The Dark Lady - HAHA YOU'RE BLIND ENJOY DEATH

[Travakh]

*new and improved for 1.47



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/FireballX301/Darklady/DL8.jpg?t=1254650006


Note: Item pictures taken from HoN DB, skill pictures taken from HoN wiki, in-game pictures will be my own work, and as always this guide is meant for non-em.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/FireballX301/Darklady/DL9.jpg?t=1254650039


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/FireballX301/Darklady/DL2.jpg

Dark Lady is a hilarious hero because each and every time she ults, the opposing team either panics completely (if unorganized) or battens down and rides it out (team). The 1.47 buffs have lowered all her mana costs and significantly improved her base stats, which makes her a much more viable pick as a highly mobile damage-on-demand carry.

Dark Lady's strengths are late game scaling (3 of her 4 skills scale with damage and team damage), an almost instantaneous attack animation, high agility growth, and good lane control with a cheap long range ping.

Dark Lady's weaknesses are general fragility and reliance on items to fuel her monstrous damage.


Stats



STR: 22/+2.0
AGI: 23/+3.1
INT: 16/1.9
Base Armor: 4.22
Base MS: 305


13 base int was really, really bad, 16 is much better. 23 str is a significant boost over 18, but dark lady still requires opening with +stats for better last hits and lane presence.


Skills



http://www.honwiki.net/w/images/b/ba/Darkladyskill1.gif

DARK BLADES: 75/85/95/105 mana cost on 26/22/18/14sec cd. Dark Blades applies a self-buff for 3/4/5/6 seconds that improves base damage (hero's damage + damage from agi, not raw +damage from items) by 50/70/90/110%. On top of that, enemies you attack while dark blades is up are silenced for 2.5 seconds. This is your team battle and late game annihilation skill, as it synergizes well with Charging Strikes (silences everything you hit) and stacks with riftshards for some four digit critical action. This is the graphical effect of having Dark Blades active. Note that this will no longer silence magic immune heroes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/FireballX301/Darklady/DL7.jpg


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http://www.honwiki.net/w/images/7/7e/Darkladyskill2.gif

TAINT SOUL: 35/45/55/65 mana on 12sec cd. Taint soul is a generic magic direct damage spell - deals 60/90/120/150 damage and slows by 60%, with movespeed increasing back to normal over 2/3/4/5 seconds. The mana efficiency on this skill was atrocious pre-patch but received a huge buff. Coupled with its good cast range and instant effect and you have a spell that will maintain your lane presence from level 1 onward - it's an efficient low cost spell that can be spammed on enemy heroes to force a burn of consumables or drive them out of lane, and past that becomes a set-up slow for ganks and team battles. Picture is roughly the maximum cast range of the spell.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/FireballX301/Darklady/DL3.jpg


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http://www.honwiki.net/w/images/4/46/Darkladyskill3.gif

CHARGING STRIKES: 75 mana on 21/17/13/9sec cd. You leap to your destination up to 6/7/8/900 units away and each enemy unit you contact while leaping takes your attack damage, minus 15% for each unit you've already attacked. On landing you receive a self-buff for 5 seconds that improves your attack speed by 30/45/60/75. This is a mobility skill that lets you duck in and out of fights, as well as a skill that sets up on hit triggers - thunderclaw can proc several times on a stack of enemies, runed axe will cleave enemies, and of course your dark blades will silence everything you hit. The attack speed buff is a huge improvement to the spell and makes it work quite well with dark blades. Note that this does not ignore terrain and must follow it. Inset image is of the graphical effect of Zeal.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/FireballX301/Darklady/DL4.jpg?t=1254649962


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http://www.honwiki.net/w/images/3/31/Darkladyskill4.gif

COVER OF DARKNESS: 50/100/150 mana on 120sec cd. This spell has a global cast range and will debuff all enemy heroes in a 1000 aoe with Darkness, which reduces movespeed by 5/10/15%, unlinks vision to team, and reduces vision range to 400 units.

NOTES ABOUT THIS SKILL:

Activating any sort of debuff remover strips the debuff, which means heroes like Arachna, Jereziah, and Accursed can strip it.
This does not affect the map or game itself, teams can still ping locations, chat, and voicechat
This does not affect base AI, heroes will still move and autoacquire targets that they can't see if you autoattack somewhere with the debuff on
This unlinks vision to your faction, meaning you will have zero notification if buildings begin going down.


This is Dark Lady's trademark skill, which easily sets up team fights and backdoors in your favor.


Skillbuild



Charging Strikes
Taint Soul
Taint Soul
Dark Blades
Taint Soul
Cover of Darkness
Taint Soul
Charging Strikes
Charging Strikes
Charging Strikes
Dark Blades
Dark Blades
Dark Blades
Stats
Cover of Darkness
Cover of Darkness
Stats->25



Justification: Prior to the patch I advocated early stats and delaying dark blades until post-L16. This is now unnecessary - higher starting stats means early stats isn't as critical and the significantly lowered mana cost on taint soul means you will actually have the mana to sustain dark blades. As it stands going stats is an inferior option to leveling your skills; Taint soul is maxed early for lane control, Charging Strikes is taken at 1 to evade tri-lane first blood ganks, strikes is maxed before blades to benefit from the very low cooldown, Blades is taken at 4 to enable the 2.5second line silence.


Items


Start with:

http://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/pretenders_crown/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/pretenders_crown/icon_96.png
2x Pretender's Crown, 185g x2=370g
http://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/minor_totem/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/minor_totem/icon_96.png
2x Minor Totem 53g x2=106g
http://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/runes_of_the_blight/icon_96.png
1x Runes of the Blight 90g


Why: Dark Lady should be laning with a babysitter that has a ring of the teacher, spending money on it yourself is inefficient. +6 stats is the way to go for lane presence and last hitting. Purchase a mana battery from the outpost with the first 210g you farm in lane.

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Build into:

http://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/crushing_claws/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/crushing_claws/icon_96.png -->http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/pneumatic_bracelet/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/pneumatic_bracelet/icon_96.png
2x Fortified Bracelets, 150g x2 + 175g x2 = 650g
http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/power_supply/icon_96.png
Power Supply, 210g + 203g = 413g
http://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/marchers/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/major_totem/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/blessed_armband/icon_96.png-->http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/steamboots/icon_int_96.png
Int Steamboots, 500g+540g+450g = 1490g


Why: Bracers for hp boost, power supply is great on almost everyone, Steamboots are the way to go. Compare the following

Agi steamboots: 10 agi 5 str 5 int 75 ms = 10 dam 10 AS 95 HP 85 Mana 75ms, with an additional +13 damage with dark blades up
Enhanced: 16 dam 30 AS 65 ms, no +damage to dark blades

Dark Lady is not hurting for AS as one Strikes yields +75 off the bat, and -6 damage is a minimal difference in exchange for the boosted stats. Phase boots are unnecessary to chase as you have a charge and built in slow. Even better is the fact that you will set them to int early on to guarantee you never running out of mana - 19 additional Int on completion yields 323 additional mana at this point, which is an additional taint+darkblades+strikes combination. Set them to int when you build them, set them to agi once mana stops becoming an issue. Remember, Dark Blades scales with +agi, not +damage.

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From here you build this item:


http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/runed_axe/icon_96.png
Lifetube + Manatube + Bastard Sword + Broadsword => Runed Axe, 4350g

I previously declared this item to not be very good for Dark Lady because of its failure to give out AS and stats, which Dark Lady desperately needed pre-1.47. The stat boost to DL and 75 AS on Strikes (which can be maintained 55% of the time in theory and is always available on demand, 5sec on 9 second cd while you spam it) means this item starts off incredibly strong and continues to scale as you pick up stronger and stronger items. The buildup is very easy and once you have it you become a farming *beast* with strikespam, the mana regeneration it yields is icing on the cake. The +damage it yields does not affect dark blades but that's a relatively minor issue.

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The Runed Axe finishes your core build but will not carry the game to its finish. Dark Lady allows several item paths from this point. Generally, pick one out of the three following, listed in order of preference:


http://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/apprentices_robe/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/quickblade/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/quickblade/icon_96.png-->http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/nullfire_blade/icon_96.png

1x Apprentices Robe + 2x Quick Blades + Recipe => Nullfire Blade, 3300g
Nullfire blade counters every hero who has critical buffs (Jereziah, Hammerstorm) and can be used defensively to strip debuffs (Bloodhunter's Hemo, Slither Nova). It's all around a superb item on Dark Lady and should be generally taken if buffs are an issue (and they are, in the majority of matches).


http://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/warhammer/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/warhammer/icon_96.png-->http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/shieldbreaker/icon_96.png

2x Warhammer + Recipe => Shieldbreaker, 4420g
Cheap high damage, and easy application by charging strikes. Nailing several units with charging strikes debuffs them all, which can easily turn a team battle in your favor with mass armor reduction.


http://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/glowstone/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/confluence/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/basic/confluence/icon_96.png-->http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/wolf_of_the_wilds/icon_96.png

1x Glowstone + 2x Blessed Orb + Recipe => Frostwolf Skull, 6150g
Frostwolf Skull immediately solves all your hp and mana issues and charging strikes slows everything you hit. Frostwolf Skull is an awesome item on Dark Lady but it's high cost means you'll have trouble farming it. However, the +agi gain from it yields a sum of +57 damage with dark blades up (unlike shieldbreaker's damage bonus which yields no boost to dark blades). And you get to do fun stuff like this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/FireballX301/Darklady/DL5.jpg



