he is a very heavy roamer who can place wards before or after ganks to spot out enemy movement to strike again.

Early game:

• Boots of Speed allows Nyx Assassin to chase or flee enemies more easily, and is important for getting within range to cast Impale on a gank target.
• Urn of Shadows is important to get early on Nyx Assassin, as he can easily get charges from successful ganks. It provides some cheap stats and armor, as well as mana regen for sustaining his mana pool. The charges can be used to restore any HP lost during a gank, or can be used to add more damage to a future gank to increase the odds of success.
• Magic Stick and Magic Wand gives burst health and mana, useful for Nyx Assassin to cast spells continually.

Mid game:

• Arcane Boots are crucial to obtain in order to allow Nyx Assassin to roam for ganks. It increases the size of Nyx Assassin's mana pool, allowing him to more easily cast his full combo of spells, and boosts his movement speed slightly to provide extra mobility. Most importantly, the active allows Nyx Assassin to replenish his own mana pool in order to ensure that he is able to continue roaming without needing to return to base as often.
• Ghost Scepter is a useful item should Nyx be focused by auto attacks, being usable in tandem with Spiked Carapace for additional survivability, as well as building into Ethereal Blade.
• Blink Dagger greatly increases Nyx Assassin's mobility, allowing him to jump on top of enemies and initiate without relying on Vendetta. In particular, being able to quickly re-position to cast Impale can allow Nyx Assassin to stun multiple enemy heroes at the start of a fight, and in a pinch Spiked Carapace can be used to prevent enemy initiating nukes from putting it on cooldown.

• Meteor Hammer is useful on Nyx for two reasons: to speed up farming for other items, and to pair with Impale for extended stun duration and massive bonus damage dealt to your target of choice. The extra building damage also helps whenever your team needs to push.

Late game:

• Aghanim's Scepter unlocks Burrow, which can give Nyx Assassin a strong tactical advantage against certain enemies. It also improves his overall attributes, aiding in his survivability and buffing up his mana pool.

Situational items:

• Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a strong casting item that boosts Nyx Assassin's ability to roam and gank. The increased intelligence and mana regen help to sustain his spell casting, ensuring that he doesn't have to return to base to replenish mana, and the increased movement speed gives him more mobility for hunting down enemies. The cyclone can be used to dispel debuffs from Nyx Assassin while providing temporary invulnerability, or can be cast on an enemy as a further disable.
• Force Staff is a handy utility item that grants Nyx Assassin many strong bonuses. It provides more intelligence for increasing the size of his mana pool, as well as health regeneration for sustaining his health pool. The active greatly improves Nyx Assassin's mobility, allowing him to re-position for casting his spells, or chasing and escaping more easily. In a pinch, it can also be used as a cheap way to break an enemy Linken's Sphere prior to landing other disables and nukes, and can even be used to re-position Nyx Assassin during Burrow.
• Aether Lens will increase Impale and Mana Burn's cast range, which is good to offset their terrible cast animation. It can be built by recycling the Energy Booster you got from Arcane Boots.
• Dagon greatly boosts Nyx Assassin's burst damage, giving him much more kill potential. The item boosts his intelligence, allowing him to more easily cast his spells, while the active can be added on top of Impale and Mana Burn to deal tremendous burst damage to a single target to secure a kill.
• Ethereal Blade is a strong nuke booster that improves Nyx Assassin's ability to burst down enemies. As his primary attribute is agility, the bonus agility will increase the damage that Ether Blast deals, which will also greatly slow its target's movement speed while weakening their magic resistance, leaving them wide open for Impale, Mana Burn and Dagon.
• Bottle is a very strong self-sustain item that allows Nyx Assassin to replenish his HP and mana, increasing his autonomy. As he constantly roams, Nyx is able to easily pick up runes to refill his Bottle, and utilize the runes during ganks as needed.
• Scythe of Vyse gives Nyx Assassin an instant ranged hard disable, useful in many situations. Also, it gives him stats across the board, particularly improving his intelligence for more mana and providing powerful scaling mana regeneration to allow him to roam independently.
• Lotus Orb allows Nyx Assassin to further use the enemy's spells against them on top of Spiked Carapace. Echo Shell gives Nyx Assassin a tool to reflect enemy spells, and even though it doesn't block the damage done by these spells it can reflect debuffs and stuns rather than just the damage. It also provides armor, increasing Nyx Assassin's survivability, and HP and mana regen for self-sustain.
• Orchid Malevolence provides Nyx Assassin with a soft disable that can greatly improve his ability to gank and kill enemies. By silencing an enemy during a gank, Nyx Assassin can prevent them from casting retaliatory disables to get away; as well, his high burst damage can take advantage of the burn damage at the end of the silence to increase the odds of getting a kill during a gank. The item also provides increased intelligence and mana regen, further improving Nyx Assassin's ability to roam independently.
• Drum of Endurance is a useful stat booster that is easy to build. It gives Nyx Assassin all-around attributes, improving his HP, attack damage and mana. The active can be very useful, as it boosts Nyx Assassin's movement speed, allowing him to chase down enemies quickly.
• Linken's Sphere greatly improves Nyx Assassin's survivability, and allows him to engage and gank enemies through single-target disables. The Spellblock allows Nyx Assassin to ignore any targeted disables that enemies may try to hit him with, allowing him to continue pursuit and kill the enemy.

Gameplay

Strategy & Tips

Counters &
Matchups

Audio

Responses

Sounds

History

Lore

Old Abilities

Changelogs

Equipment

Nyx Assassin Equipment (expand sets) Sets Alpha Predator Set Bottomfeeder Carapace of the Hidden Hive Set Chitinous Stalker Chosen Larva Set Cicatrix Regalia Cursed Zealot Deviant Metamorphosis Rancorous Nemesis Sacred Orb Set Sapphire Crab Sect of Kaktos Shadow Hunter Set Shards of Meteorite Shimmer of the Anointed Sovereign of the Hive The Age of Gilded Worship Writhing Executioner Weapon Golden Latticean Shards Latticean Shards Latticean Shards of the Crimson Witness Back Crimson Latticean Hierarchy Latticean Hierarchy Misc Nyx Assassin's Dagon

Trivia

• Nyx Assassin's original name was Anub'arak, and he was titled "Nerubian Assassin". Both were changed in the transition to Dota 2 due to copyright reasons.
  • Anub'arak is a character of Blizzard's franchise "Warcraft", who first appeared in the campaign of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. He was the king of the Nerubians, a race of malevolent arachnids who were slain and raised as undead.
• Nyx Assassin's fun name in DotA was Anoob'arak.

Gallery

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  Splash artwork

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