Night Stalker counter and synergy picks
Pick Night Stalker with Wraith King to increase win-rate from 50.5% to 57.7% or against Wraith King to increase win-rate to 58.7% in Patch 7.38c.
Good with...
...based on stats [7.38c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▼ |
|---|---|
7.2% | |
3.9% | |
3.9% | |
3.7% | |
3.6% | |
3.5% | |
3.4% | |
3.1% | |
3.0% | |
2.6% | |
2.1% | |
2.0% | |
2.0% | |
2.0% | |
2.0% |
...based on gameplay [up-to-date]
Eclipse turns day into night, allowing NS to be empowered by Hunter in the Night for a short period, even during the day. Lunar Blessing provides Luna with enhanced night vision, which synergises with Dark Ascension and the unobsstructed vision from it further allows her to spot any hiding targets, making it easy for her to consistently attack and spam Lucent Beam off cooldown. Luna's abundance of AOE damage with Luna Orbit, Eclipse and Moon Glaives makes up for NS's shortcoming of being predominantly single target.
Firefly and Dark Ascension both provide flying movement, making it easy for NS and Batrider to play together irrelevant of terrain. Dark Ascension providing unobstructed vision gives Batrider perfect information to get his Flaming Lasso of for NS to follow up on a target that's already crowd controlled.
Dark Ascension providing unobstructed vision gives Spirit Breaker perfect information to spam Charge on the optimal target in fights. Charge and Dark Ascension both provide unobstructed movement, making it easy for NS and SB to play together irrelevant of terrain.
Dark Ascension turns day into night making it easier for Slark to disengage fights and hide out of sight in order to heal up with Barracuda - this is further amplified by the unobstructed vision from Dark Ascension as Slark can use the perfect information he's provided with to run circles around his opponents until he is ready to re-engage. Slark is one of the few heroes in DOTA with enhanced night vision and is significantly stronger as darkness engulfs the map.
Dark Ascension provides flying movement, making it easy for NS to abuse Fissure's wall for his own gain without suffering any of the drawbacks. Dark Ascension additionally provides unobstructed vision, giving Earthshaker perfect information to get his Echo Slam of.
...counter items [up-to-date]
A core Boots upgrade to improve your damage and tankiness with armor. Also helps close the gap on enemy heroes with the Phase active.
A core item that provides some much needed mana sustain and boosts your right click damage while making you tanky. Builds into Harpoon later in the game.
A core mobility item to quickly close the gap on enemy heroes and silence them with Crippling Fear. Works well to get on top of squishy backline heroes on the enemy team and burst them down.
A core item to avoid most disables on the enemy team and hit freely in fights. Also improves your right click damage and tankiness through HP pool and magic resistance.
A core item in the early or mid game that makes great use of your innate attack speed and allows you to have lock down against elusive enemy heroes to get off more right clicks. Builds into Abyssal Blade later in the game.
A late game pick up that lets you actively stun people when you get on top of them to follow up with the Crippling Fear silence and land more right clicks. Also gives you tankiness.
A core item that allows you to stick on targets by preventing them from being saved with anything that is dispelable. (i.e Force Staff, Glimmer Cape, Eul's Scepter of Divinity)
Good against...
...based on stats [7.38c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▼ |
|---|---|
8.3% | |
5.6% | |
5.0% | |
4.5% | |
3.7% | |
3.5% | |
3.5% | |
3.5% | |
3.3% | |
3.3% | |
3.2% | |
3.2% | |
3.1% | |
3.0% | |
2.9% |
...based on gameplay [up-to-date]
Dark Ascension providing unobstructed vision and flight, while reducing Earthshaker's and his team's vision allows NS to spot Shaker and stick on him relentlessly with Crippling Fear, not allowing him to get of a clean initiation or any spells for that matter. Despite Fissure being able to stun NS he can still fly over it.
Crippling Fear makes it a nightmare for Puck to juke around with Phase Shift and Ethereal Jaunt as Nightstalker can camp either his Phase Shift or Illusory Orb locations with Crippling Fear pre-activated. Dark Ascension providing flying movement and unobstructed vision further complicates Puck's core gameplay as he struggles to hide out of sight or behind impassable terrain.
Crippling Fear cares little about Dark Pact as it does not get dispelled by it - this prevents Slark from getting of his highest impact spells, which are also his main survivability tools: Shadow Dance and Depth Shroud (Aghanim's Shard upgrade); as well as limiting his mobility due to him not being able to cast Pounce and get away. Dark Ascension's unobstructed vision makes it a nightmare for Slark to disengage a fight and hide somewhere in order to heal up with Barracuda.
Crippling Fear prevents AM from abusing his amazing mobility by not allowing him to use Blink. Dark Ascension makes it hard for AM to play on the outskirts of fights and wait for his opportune moment as NS's vision outranges Blink substantially. NS has one of the lowest Intelligence gains in DOTA and generally builds for rightclick making him a poor Mana Void target.