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Endgame


http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/doomshards/icon_96.png

1x Broadsword + 1x Punchdagger + Recipex4 => Level 4 Riftshards 5500g
Critstick must be taken at this point, as you'll be critting hard and fast with the amount of damage you have. The +75 damage doesn't boost dark blades but critting is easily worth it.


http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/shrunken_head/icon_96.png

1x Mighty Blade + 1x Warhammer + Recipe => Shrunken Head, 3910g
As with all agi carries this is a must to actually land those 1k+ crits. Field this item immediately after the battlefury in higher level games as you don't have the luxury of time to farm anything else.


http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/wingbow/icon_96.png

1x Dancing Dagger + 1x Steamstaff + Recipe => Wingbow, 6000g
Wingbow remains a standard agi carry item though critstick takes higher precedence. Despite this the item is still great, +60 damage base with an additional 70 damage on dark blades activation.


http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/whispering_helm/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/symbol_of_rage/icon_96.png
Whispering Helm => Symbol of Rage, 6150g
This is a crucial item in pubs, less so in comp. Magnificent str boost, the whispering helm can be used to stack ancient creeps, and with dark blades up and the Rage buff active you'll be regenerating yourself to 100% each hit. Unfortunately this provides no damage in of itself and thus should be taken after L4 riftshards if at all. If you do choose to get this, build the whispering helm before the runed axe and begin stacking creeps as early as possible.


http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/geometers_bane/icon_96.png

1x Fleetfeet + 1x Quickblade => Slash + 1x Blessed Orb + Recipe => Geometer's Bane, 4850g
More stats and your images at this point become killers on their own, because they'll crit as well, and the 30 agi yields yet another 70 damage on dark blades.

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Other items
http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/thunderclaw/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/charged_hammer/icon_96.png
Thunder Claw
Charged Hammer
The chain lightning proc will go off on your charging strikes which allows for good farming, but that's all its really good for. There's little utility to it and it's inferior for raw damage compared to the items in the core build, but if you're having severe difficulty farming you may as well pick it up. With the built in IAS from strikes in play you're better off with straight up damage.

http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/hack_and_slash/icon_96.png
Hack and Slash
Cost is too high for too little damage, but the health boost is nice and you can proc maim on things you charging strike. Frostwolf skull is, of course, a superior item.

http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/brutalizer/icon_96.png
Brutalizer
If your team has no hard disables, this is a really shitty choice but more than likely must be taken. Naturally with no hard disables your team will probably lose the game anyway.

http://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/shroud_of_the_assasin/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/codex/icon_96.pnghttp://www.hondb.com/img/items/recipes/hellflower/icon_96.png
Assassin's Shroud
Codex
Hellflower
If you get any of these items I will kick you in the face

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Playstyle
Your early game is still bad, but much better than what it used to be. You should be babysat in order to get your early farm efficiency high. Melee agi solo is always a bad idea unless you're bloodhunter, lanes like Dark Lady + Predator are really bad. Dark Lady should lane with babysitters like a Demented Shaman or heroes with superb lane control like Electrician, to allow lane dominance and opposing hero harass. Your focus early game is survival, last hitting, and harassing enemy heroes out of xp range with taint soul, as feeding early cripples your farming and delays your items.

Keep farming midgame, neutrals. It's critical for you to get at least the runed axe out and preferably another damage item on the list on top of it. You farm very easily as long as you keep spamming charging strikes for the attack speed boost. While you have gank potential running out to gank prior to fielding the runed axe slows down your farm by a great deal, so stick to fast-farming lanes.

Lategame becomes simple. Initiate with your ult in combination with another team initiate, Taint soul on your target, activate dark blades and chargestrike in,and autoattack your target down. Try to position yourself so that your charging strikes hits as many enemy heroes as possible in order to get as many silences out. With solid damage you should be shredding whatever you touch. Remember to re-strike whenever it comes off cooldown both for the additional hit and a refreshing of the +75AS buff. You're an autoattack carry hero, just keep casting and attacking priority targets. There's not much complexity to it.

Note: Although a ***** move, Cover of Darkness can set up backdoors. Hang out with your team near their base while they're pushing, activate. They panic and break their push, by the time the darkness fades you should be able to rax a lane. Works even better with a Nymphora to teleport near their base.

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ALLIES: Jereziah, Demented Shaman, Electrician, Accursed
Babysitters enable your early game and prevent your lane from turning into a catastrophe.

ENEMIES: Jereziah, Accursed, Electrician, Arachna
Those same babysitters usually come with a way to strip Cover of Darkness which reduces its effectiveness as an initiation tool.
Valkyrie also deserves special mention as a valkyrie ult immediately after your cover hard-counters the initiation, assuming the valkyrie player casts it reflexively.

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Comments on the content?

[Maximum]

Good guide. 1 question, what does the Dark lady say when she cast the ult? i swear i can hear some kind of voice, but never quite understand it.

[Skunkjuice]

I'm actually impressed to see a guide I agree with, and even more exciting is it is on a hero I absolutely LOVE! I play this hero every chance I get. and contrary to popular forum believe she is an amazing mid/end game hero if played right.

As for the Geometers bane, I have used it in a few games, but honestly I feel its lacking compared to its Manta Style counter part. It is a great aid with the extra mana burn, but honestly I think its a waste of money.

Early game I get 1 Fortified Bracer, then 1 Soulscream Band or a RoB (forget the HoN counter part) depending on the other team and if my babysitter doesn't already have one. then Str Steamboots which I switch to Agility mid/late game. From there I then get Null Blade and work on Flayer.

*edit* I'm actually pretty happy you wrote up a guide as I was considering making one my self and probably will at some point, although it would be nice to collaborate on one together. If you have any questions toss them out there. I feel a solid Dark Lady guide needs to be wrote up before to many people write her off as utter crap.

[Travakh]

Good guide. 1 question, what does the Dark lady say when she cast the ult? i swear i can hear some kind of voice, but never quite understand it.

"Darkness Falls"

I kind of want to mod HoN so it starts playing Scatman John for 6/9/12 seconds

Above: I agree Geometer's Bane is lacking but only because it doesn't have the hp boost Manta did, which I really hope is just an oversight. As it stands it's the best way to improve total damage once you have your flayer, which is why I put it as the very last item in the corebuild.

Also why a Basilus? What spells are you going to cast? =|

[Kaushal]

Excellent guide

[Skunkjuice]

"Darkness Falls"

I kind of want to mod HoN so it starts playing Scatman John for 6/9/12 seconds

Above: I agree Geometer's Bane is lacking but only because it doesn't have the hp boost Manta did, which I really hope is just an oversight. As it stands it's the best way to improve total damage once you have your flayer, which is why I put it as the very last item in the corebuild.

Also why a Basilus? What spells are you going to cast? =|

Forgot to divulge on that. I get a RoB because I tend to pick up Vlads. Life steal late game is really nice especially on the +250 - 300 damage you're rocking and even more so once you have Flayer and are dropping 500+ crits every where. Its a cheap item and increases everything you need.

Because lets face it, Dark Lady's mana pool sucks dick early/mid game.

[FALLENLEGION]

A huge wall of text is not appealing. Find pictures take Screenshots ect...

[Travakh]

Forgot to divulge on that. I get a RoB because I tend to pick up Vlads. Life steal late game is really nice especially on the +250 - 300 damage you're rocking and even more so once you have Flayer and are dropping 500+ crits every where. Its a cheap item and increases everything you need.

Because lets face it, Dark Lady's mana pool sucks dick early/mid game.

Mana pool sucks dick sure but I don't believe investing 2k in an early vlads is the best way to spend the limited amount of gold you have in the lane phase. Straight stats improves mana pool and lifesteal is unnecessary until the lategame - the money spent on the vlads can be spent rushing the steamboots and components of the nullfire.


A huge wall of text is not appealing. Find pictures take Screenshots ect...

http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=513&stc=1&d=1250379727

[AllTimeLow]

+1 for the picture

[Shamutanti]

Confused as to why NOT go for Hellflower? Been doing that for the past 10-15 games I've had with her and it's been pretty damn successful so far. It allows you to pretty much spam moves consistantly in long team fights as opposed to burst ganks. You simply have to be aware of your low health.

Plus Enhanced Marchers are better than Treads in my view simply because the AS is granted via your huge Agi gain/Hellflower and you often won't get more than 2 hits on someone trying to run, making that extra AS useless. So you're getting the treads for movement... or the str/int... which simply isn't cost effective, whilst the enhanced marchers let you chase heros down when charge is on CD.

An additional silence is always good for plugging multiple casters also if you can't get a charge line on them all.

Her -main- problem is early game farming due to a poor damage range meaning it can be a bit of a struggle to get your cash flow going, which again is something where cheap items are a quick way to excel, unlike Desol which although awesome is horrendously expensive.

[Travakh]

Confused as to why NOT go for Hellflower? Been doing that for the past 10-15 games I've had with her and it's been pretty damn successful so far. It allows you to pretty much spam moves consistantly in long team fights as opposed to burst ganks. You simply have to be aware of your low health.

Hellflower silences, you already silence. Hellflower costs a total of 5025 gold. Deso/Shieldbreaker costs 4420 and greatly improves damage output, much more than a hellflower. Nullfire costs 3300. Charging strikes is cheap enough to spam as it stands, dark blades can only be activated once per fight, and taint soul has too lengthy a cd to 'spam' effectively. Hellflower provides much more mana than is necessary and isn't efficient on a hero that requires close to 100% efficiency in item build in order to carry a game.


Plus Enhanced Marchers are better than Treads in my view simply because the AS is granted via your huge Agi gain/Hellflower and you often won't get more than 2 hits on someone trying to run, making that extra AS useless. So you're getting the treads for movement... or the str/int... which simply isn't cost effective, whilst the enhanced marchers let you chase heros down when charge is on CD.

You have a slow and a short cd way to leap in front and bodyblock your opponents, which already ignores phasing. Steamboots has superior scaling and provides necessary early int convertible to str/agi. Fleeing heroes are usually a write off for most agi carries, they rely on teammates to usually initiate and hold down enemies.



Her -main- problem is early game farming due to a poor damage range meaning it can be a bit of a struggle to get your cash flow going, which again is something where cheap items are a quick way to excel, unlike Desol which although awesome is horrendously expensive.

Deso is a cheaper item with a worse buildup, but as long as you don't constantly die that's not an issue. If you want easy buildup a nullfire is go-to.

Hellflower is not an efficient item on dark lady, and you get steamboots primarily for boosting int for spells, then boosting str for survivability once mana no longer becomes an issue, flexibility that enhanced marchers does not provide.

[Skunkjuice]

Mana pool sucks dick sure but I don't believe investing 2k in an early vlads is the best way to spend the limited amount of gold you have in the lane phase. Straight stats improves mana pool and lifesteal is unnecessary until the lategame - the money spent on the vlads can be spent rushing the steamboots and components of the nullfire.

I don't rush Vlads. I simply pick up ROB early game if no one on my team has one or if I'm in a lane with someone who wont be using one. I don't get Vlads till after I have Null blade/steam boots/fortified bracer/soulscream band and am working towards Flayer

[Travakh]

I don't rush Vlads. I simply pick up ROB early game if no one on my team has one or if I'm in a lane with someone who wont be using one. I don't get Vlads till after I have Null blade/steam boots/fortified bracer/soulscream band and am working towards Flayer

Ah, that's understandable. But really the person babysitting you should be holding the basil, you need your stats =|

[Skunkjuice]

Ah, that's understandable. But really the person babysitting you should be holding the basil, you need your stats =|

Aye, agreed 100% but I don't always play with my friends so some times I just need to get it my self :P

In regards to the person who says Hellflower is a superior item on Dark Lady, I must agree with Travakh on every counter point be mentioned.

Early game Dark Lady's mana pool is lacking, but considering you're not getting Cover of Darkness at level 11/16 the moment you hit those levels buying a Hellflower is 1000% over kill and does nothing but buff your AS and Mana Regen, both are mostly useless and can be attained simply from stats and better item investments. Dark Lady can after be a very deadly late game Agi carry, and running around with a Hellflower will not aid you in that department.

Null Blade alone from the + bonus to Int nearly solves all of your mana problems for the rest of the game. & for a fraction of the cost.

[Full_Effect]

Edit: Yeah, nvm. Dumb question.

[m4c4n999]

hellflower on dark lady? i bet u make wingbow to torturer as first item.

tbh i preffer to go runed axe, whispering helm, steamboots, 2 soulscreamers and wingbow. depending on their team i get vanguard instead of 1 soul.

[maermanthe]

what about Runed Axe on her?

[Kietharr]

Expensive item and doesn't give her terribad stats any sort of increase. It's an item that is only effective on a choice few heroes as a primary item. She's not among them.

[Travakh]

Expensive item and doesn't give her terribad stats any sort of increase. It's an item that is only effective on a choice few heroes as a primary item. She's not among them.

It's perfectly viable as a tertiary item once you pick up the critstick, though. Most games don't get to that point.

[ElementUser]

What's wrong with Hellflower? :(. Dark Lady needs lots of mana to function properly.
Maybe add Bottle as an optional early item because it's a cheap source of burst mana

[Travakh]

Updated with pretty pictures


What's wrong with Hellflower? :(. Dark Lady needs lots of mana to function properly.
Maybe add Bottle as an optional early item because it's a cheap source of burst mana

Dark Lady doesn't need a lot of mana, it's just that her starting mana pool is ****-all-pitiful. Bottle would be a nice item if she were an early ganker but other heroes should be runewhoring and she's really better off with early stats.

You will have no mana problems with int steamboots.

[Real_Wolf]

I'm sorry, I"m incredibly confused by how rubbish your skill build is.

You only get one level of darkblades. YOu realise that you gain a fair bit of damage AND you get triple the amount of time its active by getting it to level 4 early?

That is just plain stupid.

Your basically stopping her from being the imba lategame carry that she can be by not letting her own early-mid game due to a lack of dps.

She is easily one of the best agi carries, All the people who continue to say that she isn't need to go look at just how they are playing her because she is mega-crazy, and its not just lategame either.

Her stat gain isn't piss weak, go look at other bloody heroes. Rather her stat gain is average, but she has miserable starting int. Get it right

Finally, getting juts a bit of stat item boost lets you pull off one whole combo easily enough, which should net at least one kill, if not a double, if you gank with an ally.

On another note, getting cover of darkness early really isn't worth it. Its got a high mana cost on a hero with low int, and its benefit is rather small at early levels. You won't gain much by having it at level 6, except for your lack of mana if you decide to use it.

Hellflower is not a good item, it doesn't boost her agi thus not strengthening her dark blades, its mana regen is nice but unneeded by the time you finish it if you bought something else which is substantially cheaper, say a runed axe, and the int increase is nice but once more, doesn't help her damage or survive at all. For that price other items are ALOT better, say Runed Axe as a good example of a cheaper BETTER item for her.

She is a severly underestimated hero, because everyone keeps saying "well, she is incredibly weak" and assuming that where they heard it from is right. They play with her and don't do so well and then go "yeah, its true, she is a support/caster not a overpowered dps machine", rather than looking at how your playing her and thinking "hmm, I could do alot better if I built better"

[RenoFox]

Personally I always rush for Thunderclaw, then Ruined axe.

I like my OP Farming, jump in all dead, walk away. They don't have time to gank you because you're already gone.

And if their heroes are near, the combo 2 items + 2 skills is better then earth shaker's ulti lol. When they try to push I pop out of nowhere and they're already near dead with no creep support.

[Travakh]

I'm sorry, I"m incredibly confused by how rubbish your skill build is.

You only get one level of darkblades. YOu realise that you gain a fair bit of damage AND you get triple the amount of time its active by getting it to level 4 early?

That is just plain stupid.

Your basically stopping her from being the imba lategame carry that she can be by not letting her own early-mid game due to a lack of dps.

You don't do damage if you're dead. You don't do damage if you don't have any damage items. You should be hard-farming to get those said items in midgame, as opposed to contributing minimally to teamfights and failing to farm said items. Before you have significant damage (i.e. before your wingbow), the only real use for dark blades is the line silence, as you can't actually kill things yet.

Cover of Darkness at 6 costs 50 mana and is used as a team initiate. You take it at 6/11/16 for team use, not personal use.

I have the feeling you're speaking strictly from a pub perspective.

[Real_Wolf]

You do realise that what your saying is more of a pub style, thinking you can get to such lategame setup.

She is a very overpowered hero, and by not getting dark blades your missing early-mid game.
http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=10457&page=3

Read some of my posts frmo there, explains in much more depth just why she is a worthwhile hero, and yes, it can be used as a team initiate but the ganks aroudn that time, the small time of the ulti make it fairly ineffective.

Using it for personal use just sounds stupid, I don't know how you confered that, but the cost of it is significant in terms of your available mana and by doing that you stunt your actual ganking potential.

Seriously, you can do incredibly well with her midgame, it costs alot of mana but built right you do have the mana you need, at least for one combo, and you CAN kill fragile heroes. Especially since 6 - 8.5 seconds of silence is a very significant thing, lets you kill those fragile mana based heroes who really need their spells. Magebane can't blink away, rather than 2.5 seconds of silence you give him 8.5. Rooft can't go invisible. Scout can't go invis. Thunder can't nuke you, etc.

I dunno bout you, but 6-8.5 seconds of silence ism uch better than 2.5-4.5, and I know which I'd prefer to have. Beef yourself up with items, not stats, stats are ONLY useful if you are on a hero who doesn't need his skills, for all others which is almost all other heroes, you should just get items which help you survive instead, such as 2 bracelets

[Belial]

Glacius had a ring of the teacher in my lane once. All the sudden you go from poor laner to a rape machine, it's pretty great.

[Travakh]

You do realise that what your saying is more of a pub style, thinking you can get to such lategame setup.


Nope, you can't in real games, which is why darklady is a comparatively weaker pick. Corebuild is a nullfire blade, 2 bracers, and steamboots.

8 seconds of silence is nice on dark blades, but that requires you to be attacking something continually for six seconds. And if you're attacking something and it isn't being killed in six seconds you're going to lose the fight if the opposing player and team is competent. Whatever you're attacking midgame in teambattles should be dead within a few seconds, thus, the 3 sec duration of L1 blades is perfectly fine for silence lockdown.