Crippling Fear makes it a nightmare for Ember to juke around with Fire Remnants and Sleight of Fists as Nightstalker can camp either his Sleight of Fist or Fire Remnant locations with Crippling Fear pre-activated. Dark Ascension providing flying movement and unobstructed vision further complicates Ember's core gameplay as he struggles to hide out of sight or behind impassable terrain.
Bad against...
...based on stats [7.38c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▲ |
|---|---|
-6.3% | |
-6.2% | |
-5.1% | |
-4.5% | |
-4.5% | |
-4.3% | |
-4.1% | |
-4.0% | |
-3.9% | |
-3.7% | |
-3.7% | |
-3.5% | |
-3.4% | |
-3.2% | |
-3.2% |
...based on gameplay [up-to-date]
Nightstalker's lack of AOE damage makes it difficult for him to deal with Mirror Image Illusions - this allows Naga to manfight him and to keep the waves pushed, giving her and her team the upper hand. Both Ensnare and Song of the Siren can be used to lockdown or kite Nightstalker during Dark Ascension.
NS loves isolating a single target and Tempest Double allows Arc to have reliable backup to fight back. Flux and Spark Wraith slow, which greatly help with kiting NS while Magnetic Field provides evasion for Arc and his team. Arc Warden’s strong split-pushing forces Night Stalker to spread thin as he is slow at clearing waves, and Spark Wraith provides vision, diminishing Night Stalker’s ability to fly and hide over cliffs and terrain during Dark Ascension.
Rupture limits NS's mobility from Hunter in the Night as he is forced to pay in blood to make use of his enhanced movement speed as well as flying over terrain during Dark Ascension. Thirst and Blood Rite can provide vision on NS as he tries to juke and hide over trees and cliffs in order to disengeage a fight when he gets low on health.
Nightstalker's lack of AOE damage makes it impossible for him to deal with Phantasm Illusions in a straight up fight, considering they have built in sustain with Chaos Strike. Chaos Bolt has enough of a cast range to outrange Crippling Fear and Reality Rift can be used to pull NS away from his target of focus.
WK doesn't really have any high impact active spells, considering he can have up to 3 passives, making him probably the worst hero in DOTA to be affected by Crippling Fear. Wraithfire Blast has enough of a cast range to outrange Crippling Fear and Vampiric Spirit supplies him with sufficient sustain to 1v1 NS. Boneguard can be a problem for NS as he lacks the AOE to clear the skeletons quickly, allowing WK to split push lanes, giving him and his team the upper hand.
...counter items [up-to-date]
Gives you movement speed to kite or close the gap on Night Stalker and stay out of the Crippling Fear AoE. Also counters the movement slow from Void.
Gives you movement speed to kite or close the gap on Night Stalker and stay out of the Crippling Fear AoE. Also counters the movement slow from Void.
Lets you kite Night Stalker by putting some distance between him and yourself with Hurricane Thrust and hit him from range. Also helps push yourself out of the Crippling Fear AoE.
Lets you apply the break effect on Night Stalker to significantly reduce his mobility and damage output during Dark Ascension or night time.
Provides evasion and lets you disarm Night Stalker to prevent him from right clicking freely in fights.
Use the active on either on Nightstalker or yourself to buy some time and create distance. Dispelled by Nulifier.
Lets you kite Night Stalker by protecting yourself or an ally against his right clicks through invisibility.
Lets you kite Night Stalker as well as push yourself or an ally out of the Crippling Fear AoE.
Lets you kite Night Stalker by protecting yourself against his right clicks in Ethereal form.
Gives you an instant disable against Night Stalker to burst him down in its duration before he uses Dark Ascension to get away or has an impact in fights.
Gives you an instant lockdown against Night Stalker and burst him down with a possible chain stun before he uses Dark Ascension to get away or has an impact in fights.
Gives armor to your team to take less damage from Night Stalker's right clicks to nullify his kill potential during Dark Ascension.
Gives you an instant silence and massive burst damage against Night Stalker to kill him before he uses Dark Ascension to get away or has an impact in fights.
Gives you armor and evasion to defend yourself against Night Stalker's right clicks with the tankiness and miss chance.
Use the active on either Nightstalker or yourself to buy some time and create distance. Dispelled by Nulifier.
Lets you survive and never get bursted by Night Stalker right clicks under Crippling Fear silence.
Bad with...
...based on stats [7.38c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▲ |
|---|---|
-5.4% | |
-5.1% | |
-5.0% | |
-4.8% | |
-4.7% | |
-4.4% | |
-4.0% | |
-3.8% | |
-3.8% | |
-3.6% | |
-3.6% | |
-3.3% | |
-3.3% | |
-3.3% | |
-3.0% |