50 mana is nothing on dark lady, and 150 mana is nothing by the time you pick 11 and start building nullfire.

Against competent teams it is extremely difficult to do well with darklady in midgame ganks as she's essentially too fragile to present much of a threat, even with 1500 hp. Similar to Zephyr, to be deployed well, she needs her items and needs them quickly, and thus needs to farm midgame as much as possible. This isn't an attribute of a pub playstyle, this is the attribute of a hero with very poor base skills but high scaling.

[Mr_Kzimir]

I read your guide and you made me realise some few details, and few thing i miss judged.
TBH i think steam boots are not a core item for her.

[Real_Wolf]

Why does nullfire have to be a core? It doesn't make her live any longer.

From what I'm reading from your post, you are complaining that she is too fragile to be useful, and as such you should use her just as a silence, rather than as a dps.

How, with 1500 hp, is she any more fragile than any other hero with the same or less hp? Especially if you tank her up slightly so that she doesn't die quickly, does not 250 damage per hit mean anything good to you?

You say its only useful for the silence, but really, what if theres more than one hero your ganking? You go in, you kill one, you attack th eother so they are silenced. Mid-late game I can usually put down my dps on 2 or maybe even 3, and because of silence they can only retaliate with physical dps which is by far inadequate agaisnt her.

Saying things like nullfire blade is the Core build, and then saying "nope, she's weak", and THEN saying "you can't attack for the full 6 seconds ever so its useless", and THEN saying "she's too fragile with 1500 hp" is just circular logic.

Give an actual explanation as to just why these things would occur:

First, she would be "too fragile", when her hp with 2 bracers and steamboots (str) is roughly the same as ANY other agility hero, MOST int heroes, etc?

Second, 150 mana is nothing, when her entire combo costs approximately 350 mana without the ultimate at that point. Are you saying having 500 mana on her is nothing major? 50 mana is ALOT when you don't have that much mana and no mana regen.

Third, How are you ever going to get to lategame, in a realistic game I have never gotten past level 17, if we have its been a very unusual game. Saying that, your build essentially renders her worthless, a farmer through the whole game who can't help in ganks, your essentially making your team 4v5, while MY build allows the player to put down significant damage, and if played carefully, carry and NOT die.

Fourth, why lifesteal wouldn't be a core item on someone who hits 250 dmg a hit, especially when you get an item like abyssal skull which also gives a mana regen component and a % melee dmg increase.

Fifth, Why heroes like pyromancer, thunderbringer, defiler, etc would NOT benefit from a longer silence time? By not getting the full six seconds, even if you attack for 4 of them instead of 3, it means that they can't turn and spam their combo on you possibly killing you cause you build your items incredibly badly and have no health?

Sixth, why she is an awful laner, when she has a better attack animation than most melee heroes, and a blink, so if you play catiously she can lane equally well as most if not all strength heroes who no one complains about

[McBaddy]

Alright, so take into account that this is written from the pub perspective of a relatively new player. I didn't play dota, but I have played probably around 110-150 games of HoN already, so I've picked up the basics.

Trying out dark lady has been an exercise in frustration. How are you supposed to get all (or any) of the listed gear, when she is such a terrible farmer/laner? My average game time is 40 minutes, and usually if you're still farming after 25 your team is going to win anyways without you.

First off, her starting damage isn't that great for last hitting and due to her low int, she's not very good at harassing because once you've used your abilities you can't use them unless you have a mana regen or run back (unless glacius/RotTeacher), and on top of that her starting health isn't very good either, so you really need to save mana to be able to blink out if things get hairy.

Assuming you can get a support player on your team to lane with you (big assumption in pubs where everyone is LOLCARRY), and you don't get put against a strong lane combo (more if's), and you can get really strong farm, will she be amazing then? I spent the first 25 minutes just trying to farm, but finally quit after team started yelling at me (although I was still initiating with CoDarkness). I then proceeded to be largely useless in team fights, except for the occasionally well timed slow/silence combo, and cover of darkness.

I know that she has some potential, because I've seen her do well. Do you just have to have a really strong team to be able to use her? I've thought of trying to rush a frostwolf skull, since she really need stats, health mana and a snare, but somehow I think I wouldn't quite make it there. =P advice appreciated.

[SWARM_THEM]

a couple notes about Dlady you might want to add to ur guide:

- her charging strike hits invis people. at least i've used it to kill a steambathed magmus. :)

- her dark blades' silence can stop channeling spells. like magmus's ult. :)

[Real_Wolf]

I've tried frost skull, and indeed my game was very similar to yours, just spent too long farming and wasn't nearly useful enough.

imsojuicy, of course it can stop channeling, but it can also bring magmus out if you use it + charging strike, quite useful.

Anyways, back to the point. McBaddy, no, you don't NEED a good team. If your on a bad team against a good team you will struggle, because she isn't a 1v3 hero (indeed, most heroes get stuffed at that point), so you definetely need a team that is good enough to back you up 3v3.

However, her starting damage is fairly average, good enough for what is needed. She isn't a spell spammer so yes, save your mana. Her starting attack animation however is bloody brilliant. So she isn't such a weak laner that you think, practise your last hitting and denying against a ranged hero who is only a semi-good laner (ie, not thunderbringer, defiler, pyro, or arachna, or against a stunning pair) you stay back by ranged creep, and just run in to last hit. Drag the enemy creeps towards you if you need extra help (click on enemy hero when nearby the creeps, then run away so the creeps don't attack you, but end up on your side of the creeps instead of theirs).

And she really does need stats, bracers/wraiths are incredibly (the str / agi +6,+3,+3 items). Not to mention, at level 5 she has a ~200 damage nuke, and a 3 second double damage rune, which is enough to net a kill with a teammate. If you farmed really well, got most of the last hits, and have a courier/went back to base, you can usually chuck in a charge too to make the initiating even easier. But still, with a stun is best. Either way, unless its a mega tank hero, you can normally kill one of them with one teammate who has a disable (not silence, a stun/slow), and maybe even two.

If you are stuck in a lane with an incredible laner, then request a switch, because if your under levelled and under farmed you ARE not worthwhile to your team.

Oh, and finally, don't get darkness falls until level 10-11, please, please don't. Seriously. I know people keep saying its worth it, but I've played about 40 games with her now, and have seriously found that for its worth, all it really leaves you is a lack of mana, at which point you stop getting as many kills and instead get relegated to the 'support' section which wastes the potential for your dark blades, and for your charge.

[Sonnyk9]

hey guys ... warupppp

[Mr_Kzimir]

Really interresting post wolf,

I do agree that darkness at lvl 6 is far from beeing needed , i think the correct typo should be 1 blade / 2 slow / 3 charge at 6 but i might be wrong too.

I also believe that our biggest mistake about her is trying to get in touch with evolved gear when she prolly need the basic items more.

What i mean by that is , I have tried few games yesterday night (5 actually) all in ap mode and etc etc.

On the 2, first game i "rushed" for RoS , which is a really good item , but cost lots of cash (1700), problem is that this item only fix one part of your weakness, the low mana pool. TBH this sux cause you are challenged by both your mp and and your hp.
And this will lead you to buying bracers and the finnaly get in touch with your , end game gear farming.

In otherwords where other heroes use their starting items to kill, and farm as much as possible i was choosing my items to survive as if ennemie heroes where already 10 level above me.

Then i realised that after lvl 11 she start to have decent stats , nothing great but she can run with around 1000 hp /500 mp naked.
I am starting to rethinking my all build regarding these datas now.

Is she that much a glass cannon , when her stat gain / armor is higher then magebane ?

I think we are searching the wrong way

[Calidh]

Personally I almost always get FB with Dark Lady, say I am level 5, I have Tainted Soul on level 3, charge on level 1 and Dark Blades on level 1. With a competent mate it's almost a certain kill, even against decent+ players.

[Keldosh]

Why are we overlooking stats? Stats provide hp AND mana. Stats give you enough mana to not have to worry about the cost of charging strike. Stats+Charging strike=win.

[VonSoot]

Cool guide, makes me want to play this atrocious hero some more.

[McBaddy]

alright, so i played a game and this time i did well early on with last hits, and (lol) got 2 ganks early on because other team was over zealous about attempting to gank us. i also changed skill order a bit to accommodate for some early stats. also, i underestimated the power of charging strikes. i previously tried out the extended snare, or the early dark blades for dmg... charging strikes is the way to go. the shorter CD, extended charge distance, and reduced mana cost is HUGE. i went...



charging
taint soul
charging
dark blades
charging
stats
charging
stats
stats
ult
ult
taint soul
taint soul
taint soul
dark blades
ult
db
db
stats...

did amazing. of course, one of our guys dc'd at the start of the game, so we still lost... but because i used charging strikes a lot smarter, did better on last hits, and stuck to the 2xfort bracers, 1xsteamboots, 1xdiffusal, it went perfectly. of course, any time i got stunned near more than 1 person, i died... so it was imperative for me to stay away from fights at the start. if it had been 5v5, the game would have lasted long enough for me to get a shrunken head, and i think it would have been GG at that point then.

i guess so long as i don't get stuck in a crappy lane i will enjoy this hero now.

[Kolmodajn]

I would have to say your skill/item build is kinda ****ed up
And saying that she needs babysitting? That is bullshit

[JusUniQ]

er how does orb effects work on Heros of newerth... if its similar to dota does desolator and eye of skadi and a purge stick even stack??? Besides that you suggest helm of dominator and sny which are supposedly orb effects as well... pretty sure ur item choices dont stack up

[Real_Wolf]

yeah, gotta agree.

McBaddy, you didn't build very well. DIffusal is a waste, you want something with more survival, try building a hack and then going for hack and slash, tanks her up quite nicely while still providing decent dps.

As for your skill build, maxing dark blades and taint soul is IMPERITIVE in early game. Yes, the lower mana cost/other benefits of charge are great, but seriously the benefits from having more damage, longer slow, longer silence FAR outweigh the benefits for charge

[Mr_Kzimir]

My last dark lady game was like that :

Charge
Slow
Blade
Charge
Slow
Slow
Slow
Charge
Blade
Charge
Blade
Ulti
Blade
Stats

I went for :
- Scarab + Blight + Crown
- Trinket at top line shop around 4 min.

End gear was :

- Enchanced Marcher, Fortified Bracelet, Abyssal Skull, Flayer, Shield Breaker.

As for the game we were dominated by 10 kill at around 25 minutes which made one of my teamate leaving. But was laning duoing with a jerezaih and i must admit with his shield and heal i ended the game with a 24/6.
Seriously, end game mp are getting way less important then in early game, focusing on HP is the really thing.

I was 4 shotting a Staff of master , ritual stone pyromancer , i just love those 700+ damage crit

[Travakh]

yeah, gotta agree.

McBaddy, you didn't build very well. DIffusal is a waste, you want something with more survival, try building a hack and then going for hack and slash, tanks her up quite nicely while still providing decent dps.

As for your skill build, maxing dark blades and taint soul is IMPERITIVE in early game. Yes, the lower mana cost/other benefits of charge are great, but seriously the benefits from having more damage, longer slow, longer silence FAR outweigh the benefits for charge

Lol.

To be honest, if you disagree with me, you should write your own guide, as opposed to giving poor advice in my thread.

[Real_Wolf]

You saying that I"m giving poor advise? And yet those who follow your advise go "yeah, she is rather weak", while those who follow my advice go "hmm, that worked well"

Kzimir, not a bad build, I still prefer max blade before charge but at least you maxed the nuke nice and quick.

JusUniQ, all orb effects stack, with a few that do not. Only one lifesteal (ignoring the aura which does stack with lifesteal), and I think its shieldbreaker and frostwolf don't work together

[Travakh]

You saying that I"m giving poor advise? And yet those who follow your advise go "yeah, she is rather weak", while those who follow my advice go "hmm, that worked well"


The people that take advice are playing in pubs. I can pubstomp with dagon 5 on Chronos. Dagon 5 tears apart pubs. Therefore it's the best item on every hero ever~

Go scrim around 1800, deploy a dark lady with s&y, and see what happens. Really.

[Khaos`]

I haven't read the whole thread yet, so excuse me if this has been said but...

Nullfire Blade does not remove debuffs.

[Travakh]

I haven't read the whole thread yet, so excuse me if this has been said but...

Nullfire Blade does not remove debuffs.

I've stripped slither poisons, hellbringer dots, etc. So yes, it does.

[KorbenDallas]

Dude sweet guide, love the name =D

[MrSoada]

You should overemphasize the fact that you need a babysitter. Telling people that they need a competent voodoo jester to baysit them for half a page ought to do it.

[Fav`]

Nice Guide helped alot :P

[Real_Wolf]

you don't NEED a babysitter anymore than most melee heroes, str included.

Unless you are up against a far superior laning hero, of which there are fairly few, you should not need that much babysitting

[Killda]

you don't NEED a babysitter anymore than most melee heroes, str included.

Unless you are up against a far superior laning hero, of which there are fairly few, you should not need that much babysitting

You are so wrong. Did you not read the beginning of the guide that stated her ridiculously low stats, u will get torn apart in lane by any1 with a disable, nuke, or any way to hurt u without taking much creep damage.

[Real_Wolf]

You are so wrong. Did you not read the beginning of the guide that stated her ridiculously low stats, u will get torn apart in lane by any1 with a disable, nuke, or any way to hurt u without taking much creep damage.

You are so wrong, did you not look at her stats and str gain? She has decent enough life compared to MANY int/agi heroes and even a few str heroes, and thus with good early game survivability items you will be exactly the same as any other hero.

If you truly believe that she HAS to have a babysitter (Note, babysitter, not a lane mate, but someone specifically to babysit), so do these heroes (And actually, I think some of these do):
Chronos
Madman
Moon Queen
Arachna (according to your one nuke/disable and dead, she has less starting health and less str gain)
Night Hound
Scout (one dust+disable dead)
Swiftblade
Magebane (so he can blink, stun/silence him and with his low health, he dies, according to you)
War Beast (slightly tankier, but not by that much)
Zephyr (miserable starting health, kill kill kill)

[kertiek]

u just used dark lady ... my team won the game at 32 min, i got 10 kills 1 death and 16 assists, i tried to play her before reading this guide and it was almost 15 min of farming to then get to the fun part, with the theory of realwolf i tried to max taint soul asap, 1 lvl for charging strikes and the rest for dark blades, only when i maxed dark blades and taint i got the ulty, by then i already got 4 kills and 1 death.

for the item build i got enhanced marchers, nullfire blade, hack, slash, abysall skull, completed manta and got a slot free because the game ended.

the very first item i got after the enhanced marchers were the +6 int for making the nullfire blade + a tallisman of exile i didnt fell need for more mana, if fact i got a lot of last hits (creeps ... no hero ks ) with taint when i needed gold .. :P
they ganked me 4 times, with charged strikes and the skill of enhanced boots they were fast behind me trying to keep up with scape, didnt even missed the atk speed bonus from steamboots.

dark lady is a very good hero but for that u need to make a few good moves in early/mid game and the only way for that is with taint maxed asap and dark blades unleast at lvl 2 or 3


and also, the spell from nullfire blade + the slow of taint....there is no hero silenced that can space from that, is a very powerfull combo

for those that say that nullfireblade is a bad item for her

it gives +20 damage 20% attack speed a little of armor, burns mana and slows enemys? only for 3.300 gold .... i always try to make the heros more agressive on their strengths (slow, silence and kill) rather their weakneses( low hp, low mana)

so i hav to say... i agree at some point with both of u .. :D?

PD: sorry for the bad english

[MrSoada]

Real wolf you are an idiot. Comments in italics.

Chronos Doesn't ever solo. **** Hp/melee
Madman ^
Moon Queen Ranged, can solo. Nukes to keep enemies at bay.
Arachna (according to your one nuke/disable and dead, she has less starting health and less str gain) You moron. Huge range and orb walking. Just kill yourself
Night Hound Doesn't solo. Ever.
Scout (one dust+disable dead) Isn't ever used by someone with the intelligence/skill to solo
Swiftblade Works best with disable/slow. Soloing is just stupid as he can't farm being a weak agi melee. Notice a trend here?
Magebane (so he can blink, stun/silence him and with his low health, he dies, according to you) Shouldn't solo. Weak agi that's melee.
War Beast (slightly tankier, but not by that much) Should be jungling, not laning.
Zephyr (miserable starting health, kill kill kill) Shouldn't solo anyways because he heads to neuts at 3-5.

[McBaddy]

so i was in game earlier, where dark lady was played by a teammate. she got boots and minor regen at start, and then just played extremely conservative. she managed to get some kills in team fights at starts and then went runed axe x 3 before game was over. she finished at like 15 - 0. granted other team wasn't great, but she just played extremely smart, and was amazing end game....

[Real_Wolf]

MrSoada, I wasn't saying that those heroes Solo, learn to read, I was saying they don't need babysitting.

Babysitting is when you must have someone in your lane of sufficient threat to keep your enemies at bay so that you can actually last hit, usualy someone with a heal but not always. Almost always a ranged hero.

Now, dark lady does not need taht, neither do most of those heroes I listed.

Now moon queen has small range, no health, and "nukes tok eep enemies at bay" which is a nuke without a slow, while you have a nuke with a slow. Comparing the relative ranges you are pretty much equal, with an escape, in terms of farming.

You said that a disable/nuke and you'd go down, so I listed other heroes who have similar hp/stats early game.

War beast shouldn't always be jungling, he's very easily ganked if he does, and whats more in a lane he can actually farm faster, unless quite harrassed.

Arachna you say has "huge range and orb walking", but how will taht save you from a disable? Please learn to read and stop making things up, I said quite clearly "according to you one disable and gone", now considering that most heroes have a disable, and that 2 people in a lane is very common, its a simple case of nuking her and she will go down without a "babysitter", unless she does what EVERY hero does and gets some health boosting str items at the start, which lets her stay in the lane, just like how dark lady can.

YOu evidently don't read, and merely respond to what you assume would make your argument sound best, and I am thinking you either don't know what babysitting is or you really don't know how to play

[Run_Faster]

MrSoada, I wasn't saying that those heroes Solo, learn to read, I was saying they don't need babysitting.

Babysitting is when you must have someone in your lane of sufficient threat to keep your enemies at bay so that you can actually last hit, usualy someone with a heal but not always. Almost always a ranged hero.

Now, dark lady does not need taht, neither do most of those heroes I listed.

Now moon queen has small range, no health, and "nukes tok eep enemies at bay" which is a nuke without a slow, while you have a nuke with a slow. Comparing the relative ranges you are pretty much equal, with an escape, in terms of farming.

You said that a disable/nuke and you'd go down, so I listed other heroes who have similar hp/stats early game.

War beast shouldn't always be jungling, he's very easily ganked if he does, and whats more in a lane he can actually farm faster, unless quite harrassed.

Arachna you say has "huge range and orb walking", but how will taht save you from a disable? Please learn to read and stop making things up, I said quite clearly "according to you one disable and gone", now considering that most heroes have a disable, and that 2 people in a lane is very common, its a simple case of nuking her and she will go down without a "babysitter", unless she does what EVERY hero does and gets some health boosting str items at the start, which lets her stay in the lane, just like how dark lady can.

YOu evidently don't read, and merely respond to what you assume would make your argument sound best, and I am thinking you either don't know what babysitting is or you really don't know how to play

Yo,
Excuse me if i missed 1 of your posts Wolf but could u just post your skill/item build plz?

Thanks in advance

[Real_Wolf]

I've changed it recently, the mana cost on taint soul is just too high, play her with disablers on your team and rely on them

charge, dark, dark, charge, dark, charge, dark, charge, ulti, ulti, statsx5, ulti, taintx4, stats

As for item build, a couple of wraith bands (never remember their name), steam boots, then depending on the enemy maybe nullfire blade, or shrunken head (if I can't lay down any of my damage), depending on which was gotten above get the other, then wingbow/heart (depending on where most of the damage is coming from to me)

[SHJordan]

Please update your guide for patch 1.45 =\

[Travakh]

Please update your guide for patch 1.45 =\

working on it but there aren't any critical changes, a mana battery and maybe a logger's axe for early

[reno]

Very bad guide

Why try and make a guide when you cant even get a decent psr. I roll 1800 kids with darklady.

[XxByakuyaxX1]

Decent guide. Nothing new or special for DL.
Disagree with your starting build. You said she has terrible lane control, so getting just one set runes of bright will make you go back to fountain after 4 mins.
I suggest 2 set runes of bright, 4 minor totem and the item that gives you +2 all stats (can't remember what it's called)
On dmg item, I prefer thunderclaw over your nullfire. Simply it does 150 dmg when proc to 4 targets, make you better in teamfight and farming.

[Saekki]

Good guide. 1 question, what does the Dark lady say when she cast the ult? i swear i can hear some kind of voice, but never quite understand it.

"Suck my balls!"

[Travakh]

Very bad guide

Why try and make a guide when you cant even get a decent psr. I roll 1800 kids with darklady.

Because there wasn't one. You're clearly more qualified and a much better player than I am, so hurry up and put your own guide out.

Oh wait, you don't have the time, too busy rolling pubs, I'm sorry to hear that.

[Chipper]

personally

strike
stats
l6- darkness
maybe more stats
blades
1 lvl slow
stats
maw darkness when u can


items
start :
x2 agi boots = 300
x1 hp bottle / 2x minor totems = 100 depending on how gay ur lane will b
x2 tree eaters = 180

inlane :
nab loggers / sheild when u can (depending on what u need first)

late :
all situational standard agi dmg delaer items.

[Travakh]

This guide has been updated for 1.47, finally. Revamped skill and item build, and Runed Axe makes it into core.

[Lee_K]

i was buildin her with bkb and 4 runed axes before .47

fun pubbie build

[Travakh]

Yeah I've been facerolling pubs with her.

Pubs are shocked when I build straight down the list and wander around at the 55 minute mark critting for 1.7k. Like this scout who kept attacking me, as soon as the disarm wore off he took two 1.6k crits and died on the spot

**** was hilarious

Also note, don't expect games to ever get past the 'L4 riftshards' part, or to even reach it normally. The core is runed axe + one of the three attack modifiers, with L4 riftshards and shrunken head coming afterwards in luxury. The rest is just fluff if the game somehow gets to the 90 minute mark.

[Lethe]

More or less the skill build/item build I use, so yea not much to say. After my core 5 I would prob get symbol of rage over heart but no one has ever stuck around that long.

Farming with tdL is clockwork once she gets her runed axe. You can be decked out with 25k in less then a hour easily if you play your cards right. I was doing this even before the last patch, now it's even easier then it was before.

[Tripod]

I think Nullfire is a much better first item. Dark Blades scale based on base damage, not + damage items, so you want to pick up as much +agility items as possible.

[Jake]

Good guide. 1 question, what does the Dark lady say when she cast the ult? i swear i can hear some kind of voice, but never quite understand it.
IMO it sounds like "Suck my balls" :P

[Travakh]

I think Nullfire is a much better first item. Dark Blades scale based on base damage, not + damage items, so you want to pick up as much +agility items as possible.

It would be, if the massive damage boost+AS boost that you can pick up on command didn't synergize with cleave + mana regeneration so well. It was true pre-patch when dark lady couldn't afford to spam spells to farm, but as it stands now runed axe is just too good a first item.

[Tripod]

It would be, if the massive damage boost+AS boost that you can pick up on command didn't synergize with cleave + mana regeneration so well. It was true pre-patch when dark lady couldn't afford to spam spells to farm, but as it stands now runed axe is just too good a first item.

Well in terms of damage, it's +65 of runed axe vs +50.6 for nullfire with dark blades. You get 22 increased attack speed as well. 6 intel also helps a little bit in terms of mana. And technically, the damage boost from Dark Blades doesn't synergize with Runed Axe since it doesn't add +agi.

And of course the biggest utility is the purge, which in competitive play will always be useful (Jeraziah, Hellbringer ulti, Hammerstorm ulti, etc).

Have you thought about going maybe nullfire first then geometers? It adds everything needed, 30 agi, 10 str/int, move speed, and images. Does dark blades work with images? If so, then there cannot be any question about getting this item.

Another interesting first item could be Nullstone(linken's) as well.

[Travakh]

Well in terms of damage, it's +65 of runed axe vs +50.6 for nullfire with dark blades. You get 22 increased attack speed as well. 6 intel also helps a little bit in terms of mana. And technically, the damage boost from Dark Blades doesn't synergize with Runed Axe since it doesn't add +agi.

And of course the biggest utility is the purge, which in competitive play will always be useful (Jeraziah, Hellbringer ulti, Hammerstorm ulti, etc).

Have you thought about going maybe nullfire first then geometers? It adds everything needed, 30 agi, 10 str/int, move speed, and images. Does dark blades work with images? If so, then there cannot be any question about getting this item.


The first point, yes its true, but dark blades synergizes with *cleave* extremely well. Cleaving with dark blades active clears a creep line and does major damage to heroes packed in an area, hitting a charging strikes through a packed hero line cleaves all of them quite well.

The purge is superb which is why I recommend nullfire immediately after the runed axe. The battlefury expedites the farming of nullfire quite well.

Geometer images do not benefit from the 75 AS or 130% damage buff from zeal or dark blades which is why it's listed last among the endgame items.

I listed nullfire as the first item you should get pre-patch because of exactly the reasons you listed. The patch buffs bumped it to the second item you should field, because being able to use your dark blades and charging strikes regularly (due to vastly reduced mana cost) along with the +75 attack speed from Zeal just makes runed axe the superior first item, especially when you consider the more useful buildup (the sustainer in particular).

[patski]

Just played her. Went similar build, but copied items. Lightning Claw was AMAZING on Dark Lady for farming. I just plowed through creep waves with quick strikes. Although I did get lifesteal because my team was terrible and I did mostly everything.

[Llama]

Good guide, maybe add in Iron sheild (poor mans sheild) in there if your getting harrassed lots, considering the type of people who would read this guide

[dumblydore]

Here's my build..Please give some feedback! :D

Marchers -> Enhanced Marchers
Sustainer -> Runed Axe
(With just these two items alone, you could already be destroying pubs and farming like a beast..em though)
Riftshards (is wingbow better? wingbow costs 500 more but the 30 agi works very well with dark blades, while riftshards provides awesome crit to go with your attack speed) -> 1-2 upgrades, or max if no stun needed
Brutalizer (if stun is needed)

I might occasionally throw in lifesteal somewhere if needed...

Good/Bad?

[Testknight]

Good guide, maybe add in Iron sheild (poor mans sheild) in there if your getting harrassed lots, considering the type of people who would read this guide

Are you implying that only bad players get harassed as melees?

[Travakh]

Here's my build..Please give some feedback! :D

Marchers -> Enhanced Marchers
Sustainer -> Runed Axe
(With just these two items alone, you could already be destroying pubs and farming like a beast..em though)
Riftshards (is wingbow better? wingbow costs 500 more but the 30 agi works very well with dark blades, while riftshards provides awesome crit to go with your attack speed) -> 1-2 upgrades, or max if no stun needed
Brutalizer (if stun is needed)

I might occasionally throw in lifesteal somewhere if needed...

Good/Bad?

Enhanced marchers don't scale as well as agi steamboots do, and the stats on steamboots are overall more useful.

Early riftshards as your second item isn't as effective; riftshards should be taken when you're critting for 1k+ damage. Other items can improve your damage more than riftshards when placed in the second item slot.

Wingbow is inferior to riftshards for raw damage but superior to virtually every other item because it's 60/+70 damage with 30% evasion.

[BigHustles]

DARK BLADES: Dark Blades applies a self-buff for 3/4/5/6 seconds that improves base damage (hero's damage + damage from agi, not raw +damage from items) by 70/90/120/130%.

Why does that make a difference? I don't get it.

[Travakh]

Why does that make a difference? I don't get it.

Lets say I have a base damage of 50, 50 agi on top of that, and an item that gives +50 damage.

The tooltip will read 100+50=150 damage, but my base damage is actually 100, so when dark blades activates I'll receive 130 additional damage. The item that gives +50 raw damage yields no benefit to dark blades.

[Sniper`]

Nice guide

[JingExE1]

Well this is a decent guide after all and I don't want to sound too judgemental when I say that what you list in the guide could be easily figured out if one try out dark lady in game. Anyhow the main point of this post is to question your item build. I see that in your item build you have listed several morph items.. or what we call it in dota "orb" items: shield breaker, frostwolf skull, whispering helm, and charged hammer. Just so you know that althought the stats do stack, the effect of the items won't when you use them together. The strongest effect would take override the other, for example if you have shield breaker, frostwolf skull, and whispering helm together.. u would most likely have the - armor defbuff and your frostwolf skull and life drain from whispering helm won't work. Just wanted to point that out so you can improve your guide.
-JingExE

[Travakh]

Well this is a decent guide after all and I don't want to sound too judgemental when I say that what you list in the guide could be easily figured out if one try out dark lady in game. Anyhow the main point of this post is to question your item build. I see that in your item build you have listed several morph items.. or what we call it in dota "orb" items: shield breaker, frostwolf skull, whispering helm, and charged hammer. Just so you know that althought the stats do stack, the effect of the items won't when you use them together. The strongest effect would take override the other, for example if you have shield breaker, frostwolf skull, and whispering helm together.. u would most likely have the - armor defbuff and your frostwolf skull and life drain from whispering helm won't work. Just wanted to point that out so you can improve your guide.
-JingExE

Orbs stack in HoN with the exception of deso and skadi, which is why I said to pick up one or the other. Every other orb stacks, so I advise you play a little more HoN.

[BigHustles]

Lets say I have a base damage of 50, 50 agi on top of that, and an item that gives +50 damage.

The tooltip will read 100+50=150 damage, but my base damage is actually 100, so when dark blades activates I'll receive 130 additional damage. The item that gives +50 raw damage yields no benefit to dark blades.

Hmmm. So you want to stack agi then instead of just pure dmg? Is that the point?

[Travakh]

Hmmm. So you want to stack agi then instead of just pure dmg? Is that the point?

Not necessarily, critstick and cleave offer very good yields on TDL, but +agi items yield better rewards, which is why items like Savage Mace/Charged Hammer don't make the cut and why steamboots are better than enhanced marchers.

[JingExE1]

Orbs stack in HoN with the exception of deso and skadi, which is why I said to pick up one or the other. Every other orb stacks, so I advise you play a little more HoN.

Well excuse me for not having read through 5 pages of comment and skip through your post your godliness. However I am giving my opinion through my previous experiences. HoN is new but the concept isn't for a player such as I; however, your recommendation is honestly appreciated although you phrased it so rudely. Anyhow, so your saying that any orb items in dota stack except those that mentioned under the "morph" item tag? I'll keep that in mind, thanks

-JingExE

[Travakh]

Well excuse me for not having read through 5 pages of comment and skip through your post your godliness. However I am giving my opinion through my previous experiences. HoN is new but the concept isn't for a player such as I; however, your recommendation is honestly appreciated although you phrased it so rudely. Anyhow, so your saying that any orb items in dota stack except those that mentioned under the "morph" item tag? I'll keep that in mind, thanks

-JingExE

Everything stacks except deso or skadi with each other.

[sHoWTiMe]

To be honest I don't think you'll have trouble farming a frostwolfs skull, since you can do dark blades + charging strikes and a group of creaps is completely dead.

This hero has become awesome.

[spikernum1]

Nice guide AAAAA++++



and

If you get any of these items I will kick you in the face

[Griddler]

I just want to say that the subtitle for this guide sucks big time. "haha you're blind enjoy death" is incredibly lame.

[Lapp0]

I lol'd when I saw it :[

[Praktiss]

I just want to say that the subtitle for this guide sucks big time. "haha you're blind enjoy death" is incredibly lame.

Totally agreed.
Great guide. HORRIBLE catchphrase.

Clearly you're reasonably clever, what with kickingpeople in the face who pick crappy items. Try to find something a little more clutch, please.

[Jeza]

Was always sceptical about DL but just faced an int heavy team with her. We were getting stomped on early game but Dark Blade + Runed Axe + Charging strike into their team literally did about half their hp, maybe more. I was impressed to say the least.

[Lethe]

well whatever she is getting nerfed soon.

[Travakh]

well whatever she is getting nerfed soon.

Well duh

When you start seeing agi carries getting banned something's wrong

[Travakh]

Updated for .48. Not a huge nerf, in team fights you should still be able to catch their entire team in darkness, it just requires another click.

[Threkk]

Perfect guide. Went runed axe > nullfire > whispering and it was over by that point.

[NekoMaO]

buy 4 runed axe and a flayer/lvl4 riftshards.

Combo with kraken or tempest,

If tempest/kraken successfully ulti 5 heroes together.

you use 1st skill and Charged Strike on 5 heroes altogether, ANNILATION!

[Jucc]

nice guide ;) keep it up ;d

)>*0*)> HONDB.COM

[KillJoy]

Unless you're laning with a generous friend, chances are you won't be with someone who has a ring of the teacher in a pub. With that in mind, what do you guys think of this item build while leveling in the lane with the closer outpost? Buy 2 minor totems and a guardian ring from the starting shop (leaves us with 322 gold). Immediately buy scarab from the outpost as the game is starting and you earn the extra 3 gold. This makes a ring of the teacher which will also give us +6 damage to last hit easier, making up for the damage lost (and more) from not taking 2 pretender's crowns.

Once you hit 350 gold go to the outpost and buy a trinket of restoration, which will eliminate the need for buying runes of blight at the beginning. Then buy mana battery for 210g. The order of these purchases from the outpost can be re-arranged on the fly after seeing the combo you're laning against.

Eventually the idea is to use the components in order to buy an abyssal skull after farming power supply, steamboots and runed axe. Alternatively you could get abyssal skull before runed axe if you need to jungle after struggling to get last hits in a tough lane.

In pubs I'd also advocate getting Taint Soul at level 1 instead so you can start using it as early as possible to gain lain control, taking full advantage of the early mana regen you have with this item build. I have VERY rarely come across tri-lane ganks in pubs and I never find myself using charging strikes when following the skill build that this guide suggests. Infact, if you're laning with a babysitter who can save a stun or disable in order to protect you from dying if the enemies charge you, you may even want to get stats at level 2 and skip charging strikes until a little later.

Overall a very nice guide though!

[Stainless87]

Just want to say thank you for this guide, it's really improved my game in pubs against blink-teams and naughty nukes.

[Blaat]

I love it when I own a magebane with my Dark Blades + Charging Strikes so he can't blink away. He just stands there like WTF :D

@ KillJoy, you don't really need Abyssal Skull. You can better buy 4-5 totems, 3 or 6 runes and a mana battery (eventually from outpost). You don't really need all the buffs that Skull gives. If you really want Lifesteal, you can better buy Whisp Helm. It is cheaper, gives the same amout of lifesteal, armor and gives +20 damage. You just die too fast early-midgame to get lifesteal. Just charge in with dark blades, kill a few enemies and get out fast, no need for lifesteal.

Get lifesteal later if you want it, when you have farmed your Boots + Runed Axe + 2nd item, that are my thoughts.

[KillJoy]

@ KillJoy, you don't really need Abyssal Skull. You can better buy 4-5 totems, 3 or 6 runes and a mana battery (eventually from outpost). You don't really need all the buffs that Skull gives. If you really want Lifesteal, you can better buy Whisp Helm. It is cheaper, gives the same amout of lifesteal, armor and gives +20 damage. You just die too fast early-midgame to get lifesteal. Just charge in with dark blades, kill a few enemies and get out fast, no need for lifesteal.

Get lifesteal later if you want it, when you have farmed your Boots + Runed Axe + 2nd item, that are my thoughts.

I agree that lifesteal isn't necessary on Dark Lady, but the early game item build I laid out when you can't be in a lane with someone who buys a Ring of the Teacher contains some of the components to eventually get abyssal skull. After boots/runed axe/a couple bracers, you'll begin to run out of inventory space, and at this time it might be worth it to get abyssal skull as opposed to selling back your Ring of the Teacher/Trinket of Restoration.

Think of abyssal skull as more of a bi-product of the early game item build I laid out, not the reason for the item build itself.

[Smikis]

terrible guide, if ur going for cleave axe, go it from the start..

bracers are totally useless and overpriced.. mana batery are you kidding me?

wrong boots. why would you need frost slow on her..

you linked atleast 10 items, with well over 30k price.. first you cant equip them all in exactly what game you gona get all of them?

no mask of madness.. sigh,

my last game with dark lady, 8615132 , basher was build to counter scout, but never exactly needed,
and ye for some reason my apm is terribly low... but care.. i won the game

you can clearly see by assist.. all the kills i got wasnt from ks :)

i play just sd games

[Travakh]

It's always fun when someone calls your guide bad, then proceeds to

1. not understand what core build versus luxury items is
2. not understand what base damage is
3. thinks bracers are overpriced
4. thinks mask of madness is a good item on a fragile agi carry that has no baseline hard disable
5. thinks you should build a battle fury straight from the beginning without getting any early stat items

I could go on, but really, if you think you can write a better guide, by all means, do so.

[f4nt0m]

bracers are totally useless and overpriced..

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/521601/486857.jpg

Thoughts on Iron Shield versus Fortified Bracer? I've played her a couple times when I get her with a random pick, and that's my default first item when I play an agility melee hero. I'd buy boots/boots/blight/blight/hatchet (covers my badness at last-hitting), and get shield ASAP in the lane.

Maybe it's only viable if you intend to spend a lot of time neutralling? You can get victim/spirit in the lane too, and head to jungle without ever going back to fountain, and farm up for marchers/runed axe there.

[Testknight]

terrible guide, if ur going for cleave axe, go it from the start..

bracers are totally useless and overpriced.. mana batery are you kidding me?

wrong boots. why would you need frost slow on her..

you linked atleast 10 items, with well over 30k price.. first you cant equip them all in exactly what game you gona get all of them?

no mask of madness.. sigh,

my last game with dark lady, 8615132 , basher was build to counter scout, but never exactly needed,
and ye for some reason my apm is terribly low... but care.. i won the game

you can clearly see by assist.. all the kills i got wasnt from ks :)

i play just sd games

Fail post.

[Travakh]

Thoughts on Iron Shield versus Fortified Bracer? I've played her a couple times when I get her with a random pick, and that's my default first item when I play an agility melee hero. I'd buy boots/boots/blight/blight/hatchet (covers my badness at last-hitting), and get shield ASAP in the lane.

Maybe it's only viable if you intend to spend a lot of time neutralling? You can get victim/spirit in the lane too, and head to jungle without ever going back to fountain, and farm up for marchers/runed axe there.

Iron Shield is strictly an anti-harass item. It doesn't yield hp. You need HP on dark lady for lane and battle presence or you'll be driven out of the fight by a single spellcast.

It's a good anti-harass item if you're not being babysat though. You should start with +6 stats and buy all the components at the sideshop, +3 agi and iron shields are purchasable at outpost.

[dslg604t]

Nice guide, buy I'm just pointing out that it needs to be updated (unless someone has already said that). Her ulti is no longer global.

[Torgaddon]

Nice guide, buy I'm just pointing out that it needs to be updated (unless someone has already said that). Her ulti is no longer global.

it's global cast, but an ENORMOUS area. seriously. bigger than my screen.

[Jager]

What about Logger's Hatchet for last hitting? She has fairly low base damage compared to other heroes. Would you get it on her if shes not babysat?

[Benny`]

terrible guide, if ur going for cleave axe, go it from the start..

bracers are totally useless and overpriced.. mana batery are you kidding me?

wrong boots. why would you need frost slow on her..

you linked atleast 10 items, with well over 30k price.. first you cant equip them all in exactly what game you gona get all of them?

no mask of madness.. sigh,

my last game with dark lady, 8615132 , basher was build to counter scout, but never exactly needed,
and ye for some reason my apm is terribly low... but care.. i won the game

you can clearly see by assist.. all the kills i got wasnt from ks :)

i play just sd gamesdude you're ****ing pro will you teach me?

[Pizoi]

He's 19k-18d-21a overall with Dark Lady. Clearly everyone should listen to him.

[Travakh]

He's 19k-18d-21a overall with Dark Lady. Clearly everyone should listen to him.

I'm fairly sure I haven't played that poorly with TDL

[NytriK]

I will have to disagree with this guide almost all the way. Dark lady is rarely used in comp play first of all, due to the massive farm required for her to be effective, but let's just go through why i disagree with this guide. First of all, you suggest nullfire, and deso, when its already been stated she needs massive mana? With runed axe, she can one shot creep waves with dark blades charge, and will have unlimited mana via 150% mana regen, also, a very viable strat with her is to stack ancients, as she can throw out massive aoe damage with runes axe charge.. Whisp helm for stacking ancients, runed axe for mana regen and damage, and then symbol of rage for hp/mass heals. But most importantly, you forgot the most important item, on a melee carry... Shrunken head.. Without it you will get ****ing destroyed in any team fight because in a good match, you will have 1 carry, maybe 2, and guess who gets focused. Not the plague hitting for 100.. bad guide thumbs down. :mad:

[Lolcraft]

I will have to disagree with this guide almost all the way. Dark lady is rarely used in comp play first of all, due to the massive farm required for her to be effective, but let's just go through why i disagree with this guide. First of all, you suggest nullfire, and deso, when its already been stated she needs massive mana? With runed axe, she can one shot creep waves with dark blades charge, and will have unlimited mana via 150% mana regen, also, a very viable strat with her is to stack ancients, as she can throw out massive aoe damage with runes axe charge.. Whisp helm for stacking ancients, runed axe for mana regen and damage, and then symbol of rage for hp/mass heals. But most importantly, you forgot the most important item, on a melee carry... Shrunken head.. Without it you will get ****ing destroyed in any team fight because in a good match, you will have 1 carry, maybe 2, and guess who gets focused. Not the plague hitting for 100.. bad guide thumbs down. :mad:

At not one point did this guide say this was for competitive play. In addition, the items he suggested are adaptable to the situation. Nullfire works well against Hammerstorm and deso works well against anyone really. However runed axe is still the best choice because it helps increase farm. You do NOT get symbol of rage or even whispering helm because she doesnt need life steal, get a better orb like thunderclaw or charged hammer. Shrunken head is obvious, but it's a bit hard to cast when you have 400 sight radius and your being silenced so it's viable to skip.

[Travakh]

The best part was that in my blurb about BKB I specifically mention to get it after shrunken head in higher level comp/scrim play.

So it's not quite a failing on the part of my guide, more so a failure to read

[Shokyu]

Any update?

[Lamer883]

why not mask of madness

[Whoman]

Is this hero's ult supposed to remove lycan from wolf form and booboo from his ult form>_>... seriously so annoying

[Travakh]

It's still steamboots this patch with the caveat that travels is a better choice now.

[Pneumothorax]

Quick question for you guys.

Runed Axe and her Charging Strikes. Do you get the cleave off every hit in the charge?

I assumed so, but I'm kinda new to playing carries, so....

Also, assuming you don't lane with a babysitter who has Ring of Sorcery, is it viable to leave Taint at level 1? I noticed that since I maxed it early, I ran into huge mana problems until I picked up my Sustainer, at which point I never went oom in the entire game.

I was thinking that a level 1 Taint works for when they get just a bit ahead of you, or to let your support catch up or get a little distance from the gank. And early game, I find myself very loathe to do a long chase for a kill; all towers are up, there's often a hero in their jungle, and so on.

[pyrated]

I've seen a few competent players getting multiple runed axes on dark lady

is this a good idea or not? I assume the AOE damage bonus stacks, and works very well if you can land charging strikes on an entire team

[Lolololage]

Quick question for you guys.

Runed Axe and her Charging Strikes. Do you get the cleave off every hit in the charge?

I assumed so, but I'm kinda new to playing carries, so....

Also, assuming you don't lane with a babysitter who has Ring of Sorcery, is it viable to leave Taint at level 1? I noticed that since I maxed it early, I ran into huge mana problems until I picked up my Sustainer, at which point I never went oom in the entire game.

I was thinking that a level 1 Taint works for when they get just a bit ahead of you, or to let your support catch up or get a little distance from the gank. And early game, I find myself very loathe to do a long chase for a kill; all towers are up, there's often a hero in their jungle, and so on.


Yes, cleave hits every creep with every hit, you 1 shot the wave.

Second, i'd say that taint is so good mid game, that if you want to do that, dont spend the levells on any other skills, just waituntill you need to start ganking, and put 3 quick levells on taint.

Same kind of thing ppl do with blacksmith.

[D3VILMAN]

good guide. 1 question, what does the dark lady say when she cast the ult? I swear i can hear some kind of voice, but never quite understand it.

biggie smaaaalllzzzzzzzz!!!!

[Zymcio]

PLS comments http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=57711

[KazeTanade]

OP, any changes to guide as of Patch 1.65?

[jar]

What is your opinion of this hero being completely countered by wards and a nullfire blade?

[terrorclown]

What is your opinion of this hero being completely countered by wards and a nullfire blade?

Oh for Christ's sake... Are you serious?

I bet you're the kind of whore who buys Assassin's Shroud on every goddamn hero. It's never that easy!

[nareik123]

This guide is old so I'm gonna go somewhat less rage on it than some.

First of all, I start off with:

2*Runes of the blight
Loggers Hatchet
2*Minor totems

While laning I. Then purchase:

Iron shield
Marchers

Then I go straight for Runed Axe.

Why not fort bracelets? I have not played a game where I need the strength boost.